A Thought For The Week Of October 28

No Scripture this week. I want to think about some words from a very old and very wonderful hymn: "I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see." I don't know about you, but I see a lot of lost people in the world, who just don't see to know where they're going, where they should be going, and they often don't give much thought to where God wants them to go. Aren't we all like that sometimes? Stumbling, groping our way forward, sometimes even fearful - burdened by the past, overwhelmed by the present, apprehensive about the future. A lot of people live every day like that; most of us feel that way at least every now and then. But then comes Jesus - the light of the world; the light of God that no darkness can ever extinguish. And when we trust Jesus, suddenly we don't seem quite so lost anymore. Because, after all, isn't Jesus "the way." And is that anything more than saying that He's the road to follow; the path that will bring us to God. Not Christianity, not the Church; not assent to a particular set of doctrines. Just Jesus, guiding us, and suddenly bringing us into the light, out of the darkness in which we were lost. Jesus. The way. That's what it's all about. Have a great week!

October 27 sermon - The Key To Reformation

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:15-23)

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     It's been said that the only things in this world that never change are the things that are already dead.  Which makes me wonder sometimes why the church is so resistant to change. Ongoing change is a sign of life. When we're willing to do things in new ways and try new things and take some chances we also show that we're alive. Which we should be. We're the body of Christ – and we believe that Christ Himself is alive and well. There's a lot of talk going on in the church of the modern world about what the future holds for the church. To a lot of people, it doesn't look very bright. We worry about attendance, we worry about membership, we worry about finances. When we start to feel overwhelmed by the problems we face, we're tempted to “circle the wagons” so to speak, and simply hang on for dear life in the face of the challenges that confront us. And when we do that, it's so easy for us to lose sight of what we're about; of what's important; of what really matters; of what makes us the church. And we end up all too often not looking like the church. We become a religious club, that talks a lot but believes very little. Or we become a fund-raising organization whose goal is simply to find the money to hang on for a little while longer. Either way, we drain the life of the gospel out of ourselves. But it's something the church has always struggled with.

     Did you know that today is Reformation Sunday? Protestants mark this day (the last Sunday in October) to honour the reformers of the church of long ago – people such as Martin Luther, who saw a church that was becoming a shadow of itself – rife with internal corruption and squabbling; consumed with money and power; quickly losing sight of the gospel and of the example of Christ – and decided that something had to be done. Luther probably didn't expect or want his ideas to actually split the church. If Luther had had his way, we'd probably all be celebrating Mass today in a reformed Roman Catholic Church. But whether things turned out the way he wanted them to or not, he did identify the problem – a lack of focus by the church on Christ and gospel, with the things of the world – money and power – substituting for them. Almost 500 years after Luther's death – what would he think of those of us who stand at least partially within his legacy? Would he be pleased, or would he immediately set out on another project of reformation? I wonder.

     In Ephesians we read that “he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” You see, for all the challenges we face and as much as it sometimes feels as if we're living in a constant, never-ending whirlpool of change in the society around us, one of the great ironies is that they key to reformation for the church is the One about whom Scripture declared “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

     How can the one who never changes be the engine for change in the church? The reformers of the church all understood that unless their reforms were founded on the unchanging Jesus Christ, nothing they did would work. Even the opponents of Jesus knew that. As the chief priests and rabbis watched the movement around Jesus begin to grow and they debated how to stop it, the best advice they received was from a rabbi named Gamaliel, who said basically, “leave it alone. If it's of God it can't be stopped. If it's not of God it won't go anywhere.” He was a wise man. The key to reformation in the church is to follow the unchanging Jesus Christ – simply because He cannot be stopped. We get so consumed by our fights and our arguments and our disagreements and our debates and our doctrinal differences. But why? Whatever the issue is that gets us upset - if it's of God it can't be stopped, and if it's not of God it won't succeed. So why don't we just be the church.

     The church in whatever form it exists at whatever point in time and in whatever place might be stopped. It might decline. It might even die. But from death always comes resurrection, and if we are the body of Christ, as Ephesians declares, then we have nothing to fear about the future. I get so distressed sometimes when I hear the laments about the future of the church – because those laments are so un-gospel, even anti-gospel. They're based on hopelessness. They're based on the feeling that nothing can ever get better. They're based on the idea that the church is on a one-way death spiral with no way to get out of it. But what is that? That's hopelessness. And why should we be hopeless? Why should we as a church (and I'm not talking just about us – I'm talking about the entire church) be so afraid of what the future holds. We follow Jesus, who died and was resurrected! What is there to fear? Why should there be fear? When you follow a living Lord who never changes, why should there be anything other than hope?

     Sometimes I get asked by people, “what's the biggest challenge facing the church today?” And people expect me to respond with something like, “declining attendance,” or “aging membership,” or “increasing deficits.” None of which are the stuff that the church is really about; none of which come even close to defining what the biggest challenge facing the church is. Those are worldly concerns; worldly measures of success or failure, of health or sickness. But the church's well-being can't be judged in worldly terms. No way. It just can't be. Now if I say this at a meeting, I'll be immediately told that “we have to run the church like a business.” Excuse me? No – we don't. That's not what the church is. A simple look at the cross reminds us that it's not about profit and loss, surplus or deficit. The church's well-being is judged on whether or not we're faithfully fulfilling our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ. Are we growing into Christ-likeness. Are we doing his ministry. Are we not concerned about what the results seem to be right now, but are we simply doing what God calls us to do – which is not looking out for our own survival, but which is faithfully giving of ourselves and even sacrificing ourselves completely if that's what we're called to. Because that's what Jesus did! Jesus gave himself completely to the point of crucifixion and death; the church too often fights to save itself and stay alive for a few more years. Where's the proclamation of the gospel in that, I wonder? The biggest challenge facing the church today is hopelessness. It's a lack of trust in the gospel. It's the inability to believe that there's nothing to fear, simply because there is Christ, and that no matter what happens to us, we will overcome – simply because Christ overcame.

     The great reformers of the church, from Martin Luther onward, knew that for the church to truly be the church it would constantly have to risk itself rather than try to save itself, if only because “whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever gives their life for Christ's sake will gain it.” And they knew that they followed a living Lord who constantly challenged society, who constantly pushed the people of God out of their comfort zones, who confidently faced those who opposed Him and stood firm in His determination to do the will of God at whatever cost. They followed a Lord who stood out in the crowd, and they were willing to stand up and be counted too!

     If we want the church to be constantly reforming – which we have to be if we want to remain at all relevant to the fast-changing society around us – then the key for us is to do what Jesus did. Stand out in the crowd and stand up for God. Stand with those who so desperately need to know the love of God. Why did Jesus attract so much negative attention? Why was He crucified? Why did He die? He was a friend to tax collectors and Romans and prostitutes and children and women – all the people who stood at the bottom of society's pile. And He loved them – no matter what society thought. He simply loved them. He didn't care what it cost Him to do that. He just loved them. He only cared what He gave to others by doing that. And then there's the church. The body of Christ – but so often filled not with love but with judgment.

     “Jesus Led Me All The Way” was what we heard sung earlier in our service. The question for me is not whether Jesus leads. It's whether we're actually willing to pay the price involved in following, or whether we're just interested in getting by for as long as we can. As a reformed and still reforming church – that's the key to our own reformation and to our own future!

A Thought For The Week Of October 21

"What is truth?" Pilate asked. (John 18:38a) That's a good question - and a surprisingly complicated one. We probably think of "truth" as being simple honesty. "Always tell the truth," is what we tell our children. Of course, even that can be complicated. Do we really tell our neighbours how ugly their new car is? Let's face it, if "truth" is nothing more than just telling it like it is, then most of us aren't truthful - at least not all the time. Nor would we want to be. Being completely truthful would probably damage a lot of our friendships! But truth is much deeper than that. That understanding of "truth" seems to relegate "truth" to the status of facts. "Here are the facts. The provable, indisputable facts." But "truth" is far more than just "facts." "Truth" is wisdom and understanding and depth. At times, when I've commented on Pilate's question, I've been a bit contemptuous of the man. But maybe he was on to something. "What is truth?" Maybe it isn't something we ever really figure out - in this life anyway. Maybe it's a question that simply spurs us onward in the journey, as we seek to discover more about life, more about faith, more about God. And the ultimate truth, of course, is Jesus: the one who finally reveals God to us and brings us to God. Be a constant seeker of truth. Don't ever start to think that you've got it all. Have a great week!

October 20 sermon - When Bad Turns Out For Good

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:18-30)

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     There's a well-known story about Chippie the parakeet. He was simply minding his own business and signing his song one day when his owner decided to clean out his cage with the vacuum cleaner. The phone rang and the lady went to answer it and that was when things began to go horribly wrong for little Chippie. With Chippie's owner gone, the vacuum cleaner sucked up the little bird and sent him to the dust bag. Realizing what had happened the woman tore open the vacuum and ripped apart the bag to find little Chippie, fearing the worst. But Chippie wasn't dead. He was just stunned and covered with dust. The woman decided that he needed to be revived and so she ran to the bathroom sink. She turned the water on and stuck Chippie under the flow. Now Chippie was cold and wet from the sudden bath. So the owner decided to dry the bird off - but not with a towel. She got out her hair dryer to blow-dry the poor feathered creature, put it on full blast and Chippie went a-tumblin'. In the course of just a few minutes, Chippie went from being sucked up, to being nearly drowned to being blown over. His owner was asked by a friend a few weeks later how Chippie was doing. She replied: “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore, he just sits and stares.” I wonder why! But does it sound at all familiar? Life comes at us at a furious pace and a lot of it isn't good and we get blind-sided just like poor Chippie. One moment we don’t have a care in the world and the next we get sucked up by trials, problems and difficulties. And they take over. And they can blind us to the presence of goodness.    

     In a world full of bad things that happen – from the international stage to the every day lives of every day people like us – wouldn't it be nice to be able to believe that all these bad things somehow turn out in a good way? And yet, sometimes and in some situations that can sound rather trite and patronizing, can't it. If you go up to a person who's facing some type of difficult or challenge or hardship or burden and you say to them, “don't worry – it will all work out for the best,” don't you ever wonder how the person to whom the comment is directed feels? “Sure it will. Sure.” And yet, we have all sorts of ways of saying the same thing. “It will all work out for the best.” “Everything happens for a reason.” “If life hands you a lemon, turn it into lemonade.” And, of course, there were the words Paul wrote: “... in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” “All things” must mean the bad things too. Gee, God, thanks. In a lot of ways all of those different kinds of advice that all say the same basic thing  can be just a little bit irritating. Put yourself in the shoes of the one hearing it. “Yeah, buddy, but you don't know my problems.” In most cases – that's probably true enough, isn't it. But – I do know God; at least a little bit. And when I think about God, I start to be able to understand what's being said.

     God is good. That's one of the things we trust and believe, isn't it? God is good. Always good. In every way. Psalm 100 says “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” It is the goodness of God more than anything else that makes us thankful. It isn't what God does for us that makes us thankful. It isn't what God gives us that makes us thankful. It's who and what God is that makes us thankful.  Good is good and God is love. And it's in that very nature of God that we begin to see the hopes that words like Paul's in Romans (and some of the other sometimes trite-sounding phrases that get bandied about) aren't trite-sounding at all. They're a reflection of reality; they're based on what we believe to be the very nature of God.

     God is good. And God's goodness is enough to overcome whatever “bad” may come into our lives. That doesn't mean, of course, that God takes away our troubles and our problems and our challenges. Some people face these hardships in life, and they start to question God, because they think faith should be a magic wand, driving all troubles away. But it isn't so. But it also doesn't mean that God causes them. Some people seem to have a very fatalistic view of God. Bad things are explained away as “it was God's will” - as if that makes everything better, when all it really does is paint a picture of God as a cruel monster, who deliberately causes His people to suffer. But if God neither causes our problems, nor takes them away, then we have to find the middle choice – God uses those problems to bring us to a deeper understanding.

     One of the main problems we face is that the bad things that happen can blind us to the goodness around us. They can blind us even to the goodness of God. Perhaps that's why Hebrews calls us so emphatically to “keep [our] eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” - because if we let our eyes slip away and begin to focus on that which isn't good, then we also lose sight of God. One of our problems, I suspect, is that we equate “goodness” with “good” things happening. If bad things happen, good gets drowned out, and so does the idea of a good God. But perhaps that misses the point. C.S. Lewis, in a book called The Problem Of Pain, wrote that “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” It is the very presence of our pains that inspires God's people to their greatest works of goodness – works of goodness that reflect the good God who inspires and guides us.

     Some say that one thing can only be understood and appreciated in relation to its opposite. If there is no “hot,” then we can't really understand the concept of “cold.” In the same way, if there is no “bad,” then we can't really understand the concept of “good.” It's the bad things that happen – the troubling, challenging, hurtful things - that turn our attention to the need for good. It's those very trials and hardships faced by us and by so many all over the world that serve to propel us to becoming God's own agents in trying to hold out a vision of hope. You see, to me the goodness of God isn't displayed in simply God doing good things and magically making all the bad stuff disappear. The goodness of God is displayed in the hope we have that things can be better, that challenges can be overcome, that problems do not have to defeat us. The goodness of God is displayed in the hope Paul spoke of in Romans: “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

     When Paul writes that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him ...” he isn't saying that God is causing or even using the bad things that happen as a part of some sadistic divine plan. He's saying that the goodness of God will eventually triumph over the bad things that happen. He's saying that hope exists – even when things seem to be at their most hopeless.

A Thought For The Week Of October 14

"I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever." (Psalm 86:12) Today was Thanksgiving Day in Canada. It is, in some ways, a strange idea - that we would have to set aside a special day to give thanks, as if giving thanks shouldn't simply come naturally to us every day we live. But I guess that sometimes we need reminders even to do what should be the most obvious things. It's interesting that in this country - which often seems so secular - Thanksgiving Day has a specific reference to God. In the Proclamation of our Parliament, dated January 31, 1957, it was announced that there would be "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October." We do give thanks to God for the harvest, of course, but there's so much more to it than just that. What do we have that doesn't find its origins in God? Food, friends, family, faith - all blessings from God. Maybe that's why the Bible also gives us constant reminders to be thankful. The Psalms are full of verses like Psalm 86:12; it's just one of many reminders that the various psalmists offered to keep us ever mindful of the goodness, grace and generosity of our God. Today may be Thanksgiving Day - a holiday. But every day should be a day of thanksgiving - a holy day dedicated to God, in which we remember and give thanks for God's presence in our lives. have a great week!

October 13 sermon - Let Thanksgiving Overflow

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:13-18)

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     Holidays are all about traditions, and like most people, I have a few of my own. On Thanksgiving weekend – at least for the last few years – my thoughts are directed toward sump pumps! You might wonder what would cause me to think about sump pumps on Thanksgiving Sunday! But I do have my reasons. I think back to 8 years ago on Thanksgiving weekend. It was our first Thanksgiving weekend here in Port Colborne – and it was cold! Thanksgiving Day started out with a massive snowstorm – one that I might have expected if we had remained up north, but that I certainly wasn't expecting in Niagara. The snow fell, and it piled up pretty quickly. There wasn't much point in shoveling because as fast as I tried to shovel the snow would just pile up again. Then, as evening approached, the temperature suddenly started to rise. The heavy snowstorm turned into a torrential rainstorm. The snow began melting very quickly – much faster than it could drain away – and the rain kept coming down. Eventually we discovered that our sump pump simply hadn't been able to keep up with the storm. It overflowed. Our first Thanksgiving in Port Colborne was marked by cleaning out a flooded basement caused by a sump pump that overflowed. And it got me thinking as I contemplated Thanksgiving 2013. The Bible says that “thanksgiving [should] ... overflow to the glory of God.” I wonder what that means?

     It's such a glorious image, isn't it. Thanksgiving that actually overflows! In a way it seems so far removed from our modern society, doesn't it. I find that we don't live in a very thankful society or a very thankful age. Some people call it the me-first society, or the entitlement generation. A culture that thinks they've “earned” things and really have no need to say “thank you” for them. A culture that's very obsessed with “rights” but often seems to forget that with “rights” come “responsibilities,” and that it's the willingness to accept the responsibilities that is at least one way of showing that we're thankful for the rights. And when you have an entire culture that often seems to be pushing the message that you “deserve” this and that you're “entitled” to that and that you have a “right” to something else, it's also easy to start to get the idea that there's nothing to really be thankful for. In a way it's unfortunate that we even need to have a special holiday called “Thanksgiving” because implicitly at least it seems to give the impression that this is our day to be thankful and the other 364 days of the year we don't have to worry about giving thanks! I would hope that for Christians at least, that's not good enough. Not at all! Our hope is that thanksgiving will “overflow to the glory of God.” And that word “overflow” strikes me as important. It's something that can't be stopped. By overflowing, it overwhelms. It's uncontrollable. It should be happening every day and every moment.

     Now, I can't comment on how well we all remember to do it, but I suspect that most of us who are here today have more than enough reason to be thankful. I'm sure we all have problems and challenges and hurdles to overcome, but nevertheless God showers rich blessings upon each day of our lives. Think of the people you love and the people who love you. Think of God’s provision for our daily needs. Think of our families and friends. Think of our freedom. These are just a few of the treasures that immediately come to mind when we contemplate thanksgiving – and why we should offer it. But the greatest, most earth-shattering blessing we have received is God’s grace through Jesus Christ. As Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians, the grace that reaches more and more people should result in an overflow of thanksgiving to God’s glory!

     Here's yet another reminder – as thankful as we are (or at least as thankful as we should be) even thanksgiving isn't about us; it's about others. It's about sharing the news of what God has done for us through Jesus with such passion and with such joy and with such passion and with such conviction, that this divine grace that has worked its way inside us and hopefully transformed our lives will do the same thing for others. And then they'll become thankful, and share the same news, and it will reach others – and so on, and so forth, and the message of God's grace will spread, and thus we have this explosion of thanksgiving, overflowing “to the glory of God.”

     I look at the first couple of verses of the passage we read this morning: “It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.” If we truly want to reflect on the fact that it's acknowledging the responsibilities that accompany our rights that reminds us to be truly thankful, then these words remind us of what our responsibilities as disciples of Jesus are. To understand the goodness of God, to reach out to the world around us with that goodness, and to share what we've been blessed with as a result of that goodness. Thanksgiving has a way of multiplying what we have. To be truly a people of thanksgiving means to discover that for all the things we may want, we already have far more than perhaps we realized. To be truly a people of thanksgiving means to discover that the people who are a part of our lives are more important than the things we possess in getting us through the hard times. To be truly a people of thanksgiving means to realize that all this comes from God. Thanksgiving begins to overflow simply when we take a step back and simply realize what we already have, The truth is that when you believe in God, thanksgiving and overflowing go together. With God things inevitably overflow: laughter overflows, joy overflows, love overflows, faith overflows. The “things” we have are nothing; but the God whose we are is everything.

     “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” And when we're finally able to see those “unseen” things – thanksgiving begins to overflow, and as we share, the overflowing can't be stopped.

A Thought For The Week Of October 7

"A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26) A couple of hundred years ago, the German writer Jean Paul Richter wrote that "God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul." The prophet Ezekiel suggested that one of the works of God for God's people would be to bring about a change of heart - transforming hearts of stone (cold, hard, unbending) and turning them into hearts of flesh (warm, alive, feeling.) This would be done by God giving us a new spirit - not the Holy Spirit, I don't think, but rather a new attitude and outlook on life that comes as a result of our faith. Almost a new "me" and a new "you" - freed from worries and fears, and opened to the working of God around us and among us and even within us. I believe Richter might have been reflecting if not on the words of Ezekiel, at least on the same principle. If we truly and fully open ourselves to God, the only possible result can be a totally transformed life, committed to God, and to the well-being of all those around us. That "unutterable sigh" is the sense of complete peace and contentment that God fills us with. We cannot fully comprehend the love and grace of God - nor can we fully comprehend why it's poured out for us. We can only marvel. Words do not do it justice. We are God's. We know this in the depths of our souls. Have a great week!