On Sunday, September 27 I shared my final Sunday service with New Hope Community Church as their pastor.  What follows is a restatement of my final message to them.  It is a shorter version with far less explaining, but it is an expression of the heart of my desire for the church I have and will continue to dearly love.

You have everything you need for life and godliness.  God has granted it to you.  You have enough.  As I end my time as pastor among you, I do so knowing that I have ever been an under-shepherd, serving at the pleasure of your true Shepherd, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, our resurrected Champion and undisputed Sovereign.  I leave you with a peace in my heart that flows from the confidence that our Chief Shepherd will never leave you nor forsake you.  He has chosen for us what I would not have chosen for us, but I am convinced that His is the greater vision, wisdom, and judgment, so I step out in trust with you into His mysterious calling.  

As I have said each week over the last several years: “You are, before anything in your lives, disciples of Jesus Christ.”  Because of this, your choice to gather in the name of Jesus and to associate yourselves with one another around Him makes you His church.  Consequently, you have been given by your Master certain necessary and enduring gifts: His Word, His Spirit, and His Body.  These gifts, graciously given, gratefully received, and humbly utilized, are all that are required for you to thrive and powerfully act in this struggling community and faltering world.  Though you will be without a professional pastor on staff, you will not be without any of these great and powerful gifts.  You have the Word of your Master freely available to you always.  You have the Holy Spirit of your Master dwelling in your very flesh and actively moving among you to accomplish His purposes.  You have one another, saints of various maturities, experiences, and points of view who are bound together by your common allegiance to Someone who is greater than all of your differences.  

Whatever you may lack, you do not lack anything that is necessary for your powerful and effective participation in God’s great kingdom work here and now.  Do not be wooed by the world’s erroneous and dangerous assumptions about what is possible, what is necessary, and what is reasonable.  Do not be led into the folly of trusting in the fleshly and mortal resources of earth.  You belong to a Kingdom which has its seat of power in Heaven itself, which is ruled by a transcendent and yet imminent Ruler with whom nothing is impossible and who needs no permission from anyone to act.  His are all the resources of this universe, and those are the very  resources He delights to lavish on His faithful servants for the sake of His mission and purpose.

Are you tempted to put the great kingdom work of this church on hold until a new pastor is secured?  Are you flirting with the idea of pouring all your attention and effort into that pursuit?  I beg you: resist that temptation and reject that attractive idea!  Carry on in the work of your Master, for He is still among you and always will be.  Remember His words to His servants: “And I am with you always (lit. ‘all the days’) even until the end of the age.”  Everything you need to be great is already yours!  Everything you need to accomplish His great and glorious work is already available to you!  

His Word is yours.

His Spirit is yours.

His Body is yours.  

God willing, you will soon have a full-time pastor on staff to lead you as a community of disciples.  I will continue to pray that our Father provides this for you - and quickly.  But I have a more pressing prayer.  That prayer is that in the time between this moment and that, you will - each of you - take seriously these gifts that have been given to you and give yourselves wholly to the mission.  If you will, the man who comes to lead you will blessed.  If you will, you will be blessed.  If you will, the community to which you belong will be blessed.  

The kingdom of light and life will advance even as the kingdom of darkness retreats.

The spiritual chains of those now bound will be loosened and then finally broken by the power of our Master who moves through His servants.

The eyes of those now spiritually blind will be opened so that they can see the glory, beauty, and goodness of our Father, our Master and the Spirit.

The spiritual hunger of those now starving will be satisfied by the life-giving truth and love of the man Jesus.

Mortal hands will reach out to serve, but they will be immortal hands that take hold of darkened and hardened hearts.

Mortal tongues will dare to speak, but it will be the Immortal One who calls the lost to come home.  

Mortal feet will walk, but it will be the Immortal One running to meet the homeward-bound child who is still a far way off.

Whom do you need to be changed?  You have Him.

Whom do you need to be full of joy?  You have Him.

Whom do you need to teach you and train you to be like Himself?  You have Him.  

You have Him, and so everything is yours.  You do not need to slow down.  You do not need to stop.  No, you need only to press forward toward the prize to which our Father has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus.  As individuals, as families and as a community, seek Jesus, serve Jesus, and watch Jesus move.  

He is alive.  He is strong, wise, and good.  He is among you, and He intends to move through you.  May His ever be the face on which you gaze, the voice that fills your ears, the hands that  hold you up, and Kingdom in which you thrive.

May it be so because you are my dearly beloved, and, more importantly, you are, before anything in your lives, disciples of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

Go Without - Because You'll Never Go Without

Abraham, go from your father's homeland without knowing where you're going (Genesis 12:1).

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Lot, go from Sodom without anything but your wife and daughters (Genesis 19:12-17).

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Mary, go into pregnancy without a husband or a 'reasonable' explanation to offer to people (Luke 1:26-38).

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Apostles, go on mission for me without bread, money or extra clothes (Luke 10:4; 22:35).

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You on the rooftop, go from your home without going inside to get any of your possessions (Luke 17:31).

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Beloved Son, Jesus, go to earth with nothing but a mortal and frail infant body.  

The followers of YHWH are often called to do some seemingly unreasonable things as they live with Him.  He's an independent thinker, you know.  He has certain ideas about what ought to be done, and we 'reasonable' human creatures hear of them and say, "That doesn't make sense!"  [This reaction would be humorous if it weren't so arrogant.  At a certain point we have to come to the realization that there is a difference between saying, "I don't understand that," and, "That doesn't make sense."  In the first case, I am admitting that I lack something.  In the second case, I am declaring a fault in the other.  When dealing with God, it's always wiser to admit your own lack than to declare a fault in Him!]

When you live with a person like YHWH, you have to come to grips with the fact that He will often do things and call you to do things that do not make sense to you.  There will be many ideas He has that make sense to Him and to those beings in His universe who know more and better, but that don't make sense to us.  What now?  Do you trust His understanding or yours?  Do you go and do, or do you stay and question?  Do you humbly accept His authority to command, or do you arrogantly appeal to your perceived right to understand?

The person who has come to trust Father God can obey in quiet submission because that person knows that He is competent, kind and wise.  That person knows enough of God's promises (and of His determination to keep them) to maintain a steady confidence that they will be ultimately and persistently well as they obey His call.  "If I go where He calls without taking what I'd really like to have as my security, then He'll make sure I have what I need in each leg of this journey."

Do you have absolute, steady, and patient confidence in your Father's careful provision for you?  Do you really believe your Master Jesus when He tells you that you are worth much more than the many sparrows which your Father tenderly cares for?  Are you convinced that He has assigned you a vastly greater value than the flowers in the field which He personally clothes in beauty? (see Matthew 6:26-30)

For most things in life, you ought to be wise in planning and making thoughtful provision for what you can.  This is good stewardship of God's kingdom resources.  Remember, though, that there will be times in most servants' lives during which God makes a move that is out of the ordinary and utterly unexpected.  He will call His people to be risky, daring and adventurous because defeating an enemy like Satan and dismantling a kingdom like his takes extraordinary measures.  God has proven to be a creative, outside-of-the-box and out-of-the-ordinary thinker.  Will you join Him in what He's doing even if it strikes you as a little reckless?  A little foolish?  A little risky?  Trust will move you to go where He leads and to, like another daring servant, say, "I am the Lord's servant; may [His] word to me be fulfilled" (Luke 1:38).

You are well, and you will be well.  Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.  He knows what you'll need before you'll know.  He is perfectly capable.  Perfectly capable.  Whether you are or are not perfectly capable is entirely irrelevant to the question of your obedience.  When your humble willingness and His perfect capability embrace, the result will be an adventurous and powerful life with the Living One that is marked by present and eternal blessing that only our Father could think up for us! 

The Gospel in Motherhood

As disciples of Jesus, we're meant to meditate on the connections between the good news of Jesus and the lives we live every day.  We just celebrated Mothers Day on Sunday, and motherhood is one of the most fundamental realities there is, so I was drawn to meditate on the connections between the gospel of Jesus and motherhood.  Here are a few of the beautiful connections I can see:

Life as a Gift

When a wee little person is being developed in his/her mother's womb, life is granted by the kind hand of the Divine Knitter, and, at the same time, mommy offers physical support and nourishment.  This little child does not do a single thing to earn or deserve or accomplish his/her own life.  The child's life is a gift.  Others act, and life for this little one is the breathtaking result.

Think on it, your whole existence is a gift!  The very fact that you are sitting/standing/lying there reading these words at this moment proves that Someone wants you to exist in His universe.  Now go even further: if you have received new life as a disciple of Jesus, you are alive in God's kingdom as a result of the decisions and actions of others.  You couldn't have given yourself life.  You couldn't have initiated the process that led to your new birth.  You didn't convince God to send Jesus nor convince Jesus to come.  You are the recipient of a gift that was given to you, and you didn't have to contribute a single thing to it!  How kind our God is and how grateful we ought to be to Him!

Life Through Pain

 As wonderful as the process of pregnancy and delivery can be for a woman, it is universally understood that there will be severe physical discomfort and pain in the process.  The just but awful words of the Creator echo in delivery rooms everywhere: "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children" (Genesis 3:16, NIV).  It is the delivery that is most painful, of course, but there is discomfort and pain along the forty week journey to get there, as well.  An aching back, swollen feet, 'morning sickness', and more accompany a woman along the way.  

What comes as a result of the pain, discomfort and suffering, though?  Life, family, joy, and an eternal addition to God's universe.  Is the pain, discomfort and suffering worth it?  For most mothers the answer is a resounding, 'Yes!'  Jesus, in concert with our Father in Heaven, would answer this question just as positively.  Does Jesus consider all of His suffering, humiliation, pain and agony worth the life that resulted?  Yes!  He is delighted by the lives that are reborn and renewed because of His heroic and loving sacrifice (remember the rejoicing He described when the coin, sheep and son were found?).  The Father is delighted that He chose to send His beloved Son to secure eternal life for all who believe.  Yes, it was and is His good pleasure.

Transformed by the Unseen One

Why does a pregnant woman change her diet, give up caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, and certain beauty products and medicines?  Why does she read, talk and pray so much about the little person inside of her?  Why does she rearrange her schedule to make doctor visits?  Why does she willingly go on in a process that is changing her so much in mind, body and emotions?  She does it for her baby.  She's never seen this person!  Many women don't even have the benefit of an ultrasound and never once even see an image of their children until their born.  Consider how amazing it is that all of this change - a transformation really - is counted worthwhile for the sake of someone who is unseen.  A mother can accept that there is life in her without seeing the little one because the signs of life are clear.  

Disciples, we are going through a thorough transformation as we follow Jesus.  Our whole selves are being changed by Him and for Him.  Why do we willingly go through with this when we haven't seen Him?  Because we know He's real and alive and near to us.  We are convinced that, though He is unseen by our eyes of flesh, He is the most important person in our lives.  He is worth anything it takes to know Him and to become like Him.  We are being transformed by the Unseen One. 

Do you remember what Jesus said to His apostles after He had been raised from death and knew of their reluctance to believe that He was alive?

"Because you have seen me, you have believed;

blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 
(John 20:29)

 Also consider what the apostle Peter wrote (with some admiration, I think) about the disciples who had come to follow Jesus without meeting Him in the flesh:

^"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though

you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled

with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving

the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

(1 Peter 1:8-9)

 Birth is Just the Beginning

Moms are heroic when they carry and deliver their babies.  What a process!  A new life has come into the world, and it's a wonder.  Yet, the sobering truth is that this 40 (or so) week process is just the beginning of a life-long process.  Tragically, some mothers who carry and deliver their babies do not or feel they cannot continue to care for them, yet God has designed the process of motherhood to continue on.  The bringing of a new life into the world is a means to a much bigger end.  May it never be that a mother counts her calling fulfilled once her child is born and the cord is cut!

Isn't it so in the new life of a disciple?  We have been born again through the eternal and imperishable seed of God's truth (1 Peter 1:23), but once we're born again, we aren't left on our own.  No, the Father, Son and Spirit carry faithfully on with us because our God's ultimate purpose for us is not birth but maturity.

Likewise, when we are useful to God in the process of drawing people to Himself and giving them new birth through His word, aren't we also called to be useful to Him in carrying on with this 'newborn' so that they might become 'mature and complete, not lacking anything' (James 1:4).  Paul, who in so many ways was an evangelist/missionary, saw himself commissioned to do far more than just tell people the good news that could save them.  He was more than an announcer; he was a teacher and spiritual parent: 

"He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching

everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present

everyone fully mature in Christ."

(Colossians 1:28)

Moms are amazing.  Their love is a marvel.  Even so, they and their love are just glimpses and whispers of our heavenly Father and His love.  Consider today how wondrous the good news of Jesus really is.  No matter how familiar the truths of God's saving works might be, may they never become anything less than breathtaking and marvelous to us!  Amen.