October 25, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

THE DAY JESUS HEALED THE WRONG PERSON
Luke 5:12-16

[Use video “They’ll Let Anyone in That Church”—4:38]

Well, there’s a great challenge to any church—including ours! But it’s also reflective of the great love of Jesus who loved people unconditionally with a seemingly indiscriminate love. It was so unlike the religious folk of His day—and, sad to say, too often unlike the religious folk of our day!

Most of us live with certain expectations. We expect to eat every day. We expect the sun to shine most days in Idaho. And we expect the preacher to be done by noon!

We probably all have certain expectations as followers of Jesus. But Scripture often blows away our expectations—and certainly there were lots of times when Jesus didn’t do what most people expected Him to do! His response to people was totally different than what they expected! He surrounded Himself with the wrong people! He preached what seemed like the wrong theology! He kept the wrong company! He even healed what sometimes seemed like the wrong people!

We’re continuing in our series of sermons I’ve entitled “Close Enough to Feel the Pain.” We’re looking at scenes from Jesus’ life and ministry in Luke’s Gospel. Today we’re going to look at a scene in which Jesus healed the wrong person! And we’re going to need to climb into the perspective of the New Testament world to fully understand how this was clearly the wrong person for Jesus to heal.

Look with me at Luke 5:12-16—
[Read Luke 5:12-16, NIV]

From the vantage point of the average person of Jesus’ day, and particularly the religious leaders, this man was clearly the wrong person for Jesus to heal! This man with leprosy wasn’t even someone they were to touch at all! In fact, people with leprosy weren’t allowed to come close to other people! I suppose it was first a physical concern because of the concern for contamination that we spoke about last week.

In some ways, leprosy was the AIDS of that era. It was a frightening disease. “Leprosy” was a fairly general term in the New Testament world for certain skin diseases, not all of which are equivalent to what we’d call “leprosy” or “Hansen’s disease” today. Classic leprosy causes disfiguring skin lesions which do not heal, progressive debilitation, and severe nerve damage which often leads to the loss of limbs—and, untreated, it is very much contagious and very much a killer. That’s why people with leprosy were confined in “leper colonies”—forced to live their lives in isolation from family and friends. While it is treatable and curable today, it is still a threatening disease in some world areas where they can’t provide proper treatment. For example, I’m told that there are as many as 1,000 leper colonies in India today—plus many others in places like China, Romania, Egypt and Somalia.

Frankly, leprosy is a hideous disease—an ugly disease! In a time when they did not know how to treat it, people with leprosy became physically repulsive to others, and thus isolated socially and psychologically. They were completely ostracized from others because of the fear of contamination—but also because it was such a hideous thing to see.

But there was also another side to this, at least from the vantage point of the people of Jesus’ day. It was believed by many in His day that if you were ill that you had sinned in some way. And so if you had leprosy, it meant that you had committed some terrible sins!—and if you were a terrible sinner, the religious folk felt they needed to stay clear of you out of the fear of spiritual contamination. You were “unclean”!

Leprosy was considered a filthy disease. Good people just weren’t supposed to be around horrendous sinners—dirty people that they were! And that’s where Jesus made so many of the religious folk angry, because He refused to stay away from such people. And so, from their vantage point, He was healing the wrong person. But from Jesus’ vantage point, He couldn’t heal the “wrong” person—there were no “wrong” people when it came to love and care and compassion!

From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He spoke about “setting the captives free.” The lepers were the captives of their society. They desperately needed “set free”! In addition to coping with horrible and probably terminal illness, they were social outcasts—but Jesus didn’t consider them outcasts. He saw beyond the disease. He saw the person, and He saw the need.

So here was a man with leprosy, shamefully falling face downward at the feet of Jesus. He begged Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean!” The man was desperate for a sense of cleansing from his deplorable condition. And while most everyone else wouldn’t even come near the guy, Jesus did the unthinkable—He reached out His hand and touched the man, declaring, “I am willing! Be healed!”

Again, it’s so incredibly significant that Jesus touched the man! In this scene, Jesus literally touched the untouchable! We talked last Sunday about the significance of human touch. Jesus clearly understood that. That’s why in so many cases when He came across people in great need, He placed His hands upon them. You and I know that there is power in human touch. And, as I said last week, we all understand that it can be abused, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater! There is something powerful in the human touch. We all need contact with other people. Jesus was the Son of God who set aside His power and authority as God to step into our world—and His literal touch upon people’s lives is a powerful demonstration of the love of God! And do you understand why His touch was particularly powerful for the man with leprosy? Chances are, he hadn’t felt human touch in a long, long time!

For Jesus, there were no “wrong” people to love and to care for and to heal! There was no such thing as an “untouchable” person! Every person matters! Every person is a recipient of the unmerited favor of God—His love and His grace. Jesus’ physical touch on the man was such an outward demonstration of His love for him! And, of course, He not only touched the man, Jesus healed this man whose body was ravaged with leprosy!

Now, we need to be careful that we don’t categorically connect Christ’s love with His healing. The Bible tells us of His great love for all people—regardless of whether or not He chooses to heal us. What I don’t want us to try to do is make His healing a test of His love—for God loves us all, but He doesn’t always chose to heal us. I was talking with someone from our congregation this week about these very things—together noting that it’s such a mystery as to why God chooses to heal some times and why He chooses not to heal other times. And if I understood all the mysteries of God, then I suppose I wouldn’t need God. I’m convinced that God doesn’t intend for us to understand all of His ways, and I become suspect of anyone who proclaims to know the mysteries of God.

I believe firmly that God loves each of us, and I also know that scripture urges us to pray for healing, trusting that God has the power to do so when He chooses. I remarked to you last week that God created us and put us in mortal bodies—that we were never meant to live forever. If we dared to think that God always wants to heal us, then we’re forgetting the fact that our bodies are, at best, temporary.

Besides that, how would we ever get to heaven if God always heals us?! If heaven’s as wonderful as Scripture describes, and I have every reason to believe it’s that and more, then why should I try to avoid heaven at all costs? Some day, in God’s perfect timing, I will die—and I have every confidence because of God’s grace that, as His child, I will be with Him forever.

And if we ever dare to think that it’s our faith in God that’s accomplishing the healing, then we’re somehow taking the healing power away from God and putting it simply at our disposal—to use or not to use according to our determination.

But here was a man bowing before Jesus, desperately desiring healing, and none of the religious leaders would have come close to this man. Why? Because He was the wrong guy to love and the wrong guy to heal. He was, they felt, obviously full of sin—filthy inside and out.

But Jesus was always loving the “wrong” people, wasn’t He? It’s what made the religious leaders so mad! It’s what kept getting Him into trouble! But He just kept doing it anyway—not to make them mad, but because He had a love for every person that would not stop and could not be stopped!

Christ’s love is unconditional. Unconditional love means that we love regardless of someone’s actions or even their beliefs. We love them regardless of their situation in life. Unconditional love separates the individual from his or her behaviors.

Let me give you a simple example. Let’s say you get a puppy. The puppy is incredibly cute—and even though I don’t consider myself a huge dog lover, I’ve never seen a puppy that I didn’t think was cute! Our whole family still goes nuts whenever we see a Boston Terrier puppy that reminds us of the dog we had for 13 years! So the puppy is cute and playful, and it’s easy to love this adorable little being. Then the inevitable happens—the puppy has an accident on the floor! But you don’t quit loving the puppy just because of that, do you? No—you work on correcting the puppy and modifying its behavior through training.

Maybe a better example is a child. You love that little baby that comes into your home! You may not always know what to do to make that little one content or for the baby to quit crying, but there’s no doubt that you love this helpless tiny person who eventually calls you “mommy” or “daddy”! But as the child grows, they inevitably will do something like write on your bedroom wall with a crayon. You’re not happy about the crayon markings on your wall!—but you don’t stop loving that child!

How much more so is it true that our perfect, loving Heavenly Father loves us with a love that never ends. In the context of our Christian faith, we understand that God loves each person irrespective of that’s person’s love for God and regardless of the presence of sin in their lives. Sometimes we’ve put it in words like, “God loves the sinner, but hates the sin.” But the wonder of our faith in God is that, despite our sinful condition, He has loved us! He loves us with a love that will not go away! We cannot escape it!

His love is unconditional, even seemingly indiscriminate—because He seems to love even those who may not seem worthy of love. Our human tendency is to pick and choose who we’re going to love. That’s why I liked the video so much that we saw earlier—it’s just so much like us, even though we might be more subtle about it. We get repulsed by people’s choices and their behaviors. Sometimes we’re as shocked with people’s appearances as was the boy whose mouth dropped open when the rather radical teenage girl came to the door. We get disgusted with people’s habits—and allow our disgust for their habits to become disgust for them as persons.

But—thank the Lord!—from God’s perspective there are no “wrong” people to love or to heal! You and I might have been left out if it was anything other than this! This scene from Jesus’ life and ministry tells us so much about the powerful love of God that brings cleansing and healing to each of our lives—regardless of our story. We’re all stories of God’s grace—He has loved us even though we did not deserve it. That’s why it’s so amazing!

Have you ever felt that maybe you were that “wrong” person to love?—that you could never be “special” in God’s eyes because you just didn’t measure up?
• Maybe it was because of sin in your life—days and maybe years of which you are so ashamed! And you still carry such shame for your sins that you can’t get past the thought that you must surely be “second class” in God’s eyes.
• Maybe you see yourself as the “wrong” person for Jesus to love because you just keep messing up—you want to do what’s right but you just can’t seem to pull it off.
• Maybe you don’t feel like you have the right pedigree to be a child of God—you hear all the stories of those who grew up in wonderful Christian homes and that isn’t your story at all!
• Or maybe you keep hearing some people around here talk about their Nazarene roots—as if we assume we’re somehow more spiritual because of our Nazarene heritage!
• Or maybe you struggle to see yourself as a child truly loved by God because life’s simply been hard for you—and you wonder why God doesn’t instantly make it all easier.

May I remind you this morning that there are no “wrong” people for Jesus to love. Everyone is as precious in the sight of God as the next person. Despite our human inclination to see people through lenses that place more worth on some than on others, God doesn’t see us that way. God loves you—and He wants to touch your life and bless you and walk beside you.

Pastor Paul’s Blog

This weekend Kim and I, along with our daughter Emily, are privileged to be providing the music for the Intermountain District Singles Retreat at Trinity Pines Camp & Conference Center. We’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time. Back in July we met with the retreat leadership to discuss the theme for the weekend. At the meeting we watched a DVD featuring evangelistic speaker Louie Giglio titled “How Great Is Our God.” For those of you who haven’t had the chance to see this DVD, I would highly recommend it. Using information from scientists and NASA, Louie describes in great detail not only how big this earth is, but how small in comparison it is to some of the gigantic stars that NASA has discovered using the Hubble Telescope. I think I particularly like the illustration, because Mr. Giglio keeps comparing Earth to a golf ball. (I’d like to be hitting one right now.)

In my last blog I talked about how excited it makes me to think about God singing over me. I guess I’m trying to continue that thought only shifting our focus to the fact that while God loves us so deeply, he also is a great God who will see us through. Isaiah puts it like this in chapter 40:28-31 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I don’t know what you may be facing today, but I know that our God is a great god, the creator of this very earth we dwell on, the creator of the stars in the heavens, which are incomprehensible in their size. He can handle whatever is the matter in your life. How GREAT is our God.

October 18, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

HEALING HANDS
Luke 4:38-40

We’re sure hearing a lot about H1N1 right now, aren’t we? And, with it, we’re hearing lots of warnings about not spreading germs. We’ve given some thought to just hosing everyone down with disinfectant in the courtyard before you can enter the building, but we decided maybe that was going too far! We have, by the way, put antibacterial dispensers throughout our building and we encourage you to use them. I’ve thought that maybe throughout the winter months our greeters might offer you a bulletin and a squirt of antibacterial hand gel!

I suppose there have often been scares relating to people infecting other people with diseases—and practical wisdom says that we’re to keep our distance when someone’s sick with something that’s contagious. I understand that and respect that, but I sometimes wonder if we don’t let this principle carry over into other arenas of life—particularly keeping our distance from people who are really hurting because we don’t want to get infected with their pain. It’s easier to keep a distance—protecting ourselves from letting other people’s problems drag us down. After all, we’ve all got our own problems! Why should I involve myself in the pain in other people’s lives?

One of the men of our church was reflecting this week on a bracelet that he wears—which has on it the simple letters “WWJD.” It poses the question, “What would Jesus do?” and reflects the question of a now classic Christian book by Charles Sheldon entitled “In His Steps.” And when we apply this question—What would Jesus do?—to the matter of getting close to people’s pain, we have to acknowledge that Jesus did not keep His distance from hurting people. He went to them! He broke through cultural barriers and customs in approaching people otherwise ostracized by their diseases. I’m reminded of Jesus healing the man with leprosy and His response to the woman caught in adultery. He placed His hands upon such people. He actually touched them!

For the next several weeks we’re going to be looking at passages from Luke’s Gospel where Jesus came close to people and placed His hands on them and healed them. We’ll call the series, “Close Enough to Feel the Pain”—and I might encourage you to invite to worship with you those you may know who are experiencing some sort of pain in their lives—for we know that the same Jesus who touched people’s lives in New Testament times still brings hope and encouragement and healing in His touch today.

In a contagious world we learn to keep our distance. If we get too close to those who are suffering, we might get infected by their pain. It may not be convenient or comfortable. But the reality is that it’s only when you get close enough to catch their hurt that you’ll be close enough to for them to catch your love. The miracle of Christ’s healing hands was initially experienced in His willingness to share another person’s suffering—getting close enough to feel their pain. In some ways, we see in these healing scenes a foreshadowing of what was to come when Jesus took upon Himself our sins. He came from the safety of Heaven to the earth to identify totally with humanity—and ultimately to give His life for us. It is by His suffering that we are healed.

Jesus didn’t call us to live in quarantine. He called us to be a kind of hospital—where hurting people find healing. John Ortberg put it like this—
Imagine a hospital where the doctors say, “This has been a successful day. I wasn’t infected. My patients were loaded with filthy germs, but I kept them all outside. They may be dying, but at least I didn’t touch any of them. I didn’t get infected.”
None of us would want to go to a hospital like that! No! We’re not called to live our lives in quarantine. We’re called to follow the example of Jesus—and Jesus got close enough to people to feel their pain.

Let’s look at just such a scene from Jesus’ life and ministry. It’s found in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 4—but in reality, such scenes were found all throughout Jesus’ ministry. This was early in the days of His public ministry, for He had not yet even chosen His 12 disciples and challenged them to follow Him. It was a Sabbath day—and He had been teaching in the synagogue. The people were amazed at the authority with which He spoke and the authority that He had demonstrated even over the powers of darkness. Then we come to this passage—
[Read Luke 4:38-40, NIV]
The scene began with a crisis of a serious illness in a family—Peter’s mother-in-law was frighteningly sick with a high fever. And those who were getting to know Jesus asked Jesus to help her.

We learn from this scene that Simon Peter was a married man. It paints a very human picture of him, because he was a man with a house, a wife, a business and even a mother-in-law! Mark’s Gospel (chapter 1) tells us that this took place in the home of Simon and Andrew—who were brothers. It seems somewhat safe to assume that Peter’s mother-in-law must have lived in the home as well, so I’m envisioning a not-so-untypical ancient Mideast household of multiple generations and extended family under one roof. So when Jesus soon after this challenged Peter to become one of His disciples, He was not talking to someone who was footloose and fancy-free. This guy had a home and a family to be concerned about—in other words, he wasn’t that much different than most of us.

The mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever. And remember that they didn’t have bottles of aspirin or Tylenol on their shelves. They didn’t have thermometers or emergency rooms or medical health plans—private insurance or a universal government plan! She was terribly sick and they needed someone to help—so they asked Jesus to help her. I might also tell you that the one who has recorded these words for us today—the man named Luke—was himself a doctor. And it’s pretty interesting to read his Gospel account of the healing ministry of Jesus.

We might also venture to guess that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law may have already heard about Jesus herself. She may have been a follower, or it may have been that she could have been upset about the way in which Jesus was rocking the world and the priorities of her son-in-law! If that was the case, can’t you just imagine her saying to her daughter, “Good grief! What in the world has gotten into that husband of yours?!”

But whatever was the mother-in-law’s perspective of Jesus, what we do know from both Gospel accounts is that He went to her, took her hand and helped her up. Immediately the fever left her and, evidently in keeping with the woman’s character, she got busy herself from that moment on serving a meal to those who had come into their home—including Jesus.

Luke tells us that Jesus “rebuked the fever and it left her.” Those seem like strange words coming from a healer perhaps. I can’t recall my doctor ever rebuking my high blood pressure or my high cholesterol! (Though I have probably had a doctor rebuke me for being overweight!) Some have concluded from this scene where Jesus rebuked the fever that the presence of illness represents the presence of some sort of evil in the body—and that Jesus was acting just as He did when He called evil spirits out of individuals. But scripture makes a distinction between the accounts of Jesus healing people and Him setting people free from evil spirits, so it seems that they understood the difference quite clearly and that they were not assuming the presence of physical illness to imply the presence of some sort of evil in a person’s life that was causing it. In rebuking the fever, Jesus was in effect personifying the fever as He rebuked it—more in the language that He used than in implying any sort of spirit present in the sickness. It might be like me talking to my car when it’s not working right or someone telling their clock to hurry up when they’re anxiously waiting for something to occur.

When the Lord created us, He put us in human bodies—knowing that our bodies would be imperfect and that we were mortal, in other words, that our bodies were not created to last forever. Sickness is part of life. And while Jesus often chose to heal people and while He still chooses to heal some people today, the reality is that our bodies are designed at best to be temporary.

Unfortunately, pain is also part of life—physical and emotional pain. What Jesus early demonstrated is that He is Lord of sickness and pain—that He has power to free us from it when He chooses. But, perhaps even more important, His love brings Him to where we are, getting close enough to us to feel our pain. We are not alone! Whatever happens in our lives, He walks beside us—and His Presence makes all the difference! In His Presence is healing and power! In His Presence is hope!—which gets us beyond the trap of our own fears. And best of all, in His Presence there is love! He loves us enough to get close enough to feel our pain.

After the healing scene in Simon Peter’s home, Luke tells us of a beautiful scene as people brought to Jesus many who were sick, and laying His hands on each one, Jesus healed them. The crowds had apparently waited until evening, after the Sabbath was over, to carry out their labor of love in carrying those who were sick to Jesus. Can’t you just imagine it—one by one the people would wait their turn, waiting for Jesus to place His hands upon them and heal them. Perhaps there were others with fevers—maybe H1N1, who knows! Perhaps there were some with epilepsy or those who were crippled or blind. I’m guessing there were those who brought sick babies and children for Jesus to touch them and heal them. People who had lost sight of hope themselves were brought by others to the Healer—and He touched them, and made them whole, and restored their sense of hope and peace. He placed His healing hands upon them—and everything changed.

Do you understand the power of physical touch? We’ve heard so much about the misuse of touch and inappropriate touch that I fear we’ve lost sight of the beauty and the power in human touch. I understand that there are boundaries to be maintained, and I respect that and urge people to wisely observe those boundaries. But let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater! There are times when people are hurting and grieving so profoundly that there is nothing in our words that will help, but there’s something powerful in just reaching out to someone in those moments—maybe taking their hand, perhaps putting our hands on their shoulders, or maybe even letting them bury their sobs in our embrace.

Some of you may have been astute enough to examine the verses just prior to the ones I read and to go ahead to the verse that immediately follows it. In both cases, we read of Jesus commanding demons to leave people. And while I don’t want to get sidetracked this morning into a full discussion on what demon possession may or may not have meant, we can’t ignore the fact that the New Testament tells of many occasions when Jesus delivered those who were possessed by an evil spirit. I do believe that there is such a thing as demon possession—and those who have served in ministry in third-world areas of the world often tell vivid stories of dealing with such, and I can’t imagine that it’s limited to those settings. But for our purposes this morning, let’s clearly note that Jesus brought not only physical healing, but spiritual delivery and healing as well.

The mighty God upon whom we call and upon whom we trust is certainly able to deal with our physical, emotional, psychological, situational and spiritual problems. There is nothing too difficult for Him! He’s the Great Healer—and we don’t need to understand all the dimensions of our need in order to embrace His healing touch, any more than we all need to have medical degrees to accept the council of wise and caring doctors who give us guidance on how to deal with our physical problems. Our Heavenly Father is the expert. He not only loves us deeply, but He has the power to make a difference in our lives today!

So, how are our lives impacted today by the touch of Christ? Was this something only experienced by those touched by Jesus during the years of His earthly ministry? Or are lives still transformed by His touch today?

The power of God that was seen in and through the life and ministry of Jesus is still at work in our world today. The God that came close enough to feel people’s pain in the Gospels still comes close enough to feel our pain today. The Gospel—the Good News that Christ brings—did not end when they crucified Jesus. He rose from the dead and is alive today and at work in our world through the Holy Spirit! And His touch still brings healing and hope even to our little corner of the world!

And we need His touch upon our lives, don’t we? We need to know that our Creator God recognizes us, that He cares enough to come to where we are and embrace us as we are. We need to know that He loves us too much to leave us as we are, but that He’s willing to forgive our sins and make us new and continue His refining work in making us to be more and more like Him in character. And He loves us too much to leave us alone and without hope in life—so He comes beside us, He tells us not to be afraid, He strengthens us by His touch upon our lives, and He sticks right with us throughout all the hurdles of life!

Several years ago I had a young man in my church who was dying of AIDS. I knew what it was and he and his family knew what it was—but we never spoke of it. I visited him many times in the hospital and was in the room when he died. To this day, his parents and I have never spoken of what killed him, but I’m guessing they feared I knew all along—though I’ve always wished they had been able to acknowledge it to me. I was determined to make it clear that it didn’t matter. Whenever I walked into his room, I reached out to shake his hand. His parents and him and I held hands many times as we prayed around his bedside. In all my inadequacies, I somehow knew enough to make it clear that I was willing to come close enough to feel his pain, not fearing contamination by his disease, but rather embracing the opportunity to demonstrate Christlike love to my young friend. As far as I know, my young friend came to peace with Christ before he died, and I have always hoped that my presence and my care and even my touch upon his life spoke to him again of the Christ who comes close enough to feel our pain.

While I can’t pretend to have knowledge or understanding of the kind of personal pain with which you might be living, I’ve become convinced that there’s a lot of hurting people in our world. I’m convinced that our church and every other church are full of just such people week by week. I wish I had the human capacity to step into each of your lives and with my touch bring to you the touch of the Lord, but the marvelous and mysterious ways of the Lord do not require that. God comes to each of through His Holy Spirit. And in a very real way, He puts His hands upon us and speaks peace into the storms of our lives…He brings healing to the physical and emotional wounds we carry…and His touch brings hope into our otherwise overwhelmed and overspent lives. And He wants to come alongside you today.

There’s a marvelous verse found in 1 Peter 5:7 that simply says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). And that’s what I’m going to encourage you to do this morning. No one else may understand the stress with which you’re living. No one else may know the details of your life that spark such foreboding fear and anxiety, but your Heavenly Father knows and He cares. And He’s approaching you this morning—to touch you and help you and heal you. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” That’s our privilege as His children…

Pastor Tim’s Blog

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SCRIPTURE?

I got caught off guard the other day when I was asked by some young men I got to talking with at the gym where I work out. One was trying to quickly lose weight in preparation for a fight. I’m guessing the other might have been a trainer for him. They were surprisingly conversant and, in the conversation, asked what I did for a living. I figured when I told them I was a pastor that the conversation would come to a quick end! To my amazement, it didn’t (though I will acknowledge that their language cleaned up significantly!). Then, out of seemingly nowhere, one of them asked me what my favorite passage of scripture was.

Dare I acknowledge that I fumbled a little? It’s not that I don’t know passages of scripture, but I always have a hard time determining “my favorite” in most categories of life. And I wasn’t exactly expecting these guys to ask that question! I had to admit that I wasn’t sure I had a “favorite” verse—that it depended upon what was going on in my life that day. I finally suggested Lamentations 3:22b-23, which says, “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” I wanted to leave these guys with a promise from the Lord. Then I asked the one who raised the question to me, “How about you?” And he quoted a passage unfamiliar to me, then smiled, asked if I’d ever heard it before, and explained that it was from the Book of Mormon.

I’ve been thinking about that conversation ever since (and have also wondered how the guy’s fight went). I guess the first passage that comes to my mind when asked for my favorite verse is Romans 12:1-2—

Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This has probably been a “life verse” for me, and I’ve clung to it many times.

How about you? Do you have a favorite verse? How would you have responded to my acquaintances at the gym? I’d love to read your responses.

Blessings on you!

Pastor Tim

October 11, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREETS
Matthew 5:13-16

One of the funniest movies of all times for me is the movie “Sister Act.” Besides making me laugh, it paints a fascinating tell-tale picture of a church that was inclined to close itself in and isolate itself against the world being challenged to take their faith to the streets as Jesus would do. Let’s listen to a brief scene from the movie—
[View scene from “Sister Act”]

In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus followed the Beatitudes with two symbols of what the disciples were to be:  salt and light. Both carry more meaning than we can possibly unpack here this morning, both designate service beyond self, and both are important in human experience—in other words, they’re important in real life. All in all, the symbols of salt and light present the challenge to the church—including our church in Meridian today—to examine our faith and to seek ways in which we can live out our faith in the world, “takin’ it to the streets.” Look with me at Matthew 5, beginning at verse 13—
[Read Matthew 5:13-16, TNIV]

Before we go any further, let’s talk about these symbols. We’ll start with salt. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Of course, the first thing most of us think about relating to salt is that it adds flavor. Most cooks are going to use salt to bring out the flavor of the food they’re cooking. Some of you will add even more salt at the table! It’s a common item in our kitchens and dining rooms. My wife doesn’t have many vices when it comes to food, but give her a bowl of popcorn or a portion of French fries, and she’ll nearly drown them in salt!

Salt is used to purify. I’m wondering if that’s why we put salt pellets in water softeners.  When I’ve had sore throats, more than one doctor has recommended a treatment that predates all the expensive medications that we might look to today—they’ve told me to gargle with hot salt water! (I’ll spare you all the demonstration this morning!) And my understanding would be that salt somehow possesses a disinfecting power, cleansing away bacteria that would keep my throat sore and infected.

And while we don’t use it as much now in this way, salt was also used heavily as a preservative for food in a day without refrigeration. One current usage you might grasp relates to the process of curing hams today. There is a fair amount of salt used in the process—ham is thus very high in salt content. Those of you who are told to stay away from salt because of health concerns are discouraged from eating much ham for that very reason.

And taking all of these uses of salt into mind, Jesus is saying that Christians are to bring real life to living—adding flavor to the world. We are to bring purity to the world, and we’re to preserve that which is right and true and good.

Then Jesus used the symbol of light—“You are the light of the world.” Light is a symbol of radiance, of openness, and even of joy. There is nothing secretive when the light gets turned on. Light is a universal religious symbol. In the Old Testament as in the New Testament, it most frequently symbolizes purity as opposed to filth, truth as opposed to error or ignorance, and divine revelation and the presence of God as opposed to the presence of evil or abandonment by God. We might better understand what light symbolizes by thinking of what the opposite of light represents—for darkness presents the presence of evil, with that which is sinister lurking in every dark corner. But light is everything darkness isn’t!

In describing the follower of Jesus as “the light of the world,” Jesus is saying that we are to be an influence for openness and honesty and righteousness in the world. We are to reflect the light of Christ—allowing His light to shine upon the lives of others in our world today, and letting the Lord use our very lives in the process.

While a light is to be seen, light is basically to be of service. We turn on a light so that we can see our way through the darkness. Followers of Jesus are lights in the world, not calling attention to themselves, but pointing the way of God. We obtain our light from the One who is the Light of the world. This visibility and service is expressed by Jesus in two ways—the city on the hill and the candle placed on the lamp-stand. The light dispels darkness simply by being present. And the motive is to illuminate the way of God for others—that by seeing our good works they may turn their attention to the Source of all goodness and thus glorify God.

But for this light to be seen, we must live openly in the midst of the world as disciples of Christ. There is nothing secretive about the Christian commitment or the Christian way of life. This is certainly not a call to monasticism or any modern form of what the monastics were trying to accomplish in isolating themselves away from the world. Instead, Jesus calls us to let our light shine in the darkness—and not to hide that light in any way.

And apparently, by what Jesus said, the way in which followers of Jesus let this light shine is by our “good works”—which seems to me to include everything we are and everything we do that reflects the mind and the will and the goodness of God. It’s seen in how we treat people, the attitudes of our hearts which get reflected in the words that come out of our mouths, how we respond to the needs of others—including whether or not we’re willing to go out of our way to help them, getting our hands dirty in the process! And in this way, we need to be the light of the world—reflecting the light of Christ and “takin’ it to the streets” as we let that light shine in and through our lives! Our light needs to shine where there’s darkness—and I don’t need to tell you that there’s a lot of spiritual darkness out there!

The words of Jesus found in these few verses today define our purpose. Here’s our purpose! And it’s presented well to us by the paraphrase of Scripture called The Message begins these verses—
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning…You’re here to be light…(Matthew 5:13-14, The Message)

But within this brief passage, a few questions seem to get raised that I want us to address. First, Jesus warned us against losing our saltiness.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13, TNIV)
So, I got to thinking…how can we lose our saltiness?

We can lose our saltiness by losing sight of our purpose. In other words, we can lose the saltiness of our lives by getting side-tracked—and forgetting why the Lord has us where He does! We can get side-tracked by a lot of things—even seemingly good things—but anything that takes our focus off of our original purpose ends up becoming a distraction.

We can lose our saltiness by disobedience to the Lord. It generally starts with disobedience to the Lord in little things, but once the enemy of our souls gets his foot in the door of our lives, one thing always seems to lead to another. My heart has been aching this week over a dear friend of mine from years past who I suppose embodies what Jesus is saying here—a follower of Christ who lost his saltiness by disobedience to the Lord. One thing led to another, and there doesn’t appear to be much salt in this man’s life now—and it’s so sad to me and to the many others who know him and love him.

You see, if Jesus’ disciples are to act as a preservative in the world by conforming to Christ’s Kingdom norms, if they are “called to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent…they can discharge this function only if they themselves retain their virtue” (R.V.G. Tasker). Here in the words of Jesus to us today is a strong warning against the danger of compromise and conformity to the world.

I think we can lose our saltiness simply by losing heart and getting discouraged. Scripture seems to back up this concern with the many statements made to individuals to “Take heart! Have courage! Don’t be afraid!” I think it’s terribly human of us to be so susceptible to discouragement—and we all probably face it more than we’d like to acknowledge. But if we give in to discouragement, we are allowing the Enemy of our souls to knock the wind out of our sails as we drift away from a sure confidence and trust in the Lord and in what He is able to do in us and through us—even in spite of ourselves!

Some of you are facing discouragement because the reality of the circumstances of your life is not good! I know that more and more of you are facing in your own homes some serious and unsettling ramifications of our economic crisis. It seems like we’re hearing more of it every day! I know that your concerns are real! And yet, on the authority of God’s Word, I challenge you not to give in to your discouragements, your worries or your fears. God has not forgotten you! He has not forgotten your family! He is still faithful God—regardless of what happens on the job market and regardless of what may become of some of the material things that seem important to you. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us—and we’re to depend upon Him rather than on our circumstances!

And I certainly believe we can lose our saltiness by becoming self-centered or self-absorbed. Whenever we’re “full of ourselves,” there’s not much “saltiness” in our spiritual lives! When our lives so center around ourselves and our needs and our wants, we lose sight of our purpose of being salt in the world.

And so, however we might lose our saltiness, Jesus is giving us warning here not to cave in to any of these distractions. We’re to keep our saltiness alive and fresh in the world in which we live—so that there is power and influence in our lives and so that our lives make a difference in our world.

And when Jesus said that we “are the light of the world,” He added strong warning for us not to hide our light. For those of us who have been in the church for many years, this verse may take us to a song we learned as children—
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I’m going to let it shine…
And I got to thinking, “How can we hide our light?”

I think we hide our light when we try to privatize our faith, for the work of God in our lives and in our world is not a secret to be kept. We live in a culture in America today that presses us to keep our faith to ourselves—while Jesus has called us to be light-bearers. We dare not deny His call upon our lives and be squeezed into silence—thus hiding our light under a bucket!

Our family has a young friend who is serving today as a volunteer missionary in China. He’s been there a few years now, and is busy trying to learn the language. The Lord has given him a tremendous passion to see the Chinese people come to know Christ in a real and personal way—and I’d encourage you to pray for David as the Lord brings him to your attention. He’s letting his light shine in a very dark corner of the world, where people are put into prison for inviting others to know Jesus as they do. David has to be incredible careful and wise. Even our email communication with him has to be encrypted—not referring directly to Jesus Christ or speaking of the work of the church there. It would put at risk what he and others are trying to accomplish and what is indeed happening in the lives of many Chinese who are finding Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. But make no mistake about it, David’s letting his light shine! He’s put his life at risk for the cause of Christ—and others are being drawn to the Savior whom he serves.

As Christians, we can’t be so withdrawn from our world that others don’t see the light of Christ in our lives! That will not glorify God! And there are those today within the church who would have us all withdraw from the world and so isolate and shelter our families from contact with the world that we lose our voice in it. Jesus is telling us to let our lights shine! And we must! Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a tremendous man of God who lost his life to the Nazis because he refused to hide his light under a bushel, said—
“Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow him.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

You see, one of the ways in which we can hide our light is if we cower out of fear. Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood the cost of letting our light shine. Others must see this light—regardless of the price we pay for doing so.

We often think that letting others see our good works is just a matter of demonstrating personal pride in our good works—something which Christ clearly spoke against. But in this passage Jesus seems to be telling us to let others see our good works, for it is through these that His light shine through our lives! But when we dig a bit deeper into the New Testament world, we have to realize that the “good works” done by the followers of Jesus was exactly what led to their persecution. Jesus said, “Do good works anyway!”

Many of you would be familiar with the words of Acts 1:8—where Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His followers and said that with the power of Holy Spirit working in our lives we would be His “witnesses” in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In my devotions the other morning I was intrigued to read that the word “witness” actually means “martyr.” The Lord is not using the word “witness” about someone who gets up and gives a testimony. He is saying that a person filled with the Holy Spirit’s power is willing to let his life be slain in order that the life of Christ may be lived through him. He becomes a witness, a testimony of the power of God. The word “witness” means “martyr”—one who is willing to let his very life go for the sake of the Gospel.

Jesus early on had made it clear to His disciples—we aren’t to hide our light under a bushel. We’re to let it shine!

I also think we might hide our light by a personal “brown out.” Do you know what a “brown out” is? It’s when there’s not enough electricity moving through the line to adequately give power to all who want it. Instead of a blackout—where the lights go out altogether—a brownout happens when the lights just go dim. And we can experience a brownout in our Christian lives when we lose contact with the Source of our power—when we drift away from God, when we drift away from His Church, when we drift away from other believers, when we drift away from our daily walk with Him. We can’t have power if we’re not connected to the Source, friends!

And apparently, we can hide our lights by failing to live out His love in our world—by failing to do the “good deeds” which are a chief way by which the world is going to see the Light of Christ through us. And the fear is that others will never see the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because we as His followers aren’t making enough difference in our corner of the world!

Now clearly, the goal is to bring honor and glory to our Heavenly Father—not to ourselves. We are to bring the Light of Jesus Christ to our world. Anything that we do to bring glory to ourselves is missing the point. And, granted, we’ve got to be constantly asking the question deep within our souls, “Why am I doing this? Am I doing this to bring honor to God or am I doing this to bring glory to myself and make myself look good in the eyes of others?”

I pastored the Bedford, Ohio Church for nearly 11 years. We had some wonderful years there, and the church is alive and well today—it’s actually the church where our daughter Kara and her husband Josh attend and serve. But when I had only been there a year or two, I remember coming to the board with a heartfelt concern. I had sensed it about the Bedford Church when I was pastoring another church on the same district, and, though I had tried to excuse it away, I came to believe that there was a matter of pride that the church as a whole needed to deal with. I felt that the Lord had given me a plan to address that, and what I urged the church to do was to adopt a struggling inner-city ministry in Cleveland which was not far from where we were.

Cleveland Victory Church was both a church and a city mission of sorts. They were located in a rough part of the city, and were involved in feeding the poor and providing a lot of practical helps to people of their community who were in need. In “adopting” Cleveland Victory Church, I urged the Bedford Church to come alongside that church and their pastor to assist in every way we could, but without ever drawing attention to what we were doing. I wanted us to serve, but I wanted us to do it humbly and for the right reasons—so that we were reflecting the light of Christ rather than trying to put a spotlight on ourselves as a church and all the wonderful things we were doing for others.

What was suggested as a one-year commitment to Cleveland Victory Church is still going today—more than 15 years later. It’s been a marvelous partnership! We got involved in helping with their Thursday meal for their community. Our teens went and sorted clothes once a month for their clothing ministry. We remodeled their building and their parsonage. Their pastor and another key family who was committed to their ministry found a refueling fellowship at our church on Wednesday evenings, with opportunities for their kids to be involved in children and teen programming that Cleveland Victory couldn’t offer.

When I left Bedford, their pastor—who had become my dear friend—told me that he probably wouldn’t still be there as pastor if we hadn’t come alongside them and the church as we did. But I also knew that the Bedford Church has been so tremendously blessed as they had together served in such a manner in which they allowed God to be glorified rather than it being an exercise in patting themselves on the back for what they were doing for this little church in the city.

As a church, we believe that God has called us to—
PASSION FOR GOD
COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE
It’s how we’ve defined our mission. And, as we’ve been talking about in recent weeks, that mission gets carried out in WORSHIP, DISCIPLING, EVANGELIZING, AND CARING. Today we’ve endeavored to explore how we carry out our Compassion for Christ in the world—and we do it by SERVING.
Considering the example of Christ, we will, as salt and light, be an influence in our community, serving the needs of people locally and globally.
It’s why we exist, church!

And it’s why we did what we did last evening with Project KIDS…It’s why our church has such a vital role in Meridian Foodbank. It’s why our teens initiated our Backpack Food Ministry to help feed kids on weekends who are sustained throughout the week by school lunches. It’s why our church had a garden for the Food Bank this summer. We’re SERVING.

It’s also why we encourage our people to participate in Work and Witness projects—near and far. It’s why I want to encourage you to participate in our project at Castle Hills Church of the Nazarene on the east side of Boise on October 24th. And it’s why I’m hoping we’ll have a good group of people going to the Tucson, Arizona, near the Mexican Border, to help a congregation that’s trying to minister to people in that context. And it’s why we’re sending a group to Germany next summer to help a church that’s trying to take Christ to the people of their community. By these means we’re SERVING in the name of Christ—and so letting our lights shine.

The possibilities are endless—and go well beyond what we as a church might try to program and organize. And I want to challenge you to let the Lord stretch your heart and mind to seek ways to serve others, and thus let your light shine before them. I got to thinking about those for whose salvation we are praying, and wondering how the Lord might prompt you to serve them, to simply address needs in their life, and, by so doing, shine the light of Jesus in their corner of the world.

Would you do that? Will you commit to being a “servant” of Jesus—who as salt and light is an influence in our community? Will you determine not to lose your saltiness and not to hide your light? Oh, friends, may the love of Jesus shine through our lives as we as individuals and as we as a church give ourselves in service to others!

Pastor Tyler’s Blog

IF WE MUST RUN…LET US RUN WELL

Of all the things one could enjoy doing, it amazes me that there are those that would choose to run. I admire those who train and spend months preparing in order to run half-marathons and full marathons. It’s truly an amazing feat, one that if I ever decide to try and accomplish will take an overwhelming amount of motivation. Yet when I played basketball I didn’t mind it all that much. Put some lines on an 84’ hardwood floor and I’ll run till I can’t run anymore. I can’t explain it; it just doesn’t feel the same to me as running outdoors.

Running is one of the healthiest ways for us to exercise. It burns more calories per minute than any other form of cardiovascular exercise. Every single sport uses running as a way to build up endurance and strength in order to perform well.

I remember Septembers were always a tough month when I was in college. September was training month for basketball season. We would meet at the track at 5:00am and spend about an hour doing various sprints. I remember the worst days were the days when we would run 9 – 300 meter sprints. There were the days we’d run 12 – 200 meters, 20 – 100 meters. It all led up to the dreaded one mile run. If you were a guard you had to be less than six minutes, if you were a post, you had to be fewer than eight. If you didn’t make it you came back the next morning until you finished the mile.

The mile run usually came at the end of the month, just as it was getting cool enough that after running your lungs would feel like they were burning from the cold air. I hated the mile run. There was only one time I had to run it twice.

Running is a stress reliever, a sport, time to relax, a way to stay fit, a punishment, a form of endurance, as well as a survival technique. Running is something we all do. Some run physically, while some choose to run figuratively, or emotionally, or even spiritually.

We run from problems. We run from our past. We run from responsibility. We run from family, friends, and we even have a tendency at times to run from God. We run from our feelings or when something happens we don’t like.

It’s amazing how many people in the Bible were runners. Abraham ran to get a calf. Lot ran from Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses ran from Pharaoh. David ran from Saul. Elijah ran from Jezebel. Jonah ran from God. Peter ran to the tomb. The disciples ran from Jesus in the garden. Paul ran the race that had been marked out for him.

Jesus told us specifically that this life would not be an easy one. But he encouraged us that when it becomes tough, to run to Him. “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28. That’s usually the last thing we want to do. When we become offended we don’t want to run to our offender and offer forgiveness? We run to escape. We run to find peace and happiness. When we know we made a mistake or wronged somebody, we don’t want to run to them to apologize or make things right. We run to escape, to disappear, to become forgotten. Or when our marriage isn’t what we thought it was, or should be…we run to the arms of someone else, we run to escape the pressure. After all, you always deserve so much better, so when marriage becomes disappointing you need to run out and find love all over again. The last thing we want to do is run back to something that is so difficult or hard.

We like to run from the hard things of life. We want easy, we want peace, we want pleasure and we want it our way. We like to run. Yet Christ is calling us to always run to him. When I’ve hurt my wife, I need to run to Him first. When I’ve been wronged by a friend or someone on the highway, I need to run to Him first. When my bills are stacking up and I can’t find work, I need to run to Him first. When I’m depressed or alone, I need to run to Him first.

When we run to Christ, he doesn’t wait for us to get there. As the Father ran after the Prodigal Son, when we choose to run after Christ, he picks up his robe and runs after us! It’s the only place to hear His voice, to feel His love and be encouraged with the ability to face whatever it is we wanted to run from.
Paul encouraged us to be runners. In I Corinthians 9:24-27 it says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Paul tells us we are in a race. We all run. The question becomes what are you running towards? You may be running from something, but in running from something you wind up running towards something. What is it that you’re running towards? You may think you’re running towards relief, but anything other than Christ, will always lead to us running again. I want to encourage you, as well as myself, that if we’re going to run, “let us throw off anything and everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and weighs us down. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for each of us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” Let’s run, and run well.

October 4, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

Getting Beyond A Lone Ranger Faith
1 John 4: 7-12

The Lone Ranger was a Texas Ranger in the American Old West who galloped about righting injustices with the aid of his faithful and clever Indian sidekick named Tonto. He didn’t entrust his true identity to anyone—and never let down his mask. Most of the episodes would end with someone lamenting that they never learned the hero’s name—“Who was that masked man?” And someone would answer, “Why, he’s the Lone Ranger!” as the Lone Ranger and Tonto rode off on their horses.

It made for a great fictional hero, but we’d do well not to let such private individuality impact the realm of our faith. Our culture has embraced the notion that religion is best kept private—even though Christians should understand that this flies in the face of Scripture, ignoring the example of Jesus Christ and the teaching and practice of the New Testament Church. It’s become politically incorrect to talk about our faith in many circles—particularly if the faith expressed is faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

And how we’ve too often carried that out in the church across the years is that we’ve learned to put our masks on, gallop to church, guard ourselves from anyone getting too close, and then gallop off into the sunset at the close of the service, not to be heard or seen again until the next Sunday morning we’re able to fit worship into our busy schedules. But then who would know or care—for they don’t even know our true identity! We didn’t wear masks like the Lone Ranger’s, but we’d put on our Sunday best clothes and put a smile on our faces, even when our hearts were neither clean nor polished and even when we silently ached beneath the load of the cares of life. And I understand the merit in getting all dressed up on Sundays in an effort to offer our best to the Lord out of respect for Him—but I also have to acknowledge the validity of those who have concluded that they don’t need to get all dressed up to come to church because their search for authenticity in faith has helped them to see that God loves them just the way they are—with no pretenses.

And whether you come to church in coat and tie or in blue jeans and a tee-shirt, high heels or flip-flops, I do believe that there is a biblical model for how we are to relate to one another once we’re here and also throughout the rest of the week. And I don’t believe it gives much room for Lone Rangers and masked identities, because our relationships with one another need to go much deeper than such barriers allow us to go. Scripture tells us we are to love one another.

Let’s turn in our Bibles to a passage found in 1 John, chapter 4, beginning at verse 7. This is from the epistle, or letter, that the Apostle John wrote to the church during the early days of the Christian Church.

To sum it up, we might say that “to know God is to love one another.”

Let’s see if we can better understand the breadth of what our scripture is saying to us this morning. The Christian community—the broad collection of those who are following Jesus as Savior and Lord—are compelled by the great love of God to love others. Because God has loved us, we are to love one another.

This love we live out for one another is evidence of our being “born of God.” In other words, the kind of love we’re called to have for one another comes “from God.” It’s found in Him. He is the author and originator of such love. He is the Giver of such love. We are to love one another just as God has loved us!

It is not a virtue that is innate within us—nor is it something we can simply learn to do by changed behavior. It’s deeper and stronger than that. Whoever truly loves others is not only born of God, but Scripture says such a person truly “knows God.”

The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know Him if you don’t love others! Whoever doesn’t love doesn’t know God at all, for God in His very nature is love. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us. This love is defined in the New Testament by the Greek word “agape.” It’s a totally selfless love. The New Testament teaching on love brought new and deeper meaning to the concept of love, with richer meaning to the word than had been expressed in pre-biblical Greek.

I might clarify here that while Scripture is proclaiming that “God is love,” we can’t switch those words around and proclaim that “love is God.” John is not teaching that our theory about love is divine, nor that our conception of love defines God. Rather, God is the One who gives to us the meaning of love. He is the Source of love. Love does not define Him. God is love.

And to better understand this kind of love, we only need to look at how God demonstrated His love for us—He did so by sending His only Son to die for us. It is God’s love for us that defines what true love requires—which is the commitment to sacrifice one’s most beloved possessions for another’s gain. God shows us the depths of love and the selflessness of love and the sacrificial element in love.

God’s love for us also demonstrates that it is an active love—it is seen in concrete acts. God’s love for us was seen and experienced in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross for us. The kind of love we’re talking about is not just about intangible feelings—as might be reflected in sentimental words which proclaim, “I love you.” Love is lived out in action. In one respect, words are cheap. The sentiments of a gushy Hallmark card still just cost a few dollars—even when you “care enough to send the very best.” The kind of love we are to have for one another goes much deeper—and it will by nature be selfless and sacrificial.

Love in the New Testament is not an ideal; it is a relationship. And relationships are dynamic—and, truth be told, relationships are messy. Anything that involves imperfect human beings is going to be messy! Relationships demand something of us.

We’re working our way through Valley Shepherd’s Long Range Plan, and I’ve been sharing with you the various components of what we believe we’re called to do and to be. We’ve embraced the mission for our church to be:

PASSION FOR GOD

COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE

Our passion for God calls us to keep Christ at the center of all we do—in other words, Worship is central to everything we do, and we are committed to keeping the Lord central and allowing everything else to flow from that center core truth. We’ve talked about our Passion for God lived out within the church family, and we see that in terms of Discipling, as we teach, train and model for growth in Christlikeness. And when we apply our passion for God outside the relationships within the church family, we see ourselves called to Evangelizing—helping others recognize their need for God and what He alone can do for them.

Our Compassion for People lived out within the church family calls us to CARING. And as we consider the biblical model for love and support among followers of Jesus Christ, we are determined to cultivate and nurture that New Testament love for one another and the richness of fellowship defined by the New Testament Greek word “koinonia.”

We’ve got to figure out what it means to truly love and care for one another, friends—and we’ve got to learn to live that out! There are ways we can try to “program” for this and certainly ways in which we can nurture and encourage it—but all those will become nothing more than humanitarian efforts if we fail to get to the heart of the matter. We need people who are willing to assume responsibility for the love and care of others within the church family, but, again, without the heart of God’s love stirring such actions, that kind of love will fall short of the God-kind-of-love to which we are called!

Can I say this about this matter of caring for one another? It will be challenging and it will be messy and it will be the most rewarding thing in all the world! Why would I say that? Because the people we’re called to love aren’t perfect people! We’d really prefer to love perfect people—but that’s not who’s out there! That’s not even who’s sitting on the pew next to you! That’s not even who’s sitting where you are!

Cindy and I have entered a different stage of life in recent years, and it has its unique challenges—even in this matter of learning to love like Jesus loved. By next January our family of 5 will have doubled to 10—by marriages and grandchildren! It’s a wonderful thing—and we love each one of them. But we’ve also discovered that this matter of loving young adult kids has new dimensions to it—because they’re living on their own now and they’re making adult kinds of decisions! Life may have seem complicated back when our kids were babies, but at least we could put them in their cribs and know that they’d remain there!

I’ve had some intense conversations within the past week with other parents our age who are struggling to know how to best live out their love for kids who aren’t always making the best of choices or at least whose actions or decisions aren’t something that we can easily understand or appreciate. It’s hard to love even when our hearts get stepped on, isn’t it?! Even when our feelings get hurt! Even when we can see where some of their choices are going to take them! Even when we’re angry at what they may be doing to others or when our hearts ache so much throughout the long hours of the night!

But I’ve been reminded that the most powerful thing we can do for our family members is to love them—not condemn them or criticize them or scrutinize their every movement…just love them. And that’s costly, isn’t it? Of course it is! We have to learn to put ourselves aside—including our feelings and our opinions—and simply choose to love. Putting ourselves aside sometimes means that we learn to bite our tongues—and keep our mouths shut when we’re just dying to let them know what we’re really thinking!

And the love we endeavor to carry out with one another within the body of believers called the Church is going to be no less messy!—in part because we’re dealing with imperfect people like ourselves! So you put all these imperfect people together and mix us all up and we can either have a lot of confusion and conflict or we can choose to pour on the love and let it be the glue that bonds us with one another. And that’s what Scripture calls us to do!—Love one another!

I remember that the Early Church had such a powerful impact on their world because people noted, “Behold how they love one another!” And I think people today are drawn to genuine love—and they have an uncanny way of sensing when it’s real and when it isn’t.

It will certainly cost each one of us something when we choose to love one another—but then, doesn’t anything of value cost us? Within the church family, we’ll constantly need to learn to step out of our comfort zones—and even go beyond our close circle of friends, opening our hearts and our lives to others. We’ll need to pry open our friendship circles and be willing to welcome others. I know that can be hard—but do you realize how important it is?

I talked with someone just this week who is new to our church who said that he’d stood in the foyer a few times just to see if anyone would come and talk with him—and “we” seldom did. With good spirit, he noted the groups in lively conversations and thought to himself, “They must really love one another”—all the while feeling very much alone and ignored. I think the hardest thing is when people are indifferent to you—like they don’t even notice that you’re there! Please don’t feel beat up when I share such things with you, my dear church family, but be aware and alert and be willing to let the Lord stretch you to establish new relationships of love and care for others. How in the world are we supposed to care for one another if we don’t even know one another?!

Maybe you feel like you’re already giving more than you’ve received in terms of relationships. That may be true—but then I’d suggest that that’s the very essence of Christlike love. On the other hand, you might be honest enough to acknowledge that you’ve gained far more than you’ve given as you have experienced the love and care of others. I think that’s where I am.

It all calls for a lot of love and grace, doesn’t it? But then, haven’t we all received plenty of love and grace ourselves from our Heavenly Father? Of course we have! And day by day He keeps pouring it upon us—and we’re called to in turn pour it out upon others.

I also wanted to note for you that I believe that such love spans the generations. Many of us believe that one of our greatest assets as a congregation at Valley Shepherd is the presence of multiple generations. It’s a matter of personal dismay to me that many churches have so centered their efforts on one generation that they have ignored other generations. And while I can’t pretend that we’ve got this all figured out ourselves, I do believe that the more biblical model of the church is that of all generations coming together to worship the Lord and to learn from one another and to love one another—and to love one another so deeply that we hold loosely to those things which are dear to us but not essentials to our faith…things like traditions and music and other preferences. The reason we do some of the things we do around here is because we value being a multiple-generation church and I believe there’s a tremendous blessing in that! But with that in mind, I want to challenge each of you to look beyond your own age group and look for ways to build loving relationships with those who are significantly younger or older than you.

Most of you know that I was in Ohio last week to speak at the Circleville Church of the Nazarene’s 80^th anniversary as a congregation. It’s a church of 500-600 now, but when my grandfather, Rev. A.E. Pusey, became their first pastor they were just meeting in someone’s home. Not only do I have that connection with that church, but it’s the church I was part of during four of my teen years—when my father went to Viet Nam as a chaplain in the Army and our family moved to be near my grandparents (who returned to Circleville for retirement) and an aunt and uncle who became like second parents to us.

In preparing for my message last Sunday, I was reflecting on not only my own rich and wonderful family heritage but also some of the people of that church who had so impacted my life during my relatively few years there. It was interesting the names and faces that came to me—names and faces that are dear to me now. And it wasn’t so much the specific roles they carried out in terms of ministry—but the fact that how they responded to me week by week revealed a love and care for me that I have never forgotten!

I was a cocky young kid during my years there, and I always talked too much, and surely had to drive some of them nuts now and then! But I thought of ol’ Bill Lutz, who greeted me at the door every Sunday morning. He’d also tease me about something and make me laugh, but I came to believe that the old guy really cared. I remembered Teresa Allen—who was sitting in the crowd last Sunday—who led the opening session of Sunday School for the junior department. She greeted us by name every Sunday as we’d step into that classroom with such a warm and caring smile that we could not ignore the genuine love. Phil Manson became my good buddy and his parents and aunts and uncles and grandmother accepted me like part of their family. I remembered others by name who must have gone out of their way week by week to speak to me and encourage me because in the collage of faces in my memory, they stood out and I’m still drawn to them because I somehow knew that they really loved me.

May I remind you, my dear church family, that someone needs you—they need your love and your care. And, interestingly enough, you need them too. In fact, we all need one another. We’re better together than we are apart—even though relationships get messy because we somehow seem to bring our humanness to the table. The kind of love to which we’re called is not an ideal—it’s a relationship. It’ll be dynamic and it will cost each of us something…but it will be worth it! And God blesses us when we learn to truly love and care for one another—when we see beyond ourselves and recognize the needs of others, when we put Christlike love into action, when we’re somehow stirred by Christ’s unmerited love for us and allow Him to cultivate such love in our hearts for others.

This morning, we have the privilege of being reminded again of God’s great love for us as we share together in the Lord’s Supper. It’s right that we do it together—symbolically gathering around the same table as a family might do for a meal. And as we take the elements that remind us in a very sacred way of the body of Christ broken for our redemption and the blood of Jesus poured out for our forgiveness, may the Lord stir within each of us a fresh determination to pour out such love and grace and care upon one another. I might encourage you to look across “the table” as you prepare to receive these elements, and allow God to open your eyes and your heart to those who need your love and care today…