His Love Endures Forever

Psalm 136 is an obvious choice as we enter this season of Thanksgiving.  There are 26 verses.  The 1st verse says, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good ... His love endures forever."  Every subsequent verse expresses a reason for giving thanks.  And each verse (all 26) includes the proclamation, "His love endures forever!"  

Dr. Tim Tennant writes, "Psalm 136 was obviously written for a public act of worship."  Dr. Tennant goes on to remind us that the "love" expressed in this Psalm is not the emotion of love, which we seem to revere.  It is, rather, the continued, repeated, consistent action of love expressed by God throughout the history of the Hebrew people.  In short, God has promised (in covenant) to love His people, and has carried out that love in mighty acts.  God's love means business!

Sunday, we will share that act of worship as we begin and end the service with this Psalm, read responsively.  We will consider this Psalm as we read it in the community of worship.  We will hold it in our hearts as we leave the Henry County Courthouse lawn at 3:30pm and travel to Abbeville High School. Abbeville Christian Academy, Abbeville Elementary School, Abbeville Boys and Girls Club, and the Abbeville/Henry County Governmental Complex.  We will share this time of Thanksgiving as we join in worship at 5pm in the Abbeville Methodist Church Sanctuary and worship, testify, pray, sing, and live in the light of Jesus together.  We will thank the God who provides as we gather to break bread at 6:15pm in the Abbeville Methodist Family Life Center.

Other things will also happen this Sunday.  We will miss our football games ... or will we (how can we be sad if something eternal happens to displace something temporal)?  We will miss our Sunday afternoon rest ... or will we (in Scripture, rest means completion/fulfillment, and we will be completed in our participation)?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good ... His love endures together!  AMEN? AMEN!

The Great Divide

My major in undergraduate school was geography.  That is a far cry from what I do now, but the degree did prepare me well for my secular job as a municipal planner.  There are lots of applicable disciplines that relate to geography as a science, including demography, sociology, and statistics.  But that work happened decades ago, and I have moved on from that life.  However, every once in a while, some subject comes back into mind that relates both to that life and the life of a pastor.

Last week I was thinking of a Kate Wolf song called, The Great Divide.  It is a wonderful song that would be fitting for a folk music concert or a campfire.  For today, however, I want to focus on the geographical term and the spiritual concept.  There is a line, running North to South, from Canada through Mexico, called the Great Divide. It is the line, roughly tracking the highest elevations in the Rocky Mountains, where water drains either East toward the Atlantic and the Gulf, or drains west to the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.  But there is another Great Divide.

We have been (this is the last week) reading the Nicene Creed.  There is a sense that this, and the Apostle's Creed,  are lines of separation.  We either believe the Biblical foundation of the creeds (who God said He was in Father, Son, and Spirit) or we believe some other extra-Biblical source.  In layman's terms, we (in the Global Methodist Church and in other Orthodox denominations) believe the Bible and the early Church Councils, are correct.  Why is this important?

Last week, we read from the Book of Joshua.  In Joshua 24:14-15, Joshua realizes that our focus on foundational, Scriptural, beliefs defines who we are and how we interact with our world.  Joshua renews the Covenant between the people and God at Shechem.  He gathers all the tribes and leaders of Israel and makes a proclaimation that is truly the Great Divide.  In verse 15, Joshua announces, "Choose this day whom you will serve ... whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  It was a watershed moment.  A time of both division and unity.  Would the people flow in the direction of the Lord, or will they flow into the sewer of the culture?  Belief is important.  Belief is upheld by the word of God, the power of the Spirit, the person of Christ, and the blessing of the Father.  Choose this day whom you will serve!  

The Land

In Joshua, Chapter 1:2, God tells Joshua, "The time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them."  Later in Chapter 1, Joshua, at the instruction of the Lord, tells the people to "take possession" of the land.  I wonder if this is God's same instruction today?

First, what is "the land?"  The land is any place that God sends His people, under His instruction and authority, to possess.  It is the hearts of unbelievers.  It is the land upon which our church and our facilities are located.  It is a nation that seems so focused on political solutions to our problems that we miss the spiritual battle being waged all around us.  It is taking this day for the Lord ... living it out with God's guidance, leading, Spirit, and blessing.  Joshua is told that the land is anywhere he sets foot IF he follows God's instructions.

Second, in this month of giving thanks, God reminds Joshua that the land, the power to enter the land, and the power to take the land are gifts/blessings from God.  Joshua, the army of Israel, and the ability to fight, all come from the God who ultimately leads them.  They are just a large group of nomads without God's provision.

Finally (and I love this) possession of the land follows action.  The people are told to take the land.  Joshua is told that he must "set foot" on the land.  The nation of Israel is told they must "cross the river."  God's power, provision, and blessing are all there, just waiting for people who say, "yes!"

You may ask, "What does this have to do with me?"  We are a nation of passivity.  I am told, often, the things WE need to do.  But doing them seems to fall by the wayside, as business takes over our lives.  So ... here are some ways we can "take the land,"

1. If you are part of a team that leads your church, meet with the team and participate in the meeting.  Step into the river, and the waters will part (Joshua 3:8).

2. Never, ever, say those powerless words, "I can't do that!" if God has called you to do something.  Those words are narcissistic!  They imply that YOU are responsible for doing what God has ordained.  Just step into the water (as the old song says).

3. Let's all be the adults in the room.  One of the sports programs I watch often remarks that the leadership trait most sought in professional sports (this includes management and players alike) is the trait of being an adult.  Adults see the larger picture of the organization that is larger than them.  Adults listen, interact, and don't seek to manipulate others.  Adults are not passive-agressive in how they interact with others.  Adults give positive suggestions and respond positively to others in their group.  Adults are teachable and interested in personal and organizational growth.  Adults enter every meeting, every interaction, and every relationship asking, "How can I be used by God to make this meeting, interaction, and relationship better?"  Adults keep their eyes on the mission, and are active in "taking the land."  Adults don't allow emotions to drive them, and never "take their toys and go home."  

I have (in our Family Life Center) a stone carved with the words, "With God nothing is impossible."  Do you believe that, because Jesus said it?  Let's take the land, one step and one action at a time.  It starts with crossing the river of doubt, emotion, fear, failure, self, and childish behavior.  Joshua knew the Jordan was more than a river ... it was a place where attitudes needed to change.  TAKE the land.  God has already given it!  Randy

Are You Ready?

This Sunday is All Saints Sunday.  It is the time, each year, in which we honor those who have gone on to be with Christ.  This is referenced in various ways.  There is "passed."  Another is "died."  A third is "entered into glory."  Maybe your family has a special way to speak about those who have left this world and entered into the next.  One of my pastor friends (and he said this referring to his daughter) said, "she crossed over the Jordan before me."

This Sunday, we will read the names of those souls that people have given us (from a variety of places) and we will have a time of silence to remember them.  But my question is, are YOU ready?  When I ask this, most of you are thinking I am asking, "Am I ready to go and be with Christ, and am I ready to leave this world being saved and reconciled with God."  This is an important question, but I would like to see this in another way, as we consider Paul's referencing of "saints" from 1 Corinthians, 1.  In verse 2, the salutation reads, "To the Church of God which is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours."  He calls them saints, and sanctified ... are you ready to be called that?

Paul goes on.  "I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blamless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (verses 4-7)."  My English teacher would have called that a "run on sentence."  I call it Paul's challenge to the Corinthians.

The Cornithians, as Paul writes his letter to them, are lacking many of the earmarks of the sainthood he expresses in his salutation.  They are caught up in their Greek penchant for philosophy, logic, and knowledge ... all of which Paul says lacks spiritual vision.  And, one of the worst criticisms, Paul tells these people, who are physical adults, he has fed them milk for they were not, and still are not, ready for solid food.  Now, reread the salutation.

1. He calls them what they should be, and need to be ... sanctified, and those who "call on the name of Jesus Christ."  Sanctified means that they have worked, struggled, strived to know God through His word, through active service, through applied love, through worship, and through sharing of their witness.  Are you ready for this?

2. He reminds them of the grace they have been given, and of the abundance of gifts they have been given to do the work of the saints.  He writes, "the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you will come short in no gift."  Paul is saying that the Corinthians have every gift they need for doing the work God has given them, both as a blessing and an expectation.  They are equipped.  But, are they (we) ready?

3. He tells them that, at the end of all things, they, as professing and practicing saints, their eternal salvation rests on their connection with Jesus, their only means of salvation.

They are called to be saints.  They are expected to be practicing/active Christians, who use their gifts to edify the Church.  And, they are held eternally accountable, so that God's grace and mercy and love will confirm you on the "day of our Lord, Jesus Christ."

Are you/we ready for this?  Are you an itenerate worker, willing to work till you earn enough to survive for awhile, and spending those resources till you run out, repeating this process over and over again?  Or, are you a son/daughter of the owner, invested in the inheritance the Master gives to all of His sons and daughters?

We have the gifts and resources needed to do what God is calling us to do.  So did the Corinthians.  The question is ... are we ready to be sanctified, so that God's Kingdom comes on earth, as it is in heaven?

"It's all the same."

That statement is a very culturally-generated opinion about the Church.  I heard someone say this recently, and I wished I had had the time to ask what (exactly) they meant.  But the comment is made from a spiritually-lazy perspective that is prevalent in society.  It is part of having to place everything in a convenient "box" so actual thought and reflection don't need to happen.  It's like me when I am in a hurry to tidy up the house ... find a place to drop it, and move on to the next thing.

I wonder if, in the early 300's AD, the early church might have had a similar issue?  Maybe Christianity had, for many people, been placed in a convenient box, with people thinking that all people calling themselves Christians believed pretty much the same thing.  "It's all the same," they might have said.   In truth, there were many groups of people called Christians, living in different places, flowing from different backgrounds, and immersed in different daily realities.  The early Church fathers knew that there was a need to go back to Biblical basics and reclaim the things that must be held as true, right, and orthodox.  The creeds (the Apostle's and the Nicene) became this boundary which separated those who held Scripture and Jesus as authoritative, while a plethora of beliefs were developed, some orthodox, and some not.

One belief structure, Arianism, was created by people who believed that Jesus (who in Scripture is fully-God, fully-human, and the begotten Son of the Father) was not "begotten" but created.  Begotten means, for our purposes, born with the essence of both parents.  In the case of the creeds and orthodox beliefs, Jesus is the ONLY begotten Son of the Father.  This differs from the Arian position that Jesus was a created being (like angels, demons) and was not of the DNA of God the Father.  You might ask, "why is this important ... it's all the same." 

I'll give you a few reasons why orthodxy, here, is vital to what we believe:

1. We believe Jesus is who He said He was, with all of the power, authority, and attributes He manifested in the Bible, and still manifests in/through/around us.  "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18)."  

2. Being begotten brings Jesus close to us in a visceral way.  He is born of a woman.  He shares all of the temptations, life-experiences, and emotions that humans experience.  Yet, Jesus did this being both sinless, and remaining connected with His parental DNA from God the Father.

3. The book of Hebrews expresses this "begotten" status in a beautiful way, as the writer tells us that Jesus has overcome the flesh, the world, and our failures as the sinless and beautiful sacrifice for our sins, becoming our "Great High Priest" that invites, advocates, and forgives us before the Father.  In Chapter 4, verses 15-16, the writer expresses the truth that we, in boldness, can go to God's throne of grace, and receive mercy in our time of need.

A created being that is less than God is not an overcomer in this world.  He, at best or worst, would be an adopted son, with the DNA of an angel or a demon, and would not be the Jesus of Scripture, or the person described by John 1 ... "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God ... and the word became flesh, and dwelt among us."

Do you still think "it's all the same?"  What you believe is important.  Maybe, when the disciples told Jesus what people were saying about Him (i.e., who He was), Jesus looked Peter in the eye, and said ... "Who do YOU say that I am?"  We all know Peter's reply ... "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!."  "It" wasn't all the same then, and "it" isn't all the same now.

Eternal

The word for the day is "olam."  It is the Hebrew word we would translate as eternal.  It also means endless.  For our purposes and for Biblical clarity, it means endless, both forward and backward in time.

Our concept of this word has been confined (something you can't really do with eternity) to a more childlike view.  I remember my daughter asking about how long something would take.  While I don't remember the exact context, I do remember her response.  "That will take forever (pronounced foe-evah)!"  I laughed when she said it, but I wonder if God also laughs when we try to fathom this concept.

Isaiah 40:28 says, "Have you never heard?  Have you never understood?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.  He never grows weak or weary.  No one can measure the depths of His understanding!"  This Scriptural context is professed in the Nicene and the Apostle's Creed.  God is "olam" ... everlasting ... eternal ... always ... with no beginning and with no end.

Michael Card writes, with reverence and wonder, the words ... "To all who've been of the Spirit, and share incarnation with Him, who belong to eternity stranded in time."  What a statement about God and about us!  And what an expression of the true reward!

Eternity is not about a mansion over the hilltop (something we will get/possess).  Eternity is not about a crown (a reward for good deeds) ... in The Revelation these are cast down at the feet of a holy God.  Eternity is about:

1. God sharing the precious life, death, and resurrection of Christ with people whose only claim to this gift is our relationship with Jesus.

2. God offering us the blessing of forever worship of "the Lamb upon the throne" (Revelation 5:13).

3. God inviting us into His eternal kingdom and eternal place so we can enjoy the presence of God in the holiness and beauty of His Kingdom, finally come down to earth (Revelation 21:2).

The creeds are filled with God's invitation to this place we cannot understand, but, in trusting God, can strive for, long for, and dream for.  Maranatha ... Our Lord, come!

Dreaming Without the Drift

There are lots of ideas and dreams floating around.  We have been asking members and attenders about their ideas for the future, and that request has tweaked some of you.  Others have just rolled along, content to compartmentalize 'church' in a place where it doesn't get too out of hand.  Only you can ask and answer which of these might describe you.  It can be fun to dream, but we, societally, seem to drift pretty easily.

How can we dream, vision, and keep from drifting off course?  One way is to plant our feet on the solid, the strong, the faithful, and the true.  The early Church experienced a number of challenges that caused people to 'drift' and become caught up in doctrinal issues and divisions, threatening orthodox faith.  One theologian (Thomas Oden) said that all heresy and all 'drifting' from orthodoxy happened in the 1st 300 years of the Church (Scripture says "there is nothing new under the sun").  Paul Simon wrote (in The Boxer), "after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same."  

In 325 AD at the Council of Nicea (and refined in 381AD at the Council of Constantinople) Church leaders adopted a creed which clarified the nature and person of Christ and of God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Arianism (the belief that Jesus was a created being, a "good man," and not part of an eternal Godhead) challenged the Church of that time.  Arianism held that Jesus was a created being with a beginning and an end ... not "from the beginning" and not "forever."  This Arian view is currently shared by believers of certain faith streams in modern culture.  To be concise, this belief states that Jesus is not who Jesus and God the Father said He was.  The early councils knew that this belief diminished (C.S. Lewis said, negated) the authority of both Scripture and of Jesus Himself.  So ... here's what they wrote:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son,] who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

I love it when we (the Church) get clear on who we are, who Jesus is, and where we are going (our mission, "Make disciples of Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly").  We keep from drifting when we know who God is, know who we are in relation to God, and hold those beliefs as solid, strong, faithful, and true.