Faith

One of the most powerful and least understood forces in our world is faith. In the book of Hebrews, Paul defines faith as being the “substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is like lightening before thunder, the calm before the storm, a crash before a child’s cry.

One of the more interesting observations people made in Indonesia, prior to the Tsunami hitting their coast, was that the animals sensed devastation was coming, became highly agitated, and fled to the hills. Faith is very much like that. It is an innate spiritual sense that something is about to happen. Faith is rarely based on objective reality or the here and now; rather it is a sense of God’s hand in the future which may or may not have much to do with the present.

Sometimes faith is confused with wishful thinking. There are those who would have us believe that a hoped for outcome can be had if only we had the faith to make it so. Over the years, I have seen people refuse necessary medical treatment for serious illnesses because they thought God might interpret this as a sign of their lack of faith and withhold His healing.

This is not the faith that Paul speaks about in Hebrews. True faith is more like the Three Wise Men who instinctively knew that a star would lead them to the birth of Messiah. It wasn’t wishful thinking, but it was a deep spiritual instinct.

What does this mean for you and me? It means that we must always be ready to hear from God the messages given through either our faith or the faith of others. I am more convinced than ever: the biggest obstacle to our walk with Christ is a powerful reality and an inevitable future that appears greater even than God. Discouragement sets in; then, ears and hearts stop listening. Like Israel in the wilderness, blessing is delayed, and everyone suffers. Why? Because the promise was never preceded by faith; therefore, the promise wouldn’t happen, at least for them.

What is God telling you about His future? You know what your eyes and ears are telling you about the present, but what is He saying about Him? Objective reality and inevitable outcomes guide the actions of the world; faith, guides the actions of believers.

PJ

Reflections on the Emmaus Walk

I’ve just returned from spending a long weekend with the Emmaus community serving as one of three spiritual directors. Twenty eight “pilgrims” spent 72 hours experiencing nothing but the Grace of God. In all, over 50 volunteers invested their time, energy, and talents to make sure that these men would feel God’s grace touch their lives.

I was one of those pilgrims last year. I have to say this was one of the high points of my journey with Christ; so much so, that I felt compelled to be a part of sharing this event with others. I guess this is what grace is all about. True sacrifice is rooted more in returning blessings than in anything else.

One of the notable moments of this weekend was the hours spent in prayer for every aspect of the weekend. When the team arrived on Thursday afternoon, they immediately walked all over the retreat center and prayed for every spot and every function the pilgrims would experience. I was struck by the priority this had in the preparation for the weekend.

The weekend was a phenomenal success as evidenced by the testimonies of every man that walked. As I listened to testimony after testimony, I was reminded of the hours spent in prayer for the weekend, and I knew God was simply answering our prayers for these men.

As I drove home last night, I knew this was something I would bring back to Ivy. In a few minutes, I will be meeting with the staff for our weekly staff meeting, and I plan to bring this up with them. Focused, serious prayer needs to be a part of everything we do. I know people regularly pray for the ministries of the Church; however, there is more we can do. Prayer needs to be given a higher priority in everything we do and are about.

I suspect you will be hearing more on this in the coming days. I was reminded the only way any difficulty can be weathered and any blessing can be understood is with the confidence that prayer has lead the way.

PJ

Multi-Generational Church

Last week, I attended a seminar sponsored by Virginia Baptists at Camp Little Crossroads. The title of the invitation only seminar was, “Leading a Five Generation Church.”

You can understand why this intrigued me—as this precisely describes the challenges we face at Ivy. There aren’t many congregations that are picking up this challenge. Too often, one generation of Christians is given the lions share of attention at the expense of the others. The reasons for this are many and varied. Typically, words like “survival” and “squeaky wheel” are the motivational forces behind a focus on one generation over another.

Obviously, the greater challenge facing a historic church like Ivy, is to bring all generations together as the Body of Christ. This is no small or easy task, rather it challenges all of us to reach beyond our small circle of friends to include other generations into our communities. The scriptures are replete with examples of younger Christians honoring their elders and elders mentoring and caring for those who are coming behind them.

Jesus commanded us to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” The Apostle Paul expanded this command with these forceful words, “bear one another’s burdens in love.” Both of these instructions imply we have neighbors, and both of these are directed at Christians within the faith community. Love does not exist in a vacuum, rather it demands that we interact and care for those around us.

Both scriptures demand that we move out of our comfort zones and established friendships with many different generations. How else can the seniors receive the respect and honor due them, and how else can the older believers mentor and disciple the younger?

It may be that this is a new paradigm for the modern church; however, it is not new to the historic church. Mentoring and honoring have been as much a part of the fabric of Christianity as Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. I am convinced that the next twenty years of the church will see a revival of “mentoring and honoring” as Christians rediscover the jewels of generational connection.

Living Lord's Supper

Last Thursday evening, we presented The Living Lord's Supper. This was the first time I had ever seen this shared in church. I must say in every respect, it exceeded my expectations. I was impressed by it's message, the commitment of those men to memorize all those lines, the soloists, the AV crew, and of course, the director.

I don't know why this isn't done more often in churches. That meal was the last one that our Lord had with His disciples. As you know, they were celebrating the Passover, and during that meal, Jesus summed up thousands of years of teaching by showing us that the Passover was about Him all along. God had manipulated history, spoke through the prophets, declared the Law at Sinai in a way that pointed directly to the last declaration of our Lord during that meal.

In case anyone would ever miss the message of the cross, His words would instruct and enlighten anyone who wondered what His sacrifice meant. As the lamb slaughtered as the sacrifice that would cover and protect any who believe from the judgment to come.

That was what our Lord showed us during the Passover in the upper room. The Last Supper was to the cross as the ULTRA was to the coded messages of the Germans during WWII. It broke the code.

Let Your Light Shine...

The Sadducees (liberal, Zionist Jews) were trying to discredit Jesus by posing a question about the resurrection of the dead and the apparent conflict that it posed on a woman who was widowed and then remarried. “In the resurrection” they asked,” when they rise again, which one's wife will she be?” (Mark 12:23)

The fact they didn’t believe in the Resurrection didn’t matter to them; all that mattered was anyone who displayed faith in anything was to be discredited so as to expose the foolishness
of their faith. They took great delight in uncovering apparent contradictions in the Torah to belittle any who might trust and actually believe the Bible.

Well, when they took on Jesus, who was the Word of God (John 1), and who spoke the words of the law to Israel at Sinai through Moses, they were uncovered as the unsanctified, secular, and unbelieving people that they were. These men were the teachers of Israel and were passing on their poison to generation after generation of children. Here was Jesus’ reply:

Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the scriptures or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken." (Mark 12:24-27)

They didn’t understand either the scriptures or the power of God, and yet they were the leaders of Israel’s faith. Their positions on faith colored and influenced everyone.

This past Saturday, Bill Gray spoke before a gathering of about 200 Emmaus volunteers and said something that cut to the heart of a lot we do in the church. He said it isn’t just enough to be kind and benevolent, but we also need to tell people why kindness is expressed from us and the church. Our kindness isn’t based on our goodness or piety but God’s. There are some who teach, like the Sadducees, that goodness and kindness is the result of our own personal good works and piety which has nothing to do with God in us or working through us. This kind of thinking only serves to provide temporary, temporal relief and deprives the world of the gospel that gives eternal life.

Here is the challenge that faces all those who believe in the scriptures and the power of God: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) Good works and the gospel go together. Good works validate the message that leads to life. Good works by themselves have no meaning unless they lead to God.

Reflections on Sunday, March 2

This past Sunday, I spoke on the last part of Ephesians 2 beginning with verse 11. As you recall, the text began with the words, "Therefore, remember." Then, the Apostle called the faithful to recall who they were as Gentiles before God and to remember the great difference the Cross had made in their lives. Before, they were aliens to the covenants of God, but now, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, they were now included.

Did you know your Bible is divided along these lines? We have the Old Testament and the New. The word Testament means COVENANT. The Old Testament is the record of the old covenant that God made to the Jews through Abraham, Moses, and David. The New Testament means this part of the Bible is the record of the new covenant that God made to all people through the blood of Christ.

We are not accustomed to using the word "covenant." The word speaks of a promise made between at least two parties. At the beginning of every Christian marriage ceremony, the minister will use the word covenant to declare what is being done throughout the ceremony. In marriage, a covenant is being made between two people based on promises they make to each other during their vows. In describing the covenant during the ceremony, the words, "forsaking all others" are used to describe the priority of this covenant over all other covenants that either party may be in.

When you think about it, we are all bound by many covenants in our lives. We have covenants with our employers (i.e. they promise to pay us, and we promise to work). We have covenants with our parents, our brothers and sisters, and many of our close friends. We even have covenants with our children and out grandchildren. The phrase "forsaking all others" means the relationship with a man and a woman in marriage will always have priority over all other covenants. It doesn't mean all other covenants will be forsaken and ignored, but it means this covenant is of such great importance that it will eclipse all other covenants.

The blessings of God that attend two people spending their lives trying to keep this covenant are breathtaking! The mystery here is great. To fully keep this covenant necessitates moments when each individual appeals to God for wisdom, direction, and intervention to know how best to keep those special marriage promises. It is wonderful to see God work this way in marriage.

At the end of the day, after children leave the nest and your jobs are through, you will only have each other. Then you will see the indescribable blessing of two people who made, and through God's help, have kept their promises to each other.