Come home, to church

 

Years ago I worshiped while sitting on a crude wooden bench in a former potato warehouse in rural India, our singing accompanied only by the thump of a single drum! And I have worhsiped in great cathedrals offering my heart to God while accompanied by majestic music of a pipe organ, led by people in ornate robes. I am most at home in a contemporary informal worship setting that is common to American evangelicals.

The issue is not the building where we gather; it is that we prioritize the choice to regularly join together, blending our voices, praying, living out our gifts, so that God is praised. Jesus promises this -"where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20, NIV) 

The practice of Christians, for 2000 years, is an obedient response to God’s call to gather in worship, be it in a cathedral or a store front mission. This is a divine imperative for Christians. The Church has formed me for all of my life. In my times of deepest distress, I retreat to the sanctuary, which is truly a place of refuge for me.  I am changed by times of worship, songs of praise, and sermons that move me in heart and mind!

I read from another of God’s preachers today, an ancient named Haggai. After that 70 year long stretch in Jerusalem’s history when God allowed the Assyrians to overrun Jerusalem, the exiles returned from Babylonia to rebuild. They were enthused about their own homes, but neglected the Temple restoration.

Haggai heard from the Lord and asked a pointed question. "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. .... Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD.

"You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house." (Haggai 1: 3-5, 8-9, NIV)  

The Temple was NOT an accessory, it was of critical importance, God said.

Yes, Christians are God’s temples. You could object that Haggai’s words should not be read about the place of the Church for us. Think again! The New Testament, does teach that we are, individually, the 'temples' in which the Spirit lives, that our lives are to be acts of worship. That is just half the story.

Christians are called to gather, to worship, to be the Church. We are told to "draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:22-25, NIV)

I’m following your reasoning. “OK, Jerry. But the Word does not say anything about the building.” Right you are! We can come together in someone's living room, a school gymnasium, a chapel by the roadside, a store-front mission, or a cathedral. But, we are to gather. 

Have you made gathering with Believers a first priority choice? COVID restrictions created hardship for us over the last year, but the digital age made it possible for us to ‘gather’ virtually. Thankfully, our buildings are open again. Will you re-connect, for Christ’s sake? Few choices have the same impact on the practice of our faith as regular, faithful attendance to worship; with the intention of focusing on His Presence and connecting with His people.

An honest reading of the New Testament convinces us of the importance of being part of the church.  The Greek word translated as ‘church’ is ‘ekklesia’ literally meaning “called-out ones.” It is a word borrowed from Grecian democracy in which the “ekklesia” gathered regularly and often to do the work of the people, the group embodying the value and principles of that society.  We are the ones called out of the world to gather as God's own people! When we do, we make the invisible God visible in His Body, preparing as the ones gathered to be His people scattered for the work of Christ in the world.

Here’s a word from the Word. Focus on the word together. "

For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:18-22, NIV)

Hope to see you in church soon! 

It’s not just about you; it’s about HIS GLORY, experienced and expressed.

 

By Our Love

(listen, pray, learn, commit!)

Brothers let us come together

Walking in the Spirit

There's much to be done

We will come reaching

Out from our comforts

And they will know us by our love

Sisters we were made for kindness

We can pierce the darkness

As He shines through us

We will come reaching

With a song of healing

And they will know us by our love

The time is now

Come church arise

Love with His hands

See with His eyes

Bind it around you

Let it never leave you

And they will know us by our love

Children you are hope for justice

Stand firm in the Truth now

Set your hearts above

You will be reaching

Long after we're gone

And they will know you by your love

Christy Nockels

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Video version of CoffeeBreak at this link (click here)

 

Mystery - two become one

Yesterday the world learned that one of the richest couples in the world, Bill and Melinda Gates, have decided to call it quits after 27 years of marriage. Hearing the news I was sad for them.  It was a reminder that we live in a broken world. Even with all their resources, with all the advantages in this world that they enjoy, they somehow could not make it work. The public divorce petition did not disclose anything beyond the fact that they considered their marriage “irretrievably broken.” Please understand that my comments pass no judgment on either of them as I obviously do not know them or their situation.  

Marriage is never easy.

Bev and I were married 41 years, a mostly happy union, but marked with times of struggle and disappointment for both of us. The issues that stressed our relationship changed with the seasons of life. Early on it was the exhaustion of a houseful of little ones. Then, it was the pressure of life responsibilities that took my attention from my home as I worked long days leaving little energy for my family.  After our children grew up we wrestled with the common issue of drifting into separate lives, each of us with our own interests. Then, it was the stress of caring for terminally ill parents that brought some challenges. 

We did not stay married because we enjoyed a storybook life though blessed in many ways. It certainly was not just discipline, though that was required, too.  Starry-eyed love ebbed and flowed through the decades but even that was not the ultimate glue in our home.  Our marriage was sustained by a shared love for God and a common conviction about the covenant nature of our relationship. We worked and trusted God together; adjusting expectations, speaking honestly, asking and giving forgiveness, and acceptance of the fact that we each lived with a quite ordinary mortal.

The wisdom of the Scripture is so often challenged, explained away, and ignored these days, but the inspired text remains true. "And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything. And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 

In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. And we are his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:21-33, NLT)

Those words contain wisdom for all of us that will bring blessing to our homes.

The starting point is ‘mutual submission.’ A man and woman who enter into marriage are agreeing to set aside their former ideas about themselves. No longer can they insist on ‘me.’  As they come to Christ together, they choose to think always as ‘we.’  They are ‘one flesh,’ not just a sexual term, but descriptive of their union before God. Marriage, in God’s eyes, is not a contract to form a home or to provide for children.  It is a holy promise to become a reflection of the love of God, in a shared life.

There is a sacred responsibility given to each partner in marriage covenant that involves great love and shared devotion. It strikes me that the passage speaks in extended terms to the husband. He is called to learn to love, to act in the same way that Christ acted. It is tragic that this text has been abused as an excuse for domination, for selfishness.  The leadership of the home is not based in power, nor does God confer a place of privilege on the husband. He calls him to ‘give up his life’ to serve his wife.  It not a wonder to me that this text is rejected by so many.  When God’s word is used to carve out a place privileged power, to justify selfish behavior, the whole of the marital relationship breaks down.

A wife’s willingness to respect her husband rests on twin foundations:  deep faith in Christ to be her ultimate security and the assurance that her husband will choose a pathway in life that seeks the will of God over his own desires. These are not idealistic expressions unattainable in this world. They are the wisdom of God, received by faith, and made reality by the Spirit of God who works in each of us who love and serve Him faithfully.

Christians are tempted to abandon the inspired wisdom of God choosing instead the ‘wisdom’ of our culture. This choice will make a challenging thing – building a solid, loving, and fulfilling marriage – even more difficult. If we interpret these principles as law, we rob ourselves of the joy of discovering the life in them. If we read them through a lens of antiquated ideas about masculinity and femininity we will surely miss God’s best for us. However, if we will come to this text with an open mind, with a heart-felt invitation for God lead us, we will find them a place of life-sustaining truth.

The words of Jesus are the word from the Word today. May He give us grace to receive them. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Mark 10:6-9, NIV)

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How Do I Love Her?

Well You know it's not the first time

And it will not be the last

When You find me here on my knees

Praying for the storm to pass

But what I am really needing

Is much more than just relief

I am crying out for wisdom

Only You can give to me

'Cause it's such a mystery

I'm a clueless man

When it comes to knowing how to love a woman

 

How do I

I love her

How do I

I let her know

She means more than anything to me

How do I love her

How do I love her love her

 

Out of all the gifts You've given

Besides the very gift of life

There is none as precious to me

As the treasure of my wife

And still all the love in my heart

Is like a raindrop to the sea

When compared to Your love for her

And that's why I'm asking please

Will You teach me what she needs

I'm an earnest man when it comes

To learning how to love this woman

 

Well I know it's gonna take a lifetime

To answer this prayer I pray

But that's okay

'Cause I've given You and her my lifetime

Anyway

 

How do I love her love her

Tell me please

How do I love her how do I love her

Won't You tell me tell me please

How do I love her

Tell me please

Tell me tell me tell me

How do I love her how do I love her

How do I love her

Love her love her love her

 

Steven Curtis Chapman

 

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Soul Serenity

 

After I finished a task, I stepped back to evaluate the outcome, happy for the effort. Unlike the farmer who plants in the Springtime, tends the field through the Summer, and gathers the harvest in the Autumn, many of us work in ways in which our efforts are removed from an actual visible result.  Our farmer grandparents surely grew exhausted, but it was a different kind of tired than many of us experience.  They had to stop working at dark, were not ‘plugged in’  24/7 like many of us. There ‘down’ times built into their seasonal lives. Not so with us. What happens? One of the most common complaints in our time is ‘I am worn out.’ 

Christian, are you weary?
Has your life fatigue flowed over into your faith experience, dulling your soul to the experience of God’s Presence?
Have you abandoned regular times of worship, prayer, and meditation because you are just ‘too tired?’ 

God offers His people rest.  

It is one of those benefits we leave untouched, failing to recognize the amazing renewal of heart and mind, even body, that can be found in Him!

When we worship, as Jesus taught, in ‘Spirit and in Truth,’ we learn a new way to live, a purposeful and meaningful life, that can protect us from the fatigue of endless stress. We work at the same job, but with a different heart. We feel the same pressures to produce results but with an inner strength that comes from His care. We deal with the same frustrations, but are able to commit them to God, to invite Him to work on our behalf.

God asks us to make the choice to prioritize Him, by faith entering a place of peace, even in difficult of circumstances. There is a phrase in Psalm 23 that captivates my imagination. David sings of His God - “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies!”   Imagine armies drawn up for battle and a table set with candles, fine tablecloth, and the best china right in the middle of it all.  Absurd, you say?  But that is what God offers;  the renewal of the kind that can be experienced in an intimate dinner meal shared with friends or family.  He says, “Let’s step away from life’s battles to sit down together!  I have a table ready!”

Interestingly, our idea of recreation usually involves leaving work behind. Jesus presents us with a different thought. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29, NIV)  “Join Me,” He says. “Be a part of my team (take my yoke). I will not beat you emotionally or treat you like an object.”   And, the life we find in Him, His ways, will lead us to a soul-rest.

The letter to the Hebrews speaks of the ‘Sabbath rest’ available to the people of God. It’s not able a day off from work. It is an invitation to live with our souls settled by our trust and obedience to the covenant promises of the Lord. "Since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith." (Hebrews 4:1-2, NIV) Are you troubled that you might not be ‘good enough for God?’

The Good News is that He invites us to enjoy the gift of reconciliation with our Father, not because we are ‘good enough,’ but because He has finished the work of salvation on our behalf. Through Christ Jesus we are made whole, saved completely, and at peace with God.

From that place near the heart of God, where the Spirit speaks to us about His loving acceptance, we enter the world to do the work of God. Working with God is so much more fulfilling than working for Him. If we are trying to prove to Him that we deserve His blessings our efforts become dutiful, exhausting, and often more about appearance than substance. But, if we are engaged in serving the Lord because of our love for Him and for others, even those things that could be drudgery, take on meaningfulness. The same tasks, yes. But, they are done with a different motive, and are kissed with His favor.

Meditate on Jesus’ words. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

This Monday morning, at the beginning of a new week, He will renew your heart. Will you allow Him to do that? There is a kind of soul rest waiting, not the kind of rest we find in a hammock in the backyard on Summer afternoon.

It is the rest of serenity, fulfillment, and purpose that comes from the realization that we are beloved, cherished children of God.

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Rock Of Ages
(Guy Penrod inspires in this hymn)

Rock of Ages cleft for me

Let me hide myself in thee

Let the water and the blood

From thy wounded side which flowed

Be of sin the double cure

Save from wrath and make me pure

 

Not the labors of my hands

Can fulfill thy law's demands

Could my zeal no respite know

Could my tears forever flow

All for sin could not atone

Thou must save and thou alone

 

Nothing in my hand I bring

Simply to the cross I cling

Naked come to thee for dress

Helpless look to thee for grace

Foul I to the fountain fly

Wash me Savior or I die

 

While I draw this fleeting breath

When mine eyes shall close in death

When I soar to worlds unknown

See thee on thy judgment throne

Rock of Ages cleft for me

Let me hide myself in thee

 

Augustus Montague Toplady | Thomas Hastings

© Words: Public Domain