The Old Life Has Gone - A New Life Begun

A new beginning, a fresh start is possible for us each day.  We have a new life from Jesus.  But so often we feel as though nothing has changed!

How do I trust God to have given me new life in him?  For I am still anxious and fearful.  Surely these don't reflect the new life.  I still seem the same guy I've always been.  Of course, in many ways that's a good thing!  I don't expect to be anybody other than myself.  But in the way of sin, I do expect to be changed.  What about transformation?

My comfort for what will happen comes entirely from what has happened.  My hope for today and for the future rests in the faith I have in what Jesus has done in the past.  He lived a life with God - proclaiming, healing, drawing constantly on the Lord for his own survival.  He died on a cross and then rose from the grave.  By faith, I believe this death and new life has already taken place within me.  Already, as in today.  Those who are in Christ are a new creation.

The old life still has power somehow.  He's still there - or at least the memory of him is there and maybe that's enough for sin to persist.  But faith believes that Jesus' new resurrection life will be made ours.  We will rise like he did from death.  As the Jeremy Camp song puts it, we will "taste and see the fullness of his peace."  We will know "the healing hand of God."

And while it is harder to believe that this gift is already ours, looking again at our Savior is a great place to start - for it is his peace that is given.  "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2nd Corinthians 5:17)

Lord, give us new hearts through Jesus to live a magnificent day.

Is the Bible Culturally Out of Step? (Preached Sept. 16, 2012)

Anyone who hasn’t heard it is encouraged to listen to Kevin’s message from this past Sunday. This blog begins a weekly practice of publishing additional thoughts about the message and asking the important question: how does this message encourage us to live life in God this week?

My guess is that we feel differently about the Bible’s authority at different times in our lives. “Love is patient, love is kind” from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians sure seems right when it is read as an authoritative word at weddings. And “honor your mother and father” from the Ten Commandments has given many children (apparently including our pastor!) cause for resentment against the Bible quoted so authoritatively by our parents. We respect the Bible’s authority. But then sometimes, maybe when we feel the Bible is just “picking on us,” we aren’t so sure.

In the Scripture text on Sunday, we saw how Jesus referred authoritatively to Scripture to explain his view of the truth to others during a disagreement. For Jesus, Scripture was a constant guide – never irrelevant or misguided – but always leading him into deeper union with his Father. It was used for building up his own life in God and those of others, and never used merely to win an argument. The one Son of God became human and learned to think, speak, pray, make decisions, to live, and even to die from Scripture.Henry Ward Beecher once said:

“Sink the Bible to the bottom of the ocean, and still man’s obligations to God would be unchanged.  He would have the same path to tread, only his lamp and guide would be gone; the same voyage to make, but his chart and compass would be overboard!”  

This journey is to become like Jesus Christ. The Bible is beyond valuable not only for teaching us the ways of Jesus Christ, but also in showing us the good news – that Jesus’ eternal life does not get into us through greater exertion or discipline on our part. Through faith, we participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit brings this new life in us to a firm maturity – a Christian, a little Christ, at last! Only the Bible tells this to us. Other books will tell you how to be a better cook, a better manager of time, a better communicator. But if we are living to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (forever!), it will only be because the Bible has had authority in our lives.

Reflection Questions:

Where does your faith feel most vulnerable to outside attacks? Is there a book you read, or a friend you speak to in order to find reassurance?

How does your faith help to shape the culture – the humor, the rules, the relationships, the sharing of responsibilities – in your home or at your job?

What steps are you currently taking to answer some of the questions you have about the Bible and the Christian faith?

The Bible is Boring! (preached September 23, 2012)

When I was in college, my home church published these pamphlets.  They were filled with daily Scriptures.  If I were to follow that plan, I could get through the Bible in a year.  I remember grabbing them.  I’d give them to friends but I’d keep a lot of them.  Why?  I thought I might lose them.  I also thought that if I was so sure that God existed from the little Scripture I’d read up to that point, imagine if I’d read the whole thing!  I was sure I’d know God so well.

Like many I’m sure, my first few attempts at this were abortive.  The Tabernacle, all the names in Numbers, the rules about birds and clothing and fields in Leviticus – my excitement absolutely plummeted.

What was so disappointing was not the books themselves.  After all, God speaks in those books.  The people and customs are strange indeed, but the God who speaks commands our attention.  What disappointed me was that I wanted to be an expert.  I wanted answers and wisdom and I wanted them to be easy.  But as I read, I knew they wouldn’t be.  The answers given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers all sounded like “Because I am God!  Because I said so!”

 This was not relevant enough to my life.  It was direct, which is why I wasn’t bored.  But I didn’t like it.  Now I knew Jesus was the fulfillment of the law.  We don’t have to do everything we see in Leviticus.  But I started to realize that God might want me to be more than a good reader who had answers to tough questions.  He might want me to be an obedient follower.

I think I became more interested in God and his people than I was in finding answers.  “Who is this God?”  “Who are these people who he has called to be his own?”  But it took moving beyond my initial expectations and desires from the Bible.  Like Kevin said in his sermon, many of us expect either 1) information, or 2) comfort.  But the Bible will disappoint us if this is all we look for.  What should we look for?

There is a verse tucked into Psalm 95 that reads, “O that today you would listen to his voice!”  Chris Webb writes: “Here is the work of today – which is also the work of the whole of life.  I’m called daily to open my heart afresh to the living Word of God.  I know I need this reminder but, to tell the truth, I’m daunted by the possibility that God might actually speak…what will I hear?  How will I be called, how changed?  Will I be comforted or inspired?  Or is it today that my life will be turned inside out?  It has happened before – to others and to me.”

This is what we look for – a word from the God of the Bible.  As we read the Bible, we learn about his character and learn to recognize his voice.  We learn that it is ok to be afraid to do what he says, but that we should trust him to know what is best for us.

Your daily Bible reading will bore you sometimes.  I guarantee it.  But the morning might come that we say, “OK, God” to something Scripture asks of us.  It might be inconvenient and uncomfortable.  And looking back, we might wish the day’s Bible reading had been boring because then nothing would have happened.   But it might feel like “I was made for this.”  “Wow, I wonder what God will say to me tomorrow, and the next day…and for all eternity.”

As we follow Jesus Christ, may we feel plenty of both!  And then, even boredom can prompt us to consult God!  Just ask (Old St.) Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Reflection Questions:

1)      Rev. Pound said that if we read the Bible only for information or for comfort that we will be disappointed.  The Bible is meant to give us those, but much more.  What do you normally expect to get out of your Bible reading?

2)      In the sermon, an author was quoted who wrote of the Bible, “I think I’m going to read it, and it starts reading me, I’m going to judge it and it starts judging me, I’m going to weigh its words, and it starts weighing my life.”  When, if ever, have you felt this way about reading the Bible?

3)      Is there a Bible passage that has inspired you to say “Yes” to God recently?