Being an Enemy-lover, by Martha Balmer

I've been thinking lately about how I’m doing as an enemy-lover. I want to share with you something about my process, and I’d like to invite you to consider making a personal examination of your own. In this time of increasing polarization, I’m watching Christians argue heatedly not only with non-Christians but with each other. But my concern here is not with divisive issues. In fact, I don’t believe it is necessary or even desirable for Christians to be in perfect unison as long as they are doggedly attending to their own consciences and loving one another (check out Romans 14). So my concern is with the heart posture that produces my thoughts and influences my language while I’m fighting the good fight.

The starting point—’love your enemies’, really? My process begins with looking seriously at what Jesus said:

I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… (Luke 6:27-28)

I want to take this word seriously because the stories I’d heard and read about Christians who radically and impossibly loved and forgave their persecutors were the very stories that first drew me to Jesus. So I want to pay close attention to whether I’m living it out. I don’t want to be found a hypocrite, and I want to keep my promise to follow Jesus. He did say, after all, that I couldn’t expect to be recognizable as his follower unless I’m loving my enemies:

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them… (Luke 6:32)

Humanly impossible love served as evidence for me that something greater than flesh was at work—evidence that God had broken into the world and was restoring his image and likeness in people, cultivating in them a family resemblance to himself:

Then …you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35b-36)

Do I really have enemies? Still, when I was young I thought that “enemies” was an awfully strong word, and I now realize that I took for granted that it would never really be applicable to any of my relationships. I saw myself as always good and kind to others, and I expected to go through life without enemies. But real life turned out to be a humbling experience in that regard. Not only did some people resent and, yes, even hate me despite my best efforts, but I’ve had to admit that I’m not actually as loving as I used to believe. My own capacity for resentment and vindictiveness, once masked by denial, is now apparent to me.

I was amazed at how the everyday chatter in my head, once I actually began to pay attention to it, betrayed the wickedness lurking in the corners of my heart. “I’m so glad I’m not as clueless as that woman!” “Doesn’t that guy know how to use a turn signal?” And dozens of daily emotional responses to people—at work, in town, in the news—that never surface clearly enough to form a phrase. My heart is a fountain of judgment and contempt, clearly un-Christ like, clearly in violation of Jesus’ command to love.

It was tempting to reason that the people I’ve alluded to—with the possible exception of the one who actually hates me—weren’t really my enemies, and that my inner chatter falls somewhere on a spectrum to which “love your enemies” isn’t strictly applicable. But I had to admit that that wasn’t the approach I saw Jesus take to such questions. (Remember that the one who calls someone “fool” is violating the command against murder!) Nor was it the approach that sat right with the Spirit in my heart.

Accuser or Advocate-who is talking? I began to examine myself more critically. I figured that when I plead technicalities, chances are good I’m listening to the Accuser, not the Advocate. The truth is, the process of wrestling with my heart attitudes in prayer has fully convinced me that, for the purpose of understanding and living out this uniquely Christian command, the true definition of “enemy” is less “someone who is against me” than “someone I am against.”

When a relationship at work became so toxic that I found myself in a constant state of resentment and fear, I began to hear my thoughts in a new way. I was distressed by the vengeful thoughts that came so naturally. Months of dogged prayer gave me some relief from the more overt enmity, but then my flesh found another way to express it as I started petting myself, imagining my “goodness” convicting my enemy before the world.

At that point, I was on to myself. I actually became grateful, realizing that God was using this difficulty and that we were really working toward actual Christ-like enemy-love. Continuing to pay attention to all those inner responses in a normal day revealed that I am actually postured against an awful lot of people.

Loads of ‘enemies’ There are people I find intimidating, people whose lifestyle offends me and people whose opinions are nonsense to me. There are people who behave obnoxiously, people who have committed terrible crimes and people who have merely hurt my feelings. There are people who are against things that I am for and people who are for things I am against. There are people who have wronged my loved ones and people who are just in my way. There are people close to me who are hard to get along with and easy to walk away from. There are people distant from me that my thinking has reduced to mere symbols of their sins, hamstringing my capacity to realize that they are people.

Even the thought, ‘some of these people are Christ’s enemies’, doesn’t work to excuse a posture of enmity. This idea hit home in a new way when I recently observed a Facebook exchange over gun laws. Now, I can admit that Christians of good conscience can come down in different Scripturally legitimate places on the exact meaning of “Thou shalt not kill.” But when someone in the discussion asked the others to imagine what Jesus would have done had he stood between a crazed gunman and 20 kindergartners, some of them said, “There’s no way to know. The situation couldn’t have happened in those days, and there is no way to draw any conclusion.”

That response seemed grounded in defense of the flesh to me. The situation did exist, and Jesus did set us an example. He interposed himself, not just between his friends and Death but also between his enemies and Death, taking the bullet so to speak, and loving everyone on every side exactly as he had enjoined his followers to love, back in Luke 6. And, of course, we know that in terms of their estrangement from God by the sin from which all alike suffer, his friends were his enemies, too. I was his enemy.

No wiggle room So I have no excuse. No wiggle room. My housecleaning must be thorough. My speech, thoughts and actions must be consistent with love, but even more my fundamental desire for my enemy must be mercy and not judgment, because that is, on the one hand, my fundamental desire for myself and, on the other, God’s active desire as well.

Even though I have been candid about my inner life, what I’ve written here has been mostly of a theoretical nature. Where the rubber meets the road, I have needed much more than personal conviction and reflection. The things I have done to help myself change on the inside as well as to behave consistently, are the stuff of another article. Stay tuned….!

Prayer Meeting 3/13 postponed, Attendance at Healing Service 3/16 Recommended

The Word of God has decided to postpone its regularly scheduled prayer meeting on Sunday 3/17 to Sunday 3/24 in order to make it more possible for community members to attend the Charism School featuring Damian Stayne the weekend of 3/15-17, and particularly to go to the Healing Service at 6:30pm on Saturday, 3/16. The School is being sponsored by Christ the King Catholic Church and more information and on line registration is available at www.rc.net/lansing/ctk . No registration is needed for the Healing Service on Saturday evening 3/16. Damian has taught all over the world and led people into a greater release of the gifts of the Spirit. The Lord has worked through him and those that he has mentored at such schools to heal many people. As we focus on expressing the Kingdom of God in all the places God has placed us, we are asking for a greater release of the work of the Spirit. Hopefully the Lord will use Damian and this weekend to answer that prayer.

Here is a short video regarding Damian Stayne.

Hosanna 2013 on March 24 -- CANCELLED

Due to a variety of factors, the Pastors Alliance for County Transformation has announced that they will not be holding the annual Palm Sunday worship celebration called Hosanna. Folks from churches across Washtenaw County have been getting together for a ‘mosaic’ of worship styles and forms to welcome the Lord Jesus in our County on Palm Sunday since 2001. Organizers are hoping to gather churches for planning and participation in time to celebrate Hosanna 2014 next year, on Palm Sunday, April 14, 2014.

Changing the slope to incline, by John Whiting

[on January 6 Phil Tiews spoke about ‘Counting the cost’ at our prayer meeting, describing the characteristics of bodies in ‘incline, recline, and decline’. Below John Whiting shares what he sensed the Lord saying through that talk.] A thought about the slide which shows us at the beginning of a new upswing: perhaps we're being called to die to an old way of life in order to take up a new one. Times are changing, and it appears that God is calling us to move from a period of "lying fallow" to a period of more active service to the people around us. That'll require changes to the lifestyles of many of us.

It's too bad there wasn't more time for the end of your talk Sunday. We need to give serious attention to your "serious questions" about what God is saying to us and what we'll do about it. The needs around us are great, and they're likely to become greater. I think God would like us to respond with Isaiah's cry of "Send me!" We certainly need to listen for God's direction, but I think we'll be more likely to hear it if we're eager to act on it. This might well be worth another talk or two in the future.

In considering how to act, I'm reminded of the story about King Saul's son Jonathan considering how to approach the Philistine army. As you remember, he took one small step at a time, looking to see whether God blessed it and presented him with an opportunity to move further. Pretty soon the whole Philistine army was routed. I think that would be a good approach for the Community right now. We're doing that already with our contacts with 3 Dimensional Ministries, the bike outreach, our Christmas celebration gathering, and the discipleship groups. I'm sure many individuals are likewise testing opportunities to see how much fruit they might yield. Still, it might be good to encourage people in the community to be more aggressive in this approach. I suspect strongly that God would like to use us more powerfully than we expect. If we were more opportunistic -- and, perhaps, less analytic -- we might be very favorably surprised at what we see.

God bless you!

John Whiting

I Long To Live My Life As An Artist by Sam Williamson

[We reprint this article with permission from Sam Williamson’s blog Beliefs of the Heart because it captures a great sense of what it means to approach our world with a positive, missional vision. ] A friend of mine challenged me to adopt—perhaps embrace—a Transcendent Pursuit for the coming year, something life changing, something I can bring to the world to make a difference.

Then I re-read the first chapter of Genesis. It felt like I was reading it for the first time, and I felt the nudge of God.

 The first thing I noticed was the creative artistry of God. The opening verses do not focus on God’s unparalleled power. Instead they reveal—and almost revel in—the beauty. After each creative act God doesn’t say, “That was powerful;” he says, “This is beautiful” (a better translation than what we are used to).

 Next I noticed that God sees potential where no one else ever could. God hovers over and looks into the chaos and void; he takes the raw materials of darkness and depth, and he creates light, and it is beautiful. As are the oceans and fields and skies.

 After observation and creation, God gives. He gives this unparalleled treasure of creation to man. The opening chapter of the Bible surges with swarming fish, teaming land animals, luscious vegetation, and a sky pregnant with stars.

 And God turns to man and says, “It’s yours. Take it. Care for it. Love it.”

 The opening of the Bible reveals a completely different God than any man has ever created. The opening of the Bible reveals God as an artist, seeing beauty, creating incomparable art, and giving it away. It is a radical image of God.

 I long to live like that artist

 Seeing God as the creator—not merely powerful but a creator of beauty—moved me. It makes me want to be more like him in a selfless giving of light, life, and joy. And then I read the next few verses.

God makes man in his own image. God revels (imagine a reveling God!) in this description of human design: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … God created man in his image … in his own image he made him” (Gen. 1:26-27).

 It is almost as if God needed an editor to say, “Uh, God, you are being redundant.” But God wasn’t writing useless repetition. He was being emphatic. He wanted us to know—he needed us to know—that his image is the blueprint of our design.

 God’s first act is to make us his masterpiece—his literal artistic crown of creation—and his second act is to make us artists as well. He animates his masterpiece, breathing into us a creative force to see beauty, create incomparable art, and give it away.

 When he puts us in the Garden of Eden—asking us to dig the earth, rule creation, and name the animals—God is inviting us to join with him as creative comrades. He enters into partnership with us as we artistically cultivate and nurture this world.

 What is the church meant to be?

 When God gave his creation to mankind, he said, “Subdue it and have dominion.” But these words do not mean to invade earth like a conquering king—God spoke these words before the fall. They don’t mean subjection, they mean cultivation.

 The church—God’s people on earth—are meant to be gardeners, maybe a guild of gardeners. We are here to create the Garden of Eden, to cultivate and nurture. To create an environment of peace and life, joy and light, and hope.

 How do we cultivate each other? We begin to see the unseen. We learn to spot beauty in each other. We become gardening treasure hunters; recognizing the raw materials of gifts and passion in each other and speaking it into life: “I see this in you; it is beautiful.”

 We are called to be an Army of Artists or Guerilla Gardeners. We win the world through the cultivation of a Garden. The church on earth is that collection of artistic gardeners who are cultivating the Garden of Eden, bringing light and beauty.

 The Christian life is joy, light, and creation in comradeship with the creator of all.

 Don’t confuse the Garden shed with the Garden

 Religious groups can frustrate me. I get sick of the same weekly board (or perhaps bored) meeting, or the memo to write, or the program to manage. I say to myself (and sometimes to my wife), “This can’t be God’s plan for his people! There has to be more!”

This week I realized my problem: I’ve been confusing the garden shed with the garden.

God’s people—this guerilla band of gardeners—are here on earth to cultivate His garden. But I’ve been tripping over the spades, hoes, pickaxes, and rakes. They are just tools. They are used to create the garden, but they aren’t the garden.

If my primary experience of God’s people is frustration, it might be time to let go of a gardening tool—that spade of board membership or that pickaxe of the program I manage. All our programs, plans and meetings are simply tools to cultivate the garden.

Sometimes I feel we cannot see the garden for the shed. When the tools are creating blisters, it’s time to lay them down. It’s the garden we are creating, not a tool shed.

Creation and re-creation

When Christ came into the world, scripture says of him that “a bruised reed he will not break … [and yet] he will faithfully bring forth justice” (Is. 42:3).

Christ came to earth as the ultimate guerilla gardener; he brought justice not through violent invasion but through violent gardening, through aggressive art.

After the fall of man—after we rebelled against his creative design—God again hovered over the dark void of the earth and saw what we could be if brought back to life. By sending his son, he again proclaimed, “Let there be light,” and it was beautiful.

I long to live my life like that Artist.

         Sam

Is That A Person of Peace? -- Phil Tiews

You may well be like me – more committed to the IDEA of evangelism than to actually DOING evangelism. I want to see it happen, but feel most comfortable with others making it happen. Actually, Jesus, the master evangelist, gave his disciples – that includes us – a fairly pain-free strategy for evangelism. I think I can do this! Luke 10: 5-9 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’”

Jesus did not send the disciples to people who most ‘needed to be saved’ or who were the hardest cases they could find. To paraphrase He said, as you go out, bless folks. If you find someone, or a whole town, who responds positively, stick to them. Give them what you’ve got – the good news, healing, the whole works. He goes on to say that if they don’t want to listen to what you have to say, don’t sweat it, move on and keep on the lookout for that ‘Person of Peace’.

God, and only God, does the hard part of evangelism – opening someone’s heart to make it receptive. That really takes the pressure off of you and me to say it just right, to have all the answers, to be sufficiently persuasive. What we need to do is go through our days with our heads up on the lookout for a Person of Peace. Talking with them about the Lord is easy because by definition they are people whose heart the Lord has prepared and they want to hear what we have to say. They are favorably disposed toward us, even willing to buy us a meal!

There is a critical point though. We won’t spot a Person of Peace if we aren’t looking and they won’t receive anything from us if we don’t engage with them. This is way of walking through life as disciples that most of us need to grow in, I know I do. That is why this summer we are opening up the community schedule a bit to allow for time to mix with folks ‘outside the box’ of our normal round of activities. Hopefully we will discover some People of Peace and start on some new Kingdom relationships.

If you have a story to share about how you encountered a Person of Peace, please drop me a line at phil@thewordofGodcommunity.org so that we can encourage one another.

Phil Tiews

Missional Community

Here's the link to the password protected Missional Community webpage: Missional Community -- PASSWORD PROTECTED

He is shaking what can be shaken by Phil Tiews

This past February Barb and I got a chance to go to New Zealand, and I have to say it is just as spectacularly beautiful as we has expected. While there we visited the city of Napier. In 1931 it experienced a catastrophic earthquake. The buildings were leveled, the bluff overlooking the town collapsed, the lagoon was lifted out of the sea and a new set of hills emerged. As you can imagine, life in Napier was totally disrupted. Not only were institutions destroyed, but the landmarks and established lines of communication were lost. People sometimes describe what we have been going through for the last several decades as a cultural earthquake, with good reason. Key aspects of life have been shaken, and many are collapsing or damaged. Institutions people relied on and landmarks they used for guidance such as marriage and family are gone. They now seem dangerous to return to. It is small wonder that we see so much disruption in lives and in society.

As it turned out, there was a navy ship in Napier harbor that day. There was no tsunami, so it rode out the earthquake in relative calm. As the choking dust cloud rose and the fires began to sweep through the town, the crew had a choice. They could remain in safety on their orderly ship, shaking their heads over the tragedy, commenting on the faulty building practices which led to so much destruction, and criticizing the rescue efforts … or they could act. Fortunately for the citizens of Napier they came ashore and joined in the saving many folks from the fires and the rubble. The ship’s radios also provided the vital link to help from outside as the means of communication from Napier had been lost.

As we look at the seismic upheaval all around us from the blessed safety of our life in Christ and His Body, what is our response? Let’s be like those sailors and go ashore to do what we can to recue. And let’s communicate with the One who is able to save, even though those in such trouble do not themselves have the means of such communication.

Our God saves — and He uses us!

Hosanna 2012 on April 1 at Pease Auditorium, Eastern Michigan University

Hosanna 2012 on April 1 at Pease Auditorium, Eastern Michigan University. Hundreds of saints from churches across Washtenaw joining together to bless Jesus and welcome Him as He comes into our County, hosted by the student ministries of EMU. What a day! Join us for Hosanna 2013 on Palm Sunday, March 24th!

Don't settle for 'SAFE'

True confession.I spent several years as a disciple of Jesus oblivious that I reeked of arrogance born of a wrong-headed understanding of Salvation. I was grateful for being saved, of course, and I gave Him the praise for this mighty life transforming work. I knew I needed to love him with heart, soul, mind and strength and I thought that was what I was doing. But I wasn’t. Why? Because I had come to believe the highest, or more accurately the only required, form of love was service. This has little to do with affection; it has only to do with obedience and duty. This meant, though it never occurred to me at the time, that in my head I was paraphrasing John 3:16 to read something like this: “For God, who had decided it was time for humans to learn how to get into right standing with Himself, sent his obedient, dutiful Son to serve this purpose and provide a way out of sin by dying on a cross. Jesus showed his love for his Father by gritting his teeth, setting his face like flint and agreeing to serve him in this way.”

My walk with God was not enjoyable, but it was, I thought, commendable-- the honest way I conducted myself; the degree of control I exerted over my emotions and impulses; my faithful attendance at expected meetings and worship times; the amount of service I provided to the group of believers I’d chosen to commit my life to; the dutiful way I took care of my wife and children; all the things I didn’t do that the sinful world around me did. Since I was convinced that by serving God in this way I was fulfilling the 1^st commandment, I felt I was in a very secure place. I was SAFE. The wrath of God could come [at times I even wished it would] but I knew he’d protect me and deliver me into his coming Kingdom without a scratch! Come Lord Jesus!

My attitude towards all other humans was a combination of fear, judgment and confusion. I feared the power of the flesh and the devil with sort of magical thinking. I erroneously believed that the unclean automatically causes the clean to become defiled and so avoided at every turn contact with people who were sin-controlled. This of course left them with an accurate feeling that I thought I was better, more holy than them. At the same time I was honestly confused about how to share the good news since my ‘righteous’ life style precluded intersecting with those who needed to hear the message!

At one point I joined a friend who was going into the County jail and offering a time of worship and scripture study to inmates. After several months, he asked if I wanted to speak to the group. What I discovered coming out of my mouth was not a message of mercy and grace. It was the Pharisaic filth I’d been living under; a mixture of ‘This is how Jesus loved and saved me’, along with ‘and he will love you too but only if you live in such and such a manner.’ Even as I stumbled through what I was trying to say, I felt the Spirit’s heavy presence convicting my heart! ‘Pat your message has no power, because it is not true! I love each of these men in this room, regardless of what they have done. I want them to know me now, today! To experience my mercy and love now is my heart for them. Don’t ever try to tell someone I won’t love them unless…’. So began a journey for me from being the loveless but dutiful ‘older brother’, to a grateful, forgiven, undeserving, rescued prodigal sinner, saved by a loving God who above all longs for my heart to beat with affection and reciprocal love for Him.

Over the next several years the Lord slowly shaped in me a growing compassion for any who don’t yet know the beauty, the joy, the privilege of being part of the Bride of Christ. My constant prayer is that He overshadow my weaknesses (my fear of other’s negative opinion of me if, by following the leading of the Spirit and say or do something that offends) and cause me to partner with Him to extend the presence of his Kingdom (His felt mercy and love along with opportunities to dialogue about his nature).

As I examine scripture, I find there is one people group that often is on God’s heart. In fact, scripture is adamant that we focus our attention on this group with dire consequences if we do not. I believe that we, who know we have an accepting, forgiving Father, a diverse warm family, a love-motivated Bridegroom and powerful gifts from the Spirit of love are called today to look and find Him in these for whom He died. The Spirit is asking us to listen with an ear to discern which area of need mentioned in the following passages He wants us to address, and then to do the part we can.

What is the Spirit saying to you as you read?

Psalm 82:3 3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

Proverbs 14:31 Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Proverbs 22:16 One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.

Ezekiel 22:28-30 28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’—when the LORD has not spoken. 29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice. 30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

Amos 5:4-6, 11-13 4 This is what the LORD says to Israel: Seek me and live; 5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. 6 Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. 11 You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.

Zechariah 7 Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting 7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the LORD 3 by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” 4 Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’” 8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ 11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. 13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the LORD Almighty. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate. ’”

Luke 4:17-19 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Matthew 25: 31-45 The Sheep and the Goats 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Did you take time to listen? Will you talk with a trusted friend to consider where the Lord is calling you to start (or continue) to partner with Him? I believe glory awaits you as you do; the glory of seeing God at work in the lives of those around you; the glory your life brings to God as you abandon yourself to flow in gifts he’s given.

Kingdom Come – Now and Not Yet by Phil Tiews

Looking for the KingdomFor a while now we have been focusing on the prayer Jesus taught us, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’. We have talked about longing for the kingdom, about being agents to bring the kingdom in the spheres where Jesus has placed us. We have prayed for the kingdom to come, joining with brothers and sisters across the County in the special time of the 40 Days of Prayer.

At recent prayer meetings we have prayed with folks for healing, one of the most prominent signs of the kingdom in Jesus’ ministry and part of his instruction to the disciples, ‘he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.’ Luke 9:2. And we have seen some healing – improvements, partial healings, small healings – but not much total, major, clearly miraculous healing. I know this is an uncomfortable area for some of us, it is for me.

We believe God can heal, and we even know of folks He has healed. But praying with folks to be healed raises a ton of issues. Should we pray and then claim? How much faith do we need to have, does the sick person need? How long do we keep at it if nothing happens immediately? What if nothing happens at all?

Issues with Healing We are concerned for the person receiving prayer, will they be disappointed or embittered. We are concerned for God’s reputation, will He be seen as impotent or uncaring. Frankly, we are concerned for ourselves, will we look like fools. Most of us have seen situations where these sorts of concerns have distorted the whole process and it has gone terribly wrong. It is no wonder that the churches often feel more comfortable staying away from healing (and other miracles). It is safer to simply ask God to take care of things, pray ‘thy will be done’ and leave it at that.

Healing, Miracles & Message of the Kingdom But Jesus didn’t leave it at that. He told his disciples to go heal, deliver, even raise the dead along with proclaiming the kingdom. They are inextricably tied up with one another. Healing and miracles are not just to grab attention so can get on to the message. They are part of the message of the kingdom – what it means when the King to reign and put thing right. Word and reality welded together.

This is not the time or place to expound at length about healing and miracles. I hope that we will have a lot more reflection of this as the Lord calls us into a deeper kingdom focus. In the meantime there are a few things that I think we can say which will encourage us as we struggle forward:

 As we pray and work for the kingdom to come, looking for healing and miracles should be part of what we do.

 Not everyone we pray for will be healed or every miracle we ask for come about

 More healing and miracles will come about if we are asking for them than if we do not

 If we approach praying with people for healing and miracles with humility and love, pointing them to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, people can experienced being loved by God and us whether the prayer is answered as asked or not.

 God will use the tension between healing and miracles we ask for and the level we experience. It will drive us to long more earnestly for the full revelation of His kingdom. It will drive us to remove obstacles and learn how to cooperate with the Spirit more fully. It will drive us to deeper compassion for the suffering of people as we groan with them and all creation for the full coming of the kingdom. Actually, these things are all manifestations of the kingdom, as well!

 As we look for the kingdom to break in, we can do it with thanksgiving and rejoicing. Any taste we get here and now is an appetizer to the full banquet which we can be assured awaits us. Living in thanksgiving and joy is another sign of the kingdom in the midst of a world of complaining and despair.

Interplay of Kingdoms

Time is strange. We tend to think of it as a steady, measurable thing. It ticks by at sixty seconds to the minute, sixty minutes to the hour, and so on. But physicists will tell us that it is more complex and elastic than that. We have experienced this elastic nature of time ourselves. ‘It seems like only yesterday’. ‘This afternoon is taking forever.’ Time drags and whizzes, stretches and contracts.

Jesus declared at the start of his ministry, ’the kingdom of God is at hand’, and later, ‘now is the prince of this world cast out’, and then ‘it is finished’. But we all know that there is still a lot of kingdom of this world and prince of this world and unfinishedness all about us. This has been described as the ‘now and not yet’ of the kingdom. You can probably remember laying an overhead sheet on top of the page from which it is made. Shift it just a bit and you get two images overlapping, both there, very confusing to sort out. What Jesus has declared is true. The old is passing away and the new has come. It is here and now, just not completely here and now. I imagine that Jesus’ voice is still ringing ‘it is fini………..’ and we haven’t quite gotten to the final ‘…ished!’ yet.

You may have been swimming in a lake rather than a swimming pool. If so, you have no doubt had the experience of paddling about and all of the sudden coming on a current of cool water, often clearer and feeling different than the rest of the lake. On a hot day this can not only be surprising but very refreshing! I think of our current kingdom situation as something along those lines. We are swimming in the murky, turbid lake waters. But there is stream of fresh spring water flowing into this lake and as we move around we encounter it and are refreshed. What we want to do it to stay in that current as much as possible. Track its direction and flow. Invite others to swim over and join us in it. Learn to live in the clear, clean, life-giving waters in the midst of the lake which is passing away.

How does love contrain us? By Mike Gladieux

II Cor. 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ constrains us, for we judge that if One has died for all then are all dead. And that He died for all that they who live should not henceforth live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” It is interesting that Paul says that the love of Christ constrains us. How does His love constrain us? Not by overbearing force, for sure, but by calling us out of ourselves, by wooing us to respond in kind. The purpose of His death was not just that we might be forgiven of our sins, or that we might get into heaven, or be free from the wrath to come, but so that we might walk a saintly walk. The substance of our salvation is sinless holiness. Being forgiven is the first step in that, the entrance into sanctity. The title to heaven and freedom from the wrath to come is what follows such a walk. But being saints is the essence of what He saved us for. When we stand in the light of the cross, in the realization of what a pure and selfless act of love that was, we are called on to respond in a like manner. In the light of the cross our sins are shown up for what they are. Not just our glaring faults, our gross sins, but the secret sympathy with sin that we may hold onto in our hearts. We can no longer indulge ourselves. We cannot fondle our secret resentments, hold grudges, and cling to our own petty selfishnesses. It seems so small to claim the forgiveness of our sins that He has won for us at such a price, but still cherish and prolong the life of the sins in our heart. The love of Christ constrains us to let go of them. In the light of such love we see our failure to love more clearly, and are impelled to respond accordingly.

The result of this meditation on His loving selfless sacrifice is that we must consider ourselves dead to the whole body of our sin. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives within me. And the life that I live in this body I live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” He loved me enough to do this for me. He had the faith to do it for me. So nothing in my sinful nature has the right to continue. I am surely dead to sin. I was crucified with Him. So now I do not live for myself, but for Him who died for me. And the wonderful and glorious truth of God that follows: He rose for me as well! The mysterious and wonderful law of selfless love that God revealed to us in Jesus’ cross: When we die for Him we will live forever! Just as He is risen, so we will rise to new life and live with Him forever. “If any man would save his life he will lose it. But he who loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it unto eternal life.”

So the love of Christ constrains us … to holiness that is unfeigned and without hypocrisy, which proceeds from our heart of hearts and is without spot or blemish. The love of Christ constrains us to be holy, to be saints. It calls us on to fully give ourselves. It holds out also within itself the sure promise or a new and better, eternal reward. We see that this reward is contained intrinsically within a life of selfless love, and proceeds out of it according to the wonderful and mysterious law of our loving Father, revealed to us in the death and resurrection of His son.

Out of the light of the cross we can forget how seriously wrong sin is. We forget that we are actually distorting our humanity when we sin. We forget that we are living a sub-human life when we allow it to have dominion over us. “Any man who sins is a slave to sin.” And in forgetting this truth we lose sight of the glorious hope that He holds out to us. We forget how far we have fallen, and so cannot hope for a redemption that is so high and holy. But in the light of the cross we see the true nature of our sins. It cost Him so much to pay for them. They are not small, or insignificant. We cannot look at the price that He had to pay for our sins and ever think that they are not “that bad”. The awful reality of what sin is forces itself upon us inexorably. We cannot excuse our sins; we cannot coddle or indulge ourselves. We cannot deceive ourselves. Not in the light of that love, of the terrible price that He was so willing to pay. “Father if it be possible let this cup pass for me. Yet, not as I will, but as Thou will … Father if I must drink this cup, then Thy will be done.” I recall a brief flashing vision that He granted to me when I was first entering the community. I did not want to give up my old life. It had a hold on me. I saw Him lying on the cross and they were driving the nails in. There were gaping wounds in His hands. He said to me “Mike you’re making it hard on me”. Strangely, there was no guilt or shame that I felt, but a certain realization. I actually dismissed it quite easily … for a while. But I have never forgotten that. It is in fact, a simple but undeniable truth. The love of Christ constrains us to renounce our sins. It impels us to sanctity. It calls us, woos us to sanctity. We are to be holy as He is holy. We are to strive for that holiness without which no man can see God.

40 Days of Prayer Unites County in Intercession

It has been said that God comes where He is invited. That is what the churches and ministries involved in the 40 Days of Prayer are doing, inviting God to come to our County and transform it. More than a dozen groups and hundreds of people will be praying continuously from February 22, Ash Wednesday, to April 1, Palm Sunday. That afternoon they will be joined by hundreds more as the prayer vigil culminates in the Hosanna celebration.

Each church or ministry takes a 2 day block and organizes folks to pray around the clock. Some groups set up a central prayer room and others have folks pray in their home. Whatever method employed, the end result is ‘day and night’ prayer for God to transform Washtenaw County and beyond. Along the way the Lord stirs the hearts of more and more folks to faith and hope for His kingdom to come in our midst.

In addition to the continuous prayer, each evening there is an open prayer meeting from 7 to 8 pm at the church praying that day. This provides an opportunity for Christians from other churches to get involved and for those churches who are not currently keeping 24-hour vigil to stay involved through the whole 40 Days. Everyone is invited to come to as many of these as you can to share in the county-wide prayer and get to know brothers and sisters from other bodies in the County. You can get a complete schedule and the locations at www.JesusTsunami.com .

Quotes on Prayer

The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.

Jonathan Edwards

  More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend?

Alfred Lord Tennyson

  Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.

E M Bounds

  A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.

Leonard Ravenhill

  Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.

Andrew Murray

  Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!

Andrew Murray

  Here is the great secret of success, my Christian reader. Work with all your might, but never trust in your work. Pray with all your might for the blessing in God, but work at the same time with all diligence, with all patience, with all perseverance. Pray, then, and work. Work and pray. And still again pray, and then work. And so on, all the days of your life. The result will surely be abundant blessing. Whether you see much fruit or little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed.

George Muller

  Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. If you may have everything by asking in His Name, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.

Charles Spurgeon

  You must pray with all your might. That does not mean saying your prayers, or sitting gazing about in church or chapel with eyes wide open while someone else says them for you. It means fervent, effectual, untiring wrestling with God...This kind of prayer be sure the devil and the world and your own indolent, unbelieving nature will oppose. They will pour water on this flame.

William Booth

Excuse me . . . May I interrupt?

Recently I read someone’s opinion that a lot of God’s work takes place in the interruptions in our life. This is an interesting point. Jesus runs across Zaccheus hiding in a tree, a woman reaches out and grabs his hem, they run out wine at a wedding he attends, and miracles happen. It would make an interesting Bible study to look in both Testaments at all the times God breaks in when the ‘normal’ gets interrupted – and then really get disrupted! You have probably heard that there are different words for ‘time’ in the New Testament. The normal flow of time is chronos (hence chronology). A special instant is kairos, as in ‘the time has come’. Most of us like a nice smooth flow of chronos, things happening the way we expect. But most of the notable things in life seem to happen at kairos moments – for good and for bad. We see that person across the room fall in love, we are shocked by a friend’s betrayal; we get the new job, we lose our old job; we get healed, we get injured …. These are the moments when our life’s autopilot is disrupted and we have choices to make, and God has a fresh opportunity to get our attention and break into our lives.

Despite our preference for that smooth, predictable flow, we all know that life is actually made up of a continuous series of interruptions from the trivial (another red light!) to the gigantic (t-boned at a red light). These are opportunities for God to take whatever the interruption, no matter whether it appears good or bad on the surface, and use it for good. This is his promise to us.

But interruptions are not just for us. If we will stay alert, we will find that the interruptions in life are often the opportunities for us to ‘bring the kingdom’ into someone’s life or some situation. Rather than rushing past them and trying to ‘get back on track’, let’s ask the Lord what he is doing. Maybe this interruption for us is a significant kairos moment for someone else. God is opening a door and putting us on the threshold as his ambassador.

If you are like me, you are probably intimidated by the notion of evangelism when it calls to mind trying to break through the resistance of someone who doesn’t even want to talk about spiritual matters and violently disagrees with what you would have to say to them anyway. That is not really a very likely formula for success even if we had the courage or bullheadedness to do it! But what if we were to see that God has placed us in the flow of time and events so that we are ready for those interruptions in our lives and the lives of those around us, those kairos moments. Jesus is sitting by the well when the Samaritan woman comes for water and starts up a wise-cracking spiritual discussion. We are having some neighbors over for a barbeque when they mention they just lost their job. Rush past and get back on the chronos train as quickly as possible or step into the kairos and see what God is up to?

The Unimaginable Hope of the Tests of God by Sam Williamson

This is a guest article by Sam Williamson which is really helpful as we deal with trials in our lives. Check out more articles by Sam at his blog Beliefs of the Heart .  

When we think about the tests of God, most of us shudder. Yet I believe that they can be a key to Hope and Joy. Let me explain.

I began flying lessons in 1997. These lessons taught me to take off and land, to navigate using aviation charts, and to communicate with air traffic control.

I particularly liked learning to land.

On my second flight, my instructor Jayne pulled the throttle to idle and announced that my engine had just died. She asked what I was going to do. Throttling her was not an option because I hadn’t yet learned to land. But I was strongly tempted.

Soon a pattern emerged. She’d kill the engine, I’d want to kill her, and we’d practice standard engine-restart procedures, and I’d look for a place to land. Then we would circle down to the landing site until Jayne said we would have made it (or not). Then she’d re-throttle the engine, we’d climb, and we’d review what I had done.

Jayne drilled the engine-out procedures so thoroughly into me that I could have done them in my sleep, though I never tried.

Two Types of Tests.

Jayne taught me to fly through a series of tests. The nature of these tests—repetition and reflection—taught me to fly. Educators call these tests Formative Tests. They are educational methods that train us in the midst of the test, such as my flying instructor’s engine-out surprises.

Each time Jayne killed my engine it was a test, but the test itself trained me to handle emergencies safely and confidently. Formative Tests teach us today how to avoid disqualification tomorrow.

However, when most of us think of tests, we picture Summative Tests. Summative Tests measure how much we have already learned, such as college entrance exams (the ACT or SAT), midterms, and finals.

While Formative Tests are designed to qualify us for the future, one could say that Summative Tests are designed to disqualify us, as in “My SAT score was low so I failed to get into Harvard.”

So what.

Why is this distinction so important? Because understanding the difference between Summative and Formative Tests is the key to joy or despair. It is the difference between midday-sun and midnight-darkness. Frankly, it is the gospel.

Most people consider Christianity to be one large Summative Test, sort of a huge College entrance exam; a big moral test which we repeatedly fail. But it isn’t.

Why do we fear the tests of God? Why do we freak out when we read passages like this, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you” (1 Peter 4:12)? We fear God’s tests for these reasons:

• We fear the Failure of tests
• We fear the Pain of tests
• We fear the Purpose of tests

The Failure. If God’s tests are Summative (assessing and disqualifying), then yes, we should fear them. But if God is using tests to form us, then we can be at peace—even in the middle of a crisis. When we misunderstand the nature of testing we think God is disqualifying us, when he is actually qualifying us. Through tests he makes us more capable; he dismantles the false self and builds in us our truest calling. He broadens our shoulders and he strengthens our steps. He’s teaching us to fly.

The Pain. When we barely hold our lives together, the mere thought of the burden of a test—adding one more thing—causes pain. We fear our engine-out-plane will hit the ground. But God himself is our flight instructor, sitting in the plane next to us. He is not on the ground giving radio instructions. His exercises develop strength. He is preparing us for something great.

We willingly experience self-inflicted pain to attain our own goals—the pain of exercise to gain health, the pain of dating to find a spouse, the pain of child-rearing to have a family—so why do we fear the pain of God’s tests? Isn’t he always after greater goals than we seek? Isn’t he more careful with our hearts than we are? He is always after something richer than we imagine.

The Purpose. We think we know what we need, and we fear God will get it wrong. God’s tests often go in directions we don’t wish. We want to be a doctor, and God wants to give us peace. We want financial security and God wants to give us joy. God formed our hearts and deepest desires. He created our calling before we were born. He knows what we need, and through his tests he reveals our hearts and our calling. And he is teaching us to land.

When we believe God’s tests as Formative, we experience hope, the pressure is off. We know that God has prepared us for this moment, and we rest knowing God uses this moment to prepare us for the next. It’s okay. Even if we “fail” this time around, God uses today’s experience to prepare us for tomorrow.

Only one test is truly Summative. That test is what we choose to belief. Do we choose to believe his tests are Summative or Formative? If we believe his tests are Summative—and failure is disqualification—then everything rests on our shoulders.

When we believe in our hearts that he has done everything for us—he has already qualified us—then every test is an engine-out exercise.

He’s teaching us to fly.

© Copyright 2012, Beliefs of the Heart, Ltd. All rights reserved.

Band of Brothers takes to the field

With the Lord speaking to us about being part of bringing His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven, the Band of Brothers has been asking, ’what more can we do?’ For the last several years we have met monthly and enjoyed great fellowship, (not a few pancakes!), and shared on topics which have helped us grow as God’s men. Along the way we have learned how to wire a house, shoot a flintlock, operate an MP3 player, brew a perfect cup of coffee—and a perfect pint of beer, join wood, and gaze at the stars, among other topics! We have had a great time and grown, but now we are asking, what can we do to have a Kingdom edge to brotherhood?

In researching men’s ministry, we have been reminded of what a critical impact men have on society. Problems of crime, poverty, aimlessness, sexual license, divorce, abuse and more trace their roots to the brokenness of men, personally and as husbands and fathers. As we impact men through union with Jesus and discipleship we can have a multiplying impact on their families and our culture.

But how to start? We realized that we have a few families who are living right in the midst of a mission field at University Townhouses. For years Jonny Lennon has had a desire to reach out to the children at U Townhouses. As we spoke together we realized that we couldn’t do anything better for them to reach out to their dads!

So, starting in December we are moving the Band of Brothers Breakfast to the U Townhouses Clubhouse. We hope to build relationships with men there, to help them draw close to the Lord and grow in Him, and enlist them as partners in the mission to bring the Kingdom more to their community. There are over 600 units in U Townhouses, so there is a wide field. How could the Lord use 5 or 10 or 20 men to impact it?

To start we offered a ‘Make Mom a Christmas Gift’ event after the December 4 breakfast. We invited dads and their kids to come and make one or more projects which included a recipe card holder, cookbook holder, napkin holder and decorations. Some of the brothers manufactured parts in advance and at the event kids could sand, glue, assemble and finish their projects.

We had a modest turn-out for the event, which was about all we could handle, as we discovered! However, everyone had a good time, some relationships got built, and kids were able to bless their Mom’s for Christmas. Stay tuned for news of future events which may include sledding, a bike repair day and more. Also join us in praying for God’s Kingdom to come to the families living at University Townhouses!

2012 Concert of Prayer on January 18 @ 7:30

At the darkest part of the year, in the dead cold of January, Christians from across Washtenaw County have been gathering for years to cry out with one voice for God to shine His light and send His fire on our County! The evening of intercession which incorporates many different styles of prayer has been hosted in rotation by different churches. This year the Concert of Prayer will be at the Bible Church, 611 East Cross Street in Ypsilanti, pastored by Elder Levon Yuille. Because the third week in January marks the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, the birthday of Martin Luther King, and the Octave of Christian Unity, the Concert focuses on the themes of Life, Racial Reconciliation and Christian Unity. But we also take time to pray for Revival because we know that for real change to take place in the other areas, people need to turn to Jesus and be filled with His Spirit!

Come and join with your brothers and sisters from churches from many different theological backgrounds, racial makeups, and worship styles as we ‘Cry with One Voice’ for our God to break in on Washtenaw County.

A Scandal to Heaven and Earth, by Phil Tiews

There was a moment in this year’s community Christmas pageant [one of the best ever, by the way, thank Rachael Varblow & Amy Campbell] when the shepherds and angels were all milling around the manger trying to get a look at the baby Jesus. The fact that his part was being played by a real baby provided the motivation for these young method actors. As I Iooked at these representatives of heaven and earth jostling and elbowing for position it occurred to me that this might be closer to that moment in Bethlehem than our usual static tableaux. We read in Luke 2 of the ‘great company of the heavenly host’ praising God and of the shepherds going off to see the baby and to our mind’s eye come the serried rows of a choir and an orderly hike ending in a reverent circle of kneeling shepherds. It may not have been so orderly! After 2000 years and untold paintings, Christmas cards, crèche scenes and carols the shock value of Jesus’ birth has largely worn off for us. It is hard to imagine just how thunderstruck those shepherds must have been. Sitting quietly by the fire, swapping stories and gossip when KAZAAM!!! the heaven’s open and God’s glory blasts down on them and from the midst of it an angel shouts out his greeting. He could see the impact he was having because the first thing he says is ‘Don’t be afraid’! When they get over the shock of the first angel, a whole mob of them (biblically known as a ‘great company') belt out their message – and then are gone. As they are recovering their wits the shepherds begin to remember what they were told and then they realize this is all wrong! Hallelujah, the Messiah has come! Angels are proclaiming his arrival – that is as it should be. But what is this about the baby wrapped and lying in a manger, that can’t be right. He is the great king, greater than David. Where is the palace, where are the courtiers, where is the earthly glory? They rush off to see and I imagine that their curiosity and confusion caused them to press in for a really good look and press Mary and Joseph for explanations about who this baby was.

And how about those angels. Maybe they had been rehearsing their part for weeks, but I think that they were as stunned as the shepherds at this development. One moment they are worshipping the Word Who was from the beginning, Who was with God and was God, and the next His glory is cast off and He has come to earth as a squirming bundle of human vulnerability in the straw of a Bethlehem hovel. Shocking! An unimaginable scandal. And why? Because of the non-understandable, gracious love of God for people, people who just a few years later would reject, abandon, and crucify Him. Wouldn’t this ‘blow their celestial minds’? I know this isn’t the way the biblical text reads, but I hear them singing ‘Can you believe our God? His ways are beyond us. Can you understand how great his favor is toward men? His peace is on them! Astounding!!!’

Luke tells us that after they deliver their message the angels left the shepherds and returned to heaven, and so it must be true. But I wonder if some of them took a side trip to Bethlehem on the way back to see what they could not have conceived, the Eternal Word, through whom all things were made, weighing in at about eight pounds and unable to care for himself, wrapped up in some cloth, lying on straw where animals have fed. How many angels can crowd around a manger? What about when shepherds start showing up to shove in for a look, too? Heaven and earth dumbfounded and scandalized by the God whose ways are not our ways, and are as far above our ways as heaven is above the earth.

Today the message of Christmas has become commercialized, trivialized, Hallmark-ized, and even for us Christians, sometimes too familiarized. We can lose our grip on the magnitude of the scandal that the Son was united with human flesh – an overwhelming demonstration of the depth of His gracious love for us, sinners. This message is so scandalous that is it rejected by secularists, by Muslims, by New Agers, by all men – “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. “ John 1:12-13

Merry ‘Eternal Scandal of God’s Love’ Day to you all!

How do we celebrate Advent? By Phil Tiews

We live in the Advent season.  Certainly it is currently the season that many churches observe as Advent, but I mean a more continual state.  Jesus has come, died, risen, ascended and charged us to look for His return, the final Advent.  We join with all the earth in expectation: Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.  Psalm 98:11-13

Those Advent candles we light this time of year don’t point us toward Bethlehem so much as toward Armageddon & the New Jerusalem!

&

So what are we to do to celebrate this continual Advent?  Definitely sing for joy!  But at His coming in the flesh the King told us what His reign looks like:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

As those on whom the King has bestowed His Spirit, this gives us a pretty good program to follow during this extended Advent while we await His final return.  There is enough preaching, binding, proclaiming, comforting, bestowing, rebuilding, restoring and renewing to keep us busy, I think.  Let’s be about it so the King will find us so doing at His Coming.

Have a fruitful Advent and a blessed Christmas!