Change

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.   James 1:17

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like change.  Change is never easy.  I like the comfort of routine and repetition; many pastors do.  Sometimes the ruts just guide you to where you want to go.  Again and again and again.

Yet, it is a season of change for Susie and me.  As uncomfortable as it may be.

I have announced to my congregation, Third Presbyterian Church in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, my plans to resign as pastor, effective May 1.  It’s been an always interesting and at times extremely rewarding ministry over the past almost nine years.  In some ways I do this coming off maybe one of the better years (at least numerically) of my ministry.

Yet.

It is time for a change.  We’ve known that for almost a year now.  And we couldn’t ignore it.  The Spirit has been nagging on us.

Even in the midst of change, and we all go through it, I take great comfort.  So should you.  No matter what you are going through, the God of “every perfect gift” does not change no matter what the circumstances you find yourself in today.  Or what they may be tomorrow.  In our God we have One in which “there is no variation or shadow due to change.”    

This Sunday is Easter, although I prefer the phrase “Resurrection Sunday.”  We celebrate the unchangeable truth of what Jesus has done for those who are willing to believe and trust in Him.  As millions have done through the centuries, we shall gather and give thanks from the bottom of our hearts for this “perfect gift.”   The good news does not change. We might; our circumstance certainly will.  But He won’t.  That is a change…or lack of…that you can count on.  Forever.

P.S.

Please be in prayer for Susie and I as we meander about 90 miles to the north and east to start ministry at Marion Presbyterian Church, in Marion Center, PA, at the end of May. Also, please be praying for the congregation at Third Pres.  It is a time of excitement and certainly some sorrow.  Change is never easy.  Did I mention that?

And let’s all be grateful for the One who never, ever changes.  

Commandment

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. - Matthew 22:37-39

The context of this statement by Jesus was a trick question asked of him by a Pharisee who “was a lawyer.” The question he asked was this: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Trick question. The evidence is that scribes held to there being a total of 613 laws, with 248 being affirmative and 365 being negative. According to one author I read, some Pharisees even argued that the commandment to wear fringes on the garments was the greatest of the 613!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

You have to love Jesus’ answer. In a brilliance only the true Son of God could muster, he succinctly summed up all of the law (all 613 of them) by saying two things: First, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

And then he continues by saying, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus’ ministry was one that made things rather simple.  Sum up 613 laws with two.  The heart of the Christian faith is so unpretentious.  Do two things…and everything else will fall into place.  Maybe even all 613 laws.

OK, let me admit, even Jesus’ two simple commandments, however, may not be so easy to do. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  There are three alls in that sentence.  All my heart, all my soul, and my mind.  That is a lot of everything.  Then there is this love your neighbor as yourself.  Right. Jesus never met my neighbors! (just kidding, by the way).

But as we drift deeper into the season of Lent, hopefully one spends more time thinking about what all Jesus went through for each of us, the persecution, the pain, the cross.  And how ultimately unworthy any of us are.  And that just makes me love him more and want to know him deeper. (visit Philippians 3:10)  and, it also makes me want to share his love and grace and truth any all that I come into contact with. 

And if that is where my heart truly is, and even though I may fulfill my desires in an incomplete manner, is that not still what “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, all about?

I want to know him more; and I want to share him.  Do two things…and everything else will fall into place.  Can it be that simple?

I’m fairly sure the answer is yes….

Chosen

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  - Colossians 3:12

So I look at this verse, and a lot jumps out at me. 

The first is this.  I am, apparently, one of God’s chosen ones.

Now we can argue till we are all blue in the face about how one becomes one of God’s chosen ones – and admittedly I would come at this from a decidedly Reformed point of view, but that is not the point of my writing…nor do I think that’s the point the apostle Paul’s writing here.

The point being that if you are a truster and believer in Jesus Christ, then somehow, someway, you have become one of God’s chosen ones.  Relish in that fact. Rejoice in His grace. Sing His praise. Shout your alleluias.

But.

Read the remainder of this verse.

As one of God’s chosen, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…. There is more to Paul’s thought, but that is for another time.

With God’s choosing, comes responsibility. Jesus put it this way, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” (Luke 12:28)

Chosen one, God is has given you much, in return, Paul says, “put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience….”

It is, in many ways a short list.  But it is all encompassing. It is about our personal relationships, but also about the stranger that we meet on the street. Towards all we are to show the traits of “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience….”

Tall order.  And there is no way we could do it on our own power.  But, “as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved” anything is a possibility.

And imagine those possibilities in your life.  For today and for tomorrow.

Dear “God's chosen ones, holy and beloved….” 

Go and be a blessing.

Back

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10

Last Monday I had the privilege of holding a brief (out in the wet snow) graveside service for a person who had passed away early in the month. I pondered what Scripture I should share, I zeroed in on Isaiah 41:10. I did so because it really spoke to me; as I contemplated it I took great comfort.  Isaiah writes, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I shared that so much of the time, we tend to feel, is up to us.  Including our salvation, we want…we insist, on being in charge. Yet early on in the Bible prophets like Isaiah already knew the score.  If it were up to us…seriously...then we all would fail.  So God through Isaiah basically says….don’t fret. I’ve got your back.  

Got fear? I am with you.  Dismayed? I am your God.  Weak and anxious?  I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you in my hand.

All the action here is on God’s part.  100%

Jesus embodied this concept all the way to the cross.  Sometimes we think we have work and earn our salvation.  Our salvation has already been accomplished by Jesus on the cross.  He did all the dirty work. Worried about it?  Jesus has our back. You still have to accept Jesus' work (visit Romans 10:9), ultimately you have trust that he did what he came to do.

So it is at times like this, when we stand at the grave, that we should take great comfort in what Scripture has to say.  Ultimately trust in Jesus.  And allow him to have our backs.

The work has been done….

And I, for one, am grateful. 

Hammer

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:7-8

This is a hammer passage.  What I mean by that is that it can be and has been used to beat up on people. It is a hammer passage. It is easy to look at a passage like this and use it to point out other people’s behavior.  I suspect I have done so on occasion in my life.  But these words are nestled amidst other words from Paul that says things like, “bear one another's burdens” (visit Galatians 6:2) and “let us not grow weary of doing good.” (Galatians 6:9).  All of Paul’s exaltations here in these passages are inwardly focused towards the reader; in this case the reader is me.

Yes I am work at bearing other’s burdens, though I do so imperfectly. I try not to tire of doing good, but I do get weary. Paul here is talking  more about motivation; he makes it clear that if I am doing things for the purpose of gratifying my own flesh, I will reap “corruption,” and in doing so I attempt to mock God. 

This is a hammer verse.  Not for me or anyone else to use on another person. But one to use on ourselves. “The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  It is so easy to forget who it is we belong to and live only by the flesh.

Which means even as a truster and follower of Jesus Christ I have decisions to make. Every day. To what end am I going to sow?  To the flesh...or to the Spirit?  And so I ask for forgiveness; of the too many times I’ve have sown my own flesh, Lord use that hammer to continue to turn me to sowing to the Spirit.

So let us not be deceived, but Lord help us to focus on where our sowing is going.  And use that hammer on us occasionally.  But keep that hammer out of our hands.

2015

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

As we celebrate the coming of a new year, realize that every day holds the possibility of a new start...not just today. Yes, happy New Year, but maybe more important is the promise God makes for all our mornings, that "his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Happy New Year, happy new day!

Listen to Sarah Groves' "He's Always Been Faithful to Me"