This is quite a perplexing question. Last night we thought about this question and went to the Word of God to find answers. So who is He? During our discussion time, I brought up an interesting point concerning why people don't like church or Christianity. Now we all know that there are people in the world who claim that they do not believe in God, yet at the same time we see that they actually do believe in a god, whether that god is in some religion or in themselves. Looking out over our generation it's easy to see many who are disillusioned with the church. Why? Well, I think it isn't so much that they do not believe in God but that they have a hard time believing in the Church. Just ask someone you know that used to attend church why they stopped. Most of the time they are going to tell you a story of how someone from the church wronged them or they discovered hypocrisy in the church. It takes a lot of faith to believe in the church does it not? One of the most historic creeds of the church is the Apostle's Creed. This creed was used to summarize the message of the Bible, the Gospel. This Creed was very important; it was so important that people had to recite it at baptism. There is a phrase at the end of the creed that usually gets overlooked or gives people the heeby geebies because of their association with the terminology. The Creed begins with 'I believe,' so everything that comes after that is prefixed with 'I believe.' The last section of the Creed states 'I believe...in the holy catholic church.' Did you hear that? They had to state that they believe in the church! Now here is my disclaimer, 'catholic' is definitely not referring to the Roman Catholic church, rather it is meaning 'universal church.'Now I want you to know that by no means am I seeking to bash the church, the beautiful bride of Christ. Rather I love her and want to see her become more beautiful. I do recognize that I am counted among that number in the bride of Christ, and I love her. Therefore, I want to call her to that attention. When we ask the question 'Who is God?' we are not going to find an exhaustive answer, but rather we are quickly going to find out more about ourselves. We are the church, the called out ones from every tongue and tribe and nation, all over the world. We are called to literally be the body of Christ. Do you get that? We are His body here on earth and He is our head. He moves us, His body parts, by telling us what to do and how to conduct ourselves through His Word and His Spirit. So how are you doing? Are living out the call on your life? Can people around you say, 'Yes, that guy/girl is definitely part of the church?
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Saturday, July 14, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Entranced
The other day a friend of mine asked me how I was doing. "Good!" was my reply. This is a typical reply, that many people use, it was quick and sharp not allowing for much room for another question. Then he pried a little deeper and asked what I did that afternoon. So with a great feeling of accomplishment I rattled off all that I had accomplished. I was even amazed at what I had done, I mean, my time management was astounding, I thought. But I was tired and empty. So Ben said he had just what I needed and handed me a letter he received in the mail that afternoon. "I certainly do not have time to read this.....ever!" I thought. So I glanced at it and the message of the letter caught my eye. Jon Bloom from Desiring God titled his letter 'Enthralled: The Secret to Doing What Matters Most.' He explains the text of Luke 10:38-42; , when Jesus went to dine at Martha and Mary's home.
Bloom points out an important exchange between Martha and Jesus, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Jesus replies “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Like Martha, I had been living like the completion of my tasks were most necessary. But that is not the point that Jesus is getting at. The problem is not that I was busy doing things rather then stopping and listening to Jesus or something like that. But the problem is deeper. The problem lies within, my heart, namely, my motive. So what was my motivation for doing so much and trying to accomplish the seeming impossible goals? It was like Martha's; a motive of prideful self-exultation, and self-love! My motive was not love for God, and therefore, not love for others. Rather, it was love for myself. Love for how people view me, and I wanted to keep that up so I could feel good about myself. This is an out-right self-exultation masquerade with hard-working, productive completion of tasks. The drive is the want of praise from men. The reason I was anxious was because of my fear of losing admirers.
Bloom then moves to speak about Mary. Why was Mary not distracted? It is because she was entranced with the Messiah! She knew that He was the source of Living Water and the Bread of Life. Thus she sat there drinking deeply and eating with satisfaction from the Lord. It is apparent what Mary's motive or purpose for living is, chiefly, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see people order their lives around what they treasure most; what they love most. Martha ordered her life around tasks and what gave her self-worth. Thus one can say that she loved her self, her purpose was her self. Mary only cared about the Lord who is her source of life. He is who she loved. Therefore, people like Martha are at best working in vain and at worst wasting their lives. Thus I am guilty of wasting my own life. However, the savior is mercifully whispering to me to come and drink from Him, He is the only one that truly satisfies. We must sit at the feet of Jesus and recognize Him for what and who He is. He is life, and we must be entranced with Him! Are you entranced with Christ? Does the way in which you have ordered your life show you what you are truly entranced with? Jesus calmly rebuked Martha. And He does the same to us. If you feel anxious about your life and the tasks you think you must accomplish, just stop and sit at the feet of the Jesus and drink deeply. Be entranced with the Savior, and may your life defined as a gospel entranced life.
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus [1] entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. [2] Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Bloom points out an important exchange between Martha and Jesus, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Jesus replies “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Like Martha, I had been living like the completion of my tasks were most necessary. But that is not the point that Jesus is getting at. The problem is not that I was busy doing things rather then stopping and listening to Jesus or something like that. But the problem is deeper. The problem lies within, my heart, namely, my motive. So what was my motivation for doing so much and trying to accomplish the seeming impossible goals? It was like Martha's; a motive of prideful self-exultation, and self-love! My motive was not love for God, and therefore, not love for others. Rather, it was love for myself. Love for how people view me, and I wanted to keep that up so I could feel good about myself. This is an out-right self-exultation masquerade with hard-working, productive completion of tasks. The drive is the want of praise from men. The reason I was anxious was because of my fear of losing admirers.
Bloom then moves to speak about Mary. Why was Mary not distracted? It is because she was entranced with the Messiah! She knew that He was the source of Living Water and the Bread of Life. Thus she sat there drinking deeply and eating with satisfaction from the Lord. It is apparent what Mary's motive or purpose for living is, chiefly, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see people order their lives around what they treasure most; what they love most. Martha ordered her life around tasks and what gave her self-worth. Thus one can say that she loved her self, her purpose was her self. Mary only cared about the Lord who is her source of life. He is who she loved. Therefore, people like Martha are at best working in vain and at worst wasting their lives. Thus I am guilty of wasting my own life. However, the savior is mercifully whispering to me to come and drink from Him, He is the only one that truly satisfies. We must sit at the feet of Jesus and recognize Him for what and who He is. He is life, and we must be entranced with Him! Are you entranced with Christ? Does the way in which you have ordered your life show you what you are truly entranced with? Jesus calmly rebuked Martha. And He does the same to us. If you feel anxious about your life and the tasks you think you must accomplish, just stop and sit at the feet of the Jesus and drink deeply. Be entranced with the Savior, and may your life defined as a gospel entranced life.
Friday, June 8, 2007
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