Month: November 2015

Christian Contemplation

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
           There is a great deal of loneliness in this world.  Increasingly, more and more people live alone.  As job hours build to crazy levels, disconnection occurs simply out of having no discretionary time to spend with others.  So, for many people, taking the time to sit in the presence of God and forget about the clock seems almost absurd.  It is as if contemplating Christ is some luxury instead of a necessity.  But it is a vital Christian practice. 
 
I propose that just maybe the reason why so many Christians, churches, and ministry organizations have contemplation off their spiritual radars has to do with how we view our relationship with God.  Communicating with God is a great privilege, and made possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Christian contemplation we do not just pray to get something; we seek to adore God and enjoy being in his presence.  God longs for our companionship.  Yes, you read that right.  God delights in us.  He wants to be with us.  This weird notion that God always wants something from us is one-dimensional and truncates the true knowledge of God into a business transaction where we give God obedience and he answers our prayers.
 
If that is your typical understanding of how we relate to God, consider the beginning of humanity.  God enjoyed “walking in the cool of the day” with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-9).  The original garden is portrayed as a paradise because it was the place where God and his creatures simply enjoyed being with one another.  We must come to grips with the reality that becoming spiritually mature means learning to love God for who he is, not just for what he can do for us.
 
Contemplative prayer has as its singular goal being with God, period.  It is about allowing time to melt away into an enjoyment of God, and God’s enjoyment of us.  If this seems strange, mystical, or medieval, it is only because contemporary evangelicalism has strayed far from the streams of living water offered through the kind of prayer that contemplates the grace and love of God in Christ.  Maybe you can only view God loving you if you are living a perfect life.  Remember this:  there is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less.  It is high time we relax enough to receive the wondrous reality that God loves us for who we are and not for what we can give to him.
 
God longs to be with us!  The “Jesus Prayer” is a simple and ancient prayer that combines the prayer of the tax collector from Luke 18:13 (“God be merciful to me, a sinner”) with the earliest confession of the church (“Jesus is Lord”).  Put it together, and the Jesus Prayer is:  “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  It is meant to be a means of entering into the presence of God and experiencing communion with Jesus.  Repeating phrases from Holy Scripture are some of my favorite ways of engaging in contemplative prayer.  I like personalizing Philippians 3:10, “I want to know you, Lord Christ, and the power of your resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in your sufferings.”  Using the biblical book of psalms is a wonderful place to express the desire of our hearts toward God, and to drink in his love for us.  Over time the repeated words begin to fall away into a deep connection with God.
 
Again, if I seem to be sounding like some reclusive monk locked up in a remote monastery, I can assure you that I am not in any such place.  I am a busy pastor who has more responsibilities that he ought to have.  But I do neither my church nor my God any favors by constantly working with no time set aside to connect with the reason we are to engage in this Christian work to start with:  to know Jesus to the very core our beings.  None of us are brains-on-a-stick meant to check off on a list of beliefs; then, go on our merry way being uptight, anxious, and worried about everything under the sun because we did not let those beliefs sink down into the marrow of our spiritual bones.
 

 

God is huge, and he is full of huge love for his creatures.  The Western church must begin to allow the fog to lift so that we can walk with God in the garden of the soul.  How will you and your church allow God into your lives to make this happen?  The answer to that question might just be the very thing you have been looking for all along.

Psalm 113

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            When my firstborn daughter was an infant, I was a busy seminarian as well as working a job.  I did not have a lot of discretionary time on my hands.  Yet, I could stand over the crib of my beautiful little bundle of a girl for long stretches of time without ever thinking about all my responsibilities.  Whenever she awoke I would speak to her in that kind of baby talk that only a doting father can do.  I imagine that God looks at us in much the same way, as well as speaking and acting toward us in ways we can understand.
 
            Just as parents interact on a level in which their kids can understand, so God condescends and stoops to our level in order to help us.  “Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?”  God notices.  He looks at us with lovingkindness and seeks our best interests.  “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.”  The divine condescension of God is a beautiful thing because without it we would be like a helpless baby.
 
            This psalm of praise to God celebrates how the Sovereign of the universe notices and acts.  We are meant to remember the great deeds of God – both those things which he has done contained in Scripture, and the things he has done for us, personally.  This is why journaling as a spiritual practice is such a good personal discipline because we have a record of the ways in which God has acted on our behalf.  Then, we can praise him all over again for what he has done.  And this will fortify our spiritual mettle for the times when we need encouragement.
 

 

            Praise the LORD!  You are a God worthy of adoration, for you have done mighty things.  Thank you for taking me from the ash heap of sin and raising me up with Christ so that I can experience the life that is truly life.  Amen.

Forgiveness Is Real

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
When my girls were small and growing up in West Michigan, they always enjoyed going to Meijer, which is a something like a Super Wal-Mart and a Super-Target combined.  At Meijer they have a row of mechanical horses that only cost a penny to ride.  Riding the horses was always the highlight of shopping for them.  On one occasion their aunt came for a visit and brought a coffee can full of pennies and took them to Meijer just to ride the horses for an afternoon.  All three of my girls are now grown adult women.  They do not ride mechanical horses anymore.  They now ride real live horses.  As excited as they were to ride mechanical horses, my daughters now have no desire to do so because those horses were only a simulation of the real thing.
 
            As Christians, since Christ has come as the true and real sacrifice for sin, we are no longer to be content with simulations and copies of the real deal.  And we are to know the difference between them.  Our forgiveness is not a simulation, not a copy or a shadow, but is real because Christ is the real thing (Hebrews 9:24-28). 
 
            When my wife and I were raising those three very active and precocious girls, we had a certain process we would go through with them when they did something wrong toward one another.  We would talk about the offense, and then they would need to say the words, “I am sorry.”  But the matter was never over until they hugged each other and told each other they loved the other.  If they could do that, it was the real deal.  You see, they could mouth the words to get us off their backs, but to hug and express love was the reality.
 
            Jesus did not just mouth words to us of forgiveness.  He secured it through his death on a cross.  It is not a cheap forgiveness.  It is real.  Christ died a very violent death.  This whole emphasis in Scripture on blood and sacrifice can be upsetting for many people.  But we need to understand that our sin and disobedience is really terrible.  Christ’s death reflects the horrible sin of humanity.  Since Jesus has secured forgiveness for us at such a steep price, we are to receive it with much humility and a great deal of joy that God would love us so much.
 
            Jesus Christ came to deal with the sin issue once for all through his blood.  He came to do away with sin, not just veneer over it.  The old sacrificial system was like whitewashing a barn – it took care of the issue for a while, but it would need to be done over and over again.  Jesus is no temporary arrangement.  The forgiveness he offers is permanent.  There is no need to keep offering sacrifices over and over because Christ is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.  The forgiveness we possess is not like paying an annual fee and getting a forgiveness sticker for the year.  In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!  And this forgiveness was purchased with Christ’s own blood.
 
I truly believe that what this old world needs more than anything else is forgiveness – not a cheap sentimental forgiving, but a real forgiveness that is so costly that it lasts forever and ever.  A lot of religious energy can be spent trying to figure out how to make ourselves acceptable to God.  But in Christ we do not need to fear the future.  We have been made right with God through the death of Jesus.  Through Christ’s sacrifice the doors to heaven and earth get flung wide open.  The way has been secured, the trail has been blazed, and the road has been made smooth in order to come to God.
 

 

Jesus did not die on the cross and rise from the dead so that we could live ho-hum Christian lives.  He has granted us forgiveness so that we will eagerly eat the Word of God and sit right up front to hear the preacher serve the meal.  Jesus sacrificed himself so that we would enjoy laboring together in the gospel, looking forward to how the Spirit will transform lives through his forgiveness.  The price has been paid for a real forgiveness which opens our minds and our energies to live for Jesus, the pioneer of our faith.

Ruth 4:18-22

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment


            These few verses tucked away in the Old Testament might seem an odd choice for the lectionary.  After all, what could possibly be ‘gleaned’ from a genealogy?  One of the things I love about Holy Scripture is that, even in the unlikeliest places, it drips of grace throughout all of its contents.  
             Ruth was from the country of Moab – a place outside of Israel that did not worship Yahweh.  Ruth had married a Jewish man, but was widowed at a relatively young age.  She firmly decided to go to Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi, who was originally from Bethlehem.  Since both were widows, they were poor and dependent upon the mercy of relatives.  In a wonderful story of redemption and love, Ruth is noticed by Boaz and the narrative concludes with the two of them being married.  Ruth, from a pagan land, goes from near destitution to wealth, and from being invisible in the world to somebody we know and remember several millennia later.
             The genealogical postscript we have informs us that King David’s great grandparents are Ruth and Boaz.  The line does not end there but goes directly to the birth of Jesus Christ.  Ruth, the widowed woman from a non-descript family outside of Israel ends up being a prominent mother in the most significant blood line of all time. 
             We, too, were once outside of God.  But we have been brought near through the blood of Jesus.  Grace takes what is seemingly far-fetched and turns it into a reality.  Mercy looks at the improbable and the impossible and laughs in its face.  I can only imagine the immense gratitude and joy Ruth had in her life as she experienced such amazing grace as to be given attention and included in the life of the one true God.  Let us be mindful and give time today to reflect on this very same God who delights in showing mercy and express our praise to him with heartfelt thanksgiving.
             Merciful God, there is no god like you – giving grace where it is needed.  Thank you for saving me and bringing me into the life that is truly life through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.