Blessings and Peace to all of you;
This morning, as I have been reflecting on Pastor George's message from yesterday "Staying the Course" I began to look at my own course these past few weeks. Over the past two weeks or so I have been on the road to Camp Harmison in Berkeley Springs and Paw Paw, West Virginia with the folks of *Camp Joy* doing mission projects for the local communities. We work hard with our youth to help the homeowners improve their quality of life by helping them with home repairs -- painting, windows, doors, yard work, roof work, porches, wheelchair ramps. The work to do depends on what the homeowner's greatest needs might be.
C - HRISTIAN
A - PPALACHIAN
M - ISSION
P - ROJECT
J - OINING
O - UR
Y - OUTH
Faithfulness appears in many forms. Throughout the Gospel's Jesus told His disciples to be faithful in many ways. He taught them to be faithful in prayer, faithful in living and delivering the message of the Good News. Paul told his churches to be faithful to Christ's teachings in their daily behavior, in their giving of themselves to improving the quality of life for those whose lives were lived in the margins of poverty or oppression.
It is the third year in a row that I have participated on this mission trip. This year we had three projects in Paw Paw, West Virginia. If you have ever driven to Paw Paw over route 9, you will know that the journey is about 30 miles over a curving mountain road. Monday and Tuesday of our work week were exceptionally Hot with temperatures around 100 degrees with humidity that made it feel much worse. The work site I was on -- widening and extending a wheelchair ramp was done in open sun with little to no shade to protect us.
Reflecting faithfulness on this project would almost certainly resemble a sunburned face, neck, arms, legs and shoulders. Reflecting faithfulness would look a lot like us trying to swipe all the gnats away that constantly buzzed around your face or the look of determination on our faces to ignore them and get the job done. It was reflected in the tired faces of our youth as they put their best efforts into the projects getting done.
Staying the course under the very hot West Virginia sun was very challenging to the adults as well.
Faithfulness is relative in our society. Many people choose to reflect their faithfulness in a relationship as a temporary burden to bear until the relationship (or the mission trip) concludes. We have done our part for this year and we can be satisfied with that -- at least until next year! We always somehow find a way to reflect our faithfulness to a very fine point so we can look in a mirror and tell ourselves "Well done good and faithful servant, you may now enter into the joy of the Lord."
But God doesn't have a mirror to look at Himself with to judge His faithfulness to us. NO! God's faithfulness is eternal and unchanging. God calls us to be like him - to reflect the image of Christ (Philippians 2:1-13). Jesus told His disciples to be faithful in the small things, especially the small things that we are too casual with.
Faithfulness is a nutrient rich fruit of the Spirit. As one of God's more perfect fruits, we can only try to be just as perfect in our faith, not because we want to look in a mirror and brag about our annual success, but because it is a faithful work of God carried out for the Children of God all year round.
Where/when have you been tested to stay the course?
How do you reflect your successes? Your failures?
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Who are you Lord? Acts 9:1-6
Grace and peace to one and all,
I am back from vacation and it has taken me a several days to recover.
Tonight, I continue my devotional series from the Book of Acts. Specifically from Acts 9:1-6 NRSV.
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ 5He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
This is a pivotal passage in the Book of Acts. Saul has just witnessed the stoning of Stephen - the first martyr. He had witnessed a Jewish man validate that the crucified and resurrected Jesus was in fact the Messiah of God. That Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies of the Old Testament. The end result of the sermon Stephen spoke were immediate accusations of blasphemy. The crowd took him outside, and stoned him to death (Acts 7:54-60). Thus began a cruel, vicious time of persecution against the new community of believers (Acts 8:1-3) and they scattered for their lives. The Christian faith was threatened with destruction before it barely had time to begin. And Saul was the primary antagonist ignoring any kind of due process.
Saul was on fire against the new believers. Harassing and persecuting them at every turn. He was hauling them out of their homes, putting them in chains and marching them off to prison. By some standard, he was supposedly able to identify who the new believers were. We do not know how he was able to subjectively know what they looked like, how they dressed how they behaved and so on. It is also worthy to note by tonight's text that Saul didn't even know who Jesus was. It is reasonably certain that Saul was familiar with what was being said about the itinerant Rabbi and had observed the resulting upheaval brought upon the way of life he had been raised with and which he so zealously guarded against the enemies of God.
In the midst of his zealous pursuit of the new believers, Saul encounters a blinding light which stops him in his tracks. He immediately fell to the ground. Blinded by the light, he hears a accusatory voice -- why are you persecuting me. Saul did not recognize the voice -- he asked ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
It is here I would like you to ponder the same question: "Who are you, Lord?"
The world wonders who God is and what He is like. The question of "Who are you, Lord?" is one that will always have relevance irregardless of when it is asked. In a world that questions the validity of religion at seemingly every opportunity, in a world that vigorously questions the role of today's church in becoming an effective agent of change; the question of "Who are you, Lord?" gets right to the very core of our faith.
There are those who believe the Lord to be a hard and harsh taskmaster who favors violent form of judgment every time He does not get His way. And after reading much of the Old Testament writings, it would be challenging to see any other image. Others see Him as an abstract force, more of a principle than a deity. Some secularists embrace a shadow of the Lord, though they usually end up with a very generic picture. Perhaps the favorite concept of the Lord in our generation is the idea that "God is love" (1John 4:7-9). After all that is what the Bible clearly tells us. But a disobedient culture defines love on its own terms and demands the Lord be nothing more and nothing less than its own definition of love. My friend's, that conceptualization of the Lord simply does not exist.
No, the idea that we can actually know the Lord is elusive. We live in a confused society that makes up their image of religion as it goes along. Meanwhile, Scripture tells us plainly that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father (Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:1-3). It is He in fact, who sustains all there is.
For a culture that thinks that thinks of Jesus as a nice teacher and a brave martyr, the very idea of His representing God does not make as many waves as it should. But the Jesus of the Bible? The One who preached and taught about sin and hell, about repentance and salvation, love and equality for every one, spoke harshly to the Jewish elite, who said He didn't come to bring peace but division (Luke 12:49-53)? That Jesus is not very popular or well received. He is not afraid to bruise egos and insists on being the Lord. He not only carries His cross, He hands one to each of His followers and seems unswerving in His expectations of our 100% loyalty.
No, this Jesus doesn't go over very well. WELL.... so be it. Those who want to worship God in spirit and in truth, who really want to adore Him (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-37) for who He is, must first look at Jesus. Jesus said that if we've seen Him, we've seen the Father (John 14:9). The disciples worshiped Him, and He let them. Sinners asked for God's forgiveness, and Jesus freely gave it. The Word really did become flesh. And the Word was God (John 1:1).
Paul, at once was blinded by the light of Jesus Christ, stopped dead in his zealous, harassing tracks but three days later he was FREED of his blindness to become over-zealous for the Lord and His coming kingdom.
Take your time. Ask God to guide you in your own journey to answer this question "Who are you, Lord? and by prayer, wait and see if the blindness of this world is lifted from your eyes unto the Light and Life of Jesus Christ.
Loving God, Loving All, Join the journey
Tom Meyer
I am back from vacation and it has taken me a several days to recover.
Tonight, I continue my devotional series from the Book of Acts. Specifically from Acts 9:1-6 NRSV.
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ 5He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
This is a pivotal passage in the Book of Acts. Saul has just witnessed the stoning of Stephen - the first martyr. He had witnessed a Jewish man validate that the crucified and resurrected Jesus was in fact the Messiah of God. That Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies of the Old Testament. The end result of the sermon Stephen spoke were immediate accusations of blasphemy. The crowd took him outside, and stoned him to death (Acts 7:54-60). Thus began a cruel, vicious time of persecution against the new community of believers (Acts 8:1-3) and they scattered for their lives. The Christian faith was threatened with destruction before it barely had time to begin. And Saul was the primary antagonist ignoring any kind of due process.
Saul was on fire against the new believers. Harassing and persecuting them at every turn. He was hauling them out of their homes, putting them in chains and marching them off to prison. By some standard, he was supposedly able to identify who the new believers were. We do not know how he was able to subjectively know what they looked like, how they dressed how they behaved and so on. It is also worthy to note by tonight's text that Saul didn't even know who Jesus was. It is reasonably certain that Saul was familiar with what was being said about the itinerant Rabbi and had observed the resulting upheaval brought upon the way of life he had been raised with and which he so zealously guarded against the enemies of God.
In the midst of his zealous pursuit of the new believers, Saul encounters a blinding light which stops him in his tracks. He immediately fell to the ground. Blinded by the light, he hears a accusatory voice -- why are you persecuting me. Saul did not recognize the voice -- he asked ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
It is here I would like you to ponder the same question: "Who are you, Lord?"
The world wonders who God is and what He is like. The question of "Who are you, Lord?" is one that will always have relevance irregardless of when it is asked. In a world that questions the validity of religion at seemingly every opportunity, in a world that vigorously questions the role of today's church in becoming an effective agent of change; the question of "Who are you, Lord?" gets right to the very core of our faith.
There are those who believe the Lord to be a hard and harsh taskmaster who favors violent form of judgment every time He does not get His way. And after reading much of the Old Testament writings, it would be challenging to see any other image. Others see Him as an abstract force, more of a principle than a deity. Some secularists embrace a shadow of the Lord, though they usually end up with a very generic picture. Perhaps the favorite concept of the Lord in our generation is the idea that "God is love" (1John 4:7-9). After all that is what the Bible clearly tells us. But a disobedient culture defines love on its own terms and demands the Lord be nothing more and nothing less than its own definition of love. My friend's, that conceptualization of the Lord simply does not exist.
No, the idea that we can actually know the Lord is elusive. We live in a confused society that makes up their image of religion as it goes along. Meanwhile, Scripture tells us plainly that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father (Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:1-3). It is He in fact, who sustains all there is.
For a culture that thinks that thinks of Jesus as a nice teacher and a brave martyr, the very idea of His representing God does not make as many waves as it should. But the Jesus of the Bible? The One who preached and taught about sin and hell, about repentance and salvation, love and equality for every one, spoke harshly to the Jewish elite, who said He didn't come to bring peace but division (Luke 12:49-53)? That Jesus is not very popular or well received. He is not afraid to bruise egos and insists on being the Lord. He not only carries His cross, He hands one to each of His followers and seems unswerving in His expectations of our 100% loyalty.
No, this Jesus doesn't go over very well. WELL.... so be it. Those who want to worship God in spirit and in truth, who really want to adore Him (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-37) for who He is, must first look at Jesus. Jesus said that if we've seen Him, we've seen the Father (John 14:9). The disciples worshiped Him, and He let them. Sinners asked for God's forgiveness, and Jesus freely gave it. The Word really did become flesh. And the Word was God (John 1:1).
Paul, at once was blinded by the light of Jesus Christ, stopped dead in his zealous, harassing tracks but three days later he was FREED of his blindness to become over-zealous for the Lord and His coming kingdom.
Take your time. Ask God to guide you in your own journey to answer this question "Who are you, Lord? and by prayer, wait and see if the blindness of this world is lifted from your eyes unto the Light and Life of Jesus Christ.
Loving God, Loving All, Join the journey
Tom Meyer
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