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.

James 2:8-13

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            Mercy triumphs over judgment.  Oh, that our lives and our churches would be characterized by that short, powerful, and true biblical phrase!  The basest reality for us all as fallen human beings is that we sin.  Our common lot is that we do sinful things as well as leave good things undone.  Yet, God’s mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.
 
            These verses from the Apostle James let us know that when certain persons lose sight of their own sinfulness and sit in judgment upon others that they have no ground to stand on.  If any of us show partiality to others in order to get ahead or to receive undue attention; if we speak ill of others; if gossip, slander, or back-biting is a spectator sport for us; then we are in the same league as murderers and adulterers as law-breakers.
 
            I often say that grace trumps everything.  It is a wonderful truth and reality.  As believers in Jesus we need to show mercy and help others instead of looking down our nose upon them.  Any given local church really ought to be a safe place for people to be vulnerable about their struggles, their pain, and their feelings without being condemned for their questions and wonderings.  All people are to be valued and respected through empathic listening and basic concern.
 
            Taking the time each day to reflect upon Scripture and to put it into practice is a daily spiritual discipline that will reap great rewards.  It will plant a gracious and merciful spirit down deep in the soul so that we honor God and are a blessing to the church and the world.
            Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.  And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.  I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.  I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.  I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.  Amen.

Reformation Sunday

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
We all may be familiar with the fact that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg castle church which sparked the Protestant Reformation, but we are probably less familiar with the theological meat of Luther’s reforming spirit, his Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, written the year following the 95 Theses.
 
            In his Disputation, Luther contrasted two opposing ways of approaching Christianity.  He called these two ways the theology of the cross and the theology of glory.  The cross, as expressed by Luther, is God’s attack on human sin.  It is the death of Christ that is central to Christianity, and one must embrace the cross and rely completely and totally upon Christ’s finished work on the cross to handle human sin.  It is through being crucified with Christ that we find the way to human flourishing and life.  In other words, righteousness is gained only by grace through faith in Christ.
 
            The theology of glory is the opposing way of the cross.  For Luther, the wicked person, and the vilest offender of God is not the person who has done all kinds of outward sinning that we readily see.  You perhaps have an idea in your head of what the worst of sinners is like.  My guess is that it probably has something to do with an actual sinful lifestyle or particular evil acts. 
 
            Luther, however, insisted that the worst of sinners are those people who do good works, who pursue a theology of glory.  More specifically, the wicked person is the one who has clean living and does all kinds of nice things, but does them disconnected from God by wanting others to see their good actions.  Another way of putting it is that the wicked person is one who seeks to gain glory for him/herself, rather than giving glory to God.
 
            Our good works, Luther insisted, are the greatest hindrance to being a truly righteous person and living in the way of the cross.  It is far too easy to place faith in our good works done apart from God, rather than having a naked trust in Christ alone.  It is far too easy to do good things for the primary purpose of having others observe our goodness, rather than do them out of the good soil of being planted in God’s Word.  The only remedy for sin is the cross, and the sinner is one who lives life apart from that cross, trusting in him/herself so that people can recognize them and give them their due respect and praise.
 
            Here is what Luther had to say in a nutshell concerning his thoughts:  “It is impossible for a person not to be puffed by his good works unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God’s.”
 
            So, then, the answer to this problem of doing good works out of our intention of gaining glory for ourselves is not to avoid good works, but to do them from the good soil of being planted in the law of God and being connected to the vine of Christ. 
 

 

            Reformation Sunday is a time to remember, and a time to repent.  We remember that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.  We also take the time to repent of our works done apart from Christ and acted for the accolades of others.  Perhaps what we need today is another Reformation, that is, a reformation of spiritual habits that truly connect us to the vine of Christ – practices that shape our lives around the person and work of Jesus, and not around the idols of our hearts that make us look good and impress others.  What will you choose on this day?

Covenant vs. Contract

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            It is a beautiful thing when someone makes a promise to you and follows through.  Whether it is someone promising to give free child-care, or to help out with a project that needs to be completed, promises kept are a kind of human glue that bonds us together as people.  When two people get married, they have a ceremony in order to publically make promises to one another – vows to remain faithful and to do everything within their power for the betterment of each other and the relationship, no matter the circumstances.
 
            God is a promise-making and promise-keeping God.  When humanity fell, God set in motion a plan to redeem his creation back to himself.  A healthy way to look at the whole of Holy Scripture is to understand that God has entered into covenant with his people.  That simply means that God has graciously made promises to certain persons – vows that he will fulfill.  The fulfillment of God’s promises is found in the person and work of Jesus, through his life, death, resurrection, ascension and glorification.  In Christ, we are redeemed and made holy.  Our proper response to God is to place our faith in those promises. 
 
            However, there are those who view a relationship with God not based on covenant promises, but more like a contract.  In a contract, promises are not made, but a deal is brokered.  On the practical level it operates something like this:  if I do good works, have clean living, and do what is right, God will bless me; and, if I don’t, God will punish me.  In a covenant understanding, when we fail or are disobedient, we confess our sins and God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us.  But in a contract, when we fail we lose.  Relating to God according to a contract is like believing that life is like a math equation; if I do my part, God must do his.  And if God tells me to do something, I’d better do it or else.
 
            Too many Christians live by a contractual understanding of relating to God.  I knew a woman who was a very nice sweet person.  She grew up in a Christian home, never got into trouble, and did everything expected of her.  But when she became ill with a rare disease, her faith began to unravel.  She simply could not understand or make sense of the reality that she had been good all of her life and was dying a slow death.  Since 2+2=4, she thought that God was not holding up his end of the deal; the equation was not working the way it was supposed to work.
 
            On the outside, two people may be doing all the same things – serving in the church and doing a range of good deeds.  But on the inside, the motivation between the two may be very different.  One serves out of obligation to a contract; the other serves out of heart response to a covenant God who has made and fulfilled promises of salvation.  The litmus test of discerning between the two typically occurs when life does not turn out the way we expect, that is, when suffering and hard circumstances knock us hard on our rear ends.
 
            A legalistic view of the Christian life will always discern our relationship with God as a contract; we must do certain things in order to hold up the bargain.  But a grace-filled view of the Christian life has behind it a proper view of God as the One who has given us his very great and precious promises, despite the fact that we have done nothing to deserve them.
 

 

            Which view do you hold?  Can you accept a God who relates to you based on love and grace, and not on your performance, or lack thereof?  The Christian life does not work on the idea that if I do my part, and God does his, that everything will be hunky-dory.  Instead, the wonder and beauty of Christianity is that there is a God who steps in and saves when we have done nothing to earn or deserve it.  The proper life response to this is living obediently out of gratitude for such a grace.  May our churches be filled with thankful believers.

Gentleness

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
It is probably an understatement to say that we live in a day when so many people are polarized on such a wide variety of issues.  Whether it is politics, economics, or religion, lines have been drawn and people fall back into their like-minded groups.  The verbal missiles that are often launched across blogs, social media, news programs, and even in churches, evidence much anxiety and little listening or love.
 
I will get down to the point of this post:  the New Testament verse of Philippians 4:5 says quite plainly that we need to let our gentleness be evident to all.  The verb in this verse is in the imperative mood, which means that it is a command of Holy Scripture.  Having a patient forbearance is not optional equipment for those who profess the name of Jesus.  Furthermore, this command is not limited to a certain group of persons –gentleness is to be shown to all.

I think a legitimate and proper way to translate this verse would be:  You must evidence gentleness to everyone.  The simplicity of faithful presence, a gracious attitude, patient soulcraft, and a gentle application of the gospel has the effect of yielding changed lives in the Spirit.  The way in which we interact with people, no matter whom they are, was important enough to be a requirement for all of Paul’s churches.  The Apostle laid it down to his protégés Timothy and Titus that they need to select persons who evidence gentleness toward others (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2).  Church leadership is too important a matter than to allow angry people who rant about their views without any thought to how they come across to occupy the positions of elder or deacon.
 
One of the reasons I believe that fewer and fewer people turn to the church for reliable answers to their religious questions is that there are far too many Christians who evidence hatred and belligerence instead of grace and gentleness.  For the past thirty years my wife and I have had a steady stream of “marginal” persons in our lives – those wrestling with their sexual identity; addicts caught in downward spirals of habits; relationship problems; the socially unlovely; and, the list could go on.  As I reflected on why this has been the reality for us, I think it comes from a simple obedience to this command in Philippians.  We do not freak out about people’s sins or struggles; we just show some common compassion and gentleness and apply the gospel carefully to situations.
 
Now I think it really needs to be asked:  Have we obeyed Philippians 4:5?  Are we obeying this verse?  Will we obey this verse?  Are we evidencing gentleness, or not?  It is disturbing that churches are often not safe places for people caught in any sin to come and deal with what is going on inside their souls and find the Christian gentleness and pastoral sensitivity needed to address the situations at hand.  The kind of things that keeps me awake at night is a lack of demonstrated values to Christ’s Beatitudes.  What makes my heart ache even now is that there are untold hundreds of people around us needing the gospel of Jesus, but many of us are too busy making loud and obnoxious pronouncements about things we have already made pronouncements about and are mad that no one seems to be listening.   
 
Some of my pastor brothers and fellow Christians fear what will happen in a moral slide in our nation.  But I am not much afraid what will happen to us as believers.  Rather, I am sick to my core for the persons who will not come to us and our churches for healing, or be pushed away from the healing, because of our un-biblical bedside manner.
 

 

We must evidence gentleness.  It is a simple command.  Let us obey it with humble simplicity and watch the saving work of Jesus do its gracious change through the power of God’s Spirit.