Shepherd’s Notes

At Wellington Presbyterian Church services yesterday we did a “double-take” on John 3-4 to look more thematically at what do we see in these chapters about how to witness to Christ in a way that reflects the gospel. We saw from John 20:19-22 & 30-31 that we needed to read these chapters in light of 2 things:

1) The gospel was written as a means to bring people to personal and genuine faith in Christ.

2) Jesus has sent all of us with the message of the gospel in reliance upon the Holy Spirit to be His witness/ambassadors to the people around us in our lives.

This is such an important issue for us as a church that I promised you some additional notes from yesterday’s sermon, so they’re below. Before you even look at them, some of you may be thinking, “But I don’t really have relationships with non-Christians.” Let’s think on that for a minute…

Many Christians really do end up not having close relationships with non-Christians over the years for many different reasons. But the reality is that there are opportunities all around you that you may not be aware of. Try this excercise:

• Write down all the places you visit regularly (restaurants, gym, schools, clubs, activities, gas stations, etc.).
• Then write down all the people you could regularly be in contact with in those locations. Maybe a waiter you see regularly at a restaurant, other parents at a child’s activities, people at your gym, etc.
• Odds are in the Western Communities that 85% of them don’t have a saving relationship with Jesus. Now do 2 things:

1. Identify 3-5 that you see the most or are most comfortable around and ask, “How can I be intentionally friendly towards them”? Just start there at least and see what the Lord might do in that relationship.
2. Commit yourself to praying for them 2-3 times a week.

If you try this excercise, I believe you will find that you have more opportunities to intentionally love people who don’t know Jesus than you think!

On to the notes from yesterday: Click Here for the File

Food for thought that encouraged me as I wrestle with Hebrew again in preparation for next year’s series in Exodus on why Biblical languages matter in a post-modern evangelical age that has lost sight of the value of the languages:

“Luther spoke against the backdrop of a thousand years of church darkness without the Word when he said boldly, ‘It is certain that unless the languages remain, the Gospel must finally perish.’ he asks, ‘Do you inquire what use there is in learning the languages…? Do you say, ‘We can read the Bible very well in German?’” And he answers:

Without languages we could not have received the Gospel. Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit; they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and as the gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude.
If we neglect the literature we shall eventually lose the gospel… No sooner did men cease to cultivate the languages than Christendom declined, even until it fell under the undisputed dominion of the pope. But no sooner was this torch re-lighted, than this papal owl fled with a shriek into congenial gloom… In former times the fathers were frequently mistaken, because they were ignorant of the languages and in our days there are some who, like the Waldenses, do not think the languages of any use; but although their doctrine is good, they have often erred in the real meaning of the sacred text; they are without arms against error, and I fear much that their faith will not remain pure.”

Quoted from John Piper’s Brothers, We are not professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry

I’ve been re-reading Murray’s Revival & Revivalism, which is a history of the 2nd Great Awakening followed by the birth of Charles Finney and the revival movement. It’s stunning how much of the 21st century I see being described in this account of the early 1800’s, and how much we would benefit by re-learning some of the lessons seen there.

For instance, the 2nd Great Awakening broke out not by new methods and “evangelism strategies”, but by the same faithful and rich preaching that had been occurring for years beforehand. God simply showed up in greater power by His Spirit and blessed the same “old boring” means of grace. BUT… That awakening was largely quenched when men began to think they could make it happen if they just use the right means and strategies. This is where such things as the “alter call” originated as well as playing music over and over again, etc. Getting & using the right means and strategies replaced faith in God’s humble ordained means, and revival was lost and replaced by man’s strategies in revivalism.

Another similarity was the “success” argument. It was rather clever. Finney and others argued, “look at the results of all these people now professing faith in Christ.” You can’t be against that, can you? Doesn’t it prove this is how God wants it done?” Clever. They’ve claimed the high ground and now make their opponents have to prove from the outset that they’re somehow “not against God.”

Big problem with Finney’s argument- what really is success?? If it is mere profession of faith, then he wins. Time to scrap much of what we do in the Reformed church and buy some maudlin music and clear space up front for the alter call. But the Bible makes plain that it is not profession but possession that actually counts. In passages such as the parable of the soils in Matthew 13 that there are many who profess, but not poses. 2 of the 4 different types of soil make profession, but wilt later on. And Matthew 25 makes plain that some will profess through their whole lives, but are actually unsaved. Finney’s argument simply ignores these passages. We are after not merely professions of faith, but people who’s whole lives are changed to Christ-worshippers.

Yes, we want more and more people pressing into the church and Kingdom. But they only genuinely enter into salvation if their outward profession comes from an inward possession of true faith in Christ that will then express itself in a complete change of course in life. A truly changed root producing truly different fruit. How different? How changed? Let me close with the words of Edward Payson, a pastor from Portland, Maine that was a leading figure in the actual revival and not the revivalism that followed. He speaks both of how freely & deeply the love and acceptance of Christ is experienced in true revival, but also how deep and profound is our own brokenness over sin in the hearts that truly profess Christ by faith:

“As our views of our own sinfulness, and of the abominable malignity of sin, are always in direct proportion to our views of the divine purity and glory, the Christian never appears to himself so unspeakably vile, so totally unworthy of His Savior’s love, or so unfit to enjoy his presence, as at the very time when he is favored with these blessings, in the highest degree. The consequence is that he is astonished, confounded, crushed and overwhelmed by a display of goodness so undeserved, so unexpected.

When he has perhaps been ready to conclude that he was a vile hypocrite, and to give up all for lost; or, if not to fear that God would bring upon him some terrible judgment ofr his sins, and make him an example to others- then to see his much insulted Savior, his negleected Benefactor, his injured Friend, suddenly appear to deliever him from the consdequences of his own folly and ingratitude; to see him come with smiles and blessings, when he expected nothing but upbraidings, threatenings, and scourages- it is too much; he knows not how to bear it; he scarcely dares take the consolation offered him; he sinks down ashamed and broken-hearted at his feet; feels unworthy and unable to look up; and the more condescendingly Christ stoops to embrace him, so much lower and lower does he sink in the dust. At length his emotions find utterance, and he cries, O Lord, treat me not thus kindly. Such favors belong to those, only, who do not requite they love as I have done. How can it be just, how can it be right to give them to one so undeserving? Your kindness is lavished upon me in vain; your mercies are thrown away upon one so incorrigibly vile. If you pardon me now, I shall offend you again; if you heal my backslidings, I shall again wonder from you; if you cleanse me, I shall again become polluted: you must, O Lord, give me up- you must leave me to perish, and bestow you favors on those who are less unworthy, less incurably prone to offend you. Such are often the feelings of the broken-hearted penitent.”

May God grant me such an experience of grace and brokenness that no method of man can possibly produce

In Bryon Chapell’s excellent book, Praying Backwards, I recently came across a remarkable account of what it means to pray in the Spirit and take a long-haul perspective. He tells the story of 3 Reformed & Evangelical Scottish pastors who were burdened in the 1950’s to pray for revival in the Church of Scotland. James Philip, George Philip, and William Still met regularly and specifically prayed that God would first raise up an increasing number of Bible-believing pastors. For four years they met and prayed regularly, then they began to no longer feel the same urgency of Spirit to pray in this fashion, and so they stopped. They confessed to one another a sense of disappointment for it seemed the church of Scotland was unchanged despite their faithful and ferverent praying.

Twenty-five years later, the same 3 ministers held a conference for Bible-believing ministers in Scotland. About 200 ministers came! That was nearly 1/3 of all the pastors in Scotland!! On a whim, they asked who had been converted during those initial 4 years of prayer in the 1950’s. A number in the room raised their hands including Eric Alexander, who would become one of the great leading lights of the entire church of Scotland to this day. Then they asked who had been born during those 4 years of prayer. Nearly everyone else in the room raised their hand. God had heard. God had answered. Wonderfully so! But the reality of that answer took 25 years to come home to those 3 minsters who had faithfully prayed at the prompting of the Spirit.

Can we pray for a revival of the church in the United States? Can we pray for a revival of Wellington Presbyterian Church. Can we persevere in it with passion? Can we do it trusting God to answer in His time and way- even if we don’t see the fruit of it until decades later? May God’s Spirit work within us to that end.

Interesting question, isn’t it- does our behavior affect our prayers? On the one hand, Scripture is absolutely unequivocal that all things have been ordained before the foundation of the world including the answer to our prayers (Ephesians 1:4, 1:11, Exodus 4:11, Proverbs 16:33, Amos 3:6, Proverbs 21:1, Lamentations 3:37-38, Proverbs 16:4, Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:28-30, etc.). Scripture is also clear that our prayers are acceptable to God only when we pray in the name of Christ, which means to ask God to accept and answer our prayers not because of what we have done, but what Christ has done for us (John 14:13-14, John 16:23-24). Our prayers are graciously answered not because of anything we have done to earn an answer.

But… God is so gracious that He not only accepts us completely through Christ just exactly where we are, but He accepts the responsibility to change us into what He made us to be- holy, righteous, just, etc. So, while loving us perfectly in Christ, He also graciously says “no” to allowing us to remain where we are in our moral filth of sin. And this is where we must also affirm that the Bible teaches us that sometimes God says “No” to our prayers because of that loving, accepting agenda to change us for the better. Consider the following list of specific things that hinder our prayers from receiving a positive answer:

1. Disobedience to God’s Word- Prov 28:9- “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”

2. Unrepentance over sin- Ps 66:18- “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.”

3. Unforgiveness - Mark 11:25- “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

4. Failing to care for the needy in our lives- Proverbs 21:13- Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

5. Selfish or Prideful Motives- James 4:3 & Matt 6:5-6-

James 4:3- You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Matt 6:5-6- “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

6. Specific, unrepentant failure of husbands to love their wives- 1 Peter 3:7- “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

These are but a smattering of examples of how Scripture undoubtedly declares that how we live affects the outcome of our prayers.

So what do we do? Give up praying, since we’ll never be perfect? Resolve to do much better on all fronts so that God will grant us what we ask for? Absolutely, positively, and totally NO on both accounts!! No, the path to take is not to give up on our gracious Heavenly Father, nor is it to try and please Him by our own efforts.

No, the path to take is spelled out nicely in the second half of Isaiah 66:2- “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” The answer is to humbly keep coming to Christ, but now not just over our requests, BUT FIRST OVER OUR SINS!   To come and say, “Thy will be done” in all areas of my life. To come and not think that our good Father will give us something that will destroy us (such as things we ask for that only feed our pride). To come and not think that when the Father is speaking to us about some area of sin (1, 2, 3, 4, & 6 above for instance…), that He is going to allow us to redirect the conversation away from that which is harming us. No, no. Our Father is too good and gracious to let that happen. Praise God that He says “no” to what might otherwise be good and legitimate things to ask for in order to keep the focus on better and more important things we need to deal with- our need to be humble and contrite over our sins, and to be made to turn away from them by His grace.

Is it possible? Is it really possible to know deep meaning and purpose in life and yet be care-free? On the one hand, the Bible teaches clearly that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), but that doesn’t remove our cares. We care for the brokenness around us- even to the point of weeping like our Lord (John 13:35). We care for the needs of our families and those we hold dear (1 Tim 5:8). And we care for the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33).

That last passage is especially illuminating. We are told to care for the kingdom- to purposefully strive for it and desire it. It is to be our chief goal and priority in life as Jesus makes clear not only in this verse, but certainly when read in light of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount where this verse is found. This is the key to meaning in the Christian life- not in gaining a care-free existence where Jesus helps us sail through life to a wonderful and uplifting finish. Rather, all Christians were made for a life of kingdom seeking.

What does that look like? One way to answer that question is to say read the Sermon on the Mount! Its about life in the kingdom! In it we are told such things as…

Matt. 5:11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matt. 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
Matt. 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Or…

Matt. 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust* destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Or…

Matt. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Do you get the picture? Knowing purpose and meaning as a Christian is a life of Kingdom seeking that is full of challenge and obstacles. To be sure, it is only God’s grace that enables us to face those challenges, and His grace is sufficient for all those challenges. But it is not a life of ease. When we pray that our lives would be care-free, our careers surging ahead, our children getting into the right schools, etc, are we really seeking the Kingdom? Perhaps… But I think such praying bears some close scrutiny.
If we are to know the meaning & purpose God intends, then we must pursue the ends God intends! If we are to know a fulness to His grace in our lives, then we go where grace leads- not to ease and rest, but challenge. It is ONLY in the midst of such kingdom living that we can then claim the rest of Matthew 6:33-34-

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matt. 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Here’s hoping that our ease will be destroyed by the challenge of seeking the Kingdom of God, so that the paradoxical peace and rest we crave would be granted us amidst purposeful lives!

As we’ve been studying Ephesians 1-3, I continue to be struck by how different our attitudes are within the church about the church when compared to the Scriptures. Long before Josh Harris wrote his good little book on the church, I would talk with students outside the church about the need to not merely date the church, but commit to the church. But I guess I didn’t really expect our attitudes within the church to be so casual about what Christ is so committed! Maybe you think you already are as committed as you need to be. Perhaps that’s true… But let me give you some “tests” to help you see yourself a little more clearly (some of these are from our study in Ephesians and some from Harris’ book- which was prompted by his pastor’s study in Ephesians…)

1. A church dater is me-centered rather than we-centered. Ephesians doesn’t end with 2:10. It goes on and shows how our individual redemption in Christ is about making us a part of the corporate story of Christ. Do the things you get upset about in the church revolve around you and your preferences, or others needs to better encounter Christ?
2. A church dater is independent rather than dependent. We want to maintain our flexible schedule to see if something better comes down the pike. If there are things we don’t like, we’re much more likely to withdraw than pray or volunteer ourselves to help fix it.
3. A church dater is critical rather than gentle. A church dater is short on allegiance the way a guy’s eye can wander very easily to a more beautiful woman if he’s not committed to loving and cherishing the woman he’s with. So they are quick to check out this church or that church for all kinds of superficial reasons. They are not at all shy about giving their opinion on every aspect of church life (even if they really know very little because they’re involved very little!).
4. A church dater wants easy rather than hard. They want services that are short and easy to understand. They want facilities that are easy to get into and quickly out of. They want church programs that are easy to get to when they are interested, and easy to get out of whenever they want.

You see, Ephesians 1 tells us that before the foundation of the world, God chose people to become the church. He ordered all of life to the end of accomplishing the salvation of not merely individuals, but His people. But we choose church as merely one option among many activities in our lives. How different our hearts are from God’s heart- and it seems we don’t even know it!

Ephesians 2 tells us that Christ not only redeemed us, but he brought us near to Himself AND to one another! It counts this as one of our great privileges as Christians through which we know the purposes and blessing of Christ. We seem so very often to only see it as either an inconvenience or at best as some other “resource” we can put up on the shelf in our lives (so to speak) and pull it down when we need some. Otherwise, what we really want is not a church that draws us together, but one that is “convenient”. We are consumers at church and not connectors- and its no wonder that we think something is missing from our walks with Christ… Its called the church community!

Ephesians 3 has told us that God takes the disgrace of our sin and instead turns us into the theater of His glory. How amazing! God’s power is so great that He not only saves us from condemnation, he makes us into a connected story to convey how great & powerful His love really is. And that story is so overwhelming, that God has put it on display before all the cosmic powers in the entire universe! Now, we’re all about the glory of God, so long as its not going to cost too much or interfere.

• It can’t interfere in my career, because I can’t let my faith keep me from providing for my family.
• It can’t interfere with my kids schedules and activities because that’s how they’re going to be well rounded for college.
• It can’t cost too much financially because taxes are too high around here.

All these things may be true, but when good things become ultimate things they have become evil things. Think of it this way, if you were an actor, would you rather perform on Broadway or at a strip club? Forgive the vivid image, but that’s about the size of it biblically! God wants to put his great redemption story on stage on Broadway, and His power is so great that He’s even going to take lousy actors like me and you and somehow transform us into stars- but he’s only going to do that when we perform that play together as a genuine community called the church!

By contrast, when we say “no” to committing to the church with our time, talent, and treasure, then we are saying no to the great desire of God to display His glory in grand Broadway style. Instead, we go “whoring” after other gods (Ex. 34:14-16; Lev. 17:6-7; Num. 15:38-40, 25:1-2; Deut 31:16-17; Is. 1:21-22; Jer. 2:19-21, 3:1-9; The book of Hosea (!), and many more)- that’s a lot like saying we’d rather perform at a strip club or worse, and then settling for the idea that at least we’d make good money!

Oh dear church, I write to not merely warn us, but to invite us- to invite us into a far, far better story. A far, far better life than that which we know! Stop dating the church! Take steps this week with your time, talents, and treasure to commit yourself more deeply to the family of God. Listen to the grand invitations and wise instructions on what it means to be a Christian by connecting in this wonderful display of Sovereign Grace called the church!

Friday, March 23rd, I watched with many tears as probably 1000 of us said good-bye to my friend, Dustin Salter. The funeral was all it should have been- sad & joyous, full of tears & full of laughs, surrounded by people you cared about & those you didn’t know who still cared deeply for our common friend. We laughed as we remembered our humble, gracious, lanky & loud laughing friend. And we cried- hard- at the hard reality that we will never in this life again feel his big arms around us or hear his laugh that could bring a room to a stand still.

All week, though, I could not escape the thought that for the Christian, death should be incredibly hard… but never without hope.

Death is an enemy- “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death” 1 Cor 15:25-26. It is a brutal, cruel, heartless one. It creates brokeness that never is healed in this life. Children were never meant to be without their parents. Wives were never meant to be starting over mid-life without their husbands. Death is evil, and Chritians should never minimize the suffering it creates. If our Lord can cry in mourning and anger at the tomb of his friend, Lazarus, then we can cry with those who are facing this cold and heartless opponent called death.

But for the Christian, death is a defeated foe. I did not say a powerless foe, but a defeated one. It was defeated by the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul puts it this way in Romans 6:3-5: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The logic goes something like this:

Premise- You are united by faith to Christ in a legal and spiritual union so that where He went, you went. What He did, you did.
Premise- Christ rose from the dead.
Conclusion- All who are united to Him by faith will rise again from death!

Put simply, because Jesus rose from the dead, death is defeated, and all who are His people will rise from the dead in triumph at the last day! I will see my friend again… But even greater… I will see my risen Lord and live in a renewed Heaven and Earth! Why? Because Christ has defeated death! There is hope in the hear and now for the by and by. There is comfort in the face of sadness because we know that the grave is not the end! Yes, death for the Christian involves pain, but is never without hope.

That spiritual and physical reality comforts me. I hope it will comfort all of you who have faced the death of friends and loved ones (let alone all who realize that death will one day come to all of us on this sin stained sod). So, Dustin, Paul, Jeanine, Keeper, & grandma, I’ll see you all soon. For sure! Till then, I think often of the glory they have entered into and leave you to consider that glory as summarized in the Westminster Larger Catechism:

86. What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death ?
The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death, is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again united to their souls. Whereas the souls of the wicked are at their death cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, and their bodies kept in their graves, as in their prisons, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day.

87. What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?
We are to believe, that at the last day there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust: when they that are then found alive shall in a moment be changed; and the selfsame bodies of the dead which were laid in the grave, being then again united to their souls forever, shall be raised up by the power of Christ. The bodies of the just, by the Spirit of Christ, and by virtue of his resurrection as their head, shall be raised in power, spiritual, incorruptible, and made like to his glorious body; and the bodies of the wicked shall be raised up in dishonor by him, as an offended judge.

OK, so proabably most of you who know that Michael W. Smith song are probably rolling your eyes right now as you let out a long grrrooaann… Definitely rates high on the “cheesy” scale… But I think I’d probably take the “cheese” happily over the mercinary “friendships” I see myself and others so often engaging in…

What is a “mercinary friendship”? Simple. Its one designed to bring us gain. Its the other couple in our neighborhood who’s children we want ours to be friends with- not because we want to bless them and care for them out of the care we’ve received in Christ, but out of a perverse sense of blessing our children by manipulating other people’s kids into being their friends. Its the people we choose to talk to at church because we perceive them as being able to give us something we lack, rather than seeking out people who might lack so we can give. These are mercinary friendships- and its one of the many reasons we fail to deeply connect with one another in the kind of community we crave.

One of the reasons we so easily fall into this kind of relating is that we don’t realize our calling from God to relationship. We think of “calling” as something pastors and missionaries mysteriously receive. But Biblically speaking, every relationship we are involved in is actually a “calling” from God! We are called by Him to be His ambassadors in message, character, and methods (2 Corinthians 5:14-20). Each relationship is a unique mission from King Jesus to be used to serve His purposes of love and grace. I can’t even begin to describe how MUCH that understanding and attitude would change our lives!

Gone would be mercinary relationships that are about my purposes and plans; in would be real friendships that are marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Such relationships require us to uterly sacrifice our self-centered agendas, but a sweet savor would begin to work its way through our relationships that would allow us be our broken-selves without fear as we joyfully allow others to do the same.

One of the people that taught me what such friendship looks like is this dude- Rev. Tim Emmett, my dear friend from college to the present. If he ever reads this, I’m sure he’ll probably protest. But long before either of us could articulate Biblically what friendship should look like, he showed me. Pursuing our relationship even in times when my self-absorbtion left little room for anything in my life but me and my agendas. He loved me as an ambassador of Christ- speaking Christ to me in word and deed, in comfort and rebuke. He was no mercinary… He was an ambassador… and the kind of friend God intends me to be… and you as well.

So bring on the cheese! Though preferrably without the Michael W. Smith song…

Away with the mercinary relationships! And in with the kind of connecting with one another through Christ that Paul describes in Ephesians 2:19- “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…” Then we will see the kind of community all of us were made to enjoy!

Training is important.

“Practice makes perfect.”

“Gotta walk before you run.”

We know its true. We see it not only in sports, but in our careers, and even in our characters. This is what we are told in 2 Peter 1:5-8 :For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,* and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So thank God for disillusionment in our lives and churches!

Huh?

I said thank God for disillusionment in our lives and churches! You see, if we don’t face struggle in our faith and in our relationships in the church, then we have no need for anything beyond knowledge that Peter discusses. Life without self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love! A life that is plastic and shallow- the kind that makes it onto Access Hollywood and that makes us wonder, “How could anyone really live like that?”

    Self-control requires the presence of something else we’d rather do, but know we shouldn’t- everything from give into lustful looks to fleeing our current church because somebody was less than gracious to us or we didn’t like something that was said. Steadfastness implies that we are going against the grain and exerting energy and effort to do it- like when the kids want to join that SECOND traveling sports team that you know will take them away from home and spiritual fellowship too much. Or not walking away from your spouse when some action is taken you don’t agree with and instead you talk about it and come to a common united understanding and union (well, that’s how its supposed to happen anyway

    Even love requires the presence of disillusionment for it really be love- real love embraces precisely when others are running away. Real love embraces the difficult person in patient acceptance and instruction when others are just trying to avoid them. Real love sacrifices our time, talent, and treasure for the sake of our church community- the very church who’s music we’re less than thrilled with, unwelcoming in service, and has a pastor that is boring/over our head/too theological/not theological/___________ (insert complaint here).

So thank God for disillusionment!

    Its presence forces us out of our well-trained consumer mentality and into an in-training Kingdom lifestyle. It forces us to learn to love not merely people and a church that pleases us, but real people and real churches that somewhere along the line will inevitably disappoint us (and can be easily replaced with alternate consumer selections!).

    After all, the biggest problem in any relationship I’m in or any church I attend is always my own sin. That’s not to say that victimization isn’t real and horrible- it is on both counts. But to the victim God gives victory through “his divine power [that] has gr