Grace | Discipleship at Messiah

It’s a Covenant

Posted on 1/3/17 by On the road with Jesus.

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -Hebrews 8:10b (NIV)

For more than 200 years many Christians have begun a new year with a worship time called a “Watch Night Service.” Influenced by a Moravian practice, in 1740 John Wesley held the first Watch Night Service. It was a time of reflection, testimonies, singing, and prayer. Later Wesley would call them “Covenant Renewal Services.”

In the book of Hebrews, the writer places this statement in the context of God’s dealing with His people in the Old Testament: “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Hebrews 8:10)

Few concepts or terms are more basic to the Bible story than that of covenant. It is not a concept unfamiliar to us either, though the term may not be as common as some others—contract, agreement, deal. God’s relation to His people (from the Biblical perspective) is a covenant relationship. It is about a relationship governed by promises, obligations. God is the initiator and prime determiner but His people have a part to play.

The blessings of the covenant are more than part of a ceremony. They become reality in the life of His people.

The Bible makes clear that at the heart of the covenant is God’s love. You are important to God, more important than the whole world. And that applies not just to the saints. Whoever you are, whatever your past or present state, even your future, God loves you.

The Old Testament story shows a people who are hard-headed, unfaithful, ungrateful, unloving, and untrustworthy who repeatedly break their promises to God and break His heart. The book of Hosea compared them to an unfaithful wife, an adulteress. His book is 14 chapters of sins and shameful behavior. In dramatic fashion, God compares his love to that of a husband to an unfaithful wife:

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3:1 NIV)

What does God say about all that? I love you. I have chosen you. God’s love (graciousness) is prior to everything else—our sins, our faith, our righteousness and it lasts beyond all else, in spite of all else. Even if we have been a total disaster as a person, a church; no matter how long the list of charges against us might be; how far we have left God, He is pursuing us like the “hound of heaven.” Should we ultimately make our bed in hell, it will be over the broken pieces of God’s heart for He will still love us.

In 2017, can we assume our part of the covenant and love God back with all our heart, soul, and mind? It is my prayer for you and for myself.

Filed under: Dedication, Discipleship, Grace, Love, The Journey, worship | Tagged: Discipleship, Faith, Grace, Spiritual progress | Comments Off on It’s a Covenant

A Time for Silence

Posted on 6/17/10 by On the road with Jesus.

[God] said [to Elijah], “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence….Then the LORD said….” I Kings 19:11-12, 15a

The United States is probably the only country in the world where success is measured by how busy you are. Before the recent economic downturn Americans were increasingly working longer and longer hours. They are way in front of all industrialized nations. One UN report said they worked 2 ½ weeks more than Japanese, 6 weeks more than British and 12 ½ weeks more than German workers. An economist who oversaw that report said, “It has a lot to do with the American psyche, with American culture. American workers are eager to make the best impression, to put in the most hours.”

We fuss about being busy with too crowded schedules. We lament that we don’t have enough time for the important things like devotions and ministry for example. But it looks suspiciously like all our protestations are really a way of saying to people, “Look how important I am,” or “Look how successful I am.” Because we continue to make choices that keep us busy rather than enabling us to slow down, simplify, and prioritize our lives by what we say are the really important things.

One of the victims of our busyness is silence. I made a phone call about our long distance service and as you might expect was told something like all our representatives are busy serving other customers, your call will be answered as soon as possible. Then I was treated to silence!

I was reminded of that later when I read an article on silence in worship. Silence is a rare experience for harried, busy, successful getting-ahead-people. Chances are if you have an experience of silence it makes you uncomfortable, uneasy, irritated. Waiting for someone to answer your call is not an opportunity for silence but an irritation.

As one writer observes, even in worship, “Silence, it seems, is to be filled.” She continues, “I suppose we inherit this sense of silence as ‘dead air time’ from radio and TV, where every second of time not pulsing with a voice or image is ‘lost’ or ‘dead.’”¹

Silence is difficult to find in our daily lives even for those who seek it. We have become so accustomed to so called “white noise”–whine of refrigerators, idling motors, florescent lights, neighboring boomboxes, passing cars, etc. we are startled by silence. Our life style our technology all make it difficult to find stillness, silence. It is true that every new technology changes the way we live.

To be sure there are times in which it is sinful to be silent. To face evil and say nothing is sin. To keep silent when God is to be praised is sinful. We are told there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl 3:7 NRSV). Yet, the Bible places a great emphasis on silence.

It is a sign of wisdom—If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom! (Job 13:5 NRSV) Jesus certainly demonstrated it was important to him. Do you regularly use silence as a part of your discipleship practices?

John Wesley was once advised to preach faith until he had it and then to preach it because he had it. I’m not there yet in regards to silence. But by God’s grace I hope to get there. I invite you to go with me.

Some reasons for silence

¹Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

Filed under: Discipleship, Growth, Life style, Obstacles, The Journey | Tagged: Christian, Grace, Spiritual progress | Comments Off on A Time for Silence

Some Old Bones + A Breeze=An Army

Posted on 5/4/10 by On the road with Jesus.

a valley;…full of bones…. and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet–a vast army. -Ezekiel 37

“Some Old Bones + A Breeze=An Army”

In an article about a reunion of old time aviators, the lead read: “Two veteran aviators met here yesterday for the first time in 40 years and discovered that of all the things that fly, time is the fastest.” (RD,2/89,p.114)

A human being has dreams, hopes, aspirations. It is the soul and substance of life’s meaning. It is, in fact, part of the definition of human. This is best seen in the young before the corrosive effects of time take’s its toll. Lorraine Frontain, a kindergarten teacher, told about a little girl named Gina, whom she had warned several times, to pay attention. It was to no avail. Finally in desperation, she asked, “Gina, why are you so excited?” “I can’t help it,” she replied. “My daddy said I could have a horse when I’m 35.”¹

The anticipation of the young. Dreams, hopes, plans are laid for life. But as surely as we have dreams, we also have failure of dreams and hopes, set-backs and reverses. Dreams and hopes can be lost, abandoned and not replaced. It may be hard for youth to identify with that. For them, hope is easier. But few escape defeat which can lead to lowered expectations and hopelessness (loss of dreams). Sometime ago an article on social workers quoted one as saying, “I wanted to make a difference for the kids. Now I realize it was a totally unrealistic expectation.” Lost dreams, cynicism.

There is an interesting and mysterious story in the Bible which tells about a vision given to a strange man called Ezekiel. In the vision, Ezekiel sees a valley full of old dry bones. As he speaks God’s word to them, flesh and breath are restored and they come to life—a vast army.

It is a vision symbolic of a people discouraged, defeated, hopeless as bleached out bones in a desert. But God says he can and will bring life back to dead bones of shattered dreams and lives. When we lose, when we fail, when a dream goes up in smoke, when life throws us a wicked curve, what can we do?

We can pick up the pieces because what left is usable by God, even old bones. We can learn, we can adjust, we can “roll with the punches.”

In 1920, a young man by the name of Oswald Smith had a dream to be a missionary. He had prayed and dreamed for the opportunity and now stood before a board selecting missionaries. He was turned down. Did not meet qualifications, failed the test. Decided if he couldn’t be a missionary, he would build a church that could send missionaries. That church, People’s Church, Toronto, Canada became one of the greatest resources for missionaries in history, sending hundreds to share God’s good news about Jesus.

Nothing given to God is lost. A Christian, who gave money to build Baylor University, later lost everything he had. Someone asked him, “Don’t you wish you had the money back that you put into that school?” “Not at all. It is all that I have saved. If I had kept that money, I would have lost it too.”

We just need to let God breath life into what’s left. When you do, life is an adventure(not easy, comfortable, predictable) but adventure. We are too focused on winning or loosing, success or failure. We miss the pure joy of living. Gene Stallings tells of an incident when he was defensive backfield coach for the Dallas Cowboys.

Two All-Pro players, Charlie Waters and Cliff Harris, were sitting in front of their lockers after playing a tough game against the Washington Redskins. They were still in their uniforms, and their heads were bowed in exhaustion. Waters said to Harris, “By the way Cliff, what was the final score?”²

When you love and are immersed in the game, the score doesn’t matter all that much.

Walter Peyton was one of greatest running backs in National Football League history. During a telecast of Monday Night Football, one of the announcers remarked that he had gained over 9 miles rushing in his career. The other said, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!” That’s 3443 times!

Life will knock you down, wreck your dreams, but God is not foiled by that. Just remember WHEN YOU’RE DOWN, THE WAY OUT IS UP.

God’s word to Ezekiel was “Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

¹Reader’s Digest, Jan., ‘89, p.80
²Penney F. Nichols, Leadership

Filed under: Discipleship, Faith, Grace, Growth, The Journey | Tagged: Christian, Discipleship, Grace, Life, Spiritual progress, stability | Comments Off on Some Old Bones + A Breeze=An Army

It’s Free

Posted on 12/7/09 by On the road with Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

“It’s Free”

We all are familiar with statements like:
“You get what you pay for”,
“you don’t get something for nothing”.

I don’t know about you but I am suspicious, no down right unbelieving when I get something in the mail (bulk rate) which boldly announces you have been chosen to receive $199.95 value necklace of genuine faux pearls. Please send $19.95 for postage and handing so you can receive your free gift.

But no matter how skeptical and doubtful, we keep on hoping and trying anyway. Oh, how we hope and try. Look at the lottery.

I read about a man doing some back-yard landscaping who went to buy some bricks. When he inquired about the cost, the sales clerk replied: “The more you buy, the cheaper they are.” “Is that so? Then just keep loading them on my truck until they’re free.”

Given our skepticism, it is not surprising then how difficult it is for us to understand one of the great words of the gospel–GRACE. It is a word so central to the Good News, that one can hardly speak of Jesus and his work for us without in someway mentioning “grace” or at least the idea if not the word.

The writer of Ephesians says, “by grace you have been saved”. To make sure it is clear, he adds, “and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”.

In it’s general meaning, then, it is undeserved favor, blessing, but specifically, what God has done for you in Jesus.

The wonder and glory of a salvation “so rich and free” and we can’t believe it. IT IS A GIFT! IT IS FREE!

By faith reach out and take it!

Filed under: The Journey | Tagged: Faith, Grace | Comments Off on It’s Free

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