I am reading a book called Returning to Holiness. The chapter that I am on is about sins of attitude. There is a statement in the chapter that says, "the very root of sin is love and worship of self over God."
I have been pondering this notion and being convicted of it in last few weeks and especially the last few days. I was having a conversation with a friendabout how I am concerned with myself and providing for my own wants and needs. I do things for my wife so that she will do them for me. I want to turn on the tv for the kids and get them in bed early so that I can have some time to myself. Time that I will use to browse the net for the latest on baseball or football. I am giving up others to serve myself.
Phil 2:3-9
In humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.
God would you rid my heart of the filthiness of selfishness and pride and laziness. Would you cause me to give away myself and give into the needs of others. May I give up myself and give of myself for your purposes. Consume my heart with thoughts of eternal things.
Does Christianity have an image problem?
I would like to know what people think about this article that apperared in Time and how it does and or should impact what we are doing at North Church.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1667639,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1667639,00.html
Romans 5:8
This weeks studying has brought me to my favorite verse in all of scripture.
But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
That word that is translated "shows" is a beautiful word that we must think deeply about to begin to grasp the beauty of it. Some translations use demonstrates, proves, evidences. But the whole of the word is not found in any English translation. The whole of the word has that connotation of proving or showing or demonstrating or giving evidence, but another piece on top of that. That piece is that His love has been placed within our reach.
God has placed within our reach His love. It has been taken from a far and placed with our grasp. This week I am talking about the law and our inability to measure up to it and our subsequent failure to commune with God. But God has sent His son so that His joy giving and ultimately fulfilling love might be within our reach. Take time to bask in that notion.
But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
That word that is translated "shows" is a beautiful word that we must think deeply about to begin to grasp the beauty of it. Some translations use demonstrates, proves, evidences. But the whole of the word is not found in any English translation. The whole of the word has that connotation of proving or showing or demonstrating or giving evidence, but another piece on top of that. That piece is that His love has been placed within our reach.
God has placed within our reach His love. It has been taken from a far and placed with our grasp. This week I am talking about the law and our inability to measure up to it and our subsequent failure to commune with God. But God has sent His son so that His joy giving and ultimately fulfilling love might be within our reach. Take time to bask in that notion.
The Law as a School Master
Galatians 3:24 (ESV)
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
The following is commentary from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible:: "The sense of the passage is, that the law performed this office of a schoolmaster(translated in the ESV as guardian) until the coming of Christ; which shows that till that time the church was in its minority, that the Jews were but children in knowledge and understanding, and therefore stood in need, and were under the care of a schoolmaster, the law."
The law's purpose was to educate the Jews on their need for a saviour and to eventually show them the beauty and freedom that is found in grace and the Son of God, who came and fulfilled the law and offered us His own righteousness by faith.
This is a wonderfully poetic truth and brings my sin soaked heart to adoration of Jesus.
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
The following is commentary from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible:: "The sense of the passage is, that the law performed this office of a schoolmaster(translated in the ESV as guardian) until the coming of Christ; which shows that till that time the church was in its minority, that the Jews were but children in knowledge and understanding, and therefore stood in need, and were under the care of a schoolmaster, the law."
The law's purpose was to educate the Jews on their need for a saviour and to eventually show them the beauty and freedom that is found in grace and the Son of God, who came and fulfilled the law and offered us His own righteousness by faith.
This is a wonderfully poetic truth and brings my sin soaked heart to adoration of Jesus.
An eternal and relational God
I used that phrase in the message this week and as I thought about the implications of the God that I get to talk about on Sundays being relational, I was overcome by the depth of that simple statement.
I am reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. He talks alot about God being a relational God. He talks about needing to be valued in relationship. Meaning he needed someone to value what he brought to the table. After failing at soccer and tennis and guitar he tried to memorize poetry and it worked. People called him smart because of this new depth that seemed to have because he could recite poetry. Here is a quote from the book:: "It seemed that every human being had this need for something outside himself to tell him who he was...It explains why I wanted to be seen as smart, why religious people needed to be seen as right, why Shirley MacLaine wanted to be God, and just about eveything else a human did."
There is briliance in this idea. We go around this earth with a need for people to tell things that prove we have worth or that they value us. This is generally how we choose our friends. It is a good way to make friends. We are wired to crave relationships. We are wired to crave relationships in which we can be real, we can show our flaws and still be not just accepted, but valued.
If you know me you know that I love my wife deeply. There are many reasons for this and I won't bore you with them all. But one of the reasons that is near the top of the list is that she values me and loves me back despite my failures to protect her in important times (which by the way makes me a hypocrit), despite my laziness, despite falling in love with me when I was on track to make a six figure salary by age 30 only to cash that in for a career in the fish bowl of ministry making less than a six figure salary. She values who I am and that is very attractive to me.
We all have this need to be valued, it is in the core of who are. Some Christian leaders would charge you to rid yourself of your need to be valued. I say embrace it, run toward it, seek it out with all that you are. I say this because the eternal and relational God that I talked about on Sunday values you. The one who breathed and all the stars were born values you. Isn't there something greater about being valued when the one who values you is of great value. In this case the one who values you is of supreme value.
When I was in high school I was on the golf team and our best player was a guy named Neal. Neal worked at a golf course and one day on our way to practice Neal talked about this guy who was at his course the night before. I forget who the guy was, but he was someone of acclaim in the golf world. He was talking to Neal and found out that Neal was a pretty good high school player and so they went out on the driving range at the course and he had Neal hit some balls and was going to give him some pointers. After they did this for a bit and were walking back inside the guy told Neal that Neal had the quickest hands that he had ever seen for a kid his age (quick hands are really important for a golf swing). As Neal was telling us this story he was beaming. This guy of much acclaim had given him great value. He said it in such a way that Neal knew he was not just blowing smoke. Neal felt very valued because this man of acclaim had told him how fast his hands were.
The creator of this world could have chosen any way he wanted to spread the word about who He is and what He has done. But He has chosen people to be the way He does that. He believes in you, He values you. Go and value someone today. Go.
I am reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. He talks alot about God being a relational God. He talks about needing to be valued in relationship. Meaning he needed someone to value what he brought to the table. After failing at soccer and tennis and guitar he tried to memorize poetry and it worked. People called him smart because of this new depth that seemed to have because he could recite poetry. Here is a quote from the book:: "It seemed that every human being had this need for something outside himself to tell him who he was...It explains why I wanted to be seen as smart, why religious people needed to be seen as right, why Shirley MacLaine wanted to be God, and just about eveything else a human did."
There is briliance in this idea. We go around this earth with a need for people to tell things that prove we have worth or that they value us. This is generally how we choose our friends. It is a good way to make friends. We are wired to crave relationships. We are wired to crave relationships in which we can be real, we can show our flaws and still be not just accepted, but valued.
If you know me you know that I love my wife deeply. There are many reasons for this and I won't bore you with them all. But one of the reasons that is near the top of the list is that she values me and loves me back despite my failures to protect her in important times (which by the way makes me a hypocrit), despite my laziness, despite falling in love with me when I was on track to make a six figure salary by age 30 only to cash that in for a career in the fish bowl of ministry making less than a six figure salary. She values who I am and that is very attractive to me.
We all have this need to be valued, it is in the core of who are. Some Christian leaders would charge you to rid yourself of your need to be valued. I say embrace it, run toward it, seek it out with all that you are. I say this because the eternal and relational God that I talked about on Sunday values you. The one who breathed and all the stars were born values you. Isn't there something greater about being valued when the one who values you is of great value. In this case the one who values you is of supreme value.
When I was in high school I was on the golf team and our best player was a guy named Neal. Neal worked at a golf course and one day on our way to practice Neal talked about this guy who was at his course the night before. I forget who the guy was, but he was someone of acclaim in the golf world. He was talking to Neal and found out that Neal was a pretty good high school player and so they went out on the driving range at the course and he had Neal hit some balls and was going to give him some pointers. After they did this for a bit and were walking back inside the guy told Neal that Neal had the quickest hands that he had ever seen for a kid his age (quick hands are really important for a golf swing). As Neal was telling us this story he was beaming. This guy of much acclaim had given him great value. He said it in such a way that Neal knew he was not just blowing smoke. Neal felt very valued because this man of acclaim had told him how fast his hands were.
The creator of this world could have chosen any way he wanted to spread the word about who He is and what He has done. But He has chosen people to be the way He does that. He believes in you, He values you. Go and value someone today. Go.
A portion of this week's message
This is the end of this week's message that I thought to be crucial for us as we continue in this thing that God is calling us to. Read through this and pray through it as well, I would love to have your thoughts and feedback.
Here it is::
We talk so much about this missional thing, this church plant and we are very eager to go along with it. But this is not just a cool church that you can wear jeans or shorts or flip flops to. It is not just a place to connect socially. It is not simply the antithesis of your parents church or a rebellion against established church.
It is more than that it is bigger than that, it is bigger than me and you and all of us combined. Perfect creator God is stirring a work here in this area and it is us that he has chosen and called and equipped to do this thing. God is changing the eternities of human souls. Your neighbors, your work friends, the guy you used to drink with, the guy you still drink with, you, the kids you used to go to high school with, you dad, your brother, the girl that serves you coffee, the girl that gives you your donuts every Thursday night.
There is a world full of people who do not know what to do with the doctors report they just got or their husband who just left them or how to pay for school. Life is not about you and having a good time tonight or the next big fun thing on your calendar. This church is not about you and giving you some wisdom or a hip place to go to church and feel connected with God because you went to church this week. There is an eternal and relational God that is the motivator of this church. He has called this church to a mission; which means He has called those who call this place their home to a mission. That mission is to live out a life that screams there is nothing better in this world than Jesus.
Here it is::
We talk so much about this missional thing, this church plant and we are very eager to go along with it. But this is not just a cool church that you can wear jeans or shorts or flip flops to. It is not just a place to connect socially. It is not simply the antithesis of your parents church or a rebellion against established church.
It is more than that it is bigger than that, it is bigger than me and you and all of us combined. Perfect creator God is stirring a work here in this area and it is us that he has chosen and called and equipped to do this thing. God is changing the eternities of human souls. Your neighbors, your work friends, the guy you used to drink with, the guy you still drink with, you, the kids you used to go to high school with, you dad, your brother, the girl that serves you coffee, the girl that gives you your donuts every Thursday night.
There is a world full of people who do not know what to do with the doctors report they just got or their husband who just left them or how to pay for school. Life is not about you and having a good time tonight or the next big fun thing on your calendar. This church is not about you and giving you some wisdom or a hip place to go to church and feel connected with God because you went to church this week. There is an eternal and relational God that is the motivator of this church. He has called this church to a mission; which means He has called those who call this place their home to a mission. That mission is to live out a life that screams there is nothing better in this world than Jesus.
Community Groups
We will be launching community groups next week.
There will be two and they will both meet on Wednesday nights at 7:00.
Their purpose is to live out the values of North Church. The values are truth, people, GOD. In the groups we will pursure the truth about God and each other, share live with people and seek to know and love God better.
Stay tuned here or to our website for more details.
There will be two and they will both meet on Wednesday nights at 7:00.
Their purpose is to live out the values of North Church. The values are truth, people, GOD. In the groups we will pursure the truth about God and each other, share live with people and seek to know and love God better.
Stay tuned here or to our website for more details.
