Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Jeremiah 17:14-27

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            God had a serious thing about the Sabbath.  Throughout the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the lack of observing a Sabbath day’s rest is consistently mentioned as a reason why judgment was on its way.  And it wasn’t just a side issue for God; He really took umbrage about treating the Sabbath like any other day of the week.  Listen to the cold description:  “If you value your lives, don’t do any work on the Sabbath….  If you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath [in order to do business] and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.”
 
            Whoa!  What is that all about?  Such language and warnings are pretty strange to our modern ears.  Why in the world would God be so upset about doing a little business on the Sabbath day?  The reason the Lord held tenaciously to a Sabbath rest is that it was intended as a time of sheer enjoyment and change of pace from all the other days.  It was a chance to connect with God in a special way.  It was an opportunity for God’s people to connect with each other in worship and delight in the unforced rhythms of gracious relationships. 
 
            But for centuries, the people forsook this Sabbath day because they wanted to do business, make some more money, and carry on just like everyone else did in the world.  There will always be work to do – another phone call, one more business connection or task, or correspondence to maintain.  After all, can’t let the competitors get the advantage!  So, if working on the Sabbath is what it took, okay we’ll do it.  But God interpreted all this as a profound lack of faith and stiff-arm in his face.  Rather than trust in the Lord, the slippery slope of a downward relationship with God began with simply not paying attention to the Sabbath.
 
            Whether we need to hold to the actual same Sabbath day rest today for Christians has often been debated.  But what is not up for debate is setting aside a consistent weekly time and place for extended rest with the Lord.  If we see this as negotiable, perhaps we need to spend some more time in the prophetic books.
 

 

            Holy God, you scan the earth looking for faithful people.  May the gift of faith you have given me nurture and grow into a consistent, sustained, and committed life of fellowship with Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Work from a Christian Perspective

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            With the Labor Day weekend upon us, it is good for us to reflect on the importance of our vocations.  One of the things that can often get lost in the rig-a-ma-roll of church ministry is the need for pastors to equip people for facing their jobs with a Christian perspective and worldview.  In other words, reflecting on the nature of work and the worship of God is not an ancillary enterprise, but a vitally necessary part of what the church can do for the world of business.
 
            How do you view your job?  How is work viewed in the Bible?  How can you connect your faith and your work?  Work itself is viewed positively throughout Scripture.  It was part of the creation mandate (Genesis 2:15); it ought to be respected (1 Thessalonians 5:12-15); and, it is a service to God (Colossians 3:22-25).  In other words, work itself is intrinsically good.
 
            Our faith commitments and our workaday jobs are meant to be integrated into a seamless unity.  They were never meant by God to be separate without one affecting the other.  There are opportunities every day for Christians to live out their faith in the marketplace.  Every job has its ethical challenges.  Not only do we have choices to make about steering clear of shady deals, avoiding cooking the books, and staying away from dishonesty, but we have the opportunity to help create policies that provide well for others, guide others into responsible work habits, and foster positive relations throughout the organization.
 
            Our jobs are also our mission fields.  God has sovereignly placed us where we are for the purpose of expanding his mission.  God desires to reach the lost, and he wants to use you to draw people to Jesus Christ.  This can be done in a myriad of ways, from speaking openly about your own faith commitment, to showing sensitive hospitality, to living above the fray of any company cultural muck around you.  Evangelism never has to be forced because we serve a God who has given his Spirit to do the kind of work that we cannot.
 
            Finding meaning and purpose in our own jobs and vocations is a must in today’s society.  Never has job satisfaction been so low throughout many American corporations and businesses.  A big reason for this is the paucity of interpreting our work through a Christian world and life view.  To see our particular vocations as a real calling from God, just like any calling that a pastor or missionary would have, is a must in today’s business environment.  Without this view we simply flounder and live for the weekends with no connection to what God is doing and wants to do on the weekdays of work.
 
            The work we do gives us the experience of personal transformation.  If you have never thought the thought that your Christian sanctification can come through your work, then I just now put it in your head.  Let it stay there and ruminate awhile.  When we work with a team of people in a common purpose in community and fellowship, it has the ability to change us for the better.  Learning new tasks, developing new relationships, and carving out new work disciplines helps foster personal change and brings fresh creativity to other spheres of life.
 

 

            One of the things that churches can do to help employees and employers is to highlight people within their congregations who are doing good work.  Feature such persons in a testimony about their work and what they do, or interview them so that others can see how God uses them on the job.  We all need help with our vocations because there are continual challenges, frustrations, conflicts, and moral decisions which need to be made on every job, no matter what or where it is.  It only makes sound spiritual sense for us to bring our jobs to the fore and give them the attention they need.  Let’s all work from a Christian perspective so that the church is built up, the world is blessed, and God is glorified.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
“You have looked deep
into my heart, Lord,
and you know all about me.
You know when I am resting
or when I am working,
and from heaven
you discover my thoughts.
You notice everything I do
and everywhere I go.
Before I even speak a word,
you know what I will say,
 and with your powerful arm
you protect me
from every side.
 I can’t understand all of this!
Such wonderful knowledge
is far above me.” (CEV)
 
            Please do not quickly pass over these inspired words from Holy Scripture.  Take some time to carefully digest each phrase slowly so that the message becomes internalized, believed, and lived in real time experience.
 
            One of the theories of human psychology is that people are driven by two primary needs:  to intimately know another person; and, to be intimately known by another.  God knows us even better than we know ourselves – and he still loves us!  There is nothing about us that God doesn’t know.  No human relationship can even come close to the level of knowing that God has for us and about us.
 
            Therefore, to know God is perhaps the greatest and highest pursuit we could ever enjoy.  God is so big and infinite that we will spend an eternity getting to know him and will never get to the end of knowing him completely.  That is the kind of God we serve.  Be encouraged today and always with the reality that you are known, and can know God.
 

 

            Immense God, you are the one who put me together inside my mother’s body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me.  Everything you do is marvelous!  Of this I have no doubt.  Look deep into my heart, Lord, and find out everything I am thinking.  Lead me in the ways of Jesus.  Amen.

Luke 14:15-24

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            If the gospel of forgiveness in Jesus Christ is such good news, and God is so good, then why aren’t people breaking the door down to get into the church?  Today’s Gospel lesson gives us one reason why:  They just aren’t interested.  The parable Jesus told was of people, when invited to come to the great banquet, kept making one excuse after the other why they couldn’t come.
 
            Jesus was not talking to the sinful outsiders, but the religious insiders – they were the ones making the excuses why they could not participate.  Here’s the deal:  If professing believers in God are not excited about the gospel; if Christians are not enthused over what they possess in the gospel; if we as the church are content to go through the motions of Christianity without a concern to be with Jesus; if we are simply too busy to come and attend God’s banquet of grace; then, why in the world should those persons who don’t profess Christ as Savior break down the door to get in?
 
            Jesus was offering a penetrating warning:  The unresponsive religious insiders will be replaced by the responsive sinful outsiders.  If the insiders take for granted what they possess and have better things to do, then God is going to call people who will hear, listen, and respond to his gracious invitation.
 
            The deeply probing question for every believer today is this:  Are we so familiar with Jesus, and so content with the way things are that when God breaks into our lives in the form of an invitation that we refuse to respond because we are not interested in going to some stupid banquet?  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
 

 

            Gracious God, forgive me for wasting time in things that just don’t matter in the scope of eternity.  I choose to go out and compel outsiders to come in, so that your house will be full for the great feast at the end of the age.  Through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray.  Amen.