You are Among the “Chosen Ones”

1 Peter 1:1-2, NIV - Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

 

Today, we begin looking at the first of two letters commissioned by Peter, one of the central figures in the early Christian movement and one of the original disciples of Christ.  The letter is commissioned by Peter, but it is actually composed by one of Peter’s disciples/assistants named Silvanus. It was written to gentile Christians in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) who were experiencing persecution from their neighbors. 

 

Right here in the opening we’re introduced to one of Peter’s key themes that he will continue to develop throughout the letter and in 2 Peter.  He addressed the letter to “God’s elect.”  This is the term used to describe the Hebrew people throughout the Old Testament, but Peter uses it to describe the gentile Christians to which he writes.  This is on purpose. Peter wants the gentile followers of Jesus to know that God chose them just as much as He chose Abraham and the Israelites.  It was God’s intention to use the Hebrew people as a vehicle for of sharing God’s blessing with all the peoples of the earth.  Peter’s audience are the people God mentions in Genesis when God promises that, through Abraham, all the nations of the earth will receive God’s blessing.  All would be invited into God’s family.  You and I are one of those people as well.  We are part of the family of God.   Abraham is our Father as well.  

 

                Right now, approximately 3 out of every 10 of the world’s people are professed followers of Christ.  What I’d like to point out is that each of those Christians became Christians because of who their parents, friends, or other people they know were also Christians.  The fact that we know or are related to them closely enough to “catch” their faith in Jesus is significant.  Some might even call it luck, but they’d be wrong.  We were chosen.  We were called to be one of the 3 in 10 so that we might be a witness to the other 7. 

 

                You and I were chosen for the mission of God.  Spend a few moments pondering that.  You didn’t happen to wander into faith in Jesus.  God has been working in your life since before you were conceived by your parents to bring you into the Family.   It’s not an accident.  You are here because God wants you here.  And God wants you here because there is a purpose that only you can fulfill.  Don’t take that lightly.  Don’t shrug it off as unimportant.  You are part of God’s chosen people.  Live like it.

 

Question:  Do you truly see yourself as someone chosen by God for a holy purpose?

 

Prayer:  Give us your eyes Lord that we might see ourselves for who we truly are – your chosen ones for your purposes.  Give us enough confidence in that truth that we begin to live it.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for 7 people you know who are not followers of Jesus.

 

Song:  Family of God - Newsboys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6kOkIJV-0M

Take Me To Your Leader

1 Corinthians 1:10-17, CEB - Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose.  My brothers and sisters, Chloe’s people gave me some information about you, that you’re fighting with each other.  What I mean is this: that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Apollos,” “I belong to Cephas,” “I belong to Christ.”  Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name?  Thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name!  Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too. Otherwise, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. Christ didn’t send me to baptize but to preach the good news. And Christ didn’t send me to preach the good news with clever words so that Christ’s cross won’t be emptied of its meaning.

In today’s passage, we see one of the primary reasons Paul wrote this first letter to the church in Corinth.  He hears a report that people have divided themselves up into factions, each faction following a different leader.  Of course, Paul calls this out as nonsense and calls them to unity.  We read it and we wholeheartedly agree with Paul.  Division is counter-productive.  All the leaders that people are following have one leader – Christ Himself.  We agree this is true.

Problem is, eons later, we still do the same thing.  There are tens of thousands of Christian denominations now.  My current denomination is, as I write this, dividing up into at least two more.  Three of the five churches I have been appointed to in my time as pastor have a congregational split in their history.   Our human tendency is tribalism, gathering ourselves in little communities that set themselves apart, and many times against, other communities.  The word “human” in that last sentence is the key here.  The more human our leadership is, the more prone we are to this toxic tribalism. 

Paul spends the first four chapters of this letter explaining how it is supposed to work.  If you have time today, I encourage you to read them, but I’m going to summarize them here.  The best and wisest leaders that humanity has to offer are only able to scratch the surface of the amazing depth and genius of God’s wisdom.  Human leaders called by God are called to play specific roles for a specific time.  No one leader can convey, teach, and or empower a community to live out the full gospel revealed to us in Christ.  As soon as we begin to place all our trust in one such leader, we have put Christ into an infinitesimally small box.   

                Listen to Paul in chapter 4:1-5 (CEB):

So a person should think about us this way—as servants of Christ and managers of God’s secrets.  In this kind of situation, what is expected of a manager is that they prove to be faithful.  I couldn’t care less if I’m judged by you or by any human court; I don’t even judge myself.  I’m not aware of anything against me, but that doesn’t make me innocent, because the Lord is the one who judges me.  So don’t judge anything before the right time—wait until the Lord comes. He will bring things that are hidden in the dark to light, and he will make people’s motivations public. Then there will be recognition for each person from God.

Leaders are, at best, simply stewards of the wisdom of God.  The Lord Jesus is the One who reveals the wisdom, not the leader.  So we all, including all who lead, are followers of Jesus.  The constant is Jesus; the human leaders will always change.

                I’m reminding myself of that as I begin to prepare to move to another church.  My prayer is that Holy Spirit has used me reveal a little bit of the wisdom of God.   I pray that I’ve watered some seeds that my predecessors had planted and planted a few seeds that others will water after I’ve moved on.  I trust that I leaders have done the same in the new place where I’m going.  But in the end, I love the way Paul says it in 3:6-7:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.  Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow.”

Don’t participate in division of any kind among God’s people.  It is foolishness.  There’s nothing wrong with having leaders of which you’re particularly fond (I have those too).  However, if you so identify with those leaders that you are no longer able to submit to others, you have departed from God’s wisdom.  Don’t do it. 

 

Question:  Spend some time reflecting on gems of wisdom that you’ve received from leaders throughout your life and looking forward to that continuing to happen for the rest of your life.

 

Prayer:  God, thank You for faithful leaders.  Help us to be faithful to those we would lead and help us to always be followers of You first.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for unity in the church today.

 

Song: Take Me to Your Leader – Newsboys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RClBXAUPwOE  

One of the Things I Wish Jesus Hadn’t Said

Mark 3:20-35 - Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.  When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.  In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.  Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.  A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

Mark has “buried the lead” here.  The story he tells here about Jesus’s family trying to “take charge of him” because they believe He might have gone off the deep end.  But in the middle of the account, Jesus drops a bombshell on the scribes that has caused problems for would-be Jesus followers ever since:

“…but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

This statement is honestly something I wish Jesus had not said.  I have encountered so many people over the course of three decades of ministry that get tripped up by this saying of Jesus.  Some have, with anguish, shared that they feared that they had committed this unforgivable sin.  My answer has come to be the following: “if you have any real fear that you might have committed this sin, then you haven’t.  

Remember who Jesus is addressing here.  The scribes/pharisees have already been exposed as seeking a justifiable reason to kill Jesus.  In previous reflections on earlier passages in Mark, we saw how these religious leaders were using the holy law given by God to actually kill Jesus.  They have accused Jesus of blasphemy (speaking against the ways of God), but Jesus warns that the leaders are the ones in danger of being blasphemers here.  They are calling the work of Jesus the work of the prince of demons.   They are so consumed by their own agenda, they are willing to blatantly and publicly lie about what they know to be the work of God with no fear that God will hold them accountable.  Jesus identifies this as the point of no return.  So, if you have any fear that you might be offending God in an unforgivable way, then you haven’t done so.

But before we go, let’s return to Mark’s main story here about Jesus’s family coming to collect him for fear that He is crazy.  This is important because it provides Jesus the opportunity to teach a very important truth.  When Jesus is told that His mother and brothers are waiting, he asks a question that He Himself answers; “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

Looking at the people around Him that have been following Him, he says, ““Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus expands the definition of family beyond biology.  Following God creates a family connection with those who are doing the same.  I have experienced this truth throughout my life.  My connection to God’s community has blessed me with several women who have functioned as additional mothers to me beyond the one that gave me birth.  I have additional father figures in my life as well.  I even affectionately call some of these people “Mom” and “Dad.”  Likewise, I have four biological children, but many more who I consider to be my “adopted children” because of my strong connection to them.  And of course, I have many more brothers and sisters than biology has afforded me.  All of these people are not “like family” to me.  They ARE family to me along with my biological family.  The same Love that created my biological family is creates a much bigger family to which we can all choose to belong.

 

Question:  Who are your mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers beyond biology?

 

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, we acknowledge Your work among us.  Today, we especially thank you for knitting us together as a family of those who acknowledge Your work.  Strengthen our connection to You and to each other.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for members of your church today as their names come to mind.

 

Song:  The Family of God – Newsboys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6kOkIJV-0M

This is Changing Everything

Mark 1:14-15 - After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

 

We are only 15 short verses into Mark and already, prophets foretelling the coming of the Messiah have been quoted. John the Baptist’s ministry begins and ends.  Jesus is baptized, anointed by God the Father, and then spends forty days in the desert.  John is put in prison and Jesus first message is preached.  Mark is definitely an author committed to using as few words as possible!  No wonder people generally like the other three gospels better – they have a lot more juicy details!

 

However, what this economy of words does for us is give us the gospel of Jesus in outline form.  Almost every paragraph is a headline.  Today the headline is this:

 

“The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

 

It has been at least a few hundred years since the last Old Testament Prophet has spoken.  Israel lives under the thumb of the Romans.  Most of the Israelites lived in poverty and oppressive taxation.  Place yourself in that position.  Imagine living in those circumstances.  Don’t read any further until you have taken a mental field-trip to first-century Galilee. 

 

Then imagine some preacher walking out of the desert and announcing that the Kingdom of God has arrived.  He is not saying that the Kingdom is coming.  He is saying that the Kingdom is already here.  He invites you to turn from (repent) your way of life and believe that what he has just announced is actually true.  Would you believe Him?

 

I’m an avid Tampa Bay Rays baseball fan.  I have an app on my phone that sends me updates from the Rays’ games so that while the game is going on, I can get quick updates when runs are scored, someone makes an amazing catch, or some other significant moment during the game.  This is fun for me when I’m not watching the game.  However, when you’re watching a game on TV, there is enough of a delay between when the home run is actually hit in the stadium to the moment that you see it happen on TV that the app can actually notify you on your phone before you see it.  The other day, I got a notification, looked down at my phone and read that Ji-man Choi (one of my favorite players) had hit a home run.  I quickly look back up at the TV and watch the home run on the “live” TV broadcast.   I now tend not to look at my phone while I’m watching games.

 

Jesus is giving us that same kind of notification.  The Kingdom of God has arrived.  Only 15 verses into Mark, you might not have seen it yet, but it has happened.  If you turn from what you’re doing right now and pay attention, you will see it and believe it.  Mark is trying to get you and me, the readers to pay attention and look for the reality that has already happened.  We will re-visit this theme throughout the gospel, but for now, look up and see that it is true.  Our orientation is to be constantly looking for what God has already done.

 

Questions:  Do you actively look for signs that God’s Kingdom is active in the world? In your neighborhood?  In your family? In you?

 

Prayer:  God . . .often. . . when we look around, we see nothing but bad news.  Give us eyes to see the evidence that your Kingdom is here.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for me today.  No particular reason. I just know that I need people praying for me.  Come to think of it. . . you should ask people to pray for you today too.  We all need it.

 

Song:  Secret Kingdom - Newsboys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIUHpvSkXOI

Love and Reputation

Proverbs 3:3-4: “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

 

Over the course of my life, I have known several people with the reputation of being extraordinary kind and compassionate.  They are the kind of people that, when their name is mentioned in public, there are immediate accolades. 

“She’s so thoughtful.”

“He’s always helping someone!”

Most likely, you know people like this is well.  Here is the point; people who are faithfully good to others over a period of time earn a reputation for being people of love.  They earn a “good name in the sight of God and man.” 

To be clear, that shouldn’t be why we do it. But the speaker of wisdom in the proverb above is pointing out that love and faithfulness is its own reward.  To be sure, loving people doesn’t always come back to you – sometimes people question your motives.  Sometimes they accuse you of being naïve.  After all, love earned Jesus the cross.  But even the cross becomes the ultimate symbol for what love looks like.  Take that crucifiers.  You can’t smear the reputation of pure love.

So make that your target and I’ll make it mine.  Let’s make it our legacy, what we were known for while we were here.  Who knows?  Maybe someone will see what we do and be inspired to do the same.  And so onward and upward goes love.  Praise be to God who is Love. 

 

Question:  Who are some examples of people we know who are known for the way they love God and people?

 

Prayer:  Loving God, thank you for the people we have gotten to show love to over the course of our lives. Help us to continue to treat people with love and kindness so well that we are known for it. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the leaders of your church today.

 

Song: He Reigns – Newsboys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHl3Ut6PPSw