BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

BY STEVE DUNN

“… be filled with the Holy Spirit.” – Ephesians 5:18a

      We often make statements that to others appear as self-deluding.  When I was growing up, such statements were greeted with the comment, “You are full of it.” (We will have to stop there because the etymology of that expression refers to something very nasty that you are full of.) But for Christians, being full of something refers to being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

     Some Christian groups use this command as a code word for a specific kind of religious experience or as a litmus test of a certain type of Christianity that they believe to be superior to all other forms of Christianity.  I tend to disagree with both usages but that is a theological issue beyond the scope of what I want to say today

     We fill our lives with many things — jobs, family, and even religion.  All in pursuit of happiness or fulfillment or meaning.  But those things are often delusions because they are expressions of a delusional belief that say, “It’s all about me.”  For too many our highest aim is self-satisfaction not significance.  We believe our lives have meaning when we get to be who we want to be.

     Such an attitude ultimately requires us  to ignore our neighbor, be indifferent to our community, and abandon any true responsibility for our world.

      The one true antidote to this outcome is not saturate our lives with self but to let the Spirit indwell us shaping us and empowering us to be people whose lives are immeasurably and whose impact brings God’s wholeness to all.

(C) 2014 by Stephen L Dunn

GOD DOESN’T WANT RESOLUTIONS–HE WANTS RENEWAL

This post first appeared in my blog LIFE MATTERS January xx 200,  I thought it bore reposting. – STEVE

 

Henry and Richard Blackaby have written:
“Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder … if you really love Him, your service for Him in the new year will
be of the quality He desires.”

My “my new year” began around 3:30 this morning. I wasn’t up particularly late New Year’s Eve and normally this is when I awaken and begin my day. Not too many others are up at that hour and I try not to make too much noise lest I disturb my wife, who sleeps until at least 8:30-9:00 am if she can help it. So I went to Facebook to get caught up on friends around the country.

Typically, New Year’s Resolutions was the theme for the first day of the year. There were a number of offerings, but none more extensive nor more creative than that of my brother-in-law Bosie Martin of Columbia, South Carolina. Among his resolutions:

HEALTH —-
* Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar.
* Make time to pray.

PERSONALITY —-
* Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
* Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
* Dream more while you’re awake.

SOCIETY —-
* Each day give something good to others.
* Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Keep in touch.

LIFE —-
* Do the right thing!
* Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful, or joyful.
* When you wake alive in the morning, thank God for it!

A lot of wisdom there and I suspect, a good pattern by which to live in 2010. But in my morning quiet time, I came across the above comment from the Blackabys based on Jesus’ question to Simon Peter, following Peter’s betrayal of Jesus. Having basically blown it, Peter was given a chance to start over (sort of like a new year) and Jesus asked “Do you love me?” Actually it became three questions boiling down to essentially this, “Do you love me more than anything else?” In each case Peter answered in the affirmative, and in each case Jesus said “Care for my people, take care of those I love and care for.”

We all make resolutions–and most of us break them or forget them within weeks of making them. Usually the more complicated, the more likely they are to fail. So perhaps the best way to sum up our strategy for the new opportunities of a new year is simply “to serve one another out of the love of Christ” and see what results.

 

WISE DECISIONS

BY STEPHEN DUNN

One of my great challenges as a pastor is to teach people how to make wise decisions. Andy Stanley says the best question ever in terms of decision-making is the question, “Is it wise?” Wisdom comes from God’s Word and Stanley is telling us to ask, “Is my decision consist with what the Word of God tells on how to live?”

I find that people who even know what God says still have trouble embracing wisdom because it is not what they want to do. When I point out that there are moral laws that cannot be violated without consequences, they begin looking for a loophole. Quite often they point to the laws of nature and what we have learned about human nature. There they can sometimes point out to something that does not always work out the way you think. So then they use that as an excuse to go ahead and do what they want.

“See, Pastor, there are exceptions.” My response, there appear to be exceptions (or variations) to the laws of nature and our knowledge of human nature; but the vast majority of the time it works the way those laws say they will. Jump from a precipice and the law of gravity tells us we will plummet like a rock. And if the fall is far enough, you’ll break something or get killed. The application, “Don’t leap from a precipice. You will injure yourself.’ But because there have been a few people who survived falls without breaking anything, people say there is an exception which will then be their justification for leaping off a cliff.

My response, “Celebrate the exceptions, but live by the rules.”

But God’s moral law gives us no loopholes. No exceptions. For every transgression there is a consequence and unless God intervenes or picks up the pieces, we will suffer the consequences.

The wages of sin is death. And death always collects its due.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

This post was originally published April 12, 2012 in the blog THRIVING IN CHRIST, another of this author’s blogs.

SEVEN EXPECTATIONS OF EVERY CHURCH MEMBER

For churches to be faithful to God, their members must think in terms of what they “give” to the church.  Sam Rainer has some important counsel to us all. – Steve

Seven Expectations of Every Church Member

By Sam Rainer on Aug 11, 2013 09:49 pm

Local churches are like families. Some are healthier than others. All have issues. Unfortunately, many churches are suffering from a serious case of consumerism. The cultural norm of too many congregations has become “How can you serve me?” rather than “How can I serve Christ and others?” But I believe many pastors and church leaders are to blame as much as their flocks. We pastors simply have not done a good job of communicating upfront what we expect of church members.

I have a high view of church membership, and I hope I lead my church to have the same view. As we assimilate new people into the body of Christ, the goal is to maintain a culture of high expectations of every church member. I believe the best starting point for setting these expectations is a new member class. Whatever descriptor you use for the class, whatever timeslot you choose to teach the class, every new member class should communicate three key points about your church: information, doctrine, and expectations.

Information gives new people an idea of the basics of your church: staff, worship style, ministry philosophy, and where the bathrooms are located.

Doctrine lets people know upfront what you believe. You can no longer assume people understand historical denominational differences. Additionally, churches within the same denomination in the same town can be quite different now. Don’t surprise people. Don’t downplay doctrine. Don’t confuse people. Be clear about what you believe and who you are.

Expectations are often neglected when we’re communicating with potential new members. After all, we don’t want to scare them away with a stack of sign-up sheets. But I believe the lack of clarifying expectations on the front end of membership is one of the main reasons why we’re encouraging an unhealthy culture of consumerism in the church.

So what should you expect of new members? I’ve listed the seven expectations I teach in my church’s new member class.

1. I will worship. We expect people to attend worship services regularly, and we expect them to worship with the heart, the mind, and the will.
2. I will mature. We expect people to grow spiritually through small groups. We desire for people to have a sense of belonging to our church.
3. I will serve. God created us to serve. He gifted us to serve. And He commands us to serve. Every member should function in the body, and this functioning happens through service.
4. I will give. Mature believers have a generous spirit. We expect all members to give their tithe, time, and resources for the mission of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.
5. I will seek unity. We have a wonderfully unified body of believers at my church. I tell new people I don’t want them to mess it up.
6. I will pray. All members should pray corporately and privately. Above all, they should pray for gospel fruit.
7. I will sacrifice. Membership means serving first. Sacrifice means putting gospel work above your preferences.

You do not join a church to see what you can get out of it. You join a church to sacrifice for the mission of God. And all churches should be clear about how they accomplish this mission. Set the expectations upfront, and you will likely see fewer people with a consumer mentality.

 

 

SKILLS OR FAITH

Wisdom from the blog WORKING FOR CHRIST as you begin your week thinking about being obedient in faith. – Dr. Steve

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10, NIV)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, three of the most dangerous occupations in the United States are those of a logger, an airline pilot, and a fisherman.

Logging

Of course, a logger deals with the tremendous weight and unpredictable nature of falling trees. A pilot faces the danger of working tens of thousands of feet above the ground. And a commercial fisherman constantly runs the risk of drowning.

In the ancient world the job of messenger might have topped this list. Like most people, ancient rulers hated getting bad news. However, unlike most other people, they had the power to do something about it, and they did – by executing the person who delivered the news! When the Roman emperor Tiberius received an astrological prediction he didn’t like, he hurled the messenger off a cliff.

So who can blame Moses for being reluctant to deliver the news to Pharaoh that the Israelites, his slave laborers, were hitting the road? God gave Moses an assignment no one would envy. And like most unenthusiastic recruits, Moses tried to talk his way out of the job. He pointed out that Pharaoh probably wouldn’t listen to him. And Moses reminded God that public speaking wasn’t his forte. (Exodus 6:1–13, NIV)

Moses didn’t realize that the success of his mission didn’t depend on his skills; it depended on his faithfulness. God could have sent anyone to deliver the message to Pharaoh – even one of Moses’ sheep. But God picked Moses instead. And he gave Moses the strength and skills he needed to complete the assignment.

That’s important to remember when it comes to the things God calls us to do. Just as it was for Moses, it’s easy for us to reason and argue with God. “But God, I don’t have the skills to be a leader at church.” Or, “God, why don’t you send someone else? No one will listen to what I have to say.”

Yet what we see as our own weaknesses shouldn’t stop us from carrying out our God-given assignments, because with our marching orders come God’s strength and help. Remember, the success of our mission doesn’t depend on our skills. It depends on our faithfulness.

Enjoy your day, “Working for Christ”!

TITHING IS ABOUT FAITH

Recently I was in a discussion in a church council meeting over the financial situation of the congregation. It was not long until someone spoke of tithing. In many ways, tithing has been downplayed but it still is from the Word of God and unlike some Old Testament Law, Jesus did not reinterpret it. Scholars agree, in fact, that he very probably practiced it.

I came across this excellent blog post by Michael Reynolds, which I believe gives us some excellent insight into why New Testament Christians should continue to tithe: – STEVE

FROM FORWARD PROGRESS

by Michael Reynolds

Tithing has fallen on hard times. Maybe it always does during economic downturns, but especially right now, the temptation is to cut back on the giving side. After all, think about how much money you would have every month is you didn’t chop 10% right off the top? And it wouldn’t be like you would never tithe again – you would just take a few months off to get your feet under you. And isn’t it sort of legalistic to have to write this check every month anyway? And doesn’t God care about taking care of our families? That money could certainly be used to help them. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Or at least those are some of the things I have told myself. But I was struck this week by the simple truth that tithing is not about the money. I may try to make it about the money, but it’s really not. It’s certainly not about the money to God, cause I’m pretty sure He’s doing okay. His retirement plan isn’t in jeopardy. He’s not concerned about the state of His mutual funds. Not God – He doesn’t need my money.

In a much deeper way, it’s really not about the money for me either, or at least it’s not supposed to be. Just like most things in the Christian life, tithing is very little about the actual, physical act and much more about the spiritual significance behind that act. Tithing is very little about money, and very much about faith.

I believe that to continue to tithe – to be generous and giving even when you feel like you can’t afford it – is an act of faith. It is a statement by action that I believe God can be trusted. He told me to do this, and so I will do it because I believe He is wise and loving in what He commands. Therefore, because I believe in His goodness and wisdom and therefore I believe His ways are best, I will tithe.

I will tithe also because I believe in God’s power to provide. There’s alot that I could do with that money; and sometimes I feel like giving it away puts me in a position of need. That’s not a position I’m comfortable with, but that is a position where I must receive from God. Not a bad place to be.

Finally, I will tithe because I believe that God Himself is better than any of the stuff I could get with that money. It’s an act of faith to choose God over comfort because, well, He’s invisible. So I give away the money that could be used to make me more comfortable because I believe that God is better than any of those things.

Giving is more about faith than money; God is not a panhandler. He’s a character developer, and one that loves us too much to allow us to have a money addiction.

LIVING THE RESURRECTION LIFE

BY STEVE DUNN

Rebecca Pippert has written “...Christ came. He visited planet Earth—like a meteor from outer space that struck with such an impact that the world has never been the same since. But that was only the beginning. When the worst the world could muster–death–was brought down on him, he rose from the dead. Yes, he blasted it open, brushed it aside and now the entire universe will never be the same. Where once it was a claustrophobic death-locked cell, a gaping hole for freedom has been torn by the resurrection. Those two events, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, have changed everything.” from Hope Has Its Reasons, pp. 115

Last Sunday we talked about what that means.  For Christians it means, “we are living in the land of the dying heading for the land of the living.”  It means we have been delivered from the power and the penalty of sin.  For a time we must live in the presence of sin.  The wages of sin is death but because of Christ’s sacrifice of the Cross and God raising Him up on the third day, death does not define us nor does it have the last word.  We live fearless lives in a fear-dominated world because nothing will separate us from God, not even death.

We have power to live in this way because we have God’s resurrection power at work in and through us.  While most of the world is still powerless, along with Christ we will overcome it all.

The greatest tragedy is that so many Christians still live as if there were no resurrection.  That do not allow God’s transforming work to continue in their lives.  They do not choose to be the new creations God raised the up to be.

The whole world needs the power of resurrection.  The whole world is waiting for God’s people to demonstrate that power by living a resurrection life.

GOD WORKS

BY STEVE DUNN

There are two words for “time” in the Bible.  One is chronos, the other is kairos.  Roughly translated chronos is ordinary time.  It’s the time the digitally ticks away on the face of our cell phones, or in the bottom right corer of our computer, and in loudly ticking clocks in classrooms and church sanctuaries.  It is the time that measures our everyday existence.

Kairos is extraordinary time.  It is “period of time” in which something significant is taking shape and/or happening.  It may be a very brief period of a few days, or it may take an entire season to contain it.  It is a time pregnant with possibility.  It has a supernatural reality that demands our attention and our extraordinary offer to make the best of it.

In the Old Testament, kairos would be tied to the Men of Issachar.  We read about them in 1 Chronicles 12:32: “… men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do …”   We read about kairos time in Romans 5 where Paul tells us: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” – Romans 5:6

The Shippensburg First Church of God is in a kairos time.  The 14 year ministry of a pastor has ended and this is now the season of assessment, healing, re-focusing and commitment to the mission that is necessary to be able to be a healthy, mission-focused congregation so that the church will be able to recognize (and that person recognize) that this is who is to lead them in the next chapter of their lives.

People don’t tend to handle transition all that well.  We can grow impatient and rush through things without doing the hard work of uniting, of discernment, of strengthening that is needed to be a fruitful and faithful congregation on mission with Jesus.  Or we get fearful of the uncertainty and sometimes risk taking involved in this task.

That’s why my text for this Sunday was Romans 8:28. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according his purpose. When Paul writes these words he is not making simply a hopeful assertion.  He know from both his own life experience and the way that God has revealed Himself in the world that God works–and is at work in all things and at all times.  Nothing that happens to us or is said about us is beyond the soveriegn power of God to use for our good and the advancement of His kingdim.  But it is not a generalized promise or a vague affirmation that “love wins.”  It is a promise made to the people of God–the people God has called.  But it is only realized when we are living according to His purposes–because God does not work at cross-purposes with Himself.

In this kairos time we live and rest in the knowledge that God works for the good.  But we must live according to His purposes.  And when that it true, for the people of God, it is all good.

 

LIFE VERSE

Some of us speak of having LIFE VERSES.  These are passages of scripture that reflect our personal spiritual modus operandi.  It is an anchor to hold us fast to the Rock in the tides and torrents of life or a beacon that keeps drawing us towards a closer look at God as we navigate the seas of life engagement.  Mine is Romans 8:28.

What is your life verse?  What is the scriptural taproot through which you draw the Spirit’s daily sustenance?

THE TRUTH BEHIND “IT IS FINISHED”

The Truth Behind “It is finished.”
21 04 2011 BY BLAKE COFFEE

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

This is the time of year when we, as Christ followers, remember the three events which all happened within a few weeks of each other and which changed our world forever: the crucifixion, the resurrection, and Pentecost. Within the Christian world, different groups have tended to focus more on one of these events or another. In my particular flavor of Christianity, we tend to focus more on the resurrection than on the other two; so much so, in fact, that I sometimes lose the practical significance of either the crucifixion or of Pentecost. This week, as an exercise to help me balance this, I have been thinking a lot about the crucifixion.

In The Gathering this past Sunday, I challenged everyone to consider their daily routine, their life and their world without the crucifixion. What would it look like? What would it be like? It made for some interesting discussion, as we each began to come to grips with what the crucifixion means to us individually.

So, I have also been asking the same question with regard to the entire church. What does the crucifixion mean for us corporately? What would “church” look like without it? For me (so far) the picture is both simple and scary: there would be little forgiveness and there would be little grace. I believe that because, over and over again, scripture draws a clear and convincing connection between God’s forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of each other. Don’t ask me to explain it theologically–I cannot–but I strongly suspect that the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18 was intended to provide that explanation. Through the crucifixion, we have each been forgiven SO VERY MUCH. Who are we, then, to ever be unforgiving of a brother?

Establishing forgiveness is the very reason Christ came in the first place. Unconditional, unreasonable, unbelievable forgiveness is the very hallmark of this entire revolution we call Christianity. It is our mantra, i.e., the identifying characteristic by which Christ followers are known. The crucifixion gave us that…the resurrection did not and Pentecost did not (they gave us some other very important things).

So, when I read Christ’s words, “It is finished”, I can have confidence that, with the crucifixion, He really did accomplish the complete forgiveness of all sin which He set out to accomplish. There is no way I can enhance it and there is no way I can diminish it. Forgiveness really was accomplished once and for all with the crucifixion. And that single event ushered in the very forgiveness which we must extend to one another as well. They are inextricably intertwined. The church without the crucifixion is a church without forgiveness…any forgiveness at all…for anyone and by anyone…because our forgiveness of one another is absolutely connected to Christ’s forgiveness of us as accomplished on the cross.

I like that it is like that.

It is finished.
© Blake Coffee
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