Reasons to be involved in a Local Church

I have been thinking about how important it is to assimilate into the body of Christ everyone who has heard the voice of Jesus and has responded to His call to forgiveness and service.  I have also tried to understand why it is important, and to discover key reasons  I might use to help others see the need for this kind of life response.

The statements below are not the final statements about why it is important for followers of Jesus to be a part of a local congregation and to serve God from with that context, but it is fairly exhaustive.    My list has seven dimensions to it.  What is your response to asking for reasons as to why the church (the called out, the body of Christ, the living tabernacle) is present to love people and to invite them into the fellowship of fellow sinners who have been saved by grace.  What does your list look like?  Here is mine!

Reasons to be involved in a local church:

1.        ENCOURAGEMENT...and who of us doesn’t need our own hearts encouraged?

2.        SUPPORT...and who of us doesn’t need that special group of support people who love us and accept us as we are?

3.        FELLOWSHIP...and who of us doesn’t need a community of people who share our goals and dreams?

4.       PERSONAL SPIRITUAL GROWTH … and who of us would say we have arrived spiritually? So here is an opportunity to grow in Christ and to seek to become all that He would have us be.  It is a step taken in response to grace that has been lavished upon us (Eph. 1:8)

5.       ACCOUNTABILITY...and who of us doesn’t need someone with whom to share our spiritual journey, someone who will hold us accountable to our confessions, pray for us and believe in us, even as we are doing the same for them?

6.       OUTREACH...and who of us has a friend, a neighbor or a loved one who needs Christ?  We are sharers of Good News. 

7.        LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT...and who of us is Jesus calling into places of leadership where our lives can influence other people?  ALL OF US.  So here is an opportunity to develop our faith and go deeper into the things of God, seeking HIS MIND on the matters pertaining to our lives and future, and giving ourselves to be better equipped to do His will.

Scripture Foundation:

“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts. 4:121).

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

“We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we may know the things freely given to us by God” (I Cor. 2:12).

“Let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (I John 3:18).

“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them [“every spirit that does not confess Jesus”]; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (I John

4:2-4).           

“… you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.  ⁷But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;  ⁸for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (I John 4:6-8).

⁴"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).

I Will Make You Fishers of Men

In Matthew 4:19 we have the somewhat famous words of Jesus to Simon and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  This call seems to set the tone for the call of Jesus on the lives of all the disciples.

My thinking here is that our mission as followers of Jesus is to participate with Him as He calls people into the kingdom of heaven.  I say this because just prior to the calling of Simon and Andrew we read, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” (Matt 4:17). 

As His witnesses it seems to me that a great part of the process of witnessing is to be with people in such away as to reveal to them how pertinent, applicable, germane, significant, and important Jesus is their lives. 

John Wesley caught this in his words, “The Church has nothing to do but save souls.”  Furthermore, Wesley understood the nature of the mission when he expressed, “The church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples” (see Matt. 28:19-20).

What we proclaim is, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  We proclaim this because Jesus said, “He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

So it is that the Church in the opening years of the third millennium prays and loves and serves and worships and witnesses and evangelizes and teaches and baptizes and, in the process of it all makes first, converts, and then of those converts, disciples. 

The church is on a mission because the kingdom of God is at hand, and Jesus is calling people into that kingdom. 

It might be good to remember here that in Matthew 6:10 Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come.”  Then, 23 verses later He gives the Word, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33).  Why are people called on to repent?  Because “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17). 

We are called to turn away from our old world view and to turn to Christ, to “repent” if you would.   Once we have turned to Christ the call then becomes to follow Him.  Following Him takes us to that place of inviting others to do the same.  It also takes us to the place of seeking the kingdom of God first and foremost in all things.

As His followers we take seriously the implications of God’s kingdom being at hand.  We pray, “Your kingdom come.”  We seek His kingdom as we live in the world. As we follow Jesus it becomes clearer and clearer that Mr. Wesley was correct, “The church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples.”  The saving of souls is a huge matter but it doesn’t stop there.  It starts a journey and brings people to the point of choosing to follow Jesus now that they are “saved,” to go forward into a relationship of true discipleship. 

Let us go deeper and deeper into the things of Jesus.  May our relationship with Him become so vital that it becomes the most important relationship in our lives.  May our love for Him and our zeal to follow Him take us deeper and deeper into our relationship with God.  Also,  may our passion, as the Church of Jesus, be to take people beyond conversion into a deep, personal, and Christ-centered life of being fully committed to Jesus. 

This is what Paul seems to mean in 2 Timothy 2:2 when he told that young pastor, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Here we see a line of progression that leads to discipleship and it has been unfolding for twenty centuries now.  In time Paul would die, but because he took people into the deeper level of discipleship, when he died others would step up and fill his shoes and keep the Gospel alive.  The unfolding of the Gospel and the influence of the kingdom would not skip a beat because the “converts” had been discipled into maturity

“Follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  From conversion to disciples to fishers of men to equippers of the next generation.  On and on it goes.  It all starts with Jesus saying to people, “Follow Me.”  If they do it, they will have signed up for the ride of their lives, and the seeds of the process of taking the Gospel into the next generation will be planted.  On and on it goes.  Jesus will build his church and the gates of Hades will not be able to overpower it.

During Advent, 2008 I was meditating over the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Advent from the Book of Common prayer.  The text was Luke 1:26-38.  I was struck by the fact that when Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a baby even though she had not been with a man, her inquiring response was, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34). 

How, indeed?  That’s an honest and truthful question.  How can this be?  For that matter another woman whom throughout her entire life had been labeled, “barren,” (Luke 1:36) found herself just three months away for delivering her son, John, who would be called, the Baptist.  How, indeed?

Have you ever said to God, in light of His outrageous promises, “How can this be?”  I hope you have asked this of God, and I hope you never stop asking it.  I hope God can be in each of us in such a way that our faith just keeps being stretched and stretched until the only answer that makes sense to us is, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Luke 1:35)

Mary had never been with a man so she couldn’t get pregnant, but the Holy Spirit came upon her.

           

Elizabeth, the barren, couldn’t get pregnant, but the Holy Spirit came upon her.

           

Because of an evil Herod, Jesus had no chance of getting out of Bethlehem alive, but the Holy Spirit was upon Him.

The cross killed Jesus and the dream for the future died on a despicable hill called, “The skull,” but the Holy Spirit was upon that event and upon Jesus.

           

Death spoke loudly in the life of Jesus but on a Sunday morning He came out of the tomb alive because the Holy Spirit was upon Him.

The Church had no chance of making it out of the first century, but the Holy Spirit was upon the Church, and twenty centuries later the Church is present, keeping the story of Jesus Christ alive.

How can these things be?  That’s a great question, and the only answer is, because NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD” (Luke 1:37).  When the Holy Spirit is upon a people nothing will be impossible with God.   

Case closed, or maybe marvelously reopened.

The Lord of Hosts is With Us

Our help does not come from the hills; our help comes from the Lord (i.e. Psalm 121).  The "our" refers to anybody who is seeking to live in this world by the ways and means of God. 

The hills remind me that we live in one world comprised of two realities:  the physical and the spiritual.  Most of us never truly get past the physical.  Fewer still ever get into the spiritual far enough to know that in the story of the physical world God has spoken redemptively in Jesus Christ.  We have a world inundated with religious thinking of some kind or another, but thinking that does not set us free from our sins and set love loose into the human situation.

The presence of Jesus' Church in the world ought to reflect the fact that life is more than physical and that the spiritual is more than religion and ideologies.  Until physical and spiritual meet together in Jesus we are lost in our efforts (sincere and noble though they may be) and imprisoned in life mazes (as accidental as they may be) which, proclaiming to do just the opposite, actually disenfranchise people and keeps them looking to “hills” for help instead of  “the glory of God in the face of Christ” (II Cor. 4:6).

Being the Church is serious business, and we dare not undertake it without a sense of full dependence upon God.  We must be here so fully dependent upon God that our influence will enable people to stop looking to the hills for help and, instead, turn to the One Who created the hills.  Until persons stop looking to the hills for help and turn to the One True and Living God, the sins of the fathers will continue to be passed on to the sons and daughters, and the vicious cycle will continue. 

Until the One who "breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free"^[1] is discovered, the world will believe itself into destruction.                           

---

[1] . Charles Wesley. “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”, in Sing To The Lord, (Lillenas: Kansas City, Mo., 1993). 147

Jesus said He would build His Church (Mat. 16:18). His declaration is the driving force behind the Christian story.  The Church belongs to Jesus.  He calls the shots, sets the direction, instills the focus, and exercises authority.  He is the head of the outfit, and those who would compete for the position need not bother.  

           

Once upon a time in Jesus of Nazareth, God revealed to the world that He had a dream. He gave to the world a church, His Church, and told that Church to live in the world faithful to Him. He commissioned Her to be present in the world to do some things – to love, to teach the truth about God, and to raise the banner of God’s ways and means in cultures distracted from God-things.  The Father's dream was that in Jesus Christ the Church would be a people in whom forgiveness found expression, in whom hope lived, and in whom and through whom, grace and mercy would be lavished on a needy world.  She was to be a worshipping community of Christ-centered people who lived and moved and had their being in God (See Acts 17:28).

           

Through Isaiah God said, "I am God.  Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it" (Isaiah 43: 12-13).  The Church is secure in the hands of our Sovereign God today.  Therefore, let Christians everywhere double their efforts in prayer and service, extend the right hand of fellowship to everyone they meet, and trust the integrity of Jesus to keep His Word.  Let them continue to be faithful to God, leaving the results of their faithfulness to Him. 

Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).  There you have it.  Don't worry about the fruit.  Instead, focus on abiding in Jesus.  He will take care of the results as we live our lives in Him.

God-Centered in a God-Ignoring World

Jesus told the disciples that when the Spirit of truth comes “He will guide you into all the truth…He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and disclose it to you” (John 16:13-14).  Whatever it means for a people of God to be present in a community in the name of Jesus the Holy Spirit will make clear.  He is the Guide.  He is the One who, in the midst of God’s people, takes what Jesus has given and discloses it to the people of Jesus.  He will guide the people “into all the truth,” about what it means for Jesus to be who He is and what it means for Him to be in the midst of a people who call Him Lord.

All that the presence of the Holy Spirit means is focused toward glorifying Jesus.  As the people of God we are present to be guided by the Spirit to take what Jesus has given us and to use it as the source and foundation of our being faithful in this place at this time.  True to the Spirit, we also seek to glorify Jesus.  This is our mission, and it is our passion.

If someone asks you what the church is supposed to be doing just tell him or her that we are here to glorify Jesus.  We are here to be a recipient Christian community, who takes what we are given by God and then lives here in faithfulness to God and His Word.  That is why we worship and give ourselves to hearing and obeying the Word of God.  That is the context in which we fellowship and live out the implications of being a God-centered people in a God-ignoring world.

The key to our being present for God is for us to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit’s presence.  He knows what Jesus has, takes of it and then guides us into all the truth concerning it.   We are a Jesus-glorifying community because the Spirit is the Jesus-glorifying Spirit of God among us.

As we all seek to be a presence for God in the world we need to hear what God is saying to His local churches around the world.  I find a helpful and needful story in Exodus that might just help us all to realize that the work of God must be done according to the will of God, for the purposes of God, and for the establishment of the kingdom of God.

On the shore of the Red sea where faith and fact met face to Face, Moses made a most remarkable statement to the people of God. 

The army of the Pharaoh was behind them and the sea lay before them.  If the sea would not open up before them, they were in trouble – deep trouble.  But, on the seashore Moses said, “Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today” (Exod. 14:13).  The rest is history.

As was their custom, in the spirit of grumbling the people of Israel took their eyes off of God and focused their attention on the situation at hand.  So it was that Moses stepped up to encourage the people. 

Apparently God was not impressed with the grumbling and told Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward” (Exod. 14:15). 

           

I’m not sure how to receive God’s statement here, but I sure like it.  I believe it signifies that if God is God in the group, then the group had just better “go forward” regardless of what lies ahead. 

But we might drown.  Well, so be it; go forward anyway.  But it doesn’t make sense.  Well, so be it; go forward anyway.  But the odds are against us.  Well, so be it; go forward anyway. 

So the question comes down to “Who is Lord around here, the sea or God?  Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit or the Sovereign power of Almighty God?”

I have decided that maybe trapped is not a bad place to be, because it forces us to know that the only way out is GOD

I invite you to hear and reflect upon a wonderful poem by E. Stanley Jones, which appeared in his book, The Christ of the Indian Road, (The Abingdon Press: New York, 1927), 144-145. Ever since I discovered the book and this poem, they have rocked my world. 

                                               Rick Savage

WHAT LIFE HAVE YOU?
WHAT LIGHT HAVE YOU?

I took my lamp and went and sat

Where men of another creed and custom

Dwelt together in bonds of common search.

I pressed my lamp close to my bosom,

Lest adverse winds of thought and criticism,

and the damp of unsympathy should snuff it out.

And many a trembling prayer hung upon my lips.

But I determined that I would love--just love.

I loved and listened and learned, and now and then

threw in a thought or word or observation.

I heard their gentle speech, saw their mild ways;

felt the Hand of Peace rest gently on my soul.

Here was not the tearing of the flesh,

nor the fierce agony of the spirit, in its quest for

                  God.

They gently searched and, through the crevices of

                  their thought,

the light of the Father's Face streamed in.

They caught the footfalls of the Mighty Spirit,

as he moved each moment through palpitating

                  Nature.

And I heard them tune their heartstrings to catch

                  the music

of God, as he hummed and sang through things.

But when, in sympathetic talk and mutual quest,

I asked the learned pundit whether he had found

A "jiwan mukta," one who knew deliverance, here

                  and now;

He sadly shook his head and said, "I have not seen."

In his voice spoke an aching world: "I have not

                  seen."

Then there stole within my heart a quiet joy;

for I saw, amid the search of peoples and races,

One standing who, with Chalice in hand, offered here

                  and now

to thirsty souls a crystal draught of life eternal,

which, if a man drink, he shall never thirst again.

Had I not drunk?  Had he not put the Chalice

To my parched lips, and, with thirst assuaged,

had not my happy soul gone singing down the years?

A child had thus revealed to him, through prayer and

Surrender of the mind and will, that for which

the wise and prudent had vainly searched

and caught but glimpses; while I, unworthy,

stood face to Face.

As I pondered thus, I glanced, with trembling, at my lamp--

And lo, it burned up brighter than before!

Isn’t it true that together, in Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit, there is just about nothing a group of Christian couldn't do if they decided in their hearts to do it. The issue is not "can we do it?" or "should we do it?" or "do you think we ought to do it?" The issue, always, is deciding what to do and then staying on task with faithfulness and diligence.

In their booklet called, Leadership 2000; Building Leaders for the 21st Century, The International Reed Institute has a statement from Fernando Edwardo Lee who says, "On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions who, at the dawn of victory, sat down to rest, and resting died." Victory was in their grasp. They sensed it. They knew it. They could smell the aroma of success. But tired from the battle, and knowing victory was imminent any way, they sat down to rest, and while they rested, the enemy gathered, positioned and prepared itself, and those would be victors turned the victory over to others. Their downfall was a hesitation born of an incorrect conclusion, a conclusion that led to a premature acceptance of victory, a premature rest and ultimately to premature failure.

Hesitation can be a greater enemy than the enemy. And I have come to believe that hesitation can indicate several issues--and unwarranted confidence, a lack of preparedness, vision and determination, a faith that has not gone far enough so as to captivate the imagination of persons and set their heart on fire with a tenacity that will see the journey through to completion. Men and women of Christ-centered faith do not set down at the dawn of victory; they plow through, they hang in, they never quit, they keep their eyes on the goal and they don't stop until that goal has been reached and apprehended for God.

One caution, however. People of Jesus ought to be careful not to fret, worry, and fuss their way through life. Sometimes, seeing things through to victory can be tiring and with tiring can come irritability and fretting. Jesus’ people stay at the wall for Christ but they stay there in the right mind and spirit, a spirit that stays faithful and thorough but also drenched in the amazing grace of God.

So even as God’s people are serving with all their heart they are also resting in the Lord, waiting patiently for Him (see Psalm 37:7). This attitude keeps them open and pliable in the hands of God, a condition that keeps them energized and focused, not allowing them to set down too soon to rest, and in resting, die.

As God’s people we are in this thing together until the end. In that light take David’s counsel to heart, “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord” (Psalm 31:24).

Great words from E. Stanley Jones

Break Jesus If You Can

There came the time when I inwardly let go. I became willing to turn Jesus over to the facts of the universe. I began to see that there was only one refuge in life and that was in reality, in the facts. If Jesus couldn’t stand the shock of the criticism of the facts discovered anywhere, if he wasn’t reality, the sooner I found it out the better. My willingness to surrender Christ to the facts was almost as great an epoch in my life as my willingness to surrender to him. In the moment of letting go I could almost feel myself inwardly turning pale. What would happen? Would the beautiful dream fade? To my happy amazement I found that he not only stood, but that he shone as never before. I saw that he was not a hothouse plant that would wither under the touch of criticism, but he was rooted in reality, was the very living expression of our moral and spiritual universe – he was reality itself.

I have, therefore, taken my faith and have put it out before the non-Christian world for these seventeen years and have said, “There it is, my brothers, break it if you can.” And the more they have smitten upon it the more it has shone. Christ came out of the storms and will weather them. The only way to kill Christianity is to take it out of life and protect it. The way to make it shine and show its genius is to put it down in life and let it speak directly to life itself. Jesus is his own witness. The Hindus have formed societies call Dharm Raksha Sabhas – Societies for the Protection of Religion. Jesus does not need to be protected. He needs to be presented. He protects himself.

-- (The Christ of the Indian Road: Abingdon Press: New York, 1925, 1927 – pp. 140-141).

In my congregation we have been dealing with some ongoing questions about what it means to be the church in our local neighborhood and town, what it means to be a Christian people, a witnessing people, a Christ-centered people. And, we have been asking these questions in the context of some very real accusations that have been thrown against the church in America these days. Also, we have been asking these questions in light of the fact that many believers are bailing out on the church because they see it as hypocritical and phony. This is of great concern to us.

In these days of Real or imagined accusations, and choices to walk away from the church and maybe even the faith, local churches live in this culture at this time in history. This is our field. In that light, we have been asking:

What can we do to capture the imagination of people, for a lifetime, to follow Jesus, and not drop out?

What can we do to better tell the story of Jesus so that people will be drawn to Him and come to faith in Him?

Why would anyone today who is not following Jesus decide to follow Him?

What is there about Jesus that is inviting to people? That is, in the clash and struggle for the hearts and minds of people, why would someone choose Jesus?

What is there about the Church that might awaken someone's appetite for Jesus?

How can we correct the perception that the church is hypocritical and phony? And, how can we convince people in the church who might, in fact, be hypocritical and phony, to own their sin, repent, and turn to Christ in true brokenness and humility?

These aren’t the only questions to be asked, but they have certainly grounded our feet in reality as we seek to be honest in our quest to be faithful to call of Christ in our town.

If Jesus is building His Church then it behooves those of us who believe in Him to bring our lives into conformity with who He is and what He is doing. Maybe this is why Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).

Sounds like serious business to me, demanding “"my soul, my life, my all!" ("When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" by Isaac Watts, 1707).

Perhaps you’ve read the following entries found in the Journal of John Wesley. I pass them along to you today in hopes that if you are discouraged about your ministry for Christ, don’t be. Rather, turn your ministry over to Christ again. Stay faithful. Trust His faithfulness in you. Keep your eyes on Jesus and let the Holy Spirit continue to work into the very fiber of your life the grace, mercy and majesty of God. It is God who is at work in you, so trust His presence in you, and stay true to what you know to do, leaving results to God.

Hear Mr. Wesley’s Testimony:

"Sunday a.m., May 5 -Preached in St. Ann's; was asked not to come back any more.
Sunday p.m., May 5- Preached at St. John's; deacons said, 'Get out and stay out.'
Sunday a.m., May 12 -Preached at St. Jude's; can't go back there either.
Sunday p.m., May 12-Preached at St. George's; kicked out again.
Sunday a.m., May 19- Preached at St. Somebody Else's; deacons called a special meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday p.m., May 19-Preached on the street; kicked off the street.
Sunday a.m., May 26- Preached out in a meadow; chased out of meadow when a bull was turned loose during the service.
Sunday a.m., June 2-Preached out at the edge of town; kicked off the highway.
Sunday p.m., June 2-Afternoon service, preached in pasture; 10,000 people came."

That's Wesley's story. It may not be yours; but the God He served and you now serve is still God. We don't know exactly and precisely where our stories will go with God, but we do know that we are in His hands, that He is guiding and leading with divine insight and authority. So, stay faithful, trusting His faithfulness in you. God is present and He is at work.

Back on December 2, 2001 I wrote a brief devotional thought that appeared in our church’s worship folder. Today, I was rereading that devotional, and I’d like to fast forward it to today because it is still true, perhaps more true now than when it appeared in 2001.

To my little flock I wrote these words,

I can’t get away from something Phineas F. Bresee said almost a hundred years ago: “Our church is a missionary church that knows no difference between home and foreign fields--- in these days all fields are near.”

“These days” for us is the third millennium after Christ and we are, indeed, in the midst of a mission field. Bill Sullivan once said, “We have seen America go from over 200 years of a basically Christian culture to a non-Christian culture that rejects the foundational principles of Christianity.” Add to that, if you would, the words of Kennon Callahan: “The day of the churched culture is gone, the day of the mission field has come; the day of the institutional church is past, the day of the mission outpost has arrived; the day of the professional minister is over, the day of the missional pastor is here.”

Suddenly we are confronted with realities that, in the human outlook, are overwhelming, and we are brought face to face with the fact that the work of Jesus in this world is of a spiritual nature that cannot be accomplished separate from Him. Our greatest need is leaders, who, living in the power of the Holy Spirit and under the anointing of God, will look at our mission field through the eyes of Missionary passion, enter into the arena, pray until God is freely shaping and forming their lives, and then seek to seize the day for Christ.


It is a busy, complicated, angry, distracted, and spiritually hungry world. Keeping up is a full time challenge. Sharing Christ with people in this environment is a great challenge. Also, if our local churches really do sit in the midst of mission fields, we have a whole lot of un-learning to do and a whole lot of new learning to do, and a whole lot of re-tooling to do, and a whole lot of soul-searching to do, and a whole lot praying to do.

At the same time, what a great day to be alive and to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. It is a time to let our imaginations loose, trusting the Holy Spirit as He fills us with the visions and dreams of God. As has been through all history, “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Ps. 11:4). As has been through all history, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). The Holy Spirit still fills His people with divine power to live as witnesses of Christ (Acts 1:8).

May God help us to let Him be God in our lives for this time. The Good News of Jesus is still Good News to people because Jesus is God’s response to the deepest needs of the human heart. May the Church keep on going forth with the Good News. Jesus is still Lord and nothing is impossible with God.

SOLITUDE

No one knows it better than those who dare speak for God, that we live in a noisy world and if we’re not careful and intentional we will begin to blend into the noise. Rediscovering the gift of solitude may be one of the Savior’s divine gifts to us.

Solitude is to purposefully withdraw from the noisy world in order to be with God. It is not to be alone. It is to be alone with God. It is to be with Him in such a way that His presence envelopes our very life and exposes us for who we really are. It is the place of honesty, the place of truth, the place where denial is not allowed. It is the place where we confront in ourselves all that is not of God, and come to the act of unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Solitude is the place both of struggle and of release. That is to say, in the solitude, where the struggles of our lives are faced, Jesus comes to us and we discover that in reality we are not fighting ourselves. We are fighting God. Yet, in the discovery we find that God is not fighting us. He is present to reveal to us that if we will let go, He will dismantle destructive forces which fight within us and without us, and give us a healed and whole, new self.

Solitude is the place where we learn to say, “for to me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). So, the solitude becomes what Henri Nouwen calls the “Furnace of transformation,” where we are set free from the entanglements of “The seductive compulsions of the world” (The Way of the Heart).

Solitude is the place where we choose to run away no more, but to stand and fight the enemy within. It is the place we go to die to things which are destroying us, and from which we emerge saying “…the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me? (Galatians 2:20).

Our journey is calling us to find a way to get alone with God. He is our Creator. He is our best Friend. He is our Confidant. He is our Savior. He is our Counselor. He loves us with an everlasting love. May God help us come within His wonderful embrace and find healing and laughter and joy and peace. May we find in Him, purpose and meaning and value.

Listen. Do you hear the still small voice? “Come to Me, and I will give your rest.”

WHY ARE THE NATIONS IN AN UPROAR?

One thing is certain as we navigate our way through the twenty-first century: "The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might he increases power" (Isaiah 40:28-29).

The God who created history saw the twenty-first century coming long before we could even begin to imagine it. He is not caught off guard by the ways of the world in these busy and stressful days. He is not caught off guard by the philosophies and religions and ideologies that inundate and saturate the cultures of the world. He is not caught off guard that people still hate His Son and still seek to crucify Him at every opportunity. He is not caught off guard at the runaway passions that dominate the human heart, the addictions that imprison countless millions of people, or the inner hatred that drives individuals and political powers to decimate those in opposition. He is not caught off guard at how His Name is used and abused, ridiculed and profaned, slandered and ignored. He is "the Creator of the ends of the earth," and, "His understanding is inscrutable."

Psalm two asks the question, "Why are the nations in an uproar and the people devising a vain thing?" (vs. 1). A few verses later it says of God, "He who sits in the heavens, the Lord scoffs at them" (vs. 4). It is sort of silly how mankind has such an exaggerated view of its own self-importance. I think sometimes we human beings really do believe we are the center of the universe and that our ways are flawless beyond comprehension. What a farce. How sad. How silly.

To complicate things we live in an age of unprecedented technology, which has given to us the capacity to destroy the world. We haven't always had this power, but we do now; and its presence cannot be denied or ignored. Most of us would not use this power to destroy, but there are those in the global community who would. Some people crave power so intensely, seek to control so forcefully, and are so committed to bringing others into submission to their ways, that they will stop at nothing, even bringing a world down, in their efforts to get their way.

This is the world, at least a part of it, in which we Christians are honored to live and to serve our God. It is the world that has been handed to us. It is the arena into which God has placed us at this time in history to tell the wonderful story of Jesus; and His story is, indeed, wonderful. It is the one story that speaks to the very core of the human experience and brings there the redeeming love of God.

This moment in history has not been forgotten by God but is a front and center chapter in an unfolding movement of grace, “God's grace …Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace; grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, grace that points to the Refuge, the mighty Cross…the marvelous grace of our loving Lord.”(“Grace Greater than Our Sin” by Julia H. Johnson and Daniel B. Towner, 1910)

WE REALLY DO HAVE A STORY

In the letter of Colossians we learn that in His Church God is raising up an alternative community where truth is told and people matter and persons as persons are not disenfranchised. In Christ, God birthed a new community, a new way of doing life; an alternative to living in a world where words are a-dime-a-dozen and talk so often comes to nothing.

In Christ we live "transferred." We are in the world but we are not of it. We are here but Paul says our lives are "hidden with Christ in God" (3:3). So, we live our lives from within the embrace of God's divine life.

As the Church we live in a community of transformed and transforming people; a community where people are the first priority, and Jesus Christ is in charge of the whole thing; a community where immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech and lies (3: 5, 8-9) have no place; a community where compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiveness, love, the peace of Christ, thankfulness, and the Word of God rule the day (3:12-16).

As the Church we are a community where “Christ is all, and in all” (3:11); a community created on the cross of Christ and enabled by the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

The Church is the community that proclaims Jesus because we believe that Jesus is God’s response to the deepest needs of the human heart.

We proclaim Jesus because “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (2:17).

We proclaim Jesus because there is no other person in the world (no religion, no philosophy, no ideology, no ism) of whom it can be said,” whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

We proclaim Jesus because not only did He die for our sins; He was raised up from the dead to show us just how much of a Savior He is. And, now, in His life we live and in His victory we share.

And, as His Church, we now live as the community of renewal, extending the message of hope to all who will hear it.

It is crucial that we get out to the world the story of Jesus. Crucial.

In about 99% of life one size doesn't fit all. It takes imagination and variety and exploration and risk and a thousand methodologies to lift up Christ in a world in desperate need of God. God seems to work within the context of situations and events and conditions, using gifts and talents and motivations and drives and training of a myriad of people to carry out His work. It is fairly obvious that God doesn't work in the same way in every situation. Still, with all that being said I do wonder about how He worked in the early church from the promise stage to the fulfillment stage. And, I wonder if the Church ought always to pay extraordinarily close attention to what we are given in Scripture when it comes to matters like these. Let me explain.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave His followers a promise that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. In that power, He said, they would become witnesses of Jesus and the Christ event.

Whatever that promise did in them it, at minimum, motivated them to a new level of expectation. They took the promise seriously, entered into a room in which they waited together in prayer and the Word and fellowship.

In the spirit of waiting and praying and being together, the Holy Spirit came into them, and led them out into their world to be the witnesses Jesus said they would be.

Empowered witness drew people to God, and God, in the people, set a movement into motion that is still under way 2000 years later.

I don't believe we can straitjacket God with some kind of airtight formula that guarantees the same results should we re-enact Acts Chapter one and beyond today. However, I am thinking that in this resurrection story we do have divine insight into the way God seems to work in the Church. Maybe we ought to pay close attention to that divine insight.

Here are some thoughts about the story behind the story at the birth of the Church, the story that bursts out of the first century into all the centuries of obedience to follow.

1. The need for Holy Spirit energized power.

2. The need to wait, to be still in the presence of God, so as to pray and give careful attention to His Word.

3. To wait and pray in one spirit, as one body, on one mission, for the one and true living God.

4. To expect and believe and obey, not in isolation, but in community.

5. To get out among people and there, live out the meaning of the Faith, living it in such away that any words we might speak will have the power of a lifestyle behind them, a lifestyle energized by the Holy Spirit.

Whatever the story of Acts might mean today, it at least means that the Church is a Holy-Spirit-empowered-movement or it is nothing at all. The work of God without the power of God is an exercise in futility. The work of God empowered by the Spirit of God is an awesome sight to behold and to experience.

I have wondered if the one thing missing from the church in North America today are moments of divine encounter, moments with God that are so powerful that one feels as if one is standing on holy soil.

I have wondered if God doesn't want to give His church today that kind of earth shattering moment where decisions are made and lives are changed and futures are rewritten.

I have wondered if in some way in worship the people of God ought to become so aware of the presence of God that it shakes the foundation of their world and changes their outlook and draws them into the very presence of God, setting their hearts on fire with a love and passion for God that rocks their world.

Is this asking too much? Taking into consideration the fact that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and has breathed His Spirit into His Church, I think not.

We do have counsel from the Word that helps. We are encouraged to find ways to draw near to God in worship and prayer and praise.

Trust Him to be God in you.

Trust Him to reveal Himself to you.

Listen for His voice. Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” Psalm 46:10 says, “Cease striving (Be still, let go) and know that I am God.”

Seek His face (Psalm 27:8).

Be faithful to do what you know to do, and let God be God in your life.

The future belongs to those who trust in God.

I believe there are Ten Passions to which every local church ought to call the people of Jesus. Maybe you have your own list. I would love to hear what God is saying to other pastors on the subject of what it means to be a local church.

May God help us to have a Passion:

1. To pray...to become bonded to God and sensitive to who He is and what He is about.

2 To obey...to do what God's Word says.

3 To study...to hear God's Word as the Word of the Living God.

4 To worship...to develop a spirit of worship and celebration based upon what they have come to believe about God.

5 To serve...To enter into the arena of the human situation with a heart set on meeting needs in Jesus' name.

6 To forgive...To extend to others the same forgiveness that has come to them in Christ.

7 To witness...To live for Christ and Christ alone as the salt of the earth and the light of world, and to invite others into the community of Jesus.

8 To disciple...To become mentors and allies to new and young Christians to assist them on their journey to maturity.

9 To love...To live in the world as a fragrant aroma of Christ conducting themselves in such a way that people will see their good deeds and offer up praise to God.

10 To live...To live EVERY DAY, knowing that Greater is the One who is within us than the one who is in the world (I John 4:4); to personally experience within own soul the fact that Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10).

The Church of Jesus has taken some hits over the past few years, and some of those hits are deserved. When the Church lives in ways that do not reflect the life of Jesus, we come across to people as hypocrites and phonies. When our attitudes and words don’t reflect the heart and mind of Jesus, we can’t blame folks for not respecting us.

In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus gives us what is referred to as the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love Your neighbor as yourself.” This about sums it up, doesn’t it? In John 13:35 He drives it further home when He says to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We live in a distracted and preoccupied world. How can we possibly attract people to Jesus when they don’t care about Him at all? Volumes have been written in answer to that question, but in the end we don’t need books; we need for our lives to be so saturated with the love of Jesus that it flows in everything we do. People are watching our lives just as we are watching the lives of others. What do that see when they see us? What image do we leave with them?

May God help us to live lives of love, real love, Jesus’ kind of love; Sacrificial self-giving love; Love that reflects the forgiving and restoring love of God.

Here is a good word: LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

Some reflections upon being the Church

I would like to think the following is true. What do you think?

Being the people of God is a marvelous wonder.

We live by faith and stake our lives on our faith being rooted and grounded in Truth, as that truth is realized in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

We do what we believe God calls us to do and we live on the basis of the integrity we see in God revealed in Jesus.

We take the Bible seriously and read it as divine revelation.

We take creation seriously and seek to be stewards of the world into which God has placed us.

We take people seriously and love them the way God has loved us.

We take justice seriously and seek to make a fair playing field for people of all races, creeds and colors.

We take morality seriously and seek to lead lives that reflect the goodness of God.

We take ethics seriously and seek to live honorably and nobly in our spheres of influence.

We’re not perfect but the One who is has taken hold of our hand and is leading us forward.

We may make mistakes but the One who doesn’t lives within us holding us to a strict accountability that leads us to admit it when we fail, face it down, own it, and then to do all we can to get it right.

We seek to live in response to God and not in that place of micro-managing God.

We seek not to bring God down to our brain’s ability to comprehend Him, but to allow God to expand our capacities up so as to live in His infinite and creative imagination and power.

In the end, we are just folks who have become captivated by what we see when we look into the eyes of Jesus. In response we have joined up with Him, taking one step at a time into the future. It is an awesome journey and quite a ride.

LET THE RIVER FLOW
Ezekiel 47:1-12

For a few years now I’ve been thinking about Ezekiel 47 where the prophet is shown a vision of a trickle of water flowing from the sanctuary altar underneath the doors of the temple, and out into the desert. Every five hundred yards the trickle of water becomes deeper and deeper until it is a mighty river and flows so forcefully into the northwest end of the Dead Sea that the salty waters are forced back and for the first time fishermen will fish along the shores of the sea that once was dead.

Of this scene, Ezekiel is told, “everything will live where the river goes” (vs. 9). In fact, all along the river, on both sides, “will grow all kinds of trees for food” (vs. 12). We learn that the leaves of these trees “will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from
the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing” (vs. 12).

Ezekiel also learns that where the river does not flow there will not be life. He is told of “swamps and marshes” that “will not become fresh; they will be left for salt” (vs. 11). Whatever the river touches will flourish with life. Whatever is untouched will continue in deadness and lifelessness.

So, the prayer of my heart these days is LET THE RIVER FLOW. Let its headwaters be the altar in the sanctuary of God, and let it make its way into the desert places around us where trees of God bear fruit year round, and where the leaves of those trees bring forth healing.

As I read and re-read this vision I can’t help but think of some other passages of Scripture. For instance, Psalm 46: 4,“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High.” In John 4:14 Jesus says “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." And, in Revelation 22:1-2 we read, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

The water of life, the River of God, is flowing and “everything will live where the river goes” (vs. 9). It starts at the altar but it doesn’t stay at the altar. It flows from the sanctuary into the dry and parched places where life is desperately needed.

Open the doors of the sanctuary and let the River flow from the altar of God.

In her book, He Sets the Captive Free, Corrie Ten Boom writes of a time when she was seeking to witness to a murderer who was in prison for his crime and would most likely never be released. She didn't know how even to begin to reach out to the hardened man, so she simply prayed this prayer: "Lord, help me to find a way to his heart."

Lord, help me to find a way to his heart. This might just be the best prayer in all the world when it conies to being present for Christ as a witness to the Good News. People have no responsibility to us to listen to the story we tell. People have no perceived personal interest in our story that would necessarily move them to give us their time, a time in which we could love them and live out the story of Jesus before them. Others are as busy in their lives as we are in ours so why would they stop what they are doing and give us their valuable time? Looking from their perspective, I can't think of a good reason. Therefore, Corrie Ten Boom's prayer may just be the order of the day: Lord, help me to find a way to his or her heart.

The bigger issue with which we are dealing is that of finding ways to truly be present for Christ in our world and particularly within our sphere of influence. What does it mean to be here? How shall the Church live in this place at this time? How shall we be a witness to Jesus? These are our "witness" questions.

The Word of Jesus to us is "Go...and make disciples of all the nations" (Matt. 28: 19). But what does it mean to "Go"? How do we connect with people in such away that they will listen to our story and give Jesus a hearing? How do we find the way to the hearts of people?

These are ministry questions worth pursuing.

In a recent Conversation class we talked about how the church has lost respect in the culture and how it is being more and more marginalized. We addressed a question: What are some adjustments local churches might want to consider to regain respect in the culture?

In the discussion it was asked, “Does the Church need the respect of the culture?” We concluded that it does not. The church should go about the business of being the church with or without the respect of the culture. We don’t get our affirmation from culture; we get our affirmation from God.

We’re not out particularly to tick off the culture but the culture needs to know that we are a community of God in the name of Jesus. We are shaped and formed by the One we believe is Messiah, Lord of the universe. So, in fact, we are a community within the community, a culture within the culture.

It is our business to bring the voice of God into the human experience. Whether or not His voice will be heard is an issue that the culture must take upon itself. However, the answer the culture gives will not stop the church from being the church. So, we say, the church does not need the respect of the culture.

We appreciate what the culture potentially can bring into human experience, but we do not bow to culture; we bow to God. With the first church we say, WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN (ACTS. 5:29).

Somebody once said that the heart of ministry is simply finding a need and meeting it. I have discovered through the years that usually the need that is found is found by someone who has a heart for that kind of thing. They see it when others may not. It doesn't mean they are more spiritual and that those who don't see it are insensitive. It just means that their giftedness is working like an antenna. What is in our hearts is what we tend to see. An English teacher might pick up a misspelled word in the bulletin when the rest of us wouldn't catch it. A singer would more likely pick up a missed musical note when the rest of us wouldn't even think about it. A mechanic might hear a noise that the rest of use wouldn't hear.

All of this is why a gifted ministry is so important. As each of us function the way we function, we add a dimension to the church that would otherwise go unfulfilled. Some are good in finances, others aren't. Some are good with people, others aren't. Some are good up front, others aren't. Some are comfortable to work behind the scenes; others function well in front of people. Some make great ushers, others don't. Some are great singers, others aren't.

What I am contending for is that the pastor must do what he is called and gifted to do. Each member of the church must do what they are equipped to do. Working together, under the power of the Holy Spirit, it is then that the church is best equipped and prepared to offer a redemptive ministry to a hurting world.

So, the clarion call is to FIND A NEED AND MEET IT. As the pastor seeks to keep the community attentive to God, the Spirit is then free to work in all our lives in such a way that each member of the Body can "use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" (I Peter 4:10).

The witness of the church – we talk about it, we pray about it, and we proclaim it as fundamental to who we are as a people of God. How well we do it might be a legitimate debate, but that we are a witnessing people is not in question. Yet, what does it mean, what does it entail, and how is it undertaken?

In the 1980s when Cambodians fled their homeland for safety and for freedom, and came to the USA, many of them landed in Long Beach, California. Away from their homeland, in a place where everything was strange and foreign to them, some came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. There are many stories but there is one story that touched my heart, and became, for me, a metaphor as to what it means to be a witnessing people.

It is the story of an old Cambodian man. Through the ministry of faithful followers of Christ, the man came to know Jesus. Something happened in his life that truly changed him and made him a new creature in Christ.

In worship one Sunday his pastor spoke about living for Christ and about being witnesses. The old man felt frustrated. He was old. He couldn’t speak English. He felt helpless, wanting to serve but feeling so inadequate and even out of place. He went to his pastor and explained his frustration. He asked the pastor, “What can I do for my God?” The pastor counseled him to turn that question into a daily prayer, and everyday he prayed, “What can I do for my God, today?”

One day he came up with an idea. He decided to walk up and down the streets of his neighborhood praying for the people in the homes on each street. He didn’t know them, and in many cases couldn’t speak their language. Every day he would keep praying, “What can I do for my God today?” and everyday he would walk and pray.

In time the old man started meeting people, got to know them a little bit, told them he was praying for them that God would blessed and help them; and, he invited them to come his church. Most didn’t but some did, and over the next few years of those who did come to his church, many of them found Christ and joined the church. Some of them were children. They are now adults, active in the church and some of them are pastors in local churches.

WHAT CAN I DO FOR MY GOD TODAY? Not a bad question; not a bad question at all. In fact, it is a great question to ask for disciples of Jesus and for the churches they attend.

WHAT CAN WE DO FOR OUR GOD TODAY? In this place and at this time, WHAT CAN WE DO FOR OUR GOD? Pray it and let God stretch your imagination in His answer to the prayer.

The apostle Paul boldly went on record when he said, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel" (Romans 1:16). Paul had a life-changing encounter with Jesus that shook his world, transformed his outlook, and set him on a course to live for Jesus Christ alone.

In 2 Corinthians Paul talks about what it means to be reconciled to Jesus, and about the exciting life of being a communicator of God’s reconciliation. So profoundly changed by the grace of God are we that for the rest of our lives we get to be “Ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). How about that? Who would have thought it? But there you go; we get to be a part of the story of God in the world.

Jesus saved us and now we get the privilege of telling others about this new and exciting way of life and how they can know Jesus, too. Did you know that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” and that He did this “not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19)? Now, we get to continue that story and that life.

We don’t count people’s sins against them. We love them. We are ambassadors to them. We show folks how much God loves them in their sins and how He can change their lives, so much so that they can walk away from the destructive nature of sin, and come to the abundant life of God in Christ.

The Gospel is Good News, and we are on the front line living it out. The love of Jesus controls us and we know that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). And, we’re getting the word out.

What does a man on the way to his death think about? I suppose the answer varies with each person but for Jesus He was thinking about the will of the Father. He told His disciples “for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27). Then He said to His Father, “Glorify Your name” (John 12:28). It was tearing at His heart and His soul was troubled, but He would not be deterred.

The truth is that something cataclysmic was under way. Jesus and what He calls “the ruler of this world” in John 12:31 were on a collision course. All of history was coming down to this moment. On Golgotha forces would collide and Jesus would die. In His death, however, the unthinkable, the unimaginable would take place and the ruler of this world would be cast out.

Jesus said that in His being lifted up onto a cross and expiring on that cross He would draw all men to Himself (see John 12:32). The possibilities of redemption would be once and for all forever ingrained into the very fiber of reality. Newton had it right:

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too!

I believe it is important to recognize that it is to this reality Jesus calls His disciples. He said to them, and through them to us, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also” (John 12:26). Jesus did not run away from the approaching collision but ran right into it; and so must we. "Where I am, there My servant will be also.”

I have been thinking about Matthew 4:19 where Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This call seems to set the tone for the call of Jesus on the lives of all the disciples.

My thinking here is that our mission as followers of Jesus, as His Church, is to follow Jesus and to participate with Him as He calls people into the kingdom of heaven. I say this because just prior to the calling of Simon and Andrew we read, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” (Matt 4:17).

As His witnesses it seems to me that a great part of the process of witnessing is to be with people in such away as to reveal to them how pertinent, applicable, germane, significant, and important Jesus is their lives.

John Wesley caught this in his words, “The Church has nothing to do but save souls.” Furthermore, Wesley understood the nature of the mission when he expressed, “The church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples (see Matt. 28:19-20).

What we proclaim is, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We proclaim this because Jesus said, “He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

So it is that the Church of 2010 prays and loves and serves, and worships, and evangelizes, and teaches, and baptizes, and makes disciples. We are on a mission because the kingdom of God is at hand, and Jesus is calling people into that kingdom.

I have been thinking about how, in a way, the church ought to be referred to as The Dawning Church. This is based on the words of Matthew 4:16 where Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:2 and then adds personal words to it. He writes,

“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a Light has Dawned.”

The Dawning Church. It has a sweet ring to it. The light dawns in the land of the shadow of death.

The New Testament calls us to see the church as a living incarnational and missional presence in pursuit of the kingdom of God in a broken and ever changing world.