The Need for Discipline

When I was a teenager, I spent a good deal of time and energy playing chess.  I developed a love for the game in childhood, but I never played “competitively” until middle school.  I remember that my first experience with a chess tournament resulted in a record of one win and four losses – not the most auspicious of beginnings to a chess career.

For some reason, I chose to devote myself to this game rather than to band, choir, 4-H, or other activities like those chosen by most of my friends at school.  Through a process of weekly practice sessions, tournaments through the school year, and individual study on my own, I developed into a pretty decent chess player.  I never won 1st place in an official tournament as an individual, but I often placed in the top ten and helped our team to do well from time to time.  The “crowning achievement” of my chess career was helping my school win the Indiana state team chess championship in my junior year of high school – a story so full of drama and tension that it would make for a good movie.  (At least, I would watch it!)

The need for discipline is a fact of life.  Discipline is required for any task at which we want to excel, whether it be a game like chess, a career or trade, a relationship with a spouse, or even a relationship with Christ.  It seems that we are quick to agree to training for a job or something “enjoyable,” while we are frequently hesitant to train for excellence in our relationships.  Why is this so?

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV), Paul encourages us to “run in such a way as to get the prize.”  Of course, he is not writing about a literal footrace but rather about our walk of public discipleship.  Sharing Christ with those around us is so important that we should summon up all our energy for the task.  But any runner (distance or sprint) will tell you that you can’t just run and win the race.  You must train and train and train in order to be able to compete.  In fact, you will spend more time in preparation than you will actually racing.

Paul continues, “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Following Christ with our lives is hard work!  We must be dedicated to disciplines that will help us run the race:  prayer, Bible study, regular worship, fellowship with the saints, confession of sins to God, and so forth.  Are you engaged in these types of spiritual disciplines?  A better question:  are you excited about engaging in them?  I believe we could all stand to be more like aspiring high school chess players in our spiritual lives.

Three Tasks and Some Applications

This past Sunday, the sermon focused on the theme of “working in God’s vineyard,” based on the parable in Matthew 21:23-32 about how two sons of a landowner responded to his request that they work in his vineyard.  I thought it might be helpful to summarize a few of the points from this message so you can have them in “hard copy” form.

What does “working in God’s vineyard” look like?  What tasks are involved?  To what do we need to attend?  I see three general tasks that we as the people of God face:

  1. Personal spiritual growth.  Each of us is responsible for our own growth and development in Christ.  We must choose to follow him, to repent of our sins, to be baptized, to give up sinful patterns of behavior, and to invest ourselves in the life-long process of becoming more like Christ.  Since this process is life-long, we must always work towards intentionality about spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, regular church attendance, and so forth.
  2. Corporate spiritual growth.  Each of us is responsible for the growth and development of our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those in our own local congregation.  We do not live as “islands” of Christian faith; instead, we share life with each other, we support each other, we challenge each other, and we walk alongside each other through good times and difficult times.  The New Testament reveals that we in the church belong to each other and cannot live apart from each other.  Therefore, strengthening our corporate spiritual life is a high priority.
  3. Spreading the message of Christ.  Each of us is responsible to tend to the soil which has not yet produced a growing plant.  By this, I mean we are charged with the task of building relationships with people outside the Christian faith in order to share Christ with them, that they too might come to know the fullness of life which can be found in him.  We might till the soil, plant a seed, spread some fertilizer, water the ground – any of these agricultural activities can describe our work in sharing Christ’s love with those around us.

These three tasks are a beginning point to understanding what working in God’s vineyard looks like.  Certainly more tasks could be added to this list, such as working in society toward the goals of justice and fairness, striving to engender peace in our homes and cities and nations, and so on.  But I believe these three are a good starting point for us.

How, then, do we get to work on these tasks?  I see four applications at the present time for our congregation:

  1. Dealing with grief and hardship.  Many folks in our congregation are struggling right now; we have had more than our fair share of losses and crises in the past month.  Certainly the second task (corporate spiritual growth) is a high priority these days while we rally around those who are in distress.  However, there’s another level of application:  even though we grieve, mourn, and endure hardship, we are still called to work in God’s vineyard – we aren’t off the hook!  It might even be the case that our work will be more fruitful because of our reliance on the Lord in times of crisis.
  2. Sunday school curriculum.  We are experimenting with a standardized curriculum for our Sunday school classes this quarter.  I have heard mixed reviews at this early stage in our experiment; some people like the structure and content, but other people do not.  Remember that this is just an experiment, and the curriculum is only a tool to help us in our task of working in God’s vineyard.  Whether you like the curriculum or not, the tasks of personal and corporate spiritual growth are still on the table.  Let’s make the best of it!
  3. Youth group opportunities.  Pastor Jerry will soon be asking you (if he hasn’t already) to participate in our youth group ministry in more intentional ways.  For instance, he hopes to have adults in our church volunteer to bring in snacks for the youth group’s Sunday evening meetings.  He and Connie have several other ideas, as well – but I’ll let them reveal those to you!  Let’s become actively involved in ministering to our young people.  They really are an exciting bunch!
  4. Local Ministry of the Quarter.  I want this congregation to become more actively involved in partnering with local Christian ministries, of which there are many in our community.  Every three months, we will focus our energies on an individual ministry, which we will support with our finances, our resources, and/or our time and energy.  For instance, in the final three months of this year, we will support the Pregnancy Resource Center with a “baby bottle drive” – more info will come soon!

Let’s continue the process of learning how to work in God’s vineyard.  I’m looking forward to continuing this journey with you!

–Pastor David

Strategic Planning Conference

As many of you know, I traveled to Nashville, TN last week for the Church of God’s “Strategic Planning Conference” (SPC), which is held every five years to help our movement relocate its identity, its vision, and its direction for the coming years.  I was honored to be invited to attend this series of meetings, and I’d like to report to you some of what took place in those days.

The conference was attended by pastors, administrators, missionaries, and educators (among others) from all around North America – and we even had a few from other continents as well.  About 140 people were in attendance, and as preparation for this event we were all asked to read Signals at the Crossroads, a new book by the late Dr. Gil Stafford which combines his two previous Crossroads books with new material he was writing in his final days.  This book raises many issues that the Church of God movement is facing, and it’s worth your time.  If you’d like to read it, you are welcome to borrow my copy!

We had several excellent speakers at the SPC who highlighted several concerns for our movement:  how we cast a vision for the movement as a whole, how we resolve conflicts inside and among churches, how we keep pastors from being isolated from each other, how we encourage women in ministry, how we balance religious enthusiasm with theological reflection, how we sustain our rich heritage while we engage our present culture.  We spent time in prayer and in worship as we brainstormed around these ideas.

For several years, the Church of God movement has lacked a strong, central, driving vision:  our reason for existence is not as strong as it has been in the past.  Granted, throughout our history, we have experimented with a number of different ideas for our purpose, mission, and vision.  Over the course of time, though, these ideas have faded, and where we are – in terms of a guiding purpose for the movement as a whole – is a little uncertain.

So, much of our time together, as a combined group and in our smaller break-out groups, was dedicated to recapturing a vision for the movement as a whole.  Through most of the conference – at least the two-thirds of the conference which I was able to attend – we saw evangelism move into the forefront of our collective vision for the Church of God.

On the positive side, it is surely part of our mission as people of God to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to individuals that are outside the kingdom of God.  After all, this was summarized by the Great Commission which Jesus gave his disciples at the end of Matthew.  We do well to emphasize this component of our Christian faith and mission.  However, I fear that we may become single-minded (for instance, ignoring the lifelong task of discipleship) if we focus too much on evangelism.  Also, we must remain faithful to our theological heritage while we press forward with evangelism.

One of my major concerns is with a recent trend in the Church of God to set numeric goals for our corporate success.  You may remember our Focus40 event this past spring; another is being planned for next year, and this time there is a stated goal of 25,000 new believers worldwide through the implementation of Focus40, and this was repeated at the SPC this past week.  Also, at the conference, one of the small break-out groups suggested that the Church of God set a goal of having 10,000 congregations on its roster by the year 2020.  This latter goal is simply mathematically impossible:  we would have to plant two or three churches every day for the next nine years to meet that goal.

The Church of God movement – and Mt. Haley Church of God in particular – must resist the urge to set numeric goals for their success.  If we as a congregation see fifty souls saved by Christ in the next year, we will have great reason to celebrate!  But if we set that goal ahead of time, then we are (at best) risking manipulation of God or (at worst) setting ourselves up to fail.  As one of our SPC speakers said, we need to balance religious enthusiasm with theological reflection.

Who are we?  What are we all about?  These are questions that we as a congregation are beginning to tackle once again; I hope it is beneficial for you to know that the Church of God movement is in a similar position.  May we all rely only on the Lord for the casting of our vision as we strive to carry out his will, until Christ returns and takes us home.

–Pastor David

Remembering September 11, 2001

In just a few days, our nation will pause to observe the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that affected all of us and changed our lives dramatically, some more than others.  If you’ve been watching the news on TV at all, you’ve surely seen a good bit of coverage on this event.  It seems that we all are corporately engaging in a bit of public remembrance, perhaps to soothe the wounds that still ache in our nation.  Ten years is a long time, and much ground has been covered in the past decade.  But moments like these seem as if they took place just yesterday.

I was a senior in college in the fall of 2001.  I remember that we held a special chapel service in the afternoon of September 11 for the purposes of prayer, worship, and catharsis.  The dean of the chapel was our worship leader, and I remember vividly how he led us from the piano in singing the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”  He explained how we should rely on the Lord, who never changes or abandons us, when we experience tumultuous events.  One of the faculty members stood up from his seat among the students and called out for a song of lament instead of the dean’s selection.  A brief conversation between the two men ensued, but the dean’s choice eventually carried the day, and we sang of our faith in God.  (Laments – expressions of grief – surely followed in the rest of the service.)

In every circumstance, we face the same two choices:  either to reiterate our faith in God or to give voice to our emotions and desires.  Both are valuable, and each is appropriate in its own time.  However, I see one major difference between these two acts:  our emotions and desires fade over time, but our faith in God must remain consistent.

Ten years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, we do not experience the same emotions as we did on that day.  Some of us are young enough to not even remember that day.  But as I reflect on our cultural remembrances, I think those of us in the church – and remember, the church is not the same as our culture – those of us in the church would do well to reiterate our faith in God, who will remain God in good times and in bad.  No matter what happens, he will care for us.  Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  And perhaps – just perhaps – at times like these, when people’s hearts are turned toward emotionally challenging memories, our message of salvation, wholeness, and hope in Christ might be able to take root in the lives of those around us.

Life is not about sorrow, anger, retribution, justice, prevention, or any of these things.  Life is about a living relationship with the creator of the universe, the one who died and conquered death that we might know him, be set free from sin, and live eternally with him.  On Christ the solid rock we stand; all other ground is sinking sand!

–Pastor David

Using the Body’s Gifts

Many of us were missing this past Sunday for various reasons, and those of us who were in the Lord’s house felt the difference.  Unfortunately, our recording device didn’t record the sermon this week, so we don’t have the usual sermon audio backup for those who were away.  Let me say, briefly, that while our sermon audio postings are helpful for visitors, distant friends, and church workers who are out of the sanctuary, there is no substitute for regular, consistent meetings with the people of God.  Simply put, we belong together, and we suffer when we are apart from each other.

This ties in directly to the sermon text from this past Sunday, Romans 12:1-8.  Take a few minutes to find and read that passage in your Bible.  We belong together, Paul says!  As part of the same body, the body of Christ, we have different functions, roles, and gifts.  And each of us belongs to all the others.  This is a type of lifestyle that differs greatly from the natural order of things, the way the world works:  normally, people (especially American people) consider themselves to be independent creatures, able to act as they please without regard for others.  In the body of Christ, though, we exist differently:  we are to live for the sake of the whole and for the sake of Christ.  Life in the church truly is an alternative community.

With this in mind, the issue of “spiritual gifts” becomes more clear.  We are given gifts by the Spirit of God not for our own sake but for the sake of the church community to which we belong.  On Sunday, we studied Romans 12 to see what Paul identified as gifts for everyone in the community, not just for its leaders:

  • Prophesying:  preaching, speaking words from God to edify the church
  • Serving: ministering, taking care of the details of the church’s life
  • Teaching: conveying the truths of the gospel for those who are learning
  • Encouraging: urging fellow believers to live the life of faith
  • Giving: contributing and distributing material goods for the church and for others
  • Leading: charting the course for the church
  • Showing mercy: visiting the sick, elderly, imprisoned, etc. (among other tasks)

These seven gifts were not intended to be comprehensive; neither were the lists of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.  Instead, they are illustrations and examples; in whatever ways God has given you abilities and interests, use those gifts for the sake of the church.  And this applies to everyone, not just to the leaders of the church.  (Take another look at the list above; don’t those things sound like the job descriptions of the pastor and the church council?)  Paul is speaking to everyone in the Christian community in Rome (and to us!) when he writes these words.

We belong to each other.  We need each other!  God has blessed each of us uniquely to play important roles in the life of the church.  Let’s discover our gifts and use them for the glory of God and for the growth of the church to which we belong!

(For those of you reading this online, there are many free spiritual gifts inventories on the web.  Take a few minutes and explore this site or this site, and see what you can discover!)

–Pastor David

Blackberry Season

As I mentioned last week, we are in the midst of blackberry season here at the parsonage.  Every couple of days, I head out to the edge of the woods and pick another quart or so of berries.  (We’re always up for sharing, these, by the way – if you’d like some, just let us know!)  This summer, I’ve taken the opportunity to watch these plants and the growth and development of their fruit.  I’ve learned a lot, and you probably won’t be surprised to hear that I see some connections between this blackberry business and our walk as disciples of Christ.

When picking berries, you have to watch out for thorns.  These plants have a natural defense system that can be a bit painful for the careless berry picker.  The thorns often dig into my jeans and my shirt, and I’m glad to take the time to pull them away from my clothing because I realize I don’t have to pull them out of my skin.  Patience, persistence, and careful attention to the task at hand are some of the benefits of practicing this discipline.  How often do we as followers of Christ need to learn these things?  While we work to harvest good crops (that means other people) for the Lord, we may be stuck by thorns, but the harvest still awaits!

I’ve been surprised by some plants that have been broken or damaged in the past.  Even though a plant is weakened and literally bends at a 90 degree angle, it can still produce good fruit.  Sometimes the fruit is of lower quality than the completely healthy plants, but sometimes the fruit is perfect.  Who among us is without breaks or cracks in our personal histories?  If God can cause a broken blackberry plant to produce good fruit (even though the break is obvious to everyone), then he surely can help a broken person to walk in faith and produce good fruit as well.

Finally, our blackberry plants have to compete with a few other plants for space, nutrients, and sunlight.  One vine in particular is very good at wrapping itself around other plants and growing very quickly.  I’ve had to pull out some of these vines in order to get to the good plants.  Several weeks ago, I commented in our Sunday morning service that I couldn’t tell weed from good plant – but now I certainly can!  Once the fruit appears, it’s very easy to know which plant is which.  That reminds me of some words of Jesus:

“Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:15-20 NIV)

Friends, bear good fruit for the Lord.  Watch out for worldly influences that do not reflect Christ’s character.  Allow the Lord to form, shape, prune, and cultivate you so that his harvest will be great.

–Pastor David

Cleaning up the mess…again

One of the joys of dog ownership is cleaning up after the dogs when they’re sick.  Wait, did I say “joys”?  I meant “trials.”  This time the culprit is our girl, Lindy – I think she may have picked up a bit of a bug, or perhaps she ate too many blackberries from our back yard.  In any case, the past week or so has been less than pleasant for all of us.  But as I cleaned up after her for the third or fourth time, I thought to myself, “There’s a sermon in this.”

No matter how many times Lindy makes a mess in her crate or in our mud room, Tara and I will clean it up.  We’re certainly not happy that she does it, and after a while we’ve come to realize that she doesn’t do it on purpose.  That helps to reduce our anger toward her; in fact, when I was cleaning up after Lindy this week, I found myself feeling sorry for her that she felt so sick.

Theologically speaking, the correlation between my relationship with Lindy and God’s relationship with any of his people is pretty weak.  In fact, the analogy breaks down at a fundamental level.  We often do make messes of our lives:  not simply through mistakes, but through something quite displeasing to the Lord – sin.  I imagine that our propensity to sin again and again smells pretty rotten in God’s nose.

But sin isn’t quite like Lindy’s sickness.  While my dog might get sick because of something she ate, we sin against God willfully, deliberately, on purpose.  And to our shame we find ourselves continuing to sin even after we initially accept God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.  (Remember my understanding of holiness:  we do not become “perfect” in the sense of never sinning again; our perfection lies in wholeheartedly loving God and other people.  Sin is still a possibility for those who have been saved.)

How amazing God’s love and forgiveness are, given this recurrence of sin in our lives!  I willingly clean up after my dog when she has an accident; God willingly forgives our sins even when we offend him intentionally.  I love my dog and remember that she does not mean to make my life difficult; God loves us even though we make his life difficult.  God cleans up our messes time and time again – thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Friends, remember that the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in love (Jonah 4:2).  Remember that the Lord calls us to live holy lives and that he desires for us to live free from the power of sin.  And remember God’s words of comfort and challenge found in Romans 6, which is your reading assignment for this week.

–Pastor David

A Testimony of Thankfulness

“We thank You, O God!  We give thanks because You are near.  People everywhere tell of Your wonderful deeds.” (Psalm 75:1 NLT)

Word travels quickly in a small church, and if you’re reading this on paper, then this is probably old news to you:  this week, I was involved in a car crash.  On the way to the Detroit airport, my sister-in-law and I got off the highway for a pit stop, and we were rear-ended by another driver while I was changing lanes.  Both Leah and I were unharmed except for some soreness the next morning, and to the best of my knowledge, the other driver was not seriously hurt.  Leah’s car, which I was driving, is pretty well banged up, though.

Automobile accidents like these are such random occurrences.  Any number of choices, actions, or other incidents could have changed the outcome of this event.  If only we had left home a minute or two earlier or later; if only I had set the cruise control a hair lower when we first got on the highway; if only we had to stop for gas before we left home…

I am reminded of the terrible collision that occurred in 2006, while I was a math teacher at Taylor University in Indiana.  You may have heard of it:  a semi-truck crossed the median and hit a van full of Taylor students and staff going the opposite direction.  Four students and a staff member were killed; the driver, the front passenger, and one other student survived.  Here, the “if only”s involve microseconds:  a split second one direction, and no collision happens; a split second the other direction, and the driver, the front passenger, and the other surviving student may not have been so fortunate.

Does God design these events to happen?  Does God control the variables?  Does God determine who survives car crashes and who doesn’t?

In times like these, it’s helpful for me to count our blessings, with the full awareness that many other people have not been so fortunate.  I am thankful that we were hit squarely in the back of the car and not on either the driver’s or passenger’s sides.  I am thankful that there was no oncoming traffic, so we were able to careen to the other side of the street without causing more destruction.  I am thankful that Leah was able to make her flight on time, thanks to the police officer calling a cab for us.  I am thankful that we all have another day to breathe, to enjoy God’s creation, to tell of his mercies, to rest in him.

Personally, I don’t believe God predestines the outcomes of car crashes and other random human events.  I think he may very well be surprised when these events occur, just as we are.  But I do believe wholeheartedly that God walks with us through times of trial, that God grants peace to his people no matter the circumstance, and that no matter what happens to us, he will care for us.  Thanks be to God!

–Pastor David

Finding Answers

Lately, I’ve been asking a lot of questions.  Our current sermon series asks a number of questions that have proven to be obstacles to faith for many people.  The past couple of website articles (like this one) have posed questions, as well – sometimes introspective, sometimes relating to our world.  And I’ve even invited folks at church to ask questions of God and to let me know what those questions are.  Thanks to those of you who have taken up that challenge – it’s been quite illuminating for me to hear from you!

With all of these questions, you might start to wonder if and when we’ll find any answers.  So today I’d like to take a few moments to describe where I find answers to big questions of faith, and perhaps this can be useful for you, too.

Scripture.  As disciples of Christ, our first and most important source of answers is the God-inspired book which introduces us to Christ.  Whenever any issue arises, whether it involves relationships at home, management of time and resources, the meaning of life, or anything else, our first course of action is to look to the Bible to glean from its harvest of wisdom.  This does not mean, however, that we simply find one or two verses to support the position we already feel is true.  On the contrary, we read scripture holistically, from cover to cover, so that we can discover God’s real intention for our lives and his real answers to our questions.

Tradition.  In the two thousand years since the New Testament was written – and more since the Old Testament was written – many, many people of faith have lived, died, and struggled with real-life issues in between.  We do ourselves a great disservice when we imagine that we’re the first people to struggle with specific questions of faith.  Are we struggling to make ends meet and afraid that our resources will soon run out?  Let’s see what St. Francis of Assisi believed about material possessions.  Are we concerned about the existence of evil in the world?  Let’s read recent authors such as C.S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and let’s read ancient writers like St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.  We have much to learn from how those who came before us handled the issues we face today.

Reason.  The answers to our deepest questions must, in the end, make sense to us.  One complaint I’ve heard from people outside the faith is that in order to be a good Christian, you have to “check your brain at the door.”  To some extent, I see what they mean:  it’s awfully difficult to believe in a God who is one and yet three, to believe that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, to believe that one man’s public execution 2,000 years ago has any bearing whatsoever on our eternal destiny.  Yet these and all other issues of faith must be filtered through the brains God gave us.  Our questions must find answers that involve our abilities to reason and make sense of the world around us.

Experience.  As we search for answers to our deepest questions, we do so as people who have already experienced God’s grace in our lives on many occasions.  Are you wondering if God really loves you right now?  Think back, if you can, to a moment when you were sure that he did love you.  Are you struggling through a difficult situation and unsure how it will be resolved?  Think back, if you can, to another difficult period in your life, and remember how God helped to bring you through it.  Our experiences can be rich resources for realizing how involved in our lives the Lord truly is.  Our experiences can confirm the truths and answers we find in scripture.

May the Lord continue to bless us as we continue to wrestle with questions of faith.  Rest assured that there are answers, that God determines those answers, and that he has given us plenty of tools to discover those answers – even though they may take a lifetime to find.

–Pastor David

Murder in Midland?

As you may have heard in the local news, a man was murdered outside the Burger King near the Midland Mall this week.  Is this an anomaly, or is this to be expected in today’s world?  Are we comfortable thinking this kind of thing happens in Saginaw but not in Midland?  Should we avoid that restaurant for the time being for our own safety, or should we continue going about our everyday lives?

It surely is tragic when one person takes another person’s life.  The ramifications of such an action are very broad, affecting more than just the two people involved.  In this case, there are two school-aged children who will grow up with their mother in prison.  The Burger King employees who were present at the time will remember this event forever.  Lives are changed tremendously when one person kills another.

What should our response be as Christians who live in this community?  I believe situations like this are opportunities for us to serve as community leaders who bring order, meaning, comfort, and peace to those affected by tragedy.  As ambassadors for Christ, we can share the blessings of a relationship with the Lord with those who are hurting.  In the next few weeks, if you find yourself near the Midland Mall around lunchtime or dinnertime, I encourage you to eat at the Burger King and say something encouraging or compassionate to the people who are working there.  If you hear someone talking about this story in the grocery store, strike up a conversation and be an agent of peace and reconciliation.

Remember that most murders involve people who know each other; random acts of violence are much less common.  We do not need to fear other people in our town because a murder has taken place in a public location.  On the contrary, this event is more reason for us to be involved in community, to bring the message of forgiveness and salvation and healing through Christ to a world that is desperately in need.

Friends, remember that we belong to the Lord and that this life is fleeting – especially when compared to the eternal relationship with the Lord which is promised to us who believe in him.  Do not be afraid; use every opportunity to draw closer to the Lord and to help others to do the same.

–Pastor David