What the hail! That was some wild weather outburst this past Tuesday, paintball sized hail with the occasional clunker, warnings of funnel clouds with two actually touching down, everything turning icy white in a matter of minutes, a continual roar augmented with flashes of lightning and thunder. You definitely didn’t want to be out there, the thing to do was to run for cover. The oak trees with their fresh green leaves didn’t have that option and had their canopies shredded, leaving a carpet of leave bits, pollen pods, and twig fragments below them.We are tempted to think of weather, of nature, as being completely arbitrary, but like all things they are subject to the power, will, and purposes of God, of Christ. God is more than merely human attempts to explain the inexplicable, he really is Lord of all, the Sovereign over all creation, the visible and invisible.Isn’t it amazing how big and powerful we can feel when the there is just a gentle cooling breeze while the sun is shining? It is easy to be the master of your own destiny in fair and favorable weather, when life is good, when things pan out as planned, when there are lots of opportunities, when our health is good, when things are peaceful and prosperous. It takes just one dark cloud packed with power immensely greater than our own to remind us how little we actually control, how small we are, how dependent we are on the goodwill, the mercy, and the compassion of the one whom not only the clouds must obey, but who, by a command from his lips, spoke the entire universe into being.We are fortunate when an impressive hailstorm is a mere reminder for us to look up and acknowledge God. Sometimes the unleashing of natures might and fury is much more than that, a very act of the judgment of God, the very hand of God working against us. This troubles the modern mind, this higher accountability, this being tied to spiritual, to moral and ethical standards not our own, this having to bow to the one who commands “the wind and the sea” (Mark 4:41). It is easier to settle for a world that is arbitrary, merely controlled by impersonal forces of nature, that leaves us accountable to none but ourselves, that is nothing more than a crapshoot of chance, and has no need to look deeper, to ask about the will of God.The truth of the word of God, the written revelation of God, the Scriptures, the Bible stands in stark contrast to the modern mindset and all those who have and would deny the existence of God. God used hail to humble Pharaoh (Exodus 9:18-33), he defeated the Amorites with hail (Joshua 10:11), he summoned the wind to catch up with runaway Jonah (Jonah 1:1-17), he directed swarms of locust (Exodus 10:12-19; Joel 1:1-2-), he unleashed natures forces against Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:16-33, 11:23-29), he darkened the sky when Jesus died (Matthew 27:45). These and more were not coincidences but serve as clear examples and reminders of both the power and sovereignty of God.The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. Psalm 19:1-2 (adapted from NLT)Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! Psalm 95:6-7 (NLT)Next time you see dark clouds gather on the horizon, do more than run for cover, be reminded of God, of Christ, and bow, and worship.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
Parts that do their part - beautiful
Parts that do their part - beautifulAt the end of a movie do you linger and watch the credits? I usually don’t, but the few times that I have I was amazed at how many people it takes to make a movie. You need a lot more than just actors, directors, and writers. You need cameramen, makeup artists, bookkeepers, sound people, boom operators, special effects experts, stuntmen, wardrobe designers, set designers, logistics personnel, grunts, lot’s of grunts, electricians, carpenters, caterers, production people, and … No wonder movie making is expensive.Take a look around, yup, right there wherever you are reading this, and think about all the things you see and how many people had to work together to make them and how many people it took for them to get to you. How many designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, workers, sales people, and … were involved?Have you ever been wheeled into an operating room and managed to look around before the anesthesiologist told you to count backward from ten, and in my case knocked me out before I got to seven. From what I remember, it is a like beehive in there. Long before my doctor and his team ever got there someone had to get everything clean and ready. He wouldn’t do much operating if he had to do all the cleaning and prepping himself.Every Christian is meant to serve on Christ’s ministry team from first the day s/he committed her/his life to Christ. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” 1 Corinthians 12:13 (ESV); it doesn’t matter who you are, where you have come from, or how gifted, educated or skilled you are, from the day a person is born again (John 3:1-21) by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ s/he is a part of the body of Christ, and thus has a function. “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically” Romans 12:4-11 (NLT).You won’t be in the movie credits, you won’t be part of any manufacturing team for long, and you won’t stay on the operating room staff if you don’t show up faithfully and if you don’t do what you are responsible for. You will be a mess if your body parts are mere volunteers and not committed members who delight in doing what they are supposed to do for the benefit of all the others. Serving in the body of Christ is much more than volunteering, it is about each part doing what the head, Jesus (Colossians 1:18), wants his body to do, and when Jesus’ body moves as one, doing what he wants, it is a beautiful thing.So show up, be committed, be dependable, do your part.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
Be Like Jesus? - Serve (or Serve, for Christ's Sake, Serve)
Getting a room ready to observe the Passover, borrowing/renting an economy car/donkey, organizing a mass feeding, taking care of the money and the books, delivering letters, taking care of the needs of widows and orphans, using their homes for ministry, hosting guests, helping the needy, cleaning up and dressing a healed lunatic, instructing others in the word of God, help start a church, rowing Jesus around in a boat, participating in church leadership, helping with the worship services, greeting visitors, encouraging others, visiting the sick and imprisoned, organizing and engaging in relief ministries, organizing, music, prayer, … That’s what we find Christians, followers of Jesus doing in the New Testament.Did you notice what I left out of that list? Yup, the spectacular, the miraculous, the extraordinary things Christians are recorded as doing as well, not that those are unimportant. My point is that all of the above is service and that service is central to the Christian life, the Christian community, the Church and its mission. In Acts 19:11 God was using the Apostle Paul in extraordinary ways (“extraordinary miracles” – I thought miracles were already extraordinary), but in Acts 18:1-4 the same Apostle Paul works for a tent making outfit to support himself for ministry on the weekend. Paul understood something that every believer needs to understand.
- God had saved him and his life was no longer his own, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20 (NIV).
- We are saved from sin to serve, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved... through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV).
- Every believer is assigned and empowered for service by the Holy Spirit, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.”1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NLT)“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically” Romans 12:4-11 (NLT).
At some point, and hopefully sooner than later, every believer has to go from just showing up regularly (hopefully you have that down) to committing to service, going from consumer to contributor, from flapping your wings at the edge of the nest to jumping off and flying. So this week talk to your pastor and volunteer yourself to service of some kind, either for the first time or because you need to get back into it. There is no glorifying God, no being like Jesus without serving. “For even the Son of Man (Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" Mark 10:45 (NIV, parenthesis mine).To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans