Love God – Love Others

This entire month, Pastor Scott has been preaching on how loving God and loving others are intrinsic to our faith. I have spent a lot of time reading through several passages of Scripture that support this. Since we were going to be taught on the story of the Good Samaritan, I spent a lot of time in that passage this week.

One thing which really struck me was the description of the manner in which the Samaritan helped the beaten man. The passage says that he “bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine” (Luke 10:34). The irony in that statement is that the Samaritan cared for this wounded man with the very items which the priest and the Levite would have used to worship God in the temple! God had given them all the same substances, oil and wine in this example, and how they used those items demonstrated the true heart of their worship.

Every good thing comes from the Lord (James 1:17). And how we use those things reveals our heart. Not only that, but we grow in our understanding of our identity in Christ and our role in His Kingdom when we practice generosity concerning His gifts to us.

You are generous because of your faith. And I am praying that you will really put your generosity to work, for in so doing you will come to an understanding of all the good things we can do for Christ. Philemon 6

So, what has God given to you? What are you going to do with it? How will you worship the Lord with what He has given? Will you pass by the wounded man by the side of the road? Or will you set your schedule aside for a moment and get your hands dirty for the sake of the God you claim to serve?

When the Saints Go Marching In

Today is Mardi Gras. “Mardi Gras” is French (you have no idea how much this pains me) for “Fat Tuesday.” To understand Mardi Gras better, you need to understand the following day, Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Lenten season, the 40 days leading up to Easter. Lent is characterized by prayer, penitence, charity, and self-denial, especially fasting. Of course, if you’re going to have a prescribed time on your calendar for practicing the disciplines which should be present throughout the year, then you invite a huge party on the eve of that “holiness” during which people cut loose and do all of the things that won’t be permitted for nearly seven weeks. Hence, Fat Tuesday!

Sadly, we need a program to force us to do things which we should willing do continually. This is part of the struggle we have as the CONNECT Leadership Team. There are perspectives and activities which should flow naturally from a right understanding of the gospel. But sometimes, they just don’t flow. Sometimes, they need a gentle shove.

God’s people should be His ambassadors in the world, meaning being His representatives or representation. Scripture says that “God is love” repeatedly in 1 John 4. Note that it doesn’t say that God “has love” or that God is “loving,” but rather that He “is” love. And look how Scripture describes the outpouring of that attribute: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And most of us know John 3:16, but look at 1 John 3:16:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16

If that verse leaves the application too open, the next verse makes it very practical and difficult to avoid:

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 1 John 3:17

The Lenten season is upon us. This is an incredible time of anticipation of the Easter holiday. For the redeemed, Easter is a call to remembrance, but not just to remember what Christ did to provide for our salvation. It’s also an urgent call to action. It’s a time when we need to remember that we have been called to be like our Lord and to demonstrate our love through deeds.

There is tremendous need all around us. Take this time to demonstrate your love of God and love of neighbor by reaching out in a very tangible way. Who do you know that needs to be physically blessed this Easter season? Don’t know anyone? As a church, we will be adopting families once again through the Lititz-Warwick Community Chest (LWCC). How can you help? Pitch in a few bucks and bless a family with an Easter meal. You can do that on your own or by using our Taste of Grace ministry. Maybe you will begin to build a relationship with someone who will ask you why you’re being so loving toward them…

Tell me what your group is planning. How will you demonstrate the generous love of our God this Easter season?

Calibration

So, you take off from San Diego, CA on your way to Augusta, ME. What you don’t know is that the compass on your plane is off by a tiny amount. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, right? Maybe someone points out that it’s off by less than 1%, specifically 3 degrees. Not to worry, right? Well, at the end of your 7-hour flight, you see the runway below and head in for terra firma and a much-needed rest. It’s not until you get off the plane that you realize how much trouble you’re in. Instead of Augusta, you’re in Quebec, Canada. Do you speak French? Did you bring your passport?

In Session 5 of UG, you will take a look at the authorities in our life. Whether it’s culture, or family, or your own reasoning, there are a multitude of opportunities for error to creep into our life. Take a look at the schemes of our enemy, Satan. Finally, take a look at a great Old Testament story about a well-intentioned king who inherited a horribly broken kingdom. Find out how he figured out that they were all in BIG trouble.

Saved For

So, why does God save you? I’ve heard some say, “God loves you so much, He just can’t imagine Heaven without you.” Sentimental, but unbiblical. Some would say that God saves you so that He will have people in Heaven who will give Him the honor and praise that He deserves. Well, this one is partly true. We are told that we are to bring honor to the Lord and passages like Rev. 4:11 show that Heaven will be full of praise of Him. But aren’t the holy angels already worshipping Him? Besides, if we’re saved for Heaven, why doesn’t God take us there immediately?

The reason is that we are saved for a purpose right here on earth! No, that purpose is not the development of Christ-like character. The curse of the evangelical church is that we have confused the means and the purpose. Our holiness is not the purpose, neither is the acquisition of biblical knowledge. Everywhere in Scripture where we are encouraged to grow in knowledge and understanding, it is always so that we will effectively pursue our true purpose.

Are you ready or the bad news? Our purpose is the same as that of Jesus, to expand the Kingdom of God in the world. That includes being stewards of the most significant thing God has given us, the Gospel of Grace. It also includes issues of justice and mercy. We have a mission in the world. In Session 4 of UG, you’ll take a look at ways that you can engage in the work of the Kingdom, the reason God keeps you here after saving you. Find out how love and community are intrinsic to our journey of faithfulness. Also, find out how simple sharing a compelling gospel presentation can be.

Hopefully I haven’t scared everyone off before the last session. Check back tomorrow and I’ll share with you how you can know you are on the right track…

Saved Unto

Evangelical churches today do a very good job of offering the gift of salvation to sinners. But is your personal salvation why Jesus went to the cross? Certainly, we are saved as individuals, by personally putting our trust in Christ’s death and resurrection. But Ephesians 5 says that Jesus died for the church.

So, what about the church? Is God’s plan for the church that all of His people would fight their children every Sunday morning, while they are putting on clothes that they would never dream of wearing any other time of the week, so that they can go to a building, watch an hour-long show, and then bug out as quickly as possible in order to beat the crowd to the buffet? Session 3 of UG looks at the church and how we are expected to connect, grow, and serve.

BTW, this is the entire reason for the CONNECT ministry of Grace Church. Our commission from the Lord is not to “make converts of all peoples” but to “make disciples of all peoples.” The mission of CONNECT is to connect people closer to God, to His people in order to create the church, and to His mission in the world. If you attend Grace Church, CONNECT is where you learn and practice faithfulness.

OK, enough of the cheap, shameless plug. Come back tomorrow for a preview of Session 4, Saved For.

Saved From

Ever heard the gospel? You say “Sure, lots of times.” But do you really understand the gospel? You’re a sinner. Does that just mean that you do some bad things? And why is God so ticked by a couple minor indiscretions? It’s not like you did anything really awful, right? Death penalty for a few little white lies? Come on now! How about Christ? How does He fit in? Is He just available to save you from your sin problem? If so, what happens after that?

Are we just bad or are we broken also? Why do bad things happen? And what does this God really intend to do about it all???

In Session 2 of UG, you’ll dive into an incredible story. There’s a rebel, a usurper to the throne of the king. But this rebel was just a small child. As his nanny fled with him to save his life, he was dropped and left a cripple. So he grew to manhood in hiding, expecting that the king would hunt him down and put him to death. One day, the king found him…

Come back Wednesday and find out what God expects of His saints…..

Meeting & Moving

So, our Mission statement is “Meeting & Moving.” Specifically, it is “Meeting people where they are and Moving them to where God wants them to be.” But that is really vague. That makes it a memorable Mission statement, which is great. But it could be a little too vague for unifying a church. And where does it come from? Is it an idea someone dreamed up? Is there biblical justification for it?

Session 1 of UG looks at our Meeting & Moving Mission statement. You get to read and discuss two key passages in Matthew’s gospel, passages which have defined Christian faithfulness since they were written by a wretched tax-collector turned Apostle and evangelist to the Jews. Beyond that, you will look at how we believe we are called to pursue faithfulness by looking at two biblical examples, Paul and Christ Himself.

There’s a woman looking to draw water from a well. She doesn’t go to the well during the cool morning hours of the day. That’s when most of the women from the town are found in that spot. No, she battles the heat to avoid the crowd. It’s strange that she should avoid others since that’s her heart’s deepest desire. She wants to be known. She wants to be accepted. She wants to be appreciated. She wants to be loved. But therein lies the problem. She has gone about intimacy the wrong way. And her promiscuous ways have resulted in driving her further away from significant relationships. Their stares pierce through her soul and their words tear at her flesh. So she goes to the well during the heat of the day knowing she will be alone… But not on this day. Today, there’s a prophet at the well, one whose eyes don’t pierce her soul, but search her heart. He could have stayed far away from the mess of her life, even from the mess of this world. But He chose to step out of eternity and enter into suffering so that He could show a desperate, lonely woman that He can offer her rest for her soul. And He doesn’t start by telling her that she has made a disaster of her life. He will eventually get there, but He starts by talking about cool water on a brutally hot day.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at how messed up her life really was…

Understanding Grace

Coming out of the holiday season, many of our groups have decided to follow our advice and do the Understanding Grace (UG) group curriculum. While this material fulfills the Membership requirement of a Pastor’s class, it is so much more important to the health of our groups and our church. UG is five sessions, each one dealing with a critical component of our ministry at Grace Church. However, unlike a typical Membership class, this material is formatted for deep group discussion. In fact, while set up for five meetings, some groups are already telling us that they are choosing to slow down a bit and take multiple meetings for some of the sections because the discussion has been so rich.

UG is something that we will be asking our groups to revisit on a periodic basis. By understanding the foundations of our ministry at Grace, we can stay true to our calling. What that frequency is, only the Lord knows. Likely, we will ask groups to cover the material every other year. That repetition, along with our annual Vision Month preaching series, will provide for us the standards against which we can test our goals and our plans. Frankly, we are only about 16 months into our transition to being a church of groups. We are beginning to gather people and help them to learn why groups are important and how to love one another as God desires. But we haven’t seen even a third of what groups will be and do in the future. So, if we’re going to arrive at the correct destination, we are going to need to check our course periodically. UG is part of that process.

Over the next week, I will be posting daily about the UG content, one session each weekday. Most of our groups are in or finishing Session 2 by now. One has made it thru Session 3. As I’m able, I will share some of the feedback I’ve been getting also.

See you Monday. We’ll look at our Mission…..