In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul addresses the first major problem in the Corinthian church: favoritism. Could it be that modern-day churches face the same basic issues as our ancient predecessors? What relevance does this passage have for our church life today? And what does this all have to do with a basketball net? Listen in to Pastor David’s message on this topic:
A Three-Hour Nap
My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2 NIV)
Everyone needs rest. Whether it takes the form of a weekend getaway, a vacation to a distant location, or simply a weeknight at home with no responsibilities, everyone needs rest. Often, we work so hard that we overlook one of the most important responsibilities we have: to take care of ourselves.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:2-3 NIV)
The creation story is a wonderful narrative describing God’s relationship to his creation. Many people will emphasize different parts of the story (or, really, the stories – there are two different creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2!). You may remember that God rested on the seventh day, thus setting the example for us that we should rest from our work as well. As Jesus said in Mark 2:23-28, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (NIV). In other words, we do not rest in order to please God by our obedience, but we rest in order to take care of ourselves – because God desires to take care of us in this way.
Earlier this week, I did something rather unusual for me: I took a three-hour nap. In the afternoon, after a full morning, I came home and slept. And I slept hard. You have to understand, I am not a napper; normally, even on Sunday afternoons, I am awake all through the daytime. The last period of my life when I regularly took naps was kindergarten! So when I laid down to take a nap and woke up three hours later – with a pretty foggy post-nap brain – I realized I had needed that rest.
We spend a lot of time and energy in the church on serving other people, donating goods and resources, running errands for people, loving, caring, giving, befriending, helping, … on and on and on. And this is all worthwhile, because our call as the church is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [Jesus] has commanded [us]” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). Christian faith is not idle faith. We are interested in seeing the kingdom of God grow in our midst, and sharing Christ with others – in a multitude of ways – is crucial to that work.
Yet we must take care of our bodies and souls, as well. It is just as important for us to allow the kingdom of God to grow within ourselves as it is to introduce other people to Jesus. For through our personal transformation, others will see the power of God to change lives – namely, our own. When we are healthy, then we can communicate the message of Christ clearly and appropriately. My three-hour nap enabled me to function well through the rest of the week – not just physically but spiritually as well.
Friends, remember to care for your own selves in the coming weeks and months. Find regular opportunities for Sabbath rest. And then, once you have rested up, resume the outward work of the kingdom of God.
Pastor David
A Break in the Action
Vacations are wonderful, aren’t they? You might be aware that Tara and I were away last week on a vacation of our own – that’s why there was no article posted here during that week. We had not been away from our everyday responsibilities (except for a few days during the Christmas season) since moving to Midland last August. We were ready to take a break!
When was the last time you took a step back from your responsibilities and allowed yourself to relax?
It doesn’t take a full-blown vacation to keep us healthy and sane. In fact, we live in such a luxurious culture that many of us actually can walk away from work, home, and responsibilities for several days at a time – and our little corners of the world keep on spinning. We truly are blessed to live in such a time that does not require every waking minute to be spent on productive tasks.
For centuries upon centuries, the Lord has been encouraging his people to take a break every now and then. Actually, his design was for us to take a break once a week. The concept of the Sabbath, or the seventh-day rest period, is extremely old; our biblical tradition says that even God himself rested after six days’ worth of creation. If God chooses to rest after a full work week, who are we to press on non-stop?
There is a danger here, though, for us to become like the Pharisees and require ourselves, our communities, and our entire culture to avoid any semblance of work on our Sabbath day (which, for Christians, is Sunday in honor of the day of Christ’s resurrection).
Jesus himself warns us about this tendency in Mark 2:27 – “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (NIV). This verse comes in the context of a challenge from the Pharisees that Jesus and his disciples were disobeying the Sabbath by picking heads of grain to munch on. Jesus reframes how we think about the Sabbath: instead of avoiding work one day a week because we want to please God by keeping the law, we should incorporate a regular period of rest into our lives for the sake of our health and well-being. If observing this period of rest means we pick some heads of grain instead of cooking a five-course meal, then so be it!
How do you observe the Sabbath? When was the last time you saw a break in the action? What would it take for you to step away from your responsibilities (but not from the Lord!) for a day or two? When will you do that next?
–Pastor David
Exercise Much?
I’m not much of fan of exercising, although I know I should do it regularly. Each time I go in to my doctor for a physical, he asks what kind of exercise I’m doing. I’m just as good as the next guy in coming up with excuses why I don’t have time or energy or interest to work out. But now that our long Michigan winter is over (thank the Lord!), I’m beginning to realize how important it is, at least for my outlook on life. Being relatively idle for six months while snow covers the ground really does make an impact, not only physically but mentally as well!
Exercising is just as important for the spiritual life as it is for the physical body. Physical exercise can be a time for prayer and meditation, of course, but spiritual exercises are also quite valuable in their own right. These exercises are usually called “spiritual disciplines” in Christian circles, because a certain amount of discipline is required if we choose to participate in these activities consistently.
Many, many books have been written on the spiritual disciplines. The disciplines generally fall into two categories: engaging (prayer, worship, Bible study, fellowship, etc.) and abstaining (fasting, celibacy, solitude, simplicity, etc.). One well-known Christian author, Richard Foster, categorizes the spiritual disciplines differently: inward, outward, and corporate. His best-selling book entitled Celebration of Discipline is the gold standard among Christians for understanding the spiritual disciplines. I have a copy of this book in my study; let me know if you’d like to borrow it sometime!
Why is spiritual exercise so important? Well, if a person spends his or her entire life being spiritually sedentary, then how do you imagine an annual check-up would go? We often think of Christ as our Great Physician, the one who can heal any illness and cure any disease. What if we were to think of Christ as the Great Physician to whom we go for an annual (or more frequent) “spiritual”? What might he suggest about our spiritual health? Would he be pleased with our progress? Would he challenge us to do more exercising? Would we look for reasons why exercising just doesn’t fit into our daily routine?
Your reading assignment for the week is Colossians 3. Read the whole chapter in one sitting, and consider what steps you are taking – or what steps you need to take – to bring about the Christ-like lifestyle and spiritual growth described in this chapter. Then get to exercising!
–Pastor David