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Daily Dose of Faith (6/18/2020) – Brick by Brick

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

(1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV)

Legos have been around my house for a decade now. My son turned 10 recently, and since his earliest days of playing with the big Duplo kind until the sophisticated sets he puts together now, he’s built some pretty amazing things out of Legos.

I remember, though, the earlier days when it was more fun (at least for the kids) to knock the Lego creations down than build them. For a dad, getting Lego bricks again is a chance to play, to build and impress the kids! But no sooner is that tower or small apartment building made than little wrecking balls come to destroy it brick by brick.

I’ve got to say, that’s what things feel like when I think deeply about our culture and time. We’ve seen values forged by God’s Word get knocked down and destroyed one principle at a time. Marriage, family, gender, those with disabilities, minority groups, police officers – these areas in particular, valued as each area or person is to God, has been and continues to be attacked. Our enemy Satan employs the same tactics that he always has with the same aim that he’s always shot for: the defilement of the image of God and the destruction of all God has said is right and good and beautiful. Satan is doing his work of destroying the foundations of God’s work brick by brick. We see his sinister work on the news every day.

Oh how terrifying it would be… if that was all that was going on.

But, God! God has dealt with the attacks of the enemy for millennia. He has seen brick by brick of His work pulled down through the earliest chapters of Genesis through Israel’s history, through the time of Jesus the Messiah on earth, to the current scene of the church. Yet God cannot be undone by the attacks of the enemy. The Apostle Paul was overwhelmed as he described the work of God to rebuild all things through Christ in the church.

Ephesians 2:13–14

[13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14] For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (ESV)

You see, the enemy is doing everything he can (and he’s got a full arsenal – Eph. 6:11) to destroy what God has said is good and right and holy. And just when it seemed like no one could put the pieces back together, that we’d been forced to continue fighting and hating one another, Jesus came! His work, among the many other things He accomplished, was to bring lost sinners near to God once again and to bring us sinners close together into one new body – the church.

Ephesians 2:19

[19] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, (ESV)

Out of the chaos of brokenness that is our country and the world we live in, Jesus continues to rescue people out and build them into something beautiful, good and holy. We are now fellow citizens and members of God’s own house. Brick by brick Jesus is building us into the display of what the whole world will look like one day when He’s done – beautiful, good and holy.

Some are asking right now, and understandably, what is our plan? We agree in the present that racism is evil and must be confronted, but what is the end game? While we do what we can on the social levels, the real work must begin in the household of God. What are we aiming for?

  • God’s work of reconciliation. If Jesus can reconcile Jews and Gentiles to God and each other who for thousands of years hated each other on every level, how can Jesus not do the lesser work of reconciling God’s people who separate for reasons of skin color?
  • Inclusion of all repentant sinners, regardless of their ethnicity or background. Key there is repentant sinners – repentance is the act of saying to God, “You’re right in your view of my life/my sin. I’m not able to control my life. I’ve made a wreck of it, and I’ve hurt others.” Repentance is beautiful, for it clears the life of sin’s power and acknowledges and hopes in the power of God.
  • Joyful worship and life together. Tough times won’t last forever. Someday God will make all things right and whole again. In the meantime we will laugh, sing, talk, listen, learn, hurt, weep and grieve together.

When the world sees love like that, they’ll marvel. And perhaps the Master Builder will get for Himself another brick to add to the building He’s making.

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Daily Dose of Faith (6/16/2020) – Race and Racism

How many races are there?

For clarification I’m not referring to the Tour De France, a marathon or an ironman competition. I’m talking about humanity. When it comes to human beings, how many races can they be divided into?

Ready for the answer?

One. That’s right: one race.

Sources outside of the church have affirmed this in recent years, but the Bible has made it clear from the beginning.

Acts 17:26 says, “And he [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth….”

The New King James version phrases the same verse this way: “He [God] has made from one blood every nation…”

One man. One blood.

That’s what the Human Genome Project can corroborate even if it can’t fully explain. All human DNA points back to a shared ancestry. While secular theorists claim it results from eons of evolutionary pairing down of the species, Bible believers know human ancestry began with one man, one blood. We all come from Adam and are descendants of one of the sons of Noah.

So if we are all one race, what then is racism?

Racism, as I understand the term, is the perpetuated lie that there are different races of people, some more important or valuable than others. This is an evil thought (Mark 7:21), sinful partiality (James 2:1-13) and hate (1 John 2:9-11; 1 John 3:15).

God created us all as humans, male and female, into His image. The color of our skin was never intended by God to be our defining mark or classification. Skin color was always meant by God to display His own unity in beautiful diversity. Sin marred that image in many ways, including the sin of classifying people into different “races.” There’s just no such thing, and the separating of people by distinct races perpetuates the sin against the image of God.

When referring to the sin of racism, remember that it is a sin of cutting up the image of God. It’s classifying some of worthy of inclusion and others as not. None of us are worthy of inclusion in the image of God, but that’s the honor He has nonetheless entrusted into every human being. We all have worth and value and should be treated with dignity, respect and honor.

One of the greatest images of the Civil Rights Movement, in my opinion, is the parade of black men wearing sandwich boards with the message, “I am a Man.” That’s spot on true to God’s Word. The truth has not changed. May God help us to honor the men and women in front of us with the dignity, respect and honor they are due as image bearers of God.

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Daily Dose of Faith (6/15/2020) – Listen up!

Reading the news headlines these days gives me a sensation that I’m drowning and can’t find something to grab onto to pull me out of the waters. That sounds overly dramatic, I realize. But the truth is that the varying opinions represented in reporting don’t lead me to firm convictions. Instead, the issues confronting our nation and the church become muddied in conflicting terms, labels and sides.

Yesterday our Lead Pastor shared the needed message that Love Listens. In order to make sense of the pain we know exists in this world, we need to take our cues from Jesus Christ and the Word He has given us. Only God’s Word makes sense of the world and all our problems. God’s Word is solid, and it’s the thing that helps pull me and you out of the waters of culture.

This week on the blog I will focus on terms that appear in the news and in culture and seek out the scriptures to help us gain biblically clarity, especially on the issue of racism in the United States. By doing this I know we will not marginalize the problems in our country but instead expose them with God’s light and truth so we can deal with what we find in the clear exposure of the Bible.

Jesus spoke to people with a muddied understanding of the world all the time. In Mark 7 Jesus spoke to the confusion caused by the Pharisees and their misrepresentation of God and His standards. In Mark 7:14–23 Jesus told a parable and applied it for the benefit of His confused disciples [words emphasized in bold by me]:

[14] And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: [15] There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” [17] And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. [18] And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, [19] since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) [20] And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (ESV)

The controversy in this passage was what counted as unclean and therefore defiling for the people of God. Jesus says here that foods do not defile. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you but what is already present in your sinful heart.

Jesus says in verse 14 “Hear me, all of you, and understand,” and that is a biblical evidence of what Pastor Sam shared yesterday: we must position ourselves to be discipled by Jesus Christ. When Jesus emphasizes the need to hear, we need to listen up!

Jesus responds to His disciples in verse 18 with “Are you also without understanding?” This reminds me that being a Christ-follower does not mean I automatically connect all the dots and have proper insight into the controversies in front of me. 

Jesus teaches that the controversies around us take backstage to the true conflict inside of us. The true problem we face today is the problem of the heart. In verse 21 Jesus lists several heart-issued sins that result in outward defilement. Today we need to see the first sin on that list: evil thoughts. All of our problems begin in the heart, stew in our evil thinking and then result on the outside with defilement. I’ve seen this past week how the evil we call racism begins in the heart and is more accurately called evil thoughts. These evil thoughts include any opinions held that support the divide of people based on the color of their skin.

Let’s be careful that we not get overwhelmed by the flood of terms confronting us today. On the one hand, is there racism around the world and particularly in the United States? Yes. Is racism the main trouble that we have? No. The deeper issue is the evil thoughts that come from hearts that want to sin. Evil thoughts that end up in racist opinions and words are defiling. We all have them as part of the indwelling sin that we deal with. Our hope is that Jesus will continue to boldly expose evil thoughts within us, help us to confess them and to cleanse us as we seek to listen to Him and listen to others.

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Daily Dose of Faith (6/12/2020) – Humble Minds

Today’s blog prayer is written by Tony Sims, husband and dad, church member and deacon and servant leader on the West Park Prayer Leadership Team.

1 Peter 3:8 – Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (ESV)

Heavenly Father,

What an awesome Father you are to your children. You are a Father of light in whom there is no darkness at all.  You declare us as your children to participate in your kingdom.  Lord, we understand that we are a fallen people and do not represent you as we should in this dark world.  The choices and stances we often take bring shame to you and how we affect our brothers and sisters in Christ.  You are clear in your Word that we are to humble ourselves under your mighty hand that we may be exalted by you at the proper time.

Our nation, government, media, social networking, and families are suffering from a lack of humbling ourselves before you.  We fail miserably in listening to others who are hurting during a time when the “author of confusion,” our enemy, is at work.  Father, we choose to listen to the many voices around us in the world and refuse to even attempt to look through the lens of others as to how our actions impact your kingdom which includes our brothers and sisters in Christ who you dearly love.  You boldly asked us not to be conformed to this world but be transformed through your Word.  We humbly ask that you help us to see how you value love in all our relationships.  The only way that we as brothers and sisters in Christ can show the world that we are your image bearers is that we show love that is active and not passive.

Thank you, Father, how you demonstrated love through Jesus during His ministry on earth.  Your attention was on the marginalized, the rejects of society, the oppressed, those who had no voices and the disqualified.  Your Word says that you came to set at liberty those who are oppressed.  Give us sensitive ears and humble minds and hearts to see how our choices and fallenness impact your intentions for your kingdom.  We understand that suffering precedes glory as it has been demonstrated by the prophets of old, the apostles, many saints before us and, most importantly, by Jesus who suffered for us and now is glorified. Help us to be poor in spirit, mourners, meek, willing to comfort others, peacemakers, merciful, pure in heart, and to hunger and thirst for righteousness in this world.

We need you to please give our church leaders your Word that will spark a spirit of humility in the behavior of your people.  Help us to understand it is not about us, but it is all about you.  Father, help us to remember that this world is not our home and we are only pilgrims passing through.  While we are here, help us to follow your example by having a humble, open mind towards you and especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Help us to love you with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves in fulfillment of your command.  Forgive us for not loving our neighbors and for not taking on the mind of Christ so that your name will be glorified throughout this world.  Now, Father, we commit our hearts and all our thoughts to pleasing you because of what you did for all of us through your Son at Calvary, by humbly taking on our sins to make us right with you.  It is in Jesus’ precious name we ask these things.  Amen

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Daily Dose of Faith (6/11/2020) – Tender Hearts

1 Peter 3:8 – Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (ESV)

A Prayer for Today:

Most Holy Father, 

You shower us daily with love and care from the abundance of your tender heart. Even as we pursue Peter’s command, we cannot begin by our actions to scratch the surface of Your infinite tenderness. You did not leave us to wallow in our lost state, for in tenderness of heart You sent Jesus for our great need of forgiveness. We believe You change not, so Your tenderness will minister to us still today. We need You, Father. 

Jesus, our Lord, You understand the world of men. You who lived among us know our tendency toward closed hearts… hard hearts. Where You constantly met the needs of others who came to You for help, we tend to close ourselves off from others, not wanting the inconvenience of feeling their pain. We are guilty of making excuses so that we feel less guilty when we leave the suffering of our fellow man unaddressed. Forgive us for our hard-hearted apathy. Yet in the wonder of grace we receive Your forgiveness and cleansing for even this sin! You are so faithful to us in Your tender love. 

Holy Spirit, please help us to live the good life that Peter describes in this verse. It is the good life of following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus: He who loves with such tender-hearted love. Help us to see the needs of those around us and be softened. Help us to pray for those on our screens protesting right now, seeing their needs for which they cry and praying for their greater need of Christ their only Hope. Help us to see our law enforcement officers fulfilling their duty with the tender heart of Christ. Their service in these days is crucial, and we pray You would grant our believing brothers and sisters in the police force and military with tender hearts for those in front of them. 

God, grant that we as a church would have tender hearts toward one another. Make us like You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.