Donate to Support

Support the church that supports this blog. Donate at - www.PleasantGrove.cc Click the donate button in the upper righthand corner.

Monday, January 10, 2022

The Beautiful Rock

Introduction
Today, we begin a new message series about the Beautiful Church.

The Church was established by Jesus to be Christ’s physical presence on earth.  Let that sink in for just a minute…

We who follow Jesus as Lord—you and I together, along with all faithful believers around the world—are the Church, the physical presence of Jesus on the earth.

That should be a jaw dropping revelation if you’ve not known it before.  What a tremendous honor and privilege.  And also, what a tremendous responsibility.  The Church is a beautiful and powerful thing.

Many in our times say, "I love Jesus, but not the Church."  How can you love Jesus and not love the Church when the Church is Jesus physical presence on the earth?

The Church has gotten a bad reputation over the years.  Many are disillusioned with the Church.  Part of this is the Church’s own fault.  We have not always lived up to our high calling.  However, the Church has also been the victim of a scornful campaign to destroy Her good name.  The Enemy of God is working hard to convince the world the Church, is and always has been, nothing but trouble that has held back progress and fomented tremendous evil on society.

I hope this series will dispel the popular myth that our world would be better off without the Church.  I want to reveal the many blessings Christ brought our world through the Church—blessings we take for granted that could not exist without the work of Christ’s Church over the centuries. 

If you attend a church regularly, you may love the Church and maybe you don’t have a negative view of the Church.  But, even if you love the Church, you’ve been inundated by society’s scorn for the Church.
If you never attend church, it may be because you were told the lie that Church and organized religion is the reason for all of society’s ills.  I hope to dispel the misconceptions about the Church through this series and invite people to join the Church in playing the beautiful song Jesus wrote for us.  I hope every Christian who who reads these messages will learn to take our responsibility to represent Christ more serious.

If you are reading to this message today, please keep an opened mind.  Follow along over the next few weeks and consider all the tremendous good  that only Christ’s Church could have accomplished in our world over the last 2,000 years.  I hope to convince you that many of the blessings you cherish most in our world today only exist because of Jesus and the work of His Church over the last two millenia.

The Beautiful Tune 
This series was inspired by a great book by John Dickson titled, Bullies and Saint.  I commend the book to you.  In his book, Dickson uses an illustration to show how Jesus wrote a beautiful “song” of love that has had lasting resonance.  Unfortunately, Jesus’ followers have not always played the tune well. 

Click here to watch a short video of this illustration.

This is a great example of the history of the Christian church.  Jesus was born 2,000 years ago.  He showed the world the incredible, unconditional love of God.  He redeemed the world by dying on the cross and the power of God raised Him from the grave.  When we surrender to God and follow Jesus, He adds us to His Church and calls us to share His love and salvation with the whole world.  It is the most beautiful “song” ever written.

But, we are still fallible people.  You don’t pick up an instrument and play it perfectly on the first day.
You have to practice and get better and you have to learn the tune well.  Christians also have to practice and practice and practice and learn the tune of Christ in order to play it well.  There are bound to be sour notes along the way.  Furthermore, there are often in the Church wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing
who do not truly represent Jesus at all, but only wish to use His Church as a means to advance their own selfish agendas.

So let us start by establishing the foundation of Christ’s True Church. We find that foundation in Matthew 16:13-19.


Matthew 16:13-19
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

The Beautiful Rock of Faith
This text shows the true foundation of the Church.
Our foundation is faith in Jesus as “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus was not just a prophet or a teacher or a good man who came to bring change.  Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God who came to save the world from sin.  Our Sin is thinking we can live however we want apart from God.  Jesus has the power and right to save us because He is the Son of the Living God.  He is Lord of all.

In order to truly be part of Christ’s Church, you must accept and build your life upon the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  If Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord, the Son of God,
He has the right to your complete and total submission and allegiance.  In Matthew 10:38, Jesus said “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”  And in Luke 14:33, Jesus said,  “You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”

True followers of Jesus recognize that Jesus is absolute Lord of all.  The Truth is, we don’t own anything.  It all belongs to God.  Our very soul belongs to God.  It is a lie we tell ourselves that we are independent and free.  We are not.  All that we are and all that we have belong to God and are to be used for His purposes.  When we cling to our own selfish desires and ambitions, we cannot play Jesus’ beautiful tune the way it was meant to be played.  We will play a sour note every time we cling to our own way.

We see these sour notes throughout history whenever people in the Church used the name of Christ for their own selfish reasons.  Each time so-called Christians do this it gives the Devil and his supporters in the world another bullet to fire at Christ’s True Church.  “Look,”  cries the Devil, “at the way these Christians act!  Look how their religion destroys the world!”  And there is a world full of people glad to nod their heads in scornful agreement.

It is true that evil has sometimes been done in the name of Jesus over the centuries.  People in the Church have not always loved like Jesus or followed His way, truth, and life.  Much evil and hurt result when people drift from Christ.

But don’t judge Jesus or His Church by the worst actions of broken people who are not doing what Jesus taught us do.  Rather, look and see the beautiful tune Jesus wrote for His Church and how it redeems our world when played correctly.

As Christians, it is essential that we stand faithfully upon the Rock of Peter’s statement that Jesus “is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”  This is more than words; it must be lived out as actions.  We can’t hold this view only when it serves our purposes—when we want forgiveness and restoration, or when we are in desperate need of healing or help.

If Jesus is Lord, He is Lord all of the time.
He’s Lord when no one is watching.
He’s Lord when we have nothing and when we have plenty!
He’s Lord when we want to follow Him because it feels good.
He is also Lord when He tells us to take up a cross and give up our lives for Him,
And when He says, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
And when He says, forgive those who do you wrong,
and then forgive them again and again and again and again…

This is what it means to be the Church Jesus calls us to be, to be Jesus’ physical presence in the world.
What did Jesus do?  He died for us on the cross--even for His enemies!
What do you think Jesus wants His Church to do?
We must die on a cross for His sake, even for our enemies, trusting He will lift us up in ressurection!

When we stand faithfully upon this Rock, we are an incredible blessing to the world. 
When we step off the Rock into the sinking sands of selfishness and unfaithfulness,
we become an evil tool in the hand of the Devil that brings death and destruction upon the earth,
and people point their accusing fingers and shout,
“The Church and religion are the cause of all the world’s problems.”

Conclusion
So I want to call you to action.
If you are a Christian reading this, I implore you:
Stand firmly upon the Rock of faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
These are not just words. 
This is a principle that changes your identity and everything about the way you live.
It is imperative that you represent Jesus well.

If you are reading this and you are not a Christian or if you are one of those skeptical of the Church,
I call upon you to investigate the truth of these messages over the next few weeks with an opened mind.
Don’t just accept the popular myth the world teaches that the Church is only and always corrupt and holding the world back or causing harm.  Nothing could be further from the truth.
If you set aside your presumptions and look at the facts from 2,000 years of history, I believe you will see and maybe you will even want to join with us in our mission to save the world.

Monday, January 3, 2022

2022 State of the Communion Address

Introduction
It is our tradition at Pleasant Grove at the beginning of each new year, to have a State of the Communion Address where we look back at the accomplishments of the previous year and look forward to some goals and initiatives for the coming year.  My hope is this will give us a chance to pause and remember and celebrate what Christ has accomplished through us (for it is too easy to forget).  A further hope is to give some direction for our ministry in the coming year.

 But before we get into those details, I want us to hear God’s Word, for all that we believe and do is founded upon God’s Word and I believe God’s Word will give us much needed perspective in our task today.  

1 Corinthians 5:17-21
17 …anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Ambassadors of Christ
Paul’s words in this Scripture remind us who we are.  When a person becomes a Christian, they become a totally new person.  In fact, the transformation is so significant, it can be described as the old person dying and a new person coming to life.  Jesus described it in John 3:3 as being born again. 

This dramatic distinction between the old self and the new self may be easier to realize when a person becomes a Christian as a teenager or adult, because they are more self-aware.  Many people in the church, thankfully, grow up always knowing and following Christ.  For them, they cannot ever remember a time before they were Christian.  This is nothing to worry about.  In fact, it is my hope for all children raised in our church that they will never walk down the wrong road in life and have need for a dramatic conversion experience where they get back on the right road (as the Apostle Paul needed to do).  I pray that my kids, your kids, the kids of my church will always walk the right road.  Of course, we all need little corrections along the way, but it is not necessary for us to start out as scoundrels and convert to become Christians.

The point is, anyone who is a Christian has a drastically different purpose in life than a non-Christian.  A non-Christian believes they are free to choose their own path and do whatever they want in life.  Ironically, they are actually slaves and not free.  Their sinful nature, selfish pursuits, and the corrupt world work together to trap them in a downward spiral to death and eternal damnation.  Though they seek pleasure and fulfillment, it is always fleeting and elusive, because all people were created for a relationship with God and we cannot be at peace without it. 

Christians realize the great gift God gave the world through Jesus. Humanity was lost in sin, completely separated from God, utterly hopeless.  But Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sin and make it possible for people to reconcile with God.  And the Christian has chosen to “die to self”—to abandon selfishness and instead live for God by following Christ’s way of life to take up a cross every day and follow Jesus.  Ironically, by giving up our selfish ambitions, we discover True Life, by fulfilling our divine purpose to live in harmony with God.  And so a Christian’s purpose is the same as Christ’s purpose.  We are here in this world to serve as ambassadors for Christ.  He continues to reconcile the world to God through us.  God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

 And so, at the beginning of this New Year, I ask all of you–if you are truly a Christian–to remember your purpose.  You are not living to please yourself.  You are here as Christ’s ambassadors, reconciling people to God.

This is our purpose at Pleasant Grove.  It’s not about our traditions or our events or how many people we can get to come to Trunk or Treat.  It’s about reconciling a world of lost people to God through Jesus Christ.  We are Christ’s voice pleading with the world:  “Come back to God!”  That was the purpose that guided our work in 2021 and I hope will guide us in 2022 as well.

Looking Back at 2021
2021 has been a whirlwind.  It has gone by so fast.  I’m truly dumbfounded.  It still feels to me as if it is January 2021!  I know it is now 2022, but it truly seems like I was just sitting down to make plans for 2021 and now we’re making plans for 2022.  Where did the year go?  And yet, so much has happened over the last 12 months, I have to look back to remember it all.  And if I’m being completely honest, ministry has been really hard this year.  

The first year of the Pandemic was an adrenaline rush.  2021 began with such great hopes that a vaccine would finally rid us of COVID.  And we made good progress, but I think we’ve all been disabused of the notion that COVID is just going to go away.  We are going to be living with it for a while.  

And so in the midst of it, we’ve been laboring to resume important ministries like in person Sunday school, Bible study, children’s ministry, choir rehearsal, and others while dealing with quarantines, new variants, fewer volunteers, and inconsistent attendance.

I realize this has been hard for everyone.  It has been especially hard for the leaders of our church.  Leaders put forth a brave face, but those closest to them know how they struggle.  I myself have talked with my wife many times about my frustrations with ministry this year.  And I’ve shed tears in the church office as in front of Angela as I’ve lamented.    Leading in 2021 was frustrating.  We see where Pleasant Grove needs to go and we’re focused on leading the church there, but there are so many obstacles to navigate along the way, and people are scared, anxious, frustrated, and uncertain.  Many people have drifted away from their commitment to Christian habits and have lost their focus on Christ’s call to be His ambassador with Pleasant Grove.

And in truth, I sometimes felt as if many people either didn’t care or they were disappointed with me for not doing enough when in fact I was doing all I could.  I’ve been expending exorbitant amounts of extra spiritual energy to reboot ministries that were shut down for over a year, even as some were expressing their own frustrations and concerns, comparing our efforts to what other churches were doing and what people thought we should do or what their pastor should do.

Despite these frustrations, we have made great strides in 2021 to resume essential ministries.  And I want to point these out so they aren’t overlooked.  Starting back was far more important and much harder than shutting down, but not necessarily as exciting for people who tend to note more sensational events.

Do you remember that at this time last year, many of our ministries were still not meeting in person?  All of our IN PERSON Sunday school classes were on pause or were only meeting on Zoom.  There was no Thursday morning Bible study, no children’s church.  Only the youth were gathering, carefully with masks and social distanced, for Pizza with Amy.  We were still not allowed to do pastoral visits to people in the hospitals or nursing homes.  Funerals were still limited to 50 or fewer people.  We were not meeting for dinner on Wednesday nights.  Almost all our activities, besides Sunday morning worship, were still shut down.  And our in-person Sunday morning worship attendance on this Sunday, last year, was 33 people.  That’s combined—including both the early service and the regular service.  33 people.  Our average in-person attendance in now regularly back up close to 100 people.  

One year ago, we still didn’t even have hymnals available in the sanctuary, because we were still cautious about transferring the virus through touched surfaces like hymnals. 

So throughout the entire 2021 year, we’ve been rebuilding, rebooting, regathering volunteers and attendees, figuring out how to do it all again with ongoing restrictions.  And it’s been a lot of hard work, but so rewarding to see everyone gathering together again. 

We’ve resumed regular, weekly children’s church and Wednesday night children’s ministry under the leadership of our new children’s minister-Tiffany Tankersley.  Tiffany has been working diligently, despite falling down some steps and breaking her face in the first few weeks after she started the job!  Tiffany has working to ramp up our in-person kids programs, almost building them from scratch, while she’s also endure like 3 reconstructive surgeries on her face! It’s been a blessing to have Tiffany on board—to see her genuine passion to teach our children about Jesus’ love.

Our Sunday school classes have resumed meeting every Sunday, in person.  We resumed our Thursday morning Bible study with 10-15 people and have completed studies of the books of James, Jonah, and will soon finish the Book of Psalms.  This year, I was able to do some hospital and nursing home visits for the first time since COVID, though these are still sometimes restricted when new COVID variants emerge.  And I am sending cards to shut-ins ever week. 

The choir was blessed to resume weekly rehearsals for fully vaccinated members in May.  We began by sitting out in the sanctuary, socially distanced, and have eventually worked our way back up into the choir loft, where it feels so much better to sing in a sea of beautiful choral voices.  What a blessing it was to the choir to be able to sing together in person again.  And it was quite a blessing to everyone in worship as well.  Consider, that in December 2020, the Christmas cantata was done virtually.  Everything was pre-recorded and we watched it on the screens.  A few weeks ago, we were blessed to have the choir back, sitting in the choir loft, blessing us with a beautiful live Christmas cantata.  

I want to thank David for his leadership of our music ministries in all this.  I know it was stressful and took a lot of thought, prayer, and extra work on top of the normal workload of leading music ministries of our church. 

In September, we resumed our Wednesday night fellowship meals after a 17-month break forced by the pandemic.  Angela Stack and Angel Kirk worked together to gather volunteers to setup, serve, and clean. And you don't just flip a switch and restart a ministry like that.  Some people might think: "Well, you just get all your old volunteers and start back."  No, after 17 months, you don't have any volunteers any more.  You have to contact every one and build the volunteer list from scratch. 

The resumption of all these ministries took place in the midst of concerns about new COVID variants, like Delta and Omicron, that made us second guess ourselves and sometimes forced us to pause or backtrack.  Throughout 2021, it seems like it was 2 steps forward and 1 step back.  Progress like that is slow and frustrating, but it is progress to be proud of.  Remember, 2 steps forward and 1 step back  is still forward progress and if you do it consistently for a year, you make a lot of progress.  Looking back, we see have moved so far forward!  Don’t you ever forget it!  And be proud because 2 steps forward and 1 step back is 3 steps. So we have work 3 times as hard this past year than we normally do.

We also saw new people joining our fellowship!  Praise God! Hallelujah!  Our first new member since the beginning of the pandemic was Connie Reed, who transferred her membership to Pleasant Grove on May 9th, 2021.

We also received:
· Robert and Melissa Starling and their boys, Garrett and Ellis
· Chris and Ashley Ewton and their infant son Ben
· And we baptized Kelsey and Chad Ikerd’s baby, Julianne

2021 saw 5 new church members, 2 people gave their life to Jesus, 1 rededicated their life to Christ, and we had 6 baptisms!  Praise God! Hallelujah! 

And I can’t let it pass without saying that through out all of this terrible pandemic, the people of PGMC have been faithful to give generously to our church.  Your faithful giving allowed us to keep doing ministry in a crazy time and surge ahead.  

In July, we launched Operation Mercy Drops to award three kinds of grants to help and honor people in our community: 
1. Merit grants to honor people who are serving,
2. Service grants to help community organizations making a difference, and
3. Hardship grants to help people in need.

So far we have awarded five $1000 grants and one $500 grant.  A total of $5,500! This program has been recognized nationally by the United Methodist denomination as an innovative model for how to be the hands and feet of Christ.  And we did it in the midst of a pandemic.  I want to thank this church for stepping out in faith to do it.  I want to thank Salena Weed, Kelly Scruggs, Rita Wagers, and Mike Wilson for directing the program.

I also want encourage you to sponsor someone. (Details are available at www.pleasantgrove.cc/omd.)  We specifically want you to nominate people or organizations you want to reward.  This is not just to help people who have a hardship.  We want you to think of people or organizations that deserve to be recognized.  The program only works if you nominate people to receive an Operation Mercy Drops grant. 

So, 2021 was a challenging year, but it was year of great ministry by PGMC.  Don’t be discouraged.  Don’t lose heart because it’s hard.  We are doing great things in the name of Jesus and we will continue to do great things in 2022.  So let’s look ahead to this New Year.

Looking Ahead to 2022
I want you to know I am committed to be your pastor for the foreseeable future.  I know we are United Methodists and UM pastors are only officially appointed for one year at a time.  However, we are still in the midst of a pandemic and the UM denomination will be navigating a denomination split some time in the next couple years (possibly even this year).  These are extraordinary circumstances unlike anything we or the UMC have ever experienced.  So far, the North Georgia conference leaders have been generous to allow pastors and church more leeway to remain together with their congregations until things settle down.  I have requested not to be moved.  Our HR Committee has also made this request to the District Superintendent.

I want you to know, I have no plans to move to another church until at least 2025.  I have talked with our HR Committee about this and also my District Superintendent and he was supportive.  He even recommended I discuss this with our church to make a plan.  I understand that no one can predict what the future holds.  It is all in God’s hand.  However, we make plans and we work to implement them until God changes them and shows us a different way.  

The point is, I want you to know, I am committed to pastor this church as long as you will have me.  I’m saying this now because I know I’ve been at Pleasant Grove a lot longer than is customary for a UM pastor.  Some may be thinking, “Well, Chris isn’t going to be here much longer.”  Well, I am planning to be here, as long as you will allow me.

I also want you to know, I don’t plan on just coasting by either.  I’m as excited and energized by the opportunity to lead this church as I've ever been.  I hope you will be excited to let me and work with me for several more years.  We have a lot to do and I believe God wants us to do it together.  So let’s get to it.

One of the things I believe we need to focus on this year is more outreach to shut-ins.  There are many people in our church family who are not able to come to church regularly because of age or health restrictions.  They often feel lonely and disconnected from the church and the life in general.  Ministering to them has been especially challenging through this pandemic, but we have got to do better to reach out to them, encourage them, and include them.  I am committed as the pastor of this church to do better.  Last year, I was able to resume some visiting, and I also began writing notes to shut-ins every week.  I will do more this year.  I want to start taking communion to shut-ins.  As a pastor and United Methodist Elder, I am the only one at our church authorized to consecrate the sacrament and share it with shut-ins.  I plan to.

However, our shut-ins deserve more than just the pastor’s attention.  This church is their family.  You are their family and they have known many of you much longer than they've known me.  They need you to call them, visit them, send them notes, and show them your love.  If we all help with this, there are more than enough people at our church to serve these members of our church family.  I want you to pray about this.  How could you help share Jesus’ love to our shut-ins?

I asked all our ministry leaders to share one thing they want to focus on in 2022.  David Crawford shared that he wants to focus on bringing in more college students who have a passion and talent for music, but (like many college students) are not as involved in church.  David wants to bring them in to sing with our choir to be a blessing to the church, but also to bless these students with a church family that will love them like Jesus.  I hope you will pray for this effort and support it wholeheartedly.

Our tech minister, Jeremy Barfield, said his main goal for 2022 is to expand the tech volunteer base and train more folks to serve in various ways in tech. We need more volunteers.  Can you help with this?  Or, can you invite someone to our church who would like to learn about this kind of ministry?

Tiffany’s goals with our children’s ministry are to participate in more outreach events.  She wants to plan more outings for kids and get kids involved in active outreach and serving.  She wants to plan ahead for church events like Valentine’s Day, Easter, Trunk or Treat, and Lunch with Santa, and plan some summer outings and VBS. 

Amy's goals with our youth are to establish more adult volunteers and chaperones to make more youth trips and supervision possible.

My goal is to take communion to shut-ins to share this special sacrament with them so they can draw strength from Jesus presence in the bread and wine.  I also want to use YouTube, social media, and other online tools to teach and preach the Word. 

And I want to help lead this church through the challenges of this ongoing pandemic and the coming split of the United Methodist Church into two separate new denominations:
· one that allows same-sex marriage & the ordination of self-professing homosexuals pastors
· and a traditional denomination that teaches a biblical view of sexuality in line with orthodox Christians around the world and throughout history.

The UMC is scheduled to hold a global general conference at the end of August this year.  If they are able to meet, they will vote to split the denomination and there will be many important decisions for our congregation to make.  However, no one knows right now if the General Conference will be able to meet.  It is a complex gathering with a few thousand delegates from all over the world into one building and 40% of the delegates will be coming from including places like Africa and the Phillipines who are still facing travel restrictions due to the pandemic.  If they are not able to meet like planned, a messy denominational split may proceed anyway or it may be postponed.  Either way, these will be tricky waters for our church to navigate.  I hope I have your trust to lead you through it all.  Please pray for me and our church and our global denomination in the midst of it all this year.

Now, I can think of no better way to begin our new year together than by celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion.  In this sacrament, we remember the sacrifice Christ has made for us to wash away our sins and reconcile us to God and each other. And we remember our purpose to be His ambassadors pleading with the world:  “Come back to God!”  And we also receive His nourishing grace to help us in the task.



Monday, December 20, 2021

In Between, part 4 - Divisive Factions

Introduction
God’s 400-year official silence in between the Old and New Testaments was a pause that prepared the world for the most important Word God would ever speak—the Word made flesh, Jesus the Christ.  John 1:14, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” 

We will celebrate the birth of that precious Word, Jesus, this week at Christmas.  But we have one more Sunday of Advent to go.  And so today, we will look at the last 100 years of the intertestamental period and consider the various factions that developed before Christ was born—factions that we read about in the Gospels that bitterly divided God’s people—and we will contemplate the bitter divisions in our own times as we wait for Christ to come fix our divided world.

 Isaiah 49:5-7

5 And now the Lord speaks—
    the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
    who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
    and my God has given me strength.
He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
    I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
    and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

The Lord, the Redeemer
    and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,
    to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.
    Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

God's Chosen People
Israel is often called God's chosen people.  Some think this goes back Moses, because God sent Moses to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land.

God’s choice of Israel goes back even further to Abraham, because God chose Abraham and said, "Leave your homeland and go to a lad I will show you and I will make you the father of a great nation.  You won't even begin to count all your descendants.  And you will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.  God chose Abraham because he was a man of faith who believed God, even when it seemed impossible. 

But really, God's choice goes all the way back to creation.  God chose to create people.  He didn't need people, but He chose to make people so they could enjoy the beautiful world He created and experience God's love and love Him too.    

God loves all people. He doesn't create some for destruction and some for salvation.  God created all people in hopes of sharing love.  And so, in this sense, God chose all people to be HIs people, but we are so stubborn and sinful we urn away from Him.

But God chose Abraham, because he was a man of faith, to be a blessing to all the nations and help people everywhere repent of sin and come back into a love relationship with God.  

And from Abraham, came Israel, a people who were to be a blessing. Israel was to be a kingdom of priest who brought all people back to God.  Unfortunately, Israel became puffed up by their status and blessings as God's people. They became proud and only wanted to satisfy their own selfish ambitions and build their own kingdom instead of seeing to God's mission to bring the whole world back to God.

Israel began to suffer the consequences of their selfishness and idolatry.  little by little, their kingdom eroded away until they oppressed and conquered by foreign empires.  And in their distress, they cried out for a Messiah to save them.  God said in Isaiah 49:6, I "will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.  I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

America seems more divided today than it ever has been. We could learn a lot from the history of Israel's mistakes during the intertestamental period.  If ever there were a divided people, it was Israel by the time Jesus was born. 

Israel Between the Old and New Testaments
From the 500s BC until the birth of Christ, Jerusalem was ruled by a succession of foreign empires.  First, the Persia ruled Israel and allowed the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.  Then, Alexander the Great lead Greek Empire to conquer Persia and take control of Israel.  However, Alexander the Great died unexpectedly and his empire shattered into four smaller kingdoms--Macedonia, Pergamum, Ptolemaic Egypt, and Seleucid Syria. And so Israel was then ruled by Greek Egypt followed by Greek Syria.  Then the Maccabees revolted against Syria and a brutal revolution led to a brief period of independence when the corrupt Hasmonean kings ruled Israel.  Then, in 63 BC, the Roman Empire from the west marched into Jerusalem and took over. 

All these wars and devastations and instabilities gave rise to many different political and religious groups in Israel—each one believing they knew what was needed to make Israel great again.  Let's look at these various groups.

The Pharisee and the Sadducees
The Pharisees and Sadducees were both active political parties—backing different leaders and giving allegiance to various different foreign influencers through the intertestamental period.

Because the Greek Empire had been so successful in the Mediterranean world, people everywhere realized the Greeks had some really good ideas.  Therefore, people in many different countries adopted Greek ideas about government, military, philosophy, and even religion.  This process of becoming more Greek was called Hellenization.

Most people realized, if you wanted to get ahead in life and the global world, you needed to be more Greek.  The Sadducees welcomed Hellenization in Jerusalem and it helped them rise in social status.  However, the Pharisees wanted Jews to remain pure.  They didn't want any foreign cultural or religious influences seeping into Judaism.  The Pharisees were the scribes who copied the Torah.  They believed the Bible faithfulness to the Law of Moses was the way to make Israel great again.  So they set about teaching the Law on the streets and encouraged everyone to follow it perfectly.

While the Pharisees were loyal to the Torah, the Sadducees were loyal to the Temple.  They believed what everyone needed was to worship God with sacrifices in the Temple.  They were the priestly class who controlled the coveted and lucrative positions of the Temple order, including the position of High Priest.

The Pharisees believed in ressurection in the afterlife.  The Sadducees were "sad you see" because they didn't believe in ressurection.  They believed there was no life after death; this life is all you get.  So, they wanted to make the most of this life--earn all you can, gain as much power and influence, and enjoy the comforts of this life--because it's all you get.  The Pharisees, on the other hand, believed you should be willing to sacrifice your life for the sake of faithfulness to the Torah because God would reward you in the next life.

The Pharisees were seen as the party of the people, because they could be seen out in the streets teaching the Law to the common person.  On the other hand, the Sadducees the elite upper crust of society, wealthy, holding high positions, and were always in the exclusive temple.

Pharisees were very pious, trying to follow God's law perfectly.  For example, they refused to work on the Sabbath and even forbid people to have too many tacks in their sandals on the Sabbath because walk around with too many takes might be considered carrying a heavy load, which would be work.  The Sadducees, on the other hand, saw religion as a mean to get ahead.  They were often quit corrupt, using their political and religious positions for gain, selling appointments for bribes, cheating people with unfair exchanges in the temple, and getting rich off the people's tithes and offerings.

The Herodians and the Zealots
Another bitter division was between the Herodians and the Zealots.  When Rome marched into Jerusalem in 63 AD, they installed Antipater as their puppet king in Jerusalem.  When Antipater died, his son, Herod the Great, became king in 40 BC.  Herod was a ruthless and savvy king.  He murdered all his Jewish rivals including his sons, his wife, her 2 sons, her brother, her grandfather, and her mother.  This is the same Herod the Wisemen visited in Matthew chapter 2 when they were looking for the infant Jesus, which led Herod to order the murder of every baby in Bethlehem under 2 years old. 

Most people loathed Herod, but he was a savvy political leader who skillfully walked the fine line between being the political leader of Judea and a puppet king for Rome.  Herod’s rule divided Judea further between two opposing groups—the Herodians and the Zealots.

The Herodians supported Herod's rule.  Herod was not of the line of David, Israel's royal line from of old.  However, the Herodians supported Herod's dynasty as the new royal line of Israel.  They also sought to preserve Israel's autonomy by cooperating with the Roman's.  They believed rebellion against Rome was futile and would lead to Jerusalem's destruction.

The Zealots were a militant political party that opposed the Herodians.  The Zealots passion for the national and religious life of the Jewish people led them to despise Rome and even Jews who sought peace through cooperation with the Roman authorities.  The Zealots fiery nationalism meant they hated the Herodians.  They wanted to fight violently for Jewish independence.  They were even willing to resort to terrorist attacks, assassination, and killing their own people to restore David’s Kingdom, which they saw as God’s Kingdom. 

The Essenes
With all the division and strife in Israel’s broken world before Christ, many had given up on this world altogether.  Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever felt:  "This world is just too dark, too evil.  I don’t even know how to live in this place.  I just wish I could run away to a lonely mountain and live as a hermit."  Or maybe you think, "I'm too social to be a lonely hermit.  I’ll join a commune with a bunch of other truly good people, and we’ll turn our backs on this evil world and start over and make our own good world, where there will be peace and love and happiness.” 

That was how the Essenes felt before Jesus came.  

The Essenes were the “preppers” of the ancient world.  They wanted to leave this world behind.  They realized the systems of this world were so broken, there was no hope for the world to be found in kingdoms and empires and political factions.  Even the established religious systems seemed broken beyond repair.  They rejected the Temple in Jerusalem as corrupt as well.  So they abandoned it all and moved away out into the wilderness.  They wanted to learn how to farm the land and be self-sufficient so they didn't have to depend upon markets and systems and governments of this evil world. 

We have the Essenes to thank for the preservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  While they were caching away food for their communities in caves in the Judean wilderness, they also saved the Holy Scriptures.  One day in 1947, a shepherd was wandering through the Judean hills.  He picked up a rock and through it into the mouth of a cave and heard something inside smash.  When he investigated, he found a clay pot with and ancient scroll inside.  It was an ancient copy of the Prophet Isaiah.  People often wonder, "How do we know if the BIble we have today hasn't changed from what was ordinally written?"  Well, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, we see many of the ancient biblical texts, over 2,000 years old, and they are the same as the texts we read in our Bible's today.  Thank you Essenes!

Many scholars also believe John the Baptist was either an Essene or deeply influenced by their religious movement.  And it seems very plausible.  John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and wild honey, and dress in animal skins (many similarities to the Essene's ascetic lifestyles as monks).  The 

The Essenes wanted to forget about the world.  The world could go to hell; the Essenes wanted to start over from scratch.  But by retreating from the world, the Essenes abandoned God's mission for Israel to be a light to other nations.  God doesn't want the world to go to hell.  God wants to save the world.  God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but to save it (see John 3:17).

Conclusion
This was the broken and divided world into which Jesus was born.  He came to bring light into the darkness and to show God came to save ALL people.

God’s Kingdom is not just for Jews or Jerusalem or Israel.  God’s Kingdom is for ALL nations.

And God’s Kingdom is not of this world. In other words, it doesn’t operate by the politics and principles of worldly Kingdoms.  It is not won by political maneuverings or by the might of a sword.  God’s King is a baby born in a manger and His Kingdom is won by a cross. 

It breaks my heart to look around at our broken world—divided between so many factions.  And everyone thinks their way is the only way.  And I feel great kinship with the Essenes, sometimes, and those who want to leave it all behind and move to a remote cabin in the wilderness and just forget about this broken world.  

However, God’s call for His people today is the same as it was in Isaiah 49:6,  I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”  And Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 – “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” 

I believe Christ is coming again, just as He came 2,000 years ago. But when Jesus comes again in final glory, our Messiah will finally bring His Kingdom on Earth and all that is wrong will be made right.  In the meantime, in the waiting, I will do His work on earth.  I will take up my cross and follow Him.

And I hope you will too.

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Is the Bible Ever Wrong?

Is the Bible ever wrong?  In other words, is the Bible Inerrant or does the Bible ever make mistakes?

This blog is part of a series where I try to answer your questions about Christian faith. I’m Pastor Chris.  I’ve been a pastor for 2 decades--thinking about the mysteries of God, the Bible, and the Christian faith.  So in this series, I’ll do my best to answer your questions and share something that will help you grow and be fruitful. Comment and ask me your questions and I’ll try to answer them in upcoming videos.

In this blog, I want to answer the question:  Is the Bible inerrant?  So let’s get into it.


The word inerrant means “incapable of being wrong” and inerrancy means “without error”. As a Bible believing Christian, I believe the Bible is the written Word of God, that everything in the Old and New Testament was inspired and preserved by God and contains everything we need to know for salvation and to live as faithful followers of Christ. I believe God speaks to His people primarily through the Bible and the Bible must be the foundation for all faithful Christian teaching and living.


Though the Bible was inspired by an infallible God, it was written down by very fallible people. God speaks through these fallible authors, using their mixed up cultural ideas and shaping their broken words into His written Word that speaks His timeless truths.  For these reasons, you cannot read the Bible the same way you would read a history book or a science book. 


To hear God’s Word in the Bible, you must submit yourself to God while you listen to His conversations with people through the ages.  To get the most from the Bible, you need to understand the historical contexts of the people who wrote under God’s inspiration and you must allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you anew today.


The Bible is God’s inspired Truth.
However, there are clear examples of errors and inaccuracies in the Bible. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 13:32 that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. Now the mustard seed is a small seed, but it’s not the absolute smallest seed in the world. That distinction belongs to tropical orchids–20 times smaller than a mustard seed. So Jesus’ statement about mustard seeds is factually incorrect.  But that doesn’t mean the meaning of His statement is untrue.  The Truth Jesus illustrates with the mustard seed is about how a tiny amount of faith is all you need to do incredible things.  Maybe Jesus’ disciples didn’t know about orchid seeds.  This inaccuracy doesn’t affect the Truth of the Bible’s deeper spiritual meaning.  


There are also minor copying errors that inevitably occur when any text is copied by human hands.  These don’t affect the truthfulness of the texts, but they do show the imperfect nature of a book recorded by imperfect people.  


We must also take into consideration the cultural contexts of the authors of biblical passages. Just because someone helped write the Bible doesn’t mean their way of life was without fault.  In fact, quite often, their cultural ideas were even judged by God to be wrong.  God meets people where they are and works through them–even their broken culture.  So we shouldn’t just accept what the Bible says uncritically.  We must approach the Bible holistically asking: what is the overarching message of the Bible?  And: how does what we know today from Christian tradition, reason, and human experience help us understand what God is saying to us today in the Bible?


Questions about Biblical inerrancy can be very loaded questions. These questions didn’t really come up as much until the late 1800s.

As society grew more interested in scientific discovery, Biblical Inerrancy got tangled up with American religious and political debates of the 20th century.  Events like the “Snopes Monkey Trial” of 1925 pitted evolutionary science against religion.  Many Bible believing Americans felt their faith under attack by more liberal-minded thinkers who taught modern science is more important than Scripture. Conservative Christian leaders often overreacted defensively to protect the Bible and Christian faith from liberal attacks.  


In 1978, a group of evangelical leaders issued the Chicago Statement proclaiming the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching" or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact".  Suddenly Christians across America found themselves pressured to choose sides.  “Are you a true Christian who believes the Bible is absolutely inerrant and infallible or are you one of those evil, anti-Bible, anti-Jesus, anti-American liberals who wants to destroy the church and replace God with science!?!?”


Why does the truth have to be either the Bible or science?  Can’t truth be found in both? The Bible was never intended to be a science book (or even a collection of historical facts).  The Bible teaches spiritual Truth that runs deeper than scientific or historical inquiry. Yet because of increasingly divisive American politics over the last century, many have felt forced to pick one side or the other–science or religion.  It’s sad, really, and it does nothing to help us grow closer to God or find Truth.


I knew of a Southern Baptist minister who moved his whole family down from Kentucky to pastor a church in Middle Georgia.  After only a month on the job, one of the congregants who disliked the new pastor stood up in the middle of a church service and demanded an answer: “Do you believe in the inerrancy of Scripture?”


The minister tried to reason with the man and explain the truthfulness and reliability of Scripture. The disgruntled congregant would have none of it and demanded: “I just want a simple answer.  Do you believe the Bible is absolutely without error? Yes or no?”


When the minister finally said “No,” the congregation immediately voted to fire him.


So, to answer the question:  The Bible does sometimes make mistakes.  It has a few minor errors–factual or textual.  However, these do not significantly detract from the Bible’s purpose as God’s inspired Word.  The Bible is the most reliable source of spiritual Truth available to mankind.  It is the best way to learn about God.  It is the foundation of all orthodox Christian faith and practice.  And the Bible–including the Old and New Testaments–contain everything you need to know for salvation.  


Furthermore, the Bible keeps us anchored to true Christianity so we don’t drift off into heresy.  2,000 years of history shows the world always suffers terribly when the Christian Church disregards the clear teachings of Scripture in favor of human traditions and cultural norms.  It is incredibly arrogant and dangerous to assume what people believe in our own time and culture must be right and the timeless truths of the Bible must be outdated.  You better have overwhelming evidence and absolutely pure motives if you’re going to claim we know better than the written Scriptures authorized to speak as God’s word that have been upheld for 2,000 years.


My calling from God is to serve as a minister of biblically faithful Christianity. I will always seek to lead my congregation and everyone I can influence to trust the Bible as God’s inspired written Word. 


I encourage you to take advantage of the incredible biblical resources so readily at your disposal.  Read the Bible.  Study it.  Memorize it.  Most importantly, grow closer and closer to God as you live the principles revealed in the Holy Bible, God’ written Word.




Tuesday, December 14, 2021

4 Tips to Help You Pray Out Loud

This blog is part of a series where I try to answer your questions about the God, the Bible, and the Christian faith.  Ask me your question in the comments section and I’ll try to answer it in an upcoming blog.

Recently I was asked, “Why is it so hard to pray out loud?” Some people don’t mind praying out loud.  It terrifies others!  They'd rather die!  Don’t feel bad if you struggle to pray out loud.  It’s a very common struggle, even for deeply committed Christians.  I’ve known pastors who struggled to pray out loud–especially at the beginning of their ministries.  Some avoided becoming pastors because of their fear of praying outloud. 

So if you are a pastor or church leader, you should always check with people before you put them on the spot and ask them to pray out loud at a meeting.  Even if you think you know someone, check with them first if you’ve never heard them pray aloud. 

Now, let me give some tips to help if you struggle to pray out loud. 

Tip Number 1 - Practice
Practice praying out loud when you’re alone. It may surprise you, but most people aren’t used to hearing the sound of their own voice.  And hearing your voice when everyone else in the room is completely silent can really weird you out.  So, practice praying out loud at home when you’re all alone.  God will love it and no one else will know.  Practice makes perfect. 

Tip Number 2 - Pray for Dinner
Start by praying for dinner while alone or with your family.  This is how I learned how to pray out loud when I was a kid.  My parents prayed for the meal and sometimes they asked the kids to pray.  We simply copied them and prayed something like: “God is great!  God is good!  Let us thank Him for our food! By His hands, we all are fed.  Give us, Lord, our daily bread.  Amen.” 

A simple meal blessing like this is easy to remember.  From this, I became accustomed to praying out loud and it was easy to progress to prayers for other occasions as I grew older.  This is a great way to train your own kids to pray and it can help you too.  Start a family habit of praying before your meals, even when you go out to eat in a restaurant.  It’s a good spiritual practice for your family.  Let your kids in on the fun while they’re young.  It will bless your family in so many ways and help you and your kids learn to pray out loud.  There's quite as sweet as hearing your kids or grandkids say the blessing. 

Tip Number 3 - Just Talk to God
You don’t have to pray like the preacher at church. Just be yourself.  God isn’t looking for fancy language.  He just wants you to be you.  Some of the best prayers I’ve heard were plain language that sounded like a friend talking to a friend.  So just be yourself. 

Tip Number 4 - Keep it short.  Keep it simple. 
Trust me, no one is going to complain your prayer was too short.  People like short prayers!   (God does too!)  Don’t try to go on and on.  Just say what you need to say and be done.  In fact, it’s perfectly OK to memorize a short standard prayer you can use.  Start with a standard basic prayer and add anything specific you need to pray. 

When I was growing up, I had a basic prayer that went like this: “Dear God, thank you for everything You’ve given me and done for me.  Please heal anyone who is sick, comfort those who are grieving, and forgive our sins.  In Jesus Name. Amen.” 

So you can pray something simple like this and if you think of anything specific, just add that in too.  

Praying out loud can be hard when you first start, but the more you practice and the more you pray, the easier it will be.  So, let’s pray right now: “Jesus, help everyone reading this to learn to pray out loud.  Amen.”