Dear Congregation,

I switch gears for a few days. I don’t want to let the one-another verses wear out their welcome. We will get back to them.

I thought I’d share a favorite verse of mine today, actually a pair of verses found in Psalm 37 - Psalm 37:3-4.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I share this passage often with people in anxious situations. I have been going to it a fair bit myself lately. The verses before and after are also great. You should read them. Psalm 37 once a day keeps the terrors at bay.

Trust….this is what we have been talking about all through Hebrews 11 and 12. Only as we actively and consciously entrust our lives to the One who knows and loves us do we find peace and purpose.

Do good…We don’t just sit there trusting and otherwise doing nothing. Rather we commit ourselves to doing - to doing good. In the context of the Psalm this means a choice not to respond to the evil doers trying to undo the Psalmist. God will take care of the evil doer; he, the Psalmist, is to commit his energy to being and to doing good - those things which please God. So often in face of temptation, pressure, persecution, or just old fashioned anxiety, we act in a way aimed against the source of our troubles in order to circumvent their impact on us. This usually ends badly and does not glorify God.

Dwell in the land….This has a double meaning I think. There is the obvious physical reality and wisdom of committing your energies to where you are, not where you aren’t. When anxious, when unsure, don’t go anywhere, stay put and do good things there. Dwell there, make your habitation there. Dig in, grow roots, commit. This physical sense of dwelling is a necessary corollary to doing good. People who flit about in body or heart never really do much good. But this idea of “dwelling” also speaks to our true and deeper dwelling place with Christ. Life in the land has been replaced in a sense by life in Christ. Dwell with Him. Stay put with and in Him while the storms of life roar about.

Befriend faithfulness…..Make faithfulness to God and to His word and to your church-mates, neighbors, and employers – make that way of faithfulness your friend. Get to know faithfulness well. Become intimate with it. Be a faithful person.

Delight yourself in the Lord….I love this couplet – the pair of half verses starting here. It holds in many ways the secret of Life itself. We are to make the Lord our delight. We are to set our hearts and affections and hopes upon Him. We are to seek to please Him above all others. We are to look to His provision and His reward.

And He will give you the desires of your heart…..OK, here is what this does not mean: write down all the things you want and desire, hang out with God a while, and then he will then give you all you want.

As we delight ourselves in the Lord, such Delight will frame and change our deepest desires. Our desires will begin to conform to His desires. Soon we will find that He delights to give to us what we desire because what we desire is what He desires for us. We have begun to desire, as well as pray and act, after His will.

This is also the flow of the Lord’s Prayer. In that prayer we focus first upon the Lord, upon His glory and His kingdom; only after do we focus on our needs. I realize that “needs” and “desires” are often not the same. But they become more and more the same as we delight in Him.

I know of no better short summation of living life before God than we find in the first part of verse three – “Trust God and do good.” This sounds a lot like the well known hymn ‘Trust and Obey.” Unless you were wondering I think that that hymn pretty much wraps it all up nicely as well.

So, your day has started. Trust God. Do good. Dwell in the land. Be Faithful. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your hearts.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

The choice of today’s Scripture has been inspired by our Presbytery meeting yesterday. It is inspired by this meeting because in some there hours of discussion and debate, there was a pervading sweetness, a mutual respect, and a real sense of everyone seeking to preserve the “bond of peace.” The conversation and discussion was earnest. Yet, it was unifying and peace promoting.

This passage reminds me of two other things yesterday.

A young man fresh out of seminary gave a wonderful short message on Psalm 133, which in many ways is an Old Covenant way of saying a similar thing as today’s Scripture says. I will paste that Psalm at the bottom. You’ll see the connection.

The other thing is that we approved licensesure for that same young man for the ministry of the preaching of the word. As part of that licensesure he had to take a vow “to promote the unity, peace, purity, and prosperity of the Church.”

These four attributes which he and the members of our churches are to promote are utterly interrelated and intertwined; they cannot be understood apart from the other; they are impossible to fulfill apart from the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit; and they are pretty systematically ignored across evangelicalism in general.

Here is the “one another” passage from Ephesians, Ephesians 4:1-3:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We should think of this exhortation as having to do with local churches as well as relations between local churches, and the church gathered across the world. Mostly it finds its tangible living reality in local churches, and between local churches.

So much had happened in our own community of Greensboro over several decades to break down the unity of the Spirit between churches. There are conflicts between brethren and churches never resolved that fester. People hop from church to church leaving bad will and hard feelings in their wake, not having gone through any sort of submitted counsel with their churches. The churches communicate poorly between each other. Church A treats Church B with a little less than Christian respect and charity, considering her own ministry or preaching or programs to be superior, and thus rejoicing when people flee into her awaiting arms. It’s an “arms” race of sorts.

This all applies within churches as well. We have all seen or heard of churches that have been soured by a failure of its leaders or its people to promote the unity, peace, purity, and prosperity of the Church. When this happens it disgraces the name of Christ before the watching world, and it creates little divisions between people and churches that last into future generations. I know of churches that are still reeling from conflicts thirty years or more ago. A lot is at stake (John 13:34; John 17: 20). How we go about things is a huge barometer of who we really are as we talk about being God’s people.

And so, we are to walk in humility and gentleness, with patience and loving forbearance, and an eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I am struck by the word “eagerness” here. You can picture an eager child looking into the ice cream store window, an eager linebacker twitching, ready to blitz the quarterback, an eager hiker racing to the top of the mountain, an eager dog waiting for you to throw the stick. Eagerness suggests anticipation, even, impatience perhaps, but one can imagine eagerness without impatience. As regards the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace it means that we are to be extremely sensitive to the unity of the body in the Spirit and to the peace of the church. We should do all things with this in mind, and be very sensitive (eager) to that which may harm or hinder it. We should have hair trigger sensitivity to the unity of the Spirit, and an eagerness, a deep commitment, a huge sensitivity of conscience, to maintain it.

Even as we pursue purity, we do it with peace in mind. Even as we pursue peace we do it with purity in mind. And all along we are attentive to the prosperity of the church. The church is intended to carry out its mission before Christ. It is meant to do that, by God’s Spirit, until Jesus returns. This success is not measured in worldly or financial terms, but it is observable. We are to be aware of our own actions and decisions and attitudes upon that prosperity – both the prosperity of the particular local church as it seeks to carry out its mission before Christ, and the prosperity of the churches in a community as they seek together to honor Christ and carry out His work. We should all seek the prosperity and success of our own local church as well the church of the city, and the broader affiliations we may be  apart of.

Added together peace purity and prosperity result in the unity of the Spirit being maintained.

So, consider the passage in Ephesians 4 as we continue our journey through the “one another” passages together.

In Christ,

Joel

PS – The last two weeks week has been kind of scattered as we have more drivers than people now at our house and it changes day to day as to who gets a car! So my schedule has been a little higgeldy piggeldy of late. I put aside the daily reading for a while, and now wish to pick it up again.

PSS – Psalm 133

 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

Dear Brethren,

Today’s Scripture is taken from the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. It is part of a long “therefore” passage which itself builds on the wonderful truths about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:24-25:

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

I have previously spoken to the unreality of being a Christian “in isolation.” These one-another commandments continue to point out the fact that we can only be what we are called to be together, together in real local fellowships, together with real and flawed fellow Christians, together learning to become the kind of distinctive community He calls us to be for His glory.

This passage reminds us of a very real responsibility we have with regard to the other. We are to “stir up” the another to “love and good works.” So, going to church, or to a small group gathering, or to a community Christian event, we find that should not go with the idea merely of what we’re going to get out of it, how we are going to have this quiet private thing with God (or loud noisy thing with God), how we expect to get a spiritual buzz from the music or sermon or whatever. Church is work. Life is work. Being a Christian is work. If you need to collapse and think only or mainly of yourself, go to the woods, or to a spa, or go get a manicure.

We are to “consider.” This means think about, ponder, set our minds to something. How can we bless our brethren? How can we edify them? How can we help them be what God wants them to be – people whose lives are full of love and good works. We need think to think ahead about that.

One reason that we aren’t as keen about this stuff these days is because, either as consumerist Christians, or as semi educated Protestants, or both, we have forgotten that God fully intends to make us different. He fully intends to change us and transform us. “Being saved” includes that as much as it includes being spared from hell. As it says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” I could cite a dozen verses, or more, to this same effect.

And God uses each of us as agents of the other’s transformation! We have a role in whether or not our brother or sister becomes what God has called and created them to be! They have that same role for us. So we are to put our minds to how we can best spur others along, edify them, encourage them, so that their lives will be characterized by love and by good works.

This is all the more important as we see “the Day” approaching. “The Day” is the return of Christ. It is “the day of the Lord.” It is “the day of His appearing.” And guess how He wants to find us when he comes? Holy, blameless, expectant, going about His business, alert, awake, obedient. I could site dozens of verses along these lines, but this a devotion, not a book. So I will end with a couple of passages which connect up our obedience and good works with His appearing. Please think about your role in your brother’s being what Jesus wants him to be when he, Jesus, returns.

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints (1 Thessalonians 3:11-12).

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 24-25).

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

If you are feeling a sense of déjà vu regarding our verse for today, yes, it is the same verse from yesterday. But today I want to focus on a different part of the verse. Here it is: Ephesians 4:32

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Yesterday we talked about kindness, today we’re going to talk about forgiveness.

There are few if any qualities amongst relationships within the family of God that greases the wheels of love and peace as does forgiveness, and little that gums up the works as the lack of it.

Forgiveness and forbearance are closely related. We are to forbear much in one another. When the lien is crossed, when an act which we might just forbear becomes an offence we must forgive, well, that line is not described for us, and not well defined, and I think differs from person to person. Some people just more easily put up with things in the forbearance sense. For the most part I think that is a virtue, but there are times when it isn’t, when it enables others to sin, or when we just become doormats.

But today we’re talking about forgiveness. Forgiveness implies a wrong suffered. Does our extension of forgiveness require the other’s repentance. The Biblical data is kind of confusing on that score. But I think we err too much on the side of holding grudges and nursing hurts and slights. Relationships are complex and messy, and often the thing to be forgiven isn’t as cut and dry as your brother sneaking into your house and stealing your jewelry. Thus often, picking apart precisely to what degree a person has properly repented can be tricky. Again, we are to err on being too forgiving if we must err.

Why? It’s simple. We forgive because we have been forgiven. No one has ever sinned against us to the degree we have sinned against God. And, remember, God renewed us, He regenerated us before we believed and repented. Regeneration precedes faith and repentance. Regeneration produces faith and repentance.

Sometimes it takes us really messing up before God and feeling the utter helplessness before Him, desperately needing His word of forgiveness, and understanding how much we have been forgiven, before we become good forgivers of others. Do we come close to knowing how much God has forgiven us?

As one of our brethren said, forgiveness is not so much a feeling as a decision, and action. Forgiveness in its essence is a decision not to hold or count one’s sins against them, not to old their sin over their head. This means that we choose to resume brotherly relations, despite our feelings. You know, we so idolize our feelings, as if they are the or should be the determining factor of so much in our lives. Feelings are running too many trains. We resume normal relations before our feelings have decided; we choose not to hold what we think are the other’s sins against them; we carry on. We may still feel the sting of the thing that hurt us, but forgiveness acts despite the hurt. Forgiveness extends the right hand of fellowship despite the hurt. Eventually, well almost always, when we choose in obedience to forgive, our feelings will follow, and the sting will decline, and true brotherly affection will return.

Failure to forgive destroys families, church fellowships, and Christian communities. It weakens our witness. It becomes generational. It is a cancer eating away at the health of the people of God.

As often as not we are not actually so good at knowing when we have been sinned against. We are inclined to read motives into people that aren’t there. Our pride gets wounded and we feel great offence even when there has been no real offence. Our pride is often the real sin, more than the thing we feel so offended by. So, we need to keep an eye on our own selves, on the planks in our own eyes.

But real offenses do happen, and real forgiveness must follow. Forgiveness greases the wheels of relationships in the church. It shows love to be alive and well. Without it the church cannot be the church. Period.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

Our Scripture of the Day is Ephesians 4:32:

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Today’s “one-another” verse is at the end of a great section containing several very significant verses all framed within the “put off – put on” theme of Ephesians 4. Since I am going to share soon another verse devoted almost exclusively to forgiveness, I will share a few words on the kindness part of our verse for today.

 Our world is harsh. Yes there is much attention given to diversity and mutual acceptance, but so much of that is couched within a political agenda and not a moral one, and a lot of it is communicated with little kindness.

I can’t help but think that if we really concentrated on being kind to one another, and being tenderhearted that a great deal of our stresses and conflicts would dissolve – in the church, in marriages, at workplaces. Ours is a world where simple kindness is fast becoming a lost virtue.

 Kindness and tenderheartedness are related, the second offering insight especially into the first. To be kind is to have a tender heart and spirit toward the other, and to put that tenderness into words and action.

Most of us are not what we portray. We are hurting in some way. There is pain in the eyes of most people I see. Behind every smile there is a touch of sadness. Yes, in our life together, there is a time for exhortation and rebuke, but how much more that can be received if kindness is the norm.

 Kindness is so practical. It has to do with the tone of our speech, the language of our bodies, the words we choose, and the effort we take to notice others. And it also has to do with acts – usually simple acts not related to special events and culture driven expectations but just with the need of the other for gentleness, kindness, and tenderheartedness.

 We all need kindness, and may be expectant of receiving it. We get upset when people don’t seem kind to us. But if we each focus on being kind to the other then there would be plenty of kindness to go around.

Almost all of us are less secure, less confident, and more needy of encouragement and simple acts of love than we let on. We need less to be other people’s projects then we need to receive other people’s kindness.

Kindness replaces malice, anger, gossip, and unforgiveness. Yes, there can be no kindness where forgiveness is lacking. But that is for another day.

You know, as an observer of human behavior, as a pastor and counselor, and as a person in my own right, I have come to see how simple kindness goes a long way. But to be kind we have to stop; we have to notice; we have to greet, we often need to think ahead. We need room in the busyness of our lives to slow down. It is very hard to be kind on the run. Do you have time in your life to be kind?

Kindness gives other people the benefit of the doubt. It cuts others a little slack. It is very hard to be judgmental and kind at the same time.

We all like to know that we are appreciated, that we are missed when we are away, that we are noticed, that we matter. Kindness does all those things.

I want my children to work hard and be succe3ssful at whatever they do. But more than anything I like hearing of one of my children that they have been kind. I really don’t care so much whether or not they are great scholars, athletes, beauty queens, or business women. I mean, all of that is fine. But it all pales into utter nothingness compared to simple kindness.

And the same goes for me. Yeah, it would have been cool to be a great athlete, to have been a great scholar, to be a great preacher, or a super entrepreneur. But if at the end of my long road of life someone were to see fit to write on my tombstone “He was kind” (assuming my Christian faith of course) then I will have succeeded in this walk of life. I want to be more that way. I hope you do too.

Joel

Dear Brethren,

Our Scripture of the Day for Friday May 18, 2007 is Colossians 3:16:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

In choosing this Scripture I am continuing the theme from yesterday where we saw the apostle Paul encouraging and asking the folks in Thessalonica to encourage one another “with these words,” that is, with the teaching he had just given to them.

The word of Christ is such a key part of our encouragement of one another, biblically speaking. I love this passage in Colossians. Notice the themes – the word of Christ richly dwelling in us, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs, and thankfulness in our hearts to God. What a great verse to memorize.

So, here it is in black and white – we have a responsibility to teach and admonish one another. Certainly that is related to the word which we are called to let dwell in us richly. I cannot really teach and admonish you apart from the word dwelling in me. You cannot really teach and admonish me apart form the word dwelling in me. But then, we don’t let the word dwell in us richly just so we can enjoy it and get fat and happy. We use it. We share it. It forms and frames our lives and gives us the means to encourage others. We are not to let the light of the indwelling word hide as it were under a bushel. By it we are able to teach and admonish one another. And if we don’t teach and admonish each other we are sunk.

Notice that the teaching and admonishing is one to another. All are involved. It is true that the elders, and the teaching pastor, have special responsibilities in the flock to teach and admonish. And it is also true that certain people are particularly gifted at teaching. But we are all called to exercise this calling or mutual teaching and admonition one to another. All of us. Nobody is off the hook.

We are to do this in wisdom. This means we are to do it appropriate to the situation, with tact, with timeliness. As we grow in Christ we grow in our innate ability to give the right word at the right time – the word “in season.” W don’t just throw bible verses at each other, hammer each other without regard to the situation the other person is in, or admonish in the wrong direction. As we grow we learn to do this better and better, with more and more wisdom attached.

We can do this in personal face to face conversations, in e-mails, and in phone conversations. We can do this in Bible studies. We can do this at work and at home. We can do this as we see each other at church. We can do this by teaching SS. At our church we have a unique opportunity to exercise this calling almost every Sunday in our Open Time. I wish more would.

But there is another interesting way we can fulfill this calling. To point this out I have to draw you attention to an interesting translation problem with this passage.

You will note that my ESV separates the teaching from the singing pretty decisively:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (ESV).

It tends to put the word dwelling and the teaching together, but make the singing into a separate thing altogether.

The NIV makes a little more of a connection between the wisdom and the singing. Here is how it puts it:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God (NIV).

 As you can see the NIV says that we are to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, but then, instead of a hard comma pause, it says “and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” I think the NIV translators meant us to take it that two things flow out of the word dwelling in us richly – first that we teach and admonish each other, and second that we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I like that.

But then the NASV (the translation upon which I cut my Christian teeth) has a whole different take on Colossians 3:16. It says:

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

According to the NASV the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is the means by which we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.

The confusion comes about due to ambiguities in the grammar in the passage. There is no final way to know what is right for sure.

But I think it highly probable that “letting the word dwell in us richly” results in both teaching and admonishing one another and singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I don’t think the singing is the sole means of teaching so much as that it too is an outgrowth of the word dwelling in us. Either way, there is a “one anotherness” to our singing. We sing to God, yes. But we also sing to each other – that through the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs we are sharing around the word of Christ, and indirectly if not directly “teaching and admonishing each other.” Remember that when you feel like mumbling through songs or rebelling against a song because you don’t prefer it. It’s not really just about you and your musical preferences.

 Anyway, that aside, we have a responsibility to teach and admonish one another. Without doing that we cannot together grow into the people God has called us to be. It’s that simple.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

Our Scripture for the day is a very short verse from 2 Corinthians 13:2:

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

We will see as we go along that obeying Jesus' commandment to love one another can be truly and profoundly difficult. Why? Contrary to modern takes on the human self, we are not really all that inclined toward seeking the good of and interest of others before our own. Growing in love is a central part of our calling as Christians, and often our selfish self rebels.

But sometimes that love which we are to give one to another is not terribly difficult. I love this very short verse, found in more than one place in the writings of Paul. “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” Since we don’t know exactly how they did the holy kiss thing, I am going to offer a prosaic rendering: “Greet one another with an act that symbolizes true Christian love and affection.”

Maybe that act could be a hug along with words of welcome. Maybe that act would involve would standing face to face and clasping arms and expressing the joy of seeing the other. Maybe that act could be a short forehead nuzzle. I really don’t know. The point however is that we stop what we’re doing, we notice each other, we express gratitude and joy at the privilege of seeing one another. We include our bodies and our eyes and our voices. We are whole people, body and soul, and we bring that wholeness into our greetings.

Well, I said this was easy and not complicated, but maybe it is more that way than I thought. Why? Because our culture has trained us to be emotional islands unto ourselves. Indeed, more and more, every man is an island. We’re busy. We’re focused. These types of greetings are inefficient. They don’t work with the frenetic church services we have orchestrated. They don’t respect our precious and holy to-do lists. So we run past others and maybe mumble "hi" as we go.

In this regard, in certain times of my life, I have been the chief of sinners. I remember the days when I was teaching high school. During my free period I would go to check my box via the library and would walk right past the library workers. Eventually I got to know them. They were both Christian sisters. One day, in love, they sat me down and reamed me out for being so into myself and my stuff and my world that I did not stop to greet them. They were totally right. I was ashamed.

I have also been the recipient of this commandment lived out. I know what it means. I remember one time visiting a small African American church where a friend attended. The women, especially the older women, would came up to me, grab my hand in theirs, look me in the eye, and tell me how very glad they were to see me. There was nothing phony. I felt so deeply welcomed and loved.

Another time I remember I was in . A small group of us went to a small English speaking church service maybe in Zurich – I can’t remember. One of the men came up to me, was able to discern in a moment that I was both a Christian brother and struggling with my faith. He grabbed my hands and told me he loved me in Christ, and asked if he could he pray for me. And he did. As Christians know from experience, no matter where in the world you are, when you meet a Christian brother or sister, there is a special and unique bond of affection. It is really awesome.

My pastor in Columbia, Reverend Glen Knecht, despite having a congregation of 2000 people, had a way of holding on to your hand in a greeting, looking at you eye to eye, and speaking to you in such a tone of love. He lived this out. I want to be like him.

Loving starts with greeting. Loving starts with noticing. Loving starts with common rituals performed with sincerity of heart.

Greeting in this way, done sincerely, diffuses tensions, encourages long suffering and forbearance, and even is a way of physically expressing the reality of forgiveness, which we all so desperately need one from another.

When you get up on Sunday morning to go to church, when you gather with your small group, when you find yourself heading toward a gathering of Christian brethren, give yourself time to greet others with the love and affection and peace that your brotherhood in Jesus warrants. Don’t be in such a rush. Very little on your to-do list is nearly so important.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

As we embark for a couple of week’s on looking at the “one another” commandments in the New Testament I thought it best to begin with the quintessential example, the one that provides the basis for all the others, John 13:34-35. But let us think for a minute about what “one another” refers to and suggests.

First, these words are directed to the church, to professed followers of Jesus Christ, to Jesus’ disciples. It is a special commandment just for them. It has overlap with the more general commandment to love thy neighbor, but it is more particular, and it speaks specifically to the disciples of Jesus. Apart from highly exceptional cases, there is no such thing as being a Christian in isolation. How many people talk about their relationship with the “man upstairs,” but they avoid the church. How many people are so critical of the church that they think themselves too good for it? How many people fall prey to the Gnostic notion that true spirituality is about the hidden, secret “thing” we have going with the deity, and does not of necessity translate in how we act and how we behave in and through these bodies and these relationships. This is one of the most insidious, the most nefarious of lies.

The root of this new thing that God was bringing about through Jesus, the “joy” that was set before Jesus, was this community of his followers that would draw life from Him and that would be truly different in a fallen world. Yes, they would be different morally. We’re getting to that too. But even morality is to be understood within the context of love. The specific commandments from which we derive our moral bearings themselves are simply detailed insights as to what love of God and love of neighbor look like. And now in the new commandment, given by Jesus in the last hours with his disciples, these words give meaning and continuity to all the other commandments. “Do not lie” and “love one another are absolutely related. We’ll have time to work that out. For now, please let this verse and its meaning work deeply into your souls.

Second, these words connect the person and work of Jesus – “as I have loved you” – with the fundamental calling of his disciples. They are to be like Him. They are to live lives of self-sacrificial love one to another. Jesus’ disciples are to be like Jesus.

Third, the disciples’ credibility depends upon this, and thus the credibility of their witness to Jesus depends on this. “By this the world may know that you are my disciples.” The world is watching. How do we treat each other? Is there something truly different about our community than what characterizes in the world around us? Despite all the trendy yackity-yack about love and acceptance and diversity and such, we live in a hate-filled world, even especially in the world of the yackity yack peace and love pundits. Jesus is calling for something truly deeper and more profound. It is love and truth wedded together. It is justice and acceptance reaching out and joining hands. It is holiness and peace kissing. This is a miraculous work of One more powerful, the Holy Spirit who was to come, and who has come. Only He can keep these dual realities coexisting. And love can only be known in the wedding of these opposites, as we see so vividly upon the cross of Jesus Christ. This will come out as we go along.

This mutual love, as Schaeffer rightly said, is indeed the “mark” of the church. May it be the mark of our church. May it be the mark of our relationships. The viability of our witness depends upon it: John 13:34-35:

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

Our Scripture of the day today is the passage we will be looking at Sunday. I am sending it out because it is one of those particularly rich and memorable passages, which I hope will encourage and inspire you, and because it contains many words and phrases and ideas that people may have questions about. I would love to hear back from you your thoughts, questions, applications, or even struggles with this passage. How does it inspire, or encourage, or even frustrate you? I’d like to know. Hebrews 12:1-2:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

In Christ,

Joel

Tomorrow I start a several week tour through the “one another commandments.” I hope that will prove edifying and encouraging and challenging to you.

Dear Congregation,

Today we are working in the garden, or driving down a familiar road, or sitting at our desks. We are striving to live the new life God is empowering us to live, serving our families, ministering in the community, loving our neighbors, working for God’s glory, and then, like a thief in the night, a car veers into our lane, a spider bites, a piece of plaque breaks somewhere in our bloodstream and lodges in our brain. Life is fragile, more than we realize. We come from the dust; we return to it, along with the dreams and hopes we have had for our lives. No matter what we do to stop the train, it chugs along. How we do we go on in such a world?

I started this short series regarding the Word of our God with a passage from Isaiah 40, and I will end there, along with Peter’s use of the passage in his letter. The Word of God which by the power of the Spirit of God makes us new, and causes us to believe in God and His very great promises – that Word abides forever; it is imperishable. Just like the saints of old who were looking for a better city whose builder and architect is God, so the Word points us forward, ever forward, to resurrection and new life and abundance of joy and peace and goodness that is itself imperishable and unfading. We live in the present under the shining light of the promised land which beckons us homeward. And so, safe and secure in God’s mighty promise, we can face the fragility of this world. Its losses hurt us, sometimes more than we feel we can bear. But we press on. We commit to the love and service of others and just not ourselves. We go about our business, even the daily mundane business of life, working, serving, loving, enjoying the gifts God gives us, and comforting those in sorrow. We do not know when our day will come. Knowing the fragility of life, therefore, let us love, for love abides. Knowing the uncertainty of tomorrow, let us make amends today. Knowing that our greatest glory in this life is no more than the flower of the field, which is here today and gone tomorrow, let us not worry for our own glory, but for God’s glory. Let us do that which pleases him, such as living a life of daily trust and hope and filled with the sweet fragrance of love.

I am saddened by the news of a person dear to so many who has moved on to be with Christ today. I did not know her or her family. I pray for every comfort that Christ can bring to those who must press on in her absence.

Isaiah 40:6-8

6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

1 Peter 1:22-25

 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

 “All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

As we finish out today and tomorrow our two week excursion into passages having to do with the Word of God, and our response to it, we are reminded that this Word is “God-breathed.” No, this does not mean that the Scripture fell down from heaven already written in a scroll. No, it does not mean that real human beings in the midst of very real life circumstances did not compose the Scripture using pen and ink, and their own minds, and their own writing styles. Much of it is written with tremendous care, with the care of a fine literary artist. Some of it is more sloppy from a literary point of view. Yes, some of it indeed does indeed include the direct words of God dictated as it were. But most of it is not that way. And so we understand the Scripture to be fully of man, and at the same time fully of God. It contains almost every kind of literary genre. It is diverse, multi-authored, spanning millennia, and yet unified, mutually interpreting, and useful and necessary for our growth as Christians. We have it for a reason, to learn of God, who he is and what he has done, and to learn about ourselves, who we are, and what we are to be and to do. And ultimately we have it to lay forth the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Son of God and Savior of Sinners, to whom all that came before pointed, and in whom we have Life. The Scripture is to be used. It is useful. As the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God it is transformative and it equips us. The mutual encouragement and teaching of the Word is the primary equipping tool in the church. By it we are built up, made complete and mature and ready for every good work for which we have been prepared. Please do not neglect the Word. Pray that God will make it alive for you, or perhaps better yet, you alive for it. Pray that he will open your heart to it. The power of the Word does not depend on a snazzy spiffy Power Point presentation, nor on eloquent human speakers, nor upon great and deeply moving sermons, nor on deep intelligent Bible study teachers. There is a point where we each individually and as heads of household are responsible before God to be in the Word, to allow it to dwell richly in us, to be open to it. Pray for your brothers and sisters that they would be built up and encouraged in the Word. Pray for yourself. Pray that God will cause it to take deep root, and that you won’t be vulnerable to the babble of fools, or the ever changing fads of doctrine blowing about, or the deceptions of false teachers. And when you go through times of dryness, press on. Even the Scripture itself contains accounts of men and women who were parched of spirit, who were wandering in a spiritual desert, and who yet looked up to God to quench their thirst. Oh, and one final warning of sorts: we often think that if we are good little boys and girls and read our bibles regularly, that all will go well with us. But sometimes the more conformed we are to the Word, the more transformed by it we are, the more trouble will come to us. So please, don’t go reading your bibles as if it is like punching a ticket to get the good things from God that you want, as if God were Santa Claus and reading the Word was what determined that you were “naughty or nice” and thus the recipient of nice gifts. Oh yes, spend your life in the Word and you will get good things, and you will be blessed, but these good things may not be just what you expect. Oh no. They will far better indeed. As least that what the God-breathed Scripture says. 2 Timothy 3:10-16:

10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have been looking at various passages about the Word of God and its centrality in our lives as believers. Indeed, it was and is this saving Word that was so instrumental in our coming to faith in the first place. For how can we believe if we do not hear? And how can we hear if no one speaks the Word to us? I can go back in my memory and remember those who first spoke the Word to me – my sister Mary Johnson, John Yates, Billy Peebles, Calvin Marshall, and writers CS Lewis, JI Packer, Francis Schaeffer, and John Stott. As for those who spoke directly and in person to me, well, their words to me were backed up by love for me and by lives that seemed somehow different– and the love and the lives gave them added credibility to me. And it gave me confidence and motivation to read the books they placed into my hands. The point is, somewhere along the way, someone had to share the Word of truth with me. Oh yes, it was and is the Holy Spirit that makes the Word “alive.” But the Spirit needs the Word in order to illuminate our hearts and minds. Spirit and Word work together.

We know that God has no grandchildren. So the Word must be shared afresh each generation. We may be encouraged that God intends to continue to make alive His word until the Lord returns. And we who have been enlightened by the Spirit and the Word must now be his agents in a world which is broken and torn asunder. We can bew so with confidence, knowing that the Spirit who blows where He will, will illuminate hearts and minds as He wills – if we are obedient to share the word of truth. So, let us love. Let us strive to grow in good works that exhibit the change that has taken place in us. And let us not forget to share the Word when opportunity arises. If we do not, can we know for sure that someone else will?

Romans 1:16-17

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 10:8-17

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

We continue looking at Scriptures having to do with the Word of God. Today I will let the Word speak without commentary, except to say, where do you find yourself as you read this parable?  Here is the Parable of the Sower (or as I prefer to call it, the Parable of the Seeds), from Mark 4:1-20

4:1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." 9 And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that

"they may indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven."

13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. [1] 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

In Christ,

Joel

PS - the wisdom teeth extraction went well I think. I am feeling OK today - just have to keep putting on the icepacks. After all my years of study I have finally become a munk! Ha! Our trip to Moore's Knob Sunday was super - a beautiful day for a hike! Hopefully tomorrow I will be back up and about and getting the heart beating hard again - like it was Sunday!

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Dear Congregation,

We have read this week that the Word of our God stands forever, that we are to humble ourselves before it, and that it is an active and dynamic Word, a Word that accomplishes God’s purposes, and which sees into our deepest selves. Sometimes the Word is hard to take. It surprises, demands, astonishes, transforms, convicts, and pierces. So we may be tempted to avoid it, as that is surely the easier path for us in the moment. But for what would we avoid the Word of God? For the desires of our flesh? For the pleasures of the world? For the sake of spending our every moment in our worldly pursuits? How dare the Word get in our way! But we look around and we see that the world is deeply broken, afflicted beyond its ability to heal itself. We look inside and we see that we are deeply broken, afflicted beyond our ability to heal ourselves. We know that we, and the earth, were made for more than what can be attained in or by itself, by ourselves. As it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” Our hearts yearn for more. We know deep down that we were made for more than this. We know that God has made us for Himself, and that we cane be whole only in Him. So, if we would avoid His Word, which leads us to Him, how will we find Him? How will we find ourselves? The irony is that if we believe that God is the answer to our deepest heart’s needs and desires, we have already been touched by his searching and active Word, that Word which is made powerful by the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in our hearts, making us ready and able to hear it, believe it, and receive it. The disciples struggled with Jesus’ words at times, his teaching about himself as the Bread of life being one such time. Indeed, many people, when they discerned what Jesus was really saying, turned and left Him. It was too much to believe, too demanding, and it would cause too much upheaval to follow him. So what about the disciples? Yes, they struggled, but in the end they knew, because the Spirit and Word had already been active in their hearts, where their home truly was. John 6:60-69:

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

In Christ,

Dear Brothers,

We so often think that it’s what WE do that matters when we read, meditate upon, and study our Bibles. Of course, our attention, and our reverent obedience is crucial. But God did not just deliver His word as if by mail, and leave it all to us. Oh, He is quite active and living in His word, and one reason we should reverence the Word that we read and hear is because we are opening ourselves up either to transformation or to judgment when we expose ourselves to it. We are not as in charge as we think. If we read it rightly we read it with a spirit of submission and “reverent fear” because we know it is God’s surgical instrument. He is the surgeon, we are the patients! The Bible is not a tame old dusty book that we treat as we will. And we are not earning brownie points when we read it, or let’s say, we shouldn’t read it for that reason. Our flesh does not always like what it reads or hears. The two Scriptures below remind us that God is at work in and through His word. I like these two passages juxtaposed as it were, because each in its own way reminds us of the truth of God’s sovereign and active presence with his words and promises. Oh, yes, we must read our Bibles. But we must be prepared to be changed, and challenged, and never quite be the same, and not the same in ways we may not expect. God’s agenda for us may not be the same as our agenda for ourselves. Isaiah 55:1o-11 and Hebrews 4:12-13:

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

In Christ,

Joel

Dear Brethren,

Bibles and study aids of every kind, more biblical information available than ever in history – it can all create an appearance of knowledge or wisdom. And yes there is the odd parallel reality of lower biblical literacy amongst the gluttonous availability of so many ways to buy and access the bible and its content. Do we replace the good feeling of having bibles nearby with actually listening to God and His word? Has the quest for good spiritual feelings undermined the reverence we are to pay to the Word of our God? This Word stands forever. It is sharper than a two edged sword. It evaluates us even if we aren’t paying it much attention. His word never returns void. That same word which called the heavens and earth into being, and which brought light forth from darkness, also calls us out of our darkness into His light. We are not to worship our bibles, but we are to worship the God who speaks to us in and through it’s word and message, and we are to bow before His word as the Word. So let us humble our hearts before Him and before His word. Isaiah 66:1-2

 1 Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

In Christ, 

Joel