Our Church Family

Dear church,

The grace of God is most evident if we look honestly at our own lives. That is, we must look at our lives the way God looks at them. And God is always honest. 

“They are a people who go astray in their heart” (Psalm 95:10). God could say this about us as easily as he said it about the Israelites at the edge of the Promised Land, as they hatched a plan to return to Egypt. 

So we see the grace of God – because he is a God who sees us as we truly are. We go astray. It is our natural tendency. Our lives lean in that direction. 

And yet, God waits on us, and this is grace. 

We may indeed miss a rich part of his blessing, a life on this earth in peace with God and others and ourselves. The faithless spies and “wicked congregation” indeed did find their graves in the wilderness, on the way back to Egypt, just like they unwisely had hoped.

And yet, God waits for us to come around. He is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” Christ died for us, after all, while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

To appreciate the grace of God, we first must attend to our own lives, to see them as God does. A people who go astray can always stop and turn around. As long as it is “today,” the possibility remains (Hebrews 3:7-4:13).

Chris

Dear church,

The special talent of humanity is in our ability to take a gift, something meant to be a blessing, and to turn it into a burden. This has to grieve God’s heart. Jesus reminded the Pharisees of this when they turned a holy day into a day of shackles. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

All of this life is a gift. And so far as our lives today are lived in Christ, they are part of the eternal life that is discussed so happily in the New Testament (John 3:16). Eternal life, certainly, is not intended to be a burden. 

God told Moses about the land of Canaan, “I am giving (it) to the people of Israel.” The land was a gift and made up the biggest portion of God’s covenant promises to his people (Genesis 17:8). They were to be a mighty nation living in their own land.

By the time the spies returned, however, the land seemed to them no longer what it once was. It no longer was a gift. It had become a burden to them. “We came to the land to which you sent us.” The cities were fortified, and the people were giants. The spies seemed to be saying, “This is not our land. This is only land where we’ve been sent, against our will.”

This was a tragedy – as much of a tragedy as when Eve felt burdened because she could not eat that one forbidden fruit. The land was lost to those who turned the blessing into a burden. They stopped trusting in the word of God. The promise of the covenant was out of their reach. They’d lost faith.

Is your life in Christ a blessing or a burden? If it feels like a burden, you might consider whether you really are believing in the power of God. He is more than able to overcome fortified city walls and towering giants – and anything else. Do you have the faith of Caleb, who was ready to “go up at once” even as his brothers doubted?

The gift only remains a gift if we continue to receive it as such – in faith. And the pure joy of the gift emerges when we hold it in faith.

Chris

Dear church,

We will find it difficult to come to terms with at least one thing in our Christian walk – the absolute authority of Jesus Christ. Some will claim this is an easy thing to do, and we wish they were right. 

The fact of the matter is we want some authority, too. We don’t always agree with what Jesus would have us to do. And we balk, just as Aaron and Miriam did. “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?”

God speaks through whomever he chooses. The right to speak for God is not something that is earned. God does what God will do. And in these days, after the age of great prophets who did not speak for God because of some natural ability or skill, God has chosen to speak in primarily one way. “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:1-2). 

Jesus is the appointed one, and we are not. 

We are apt to object. From time to time, we may be unwilling to accept the ideas Jesus brings into our lives – ideas about holiness and grace. And we may be unwilling to undertake the mission Jesus has laid out for our lives – a mission marked by repentance, discipleship, and evangelism. 

Jesus receives our objections the only way a servant Messiah can. He will not force the issue with us. Moses was not the only meek one chosen by God. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Jesus pleads with his followers rather than chains them.

It is true judgment ultimately will come. Miriam’s leprosy was unmistakable. Aaron’s helplessness was obvious. And both knew exactly who could intercede for them. 

But until the judgment, Jesus is quietly holding out his hand to us. He desires we put aside our own aspirations for authority and submit to him rather than anything else. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). 

Chris

Dear church,

True Christians will notice when their natural cravings begin to overtake and override the satisfaction they get from the gospel. We experience, from time to time, a desire for something even more than God gives us in this moment. Eternal life does not seem to be enough for us. 

A “strong craving” comes over us. It might be for some old habit or for some physical pleasure. It might be a craving for money or fame or worldly approval. Whole churches can suffer from these cravings as easily as individual Christians.

The important thing for us to do in these moments is to pay attention. God is very gentle with us. “The fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.” A Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit will notice the burning. It is a warning. We ought to repent. 

The worst thing is to persist in the craving to the point that God turns us over to it, and we receive so much of the ungodly thing we crave that it destroys us. “Therefore God gave them up …” (Romans 1:24, 26, 28).

Contentment is a spiritual gift that pulls the mask off our craving and allows us to rest in Christ alone. True contentment only comes from Jesus (Philippians 4:10-13).

Our desire for variety in our life of faith – to spice things up – can lead us to places we don’t really want to go. It is better to rest in the traditional gospel as it was handed down to us by the apostles – the gospel we read in black and white in our bibles. We ought to get our fill only from Jesus. 

“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). This is the bread we must eat every day, now and forever. 

Chris

Dear church,

The great people of faith find meaning in seemingly inconsequential things. The world doesn’t know what to make of our bread and cup, of our songs, of our gatherings, of our “fellowship.” It also won’t know what to make of the sound of the trumpet. 

These things are given to us by God. And only the faithful know Him. 

“And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31). 

The people of true faith will find meaning in these things. They take the bread and cup and remember the cross – and discern the body. They sing the songs as people longing for a home. They gather knowing they always will gather – forever and ever. They fellowship and listen to other stories of the faith. 

And when the trumpet sounds, they will know what that means.

The faithless, of course, will roll their eyes. Moses knew this very well (Numbers 11:1). The faithful person stands in the midst of that faithlessness and remains strong. Perhaps he or she even ignores the whispers and grumblings. 

“Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. … Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” It is a picture of faithfulness – to say that every time among the doubters, no matter what, even when the way looks blocked or after the day has been hard.

The people of faith find meaning in this, and the world doesn’t know what to make of it. 

Chris

Dear church,

The Israelites had to learn how to be obedient to the clear commands of God – to stay and to go. “At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped.”

They must have looked on with wonder as the cloud lifted and moved forward. The Levites would spring into action, and the people would pack their bags. It feels good to be moving forward, to be going somewhere.

And the Israelites must have looked on with equal wonder as the cloud remained in place over the tabernacle. Day after day, turning into week after week sometimes – the people may have looked for signs that it was time to move. But God’s sovereign and mysterious purpose was to remain. And so the people remained. 

For the people, the important thing wasn’t the timing of the travel or the direction of it. The important thing also was not that they understood it all. The important thing was that they followed the perfect command of God, whatever that happened to be. “At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out.”

Soon the traveling would come to an end. The tabernacle would make its home in the Promised Land. A temple would be built. There would be no place left to travel. The people then would follow God’s command to celebrate – to hold the Passover and the other festivals. At the “appointed time,” the people could come to the temple, bringing their gifts. This was the Lord’s command. 

The Christian worships the same God – the God who both moves us forward and brings us to halt. This is the God who seems to be ever moving and ever resting. His people do the same – moving forward and remaining in “camp.”

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). We remain in camp, doing the things required of us in camp life – taking care of the needs of those around us, of our brothers and sisters in the church. We remain with them. We love them. We must not forget about the clear and perfect command of the Lord that we love those in the church. 

But as we remain, we also should find ourselves moving, following the unseen cloud of God’s glory. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). We do not simply camp. We also go.

These are the commands of the Lord. We camp, and we set out. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The “tabernacle” goes with us everywhere we go.

In this age of Christ and his church, we want to choose one or the other – to camp or to go. But the command of the Lord is to do both. 

Chris

Dear church,

Of all the things on this earth God has created and taken interest in, the most special is the church and the people who comprise it. 

Understandably, we forget this. We live in a world that chews people up and spits them out and forgets all about them. We do this, too. We encounter long-lost friends and struggle to recall their names. 

But God never forgets us. His light is shining on his people always. “When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” The light showed forward and fell upon the 12 loaves of bread in the holy place of the tabernacle. Those loaves of bread symbolized the 12 tribes of Israel. At all times, the light of God’s blessing was upon his people. 

“The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you” (Numbers 6:25; also Zechariah 4:10).

The life we live as Christians is a life spent walking in the light (Isaiah 9:2; 1 John 1:7). God has given his church something the rest of the world may only dream about, if it knows anything about it at all. We live under the blessing of God and in the presence of God.  

The things we do and say no longer are done and said in darkness and with a lack of knowledge. They are done in the light of God’s presence. He is with us. He sees us and never forgets us. He shows us about ourselves, and we know right from wrong. We can see where we are going. And we can see things that others, perhaps, cannot – all because we are living our lives in the light of God’s blessing. 

This brings with it a special responsibility on our part. We must remain in the light. We abide here in this place, moving neither too quickly to outrun the light nor too slowly to be left behind in the darkness. 

Am I still in the light today? Am I depending on the presence and power of God in my life?

Chris

Dear church,

The twelve tribes received the blessing of God by remembering their place in his kingdom and giving themselves freely to Him. “The Lord bless you and keep you …” The famous blessing was followed immediately by the steady stream of gifts to God – “the chiefs of Israel … approached and brought their offerings before the Lord.”

God is not so harsh with us that he expects us to move blindly toward him. Our acts of faith are in response the revelation of God’s blessings toward all of sinful humanity. Everyone has been blessed – “for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Matthew 5:45) – and all are equally obligated to respond. 

And a Christian will respond. “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:8). Once we receive the blessing, we step forward with our gifts. No one is exempt. All have benefited from the body and the blood. The worship of the church emerges from everyone who calls himself or herself a Christian. 

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Sometimes we might be tempted to sit back and let others do the serving and the giving. We might think our offering isn’t worth all that much. But all are obligated equally, if they are indeed children of God, to give of their lives to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:12).

We must respond to the blessing given to us by Jesus Christ. Our offerings may look different from one another, but none of us is exempt from taking up our crosses and following.

Chris

Dear church,

Men and women throughout the history of the church have felt, at times, they have wanted to do more for God. They understand the saving acts of God – the painful death of Jesus on the cross – and they are unsatisfied with their level of commitment and sacrifice for the Lord. They want to do more for him.

Out of this desire spring missionary endeavors, new churches, extravagant financial gifts, and whole new ministries. People set themselves aside for God’s use, and they are unsatisfied with only a little sacrifice and only a little service. They want to do more.

The Nazirites lived like the high priests in the way they set themselves apart from all others, and they did so voluntarily. Their long hair was a mark of their decision to give themselves over to God. The expensive offerings at the conclusion of their “separation” were evidence of their seriousness, even at the end. 

In the Old Testament, Samson and Samuel were Nazirites. Some believe John the Baptist was, too. And the apostle Paul may have taken a Nazirite vow at one point in his life (Acts 18:18). Such vows did not seem contradictory to life in the early church (Acts 21:23-24).

The fact of the matter is, there always are some who want to do more for God – to give their lives fully over to his use. They aren’t interested in only a Sunday morning ritual or writing out a tithe check each month. They want to do more, to give all they have.

Of course, some remain rightfully and quietly tethered to their “worldly” vocations. The world continues to need farmers and teachers and nurses and administrators and real estate managers and telephone repairmen. God can be glorified in all of these.

We come to Jesus Christ like a Nazirite, whether we frame it in these terms or not. The cost of following Jesus is a steep one. And Jesus warns us of this cost. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:57-58).

And yet, we still are called to come, to take up our crosses, and to follow. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).

The danger, as Christians, is to look to those who want to do “more,” and say, “That is not me. I have not been called to anything like that.” And we may try to separate our working life from our worship life, and our recreational life from both of those. 

But all of these things belong to God, who is “over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6). These things – in fact, all things – were given for our sustenance and our enjoyment. And in all of them, we can bring glory to God. We can give all of them to God.

The Nazirites rightfully understood their obligation to their Creator and Redeemer. We do that, too, wherever we are.

Chris

Dear church,

I break faith with God when I consider the eternal blessings of God and then look out toward the temporary enticements of the world – and I choose the latter. We are constantly tempted to break faith with the Lord. But our eyes should be fixed only on Jesus, the one who forgives our sin and constantly invites us back into relationship with him. 

God’s people are wedded to Him. They always have been, and they always will be (Hosea 2). For generations, Israel acted like an adulterous wife, always turning away from God, always breaking faith. And God sought, in his own wise way, to draw his bride back into relationship with him. “I will betroth you to me in faithfulness” (Hosea 2:20).

But the act of breaking faith always is revealed.

Our rituals remind us of certain truths we hold dear – like the body and blood of Christ in the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper. A bitter cup of dust and water had meaning in Israel. Later, they would discover there is a cup of God’s wrath (Isaiah 51:17).

Marriages have meaning, too. Today, they remind us of our sacred relationship with Jesus – the one to whom we must be faithful. Unfaithfulness is not consistent with the calling and character of Christ, who is faithful to his own “bride” all the way to the end (Revelation 18:7-8).

And in all this, we remember Jesus drank the “cup” for us (Matthew 26:39). He died for our sins, and he covered over our dark moments of breaking faith.

We all from time to time break faith with Christ. We are guilty, and we might as well admit it. And we listen to his hope-filled words to “adulterers” caught in the act: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11).

Chris