Promises Promises!

I do my Bible read-throughs slower than most people. The first time I did it, it took me five years. I'm attempting to accomplish my current read-through at a break-neck speed of two years in the Good News Bible. I typically intend to read several chapters in a sitting, but often am hindered. I'm presently in Jeremiah, and was making fairly good time, but then I hit chapter 31 yesterday. Chapter 31 gives me a lot to think about, so I only got through two chapters yesterday.

Today, I made it all the way to chapter 32 . . . so that's one more chapter. When I get to promises that God made to his people, it overwhelms me. Take these for instance from vss. 38-41:

38 Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them a single purpose in life: to honor me for all time, for their own good and the good of their descendants. 40 I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will take pleasure in doing good things for them, and I will establish them permanently in this land (GNB).

• They will be my people.
• I will be their God.
• I will give them a single purpose in life.
• I will never stop doing good things for them.
• I will take pleasure in doing good things for them.

When I read these kinds of things, I have to stop and meditate on them. Do they apply to the church, God's people today? Does it apply to me? What is the evidence of their fulfillment in my life? What in my life hinderes the realization of experiencing God in these ways?

Has God given me a single purpose in life? That almost sounds too simple to be true and I like simple. The first core value of our church is "Simplicity." I think "yes, he has simplified my life down to a fairly simple pursuit with a promise that he'll take care of most of the stuff himself": But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33, NASB).

Does God take pleasure in doing good for me? I needed to come to this one. Though I know, intellectually, that God's approval of me is not based on performance, I tend to be a performance based person. I tend too easily toward, "I" need to do this or that for his glory, or "I" need to do this for his name's sake, or its my duty to do this for him. How about just slowing down to meditate on the things that God delights to do . . . for me. Wow! Those things are there but are easily taken for granted if we're too busy doing, even if it's for him .

I admit it, I got distracted, I only made it through one chapter this morning. If this keeps up, I might have to consider a three-year read-through.

Merry Christmas from Mountain Community and the Abernathys

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Old Underwear

What's up with those old underwear? How worn, frayed and discolored do your underwear get before you discard them? I know, you bought them, paid good money for them and people don't see them anyway . . . right? Really . . . you should just face the facts . . . when it's time, it's time; just throw them out and start over.  

Are all the details of your life going as you suppose they should. You have your expectations for how your personal life, career, family life and church life should pan out. You want a certain salary, position and challenges at work. You want a certain style of preaching, music and certain programs at church. Many of you work pretty hard at orchestrating these things to suit our preferences. Many times, to the distraction of what matters most . . . or matters at all. An old pair of underwear teaches us about what matters and how God might get us back on track with what really matters.

You might be surprised to catch a preacher writing about old underwear . . . I'm not the first. The Lord instructed Jeremiah regarding old underwear and thus the whole of his people (Jer 13:1-11). The Lord had Jeremiah to get himself a new pair of underwear, make them his own and put them in some rocks down by the river. When he went back to get them, they were ruined, ready to be discarded.

       "So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined--of no use whatsoever" (Jeremiah 13:7, HCSB).

The Lord said that that's what he was about to do with Judah's pride and disobedience. The nation was distracted from serving God as they had been instructed. They had neglected the things which were of first importance and had added things that were never imagined by God.

Do things in your personal life, career, family or church add up to "not what God commanded or in addition to what he imagined for you?" Maybe your personal life has become characterized by consumerism and the frantic lifestyle it takes to maintain it. Maybe your church is not what you think it should be. Take a close look at the New Testament to check the details of your preferences. Are they first imagined by God? Like an old pair of underwear, God is apt to throw that stuff out to bring you back into focus.

Underwear are generally a snug fitting garment, right? Like underwear clings tightly to the person (though some of you might cling to old underwear), so he hopes to have his people cling to him.

     "Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and Judah to Me . . . " (Jeremiah 13:11 HCSB).

Do things seem out of order in your life, family, career or church? Maybe you need to take a break from forcing your order onto things and just cling tightly to Him. It'll restore your perspective on what his order is.

Three types of praying people.

In Jesus' instructions on prayer (Matt 6:5-15), he mentions three types of praying people. The first of these is the hypocrite (vs. 5). A hypocrite is more concerned of what men think about his prayer than what God thinks. Do you realize that this plays out in two ways? Some men pray out loud in a certain way (maybe very eloquently) because they care that men think them good prayers. Others refuse to pray out loud because they are concerned that men will think their prayers elementary.

The second of these is described as a Gentile (vs. 7). A Gentile, in Jesus' reference here, is a person who doesn't really know the Living God. Maybe he prays to false gods or the God of whom he merely knows something, but doesn't know personally. So he prays as if he needs to inform God of something that he does not know or as if he has to convince God to be concerned.

The third of these is YOU (vss. 5, 6, 7). When you pray, it's relational and conversational with a father who is already concerned for you and already knows the need. So you pray like this . . .  "Our Father . . . ."

Do you fit in the YOU category? Are your encounters with God relational and conversational?

Relating to the Triune God

I was meditating on how to relate to the Triune God today and thought I would share my thoughts. When I think of God, who He is, what He does, what He loves, what He hates, how He relates, I'm thankful for all that was revealed through the Law and Prophets, but can do no better than to focus on Jesus Christ. Wonder what God is like? Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation we have.

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature . . . "(Hebrews 1:1-3a).

When I speak to God, I speak to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. This seems the clearest instruction from Jesus himself. 

"Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven . . ." (Matthew 6:9a).

                         &

          "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son " (John 14:13).

I'm most comfortable with this over other addresses not clearly given in Scripture. For example, I'm uncomfortable addressing Him as Holy Spirit, though He is.

When I hear from Him, I expect attention to be drawn to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the language in which He finally spoke to us (Hebrews 1:2), it's the language we comprehend. We interact via the Holy Spirit, but He brings to our remembrance the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

". . . he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (John 14:26b).

The Holy Spirit does not bear witness about himself, but rather, to Jesus Christ, because the most we can know about God was spoken to us in this language: SON.

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me" (John 15:26).

The Coming Theocracy

I’ve been considering writing a series of blogs to challenge current Christian worldview. This kind of action stands the chance of producing volatile reactions. One challenge with sharing worldview issues via a blog is keeping the reader aware of authorial premises without rehashing the same in each blog. So, if I follow through with my thoughts, I’ll occasionally refer back to this post, The Coming Theocracy, a foundational truth guiding my worldview.

I look forward to the consummation of an eternal theocracy. It is present now in measure, but its full arrival will displace or complete all other governing systems. The theocracy I look forward to is the reign of God over the hearts of every person. People’s actions will no longer be guided by political, economic and religious principles and beliefs, but by what they see God doing.

In a nutshell, here’s why I anticipate this kind of theocracy: 

God created people and then commanded them to subdue and have dominion over creation (Gen 1:28). As God intended it, people were given this capacity to subdue the whole cosmos. Created in the image of a creator (Gen 1:26) and walking with God as a norm (Gen 3:8), people had potential to subdue and have dominion over creation (the original theocracy) to an extent that is difficult for us to imagine. However, people decided not to subdue and have dominion according to his presence, a situation where they could see what he was doing (they hid, Gen 3:8). In effect, they just decided for themselves what to do. Apart from subduing and having dominion according to what is seen in God’s actions, exploitation follows, something that certainly persists today. Exploitation would be exponentially worse if man’s authority over creation had not been limited.

Because man’s potential would have been exponentially disastrous apart from relation with God, he introduced a variable that limited potential; he cursed creation for people’s sake (Gen 3:17, see KJV or Hebrew text to get the 2nd person possessive intended here), creation is now against people instead of subject to them. I believe this to be explained more clearly by Paul in Romans 8:18-25. God subjected creation to futility, i.e., purposelessness. Creation’s designed purpose was to be subject to people, it was instead temporarily subjected to “no purpose.” Creation waits eagerly for the restoration of its original purpose. First, though, people have to arrive at their intended place, in the presence of God, where they can see and hear. So the curse, or the subjection to purposelessness, was done in hope. The hope was to bring people back to God. They come back to him because creation is against them, thus exposing their need for him.

We look to Jesus, the first fruit (1 Cor 15:23), to see what will be for all who are in Christ. Jesus did only what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He healed, fed, stilled storms and etc. . . . all examples of subduing creation. At the consummation of the Kingdom, we will all obey in the same manner as did Jesus and creations’s purpose will be restored. We will then command it, not according to what we decide, but according to what we see the Father doing.

The consummation will look like this: Jesus will return with the church-dead; the church-living will go out to meet them (1 Thess 4:16, 17; Rev 21:1, 2) and usher them in; when he arrives, he and angels will remove everything that causes sin and law-breakers so that people who desire to subdue according to God’s desire will remain and those who have no desire for God to reign over them will be removed (Matt 13:41-43; 24:40, 41); God will from that time into all eternity be with men (Eph 1:10; 1 Cor 15:28; Rev 21:3-7).

So, I ask myself, what systems will govern in the coming theocracy? I opine that rule will be less systematic and more relational. I imagine the potential of people to subdue the cosmos as they see what God is doing in it. 

We have a responsibility to, as much as is possible, live this theocracy out even now. The Kingdom is now present in measure (Luke 11:20; 17:20, 21), the Holy Spirit in disciples of Christ; it is something that we seek first (Matt 6:33); it is something we pray for and should be the answer to whenever possible (Matt 6:10).

What I anticipate governs how I view and participate in existing systems. Not that I avoid participation, but I appreciate them as temporary stopgaps, many with redeemable aspects.

Mountain Community's Mission Statement

A faith community manifesting the life of Christ in our place and time. 

Why did we choose this for our mission statement? As the church, i.e. the body of Christ, we should continually look back to the life of Christ as he mistered in Palestine and realize that we should do similar things in our place. So this statement provokes us to measure what we do against what he did and does? 

It can be difficult, once a church begins, to reemphasize away from the event that it initially converged around. Many churches initially converge around a Sunday morning meeting...not a bad thing in  itself, but I think its common to struggle from there toward significant missional events. 

Here in Boone, we are presently working toward quantifying community needs. It is our hope to converge around needs, from there move into small communities of faith that take ownership of community need, and from there, eventually, to corporate worship events. We want missional outreach to be the natural and expected gathering draw for our community of faith.

Moved by compassion, measuring by mercy, acting in selfless love and doing only what the Father showed him, Jesus taught, healed, fed and made disciples. Recognizing what Jesus did in his body of flesh, we, Jesus’ body of flesh today, in our place and time, moved by his Spirit, do what Jesus did and does.

We are . . . always carrying in the body the death 

of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also 

be Manifested in our bodies (2 Corinthians 4:8-10, RSV).