Only three verses, but packed with church building and relationship building guidance! Verse 13, "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another." I find it interesting that Paul uses freedom as a condition we are in and yet calls us to be slaves. What are we free from, if we are to be slaves?
Christ freed us from the legalism that society and churches bind us with. Because he loves us so much, he does not bind us...restrict us...from choosing and pursuing a life that we want. Yet, by His Spirit, He nurtures us and transforms us so that we will want His life for ourselves. He enslaved Himself to us through His Spirit out of love, and as we grow in spirit, we will become enslaved by His Spirit to one another, wanting His life for others as well as ourselves. This can only happen when we love one another as Christ loves us (Verse 14).
I find that I spend a lot of time and effort trying to convince and recruit people to be in agreement with me. I insist that others conform to my way of thinking so that I can be at peace with them. I am enslaving them, asking them to surrender their ideas and ideals, to be in relationship with me. Because Christ loves us, He allows us to surrender our unrighteous ideas and ideals victoriously and joyfully as we journey with Him; not in order to journey with Him.
Verse 15, "If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." Paul warns us in this verse that if we become legalistic ourselves, we not only cause others not to be free, but we also surrender our freedom to pursue the life that Jesus offers. By enslaving others to our ideals, we are also binding ourselves to a level that is far below the ideals that Christ will reveal in the freedom He grants us. I find that many of my most joyful moments are when I discover (the Spirit reveals) a new way of thinking, a new perspective, patience, or concern for another, that did not exist the moment before.
Discover and Proclaim the Truth of The Bible which is: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life." (John 3:16 NRSV). Jesus came to humanity to proclaim and give evidence to that love and He has commanded us to do the same. We, who believe, must not merely be followers, but we must be proclaimers of the Gospel Message and we can only do that by being filled with the love of God.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Parable of the Sower...Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23
This parable of a sower who scatters seeds on different soils is familiar to us and it usually leads to lots of discussion centered on the sower and the soil. This morning at breakfast, as we talked about this parable, a friend mentioned that the verses 18-23 really focus on the seed, the Word of God, and how we respond to it. Instead of asking if we are fertile soil, this leads us to look how we treat the Word...letting it take root in our hearts so that it produces the fruit it was sent to produce.
Here are the facts....the seeds themselves are good and the sower is not careless in spreading them. How the seeds grow is determined by the opportunity they find to take root. I think of those pesky weeds that grow out of the cracks in my driveway. They obviously found a good place to put down roots because I can't pull them up by the root. I can trim them back, but they are rooted and will grow back within days.
This is what the word of God will do if we let it take root in our hearts. We may receive His word while we are in the thickets of life, overwhelmed with troubles, yet if we let it take root, God will give it room to grow by removing the thickets. But if we hear His word and dismiss it or focus on the briers and brambles of life, instead of desiring for His words to be rooted within us, it will yield nothing.
By focusing on the seeds in this parable, we find that this is really about loving and desiring His Word to be in our lives.
Here are the facts....the seeds themselves are good and the sower is not careless in spreading them. How the seeds grow is determined by the opportunity they find to take root. I think of those pesky weeds that grow out of the cracks in my driveway. They obviously found a good place to put down roots because I can't pull them up by the root. I can trim them back, but they are rooted and will grow back within days.
This is what the word of God will do if we let it take root in our hearts. We may receive His word while we are in the thickets of life, overwhelmed with troubles, yet if we let it take root, God will give it room to grow by removing the thickets. But if we hear His word and dismiss it or focus on the briers and brambles of life, instead of desiring for His words to be rooted within us, it will yield nothing.
By focusing on the seeds in this parable, we find that this is really about loving and desiring His Word to be in our lives.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Parable of the Talents....Matthew 25:14-30
Monday evening we had a Finance Committee Meeting, always the highlight of the month. Church finance meetings usually start off on the right foot...we are here to serve the Lord and His church, but somewhere along the way, the meeting morphs into a business meeting not unlike those of the corporate world. Income is deficient, expenses are too high, and planning for the future is depressing.
This morning I was listening to Moody Radio and Dr. David Jeremiah was giving a message on the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). It was so relevant as I thought back to the previous night's meeting. The Master entrusts us with money and talents and asks us to use what he gives us with an understanding that one day he will return and we will make an accounting of what he has given us. As the parable shows, some of us will invest and put the gifts to work, multiplying and growing while others of us will put the gifts in a hole (a reserve account) so that they are safely preserved for that day the Master returns.
I think that by safely preserving what God gives us, we miss the joy and satisfaction of watching His gifts grow. We can put Him out of our minds and just wait for that day of accountability or we can live each day looking for new ways to invest what He has given us.
Last night in the Finance meeting I am pleased to report that we looked for ways to invest and the discussions included not only money, but also time and talents of our church family. Pastor David Pawls and his wife Michele were with us for the first time and he made a couple of points that I would like to share. He wants Crystal River United Methodist Church to be "relevant" in our community. That caused me to pause because to be relevant is to have significance and bearing on matters at hand. To be Christ's church in a relevant way, we need to care for and about those things Christ cares about...the salvation and caring for the least, the lost, and the last.
Pastor Rawls also stated that he wants worship to be at the center of Crystal River United Methodist Church....the center of our ministries, our fellowship, and our serving. Dr. Jeremiah made the same point regarding the parable. How we handle our talents is a reflection of our worship. If we invest for the Lord, it is measure of our faith, trust, and belief. If we bury our talents it is reveals our fears that we don't trust God to provide, to carry, to enable.
Pastor Rawls made one more point that I believe shows how we can keep worship in the center of all we do. He wants a church full of "Servants" not "Volunteers". The Bible tells us a lot about being a servant while the world tells us never to volunteer. We Serve (worship) A Mighty God!
This morning I was listening to Moody Radio and Dr. David Jeremiah was giving a message on the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). It was so relevant as I thought back to the previous night's meeting. The Master entrusts us with money and talents and asks us to use what he gives us with an understanding that one day he will return and we will make an accounting of what he has given us. As the parable shows, some of us will invest and put the gifts to work, multiplying and growing while others of us will put the gifts in a hole (a reserve account) so that they are safely preserved for that day the Master returns.
I think that by safely preserving what God gives us, we miss the joy and satisfaction of watching His gifts grow. We can put Him out of our minds and just wait for that day of accountability or we can live each day looking for new ways to invest what He has given us.
Last night in the Finance meeting I am pleased to report that we looked for ways to invest and the discussions included not only money, but also time and talents of our church family. Pastor David Pawls and his wife Michele were with us for the first time and he made a couple of points that I would like to share. He wants Crystal River United Methodist Church to be "relevant" in our community. That caused me to pause because to be relevant is to have significance and bearing on matters at hand. To be Christ's church in a relevant way, we need to care for and about those things Christ cares about...the salvation and caring for the least, the lost, and the last.
Pastor Rawls also stated that he wants worship to be at the center of Crystal River United Methodist Church....the center of our ministries, our fellowship, and our serving. Dr. Jeremiah made the same point regarding the parable. How we handle our talents is a reflection of our worship. If we invest for the Lord, it is measure of our faith, trust, and belief. If we bury our talents it is reveals our fears that we don't trust God to provide, to carry, to enable.
Pastor Rawls made one more point that I believe shows how we can keep worship in the center of all we do. He wants a church full of "Servants" not "Volunteers". The Bible tells us a lot about being a servant while the world tells us never to volunteer. We Serve (worship) A Mighty God!
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