Our Church Family

Dear church,

God’s people always have known many things about God – about his fearsome wrath and about his abundant patience. They also have known how God speaks. And aside from the truth of Jesus Christ and his cross, this is perhaps the most important thing for the Christian to know. 

God only would speak to his people through his appointed prophets. There was to be no mystery as it related to hearing from God. 

Ancient peoples went to great pains in their attempts to hear from the divine. They would watch the clouds, and they would pay attention to the reflections of liquid in a cup, and they would cut up herbs to make magical brews, and they would tie knots to bind people into curses. And they would try to consult with the dead.

Inherent in these methods of interacting with the gods was the idea the gods could be manipulated. And this manipulation was designed to bring blessings out of the gods, rather than curses. The people sought their own benefit, and they sought it through methods they created themselves. 

Not many people today still are wrapped up in listening to soothsayers or necromancers. Very few are truly interested in hearing from the dead. We aren’t shaking out arrows in order to hear from the divine (Ezekiel 21:21). And very few are considering sacrificing their children to pacify a deity.

But many people are seeking to connect with the divine. Sometimes they don’t even know what to call Him. But within many people is a desire to reach out to something more powerful than they are, and to hear what that One has to say to them. Some seek out the divine through yoga or astrology or tarot card reading or meditation.

As Christians, we always must point them back to the unambiguous revelation of God in Jesus Christ. God promised to raise up for his people new prophets like Moses – people who would hear directly from God and then serve as messengers of God to the people. We can think of the prophets Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel. 

God’s communication with his people was simple, and it was initiated by God himself. Manipulation of God was completely ruled out. Strange and mysterious ways of hearing from God were ruled out as well. 

The culmination of God’s speaking to humanity was Jesus Christ. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1). The writer of Hebrews goes on to describe Jesus as “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (1:3).

Jesus is the one through whom God has ultimately spoken. He’s the one to whom the prophets continually pointed. He’s the messenger and the message itself.

The ultimate question any person must ask is what he or she believes about Jesus. Some become trapped in their own self-interest, awaiting the word of some “diviner” or tarot card reader. They only ask, “What about me?”

All of us, in fact, find ourselves in this place in one way or another. We don’t trust the divine Word, and we seek to manipulate God. We ask, “What about me?”

The real question is this: “What about Him – Jesus Christ? What do you believe about Him?” Everything else will fall into place after that.

Chris

Dear church,

The leadership to which Jesus called his disciples was a humble kind of leadership. By today’s standards, it may not even look like leadership at all. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. … It shall not be so among you” (Matthew 20:25-26; also 1 Peter 5:1-5).

Perhaps the reason for this humble, service-oriented “leadership” is because the ultimate leader is God himself. God told Samuel the Israelites’ cry for a king was a cry not for something new, but for someone new. “For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

Godly leaders never let the people forget the identity of the One True King. This is why the Israelite king was to bind himself to the Torah. He was to be instructed by the very words of God “that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers.” 

The simple life, absent of vast wealth, was to enable the king never to forget he, too, was a servant. He was never to allow the people to turn their eyes backward, toward Egypt and slavery. Their future lay in the provision of God alone. 

Do we know how to live well under godly leadership – to “clothe” ourselves with humility? Servant leadership easily can be overrun by the prideful.  

Chris

Dear church,

The small meal we consume each Sunday is our collective act of remembrance of the saving acts of God – namely, the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus said (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).

The Israelites had their sacred feasts, and they were no different than ours. They were not to forget what God had done for them – “that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.” And so they took their unleavened bread, and they journeyed to Jerusalem as a people. They remembered what God had done for them.

And it’s not just that we remember. To remember doesn’t mean much unless it is accompanied by commitment. In taking the bread and the cup, we are committing to living our lives as people who have been redeemed. This sacrifice of Jesus Christ – this new exodus – means everything to us, and we leave no stone unturned in our efforts to honor God. 

Ultimately, we are grateful. We demonstrate this by obedience to him. When we consider our own “freewill offerings” to God, we ought to think first about exactly how God has blessed us. And we give to him from that. This also requires an act of the memory. 

We give according to how we discover that he has blessed us. Certainly, as we remember God’s many blessings to us – all the way to the gift of eternal life – we can be overcome with the need to give. How and where do we even start?

This is where true discipleship begins to gain momentum. At this point, we are beginning a journey that can take us to places we never thought we’d go. To give generously and to feel like it’s such a small thing in comparison to God’s great grace is to live the way of Christ (1 John 3:16). 

Chris

Dear church,

Never forget what God has done for you. His actions in your life are to be the driver of all you do for other people and for how tightly you cling to the material possessions you have gathered in this life.

“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you.” God did not just redeem his people. He enriched them and sent them out of the land of Egypt in triumph (Exodus 12:35-36; Numbers 33:3).

This truth was to dictate the actions of God’s people when they found themselves in the position of redeemer. They were not to be stingy. They were not to calculate gain or loss. “You shall open wide your hand to your brother.”

Make special note of the obligation God’s children have toward their brothers and sisters in Christ. We have been bought with a price by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20). We’ve been set free from slavery to sin and death. And we have a sacred duty to others among us, to those who also abide in the church, to never be grudging in our attitude toward them (1 John 2:9-10). 

Our culture is constantly speaking the lie of individualism. But we know there is no such thing in the life of Christ. The life we have in Christ is not possible through individualism. It has everything to do with our dependence on the Son of God, who expressed his own dependence on the Father. 

We should not be surprised when we find, in the church, that we also are dependent on each other. This is not something from which we should run away. It is the lead sentence of our message of good news to the world (John 13:34).

Chris 

Dear church,

We understand the holiness of some of the things we find in our lives. These are God’s things – like sacred space or objects. These are holy to God, and so they are holy to us. We treat them with special care. There are actions we don’t feel comfortable taking with the holy things of God because those things are unique. 

Did you know that you are a holy thing to God himself? More than anything else on this earth – and perhaps to the exclusion of everything else – God considers his people to be holy. Clean and unclean no longer have anything to do with food. It has to do with you (Mark 7:14-23).

The children of God – and every Christian is a child of God (John 1:12) – are “a people holy to the Lord your God.” God cares for his holy ones. They are sacred to him, and he desires to protect them. He doesn’t want them used for profane purposes. 

If we are members of the Son of God, and made holy as he is holy, then we watch where we direct our steps and what we do with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:15). We understand the difference between holy and unholy because our character is being shaped after God’s character. 

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself called to do things differently than the world does things. It is perfectly reasonable that God’s holy ones would speak and act and think in patterns that don’t match up with the world’s. If you find yourself in that place, be pleased and seek even more after the holiness of God.

Chris

Dear church,

Have you learned the skill of spiritual discernment? Many people think they have this skill, but relatively few actually do. This is why the church so often is silent in the face of pure deception and evil. 

“Let us go after other gods.” This is always the call of false prophecy – that is, prophecy that comes from humans or the devil. These forces desire the children of God forsake the Lord and leave Him behind. All sorts of deception will be tossed about in order to lure away those who have put their faith in God. Such was the case for the Israelites, and such is the case for Christians. 

It is easy to know a false spirit, and it is hard at the same time. “And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” All we must do is know Jesus, and we will immediately be able to discern when the falsehoods are being presented to us. 

But we must really know Him and not just know about him. Some Christians do not know Jesus in this sense – knowing his character and his ways. And so they are tricked sometimes into thinking Jesus only wants us to be wealthy or healthy or on top of our games. 

To know Jesus is to know him personally. “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Here is a key piece of knowledge about the Son of God. He came in the flesh, and to be in the flesh means to suffer. False spirits tell us there is no suffering for the children of God, and the children of God have believed this lie far too often (Exodus 16:2-3). But we know better – because we know Christ (John 16:33).

We learn spiritual discernment first by slowing down. We must have unhurried time with Jesus, to begin to understand his ways. A mature Christian takes his Bible and disappears for a time each day (Hebrews 5:13-14).

Chris

Dear church,

All of our worship is to be done in Christ. That is, it is to be done in honor and praise of Him. This is what Jesus meant when he said his followers were to worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). These things – spirit and truth – are all about the One True God and all about Christ himself, who came full of the Spirit and who is the embodiment of truth (Luke 4:18; John 14:6).  

The Israelites knew what they must do when they entered the Promised Land. All the old places of worship were to be smashed. “You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars.” Nothing was to remain – no religious sites to lure the eye. 

A new place of worship would be established – “the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name.” The Temple Mount in Jerusalem became the sacred heart of the nation of Israel and the place where the presence of God remained with his people. It was to that place the people were to approach God. It was there they were to bring their offerings. 

Do not think God is any less specific today, under the new covenant, about proper worship. To worship “in Christ” means no false gods or spiritual philosophies cut in front of Jesus. We must recognize this is our blessing and our refuge – to be “in Christ.” “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

We do not focus our worship on a place but a Person. Everything else must be put aside so we may focus our attention solely on the one who saved us and who has the power to give us so much more than we ever imagined. “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26). 

Be ruthless when it comes to cutting out of your life the things that compete for your worship and devotion. Nothing compares to Jesus.

Chris

Dear church,

Everyone must make a choice about Jesus Christ – to accept him or to reject him. On our last day, that choice will loom larger than mountains.

God’s people were expected to follow him, but that didn’t mean they were forced into a relationship with God. They could choose to forsake him and seek other things to worship. Even in the Promised Land, they could choose another path. The fact that the people of Israel eventually did choose another path is one of the great tragedies in history. 

Looking east from the Promised Land, they would have had the mountain of blessing on their right and the mountain of cursing on their left. The leftward course led to 

“gods that you have not known.” The rightward course led to the sweetest of joys – “No one shall be able to stand against you.”

The choice seems simple, if you believe what you read in the Bible and distrust what you hear from the world. But many people try to believe both – or to disbelieve both. And many try to avoid making a choice. They want to walk between those mountains always. 

A rich young man once asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17-22). The man went away from Jesus sorrowful because he was presented with a choice. He found something on the right hand and something on the left. 

The rich young man clearly preferred not to have to make a choice.

If you could go back to the beginning and make your choice, what would it be? Would you choose Jesus all over again? And are you living today as if you have chosen Him and Him alone?

Chris

Dear church,

We enter into the new covenant with God by faith, and we remain in that covenant by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). We must never forget this. But we also must never forget God does require something of his chosen ones. 

Jesus said we are to love one another and to obey him (John 13:34; John 14:15). The disciple John announced we are to walk in the “light” (1 John 1:7). We are not to look at this as some heavy burden but as the honor we are given as children of God, saved by grace through faith. And we have the help of the Holy Spirit.

God’s requirement of the Israelites was no different than what he requires of those living under his new covenant. God chose Israel, and it had nothing to do with their own righteousness. (See Deuteronomy 9). 

“Fear the Lord your God.” We live in reverent fear of God. He is capable of so much more than we can imagine. His justice is perfect. His holiness sees through all our flimsy defenses. He knows who we are.  

“Walk in all his ways.” We are on a journey through life, and this requires us to act. We do not simply think about God and his character. No, we mimic his character when we wake up, as we do our chores, as we interact with our neighbors, and as we sit with our families.  

“Love him.” Where is your heart today? Do you think about the Lord and his grace often? To love God means we are devoted to him. We want more of him in our life. 

“Serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” A servant is humble and looks only to the needs and desires of his master. We are not half-hearted servants, counting down the minutes until we can clock out and pursue our own desires. We are all-in for the mission of Jesus Christ.

“Keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” The Sermon on the Mount tells us what we need to know about kingdom living. We do not accept the grace of God and continue on our selfish paths. We do whatever Jesus commands us to do. 

Chris

Dear church, 

God knows the human mind very well. He has watched people think and reason from the very beginning. And after sin entered the world, he must have noticed their desire to get the credit for the good things that happen to them. An innate human drive is to “earn it.”

But in the kingdom of God, no one but God gets the credit (Romans 5:8). “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land.’”

God must hate this attitude in his children who think there must be something inherently good about them that caused God to love them. The fact of the matter is we may never know why God chose us. That is bound up in the unsearchable nature of God. 

No, God says, “You are a stubborn people.” Your response to that accusation by God toward Israel will tell you what you need to know about yourself. If you find yourself thinking, “Well, I’m not all that stubborn. Not like them” – then you have much work to do. 

“Do not say in your heart …” This is where we do our worst evil against God. It is in the secret of our hearts where we tell ourselves our lies and where we shun God and his grace and think we are superior to the pagan people around us and our brothers and sisters in the church. 

We do not shout these things from the rooftops. But God hears them, nonetheless (Psalm 139:1).

Chris