Another King?

Do you remember? Exodus 20:3? "Thou shall have no other gods before Me!" In case you need a reminder, that is the 1st of 10 Commandments. Seems pretty clear, or does it?

In Acts 17, Paul comes to Thessalonica and does what he has done elsewhere.  In the Greek city, there was a synagogue. Paul begins to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Jews and Greeks should accept Jesus' lordship. Many believed, but the Jewish leaders became jealous. They make a statement that should cause us to rethink some of our own behavior. "These people who have been turning the world upside-down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the Emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus (Acts 17:8-9)."

Let's unpack this statement. The first accusation is that the believers, led by Paul, are turning the world upside down. Look around, people! The world IS already upside down. It was in Paul's day and it seems to be the same today. Decadence is front and center, and if you point it out, YOU are at fault. Following God's word is frowned upon, spit upon, and even frowned upon inside the Church. Paul is laying out the Messiah by using Scripture, and the Jews (claiming Scriptural authority) are accusing him of sedition.  The definition of decadence is interesting here.  "The act of falling into an inferior condition or state ... decay."  Then, and now, the church was in decay.  The world and the church WERE upside down already!

The second accusation was that Paul and the believers were promoting Jesus as another king besides the Emperor. So the question seems to be, "Who is their king?" Is it the God of Exodus 20:3? Is it the Messiah predicted and proclaimed by the Old Testament? Is it Caesar? And, what is it for us? Is it our political agenda? Is it our favorite sport? Is it our lifestyle? Do WE have another king?

The world is upside down. In these Pre-Christian times, a revival is needed. How will that happen? I believe it will happen when we allow the Jesus Paul talks about to become our one true King. For our kings are failing us. They fall to self-interests, pride, corruption, and corporate greed. These kings are empty, ultimately powerless, and decaying. But King Jesus comes to an upside-down world and offers peace, forgiveness, grace, direction, and hope. Come to Jesus, and come to His table this Sunday.  He is our one true King and our true God, co-reigning with the Holy Spirit and the Father. We need Him!  Come, Jesus our King!  AMEN

Orphan Church

As we continue to think about the question, "Are we Post-Christian or Pre-Christian?", I can't help but think about how this question is directly related to our attitude.  Paul uses a phrase that relates to "attitude."  The phrase is "mind of Christ."

Paul uses this phrase in at least 2 places ... Philippians 2:5 and 1 Corinthians 2:16.  "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus," Paul says in Philippians 2:5.  He then goes on to describe Christ as a submissive and humble servant of the Father.  In 1 Corinthians 2:16, Paul expresses the difference between the culture (that believes things of faith are foolishness) and the faith, "but we understand these things because we have the mind of Christ."  In both passages, Paul is recommending a mindset and thought process that is not of this world.  He is also calling us, as the Church, to remember we are bound for another place, where we will spend eternity.  There, we will be residents, citizens, and sons and daughters of the King.  Here, we are more like orphans.

Why do I say this?  Orphans are separated from the parents of their birth by some event.  I am not suggesting we latch onto the negative part of this definition, which leaves us drifting without mooring in the values of parenthood.  Rather, I am reminding us that our primary parent, to whom we can always go for guidance, support, help, and unfailing love is our Lord, Jesus Christ.  And the Church, which we have often called the building or the denomination (one Bishop called it "Mother Church"), has a Groom and we have a parent in the person of Jesus!

I offer this analogy (some of you might take exception) to remind us that we must not become so resident and comfortable in a building or a denomination, that we move the main thing down the priority list.  In a song about life's journey and lost relationships, Gillian Welch expresses the need for Jesus in this world of challenges.  The song Orpahn Girl reminds us that 1) all of us will have troubles, including lost loved ones, 2) all of us will have friendships which may help us in the journey, 3) our desire to become reunited with our friends/family in faith needs to be tethered to a willingness to see past what Periti calls, "This Present Darkness and, 4) that we must pray for God to be our ultimate (and always present) parent, so that we can arrive safely home with God.  The main thing is to remember we are making disciples of Jesus Christ, to whom we testify as our Lord and Savior.

Paul reminds us that as we "have the mindset of Christ Jesus," we will find ourselves orphaned from much of the world, some of our friends, and sometimes even our blood relatives.  They will think us foolish, dogmatic, and counter-cultural.  We might even be disowned.  But take heart!  Our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ, will never disown us or leave us stranded.  The song reports, "When he calls me, I'll be able, to meet my family, at God's table, He'll be my mother, my father, my sister, my brother ... no more an orphan girl."  If you are a Christ follower, you have a family waiting at that table!  AMEN

 

The Mission Field

It is somewhat ironic that we, and many other churches, are sending teams to what we call "the mission field."  I am not downplaying the need to go, the motivation to make a difference, or the desire to spread God's Word to every person on the planet.  These are good things that we should do.  They should be a part of who we are.

Here's the ironic thing.  As we "tell the story to the nations," I can't help but have a heart for telling the story here.  This is why we have started the Wednesday evening discipleship group.  We want to become a church that makes disciples that make disciples.  In this country, our "business as usual" churches are not gaining ground in spreading the Gospel.  We are losing ground.  I want US to be a catalyst in changing that.

So, as I board a plane on Saturday, bound for Belize, I am asking each of you to do several things:

1. The first thing, and really, an easy thing, is to pray for our church to become a place of discipleship and disciple-making.

2. I am asking, I think by direct command of Jesus (Matthew 28), for you (yes YOU) to become a person willing to learn about disciple-making.  I will be doing some things during the late summer and fall to make this easier for you, providing materials, instructional support, and place (hopefully some of you will be agents of providing this place).

3. I am asking you to change your priorities.  I get lots of pictures of many of you cruising the lake, hanging out on the beach, and being in your prime place of "fun."  Others of you, thankfully, are posting about your activities and priorities related to our body of believers.  For our country to change, YOU and I have to change.

4. I am asking you to reconsider our "context" of a rural Alabama community as being a Christian bastion.  Until our churches become filled ... until our hurting are healed ... until our relationships become more important than our feelings ... until the Kingdom of God becomes more important than our politics ... until we seek for the Kingdom to "come on earth as it is in heaven," then we will live in the shallow end of the faith pool.  I invite you to come to the deep and dangerous end, where you might have to lose yourself for the Kingdom of God.

As you leave your house tomorrow, remember you are entering a mission field, every bit as needy as those in Africa, Belize, and Costa Rica.  I hope you will pray and respond to God's call, saying, "Here I am, Lord, send me!"

Pre-Christian

I have been getting a little weary of a commonly-used term (Post-Christian) I am hearing in Christian circles.  It is a pessimistic term that seems to defer power to our societal trends in America.  We see these trends becoming less Christian and more worldly (denominations, the fading mega-church model, self-orientation), and we see the Church as somehow drifting into obscurity.

Then, I think of our little sign in the FLC that says, "What is Jesus doing?"  Are these trends, and the negative comments related to them, really the work of Jesus, or are they the suggestions and thoughts of Satan?  I believe Jesus answered this in His prayer in John 16:33, "I have told you these things so that you might have peace!  In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart!  I have overcome the world."  So, in the Spirit of trusting what Jesus IS doing, I am suggesting a new word.  This new word will be the subject of several sermons over the next few weeks.  The term is, Pre-Christian.

What do I mean by Pre-Christian?  First, I believe Jesus is active in the world despite what we see or are led to believe.  Psalm 12 is our text for this belief.  In this Psalm, God says, "I will rise up and rescue them, as they have longed for me to do."  Embedded in the negativity I hear, is a sense of longing for something better, pure, right, and good.  While our society says, "Just go with the flow and submit," God says, "long for and believe I am faithful to come to your rescue."  That is the intent and direction of our God.

Second, God sees what is happening.  He knows ministry in this society is missional and difficult.  Isaiah said it over 2,500 years ago ... "I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5)."  Psalm 12 echos the chaos happening in society ...  "the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land."  If God sees, and God is active, something is about to happen.  You can count on it.

Finally, look around, seeing through God's eyes.  Every week I hear of a new congregation happening in our conference.  Africa is about to explode with new churches and congregations.  Young people are awakening from the "woke" culture to a dawning of the light of Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  God is doing something, and I think it is something big!

How can we participate in God's work here?  How about entering a discipleship process?  You can do this and we can help!  Come Wednesday night to learn a basic, but effective, model of leading a band.  Start a home band with your friends.  Join your brothers and sisters in worship ... for this is not optional if you want to be a disciple.  Join a servant-band (the Childrens ministry team, the mission team, help at the Thrift Store, get a team together and remove weeds from our flower beds, etc.).  And learn to witness to your faith, as we grow in Christ together.  We talk about how this can happen on Wednesday nights.

As I compile this list, I think of 2 groups that seem to get the point.  Our Sunday morning kids want to serve, and they are passionate about being part of what is happening.  It is an honor to them to be part of worship!  And, in videos and pictures from Africa (specifically the Congo), people are coming in droves to be part of the praise, learning, giving, and caring that takes place in early-Church-style worship.  They are not entertained ... they are invested.

God knows the barriers we face.  He has seen them before.  So I ask, do you believe Jesus, who said, "I have overcome the world?"  Are you resigned and defeated, calling our current era, Post-Christian?  Or are you part of the new thing God is doing in this Pre-Christian world?