Baptizing Our Wallets

Once upon a time, a man was getting ready to be baptized in the river as an expression of his devotion to the Lord and his desire for God to have control of his life.  But just as he was about to go under, he shouted, “Wait!”  He took his wallet out of his pocket so he could hold above the water.  The pastor asked, “You don’t want your wallet to get wet?” The man replied, “No.  God can take charge of my life, but not my money!”

More often than we’d like to admit, we’re like this man.  Trusting Jesus is fine, we may think, but we have to be practical.  We have to take care of ourselves.  It takes money to get through life and to face its demands.  When we think this way, it means that we haven’t surrendered ourselves fully to the Lord.  We’re holding something back from him because we don’t fully trust in his providence.  We rely on our bank accounts instead of the Lord. 

In other words, money has become our idol.  We trust it to take care of us, to make us happy, and to fulfill our needs.  We believe that a little more money will solve our problems, but it won’t.  Money only makes us anxious and worried, whether we are millionaires or living paycheck to paycheck.  It makes no sense to devote our lives to something that makes us feel this way, but this is exactly what we do.  When we think that money is more important or reliable than God, it has become an idol.  Like any other idol we may have, we need to bring it to God and put it in submission to him.

We can make God the Lord of our finances when we follow Christ’s example of generous giving.  He turned more than 60 gallons of water into wine at a wedding feast: far more than they needed to keep the party going.  When he fed the 5,000, he didn’t just give them enough food to get through the day.  He provided so much that everyone ate all they wanted, with twelve baskets of food leftover.  Giving generously means more than giving a lot, however.  Generosity is cheerful giving.  You are generous when you give because you enjoy it, not when you give resentfully or out of a sense of duty.  By giving generously, we put the Lord in charge of our money.

Not only does God provide the example for cheerful giving as a way to escape the tyranny of money, but he gives us the ability to do so.  First, we are able to give to others because God has first given to us.  An awareness of the fullness of blessing in our lives opens us share those blessings.  Because the Lord has given so much to us, we’re able to give so much to him and to others.  And second, God’s generous giving arouses gratitude in our spirits.  Through his incredible grace (which is the ultimate generosity), he enables us to let go of what our sinful self wants to clutch to itself.  He changes our hearts so that instead being completely focused on ourselves, we can see beyond ourselves to others, and to God himself.

Generous giving is an act of trust, knowing that as we give, God’s grace will provide and care for us.  May we all trust God enough to get our wallets wet.

On Bible Translations and Their Updates

The 39 books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew, and the 27 books of the New Testament were written in Greek.  We do not have the original manuscripts of these books and have to rely on copies that were made many years later.  Over the years, Bible researchers continue to find copies that come closer to the originals.  There’s an entire field of study called textual criticism, to analyze these ancient texts to determine what the original manuscript may have said.  Bible scholars also continue to learn more about ancient Hebrew and Greek, in order better to understand what the words mean and how to translate them into our language.  As a result, each generation of Bible translators has more accurate resources than the generations before.

In addition, the English language itself continues to change.  For example, people don’t say “thee” and “thou” anymore, as they commonly did five hundred years ago.  As another example, a 1952 Bible translation of 2 Corinthians 11:25 translates Paul’s words to say “once I was stoned.”  Those words can mean something very different for today’s reader!  A good Bible translation keeps up with changes like these.

Bible translators also have a decision to make: do they want an accurate translation, or a readable one?  Some versions, such as the New American Standard, translate the Hebrew and Greek very accurately, but they are awkward to read.  Others, such as the Contemporary English Version and the Good News Bible, emphasize making the Bible easy to read, but don’t precisely follow the original Hebrew and Greek.  A good translation finds a middle ground between readability and accuracy.  Some examples of these are the New Revised Standard Version, the English Standard Version, and the New International Version.  Other Bible versions, such as the Living Bible and The Message, aren’t translations but paraphrases.  In other words, the writers tell us the meaning of the Bible in their own words.

For more than 25 years, Old Union has used the New International Version (NIV), which came out in 1984.  By using it across the board (in worship, in Sunday School, Bibles given to new members, and so on) and by encouraging members to use the same translation for their personal reading, it is easy for the words to become familiar and to sink into the heart.

In 2011, the NIV was updated to keep up with Biblical scholarship and changes in the English language.  For example, many people now use gender-neutral words.  Fewer people today consider “man” to refer to all humanity, or that “brother” includes both men and women.  About 60% of the Bible verses in the updated translation are exactly the same as the 1984 version, and more than 90% of the words are the same.

Our church leadership is currently working plans to replace our use of the 1984 NIV translation with the 2011 translation.  We have selected the updated NIV instead of the other good available options to make the transition as smooth as possible.

 

You Have Something to Offer

When I meet with people who would like to become members of our church, I emphasize three points that I believe every Christian should know.  I’ve already explained the first two: God loves you, and it is important to spend time every day reading the Bible and in prayer.  The third message for us all to remember is:

You have something to offer.

God knows what he is doing when he brings people together as a church.  Each person has something unique to share that no one else can provide in the same way.  The Lord gives each of us an ability, passion, or resource that is essential for the church to be a healthy, thriving witness of his love and grace.  When we each use the gifts that God has provided, he is glorified, we are drawn closer to him and to each other, and our community and world are blessed.

The Bible refers to the church as “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27).  Our bodies consist of many components, and we need each of them.  If even one miniscule enzyme is out of whack, we suffer and may even die.  Just as we need every part of our bodies to function well, Christ’s body needs every one of us in order to be healthy.

Our bodies do not have spare parts, and they do not have useless parts.  In the same way, when God brought you into our fellowship, he equipped you with something vitally important for us all.  No exceptions.  If you do not use what God has given to you, we will all suffer.

Not all gifts are flashy and noticeable.  We may all recognize the gifts of worship leaders, teachers, and elders, for example.  But someone puts out the garbage each week.  Somebody invited that guest in worship sitting across from you.  Someone tends to the landscaping.  Someone made sure we knew an individual was in the hospital or is in need.  Someone put together this newsletter that you’re reading.  You may never know who these people are, but without them our church be only a shadow of God’s dream for it.

Unfortunately, God’s plans for our church do not always come to reality.

·         We may not know what our gifts are.

·         We may not be willing to use our gifts.

·         The church may not provide an opportunity to use our gifts.

When we do not provide what we have to offer, the church can get by somehow.  But it fails to be the thriving powerhouse that God desires.

When we use what God has given us to offer, something amazing happens.  Normally, when you give something away, you no longer have it.  But in the Lord’s wonderfully crazy way of running the world, when you serve and give, you receive and are blessed with exactly what you need as well.  Yes, there may be times when you are frustrated or weary.  But overall, providing what you have to offer will bring life to your spirit and draw you closer to God.

What do you have to offer?  If you don’t know yet, I encourage you to try out a few possibilities until you discover it.  And when you do, it may surprise you!

Daily Time with God

In the last post I described the first of three points that I emphasize about the Christian life for people preparing to become church members: “God loves us.”  This month, I’d like to describe my second encouragement:

Spend Time Every Day Reading the Bible and in Prayer.

Becoming a Christian is the easiest thing in the world: Jesus Christ took care of that on the cross.  Nothing needs to be added his perfect work in suffering, death, and resurrection to accomplish the goal of a perfect relationship with God.  All we do is receive and accept what he has done for us.  On the other hand, remaining a Christian is one of the hardest things you will ever endeavor.  We face constant pressure, from the passions, willfulness, and pride within us and from the appeal and force of competing claims around us, to revert to a life in which God is at the periphery.  Daily time focused intentionally upon the One who seeks to draw us back to him is the best way for us to respond to and to overcome this pressure.

Jesus once said of the Good Shepherd that “his sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4).  It takes time and practice for us to recognize and to follow the voice of our Shepherd.  The voice often comes to us faintly, and we struggle to distinguish it from the many other voices that shout at us.  But the more time we spend seeking that voice, the easier it will become for us to identify it through the din that overwhelms our spiritual ears.

If you want to develop a skill or an ability, start where you are and become stronger or more adept with practice over time.  In the same way, your prayer life and your ability to recognize the Spirit’s voice through Scripture develops over time.  If you feel discouraged because great spiritual insights don’t flow upon you, or because you can’t make heads nor tails out of a Bible passage, don’t sweat it.  Even Arnold Schwarzenegger had to start on the light weights before he became a champion body builder.  Daily exercise will strengthen your spiritual muscles.

You don’t have to impress anyone with your daily time with God.  So often we tend to fall into “performance-ism:” doing things so that others can see us doing it, and ensuring that they will admire or appreciate what we’re doing.  When performance-ism strikes our time with God, we focus no longer upon the Lord, but on what we can tell others about our time with God.  Our devotional activities become a game of one-upsmanship, as we try to outdo one another in our descriptions of the blessings we receive from our spiritual disciplines.  Resist the temptation, either to boast about your practices, or to feel inadequate in comparison to someone else’s.  Nobody needs to know how you spend your time with God except for God.  And there’s no need to impress him; he’s already hopelessly in love with you.

How should you spend your time each day with the Lord?  You have many options about what to do, and I can give you suggestions if you like.  But the best way is the way that works for you.

God Loves You

When I help people prepare for the important step in their journey of faith of becoming church members, we cover a lot of material from ways to enhance your study of Scripture to learning how Presbyterian government works. But I emphasize three elements as the essential components of every Christian’s life, and I urge them to make them part of their own. Beginning this month, I’ll reflect on each of them in these messages, and I urge you to consider their place in your life.

First, our relationship with the Lord hinges upon the knowledge that GOD LOVES US. When Karl Barth, one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, was asked to describe the Christian faith in one sentence, he paused and then sang “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” A simple childhood rhyme can capture this profound truth, but we spend our entire lives trying to wrap our minds and souls around it.

We struggle to accept and understand God’s love for us because it contradicts everything we think we know about relationships. It doesn’t take long for the youngest child to discover that they’re worth depends upon what they do. If you eat your veggies and clean up your room, your parents will praise you. Work hard in school and they put you on the honor roll; work hard at your job and you’ll get a raise or a promotion. Act and dress the way people like and you’ll become popular. If you want to be someone, and if you want people to think you matter, do what it takes to measure up. This message surrounds us so completely that we don’t even realize how much it shapes who we are.

And then God comes into our lives (or we recognize that he’s been there all along), and he says, “I love you.” If it were anyone else, we would ask “Why? What have I done, or what is it about me, that you like so much?” When it comes to God, we can’t accept that his love for us is even possible. We may be able to fool others into thinking that we’re admirable or desirable, but God knows every cranny of our lives. He knows the dark corners of our psyche that we refuse to let even ourselves see. He’s seen the shameful things we’ve done that haunt us for years. If God knows us so well (and he does), then how could he love us? This is God we’re talking about, after all. His standards are so much higher than anyone else’s. How could he look upon us with anything but disappointment and disgust?

And yet, God loves us. Before the world was created, and we were able to do anything to earn or disqualify ourselves from anyone’s love, he loved us. At the most awful, hateful times in our lives, God loves us. After the mountains melt away and the rivers run dry, God loves us.


God’s love for us does not depend upon what we do, or what we don’t do. It doesn’t depend upon who we are, or who we aren’t. God’s love depends only upon his grace: his desire for us and our well-being simply because it is what he chooses to give. It is a choice that he cemented for all eternity and proclaimed through all creation with the unspeakably immense gift of his Son for our behalf.  

Finding Our Community

Last year in January, God hit us between the eyes with a theme verse for our congregation: “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonans 5:11).  Both in our individual activities as agents of Old Union and in our church activities, we have been seeking ways to honor the spirit God has given us to share with each other and the community around us.  In the process, the Lord has renewed the spirit brought vitality to Old Union in many ways.

It would be easy to stop here.  “Encourage one another and build each other up” could become empty words that we recite mindlessly at the end of each worship service, and God’s intervention in the life of our church could slip into nothing more than a happy memory.  Your session has been seeking ways that we can develop our spirit of encouragement, both within the life of our church fellowship and also in our witness to the community around us.  I invite you to join them in asking the question: how can Old Union offer even more encouragement to our neighbors?  Here are three suggestions and two tips.

SUGGESTIONS:

1. Visit places in our community where you normally never venture.  For example, if you have a washer and dryer, visit the laundromat.  If you don’t have children in your family, spend a morning at the soccer fields.  If you don’t play golf, go to the clubhouse and see what you find.  Our community offers a tremendous variety of gathering spots.  Visit some, and you may be surprised.

2. Take a prayer walk or a prayer drive.  You don’t have to say a word to anyone other than the Lord, if you don’t want to.  Walk or drive slowly through our community’s neighborhoods, and pray for the people you encounter and the homes and businesses you pass.  Remember that prayer is not only us talking to God, but God speaking to us.  Listen for what he tells you about our neighbors.

3. Missioninsite.com is a community research firm designed for churches and other faith groups.  Through the Presbytery, we have free access. Check with me for the username and password.  Poke around and see what the numbers and research reveal about our own little neck of the words.

TIPS

1. Don’t rely on your own ingenuity as you seek ways for Old Union to encourage and build up our neighbors.  Open yourself to the creativity of the Holy Spirit to guide you.

2. Consider the gifts, resources, and character that our church and its members already have, and consider how they can be used to touch our community.  God has equipped us for where he is sending us.  How can we use what we have, and be who we are, in service to our community in God’s name?

Please pass along your ideas of encouragement and up-building to me or to a session member as we seek to be faithful to the One who loves us and calls us.

Duane's Syndrome

I have Duane’s Syndrome.  My doctor discovered it during my annual physical last December and had me consult with a specialist to confirm the diagnosis.  Duane’s Syndrome is an eye disorder that prevents my left eye from moving the whole way over when I look to the left.

But here’s the funny thing: I’ve had Duane’s Syndrome my entire life and never realized it.  No one in my family and none of my friends noticed it.  For 52 years I’ve had something wrong with me and had no clue.  It hasn’t affected how I live my life, except for having to squint a little when doing things like checking my blind spot while driving.  If my physician hadn’t noticed it, I could have gone through my entire life blissfully unaware of this defect.

The Bible tells us that God’s law is like my physician.  We are incredibly gifted at turning a blind eye to our faults.  I wouldn’t know about my Duane’s Syndrome without the doctor, and as Paul wrote, “I would not have known what sin is except through the law” (Romans 7:7).  When we read about God’s desire for our lives in the Bible, we discover the ways in which we have strayed from it.  We recognize our sin, and we come to understand how it damages our lives and ruins our relationship with God. 

God does not reveal our sin to make us feel bad about ourselves.  He wants us to see what is wrong in our lives and in our world so we can do something about it.  But when we try, we discover that we can no more fix our sin than I can make my eye move the way it’s supposed to.  God’s desire is for awareness of our sinfulness to motivate us to seek the grace and wholeness that Jesus Christ offers us through his redeeming death and victorious resurrection.  Through him, we find not only healing and forgiveness for our sin, but we receive the power of God’s Spirit who works in and around us to reshape our lives and our world more into a fuller and richer existence.  My physician couldn’t cure me of Duane’s Syndrome, but the loving work of God in our lives can heal our sin.

It doesn’t happen overnight.  The life of a Christian is an ongoing adventure of growing closer to God and his will, and of finding joy and peace in it all.  There are advances and retreats, growth and dormancy.  But over time, we can see how the power of sin is losing its grip on our lives and how the Spirit of God is filling our spirits.

The adventure is never complete, at least on this side of glory.  The closer you draw to God, the more aware you become of how far away from him you still are. Each injustice that is righted and each temptation that is overcome makes us notice even more the temptations and injustices that remain.  And God lovingly, patiently works with us and in us to bring us closer and closer to the goal of holiness and purity.