A Burden For The Church

“Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern” (2 Corinthians 11:28–29)?

Paul had just finished rehearsing a long list of physical struggles he had endured for the sake of the kingdom of God.  Beatings, stoning, shipwreck, hunger, thirst, exposure -- to name a few.  As much as these things brought pain to his life, Paul had learned that they came and went.  Every day wasn’t filled with such intense physical struggle and danger.  Mercifully, there were some breaks in between the bruises.

But in the verses at the beginning of this article, Paul speaks of an relentless, everyday struggle in his life -- his deep concern for the churches within his sphere of influence.  One gets the sense after reading through the context that, as painful as the physical struggles were, the mental and emotional strain Paul felt for the churches was a pain that reached a deeper level.  Perhaps more than anyone, Paul knew the spiritual dangers that threatened local gatherings of believers.  He wrote of false apostles and deceitful workers who disguised themselves as apostle of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13).  He warned of savage wolves who would not spare the flock in their efforts to draw disciples away (Acts 20:29).  Of course there was also the internal biting and devouring that Christians inflicted on one another (Galatians 5:15).  No wonder his concern was so intense!

Do I feel the pressure of concern for the church of which I am a part?  And if I do, how would such a concern reveal itself?  Does my concern for my local fellowship show up in my prayers?  In my participation?  In my support?  Would an outsider look at me and be able to detect a concern for the fellowship I call home and the body of Christ at large?  May the Lord give me a burden for the church!

God loves you!

Mike

Half-Hearted

          Aiden Rodgers was born with half a heart.  Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome happens in about 1 in every 6000 live births.  While in the womb and connected to the mother’s life support system, babies with this condition do pretty well.  The unborn child can have a normal heart rhythm and exhibit no symptoms, making the problem difficult to diagnose prior to birth.  But once born, problems begin to develop.  Forced to work on its own now, the underdeveloped heart can’t keep up with the critical needs of the growing infant’s body.  Without immediate medical attention at birth, the baby can go into cardiac arrest within days.  Since Aiden’s condition was diagnosed pre-birth, the doctors were prepared to address his problems without delay.  He underwent his first open heart surgery shortly after his birth on May 19, 2014, at just four days old.  The surgery itself is risky with a nearly 16 percent mortality rate but thankfully he survived.  Aiden experienced his second surgery on September 15 and was able to go home on October 3.  A third surgery will be necessary between the ages of two and three.  This little boy won’t be out of the woods even then because complications can arise.  But under the watchful eyes of his parents and medical professionals, things are looking up for this brave little boy (Source: “Baby Born With Rare Diagnosis: He Only Has Half His Heart”; Nicole Kwan, foxnews.com).
          Facing life with only half of a physical heart is very difficult. The same is true with half of a spiritual heart.  The difference is that we choose how much heart we have and use spiritually.  Half-heartedness in our relationship with God shouldn’t be tolerated. Jesus claimed that the greatest commandment of all was to “...love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind” (Matthew 22:37).  Divided loyalties never work (Matthew 6:24).  God is unwilling to share the throne in the heart of his child (Exodus 20:3).  He desires your WHOLE heart, not just a fraction of it.

God loves you!
Mike

Warts And All

“Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).

These are powerful, sobering words when you think about it.  How did Jesus accept us?  He accepted us with all of our failings, weaknesses, and insecurities.  He welcomed us when we were a mess.  We didn’t have to clean ourselves up to a certain standard of acceptableness.  We didn’t have to have all of our “ducks in a row.”  Paul said it this way: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:6–10).

Did you catch that?  God seeks a relationship with us while we are “helpless”, “ungodly”, “sinners”, and “enemies”.  It doesn’t sound like we bring much of worth to the bargaining table.  Is God content to leave us in such a pitiful state?  Of course not.  Through the work of His Spirit he works to transform us into the image of Christ.  He desires for us to be so much more.  But that doesn’t change the fact that He accepts us as we are, warts and all.

So that is our model for accepting each other in the body of Christ.  Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it?  Frankly, most of us think the church would be a much better place if everyone was more like us.  We have our unwritten standards of acceptability.  But “I’ll accept you if…” is not acceptable if I am committed to accepting you as Christ accepts me.

God loves you!

Mike

Relevant Revelation

“There are perils in the clamant demand for relevance. If we become exclusively preoccupied  with answering the questions people are asking, we may overlook the fact that they often ask the wrong questions and need to be helped to ask the right ones.  If we acquiesce uncritically in the world’s own self-understanding, we may find ourselves the servants rather of fashion than of God.  So, in order to avoid the snare of being a “populist” or a modern false prophet, the type of bridge to be built must be determined more by the biblical revelation than by the zeitgeist or spirit of the age.  The Church’s calling is to challenge secularism, not to surrender to it.  Nevertheless, there is a great need for more understanding of, and sensitivity to, the modern world around us” (John R.W. Stott, Between Two Worlds, pp. 139-40).
Stott highlights the delicate, and sometimes precarious, balance between relevance and revelation.  To emphasize one to the exclusion of the other hinders our efforts to advance God’s kingdom.  How do we find the proper balance?  As always, the answer is found in the life and work of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was the most relevant person who ever lived.  Now that doesn’t mean that he was the most popular person in every crowd or that he catered to every whim of his culture.  He didn’t get too wrapped up in the “spirit of the age” around him.  But he did meet people at the point of their need.  He connected on their level and engaged them in the midst of their reality.  That is true relevance.
But Jesus was also fully committed to the word of his Father.  While he did serve at “street level,” he always ended up applying God’s timeless truths to the struggle of everyday reality.  While he said things in different ways and used a variety of illustrations, the core message never varied.
Our call as disciples is to serve our culture as Jesus served his.  May our efforts to be relevant never compromise our commitment to revelation.

God loves you!

Mike