Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

I am doing my best to “get into” biographies. When I consider those who have influenced me most and whose ministries have blessed me significantly – they are folks who are always reading biographies. Hebrews 11 and 12 exhorts us to consider the lives of the faithful saints as one way of “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” So take up and read Christian biography!!

At present, I am reading Eric Metaxas’ critically acclaimed biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a brilliant scholar who felt called of God to minister on behalf of all kinds of people, even children, within the context of ministry in a local church. Early in his ministry he spent two years in Grunewald ministering to the children of a small parish. Listen to his love for these kids as he describes his farewell to them. 

I spoke about the man with palsy and especially about the assertion that your sins are forgiven, and tried once more to disclose to the children the core of our gospel; they were attentive and perhaps a bit moved, for I spoke, I think, with some emotion. Then came the farewell…. The congregational prayer has long sent shivers down my spine, and it did so incomparably more when the group of children, with whom I have spent two years, prayed for me. Where a people prays, there is the church; and where the church is; there is never loneliness.

After leaving Grunewald, Bonhoeffer found himself in Paris, on his way to Barcelona, Spain with a friend. It was in Paris that he had this formative experience while attending a church service in Sacre’ Coeur.

The people in the church were almost exclusively from Montmartre; prostitutes and their men went to [church], submitted to all the ceremonies; it was an enormously impressive picture, and once again one could see quite clearly how close, precisely through their fate and guilt, these most heavily burdened people are to the heart of the gospel. I have long thought that the Tauentzienstrasse [Berlin’s red-light district] would be an extremely fruitful field for church work. It’s much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.

Please notice how crucial prayer was to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Later on in his life, he was faced with unimaginable stress and the threat of torture. He credits his daily discipline of prayer and Bible meditation with the ability to not fall apart under extreme circumstances. Please consider joining us for our weekly prayer gathering this Wednesday at 6pm.  Blessings.

Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

In December of 2007 I learned the sad news that one of my theological heroes had died – Thomas F. Torrance. I recently received a theological biography of sorts that describes how Thomas Torrance did theology and more specifically how he approached the Scriptures. Jesus’ words in Matthew 11.27 formed much of Torrance’s work

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal to him (NIV).

What Jesus is saying here is that we do not know God unless Jesus has revealed God to us. A.W. Tozer famously said, “What we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What Jesus is telling us and what Thomas Torrance reminds us of is that if our thoughts about God don’t begin with Jesus, then it is not the true God who is occupying our thoughts. The Son is the image of invisible God (Col 1.15) because God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Col 1.19). The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Heb 1.3).

What are your first thoughts about God? Does Jesus shape your God-thoughts? God has willed that we know him through his Son, Jesus. May God’s Spirit move each of us to take every thought about God captive to Jesus Christ.  

"What Jesus was on earth God is forever ... What God is toward us in Jesus Christ, he is eternally forever." ~ Thomas F. Torrance

When you see in the face Jesus Christ the face of God, you know that you have not seen that face elsewhere and could not see it elsehow. ~ Thomas F. Torrance

Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Give Them Christ

At approximately 11:15 am on Sunday, I will do something that I do 49 weeks out of every year. I will open my Bible and I will preach to a group of people who have gathered. Do you participate in a similar “ritual?” I have a pretty firm grasp on the question: What are preachers trying to accomplish? What interests me presently, however, is: What are the hearers expecting? What do you anticipate receiving during the “preaching” portion of a given worship gathering? Just in case you think I am formulating a philosophy of preaching that begins with the listener’s “felt need,” let me show you my cards. I want us to consider the content of the Apostles’ preaching as a way to inform how we listen to preachers. In other words, the goal of the preachers in the Bible should be the goal of all preachers. Furthermore, that biblical goal for preachers should shape how we listen to sermons.

Preachers in the Bible did NOT preach to give their hearers their “best life now.” ~ Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5.11-12).

Preachers in the Bible did NOT preach to gather a crowd. ~ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14.25-27).

Preachers in the Bible proclaimed themselves as weak and Christ alone as trustworthy ~ And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, . . . that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2.1-2, 5).

Preachers in the Bible proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord and themselves as servants of the people ~ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake  (2 Corinthians 4.5).  

Having heard the historical preaching of Jesus and because they witnessed it’s world-transforming effect, the apostles realized they had nothing better than Jesus Christ to offer their people. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing more beautiful and valuable than Jesus Christ. If you are blessed with the opportunity to preach there is nothing better you can offer your hearers than Christ. Give them Christ. 

William Willimon challenges us as preachers and listeners: “Whenever our preaching ceases to be about the truth of God in Jesus Christ is degenerates into another program of human betterment” and what this world needs is not another program of human betterment. This world needs the only eternal human betterment Person and his name is Jesus Christ.

Preachers, Give them Christ.

Hearers, Listen for Christ.

Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Who tells you who you are? Where do you find your identity?

Sometimes we are tempted to look to the things of earth to tell us who we are. The Gospel, on the other hand, exhorts us to gaze upon the things of heaven to gain our sense of self. When we are tempted to let our earthly families define us – When we are tempted to let this nation define us – When we are tempted to let the good and evil events of our past define us, the Lord Jesus comes to us and exemplifies a better way. Jesus shows us how to defer to his Father in heaven when we want to know who we are. God knows us better than anyone. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He told Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1.5, ESV).

Before Yahweh sends him on mission as a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah is reminded that he is known exhaustively by the One who sends him. When Jeremiah doubts his ability (1.6), he is reminded that he rests within the intimate web of God’s comprehensive knowledge. God knows us and wants us to know ourselves as we are known by him.

John Frye, in his book, Jesus the Pastor, encourages us with these words.

[Christian], on the brink of or neck-deep in your [daily tasks], do you live in the confidence that God knows you, calls you by name, and is with you? Do you find strength in the truth that he knows the deep you with whom you are perhaps out of touch or of whom you are unaware? Do you depend on and find courage in the truth that Jesus is also called “Immanuel”? God is with you!

Sisters and brothers, God knows us. He has known us for eternity (Rom 8.29; 1 Peter 2.1). He not only knows us, he loves us and is on our side. May each of us live out the confidence of an identity that is offered to us by the One who truly knows each of us.  

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things (Rom 8.31-32, ESV)?       

Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Each Monday morning I try to spend a couple of hours reading the Bible and a book about the Bible that is not connected to anything I am teaching or preaching. This discipline (and I am not as disciplined at this as I need to be) is driven by a desire to have my life sustained, not by bread, but by words that come from the mouth of the Lord.

At the moment, I am reading John Frye’s excellent book, Jesus the Pastor. Basically the book imaginatively explores how Jesus shepherded people with a view toward how we as Pastors can lead people like Jesus led people.

In the first chapter, “Watching Him Work,” the author describes in detail how Jesus interacts with Nicodemus in John 3 and the Samaritan Woman at the Well in John 4. Aside from the many aspects that we have noticed our entire lives in these two common stories, John Frye notices something that is quite simple and extraordinarily profound. “Jesus went with the flow.” Notice how Jesus allows both Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman to establish the direction of the conversation. In John 3, everything Jesus teaches is a direct response to a question from Nicodemus. Jesus didn’t have “a planned presentation for religious leaders who come to me at night.” Jesus respected Nicodemus as a person. He is made in the image of God, and Jesus values him as such. Jesus has a similar respect for the woman at the well. Don’t blow over that fact too quickly. Although both situations presented him with unique challenges, Jesus has the same respect for a religious leader that he has for Samaritan woman living an adulterous lifestyle.

Jesus treated her the way our loving God and Father treats everyone: he accepted and respected her as a person. He did not treat her as women were then treated; he treated her as a person. He did not treat her as Jews treated Samaritans; he treated her as a person. He did not treat her as a heretic; he treated her as person…Jesus gave the Samaritan woman her rightful place in his life. Her rightful place was as a human being, a person made in the image of God. She had the right to be treated as a person. That is always the way God in his love treats us. 

May the peaceful example of Jesus shape they way we deal with all the people in our lives today. Treat everyone you encounter today with love because each one of them is a person. 

A Resolution Idea

City Gate Jan/Feb 2012

Dear Church Family,

Now is the time of year when resolutions are made, when the best of intentions, if we are honest, often find themselves buried in the snow of January or February. Nevertheless, most of begin each New Year with commitments that flow from the good and bad we remember from the previous year. As I remember 2011, I am reminded of the Lord awakening within me a new awareness of spiritual warfare. I gained a more experiential understanding of Ephesians 6:12. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (ESV). Because of invisible forces of evil, Paul first instructs us to put on the whole armor of God, Paul now describes what we are to do now that God’s armor has equipped us. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph 6:18, NIV). The purpose of God’s armor is so God’s people can pray.

Each year seems to begin with a refreshing energy and a desire to reestablish priorities. May I encourage each of you to begin 2012 by making corporate prayer a life-priority? Not just for 2012, but for the rest of your life.

I would like to make two suggestions for making corporate prayer a life priority for you and your family.

1.     Don’t come to our corporate prayer gathering to see if you like it. That consumerist attitude is not the proper posture for prayer. We would all admit things that are worth being a priority are not necessarily pleasing at first. Think of the first few times on the treadmill or the stationery bike – not exactly the easiest thing. God’s Word commands us to pray together and never says praying together is going to come naturally or is going to be easy. Even so, I do believe you will be pleasantly surprised about how refreshing and fulfilling it is to gather in prayer with God’s people.

2.     Do come to our corporate prayer gathering to be with Jesus. We begin each gathering with a prayer in Jesus’ name, asking him to be present with us through the Spirit that he may teach us to pray. This practice is based squarely on Matthew 18:20. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (ESV). Jesus is present with us when we pray together in a way that he is not present when we pray by ourselves. This is the plain teaching of the New Testament, but it has proven to be true through my experience along with many others. In 2011, my most vivid experiences of God’s presence have occurred at our Wednesday Gathering.

So as each of us contemplates resolutions for 2012, please consider making Gathering to Pray a priority each Wednesday at 6pm.       

Mission Month 2011 Pastoral Letter

The phrase “disciple-making church” is redundant. The church of Jesus Christ exists for a very simple reason, to make disciples of all nations. When we turn our backs on this purpose we turn our backs on Jesus, the one to whom all authority has been given.

The church does not exist to restore the family. The church does not exist to preserve the moral order. The church does not exist to promote any political party’s agenda. The church does not exist to host worship gatherings. The church exists, plain and simple, to make disciples (i.e. devoted followers) of Jesus. This purpose may be plain and simple, but it is also world changing.

I believe God is beginning a momentous work within our midst. I believe he is directing us to rediscover who we are and what he wants us to be. This process will produce a refreshing simplicity of knowing that God wants us to be nothing more and nothing less than a family that makes disciples.

The aim of Mission Month 2011 is to remind us of the international emphasis of our disciple-making agenda. The Lord Jesus instructs us to make disciples of all nations. This adventure of seeing men and women and boys and girls become disciples from every tribe, tongue and nation will shape all that we do as a church family, even the seemingly insignificant things. In Romans 14 and 15, Paul is directing us to accept and welcome those who are different from us and the motivation behind this instruction is the Lord Jesus who:

…became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy (Rom 15.8-9a).

This final phrase serves as the theme for Mission Month 2011, because in it we are reminded that as Jesus was motivated to be a selfless servant “in order that Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy,” we too must be encouraged as individuals and as a church family to be selfless servants so disciples can be made from every tribe, tongue and nation. May the grace of God in the example of Christ lead us to a renewed energy to selflessly serve a church that exists in simplicity to make disciples of all nations.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor David