A REFLECTION ON THE QUESTION, “IS THERE ONLY ONE WAY TO GOD?”

We’ve all heard this question and maybe even asked it ourselves.  I think it is a fair question, begging for a discussion.  Last weekend pastor Dave took on this question and I, for one, am glad he did.  As I sat under the teaching I was confronted with my own prejudices and predispositions, and to the fact that I don’t have a corner on truth, God or life after death.

With all my heart I believe Jesus is the messiah of God.  There aren’t too many issues I am prepared to die for but this is one of those issues.  Eliza Hewitt articulated my testimony years ago and I turn to it often.  She wrote,

My faith has found a resting place

Not in device or creed;

I trust the ever-living One—

His wounds for me shall plead…

I need no other argment,

I need no other plea;

It is enough that Jesus died,

And that He died for me.

Rooted in this Faith is the fact that God is holy.  Reginal Heber said it so well in the words,

Holy, holy, holy!  Lord God Almighty…

Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty,

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy…only thou art holy;

there is none beside thee,

perfect in power, in love and purity.

There are some things the Bible tells us about God.  For instance, we know only God is holy.  Only God is perfect in power, in love and purity.  Only God knows what is in the human heart. Only God is qualified to judge how people come to Him.

I have some friends in the faith who seem always to be asking who’s in and who’s out when it comes to eternal life and heaven.  Not only do they ask the questions, they know the answer. They know the answer so succinctly that if certain things are not addressed in certain ways, then by this they know a person is out.  I don’t think they would agree with me but in there thinking God has been narrowed down to a certain way of being in the world, and people need to know the secret key to coming to God in the world. 

I think God is bigger than our belief about Him.  I believe Jesus is a Savior for the whole world and that He is not limited in how he chooses to draw near people.  His grace is so lavished on the world that we would be stunned at how big the heart of God is should we be able to measure it.  It is not ours to judge who’s in or who’s out; that’s God’s business.  Our business is to live a redeemed life in the world that stands as a fragrant aroma of God -- salt, light, truth, justice, love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  I will unashamedly proclaim Jesus until the day I die, but I will not limit God in any way, shape, or form.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish, and He is constantly present in the world seeking and searching for prodigals of a thousand kinds.

The father in Jesus’ story of the prodigal son is outrageous in his forgiveness of his wayward son.  The son comes back home not to be a son anymore but to be a hired-hand on the family farm. He didn’t understand the depth of love the father had for him. Upon arrival he encounters a father who would have nothing to do with hiring a new employee.  He didn’t need another hired hand; He wanted his son back in the fold.  The father literally trips all over himself as he leaps off the front porch, lifts up the skirts of his garment so he can run better, and races out to meet the son who has come home.

Is God like that?  Could he be more willing to save us than we are to be saved?  Is God so gracious that we don’t even have to “get it right” before he will leap off the front porch and run to us with arms open wide and a heart filled with forgiveness?  Has God really established a series of T’s to cross and I’s to dot before we can get in?  Is God that narrow?  Does the cross reveal a narrow God or a God who will forgive even a thief at the moment of his death, a thief who never had a chance to get it right, but had just a crucial moment to cry, “Help”?

I surely hope and pray that God does not write people off too easily.  He didn’t write me off and, Lord knows, He could have.  Charles Wesley wrote that God “emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”  That doesn’t sound like a narrow God to me.  That sounds like a God who will fight against all the forces of hell itself to find that son and daughter of Adam’s helpless race.

If it is true that human beings look on outward things but that God looks on the heart, maybe we ought not to be too quick to fulfill God’s part. Maybe we should trust God to be “holy…merciful…mighty…perfect in power, in love and purity.”  One of the things we know about Jesus is that each step along the way He got it right. He can be trusted.  We don’t have to fret over who’s in and who’s out.  Jesus’ words are never, “Get in or get out.”  His words are always, “Get in…Get in.” 

We may or may not get our speech down perfectly but we know that God will come running to us in mercy, love, acceptance, and forgiveness, even if we didn’t get it right.  Isn’t it a wonderful thing to know that we don’t have to judge people?  That’s God’s assignment.  Our assignment is to abide in Jesus, to be His witnesses in the world, and to live as His ambassadors.  He is our story.  He loves everybody in our world and whosoever will may come to Him.  He sees perfectly and we can rest in that awareness.  We don’t judge.  We pray and live and witness and share and invite, and then we let it all go to the God who “emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”  

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WORD OF GOD

Pastor Dave shared a powerful message with us this past weekend dealing with a question that always seems to be present.  It has to do with whether or not the Bible is God’s inspired Word.  Is it reliable?  Is it factual?  Can it be trusted?  Was it compiled simply for the convenience of the church as some carefully orchestrated propaganda?  What do we do with the Book that a dramatic and ongoing movement in history says is the Word of God?

           

How one responds to the Bible seems to be a matter of either faith or skepticism.  Doesn’t seem to be much middle ground about this book.  People either love it or hate it.  More specifically, people seem either to live by it or to ignore it. 

One ancient spokesman chose to believe the Word of God, and to live by it.  He spoke so clearly about it that his words have become foundational words to people who believe in God and, also, that God is working in the world.  He said to God, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  (Psalm 119:105). 

Pastor Dave got us to thinking about what lamps and lights we have tried in our lives.  What is my LAMP?  What is my LIGHT?  Something is lighting the way for us in our world.  From what source do we get our wisdom?  What lamp have we chosen to light the path in front of us?  What light do we allow to shine in front of us that becomes a light to illuminate the path on which our feet walk? 

How might you complete the following sentence?  “__________ is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.”  In other words, “__________ is the foundation upon which I am building my life.”  None of us can see even sixty seconds into the future.  Based on this sobering reality what will we allow to be the lamp and light we trust in our journey through life?

In Jesus’ story of the prodigal son we see the journey of a young man who felt that the lamp and light, which lit his way, were insufficient for him.  He asked his father for what belonged to him, and off he went to seek a lamp and light that would better fulfill his needs and wants.  When the money ran out the new lamp and light faded, and the young man finds himself in desperate straits.  He enters into a deeply troubled time.  After struggling and suffering for a time Jesus said the young man “came to his senses” (Luke 15:17).  He came to see, through the school of hard knocks, that not all truth is equal, not all truth is all it announces itself to be.

The young man returns home in hopes that he might find an answer to his dilemma.  Upon arrival he discovers something he didn’t expect.  He sees his father so excited to see him that he throws a banquet for him.  This father is so thrilled that his son is home he celebrates and rejoices.  The young man discovers that his father loves him so much he is invited back into the family fold.  He is a son, after all, a son who is loved, accepted, and forgiven.

In his prodigal life the son chose poorly.  He walked away from the blessings, safety, and energy of home and sought another path.  He followed other lamps and lights, and they led his path to a pigpen and a sense of utter separation and disconnection. When he “came to his senses” the young man saw a truth that is eternal and not temporal and relative.  He saw love in action.  As listeners to Jesus’ story we see a love affair between God and His people. 

We’re back to the question of what we will allow to be the lamp and light that shine on our path.  Like the prodigal we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We’ve all followed our own way, pursued our own quest, and lived separated from the Father.  Now we have a choice, a choice to live in tune with the Father or in discord with the Father.  As Pastor Dave suggested we can be king of our own dysfunction if we want to.  There are pigpens all around us that would love for us to dwell in them.  Or, we can come home to the Father who loves us with an everlasting love (See Jeremiah 31:3). 

Jesus is calling us home to the Father.  His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path that doesn’t lead us to pigpens but to love, safety, life, energy, wholeness, renewal, transformation – HOME.

Once upon a time there was this father who lived in outrageous love, and His Word was so truthful and powerful and transformative that it offered itself as a true foundation upon which people could build their lives. 

Did you ever read something and think, “Man, I wish I had said that”?  Years ago I ran across a paragraph that had me saying to myself, “Man, I wish I had said that.”  On top of that we don’t know who said it; so I don’t know whom to credit. This being said here is that paragraph about the Bible.  As you read it please remember the words of the psalmist, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

"This Book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ; yes, to glory itself, for eternity.

Forward Still,

Rick

THOUGHTS ON GOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Pastor Dave’s message of this past weekend was about the unconditional love God has for us.  I’ve believed in the unconditional love of God my entire Christian life.  I’ve heard it preached my whole life, and have even preached on it myself.  Still, as I set there this weekend and soaked in the Word I found myself overwhelmed again “that God should love a sinner such as I.”  In and of myself, I don’t get it.  It doesn’t make sense.  It doesn’t compute.  The One who knows me best chose not to write me off but to embrace me in His love.  Who would have thought it?  

This weekend we reflected on Jesus’ story about a son and how his journey took him far from home, left him wasted and worn, and then after much pain and suffering turned him homeward only to find that his father was waiting for him, longing for his return, hoping against hope that his son would find his way home, thrilled that his son who had been lost was now found.

In the story the father represents God, and we see that God is the God who doesn’t write us off but who opens wide His arms to receive us to Himself.  I feel like that prodigal.  I’ve made poor decisions and acted in unbecoming ways.  Sin found its way into my heart and took control.  Yet, by a grace I don’t understand and a love that blows me away, God has never walked out on me.  He has never acted in an unbecoming way to me.  He has never dropkicked me out into the darkness, leaving me to wander aimlessly.  When I have wandered, and I have, it wasn’t God’s doing.  It was mine.  When I came to my senses, like the prodigal in Jesus’ story, and realized that it was my choices that led me to wander, I discovered the up-side-down ways of God.  He loved me.  He cared about me.  He wasn’t against me.  He was for me.  The poet got it right when he said of God, 

And now He takes me to His heart a son. 


He asks me not to fill a servant’s place. 


The “Far-off country” wand’rings all are done. 


Wide open are His arms of grace.

Did you know the prodigal had a brother who had his own issues?  He didn’t like it much that the father went easy on the run-away brother.  He didn’t like it at all, and made his feelings known.  His argument went something like this, “I’ve been here all the time.  I didn’t reject you and waste money on endless parties.  I stayed home and worked my heart out.  Why are you treating my brother with such extravagant love?” 

The father gently reminded his second son that all he had was there for him to use and enjoy. He said to him, “You have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31). The actions of the first son and the attitude of the second son were their issues.  The father loved them both through and through, and in his heart there was always a place for them.  His home was their home.  He wasn’t the problem; he was their hope, their place of safety, their father.

In this world we do seem to reap what we sow but we are never outside the love of God.  “For God so loved the world,” is our proclamation (John 3:16). God’s Word to all creation is, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). When Paul was speaking to the early church he said, “[T]he love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).

George Matheson’s song, written in 1882, reflects upon the incredible love of God for us.  In fact, it is a response to God’s great love.  When we come to believe God really does love us, how should we respond?  Matheson said this,

O Love that wilt not let me go, 


I rest my weary soul in thee; 


I give thee back the life I owe, 


That in thine ocean depths its flow


May richer, fuller be.

If you are the child that ran away or the child that stayed home, know this -- God loves you.  In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer says

It is a strange and beautiful eccentricity of the free God

that He has allowed His heart to be emotionally identified with men…

Free as He is, He has let His heart be bound to us forever.

Do you know what this means.  It means God loves you, and you can’t get out of it.

Forward Still,

Rick

To Worship Is To Serve

October 2, 2013

Pastor Dave wrapped up our series on worship on September 29 by sharing with us about our place in the body of Christ and of how we need each other.  He referred us to First Corinthians 12 and Paul’s teaching about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Here are a few of those verses.

4-7 

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work… 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

12-14

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many…

27-31

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Disciples of Jesus are a part of something God-created.  This something is not a thing at all but a “body.”  We are “the body of Christ.”  Each of us has a part to play, an essential part.  Paul tells us there are different gifts and different kinds of service and different kinds of working, “but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” 

Is Christ your Savior and Lord?  If so, then He has given you a way to participate in the His body, the church, on earth.  His Word calls this way, “gifts.”  Everyone of us is needed to make the church all it should and can be.  We each have a different role, a different part to play, but regardless of where we are placed we can be confident that, in Christ, our lives are filled with the Spirit of God and that His Spirit is gifting us into all that we can be.

When each of us shows up being who we are and doing what we do in the power of the Holy Spirit God, the possibilities of God fill His body, the church, and we come to that place where we understand that “God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).  In that place the visions and dreams of God promised in Acts chapter two find fertile soil, and the church lives in the power and possibilities of God. 

It is very important that we all understand that we don’t have the same role in the church but that the role we play is essential and that our part in the body is the plan of God to change His world in Jesus’ name.  This means that the church doesn’t do its work in its own power or ingenuity or creativity.  Rather, the church does its work in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We take what has been given us by the Spirit and turn it loose in the church.  We do what our gifts enable us to do.  We don’t focus on the whole so much but, rather, our part in the whole.  Like a football team, each of us has a position on the team and our role is to fill that position in the power of the Spirit. When each part is running on all cylinders the team moves with a precision that is very impressive.  When some one is out of sync, however, it is a different picture; and not pretty.

The moral to all of this?  Let the Holy Spirit fill our lives, give us whatever gift or gifts He chooses to give us, take those gifts and use them for God in the work of His body, the church.  Truth is, we are in this thing together and, as my old college professor, Rev. Reuben Welch, used to say, “We really do need each other.”  Standing alone, we are not going to be fruitful for Christ but standing together, doing what God has gifted us to do, we become a force for God in our world.

Isn’t that what we really want to be, a force for God in the world?  Don’t you want to live for something greater than yourself?  Let God show you what you can do for Him, and then make the effort.  Who knows what God might do as we join together, let Him use us as He will, and trust His presence in us.  What ever the result might be you can count on one thing and that is that it will be the ride of your life.

Forward still,

Rick