It was a dark and stormy night… when Jesus calmed a life-threatening storm with just a few words. The disciples were amazed and terrified by Jesus’s display of power – who is this man? And why did he calm that storm, anyway? And how does this story relate to our quest to investigate our spiritual giftedness? Click below to hear Pastor David’s sermon on Mark 4:35-41.
Who Determines What’s Right?
Two recent stories have my attention today, and I’d like to share my reflections with you. First, though, please know that my primary concern with these stories is discipleship and serving Christ, not politics or even ethics.
Yesterday on the radio I heard an interview of a woman named Sarah Tuttle-Singer. She had an abortion at age 19, has become the mother of two children since then, and recently wrote an essay about her experience with abortion as a college student. She stands by her decision to have an abortion, even though she acknowledges that it was a “very challenging, very painful process” – especially when she later became pregnant again. At the end of the interview, she commented that when a woman is considering terminating an unwanted pregnancy, “the choice that’s made has to be in her best interest and has to come from what that voice inside of her says is the right choice to make.”
This goes against a biblical understanding of how we should make our choices.
Today, I saw online a “mashup” video – a video that combines two different things or ideas. With soft jazz music playing in the background, the video alternates between (a) biblical phrases taken from the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), part of Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount,” and (b) video clips of Christian pastors condemning homosexual behavior and the people who practice such behavior. (If you are reading this online, please take a couple of minutes to watch the video.) To be fair, many Christian pastors have gone too far in condemning individuals for specific sins, specifically those in the realm of homosexuality; it is God’s place to judge, not ours. I don’t believe people are easily attracted to Christ while being mercilessly criticized by Christians. What disturbed me, though, about this video was its conclusion: after showing so many pastors (and children!) preaching that terrible things should be done to gays and lesbians, the video concluded with these words:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10 NRSV)
My interpretation was that the video was giving gays and lesbians the designation of “those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”
This also goes against a biblical understanding of how we should make our choices.
Please remember that I am thinking about discipleship and serving Christ, not about politics or ethics. I am not advocating for abortion rights or gay rights; however, those issues aren’t my main concern. My main concern is how we view scripture, ourselves, God, and the nature of righteousness.
God has given us the immense responsibility of free choice, so that we can freely know and choose to follow him. Yet that responsibility does not translate into a self-determined righteousness that says, “I believe this choice is good; therefore it is good.” God has also given us the immense challenge to follow and to serve Jesus Christ with our lives, facing persecution if necessary from those who do not believe in the gospel message. Yet that call to suffer for Christ does not translate into a self-validation that says, “I choose to live my life how I please, and look how persecuted I am by people who disagree with me.”
These present-day stories about abortion and homosexuality are warnings to us who claim Christ as Lord: Our ethical choices about life and sexuality do matter to God. Beyond that, though, our understanding of right and wrong cannot begin and end with our own preferences. We must strive to become more Christlike, even when that goes against what we think or feel is right for ourselves.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33 NLT)
–Pastor David
Serving Humbly
This Sunday, we continue our biblical study of “spiritual giftedness,” the way in which God blesses us and calls us to serve in his kingdom, by investigating the kingdom of God itself. Jesus’s only two parables in Mark regarding what the kingdom of God is like are found in Mark 4:26-34, and they both have to do with agriculture. What does this have to do with us today? Click below to hear Pastor David’s sermon on this passage.
God Redeems This World
Today I’d like to share with you a paragraph from a commentary on Mark’s Gospel. This was written in 1974 by William L. Lane, and it deals with the reason Jesus taught in parables to describe the Kingdom of God. Although this paragraph is full of academic-sounding language, I promise it will be worth reading:
Basic to parabolic utterance is the recognition of the two strata of creation: the natural and the redemptive. Through parables Jesus called attention to what had previously been hidden in the redemptive order. The realism of his parables arises from the certainty that no mere analogy exists between the natural and redemptive order, but an inner affinity, because both strata originate in the purpose of God. That is why the Kingdom of God is intrinsically like the daily natural order and the life of men. The createdness of the natural order thus becomes the vehicle for the tenor of the redemptive. A contemplation of the one order can reveal or illumine truths of the other, because both reflect God’s intention.
Wow! Allow me to try to unpack this paragraph.
Jesus taught in parables because he knew there is a connection between the world as it is (“the natural”) and the world as God intends it to be (“the redemptive”). Surely God wants to redeem his creation, including sinful people like us. In order to do that, God chose to reveal, through Jesus, what this redeemed life looks like. When Jesus used parables to teach his disciples and the crowds, he was using a form of speech that they could connect with. But that’s exactly the point: God’s kingdom is not going to replace this world. Instead, God intends to redeem this world (“the natural order”) by transforming it – and people in it, like us – so that it will be pleasing to him.
So we can reflect on the world around us and learn something about how God intends to bring his kingdom in its fullness. This is how Jesus taught: through parables that use our everyday lives to convey deep, meaningful truths about the Kingdom of God. For instance, as we’ll see this Sunday, the Kingdom of God is like a small, humble seed that grows mysteriously into a large, important plant.
On the other hand, we can reflect on God’s work of redemption through Jesus’s death and resurrection, and through that reflection we can discover truths about this created world. For example, God has brought about salvation through Jesus Christ and is bringing his kingdom into this world; therefore, this created world fundamentally matters to God and should matter to us as well.
In the end, to quote William Lane once again, “both strata originate in the purpose of God.” That is, both the created world and the work of redemption through Christ are part of God’s ultimate plan for the universe. They are intimately connected to each other because God uses both for the best purpose possible: to bring himself glory and honor.
–Pastor David
What does God want?
“A house divided against itself cannot stand” – words that Jesus knew all too well, based on the story found in Mark 3:20-35. What does this have to do with our ongoing quest to know Christ and to utilize our spiritual giftedness for his kingdom? Click below to hear Pastor David’s message on this passage.
Missionary David Beam
Yesterday we had the privilege of hearing from David and Damaris Beam, missionaries to Guatemala. Since the late 1970s, David has worked as a missionary in Guatemala City, where he met his wife Damaris. A large portion of their work is to build cement block homes for families in a very poor district of the city. To help with this task, many church groups have traveled to Guatemala in recent years. Our youth pastor Jerry Graham and his wife Connie have gone on several of these mission trips, most recently this past February.
It’s exciting for me to announce that Mt. Haley Church of God will be partnering with a neighboring church, Meridian Church of God, to sponsor and to help build a cement block home in Guatemala City in February 2013! Our share of the construction expenses is $2500, and there are two ways that we will begin to raise funds for this project:
- Our “Mission Jug” is back! You know how quickly loose change will collect in your pockets and purses. Why not bring your change to church, drop it in the Mission Jug, and watch the funds for our Guatemala house grow?
- On Father’s Day (June 17), we will give a special love offering toward this project. That’s because we understand the importance of fatherhood, faith, family life, and affordable housing. By helping a family have a stable house structure – and by communicating the love of Jesus Christ to this family in person next February – we will help the family have a more stable home life.
This is an exciting time of involvement in missions for our congregation. I hope you’re looking forward to this as much as I am!
–Pastor David
Leadership Transition
Our congregation is associated with the Christian group formally known as the Church of God Reformation Movement. We balk at calling ourselves a denomination, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s what we are. And for the past several years, this denomination has been guided along its course by our current General Director, a man named Dr. Ron Duncan.
Dr. Duncan is an excellent leader with a pastor’s heart and a servant’s attitude. I have had a few conversations with him over the past few years, and I have always walked away grateful that he is providing such good leadership for this movement. Yet his retirement is just around the corner, and the necessary questions are being asked now: what kind of person do we want as our next General Director?
This is extremely significant for us as a movement, because the General Director gives voice to our collective vision. He or she works with other leaders in our movement to strengthen congregations and to help us move forward in our mission, which is to spread the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world in a way that resonates with our theological emphases on personal holiness and the unity of all believers. The next General Director will shape the course of this movement for years to come.
I was privileged to participate in a focus group yesterday regarding this very issue. Several friends and colleagues of mine – we were called “young theologians” by the organizers of this group – had a 90-minute conference call with the team that will eventually search for a new General Director. We were asked to give our thoughts on the current state of the Church of God, the challenges facing the next General Director, and the opportunities facing the next General Director.
This was an incredibly encouraging phone conversation for me! I appreciated being reminded that there are many leaders in the Church of God who are concerned that this movement actually move somewhere, that we clearly express our vision for ministry in the present-day world. Many individuals commented on the importance of understanding and articulating our identity in a way that drives us to service and ministry in our local communities in the name of social holiness. Several mentioned the need for Christians to partner with other believers across denominational lines to do the work of the kingdom of God in our local communities in the name of Christian unity.
The Church of God won’t have a new General Director for another eighteen months or so. The search process is very involved! But rest assured that the Church of God currently has many young leaders who are committed to seeing this movement fulfill God’s purposes in the present generation.
–Pastor David
The God Who Speaks
This past Sunday was a double holiday: Memorial Day and Pentecost. Every Sunday, we gather to remember Jesus Christ, the one who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sake. This week, we celebrated Pentecost, the birthday of the church, by remembering that God speaks truth about Jesus Christ through his word and through his followers. Click below to hear Pastor David’s sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11:
June Youth Update
Summer is here! With the warm weather we have been having, it seems like we are several weeks into it, but school doesn’t end for another week. The month of May was very exciting as we attended the Michigan State Youth Convention. The music was good, the speaker outstanding and what a great time our group had together. A highlight for the weekend was Mt. Haley winning the Volleyball Tournament and bringing home a huge trophy for our ministry plus unique trophies for each participant. We had a great time traveling with the Meridian Church of God youth group and most importantly our group grew stronger in our own relationships. Most important though was the renewed commitments to Christ and the desire to walk in His ways. Everyone was extremely blessed in the services, communion, and our conversations with each other. We hope to share about the weekend on Sunday morning, June 10th.
The 360 Evangelism strategy was a key component in our May youth meetings leading up to SYC. The students have selected three people they are praying for six days a week and looking for opportunities to share Christ. In the context of these lessons, they learned the process of writing their own personal testimony and learned a method for sharing the gospel with a friend. We are working very hard to not only live and talk the fulfilling consistent Christian life, but trying to equip them to share their testimony and the gospel to others. This is all in the process of “Loving God, Loving Others.”
Summer brings a completely different schedule & agenda. We will NOT be meeting regularly on Sunday night, but will have various nights of prayer, devotion, and recreation. Our June dates are:
- Friday, June 8 Celebration Campfire – at the home of Lawrence and Jo Adams – to celebrate the end of school.
- Tuesday, June 12 – Banana Split night at the Texan
- Monday-Thursday, June 18-21 – Helping with Vacation Bible School at Mt. Haley
- Saturday, June 30 – Lake City Adventure with Nancy Farison and her summer campsite.
During July, we will be attending the Loons Game with the church, having a camping & canoe trip to Mio, a church softball game (hopefully with Meridian CHOG) and a scavenger hunt. Our BIG weekend we are preparing for is a mission trip to Chicago on the weekend of August 24-26. We are also looking forward to our NEW sixth graders starting in September on the first Sunday after Labor Day. We didn’t have any seniors this year but will be adding several new sixth graders to our ministry in the fall. Praise God!
Connie and I will be traveling in June to Indiana to attend Anderson Camp Meeting and hopefully the birth of our 7th grandchild. My son’s wife is due on June 21 and we hope this all happens during our time in Indiana. He lives about 20 minutes from Anderson in Indianapolis. Thank you also for the prayers for my parents. My dad has progressive bone cancer and will be undergoing treatments at the Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis for the next 7-8 months. Because of the nature of the treatments and the distance from their home in northern Indiana, they will be living there in an apartment. We will also be traveling to Denver, Colorado for the International Youth Convention the first week of July. Keep us in your prayers.
Summer is going to be exciting this year. Thank you for keeping our students in your prayers.
Blessings, Pastor Jerry
Old friends
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to catch up with an “old friend.” Now, before you stop me and say, “Pastor David, how could you have an old friend? You’re not old enough!” – maybe you can just grant me this one. Ashley and I were good friends in college, from which we graduated ten whole years ago. Now that we are both married and that she and her husband have just had their first child, I appreciated the opportunity to catch up with them while they were in the area.
There is something refreshing about old friendships. People who have known us for a significant period of time, have seen us change and grow, and have watched us make important life decisions: these people can provide a stabilizing presence in our lives. When I spend time with Ashley, I am reminded that I have been on a journey of faith for a long time, and my life experiences form one cohesive unit. I am one person, although I have had many different kinds of experiences. The presence of a long-term friend helps me remember this truth.
God, like old friends, has been present in our lives for quite some time. Unlike old friends, God has been present since the very beginning – and even before that. If our lives are to make any sense at all, perhaps we should find meaning for our lives in our relationship with the one who has known us from our earliest days.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13 NIV)
Perhaps your relationship with God is very old, from your perspective. Maybe you have known the Lord for most, if not all, of your life. Give thanks for this great saving friendship that you have with the Creator of the universe!
One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24 NIV)
Or perhaps this talk of friendship with God seems new, strange, or altogether foreign to you. Take a moment to think about the value and meaning that could be added to your life through an intimate friendship with the one who formed you in your mother’s womb. It’s certainly possible to go through life without such a friendship – just as it is possible to go through life without old human friendships. But why not trust in the one who makes sense of an otherwise confusing existence?
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Jesus, in Matthew 28:20b)
–Pastor David