The Invitation - Part 1

First I want to say that the thoughts and message contained in this post are in partnership with LifeHouse East, Hedgesville's parent church.  As a Network of LifeHouse Churches, we look to share resources and ideas because God blesses us through our unity. 

Ever get caught in the hustle and bustle of life that you sometimes miss the magnificent things happening right in front of your eyes?  I know I do.  I get involved so much with what needs to be done – caring for kids, keeping up the home, attending meetings, writing sermons, etc. – that I sometimes think I don’t have time to stop and rest.  So because I don’t stop, I miss the sunrises and sunsets of life.  I miss the time watching my kids and playing with them.   I miss the opportunities to go into the woods and explore God’s creation.  You get the picture, I miss too much.

But, do you think the busyness of life, the busyness of routine, which you and I experience in 2011, is any different than the culture of Jesus’ day?  Actually no!  Not much has changed in 2000 years.

But you say they didn’t have the distractions that we have today – technology, cars, television, sports and extracurricular activities, etc.?  You’re right, they didn’t have these things.  But what they did have caused them to miss out on the greatest thing mankind has ever seen. 

How do I know?  The Gospel of John, chapter 1 verses 4-5 and 10-11 provides that in that moment of time, Christmas was completely missed by the very people the baby Jesus came to save.  Think about it.  There was the busyness of life, though we can’t say exactly what that looked like.  There was the confusion of what the Messiah would truly look like since a King would not come from such humble beginnings.  There were the religious practices of following rules and laws that took their attention away from what truly pleases God.

They were busy doing what they thought God desired rather than asking and understanding what God really wanted.

Does that sound like today?  Does that sound like you?  I know it sounds like me - so busy doing and not taking the time to really see what God wants me to see. 

Two thousand years ago, it was literally “God in the flesh” – it was Jesus giving up His position in Heaven to become a babe in an unsterilized manger, born of a lowly teenage virgin, whose father is really not His own, who would one day be moved by his parents to a town known as “the God-forsaken town of Nazareth”, where He would follow in the footsteps of His earthly father’s occupation of carpenter.

Yet because of the circumstances I outlined, the people of His day, busy in their own right studying and taking from the scriptures what they desired to see, had to determine what they were going to do with this invitation from God.  And as the New Testament scripture told us, they could not see Jesus for who He really was.  Their thinking, “There is no way this could be the Promised One, the Messiah.  How is this babe - eventually man - the one to be our King who will drive out all our enemies?” 

So just like our counterparts, what do we do with this God among men, Emmanuel, who interrupts our busy schedule and challenges us that there is more to life than the busyness of our dull routine?

Well God’s Big Idea is this:  Receive His Invitation.

As it says in John 1:12-14, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth,” we have a response to make to this invitation.

God has shown Himself to mankind in many ways over the years – through parting the Red Sea and Jordan River, through prophecy, through lightning from Heaven, through carving a rock with 10 commandments, through providing a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.  And that’s just to name a few.  Yet in all the magnificent and spectacular ways God has shown Himself over time, the most magnificent one was when “He just showed up,” removing His royal robes, and becoming one of us.

And so our response is demanded and awaited?  Do we believe Jesus really is the Son of God?   And honestly, if we choose to reject the invitation to believe in Emmanuel, it’s like being at the Grand Canyon and ignoring that it really is magnificent because we don’t thoroughly understand how it was created.

Let’s not reduce knowing God to mere religious service and learning – that we have to understand it all before we accept it.  Instead, sometimes we need to just look at the splendor and say “There’s God.”  You don’t have to understand how the Grand Canyon came into being to be amazed and believe in it.

Jesus came to offer an invitation for us to know Him.  Think about it:  Someone gives you an invitation to their wedding.  You have a choice.  You can either accept the invitation to attend the wedding or decline.  And in order for us to know Him, we have to accept Him.

The same is true of the invitation God gives us for belief in His Son.  It’s the most beautiful invitation ever given, yet each and every person who’s invited can RSVP with a yes or a no.  And because the invitation is given to each individual, no one can come to the wedding through the response of someone else.  It must be your decision.

The reality of an RSVP to an invitation is nothing more than, as I have said before, a yes or a no.  The invitation didn’t come because you worked for it, earned it, or paid for it.  In fact, in the case of God’s invitation, you and I don’t even deserve it.  All we can simply do is open arms wide, accept it, and say “Thanks.”

The RSVP is nothing more than receiving the invitation, and then accepting to attend.  Now keep in mind, accepting the invitation, saying “yes” on the RSVP card, means we acknowledge we don’t deserve it, but are willing to accept it by repenting of the sins that keep us out of relationship with God. 

But you know how sometimes we receive gifts that we have no use for and we set them on a shelf somewhere to either collect dust or be regifted?  Well, that can’t be the case with God’s gift.

In verse 10 of John 1 it said, “His own did not recognize him."  What does that mean?  It doesn’t mean that they didn’t know who Jesus of Nazareth was as a person.  It does mean that they didn’t know Him personally – that they didn’t have an active understanding of this man and what He was about.

In verse 12  of John 1 it said, “To those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  What’s the difference?  These people accepted the invitation, meaning they knew God and welcomed him into every aspect of their lives.

By accepting the invitation, we’re only beginning the journey.  And the journey is not an annoying disruption to the good life, a pot-hole in the road that we fill leads us to success and fame, or a Christmas gift that can be returned after we’ve tried it out.  Instead the journey is extremely valuable because on it we find that Jesus is the meaning of life and that through Him our lives are changed for the better and we become the person God intended us to be.

So, imagine if we lived like this.  Imagine that we truly understood that God’s invitation is His meticulous care at intersecting with our lives in every way possible so that we can fully know and follow Him.

"After the Fall" Series - Appreciate the Little Things

There are times in life where I get so busy with the tasks at hand – caring for the home, my children, being a husband, the jobs that go along with being a pastor, etc.  And in that busyness, it’s very difficult to stop and see the little things that really do mean something.  I mean, how often do I miss the small little kiss that Jayden wants to give, or the good grade that Gabe worked so hard to get, or the little dance that Blake does while watching his favorite show, or the play that Drew made on the basketball court, or the delicious meal that Caroline just made?

And so I’m reminded during the Thanksgiving Season, that once again, I get it right sometimes and other times I miss the mark completely.  I only hope that by next Thanksgiving I will be standing before you saying that I’m getting it right more than wrong.

Craig’s testimony has been a God-send to me – reminding me what’s most important in life.  And his accident was his God-send – reminding him where his priorities should be.  It’s clear to see that Craig’s accident has had a profound impact on the way he, and others, now view life.  Coming so close to death made him “start to appreciate what an amazing gift life is.”  Craig now sees the joys of life’s often-overlooked blessings and the folly of pursuing material possessions.  Even his friend Steve adds that what happened to Craig has made him slow down and “identify what’s important in my own life.”

What about you?  How often do you stop to consider what an “amazing gift” life is – that right now you are drawing into your lungs breaths of life?  

How do you think it would feel to receive a second chance at life?   Craig received a second chance, but this is important to hear.  It’s not like his life was totally messed up before the fall.  He had a good job, a loving wife, two wonderful children, friends, and a church home.  Yet now he realizes how much in life he was missing.  In his first life he only saw the BIG things.  But after the accident, he was given a second chance at life where he now sees EVERYTHING as a blessing from God.

After hearing his testimony I find myself wondering why it is so easy for me to take life and its many blessings for granted.   And honestly, I don’t have an answer, other than I’m selfish and need to change.

Craig made it clear to us to “See the Little Things.”  So what are some of those little things in your life you are overlooking that are a blessing from God?  After Craig’s accident even Honey Nut Cheerios came alive to him.

What are they for you?  Are they some vegetables and fruit you eat out of your garden?  Are they the giggles of your children when they find something amusing?   Are they run-down vehicles that get you to and fro?   Are they the days you spend shopping by yourself, with friends, or with family?  Are they the times you spend learning music?  Are they the times you spend quietly in prayer and meditation?  Are they the times when you look upon your children as they sleep?  Are they the times when you have a good bowl of ice cream?  Or, are they the days you spend a field hunting or fishing, even though you will most likely come back with nothing but stories?

Well, I took Gabe and Drew fishing about four or five summers ago at a neighbor’s pond.  Drew at that time was getting very frustrated with fishing because his little brother was usually catching more fish.  So before we walked up to the pond, I asked God, under my breath, to let Drew catch the biggest fish.  Drew had his line in the water first. Before I could get Gabe’s line wet I had to unhook a couple of nice bluegills that Drew had caught.  Finally, I get Gabe’s line in the water, and Drew yells to me that he’s got another fish on his line.  So I begin coaching him to keep the tip of his pole up when I realize that this “ain’t” no bluegill.  It was something BIG and at first I thought it was a largemouth bass (I had caught some 4-5 pounders out of there the previous summer.)  The poor boy could barely hold onto his pole when the fish would decide to make a run and make the drag squeal.  So I thought I’d better help him out or that pole is going to end up in the middle of the pond.  Finally, I got a glimpse of the fish and knew it was no bass.  When we landed it, Drew had caught a large catfish (that we didn’t even know were in the pond.)  How large was it?  Since we had no stringer or bucket, and I did not want to kill the fish, we took some old fashioned measurements.  It was at least 3 of Drew’s shoe lengths and was quite heavy when I tried to pick it up.  What does that mean?  It was at least 30 inches long and its weight was 7 pounds or greater.  Needless to say that boy of mine was quite proud the rest of the day, and so was his dad.  And as we walked back home, I told the boys that God had answered my prayer.

Little things are just as important as the big things.  Sometimes they are more valuable because the only way we get to see them is by slowing down and looking for them.  A lot of times they bring us more joy because they’re happening every day.

In Deuteronomy 8: 10-18, Moses spoke prophetically to the Israelites, and even to us today.    Moses was speaking to a group that had been wandering in the desert as Nomad Shepherds.   They did not know fertility.   They knew dry and barren.  In fact, it was God who supplied them with fresh water, manna (bread) that they were to gather each morning, quail when they began to grow weary of eating manna all the time, a cloud of smoke by day to protect them from the sun’s scorching heat, and a pillar of fire by night to guide them and give them light when they traveled in the dark.  They knew how to live in tents and how to move when the conditions of the land worsened.   They didn’t know crops.  They didn’t know wealth.  And they especially didn’t know stability.

He forewarned them that their life was about to change once they entered the land, the land of milk and honey (a fertile land), that was promised to their father Abraham.  He reminded them that it would be very easy to forget the God who had taken care of them for 40 years as Nomads in the desert.   Because once they were there, they would see the fertility of the land, their hands would work the soil, and they would produce bountiful crops.  He told them that when they had eaten and were satisfied, they should praise the Lord their God because He was the one who had provided it for them.   He told them to appreciate the little things and to give thanks, where thanks are due.  He said otherwise, when you are blessed with plenty of food on your table, you’re living in beautiful houses and staying in one place, and you grow wealthy, your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God.  He said you may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  But he said never forget it is the Lord your God who gives you the ability to produce wealth.

So the Big Idea God wants us to see in this passage is:  Appreciate and give thanks for the little things of life.

Why is this important?  It’s so important because we very easily become proud when we fail to focus on the little blessings of life and give thanks for them.   If we start taking for granted the little blessings of life, we eventually begin to believe that we are responsible for all the good in our lives.  The pride comes in when I begin to say and believe, “I did this.”

I really believe that if I forget to give credit where credit is due for the little blessings, I’ll definitely forget to give credit for the big ones.

You know, it’s the little things like following God’s word and stopping long enough to smell the roses God has created that bring blessing to one’s life.  That’s what Craig was missing.  His life was too fast and this catastrophe helped him to realize that he was missing out on the little things – the little blessings – the Honey Nut Cheerios – that could only come from God.  

So during the Thanksgiving Season and beyond, never forget to stop and pray giving thanks to God for all He does in your life – especially the little things.