Sunday, October 16, 2011

CHURCH

Have you ever worshipped in a different culture? My first experience of this was in the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. I remember the pianist, who was an elderly missionary, saying, “We sing hymns every week. I think they do it for me.” I have also heard many missionaries express a longing for their “church back home”. Some have sought to transplant their American church to their foreign land. I can understand this longing for what is familiar.

At the same time, I have seen missionaries of very different theological persuasions finding deep fellowship and rewarding worship in services that, by American standards, would be quite boring. Despite the off-key singing, poor amplification, overly hot environment, and clumsy sermon, they are thrilled to be together. Their time together actually empowers them to return to their work of leading people to Jesus. They long to get together next week, but they are content to live among the “heathen” for another week, knowing that people need to know Jesus.

In his book, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Jesus Christ lived in the midst of His enemies…For this cause He had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes.” Bonhoeffer understood that the end goal is not for Christians to meet together but for sinners to be saved. I am afraid that we often forget that.

It seems that we have it a little backwards. On the mission field we are trying to make church more like back home. Back home, church is the goal. We cloister ourselves among Christians at our Christian bookstores, coffee shops, and basketball leagues. The longer someone is a Christian, the fewer non-Christians they have as friends. Christian maturity is often viewed by every moment given to some church activity.

What if we reversed it and tried to make our churches here in America more like churches on the mission field. We would see church as a place in which we are refueled to continue the work of reaching the lost. We would be quick to overlook doctrinal differences in favor of treasuring our mutual love for Jesus. We would focus our Sunday discipleship programs on overcoming our personal obstacles to the gospel—isn’t that what sin, bad marriages, and poor parenting practices really are? We would address these obstacles not so much to make our lives more comfortable but to help us effectively reach a lost and dying world. Most importantly, we might live as though we are on the mission field.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Faith

I was thinking about how frequently we focus on success. Common sermons will help us have better devotions; show us how to pray more effectively; how to be better parents, employees, employers or witnesses. I think I often miss the point. It is just about trusting Jesus.

I do not mean for an unemployed dad to trust Jesus to provide a job. I mean to trust Jesus even if I do not get a job. Job seemed focused on success. He was so obsessed that he offered sacrifices in case his kids did anything wrong. When his trials came, he desperately wanted to know what he had done wrong. He could not find any error. he was convinced that he had performed his portion of the success formula. When he was crying out to God to know why, God did not answer his question. Instead God reminded him that He was worthy of trusting and was always involved. He invited Job to simply trust.

When I think about the Christian life in this way, it seems so simple. We are going through some hard times and God may not make it better. But that is okay. God never promised to remove all of my suffering. He promises that as I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, He will be with me. And in the end, isn't the nearness of God my good, Psalm 73:28?

About Me

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I have been a PCA pastor since 1993, having been a pastor in Arizona, Florida, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and as the Team Leader for MTW’s work in Scotland. I am currently the Senior Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in York, PA. As a pastor, my desire is to help everyone I meet live out Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in Heaven but You, and besides You I desire nothing on earth.” I love my Wife Robin, my two sons, Patrick and Michael and my daughter in law, Britney. I am firmly wrapped around the fingers of my granddaughters.

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