Month: November 2015

Psalm 127

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


            When my wife was growing up her family had a prominent portrait of John Wayne in the living room above the television.  It spoke volumes about the family ethos.  They had horses and loved to ride and enjoy the outdoors.  Hard work was a daily reality of life, as well as a rugged individualism that often suppressed all else in order to engage in work.  Doing your best, striving for excellence, and learning responsibility are good things that mature people do every day.  But there is a fine line between hard work that provides and enriches, and lonely work that is frenetic and fueled by anxiety about the future.
             Today’s psalm gives us a wake-up call that all our work is useless, in vain, unless it is connected to the God who gives strength and sweet sleep.  “It is in vain that your rise up early and late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for God gives to his beloved sleep.”  The motives that lie behind why we burn the candle at both ends are just as important to the Lord as the work itself.  If we independently believe that our life is in our own hands and we work with worry animating our every job, then we have lost touch with the understanding that it is God who ultimately provides us with every good thing in life.  But if we begin to relax and let go of our stubborn independent streak, then we work hard with strength God gives and let him watch over us.
             This trust and connection with God is why work is connected to children being a heritage from the Lord.  Children worked with their parents in the ancient world.  Dad and Mom did not go it alone – it was a family affair, and a community endeavor.  Whenever we slip into the groove of worshiping individualism rather than simply taking personal responsibility, then we must come back to the inter-dependence that we were designed for as people.  The ethos that the psalmist is looking for is trust in God, reliance on others, and working together for the common good of all.  So, who do you need to help you today?  Will you ask for it?  How is God in your plans and your work?

Sovereign God, you created all things and in you everything holds together.  Preserve me with your mighty power that I may not fall into disconnection with you and others, nor be overcome by anxiety.  In all I do direct to the fulfilling of your purposes, through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.

Romans 5:6-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Biblical Christian love is more than a feeling; it is an active gracious meeting of a need in another simply for no other reason than that the person requires it.  This means that God’s love is not dependent upon any person’s striving toward him.  Rather, God’s love is based solely upon his free choice to show mercy to whomever he wants to show mercy.  It is an astounding phrase that we have here in Holy Scripture:  “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  God doesn’t wait until we look good enough, act good enough, or make a good enough effort toward good until he steps in and acts.  No, when we are at our worst; when we have no thought toward looking to God for answers; when we are going along our merry way with no intention of being a Christian; then, God shows his love for us by doing the improbable and the impossible:  he saves, justifies, and reconciles us to himself.
 
            This is some really robust truth that needs to sink deep down into our spiritual bones.  We do not save ourselves – God does.  We do not have a leg to stand on in making ourselves righteous – God does that.  We do not gin-up faith and love from within ourselves – God gives it to us.  In other words, all of Christianity is a precious and wonderful gift to us from the very heart of God, who delights in showing grace to the ungracious.
 
            So, then, the appropriate response to all this is to rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ!  Rather than grumping our way through most days like a believer baptized in pickle juice, we can contemplate the mercies of God, which are new every morning.  We can take some time each day to stop and think about the great love of God in Christ that saved a wretch like me.  And, we can live our lives being gracious and loving even toward those who disagree with us or are different from us, because that is exactly what God did for us.
 

 

            Gracious God, your love is unfathomable and beyond description.  Even a glimpse of your mercy is enough to change my life forever.  Let your enduring love be with me always so that I might show that same love toward others, just as Jesus did.  Amen.

Young Adults and Faith

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            It is no secret for many churches that the millennial generation, particularly ages 18-24, are leaving organized religion.  A lot has been written in the past several years about why they have left.  But let’s turn this around and think about what makes those who do not stray stay in the institutional church.  My own anecdotal evidence of why this age group either stays or leaves leads to three reasons:  the involvement, or lack thereof, in church ministry beyond the youth group; the impact of the family; and, whether there are basic spiritual disciplines practiced, or not.
 
            I have noticed over the years of serving in the church that when teenagers have a significant involvement in a ministry that reaches across the span of the church community (i.e. worship services, small groups), then they are much more likely to understand that they are needed in the Body of Christ.  I have also observed that when kids are raised in a spiritual environment that places emphasis and importance on church ministry engagement, they are exposed to it being modeled and are likely to follow the example.  Finally, there is simply no substitute for basic practices in the Christian life getting started as early as possible.  Teens which learn to read their Bibles and pray tend to keep up those disciplines into adulthood.
 
            Ministry experience is one thing, but there is evidence to back up some of these observations.  Sociologist Christian Smith in his book, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, says that his extensive research demonstrates that highly religious teenagers are not very likely to become very un-religious five years later.  Smith points to six factors that lead to the strength of religious practice among emerging adults:  strong parental religion; frequent personal prayer; high importance of religious faith; frequent reading of Scripture; many supportive religious adults; and, doubts about religious beliefs.
 
            Each one of these factors can be unpacked and examined in much more detail.  But for our purposes here in simply broaching the subject, it should become increasingly clear that we can exude a good deal of influence toward the younger generations within the church.  Whether a young adult is devoted, regular, sporadic, or disengaged in church might be their personal decision, but it is within our corporate sphere of control as to whether we will leave an impactful impression upon him/her for positive good.
 
            Indeed, from the ancient Hebrew Scriptures we get the admonition to leave such a persuasive influence upon our kids.  “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).
 
            If Christianity is a commitment that centers round all of life, then we can reasonably expect that this will leave an enduring and endearing legacy.  But if Christianity is something that exists to be present only when needed, then we ought not to be surprised when Christian faith is jettisoned by young adults who find something else that addresses their wants. 
 

 

            Inter-generational ministry, then, is not really something that is a nice notion, but is vital to the ongoing faith development of teens into adulthood and beyond.  It is the sage leadership team that thinks through these realities in their own context and develops some concrete ministry.  After all, the Christian life is not just for a season; it is to move and mature over a lifetime.

John 13:31-35

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            To love one another, as Jesus defines love, is the distinctive feature of Christianity.  It is not reproducible by the world.  Jesus said that this love is “new.”  Although love is displayed and commanded throughout the Old Testament, the New Testament love that Jesus spoke of is distinctive in several ways.  In Christ, we have a new model of love.  Jesus showed a servant-love that went well beyond non-retaliation toward others to actually serving enemies.  Furthermore, Christian love has a new motive of loving because we have been loved by Jesus, demonstrated through the cross.  We also have a new motivator, the Holy Spirit, who teaches us and energizes for a new mission:  world evangelization.
 
            Since Jesus let us know that our mission hinges on the ability to love with Christ’s own love, we must grasp the reality that love is not optional, but absolutely vital.  The way in which we treat one another in the Body of Christ is fundamental to mission.  The medieval mystic, St. John of the Cross, said that “mission is putting love where love is not.”  Love is entering into another person’s life with service and meeting needs in a manner that emulates the character of Christ.
 
            Therefore, Christianity is not about “me.”  It is about others.  The church is the one institution on earth that doesn’t exist to promote itself, but to bless the world.  Whatever we must do in order to love people to Jesus is what we need to do, period.  Take some time today and meditate on these words of Jesus from the Gospel of John, and see what the Holy Spirit works inside you.  Then, share it with another and seek to do it with all the love that God gives you.
 

 

            Loving God, you demonstrated your great love by sending your Son on my behalf.  Help me to live and love like Jesus in all I say and do so that Christ’s Church is built up in the faith, and the world is blessed.  Amen.