Connecting Commuity And Christ

You've probably heard the expression about beating a dead horse.  In some ways, that's how a catchphrase is supposed to be.  You hear it over and over again, and you kind of groan every time you hear it.  It's gotten stuck inside your head.  You think you've heard it all before.  And typically, that's about the time when it's really starting to take hold. 

As the person initiating our catchphrase, I'd dearly love it if everyone was getting to that stage already.  We introduced it at Easter, and over the past few weeks, it's been part of our Sundays together.  If you've been reading through the blog, you've seen it a lot over the past couple of weeks.  And by now, you might be thinking, okay, time to move on to another topic.  And what that means to me is that I've just now started to get your attention about it.

As God's people are connected together in Christ through baptism, there are several connections of importance.  Of utmost importance is their connection with God.  In baptism, God's promise of hope and salvation is extended to you.  You belong to God.  In a sense, you are part of that promise that God spoke the people of Israel when He gave them the commandments.  If you read Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5, you see where God gave the commandments.  And right before you get into those familiar words, you have these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."  God speaks essentially those same words to you when you are baptized.  You are brought into the household and people of the one true God.

When that happened, you were also introduced to another connection.  You have a connection with every other person in this world who is connected to God.  You're not alone with God.  It's not just you and Jesus walking together.  It's you, and Jesus, and every other person that also shares that saving connection.  The Bible uses a number of different pictures to describe this.  The body of Christ.  A priesthood.  A people who belong to God.  A temple of the Holy Spirit.

You're connected to God, and you're connected to other believers.  And you are still connected to the people of the world.  When Jesus prayed the night He was arrested, and just before He was crucified, He prayed for you.  Not that you would be removed from the community connections around you, but that you would be kept in God's hands.  You are still connected to the community of humanity.  And as you are sent into that community, you do so as one who is connected to God, and who has connections to a great community of faith.

God will give you many opportunities to live out those first two connections in your connection with the community of humanity.  My prayer is that you find yourself recognizing when God opens doors to share your Christ connection with the community, and that God's Spirit works greatly through you to bring them into that Christ connection as well.

Connecting Community And Christ

God calls His community together, out of darkness, and into His marvelous light.  God connects His community together with one another, as we share a common Savior and a common faith.  And that's not the end of the story by any means.

God doesn't create His community of faith and then separate it from the world around it.  If He did, He might as well take us to be with Him forever once we become a Christian.  But God continues to leave us in this world.  He has us be part of the larger community, of all humankind that He has created.  We cannot help but be part of the larger community.

So part of our life as God's community is connecting with the community around us.  However, we don't merely interact with them, as though nothing made us different from them.  Sure, many of our interactions with them will be concerned with daily needs and the like.  But God also sends His community out to bring Christ into the community.

That's perhaps the fullest explanation I can give for our new catchphrase.  We are the means by which God connects with community.  As we go forth as God's people, we connect community and Christ.  God continues to speak through His Word, and the ones who carry that Word are His very own people.  As we go forth, God intends for us to connect with our community, and in that connection, to bring Christ to them.

Over the centuries, God's people have had untold numbers of interactions with their communities.  The communities to which God sends His people have been blessed as God's people have sought ways to bring Christ into the conversations and activities of the community.  While it's true that God could use some other means of bringing them into Christ if He so chose, what the Bible reveals to us is that God has chosen to work through the disciples of Jesus, those who follow Him, those who have had their sin forgiven and are then sent, just as Jesus was sent.  God didn't bring us out of the world when we became Christian, but instead, sent us back into the world with the word of hope and forgiveness on our lips and in our lives.

As we think about the various ministries and connections we have with the community around us, how can we grow in bringing Christ into those connections?  How can we not just assume that it will happen, but actively work to ensure that it happens?  Our salvation isn't found in our efforts or abilities to do this, but that of our neighbor in our community might find that his or her salvation is directly related to our efforts to connect our community and Christ.

Connecting Community And Christ

When God calls His community together, He typically does so for some very specific purposes.  He calls us together to be nurtured and fed with His word of forgiveness and hope.  He calls us together to be bonded together as His people through His promise that He extended in our baptism.  He unites us as one body in Christ when He feeds us with the body and blood of Jesus, which was broken and shed for our forgiveness.  God calls us together for some very specific reasons.

And as God calls us together, He also gives us the great gift of our friendships with each other.  He created us to be in community with one another, and there are very few places of worship where God's people don't share friendships with each other.  God delights in our connections with each other, and enjoys when they are deep, caring, loving connections.

But what happens if God's people suddenly were to start making it more about their friendships than about the God who calls them together?  What if we were to start coming together and talking more about the weather, or our latest vacation or fishing trip, rather than the faith and Savior that we have in common?  It's not that these are inappropriate to talk about when God's people come together, but they aren't the main reason we come together.  We are called together to be in Christ.

Being a community that connects with each other is great.  It's even greater when we intentionally nurture the connections that we have in Christ.  He is the core and center of the reason we come together.  God has done remarkable things for us in Christ Jesus, forgiving our sin and uniting us into one household of God, with Jesus Himself at our head.  While every single one of our conversations together may not focus solely on Him, we lose much when our conversations don't include Him as we come together.

What are one or two simple ways that you can connect with your Christian community and bring Christ into it even more?  This coming weekend, as most of us gather together in our Christian communities for worship, bring Christ into one or two of your conversations in ways that you haven't typically done.  Encourage others to do the same.  After all, that is a rather significant part of what it means to be a connecting community in Christ.

Connecting Community And Christ

Thus far, as I've been walking through our new catchphrase, I've focused primarily on how we go about the first two words.  How do we connect as God's people, and how do God's people connect in the community around them?  However, we simply cannot stop there.  If we do, then we basically admit that we are no different from any other group of people, faith based or not, in the world.

It's the last two words of the catchphrase that truly matter.  When it comes to God's people being a community that connects together, they do so in Christ.  Yes, it is wonderful that we have so many other kinds of connections with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we could have those same connections if we met as a group of shoppers, or bowlers, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or Christians.  The thing that makes the connections of God's community significant is that those connections are based in Christ.

Sadly, I have come to believe that this is strangely absent in so many of our gatherings as God's people.  We come together for events such as worship, but outside of those, it seems that we don't build up each other in our connection in Christ nearly enough.  Our community connects together because we are in Christ.  When we connect together, it is Christ who has connected us to one another.  We share a common faith, planted in us in a common baptism, which connects us to a common Savior, Jesus.

When we come together in connection as a community, you really would expect our connection in Christ to be at the center of our discussion and activity.  Perhaps the best way to think about this is if we compared it to another community.  Let's say you were a community connected in bowling.  Sure, you may talk about other things as you connect, but what is going to be a significant part of your time together?  If you don't talk about bowling, or recent bowling experiences, or recent games, or discussions on how to work around that 7-10 split, something is strangely absent.  And if you don't actually bowl, something really is missing.

As we think about our community that connects together in Christ, do we find that this connection comes up with a great deal of regularity or not?  If it doesn't, what gets in the way of our connection in Christ coming up?  How can we work around those obstacles to bring Christ back into the center of our community?  These are questions that we will be addressing as we move forward as a people who are "Connecting Community And Christ."

Immediate Correction or Not?

From Proverbs 18:13: "If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame."

It's happened often enough to me now that I almost expect it.  I'm talking to one of God's people about some point of theology, and they say something that's not quite in line with what the Bible says.  Or, I'm talking with someone who isn't one of God's people, and they say something that is blatantly different from what the Bible teaches.  My first instinct in either of these cases is to stop the conversation at that moment and "correct" them.  That's a product of the theological education that I received, as well as some of my own personality that really strives for the "right thing" to be known and believed.

In the past, I've let that immediate desire to correct the person take over.  And guess what I have found on a number of occasions.  My "correction" wasn't all that well received.  For one or two, it actually was upsetting enough that they stopped being interested in our conversation, and sometimes even in the Christian faith.  They had questions, and they had thoughts, and those thoughts weren't in line with what God says.  And yes, those kind of issues need to be gently addressed.  But the point of this post is, should we do that immediately, when it pops up on the conversation?

I've given a lot of thought to this, and I've come up with an answer that I am comfortable living out.  I rarely will give an immediate correction.  Instead, like the verse from Proverbs above, I want to find out more about what has shaped that person's thought or belief.  There may be events in their life that have shaped who they are, and they may not really believe what they say.  Or, they simply may not have ever thought about what they believe and why they believe it.  One thing tends to hold true, though.  They aren't talking about it with the idea that I'm going to instantly correct them on anything that they say that doesn't line up with what the Bible says.

It isn't that I'm avoiding the correction, but I'm interested in learning more about that person.  Then, as future conversations unfold, there may be opportunities to probe a little deeper on that thought or belief, and then, to bring what God says into the discussion.  If I immediately try to correct them, I may lose that future opportunity.  True, there are no guarantees that the future opportunity will ever arise.  And yes, I have to remember what it is that need to be talked about.  But in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have that discussion at a time when they are ready for it, rather than forcing it upon a conversation just because I heard something incorrect.

Thoughts?  Comments?  What have been your experiences in this regard?

Connecting Community And Christ

Okay, so yesterday, we focused on how God has created His people as a connecting community.  He brings us together in Christ Jesus, and intends for us to have connections with one another.

Yet, that's not all that God intends.  Now, I generally avoid pulling bible verses out of context and just presenting them to you, but there are a couple in the Gospels that speak about God's intent for this community of faith that He creates.  Jesus says, in Luke 19:10, "...the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."  After His death and resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples and tells them, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."  (John 20:21)  We could also look at that most famous of bible verses, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  Pulling these all together as a theme, we see that God intends to connect with the communities of this world in Jesus.

Jesus came to find those who were separated and lost from Him.  God's love for the world was such that the Father sent Jesus to pay the price of their sin.  Jesus seeks out the lost to save them.  And then, as part of His farewell tour, Jesus gives His disciples that same task.  "Go seek out the lost to save them.  I paid the price of their sin, so go let them know that it's done.  I was sent to do this, and now I am sending you."

God's community is sent to connect with the community around it.  Connecting community means that we realize that God has put us in the time and place where we are, and that God has His reasons for our presence there.  He sends us to connect with a community where there are those who are lost, so that we can be God's hands and feet in seeking them, and in bringing them the message that Jesus has rescued them.

In a sense, our task really is that simple.  It's not a tough message.  And yet, so many Christians find the idea of connecting with the community a real challenge.  We're frightened of how the message will be received.  We're unsure we know enough.  We think we have to be eloquent and have all the answers.  But the message really is pretty simple.  Jesus died to rescue you, and wants to bring you into His kingdom that never ends.

That's why God's community connects with the surrounding community.  And on a bit of a personal note, I don't think that it's all that challenging to find those connection points with them.  A large part of my doctoral focus is to demonstrate that this is a much simpler task than we have been led to believe that it is.  But one thing we have to have our eyes opened to first is that God's community is a connecting community with those around us.  Guide us in this, O gracious God.

"Connecting Community And Christ"

Sorry about not posting for the last few days.  Conferences and the like sometimes get in the way of the "important" things in life, like blogging!  Okay, just kidding with that, but one of the realities of life is that sometimes things come up and prevent me from having ready access to the internet, which corresponds to my lack of blogging at times.

Last week, I started talking about the different ways that we can understand this catchphrase, "connecting community and Christ."  Overall, there are four different ways that I see this phrase being constructed.  Today, I want to spend a few thoughts on the first of these ways.

"Connecting Community."  As part of our life together in Christ, we are a community that is connected together.  In the water of baptism, God takes sinful human beings and brings them into His community of faith.  We aren't brought into our connecting with God to exist only in that connection, but to also be connected to others who share our faith.  Biblically speaking, it's pretty unknown to be one of God's people and yet be separate from the rest of the community of God's people.  When God makes people His own, He introduces them into the community that we call the church.

Within that community, God's people connect together.  Now, it would be really great if that just happened.  But the sad reality is, we don't always naturally connect together in God's household.  Far too often, we fail to connect together.  If we don't intentionally work on our connections together in Christ, we'll probably see them falter or fail.

So God's community is a connecting community.  And as you think about that for today, I ask you this question.  How do you go about connecting with your fellow faithful in God's community?  Do you only seek out those who are like you, or whom you like?  Do you connect only with people who are like you, or who are at your stage in life?  Do you strive to connect with God's people, regardless of what you have in common with them, or of their age, or any other differences that you may note? 

God's community works together best when we are actively seeking to connect with one another in our community.  In fact, I would far rather hear someone say that they had too many people connect with them rather than hear them say that no one connected with them.  And so, I encourage all of God's people to be active in connecting with others in their faith community, regardless of who they are.  After all, they are part of your community, and community works best when we all work to connect together in Christ.

Connection Variations

"Connecting Community and Christ."  It's a catchphrase that our congregation will be making use of, in an effort to unite ourselves around a common view of ministry.  As we consider the opportunities that Christ gives us to share in the ministry that He works through us, we will be making use of this phrase as our lens or filter, always asking ourselves how the ministry we are engaged in helps us connect community and Christ.

Now, as you look at the phrase, you can see that there are some variations that are possible in the meaning of the words.  As I've given thought to it, I have come up with four different variations, which I will be explaining further in future posts.  They don't work against one another, but instead, provide a variety of ways that we can look at the ministry that Jesus has given us.  They simply speak to different aspects of our life and ministry together.

The first is 'connecting community.'  I'm looking at it as a descriptive phrase.  When we come together as God's people, we are a connecting community.  We share lives together.  We interact with one another.  This is the way God designed us, and as His people, we see the value in His community as we connect together.

The second uses the exact same two words.  'Connecting community.'  However, in this sense, we see that we're not only about connecting with ourselves, but part of Jesus sending us as His disciples is with the intent that we are connecting with our community.  This aspect of the phrase points more to the connections we make with the community around us.  We are part of that community, and cannot help but connect with them in different ways.

Another aspect of the phrase is found in the whole phrase together.  'Connecting community and Christ.'  As a community that connects together, we find that the source of our connection is in Christ, our Lord.  Sure, we may enjoy simply connecting with one another, but as God's people, when we come together, our connection is in Christ.  A significant portion of our life together isn't merely being together, but seeing Christ at the core and center of our togetherness.

The fourth aspect of the phrase is once again making use of the whole phrase.  'Connecting community and Christ.'  Only, this time, it points us outward, into the communities that we are part of.  Sure, we connect with them, and at times we need to focus on those connections.  But as God's people, our hope is to connect with them, so that we can connect them to Christ.  We learn who they are, and then, we strive to show them the connection that Christ would dearly love to have with them.  We are God's means of introducing that connection as we go as His disciples.

In future posts, each of these will be expanded upon.  You may see other aspects of this phrase, and if so, I would encourage you to share them with me.  That's what connecting community and Christ really means, walking together, sharing our thoughts and ideas, and striving to be a community that connects around Christ.

"Connecting Community And Christ"

For those of you who attend the congregation I pastor, you've heard this little expression several times over the past few weeks.  "Connecting Community and Christ."  Over the next several posts, I will be drawing a little bit more out about what we mean, and what we think about, as we hear these words, and as we also think about what they mean for our lives together in Christ Jesus.

One of the greatest realities we have in our lives is that God is a God who seeks to connect with the people of this world.  In some ways, this makes a great deal of sense.  God is the creator of all things, and that includes all of us human beings.  Sure, we know the biological process that takes place to create a new human being, but we are unable to understand or duplicate that miracle.  God creates us, even when our essence is not anything more than two cells whose DNA is incomplete, and which only finds its being when the two connect together.

God connects with His human creation.  He gives everything that is needed to sustain His human creation.  This is, in fact, part of what we believe as Christians.  Martin Luther understood this and put it into a fairly simple, understandable way in his description of the first part of the Apostles Creed.  There, we state that we believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.  And in explaining what that means, we hear that God has created us and given us everything that is pertinent for our lives.

God seeks to connect with His human creation because it is unique.  God took special care when it came to the creation of humans.  We are the only beings God made that He personally formed, and we're the only beings that have both a physical and a spiritual nature.  God created humans out of the dust of the earth, and then breathed His own spirit/breath/wind into the man to have him become a living being.  From the beginning of the creation, God sought to connect with His creation.

In a sense, this gives us as Christians a wonderful opportunity to connect with others.  If we are looking for a starting point to introduce the God of the Bible, we can point them to the God who sees enough worth and value in them to give them all that is needed for their lives.  We can point to the loving care of God, who provides enough for the people of the world.  We can point to the God who knows them as their Creator.  We can point them to the God who made them special, unique from the rest of the known world.

That's part of connecting and community.  We are a community of people because God made us as such.  We are connected with God, who gives us all good things in life.  And even in these things, God gives us a means by which we can connect with our brothers and sisters in the human population of the world.  Thanks be to God.

Sermon from April 14

Here is the sermon from Sunday, April 14.

Connecting With Community

You’ve seen it now for a couple of weeks.  And today, since I’ve got this little slogan in front of you yet again, you may be starting to realize that it doesn’t seem to be going away.  “Connecting Community And Christ.”  It’s a short little saying, and yet, it is one that is going to have a lot of impact as we think about the various ways that we minister in Jesus’ name here at Oak Road.

“Connecting Community And Christ.”  If you want to think about it in this way, it’s sort of like a lens or a filter for us.  When we think about what we do as God’s people here, we’re going to be asking ourselves, how does it go about Connecting Community and Christ?  So we think about something, say, like our worship times together.  We look at them through this filter.  How do our worship times connect community and Christ?  And we see that in quite a few ways.  We hear the Word of God, which connects us to Christ through the Holy Spirit’s work.  We connect with other people of our community of faith as we gather together.  We even recognize that our community of faith is centered on what Christ has done for us in His life, death, and resurrection.

That’s an idea of how we view the various parts of our ministry life here at Oak Road through this filter.  When we plan an activity or event, we ask ourselves how this particular thing will connect community and Christ.  It means that we have to be somewhat intentional about how we’re going to do that.  It may even mean that we will sometimes look at something that we’re doing, or at something that we’d like to do, and realize that it doesn’t really fit through this filter.  And when that’s the case, we then have to ask ourselves why we are doing it, if it’s not serving to connect community and Christ together.  

That’s what we do as God’s people.  We are a people who have been connected into a community, and we’re part of that community through Christ.  Each of you is a part of the community of Oak Road because of what Christ Jesus has done for you.  When you were baptized, Christ connected you to Himself, and He introduced you into a community of others who share that same gift with you.  You were connected to Christ, and you were connected to a community of faith when you were baptized.

That makes you a part of a connecting community.  And this brings me to one of the great things about this phrase that we’re using to filter our lives together as Christians.  It has different layers of meaning.  When you look at it all together, it explains what we are doing as God’s people, especially as we engage in ministry.  We’re connecting community and Christ.  But you can also take the different parts of this phrase and see how it describes us and the things that we do.

Connecting Community.  Part of what we are about as God’s people is being a connecting community.  In a very simple way, it means that we connect together.  We live out the design that God used when He created us as human beings.  We connect together.  God didn’t create us to live in isolation from each other, but to be connecting together as a community.  And so we shouldn’t be surprised to find that part of our life as God’s people is that we connect together.

In fact, I’d like for you to take another look at the Bible reading from John (John 21:1-14) again.  Look through there, and as you do, look for ways that you see connecting in community.  Go ahead and say them when you see them.  (fishing together and eating together are two obvious ones)  We see that the disciples found it natural to connect together in community.

Connecting in community isn’t exclusive to those who are connected to Christ.  We see it all around us.  It’s just natural for us, as human beings, to connect with one another in community.  We do it around different things, like sports, or family, or activities we share.  We connect in community based upon things like the stage of life we happen to be in.  We connect around shared interests, and perhaps for many other reasons as well.

But the community that we are part of here is a unique one.  That uniqueness is found in the last two words of our little slogan.  “And Christ.”  Christ Jesus is at the center of our connecting community.  Sure, we may have some friends who have shared interests here within our gathering.  We may have those who have connected together outside of our faith life together.  But when we come to this place together, we do so because we are connecting with each other in a unique way.  We’re connecting with our community in Christ Jesus.

And once again, we see an element of that in our Bible reading from John.  Remember, these are men who had been called by Jesus to go and follow Him.  Jesus had taught them for a period of about three years, teaching them about God, and about what God’s work in the world looked like.  So, even after Jesus had died and risen from the dead, these men still found it natural to connect together.  Their connections were based upon the fact that they had been called by Jesus as His disciples.  Even after Jesus had died and risen, they were still connected together because they had been brought together by Jesus.

And as we look at this Bible reading, we also see something else.  These disciples had gotten together to go fishing.  Their night had been uneventful.  No fish had wandered into their nets.  They had lost a night of sleep to no gain, and yes, I know that a bad day or night fishing is still better than any day cleaning out the garage.  But their trip had been fruitless.  Nothing to show for the lost night of sleep.

That is, until Jesus shows up and connects with them.  Their ordinary day/night suddenly changed when Jesus connected with them.  A toss of the nets out of the side of the boat, and suddenly there are more fish than what their nets should be able to keep.  Jesus connects with them, and their community goes from ordinary to extraordinary.  The disciples are reminded that they may have community with one another, but when their community is connected together in Christ, then some great things really do happen.

We’re also a connecting community that finds our source of connection in Christ.  We may have a variety of reasons for coming together as God’s community this morning, such as our friendships, or out of a sense of obligation or duty, or because it’s what God says to do, or simply because it’s a habit for us.  But at the heart and soul of our connecting time together today, we come together to be connected with Christ Jesus.  The source of our community is Christ, the one who lived the perfect life for you, who died for you, and who rose to connect you to Himself in a community of faith.  

Sure, we may have connecting communities of all sorts of shapes and sizes and varieties in our lives.  But we have one connecting community that is found in Christ.  Christ Jesus has done what He did in order to bring you into His community.  He lived and died and rose for you.  He connected you to His community through the water of baptism, and He continues to draw you into this community, to share the gifts He has given to you with others who have received those same gifts.

Christ creates our community.  We’re part of a community, and that means that we do things together.  Think about it like this.  Who here likes to go bowling all by yourself?  True, some of you may not like to go bowling at all, but it’s one of those activities that you just don’t seem to go do by yourself.  I bet some of you like to fish.  Do you like to go out all by yourself, or with someone else?  If you happen to be a sports fan, is it better to catch a game by yourself, or with someone else?

God created us to be in community with each other.  The activities that we engage in as God’s people are more meaningful when we engage in them with others.  Whether it’s going fishing, or having a bite to eat for breakfast, these activities just seem to carry a bit more meaning when they are done in the context of a connecting community.  Sure, we can give thanks to God for what He has done for us in Christ at home all by ourselves, but there’s more meaning to it when we come together in our community.  We have those connections that reinforce our faith, that build up our faith, and that encourage each other in faith.

In other words, we’re a connecting community.  We’re a community that is connected together in Christ, and that continues to strive to connect together.  And I would even suggest for us today that we’re not content to simply connect with those who are already here.  Sure, we have built up connections with them, and some of those connections run back for years.  But as a connecting community in Christ, we’re also not content to remain only as we are.

That’s why we also strive to be a connecting community with the community around us.  As we venture out through our doors today, we’re going to connect in our community around us.  You can’t help but do so.  And we’re going to encounter a lot outside of those doors that remind us of the good gift God has given us in our connecting community here.  We need the encouragement and reinforcement of our faith connections and community.  We need to be reminded that God has connected us to one another in Christ and what He has done for us.

And that brings us back again and again to our connecting community.  We give thanks for those with whom God has connected us, and as we go forth to connect with our community, we also pray that God will work through those connections to draw even more into our connecting community.  May it be so, for the sake of Christ.  Amen. 

An Historic Post

No, I'm not talking about history today, except in the loosest sense of the term.  As I was signing in to write today's post, I noticed that it is post #400 since I started my blog.  That just seemed to call for some kind of recognition, though what exactly it means, who knows?

In some ways, when I think about my blog, I think of it mostly as my attempt to think about things "out loud", so to speak.  Many of my posts are my attempts to think my way through the challenges of bringing God's timeless word into a day and culture far different from the one it was written in.  Sure, there are some things that are the same.  People are still sinful.  God is still a God of grace and of justice.  Sin calls for a price, and Jesus has fully paid the price. 

But as we think about the day and age we live in, we also realize that many things are far different than that day and age and culture.  We are raised to think in a truly different way from most of the biblical writers.  Studies have been conducted to demonstrate the difference between our Western, linear mode of thinking and the Eastern, circular way of thinking.  We face the same temptations as the people of that day, but the way they announce themselves are somewhat different.  We have far more information as our disposal than the people of that day, and perhaps a greater dose of scepticism as well.

So when I post, that's what I'm attempting to do.  I'm attempting to bridge the gap between the world of the Bible times and our world today.  I'm attempting to discern what the timeless truths of God are, and how they "fit" into our culture and time today.  It's not always easy, and some of the things God says fit better than others, but it's a task well worth the effort.

So here's to post # 400, and hoping that there are many more to come.  Also, I hope and pray that my thinking continues to get further refined as we move forward together.

The Door For the Spirit

As we read through the Bible, one of the things we learn is that it is God who draws people to Himself.  Sure, in our human way of thinking, we might want to believe that we read about God, or we heard about God, and then we chose to believe in Him, but from God's perspective, nothing happens in terms of faith without the Holy Spirit creating that faith within us.

So we believe that it is God who creates and nurtures and sustains our faith in what God has done for us through Jesus.  And yet, even though that is God's work alone, God still doesn't leave His creation out of the process.  As Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman Christians, faith comes from hearing the word of God.  To put it in a little bit of a different way, faith comes when we either read God's Word of the Bible, or when another person tells us about what God has done, as revealed in the Bible.

In other words, God works through some specific ways, or means.  God's Holy Spirit may be the agent that causes faith to exist, but that same Spirit links Himself to the reading or speaking of God's Word.  God links Himself to a physical part of His creation in order to make people His own.  Sure, God could simply choose to speak to someone without that means, whether through a bodiless voice or in a dream it doesn't matter, but God has uniquely tied Himself to this physical means of opening doors for the Spirit.

This places us, as God's people, into a unique position.  We are people who have received the gift of faith by God's Spirit.  Now, God's Spirit continues to work through us as the means of drawing people to Jesus in faith.  True, we aren't the ones who actually do the work of creating faith in those with whom we share the message.  That's the Spirit's work, and not ours.  However, we still would be wise to be thoughtful about the way we go about sharing that message.  While God's Spirit could still work through an person who shares the message, "God loves you and forgives you in Jesus," with a scowl and an angry voice, for some reason, that message seems more likely to make its way into that persons heart if it's spoken in a reassuring, caring fashion. 

In His wisdom, God has chosen to tie Himself to the spread of His message of Good News through the physical things of this world.  Thanks be to God that we get to be a part of that message.

A Faith Of Influence

In the years following the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the Christian faith began to reveal itself as the full will and design of God.  God had spoken to His people of old through the prophets, and finally had spoken by His own Son.  As God's Spirit began to work through His people, the message of Christ and God's hope began to spread.  It didn't take long to push out from its Jewish roots, reaching even the Gentiles.  By the end of the first century, the Christian faith had penetrated to the ends of Europe, into Africa, and on into the east, as well.

By the time the third century rolled around, Christianity had grown greatly.  It was no longer a faith that resided only in the various Jewish synagogues, but was also believed in the households of rulers, and of many of the common people.  In just a couple of hundred of years, it had gone from a group of 11 men sent by God to encompass a whole continent and more.  It no longer was a subversive faith, but had suddenly become the preferred faith.  No longer on the outskirts, now the Christian faith was at the front and center of the Empire.

How did it get to be that way?  During the first couple of centuries AD, this faith had been ignored, and then, at various times, heavily persecuted.  Several rulers had tried their best to stomp it out.  And yet, despite their best efforts, the Christian faith continued to grow.  How was this?  Well, the easiest answer is to say that it is from God, and no one can ever stop anything that is guided and directed by God.  God has promised that His Word will indeed go out, and it will return bearing fruit.

But God's Word also works, not through ruling or dictating, but through influence.  God's Word doesn't attempt to force people to adhere to its guidelines and rules and instructions.  It seeks to change the heart and the soul of those who read it.  God's Spirit works, not to force the believer to simply change the way (s)he lives, but to influence the heart and soul and mind of the believer.

God's Spirit and God's Word work to influence us.  It works to show us the folly and foolishness of trying to do things our way, according to our design and plan.  It shows us how God's design and will works, and what it looks like.  It works to show us the price that God was willing to pay to restore us to Him.  It works to show us Jesus, and to prove God's love in sending a Savior.  It works to change our heart, which then leads to the change in how we live and act.  It doesn't work to change only how we live and act.

Christianity is a faith of influence.  That makes it a very challenging faith and, at the same time, a faith of deep conviction.  When your heart is changed, it simply cannot help but impact the rest of your life.  A mere change of behavior rarely will change the heart, but a change of heart cannot help but impact the rest of life.  And that's how the Christian faith also works.  It doesn't seek to bend people to God's will, but seeks to influence them by God's Word, through God's Spirit, so that they see what God has done for them.

Christianity: A Religion of Influence, Not Authority

"Jesus called them to Him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and that their great ones exercise authority over them.  It shall not be so among you.  But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."  Matthew 20:25-28

To some degree, we humans strive to have power and authority over others.  It's inherent in each of us.  We want others to do things the way we think or believe that they should be done.  The simplest way to get others to do this is to simply make them do it.  For a parent, it's much easier to tell your child, "Do it because I told you so" than to try to explain why you want them to do something.  And sure, in the short term, the "Do it because I told you" might work.  But after a while, we tend to rebel against those who "force" us to do things.

For many years, the authority of the leaders of the United States have sought to draw their authority based upon what God says.  Maybe it's because a significant portion of the people who settled this country came here to be able to freely express their faith.  Maybe it's because they saw the benefit to aligning society along the lines of God's will and desire and design.  I doubt we could ever find one single reason why they chose to go the route they did, but regardless, they seem to have drawn heavily from God's Word in creating the laws of our land.

In recent years, however, our nation has seen great change.  There are now many in our borders who do not align themselves with the Christian faith.  It's significant that they don't share the same set of core beliefs that shape how we live as people.  And so, when we, as Christians, attempt to "force" our beliefs on them through legislation of the laws of the land, should we be surprised, then, when they rebel against them?  Or, should we be surprised when those whose background is not formed by the word of God begin to pass legislation that differs greatly from what we believe to be God's design and desire?

For a while, it seems as though many Christians thought that they could simply pass more laws that followed God's will and design.  Doing that, they must have reasoned, would lead to change in the hearts and lives of the people of the nation.  And yet, it seems as though the opposite has happened.  Rather than being drawn to God, they have rebelled against the laws that Christians have sought to pass.  They may call it "freedom," but really, what they are striving to get away from is Christians holding authority over their lives and what they can and cannot do.

I believe that there is a reason that Jesus said that His followers are not to "lord" it over others, or even one another.  Jesus recognized that we are all tainted with the stain of original sin.  None of us likes having someone else tell us what to do or not do.  And so, Jesus then suggests another way for His followers.  He calls it serving others.  As we continue these posts, I'm going to expand upon that thought of serving one another, and my goal is to demonstrate that the most powerful way for Christians to seek for others to follow the design and will of God is through influence, not power or authority.  As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Sermon from April 7

Here is the sermon from this past Sunday, April 7.

Jesus Connects with Doubters

It’s early evening, and the phone rings.  You look at the number, but don’t recognize it.  But on a whim, you decided to answer it anyway.  On the other end, you hear some guy say, “Hi, I’m Harold with the Atlanta Braves.  We’ve decided to get in touch with our fans in the metro area, and one of the things we did was to have a drawing for a fan.  That fan plus five friends will receive free tickets to all the home games in June.  We picked your name.  The only thing that we need from you is the name of your five friends with whom you will be sharing this exciting experience.”  

You’ve just got some really good news, especially since the Braves are supposed to be more than a little decent this year.  So now, the ball is in your court.  You’ve got until Monday or Tuesday to get those five names back to the Braves.  You’ve got to get in touch with your friends.  So tell me, how are you going to go about connecting with them?  Yes, I’m really asking for you to speak out loud and tell me how you will go about getting in touch with these friends.

(Some suggestions that could be offered: text message, phone call, email)  Or, how about another one?  You drive over to their house and either knock on the door or ring the doorbell?  Or, you know you’re going to be talking to them in person sometime that weekend.  My friends, you have just listed out a few ways that we connect with others.

We are a people who connect with others.  That’s partly because that’s the way that God made us.  It’s rare to have someone who can survive without any contact with anyone else in the world.  God made us in such a way that we crave connection with others.  

So, if you get that phone call from the Atlanta Braves, you’re going to have to connect with your friends.  And there’s something very important in that which also fits what we’re focusing on today.  You have to be the one who instigates the connections with your friends.  Just imagine if you decided to take this approach.  I’d really like for Carrie to be one of the friends who goes to the games with me.  But I’ll just sit back and wait for her to call me and ask me if she can go along.  Do you see something wrong with that?  First, how does she even know that you won the tickets?  Second, does she even know that you would like for her to go along with you?  If you aren’t the one who instigates the connection, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath waiting for others to be the instigator.

In our little example, connection with others starts with one person.  If you don’t get in touch with your friends, then they simply will not know of the opportunity that has been dropped in your lap.  Connection starts with one person.  And wouldn’t you know it, that’s what we see in our Bible story from John today.

Jesus is the instigator when it comes to the connections with the disciples.  Now, I think it’ll be a little helpful to give a bit of background when it comes to our Bible reading from John today.  Remember, even though we’re reading it today, a week after Easter, this actually takes place the same day that Jesus rose from the dead.  That morning started off rather strange.  The women went to the tomb, but the rock was rolled away, the tomb was empty, and there were angels there, with the message that Jesus had risen.  Mary saw Jesus, who told her to go tell the disciples that He was going ahead of them.  Peter and John had raced to the tomb, only to find it empty and the grave cloths laying there.  And while a few of them may have remembered that Jesus said He would rise again on the third day, it’s also pretty likely that there was a lot of confusion.

So think of the disciples that day.  In some ways, their worst fears were coming to pass.  The tomb was empty, but they hadn’t seen Jesus yet.  Sure, some of the women had said that they had seen Him, but that’s just one of those things that you almost have to see to really believe.  On top of that, the story probably began to circulate from the guards that the disciples had broken into the tomb to steal the body.  That’s what the religious leaders were telling them to say.  It all seemed like a big set-up.  And if you were one of the disciples, you almost had to wonder.  Were the leaders going to try to cover all their bases by arresting the disciples, and then charging them with stealing the body?  What better way to cover up the things that had happened?  And then, you still had the real mystery.  What had actually happened with the body of Jesus?

No wonder that they were in the room with the doors locked that night.  They didn’t know who was coming for them, or what they were going to do.  And then, in the middle of their fear, Jesus connects with them.  Jesus instigates the connection.  Jesus shows up.  He talks to them.  He reassures them.  Jesus connects with them.  And as Jesus connects with them, their doubt gives way to faith.  They see, and they believe.

But not all of them were there that first night.  So, a week later, they’re back in the same place.  We don’t know what they did all week, but we know that they found Thomas, who had been somewhere else on the day Jesus rose from the dead.  This time, Thomas is with them, and once again, Jesus shows up to connect with them.  This time, He singles out Thomas, who had his doubts about what the other disciples were saying.  Jesus connects with the disciples, and then, Jesus connects with Thomas.

Jesus connects with people in their fear, and He connects with people in their doubts.  Yes, a significant part of that connection is to let them know that He was indeed alive and well.  He was showing them that He was true to what He had said.  He had told them that He would be put to death, but then would rise to life on the third day.  Jesus showed Himself to the disciples to show that He is indeed Lord not only of the living, but of death itself.  But Jesus didn’t only connect with them to show that He has risen from the dead.

Look at what Jesus does for them.  “Peace be with you.”  Not just once, but twice that first night, and then again when Thomas is with them a week later.  Jesus connected with them to bring them His peace.  Jesus connected with the disciples to show them that they didn’t need to fear.  Jesus connected with them to show that He knew they had their doubts, but that He still wanted to connect with them in spite of their doubts.  Jesus connected with them to show them what they needed in order to believe, to prepare them for the task at hand.

Jesus connected with the disciples to bring them His peace.  It’s not just the peace of mind in knowing that their fears and doubts were overcome.  It’s also the kind of peace that comes from having their sin forgiven.  It’s the kind of peace in knowing that they were valued by God.  It’s the kind of peace in knowing that God valued them enough that they could share in the ministry of Jesus.  And all of that is summed up in what Jesus said to them.  “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

Jesus was sent to forgive the sins of the world.  Jesus then proved that He alone could overcome the sin of the world by rising back to life.  And Jesus connected with the disciples to let them know that the task of paying the price of sin was finished, but the delivery of the message had only just begun.  Jesus had been sent to forgive the sin of the world, and now Jesus was connecting with His followers to send them, just like He had been sent, to connect with people, and to bring His peace, and to forgive the sin of the world.

That, my friends, is what Connecting Community And Christ is all about.  It all starts with the connection that Jesus instigates.  Jesus has connected with you, just like He took the initiative in connecting with the disciples.  He didn’t do it any of the ways that we talked about earlier.  Jesus looks for something far more sure and certain than through a mere phone call.  Jesus connects with you in an event that you can always turn back to, the event of your baptism.

Jesus instigated His connection with you through those washing waters.  In your baptism, you received the same peace that Jesus brought to the disciples that first resurrection night, and the following week.  You have the peace of having your sin forgiven, through His death and resurrection.  And that peace is yours, even when you have moments of fear.  That peace is yours, even when you have moments of doubt.  Jesus instigates His connection with you through an event that actually happens in your life, one which you can always point to as the assurance of His connection with you.

And, just like Jesus connected with His disciples those first couple of times, He still connects with you in the same way.  As Jesus was sent by the Father, so Jesus continued to connect with His followers to send them, just like He was sent.  Jesus connects with you, and values you enough to have you share in the ministry that He began.  Go, connect with others.  Reach them in their fear and doubt.  Let them know of the peace they have with God, through the connection that Jesus instigates in the water of baptism.  Jesus was sent to begin that connection, and now He sees value in you to ask you to continue that ministry as you are sent, just as He was sent.

That’s what we do as God’s people.  We have been connected with Jesus, and have been given the gifts He brings and purchased for you.  You have His forgiveness.  You have His peace.  You are connected to Christ, and that connection brings you into His new, perfect life.  It brings you into partnership with Him in His ministry.  It brings you into the connection of one who was sent, and who now sends, just as He was sent.

You are the sent ones of Jesus.  You are sent to connect community and Christ.  And as we think about what that means for us as a congregation of God’s people, we benefit by being reminded of how Jesus went about that connection.  We heard today about how Jesus connected with people who were trapped in fear, and in doubt.  Jesus didn’t hold that fear and doubt against them, but instead, connected with them to overcome that fear and doubt.  Jesus doesn’t hold it against them, but connects in order to bring them into connection with Him.

As we think about connecting community and Christ, that’s part of what it means for us to be sent, just as Jesus was sent.  We’re sent to connect with community who will undoubtedly have fear and doubt in life.  And we’re sent to connect with them, not to hold those things against them, but to connect them to the One who has overcome that fear and doubt.  We connect them to Christ, who has taken that which we call sin, and has forgiven it.  We connect them to Christ, who brings peace into their lives as they hear that their sin, both against God and against others, can and is forgiven, and doesn’t have to define who they are.  We connect our community to Christ, and in doing so, we connect them to the One who brings peace, and forgiveness.

It’s all instigated by Jesus, who was the first one to connect with the disciples, and who first connected with you in the water of baptism.  And now, you are sent, just as Jesus was sent, to instigate connections with people who have their fears and their doubts.  You are sent to people who need to know the peace of God, and of the forgiveness of their sin.  And as we start to think about this as a gathering of God’s people, I would encourage you to be thinking about this.  What are some of the places that you are being sent to instigate connections?  What connections are possible there?  What fears or doubts might you encounter?  And how can you connect them to the One who brings peace, and who brings forgiveness of their sin?  That, my friends, is what connecting community and Christ really is all about.  May we be about instigating connections, as people who are sent, just as our Lord was sent.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.