Tuesday, August 30, 2016

The Church as Family


"My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

(Luke 8:21 ESV)



            All of us, I think, would say that our family is of the utmost importance to us.  We would say that we value our family over everything else this world has to offer.  And most of us have a fierce loyalty when it comes to our family.  Who hasn’t heard the expression: “Blood is thicker than water.”

            This is why we’re shocked when we read the words of Jesus, seen above.  We see in Luke 8 that, as Jesus was teaching, his mother and brothers came to him.  However, they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. Word was then brought to him that they were outside, desiring to see him.

            It’s in this context that Jesus utters these words.  And, for this reason, they almost come off as disrespectful.  It sounds to us like he’s devaluing his earthly family.  We wonder why he wouldn’t prioritize his family over the crowd who was listening to him.  We wonder why he didn’t stop and immediately go to his family.

            Jesus, however, would never disrespect or devalue his family.  He is God, after all.  And he perfectly kept all of God’s commands, one of which is to honor your mother.

            Yet, he does make an important point.  He makes the point that the people of faith are his family.  He makes the point that it’s faith which binds us together.

            This is something that we, as Christians, tend to overlook.  We continue to place a heavy emphasis on our earthly relatives, as we should.  But, at the same time, we disregard our place in the church.  We fail to understand our relation to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

            We view our fellow believers as friends and acquaintances.  And we’re happy to visit with them on Sunday morning.  We may even enjoy seeing them.  But rarely do we view them as family. 

            We don’t prioritize our fellow believers as family.  We don’t truly love them like family.  They are, honestly, more of an afterthought as we tend to more pressing responsibilities.

            Although we desire that each of our earthly family will be saved, there are no guarantees of this.  We can share the gospel with them and pray for them.  But it’s only by faith that they’ll be saved.

            However, because of their faith in Jesus, our fellow believers will be with us in eternity.  Our relationship to them will endure forever.  So it only makes sense that this is something we should greatly cherish and value.

            In this spirit, my prayer is that each of us would consider our fellow believers at Prince of Peace to be family.  My prayer is that we would all love each other as family.  My prayer is that we will gladly build these relationships and seek to minister to one another out of this love.

           

Monday, August 29, 2016

Faith = Opinion?

“For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Galatians 1:11-12

   In today’s culture, faith is often equated with opinion. People often tell us, when we express our faith, that it's merely what we believe. They assert that your faith may be true for you, but that this doesn't make it true for everyone else.
    For this reason, missions is discouraged. In fact, it's often viewed as racist, intolerant, and bigoted. It's believed to imply that our opinion and practices are superior to those of everyone else.
    As those who are called to proclaim the Good News of Christ, we must understand that this isn't the case. Our faith is not merely an opinion.  It isn't merely man’s gospel, nor did it come from man. It's the revelation of God that's come through Jesus.
    This is the very point Paul was communicating to the Galatians. Although other teachers had come among them, and although a different “gospel” was being promoted, there was something fundamentally different between the two. Paul’s gospel had come from God himself.
    We remember, of course, how Paul was brought to faith. Jesus himself appeared to Paul as he was traveling on the road to Damascus. He went on to explain that, after being called by Christ to proclaim the gospel, he didn't consult anyone. He went into the desert of Arabia, and returned to Damascus. It was only after three years that he went to Jerusalem to meet Peter.
    His point is that his message came from none other than God himself. And, in the same way, he was not commissioned by man, but by God. It's this mindset that we also must maintain as we go to the nations.
    If our message were simply the teaching of man, we'd have reason for reservation. If our commissioning had come only from man, we'd have reason to question its authenticity. But, like Paul, we have a message that has come from the mouth of God and that was revealed in Jesus. And, in the same way, we have been commissioned by Christ himself, who has called us to proclaim the gospel to all nations.
    We must, therefore, faithfully go. We must faithfully proclaim this message. We must do so knowing that it's by this faith, and by this faith alone, that man can escape the power of sin and death.

Friday, August 19, 2016

My Pastor

“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work”
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

         Among those who are in ministry, we typically refer to each other by our first names.  We do so because we all share the same title.  And we do so because we are all colleagues.
However, there is one man that I’ve always called “pastor.” I could never bring myself to address him by his first name.  The man I’m referring to is the pastor under whom I grew up, Pastor William Richard Graves.
          I had a unique experience while I was visiting my parents this past week.  I was able to attend the funeral of this man who was so influential in my life.  I was also asked to read Scripture during the service, which I counted a great honor.
     As a pastor, I’ve conducted many, many funerals over the years.  And I’ve attended and taken part in many more, outside of ministry responsibilities.  However, this one was different.
          It was different because this was the man who baptized me, when I was nine years old.  This was the man who confirmed me.  This was the man to whom I went when I was being called by God into ministry.  This is the man who encouraged me in this calling, giving me opportunity after opportunity to learn and grow.  This is also one of the men who laid hands on me during my ordination, right after I graduated from seminary.
           God definitely used this man in my life, to both influence me and to prepare me for the calling I received.  And since I’ve been in ministry, he was always a source of encouragement.  Every time I saw him he would remind me that he was praying for me.
In a conversation, during the visitation, someone who knew me long ago said, “I don’t know where you are, as a pastor...” I could only reply to him, saying: “If you knew Pastor Graves, then you know where I’m at.”  
I can only hope and pray that God will use me in this way.  I can only hope and pray that God will use me to lead people to faith, to strengthen them in faith, and to prepare them for service.  I can only hope and pray that others might be able to say the same of me, when my time in this world comes to an end.
So thank you, Lord, for Pastor Graves.  Thank you for the great blessing he was in my life, and in the lives of so many others.  Thank you for his willingness to be used by you.  And thank you, also, for your continued work in my own life.