Humility Month Day 1: We Bear God’s Image

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

Good morning! Welcome to August. Grab a Bible (or your phone) and work through the practice below. Do all or part. Whatever you can get through is grace. May the Lord bless you and make you aware of his nearness.

— Praise: (1)
Almighty God, we begin this journey toward humility with prayer.
You are the sovereign God who holds our future.
You are the suffering God who knows our pain.
You are the creator God who made us in your image. You tell us who we are.
You are the covenant God who claims us. You make us your children. You make us family.
You are the God of grace who forgives our sins and restores our souls.
You are the God of truth who gives light to our path, who shows us the way.
We come to you through Jesus Christ asking that you would
Teach us and remind us who we are and who you are God.

— Scripture:
Lord, help us hear your word:
Genesis 1:26-31

— Answer these three questions:
What does this passage say about God?
What does this passage say about people?
As a result of this reading, what is one step God is inviting you to take?
Who is one person you will tell about that step today?

— Response: (2)
You despise nothing you have made,
You forgive the sins of all who are sorrowful who long to repent.
Create in us new and humble hearts,
that, truly repenting of our sins and acknowledging our brokenness,
we may obtain from you, God of all mercy, full pardon and forgiveness,
through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.

And now, Lord, by the same Spirit, empower us to take the single step you have called us to.

— Devotional: (3)
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

(1) Original
(2) The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources
(3) ― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

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When Heaven Comes to Earth

Posted on April 20, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

We pray regularly, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.” When we pray that, we are praying for heaven to come to earth.

Imagine with me what heaven coming to earth would be like. 

When heaven comes to earth, fear and anxiety take flight.  When heaven comes to earth, people are valued because God values them.  When heaven comes to earth children are cared for and protected; they receive lavish love because Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” 

When heaven comes to earth, needs are met, forgiveness reigns, people love across differences, grace overcomes every divide, and money and power are used in ways that bring joy, meeting needs and always, always honoring God. 

When heaven comes to earth, no one drinks to forget, no one takes drugs to escape, and no one takes their own life.  When heaven comes to earth, no one beats up helpless people and posts it on the internet.  There’s no corona, no cancer, and no one saying, “How tragic.”  There is no despair, no cruelty, and no abuse of power.  There is no hunger, no sweatshops, no human trafficking, no injustice of any kind. 

When heaven comes to earth families are sustained and supported, people find welcome, abundance,  and the relentless practice of kindness. Generations meet at a common table, virtue is passed on, understood, appreciated, and celebrated.

When heaven comes to earth, people thrive.  Courage, hope, faith, love, and joy characterize each day.  No one suffers alone.  No one cries alone.  No one dies alone. 

When heaven comes to earth, faith is not lost, hope is not given up, and love does not, does not fail – because, by the grace of God the Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit, by the victory of Jesus – heaven has come to earth.

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Let’s talk about God’s Word.

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

When Jesus was tempted, he pretty famously told the Devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone…”  Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3.  We “don’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”    The verse tells us that we human beings need more than food to live – to really live.  Yes, you can stay alive if you eat, but to really live we need more.  Deuteronomy said, and Jesus said, we need the Word of God to live.

What is the Word of God?

Classically, Christian theology taught there was a threefold form of the Word of God.  But before I unpack that, let me just say a bit about the biblical words that are often translated “Word”.  The Hebrew is dabar.   Dabar Adonai – over and over again.  It means, “Thus says the Lord” or as Eugene Peterson put it: God’s decree.  In Genesis that all things were created by God’s Word, God’s decree, because “Thus says the Lord.”.  In Isaiah, we read that God’s Word accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent out. There’s something powerful about God’s Word.  In the Psalms, God’s Word tastes sweeter than honey and it is a a “lamp unto my feet” revealing things that might trip us up, and a “light to my path” showing the way. The Word reveals God and God’s ways.  In the New Testament Greek, Word is Logos.  The Greek philosophers, I’ve been told, loved that word.  It’s the central idea, the most elemental principle. It’s the very heart of reason.  In the beginning of John’s gospel, he says, “in the beginning was the Word.  And the Word was with God.  And the Word was God! 

What is the Word of God?

Clearly, this concept means a lot in the Bible.  And there’s a good reason for that.  God’s Word is how God reveals himself.  It’s how we come to know who God is, what God is like, what God thinks of us… we come to know who we are and how we’re supposed to live by God’s Word.

But what is God’s Word?  Okay – the threefold form of God’s Word.

The first form is God’s written Word.  This, of course, points to the Bible.  The Bible is essential for hearing from God.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit when we read the Bible.  People argue for the Bible and about the Bible all the time.  They use words like “inerrant” and “infallible”.  The Fundamentalists and the Liberals used to argue about such things to, frankly, an intolerable and unproductive degree.  I’m not going to revisit those arguments.  But let me point out that it is God who is inerrant.  It is God who is infallible.   If the Bible is as well, then any well-meaning, rational person who reads it would have to believe it.  But I have known people who were well-meaning, rational, who even seemed motivated to believe – they wanted to believe – but came away from the Bible unconvinced.  I’ve seen the opposite as well – people who read scripture not expecting to be changed, and they were.  One of the better-known stories there is the story of Nicky Gumble – who has led the Alpha Course for years.  He read the New Testament to find arguments to convince friends it wasn’t true.  And his reading convinced him that it was.  There’s a reason both of those things can happen.  The words of scripture become the Word of God by God’s help.  We need God’s help to hear from God when we read the Bible. 

The Bible came to us through God’s work.  God the Father ordained it and gave it.  The Holy Spirit inspired and guided its creation.  Jesus fulfilled it and demonstrated it.  The Spirit preserved it. And the Father is glorified by it still!  When we read the Bible, we need God’s help to hear God’s Word.  When the Spirit of God is involved, every “jot and title”. Every single bit of the Bible has the potential to become God’s Word to us.  Here’s a practical point – Call on God when you read scripture.

The second form is God’s proclaimed Word.  Romans 10:17 says “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  God’s Word is proclaimed by preachers.  But it’s also expressed through activities like music and art and craftsmanship.  Good architecture preaches.  The sacraments preach, too.  I know a woman who was converted when someone handed her communion.   God’s Word is also proclaimed in creation.  Again, we need God’s help for these things to become God’s Word.  I’m a preacher – sometimes.  And I can tell you that when I preach, I try hard.  I do the work.  And sometimes when I preach, people hear from God.  But sometimes, they just hear my rambling pseudo-intellectual articulations.  But when God gets involved, when the Spirit moves in people’s hearts, they hear God’s Word.  When I was in seminary, I went out to preach one Sunday in Leander Texas – and I layed an egg.  It may have been the worst sermon ever preached in Leander Texas –.  I was so unconvincing, illogical, and not very articulate that day.   I bored myself.  Following the service, people were politely shaking my hand, but then I saw her.  A woman walked up to me in tears thanking me for saying exactly what she needed to hear that day.  God had spoken through, what I thought were empty ramblings.

Okay: so we have the written word and the proclaimed word, and the last one is – The Living Word of God.  That, my brothers and sisters, is Jesus.  In the Bible, you may not catch it, but if you read it carefully you will notice that Jesus let’s people know that he is God.  In Mark 2, he tells a paralyzed guy that his sins are forgiven.  The teachers who are there are not pleased. “Who can forgive sins but God alone.” And Jesus asks them – which is easier to say – your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk – but so that you know that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins, I say to you rise and walk.  And he rose and walked.  Who has the authority to forgive but God alone.  In John 8, he tells some Jews – before Abraham was, I am.  And they picked up stones to stone him to death for blasphemy.  They knew what he meant.  John calls him the Logos – the Word – by whom all things came into being.  On the mountain, the disciples worship him, and he lets them – and every good Jewish believer knew that they were to worship God and God alone.  Revelation puts him at the center of worship in heaven.  Jesus is fully human – and fully God.

Jesus is the fullest expression of who God is.  Jesus reveals God to us.  Jesus is living word of God.  If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.  And if you want to know what a human life can be like, should be like, look at Jesus.

But do you know how we come to accept that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.  By the power of God?  And it’s possible you are feeling that right now.  If so, that means you are feeling drawn to know Jesus better right now – that is God at work in your heart. 

So why read the Bible?  Well, God likes to speak to us through the scripture.  The Bible is the best source for all good proclamation of the Word. And reading the Bible is the best way I know to learn from Jesus how to live like Jesus. 

Pray.  Ask for his help.  Pick up the book.  And Read!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Three in one both now and forever.  He is the Sovereign God who holds your future.  He is the suffering God who knows your pain.  He is the covenant God who has claimed you and tells you who you are, that you are his child.  May he grant you a restful night and strength for the day.

  • 100 Day Bible Reading Plan – Week 1 and 2
  •                              Day        Day of Week      Date      Scripture
  • Week    1            0            Sunday    1/14      Rest
  •                              1            Monday              1/15      Genesis 1-14
  •                              2            Tuesday              1/16      Genesis 15-27
  •                              3            Wednesday        1/17      Genesis 27-38
  •                              4            Thursday            1/18      Genesis 39-50
  •                              5            Friday                 1/19      Exodus 1-14
  •                              6            Saturday             1/20      Exodus 15-28
  • Week    2            7            Sunday               1/21      Rest
  •                              8            Monday              1/22      Exodus 29-40
  •                              9            Tuesday              1/23      Leviticus 1-13
  •                              10          Wednesday        1/24      Leviticus 14-25
  •                              11          Thursday            1/25      Leviticus 26-Numbers 7
  •                              12          Friday                 1/26      Numbers 8-20
  •                              13          Saturday             1/27      Numbers 21-32
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What Wall Street Doesn’t Know about Money Can Hurt You

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Pastor Jesse

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 13 which includes important financial advice you won’t get from Wall Street. A sower goes out to sow seeds. Some seed lands on the road where it gets eaten up.  Some seed lands on rocky soil, where they grow into plants that wither in the sun.  And some falls among the thorns.  Some translations says weeds.  And the thorny weeds or weedy thorns grow up with the plant and choke it so it remains unfruitful.  Key word there: unfruitful.  What is Jesus talking about?

This is Part IV of V of the Parable of the Sower.  I’m am breaking the thorny, weedy soil into two parts.  Part III was about the weed Jesus calls “the worries of the world.”  This time, it’s what Jesus calls “the deceitfulness of wealth.”  The Greek word translated “wealth” is the same word for abundance.  Have you ever thought much about abundant wealth.   This probably isn’t too hard to do if you are an American.  Everyone in this country sees commercials and social media posts and has conversations about having or getting an abundance of wealth.  I get adds that say, “Just click here for my 7 secrets for making money when you sleep.”  These days, the best know people on earth are not sports and rock stars.  They are billionaires.   Jesus says wealth is deceptive – it’s a like weeds or thorns that choke a plant – and the plant is less fruitful as a result. 

My mother was a gardener.  As a child, I was often called on to weed the garden.  As a result, I have a bit of experience with weeds.  And we have remarkable weeds here in Florida.  They grow fast.  They’re hard to pull out.  Some have thorns.  Some put off toxins and poison other plants.  Some are thorny, and you can hurt yourself if you aren’t careful when trying to pull them out.  I had a little garden I planted with my youngest daughter.  It was not a good location.  We managed to get a small harvest of beans, but I couldn’t keep up with the weeds where we’d planted squash and tomatoes.  Most of the squash rotted before we could harvest it, and the three mighty tomato plants produced four wimpy omatoes.  Not very fruitful.  The weeds were a big part of the problem.  The weeds didn’t kill the plants.  They just made them unhealthy and consequently unfruitful. 

When Jesus takes the disciples aside, he said the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth and like weeds that choke a plant and make it unfruitful.

What is it about abundant wealth that makes us unfruitful.  Jesus ties a word to it.  Deceitfulness.  The ideas around abundance and wealth deceive us.  Briefly, wealth deceives us because it’s associated with a false god – whom Jesus called Mamon.  False gods promise two things that really only come from God: significance and security.  The ideas around wealth deceive us in both places.

Let me give you three quick examples of how money deceives people.

Deception #1 Wealth will make you free.

              Think about these words: “whoever loves money never has enough.  Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.  As goods increase, so do those who consume them.”  Solomon wrote that about 3000 years ago.  His point – if you give yourself over trying to get wealth, you make yourself a slave to it.  There’s a reason Dave Ramsey, who is a Christian, helps people find financial peace rather promising them financial freedom.  It’s because he knows that pursuing financial freedom is a fool’s game. 

 Deception #2 Wealth will make you safe.

              In one sense this is true.  If you are wealthy, maybe you can drive a reliable car, get good health care, or move to a low crime neighborhood.  But wealth also makes you a target.  And money has a way of evaporating.  Inflation eats it up.  A surprise expense sets you back.  And how many stories have you heard of someone counting on money to be there for them, only to discover it was gone, lost, stolen when they needed it.  When you trust it to be there for you, it leaves you.  And then there’s the fact of life.  One day you’ll leave it.  Jesus tells the story about a guy who had a great crop.  He tore down the small barns and built bigger ones.  I’m going to eat drink and be merry.  And God said, “you fool. This very night your life is required of you.  Who’s going to have your money now?

Deception #3 – Wealth will make life easier. 

I bore witness to this one up close as a pastor.  What I can tell you is that having wealth amplifies everything.  On the plus side – your house is bigger, your cars are nicer, your clothes are more fashionable, and your vacations are more exotic.  But – your hours are longer, your worries are multiplied, and your family is more prone to have big problems that blow it up.  I recall a very sad die after a funeral.  The dad had built up a successful business, bought a house on the water, and put beautiful cars in the driveway.  But the kids left the widow, fought over the inheritance, and lost their relationships with one another.  Life was harder.  And I’ll add one more.  I’ve notice that there is no addiction so gripping of its victims as a well-funded addiction. 

And there are more deceptions.  Have you ever heard these?  With wealth, you get more friends.  With wealth, you can solve problems.  And really, isn’t a fruitful life one that is wealthy? 

Jesus says that wealth deceives in a way that makes our lives unfruitful.  So here’s the bottom line. If you want to have a fruitful life, make sure you know the truth about wealth.

There’s a story in the Bible about a man named Abram who under stood this.  In Genesis 14, Abram went on a rescue mission and fought a battle to rescue his nephew Lot.  Lot’s city had been plundered and Lot and his family had been carried off as part of the plunder – likely to be slaves.  Abram wins and as a result collects everything that was stolen from Lot’s town plus a lot of plunder.  Then me meets a king and a priest named Melchizadek who greets Abram and blesses him in the name of the God who is the “Creator, Possessor, and literally the Purchase of heaven and earth.”  Abram knew his God to be the one who owns everything.

He did two things in response. 1) He gave a tenth of everything he had.  He gave it to Malchizedek. When you know everything belongs to God – it frees you up to be really generous – because it all belongs to God.  And then there was a corrupt and evil king of Lot’s city whose stuff Abram had brought back.  That king said, “You can keep it Abram, just let me have my people back.”  This was sneaky, by the way.  The king would have deflected any trouble with his people and put it on Abram.  Abram said, “No.  I’m not gonna touch your stuff.  No one’s going to say you made me rich.”  He could say that because he knew God, and He knew God would provide everything he needed, and so he could be wise with his money.

I could talk a long time on this, but I want to give you an encouragement that came from John Wesley.  This encouragement set a lot of people from the deceiving power of money.  He said, “Earn all you can.  Save all you can.  And Give all you can.”  And people did.  And their stories and the stories of their families changed when they began to live like that.

May you know the Lord who is the possessor of all things. May the story you tell be beautiful and may your family be blessed. May may he set you free to be generous and wise with the wealth God gives you. And may your life bear much fruit!  Amen!

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Reasons People Deconstruct Their Faith

Posted on August 27, 2023 by Pastor Jesse

In recent years, there have been many reports of people “deconstructing” their faith.  40,000,000 Americans have stopped calling themselves Christian.  It really accelerated since 2016.  But why?  Not surprisingly, there’s a teaching of Jesus helps us understand.

Deconstruction is a term I first heard in seminary.  It meant taking a hard, critical look at what was once accepted as true and decide from a new perspective if you still believe it to be true, and if not, to boldly declare “no, I don’t believe that anymore.” 

It’s not all bad.  Some deconstruction should happen with maturity, as we grow, as our faith becomes our own.  For example, I discarded a few simplistic “Sunday school” answers. I once felt that the heroes of the Old Testament always did the good, noble, and right thing.  That’s what I picked up in Sunday School.  But then I read the Bible.  Clearly, it showed that God was good but people were a mess.  God did great things through them in spite of who they were.  God was the hero, not Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon, etc. Another example, I have a friend who grew up in a Christian tradition that taught that if you weren’t baptized in a particular way, you weren’t really a Christian.  But as grew in his faith, and as he met people who were not baptized his way who were plainly faithful Christians, he deconstructed that part of his faith. He started showing a lot more grace.  These things are good.  I don’t think either of us thought we were “deconstructing our faith”.  It was more like what comes with spiritual growth.  Wouldn’t every Christian do that?

Well, no.  Many people have deconstructed their faith and decided when they encountered difficulty.  Someone teaches them that science and religious faith conflict.  They learn disappointing things about Christians when they look at world history.  They get hurt by people in the church.  News comes out about Christian leaders and celebrities who’ve given up their faith.  Cultural influencers argue convincingly that religious people are ignorant, bigoted, and superstitious.  And the list could go on.  It’s happened to people I love.  Deconstruction results. 

Why?

In the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Jesus tells the crowd about a sower who goes out to sow seed.  In verse 5 and 6, Jesus says “Some seed falls on rocky soil…” The plants spring up.  But when the sun comes out they wither because they have no root.  No root means no endurance in the hot sun.  

Later, Jesus takes his disciples aside and explains this parable to them.  The seed, he explains, is the word of God’s kingdom.  The one who received the seed that fell on the rocky soil is a person who hears the word, receives it with joy, but has no root.  No depth of character.  Their faith springs up like a green shoot.  But if the hot sun comes out, if they face trouble or persecution because of the word, they fall away because they have no root. 

Trouble.  The Greek is also translated “tribulation”.  The original word has to do with coming under pressure.  You feel that pressure any time believing the Word of the Kingdom of God has a personal cost.  These days, that cost is likley to include time, money, and status. Your reputation can suffer.  As much as any time in our country’s history, being a Chrisitan can create trouble in relationships. 

The second thing Jesus talked about was persecution.  Persecution is on a spectrum.   American Christians have historically not faced much persecution.  If they did face persecution, it was as likely as not to be social and come from within the church.  But increasingly, it’s showing up in the culture at large.  It used to be you weren’t cool if were “too religious”.  Now, if you are a Christian, people will call you a bigot, cancel you, cut you off, unfriend you, socially isolate you, refuse to hire you, and try to get you fired.  You can find enemies without trying. 

So why do people deconstruct their faith? Why do people stop believing?  According to Jesus, they encountered forms of pressure or persecution – and lacked the depth of character, the spiritual maturity, to hold onto faith.  If you want to keep your faith you need to create room for your roots to grow deep.  You need good roots. Just to be clear, only God can grow those roots. But we can cooperate by making the space for the roots to grow.

But what about those who’ve walked away from the faith? Can faith, once lost, be revived?  Of course. Personal faith waxes and wains. But every season, at the right time, the sower comes around.  Beautiful faith, new life, can grow up again.

So, you got any “rocks” in the “soil” of your heart?  The rocks aren’t trouble and persecution.  The rocks are what keeps the root from growing deeper.  Roots grow deep when they have room to grow and when rocks aren’t in the way.   

Let me identify three common rocks that need to be addressed. 

  1. Remove passivity and replace it with intentionality.  It’s one thing to call yourself a Christian.  But you gotta want to grow and be intentional about it or you simply won’t.  Resolve to intentionally practice your faith.
  2. Remove isolation or superficial community and replace it with authentic, intentional, Christian community.  Our faith is not meant to be a solo sport.  Get with people who will help you grow.  I’ve been in church groups that were mainly social, and even resistant to any demonstration of spirituality.  (One dear man told me, “Save that stuff for Sunday morning, pastor. I don’t want it in our group”).  You and I need people who will read the Bible with us, pray with us, and encourage us to represent Jesus wherever we go.  To do this, you’ve got to be intentional.
  3. Develop a sustainable rhythm of life that helps you practice your faith.  Develop daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rhythms that allow you blocks of time to be alone with God, with his people, in worship, and on mission.  There was a time when the way our culture moved naturally encouraged people to be connected to churches.  Not anymore.  For most people, life is filled with “good and worthwhile activities” 24-7.   Most of us have to say no to some things we think are good in order to develop a rhythm of life that makes room for the roots to grow deep.  It takes intentionality. And it helps to have the insights and encouragement of a good community if we want to find and develop a sustainable rhythm that works. 

It’s hard but it is so worth it!  Because, when the trouble comes, your faith won’t wither.

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