Showing posts with label Abraham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abraham. Show all posts

Monday, October 01, 2018

Do Not Be Afraid

[This was shared with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio, during yesterday's worship services.]

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
1 Corinthians 14:8
Luke 12:32
This morning, I’m scrapping the planned sixth installment of our series, I Am a Church Member. Through times of prayer and conversations with many members of our church, I realized late yesterday morning that I would be shirking my duty as the spiritual leader of Living Water if I did not address our church’s most pressing issue directly, lovingly, and resolutely. 

The King James Version translation of Proverbs 29:18, says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Today, I will remind you again today of the vision and mission of Living Water Lutheran Church. 

Some will welcome what I say. 

A few will not be pleased. I can’t help that.

I take as my model the apostle Paul, who wrote the church at Galatia: “If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) 

However imperfectly, I do seek to be a servant of Christ and I do seek to be a leader who gives a clear vision to the people I am called to lead as pastor. 

I wrote this message without any input from our leadership or staff. So, if you do get angry, get angry with me. 

And if you do want to call anyone crazy, as I know a few people said of our church council this past week...if you feel the need to violate the eighth commandment by failing to put the most charitable construction on the actions and lives of sisters and brothers in Christ, do it to me. 

It’s as true of the pulpit as it is of the Oval Office: the buck stops here, with me. 

As you know, the only time I’ve spoken before the whole congregation regarding the proposed building project was last March. Otherwise, I’ve listened. I ask you to do the same now as I seek to apply God’s Word to our situation.

This past Monday night, thirty-six hours after it was announced that Living Water members, led by the Holy Spirit, had offered to pay the entire $41,000-cost of a capital campaign to raise money for the first phase of our repeatedly-approved building plan, the church council met in emergency session. The council met because on Sunday night, I received an email from Christ the King Lutheran Church. It told me that that congregation was moving toward closing its doors. Would Living Water be willing to receive the property to be used or sold as our congregation chose? I was told that Christ the King needed to know by September 27, this past Thursday. 


The council was unanimous in saying that we would be interested in receiving the property. Since then, I’ve learned that a decision on the disposition of the property still has not been made.

Our church councils have always been transparent. That’s why on Tuesday, the council sent out a special edition of The Wave notifying you that we could possibly receive Christ the King’s property. You deserved to know of this possibility before the vote that was then scheduled for today and next Sunday. 


The feeling of some members of the council was that, if we receive property, we should abandon our present property and move to the Christ the King campus. 

More said that we should sell the Christ the King campus and use the money to help pay for the first phase of our building project or retire a portion of our current mortgage. 

Of course, there’s no decision to make until and unless we actually receive the property. 

Because of that, it was felt that we needed to go ahead with the scheduled vote. As our meeting ended on Monday, I had two prevailing feelings: 

First, awe of God that in a day-and-a-half, the Holy Spirit had affirmed our plans by blessing us with the money to run a capital campaign and blessing us again with the possibility of a property that could help us pursue the mission and vision of Living Water Lutheran Church. God blesses His people in unexpected ways when they step out in faith to do His work! 

Second, I felt grief for the people of Christ the King, forced to acknowledge decline of their congregation

I also thanked God that the people of Living Water know that the call to discipleship is not a call to comfort or easy answers, but a call to faithfulness and acceptance of God’s crazy plans. 

  • Like the crazy plan God had to make a 100-year-old man and his 90-year-old wife, Abraham and Sarah, the ancestors of Israel in a place God would show them if Abraham believed and followed. 
  • Or God’s crazy plan of freeing His enslaved people via the leadership of a tongue-tied murderer, Moses. 
  • Or God’s plan to defeat the enemies of God’s people through a shepherd boy named David and his measly little slingshot. 
  • Or God’s plan to save us from sin and death not through good works but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Listen: If God calls you to do something that doesn’t seem a little crazy or that you can easily see the end of, you’re probably not hearing from God.

Within hours of our council’s decision, we heard that some people were confused and some didn’t understand why we would go forward with the vote. Others thought that, given the $41,000 donation, there was no need to vote; we should simply forge ahead with the campaign.


Because of the confusion, the council decided to postpone the vote. I supported that decision. But I was and am deeply saddened that that decision was necessary. I know from my conversations with others, that many other Living Water disciples feel the same way. Many feel betrayed. Others feel like yo-yos, up and down, back and forth, yes and no.

As you can imagine, both because I’m pastor of Living Water and dean of the Southwest Ohio Mission District, Bishop John and I have had ongoing discussions for several months about what might happen with Christ the King. In our most recent conversation, two weeks ago, Bishop John said, “I’ve told you before, Mark, and I don’t mind you telling everyone there that whatever happens at Christ the King, Living Water must move ahead with the building plans for your present site.” 


Is Bishop John crazy? Well, he is a fool for Christ. And like me, he loves this congregation. But he also knows that we cannot afford to keep delaying doing what, through prayer and discernment, we have learned God wants us to do! We can’t keep saying, “Ready! Aim!” “Ready! Aim!” "Ready! Aim!"

Bishop John has repeatedly underscored for me that the priorities we originally identified through our cottage meetings and online voting and which you have affirmed in multiple votes since--activity/community center and kitchen first, classrooms and offices second, sanctuary third--are the priorities adopted by churches that are serious, as Living Water is serious, about being and making disciples, about growing


The community center is a key component of our future growth. A bigger sanctuary won’t bring growth because the unchurched aren’t likely to be introduced to Christ and the church through a worship service. That’s too foreign and foreboding to them. They’re likeliest to be introduced through various community events, like Upward basketball or outreach efforts. 

And, given traffic patterns, this location is superior to Christ the King’s location for that

I believe that we need to quickly reschedule the vote originally scheduled for today and next Sunday and get moving on God’s plan for us!

Am I apprehensive about doing that? Let me remind you of a few facts. 


  • We have ended every year of this congregation’s history with an operating surplus. 
  • While our attendance for 2018 is presently lower than it was in 2017, it’s higher than it was in 2016, a common blip in the path of growing congregations. 
  • While our current annual budget is at about $400,000, it’s no stretch to extrapolate from the answers of well over half of our congregants in the recent REVEAL survey that this congregation could easily handle an annual general fund budget of $800,000. I’m not proposing any such increase. But I am saying that although we’ve never held an annual stewardship program, our members have still generously given to the need they perceived in our budget. 
  • In addition, they have always found extra money to pay for things like sanctuary reconfiguration or building a church in Haiti or money for rice and beans for people in that country.* 

So, am I afraid to have a capital campaign and have it fall short of whatever goal we set for it? No, I’m more afraid of waiting around or settling for being an ordinary, cruise-control church

This is not a cruise-control church. This is a church that prays, that serves, that reads and studies God’s Word. 

This is a church that cares about those who are going to go to hell if they aren’t connected with Christ and His Church. 

The building process laid out in the plans displayed in our hallway will, in the first phase, provide us with an irreplaceable tool that we need to reach this community for Christ and at a great location.

I remember the day that George Kellar asked to meet me at 667 Miamisburg-Centerville Road. “Pastor,” he told me after I’d arrived. “I’m asking you to look at this property not for what it is right now, but for what it can be.” 


The relocation team that George headed had looked at, in one way or another, about forty properties. 

This was where they were led, this is where we were led, not as a stopgap station, but as a place where we could put down roots and do an expansion that will make Living Water and the Gospel we proclaim visible to and welcoming of the spiritually disconnected in our community.

In 1 Corinthians 14:8, the apostle Paul asks, “... if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” Today, as your pastor, I am sounding a clear call: Let’s quickly reschedule the vote and move ahead on the path God has laid before us. The quicker we do a capital campaign, the quicker we’ll know what God wants and, perhaps, the quicker we can start building. No more uncertain trumpets or signals! We need a vote to decide right now it we want to be a missional church that takes reasonable chances to reach the lost or if we just want this congregation to be a place where we gather in comfort


But let me remind you that this congregation started because people believed--many of you here believed--in more than having a comfortable church. 

You believed in Christ and the authority of His Word and the power of prayer and the joys of discipleship. 

If you’d wanted a comfortable church, you would have stayed at your former congregation. 

But you wanted to be part of a faithful church. 

Don’t let the temptations of comfort lure you away from that. 

Don’t let the temptations of ease lure you away from being faithful stewards of the gospel and all the other gifts God has given to you!

Jesus famously tells His Church: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) 


Friends, the worst that can happen if we forge ahead with a capital campaign for this location is that we might fail to raise the needed money. 

But even if we fail, we will still have the Kingdom of God, eternally. 

Forging ahead with the vision revealed to us in prayer will not result in the loss of our salvation. 

We don’t know how a capital campaign will turn out. 

But we do know that if we forge ahead it may result in many new believers trusting in Christ and becoming part of His eternal kingdom. 

And we know that it will certainly result in our trusting Christ more and growing deeper in discipleship. 

By forging ahead, we may even ensure that this congregation will be a vital disciple-making community, welcoming young families and singles, for decades to come. Whatever happens, that possibility alone makes trying to move ahead with our current plans a win.

I took the call to Living Water because God and the congregation were telling me that this is a church that cares about mission, about making disciples. Continued inaction will harm the positive initiatives we’ve undertaken since we moved here, including the growth of youth, children’s, and family ministries, which had to be rebuilt from scratch when we moved to our present location. We don’t know what decisions Christ the King will take. The real question is what decision are we going to make? 


I urge you all to pray. Then, let’s do the vote and move into the future God has in mind for us. Amen

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

*At the 8:45 service, I mentioned that through the generosity of Living Water, a well was built in a community in Haiti served by our congregation. In this instance, it was the generosity of one member rather than of the whole congregation. No matter. It still speaks to the generosity of this incredible church!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Galatians 3:24 (A 5 by 5 by 5 Reflection)

Today is a reflection day for those using the Navigators' 5 by 5 by 5 Bible Reading Plan. This morning, I read Galatians, trying to more fully glean and assimilate this tremendous section of the New Testament.

The verse on which I perched was Galatians 3:24:
Therefore the law [God's law] was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
In this chapter, Paul, himself a Jew, is explaining to Gentile Christians how they could be heirs of God's promises to Abraham, the founding patriarch of the Jewish people.

He asserts here, and elsewhere, that Abraham was God's choice to found a people to save and to bring His salvation to others, was made not because Abraham obeyed God's law. (Which wasn't formally given until hundreds of years later, through Moses at Mount Sinai, anyway.)

Abraham became the heir to God's promises by believing in or trusting his life to the promises of God, however imperfectly he did so. "Abraham believed and God reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:24).

God's law, holy though it is, cannot make us right with God.

We can't be made right with God by obeying the law and our inborn impulse to sin and "go our own ways." Our sinful nature makes it impossible for us to keep the law in its entirety over the course of our lifetimes or even over the course of a nanosecond.

It's true in all of our lives, as Paul demonstrates in this chapter, that  until we meet Jesus Christ, the One Who brings God's promise of a right relationship with God and with others (in other words, peace or shalom with God, with others, with God's creation, and with ourselves), the law serves to curb us from the full expression of our sinful natures.

The Bible says that God's law is written on our hearts. We're born with a sense, however imperfect or fuzzy, of right and wrong. (Read the first few chapters of C.S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity for a fuller and intriguing exploration of this topic.) God's law is a bridle, a hedge against our sin.

And when we do sin, we offer reasons at least partly rooted in the law of God written on our hearts, to demonstrate to ourselves or others that we're justified in committing the sins we love.

The law is a whip commanding our submission until...relief, Christ comes to us and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe in Him.

The law keeps our sin tamped down and teaches us the foolishness and futility of self-reliance until, like cool water to a person dying of thirst, Christ comes to us.

Christ may come to us in a Sunday School class, through the witness of a friend, in the loving service Christians render in Christ's name, or in a Bible study or a sermon, or in other ways Christ might choose.

But however He comes to us, He teaches us that we cannot be made right (made righteous or justified in taking up space in the universe) by our performance of God's rules, by doing good works, but solely by faith, simple moment to moment trust, in Christ and what He has done for us in dying on a cross and rising from the dead on the first Easter.

I am justified by my faith in Christ's perfect goodness, not by trusting my imperfect and always failed attempts to be good.

That is really good news. The best I'll read or hear about all day, every day, for all eternity.

Therefore the law [God's law] was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.

Friday, November 04, 2011

The One People of God

Christians who are called supersessionists believe that the Gentile believers of Jesus in the Church have superseded the Jews as the people of God.

But that's not what the New Testament teaches.

It says that all--Jew and Gentile--are called to repent and believe in God's ultimate self-disclosure, the Messiah, Jesus and all be part of God's one people. Joseph L. Mangina gets at this in his very fine commentary on Revelation 7:
It is the unanimous witness of the New Testament that the church is Israel (e.g., Galatians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 10; Ephesians 2:12, 19; 3:6; 1 Peter 2:9-10), the same elected and beloved people of God who were delivered from Egypt, though now under the conditions of the messianic age and with the addition of the Gentiles to Abraham's children after the flesh.
Read all the linked passages above to see the basis of Mangina's argument.

As Paul, a Jew who believed in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God's plans for the humanity, as the Messiah, and as God-enfleshed writes, that beginning with Israel's patriarch-founder Abraham, righteousness--that is, a right relationship with God--has always been a matter of faith and not of ethnicity, lineage, or the performance of religious duties:
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise void...For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who the faith of Abraham...in the presence of the God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist... (Romans 4:13-17)
Revelation 7:9-17 is one of the Biblical texts for All Saints' Sunday, coming up this weekend.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Third Pass at This Sunday's Bible Lesson: Luke 16:19-31

[Here and here are, respectively, the first and second passes at this Sunday's Bible lesson. The first link explains what these "passes" are about.]

Verse-by-Verse Comments, continued
23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.
(1) Brian Stoffregen points out:
"Hades" is a word that comes from Greek mythology that originally referred to the god of the lower world (in Roman mythology: "Pluto"). Later, it came to refer to the place of the dead (like she'ol in Hebrew). However, Luke's use of the word is in contrast to "heaven" (10:15) and to "Abraham's bosom" (16:23), suggesting that it is a place where only some of the dead may go -- or a particular part of she'ol which is divided by the deep chasm.
(2) In popular piety, the term Hades may be used interchangeably with hell. It's the place where those who have turned away from God and God's will live with the consequences of that choice.

(3) It's clear that the rich man, in Hades, finds the isolation he once craved in this life, at least his isolation from the poor, the lame, and the hungry, painful in the next.

(4) Lazarus is seen by the rich man to, literally be in the bosom of Abraham, the place of highest bliss in Jewish piety.

(5) Lazarus, who in this life would have appreciated the scraps from the rich man's table, now appears to be enjoying the great heavenly banquet that Jesus addressed in last week's lesson. (See here and here.)

24He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’
(1) In spite of his lifelong disobedience of God's commands to love his neighbor and to care for the poor, the rich man calls out to Abraham as the "Father" of his faith.

In Luke 3, John the Baptist, preparing the world for Jesus' ministry told the throngs who had come to hear him preach and to be baptized by him:
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham..." (Luke 3:7-8)
According to the Bible, there's more to being a son or daughter of Abraham than genetics. In a bitter exchange with fellow Jews intent on killing Him, Jesus acknowledged that they were the genetic descendants of Abraham. But, He insisted that by their refusal to do as Abraham had done--trust in God and not his own "righteousness"--they proved that their real "father" was "the father of lies," the devil himself. (John 8:37-47; also see Romans 4:1-8)

(2) It's interesting that in Hades, the rich man is aware of Lazarus' existence. He even calls Lazarus by name. But he also regards Lazarus as someone who can be ordered to give him comfort, something he never would have afforded Lazarus during their earthly lives. It appears thus far anyway that the rich man's experience in Hades hasn't made him any more compassionate or any less self-absorbed.

25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.
(1) Abraham acknowledges that the rich man is his descendant. He calls the rich man, "Child." Yet, the record has been written. While living this life, the rich man refused to obey the command to love neighbor. (See also Matthew 25:31-46) When I consider how often I fail to love my neighbor, I find this parable a little frightening. That's when I cry out again, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

(2) Of Abraham's use of the term, Child, in addressing the rich man, Culpepper writes:
Being a child of Abraham...is not guarantee that one will dwell with Abraham in paradise. That is reserved for the repentant who believe in Jesus Christ.
Abraham's attitude is the same as that of God. God wants all to be saved from sin and death and to live with Him forever. But God respects our right to decide to forswear repentance or belief in Him.

(3) Abraham speaks of a great reversal of fortunes here. The rich man had received good things here. Lazarus was receiving them in eternity. Jesus says that those who insist on putting themselves first, viewing wealth, power, status, and health as entitlements, will be last in His kingdom, while those who are last will be first.

26Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’
(1) Culpepper writes:
The chasm that now separates the rich man and Lazarus confirms the finality of the judgment on the rich man.
27He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’
(1) This is the first hint of concern for others shown by the rich man. Granted, it's only for members of his family. But we've never seen him look beyond his own comforts before this.

(2) But as in v.24, the rich man sees Lazarus as a servant he can summon for his purposes.

(3) It's interesting to note that Lazarus never says a word in this entire parable of Jesus. Instead, Abraham, acting as something of a stand-in for God and as the representative of authentic Biblical faith, speaks on Lazarus' behalf. Christians who have committed their lives to Christ can place themselves in Christ's hands, knowing that He'll be our advocate.

29Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’
(1) This is a telling response. Moses represents one major strand of Old Testament tradition, the Law. (After all, it was Moses who brought the Law down from Mount Sinai.) The other strand in that tradition was that of the prophets.

A major emphasis found in the New Testament is that Jesus Christ doesn't represent a strange departure from Biblical faith. He fulfills it. Check out what some New Testament passages say on this point here.

(2) Throughout chapters 14, 15, and 16 of Luke's Gospel, there's something of a polemic against Jews who repudiated Jesus. They're being told that in their rejection of Jesus, they're repudiating their own faith and God Himself.

30He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
(1) One can't help but think of the resurrected Jesus here. If God's people refuse to trustingly follow God based on the Law and the Prophets, it's unlikely that they'll do so in response to the risen Savior either. See here.