LHH Culture

LHH is God’s church – not that we believe we are His only church, but rather that we are His church if we live according to His purpose, vision, and plans.

God’s favor rests on individuals and churches who purposely seek to do His will in the time given to them on this earth.  And some really struggle to find God’s purpose and will for their lives – they search high and low, but never seem to find it.  Why? I mean they really want to find God’s purpose and will for their lives.

The reason for the struggle stems from the following 2 scenarios: 

1)  Some fail to see God’s purpose for their lives because there is pride in their search- they want to do BIG and AMAZING things for God solely for the glamour and fame they will receive as a result. 

2)  The second scenario involves no pride, but the search for purpose produces no results because they only see God’s purposes in the BIG things, missing the answers that are staring them directly in the face.

You know how I know?  I know because I have been on both sides of these scenarios.  I am speaking from experience. 

There were times where I wished I could be like Billy Graham winning tons of souls to Christ – how glamorous that would be!  There were also times where I wrestled with my purpose simply because I didn’t know who God really is.

So through my struggle, I bring to you the answers to God’s purposes that I have come to know.  And notice I didn’t say purpose, but purposes because God has multiple purposes for everyone.  

And these purposes are the culture of LHH that we are to exemplify to one another and to the people God brings into our lives.

We’ve already looked at the 2 purposes that Christ clearly modeled for us. They are LOVE AND SERVICE.

Today we’re going to look at a 3^rd piece of culture – a 3^rd piece of purpose that God envisions for the people of LHH.  We can find this piece in the first body of believers – the first church – as recorded in Acts – Acts 2: 42-47 and Acts 4: 32-37.

God’s Big Idea from these passages is:  CHURCH IS COMMUNITY.

And thank God that He inspired Luke, the Physician, to write down the history of the early church so that we might get a true picture of what church/what community should look like, be like, and feel like.  

Just look at the qualities we see in this group who had no theology/ no doctrine upon which to grapple and fight over.  They clearly had to live out their faith on the fly.  And from them we get our doctrine – the New Testament.

·        DEVOTED to learning and each other – they gathered to learn what the apostles had to teach them about Jesus, and they were more than just a group who casually said “hi” to one another.

·        SHARED with one another – they shared whatever they had with one another.  It was radical what they were doing.  Where no one else in society would take care of and support the widows and orphans, the church did. 

·        SOLD possessions to assist – they sold their possessions from time to time so that the money could be used by the church to assist those in the church who had need.

·        COMMUNICATED daily – they kept in communication daily by meeting in the temple courts (community center of the day) and meeting in people’s homes to eat together and to give praises to God.

You can almost hear the communication and concern these believers had for one another just through the facts that were recorded.  

In my mind I hear, “Hey, how you doing today?  How are things going in your life?  How you doing in the faith?  Is there anything I can do to help?  You know what, I’ve got some extra food, why don’t you come over and eat with me.  And if you need a place to stay until you get your feet back under you, feel free to stay with me.  God has blessed me with so much.  Just remember, what’s mine is yours.  In fact, I heard there was another family who just came into the faith that is really struggling to put food on the table.  So, I’m going to sell that piece of land I have and give it to the church to distribute to this family and anyone else who has need.  After all, Jesus taught us through the apostles that ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’”

I think it’s pretty obvious that church was not merely showing up at the temple once a week, or whenever it fit in their schedule.  

In fact, we see a church that was meeting at the temple to conduct God’s business.  They were gathering with eagerness and anticipation to LEARN from the apostles’ teaching that Jesus, Himself, had taught them.  They were gathering to REMEMBER what Jesus had done for them by partaking in the Lord’s Supper.  They were gathering to FELLOWSHIP and to PRAY.   They were gathering to ENSURE everyone who was in need was receiving the essentials they needed to live on for the day.  And they were gathering in each other’s homes to EAT and to PRAISE God for His bounty and favor.

This was a church that had grown from 120 people to 3120 people in one day, and was without a church building.   Though we aren’t given a clear timeline and don’t know how many of the 3000 that were saved and baptized remained in Jerusalem after the preaching of Peter at Pentecost, we are given a picture of what the early church looked like in Jerusalem for those who did remain. 

And the picture shows us a group of people with a COMMON UNITY – in other words a group in Community.

They LOOKED OUT for each other.  They CARED about each other.  They HELPED one another.  They were doing what God desired to see lived out in them as given to them by the apostles’ teaching.  They were being the Church.

In his book The Connecting Church, Author Randy Frazee writes, “The experience of authentic community is one of the purposes God intends to be fulfilled by the church.  The writings of Scripture lead one to conclude that God intends the church, not to be one more bolt on the wheel of activity in our lives, but the very hub at the center of one’s life…..”

And that’s what we see from the early church – a group whose center is in SHARING LIFE TOGETHER so that the needs of everyone – spiritually, physically, and emotionally – are being met in the name of Jesus Christ.

And this is what LHH will be – a church whose sole purpose is to be united in love and service for one another and to the community God has called it to be in.

To me, there is no greater cause than to be the church as God intended it to be.  It’s beautiful when the body of believers lay aside their PRIDE and JEALOUSY of one another to UNITE in a love for one another that has the world scratching its head.

And through their faithfulness – their devotion to the church of Jesus Christ, "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Did you know that the huge Redwood Trees in California are the largest living things on earth and tallest trees in the world?  Yea, some of them are 300 feet high (a football field) and more than 2500 years old.  Yet, despite their magnitude and size, Redwoods have a very shallow root system – kind of like the pines of the east coast.

So how do they stand up?  How do they keep from falling when the storms and winds come?  They survive because the roots of these trees are intertwined – tied in with each other – interlocked.  And thus because their root system is interlocked, they support and sustain each other.  They need one another to survive.  And so do we!

LHH must be a culture of people INTERLOCKED with one another to assure our spiritual survival while here on this earth.

What Caroline and I want to do now is model to you that we truly believe in what God has given me to share today.  The Lord has blessed us with a home, as well as a log cabin with 20 acres about 1hour and 15 minutes from here.  Our home, which some of you have been to, is always open to any of you to come for a visit, for dinner, or for any need you need to discuss.  But, the main offering we want to share with you is the use of our cabin.  When we purchased it back in 2007, we saw God’s hand in giving us a place that we could use as an investment for our family and as an opportunity to minister to others.  So if you’re ever looking for an opportunity just to get away from the hustle and bustle of life – for a time of retreat – let us know.  It’s not a resort, nor is it near any entertainment venues, but it is a place easy to get to and will give you a place of solitude, reflection, and relaxation.  The keys are yours if you’d like them.

Church is COMMUNITY.  And LHH will be a place where people will find love and service wrapped up in a community of believers who care for one another.  

Are you in?

LHH Culture

We are continuing to define LHH culture today and its’ importance in our lives. 

By living, breathing, and being the culture God has envisioned for this church, we are guaranteed to see the faithfulness and blessings of God.  And, I’m not saying this will be easy and that there won’t be any roadblocks we will have to overcome.  I am saying that the blessing will come in our perseverance and the joy of living a life well lived.  And as said last week, the first and utmost important piece for this church is to bask in the LOVE of God and then show it to others.

Love must be evident in our lives.  And there is no way to show the unseen God to this world if we’re not living in love with one another and our neighbors.  Where our nature says “hate”, God’s nature says “love”.  And so by living in love, we are assured that God is living in us. 

Living in love totally contradicts our desires and replaces them with God’s.  And there is no greater way to live.

In Matthew 20: 20-28 we get to read Jesus’ words in response to the favor requested by the mother of James and John, two of His disciples.  And God’s Big Idea from this passage is pretty clear:  SERVING PLACES OTHERS ABOVE YOURSELF.

This is so hard to do because we have been trained to fend and take care of ourselves from a very young age.  In fact, parents’ have a goal for their children - that is to teach their children to be independent of them so that one day, when the children are grown up, they can take on the sole responsibilities for the lives they live.

Yet what is rather obvious to me in this passage is that we see the nature of humankind, the “what’s in this for me” attitude, coming out in the request of the mother.  

I often wonder when I read this passage if the boys went to their mom and said, “Can you go talk to Jesus for us?  We’re afraid to ask to be his right hand men because he probably won’t hear us out.  But you, you’re a woman and our mother and He just might listen to you.”  And then their mother obliges and says, “Sure sons’.  You deserve that right because you’ve been better disciples than the other ten.  In fact, this will look pretty good on the pocket book and our prestige in the community if you two can be in positions of power.”

And so mom walks up to Jesus with her two sons lagging behind and makes her request “Grant that one these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

But Jesus doesn’t jump for joy at the request saying, “Wow!  I finally got someone to volunteer to help me run my Kingdom.  I’ve been waiting for someone to step up.”  

Instead, Jesus rebukes the request by saying to James and John, “You don’t know what you are asking.  Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

And they say, “Yea”; thinking, that was easy.

And Jesus says in my paraphrase, “You guys should have thought that one through, because I’m not talking about drinking the King’s beverages.  Yea, you’re going to get what you agreed to.  You will indeed drink from my cup, the cup of suffering, and as far as position in my Kingdom, my Father will determine who sits where.”

But then the other apostles get wind of the conversation and request that James and John had made to Jesus through their mom.  So Jesus has to calm the storm – put out the fire.  Needless to say, they were a little hot.

Jesus abruptly says, “You know how the Gentiles rule – how they use their authority to get what they want?  Well, my disciples will not be this way.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become a slave.  So follow my example, I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

This is what LHH will be - A community who follows JESUS’ EXAMPLE - A community of believers who come together, not to be served, but rather to SERVE one another and the people God brings into our sphere of influence.

Why?  Why would God have this vision for this church – His Church?  It’s because He knows people.  He knows that in order for people to truly become His disciples they must have humility.  And the way to have humility is through service to others.

How does this work?  How does service to others bring about humility?  It works because service to others causes me to WORK FOR OTHERS when I feel like having them work for me.  It works because it causes me to see others as MORE IMPORTANT than myself.  It works because it is voluntarily MY CHOICE to do what is needed to be done and not something I’m forced to do.  It works because it is Jesus LIVING IN ME and through me, and Jesus was purely humble.

Let me share with you a story of a young lady named Sarah.  The story is entitled
Sarah’s Vase by David Cerqueira

Sarah’s parents were new to town, and she was just getting to know her classmates at church. As a second grader, she was full of energy and beaming with naughtiness. As Sarah’s Sunday school teacher, my wife provided me with a limitless supply of funny stories – Monday night dinner was usually served with Sarah’s latest antics. Everyone at church seemed to like her. She was simply an easy kid to fall in love with.

One Sunday my wife had prepared a lesson on being useful. She taught the children that everyone can be useful – that usefulness is serving God, and that doing so is worthy of honor. The kids quietly soaked up my wife’s words, and as the lesson ended, there was a short moment of silence. Then Sarah spoke up. “Teacher, what can I do?” I don’t know how to do too many useful things.”

Not anticipating that kind of response, my wife quickly looked around and spotted an empty flower vase on the window sill. “Sarah, you can bring in a flower and put it in the vase. That would be a useful thing.”

Sarah frowned. “But that’s not important.”

“It is,” replied my wife, “if you are helping someone.”

Sure enough, the next Sunday Sarah brought in a dandelion and placed it in the vase. In fact, she continued to do so each week. Without reminders or help, she made sure the vase was filled with a bright yellow flower, Sunday after Sunday. When my wife told our pastor about Sarah’s faithfulness, he placed the vase upstairs in the main sanctuary next to the pulpit. That Sunday he gave a sermon on the honor of serving others, using Sarah’s vase as an example. The congregation was touched by the message, and the week started on a good note.

As a pediatric physician, I have developed an uncomfortable feeling about telephone calls. During that same week I got a call from Sarah’s mother. She worried that Sarah seemed to have less energy than usual and that she didn’t have an appetite. Offering her some reassurances, I made room in my schedule to see Sarah the following day. After a battery of tests and days of examinations, I sat numbly in my office, Sarah’s paperwork on my lap. The results were tragic.

On the way home I stopped to see Sarah’s parents so that I could personally give them the sad news. Sarah’s genetics and the leukemia that was attacking her small body were a horrible mix. Sitting at their kitchen table, I did my best to explain to Sarah’s parents that nothing could be done to save her life. I don’t think I have ever had a more difficult conversation than the one that night. Sarah’s mom looked me in the eye and with tears asked, “How can this happen? Why would God allow this?”

As doctors, we try everything to save a life. Sometimes we find ourselves wishing to trade our life for that of one of our patients, especially when they are as dear as Sarah. But sometimes, nothing can be done, and a tragic end is only a matter of time. Sarah was to have such an ending. Such a beautiful life, ended by such pain and anguish. It became difficult not to question the goodness of God in Sarah’s life.

Time pressed on. Sarah became confined to bed and to the visits that many people gave her. She lost her smile. She lost most of her weight. And then it came: another telephone call. Sarah’s mother asked me to come see her. I dropped everything and ran to the house. There she was, a small bundle that barely moved. After a short examination, I knew that Sarah would soon be leaving this world. I urged her parents to spend as much time as possible with her.

That was a Friday afternoon. On Sunday morning church started as usual. The singing, the sermon – it all seemed meaningless when I thought of Sarah. I felt enveloped in sadness. At the end of the sermon, the pastor suddenly stopped speaking. His eyes wide, he stared at the back of the church with utter amazement. Everyone turned to see what he was looking at. It was Sarah! Her parents had brought her for one last visit. She was bundled in a blanket, a dandelion in one little hand.

She didn’t sit in the back row. Instead she slowly walked to the front of the church where her vase still perched by the pulpit. She put her flower in the vase and a piece of paper beside it. Then she returned to her parents. Seeing Sarah place her flower in the vase for the last time moved everyone. At the end of the service, people gathered around Sarah and her parents, trying to offer as much love and support as possible. I could hardly bear to watch.

Four days later, Sarah died. I cancelled my morning appointments and sat at my desk, thinking about her and her parents, hurting. I remember the funny stories that my wife told about Sarah. I remembered the sweet sound of her laughter. I remembered that telephone call that brought the sadness.

Tears filled my eyes as once again I struggled not to question the goodness of God in allowing Sarah’s life to end in such a horrible way.

I wasn’t expecting it, but our pastor asked to see me after the funeral. We stood at the cemetery near our cars as people walked past us. In a low voice he said, “Dave, I’ve got something you ought to see.” He pulled out of his pocket the piece of paper that Sarah had left by the vase. Holding it out to me, he said, “You’d better keep this; it may help you in your line of work.”

I opened the folded paper to read, in pink crayon, what Sarah had written:

Dear God,

This vase has been the biggest honor of my life.

Sarah

Sarah’s note and her vase have helped me to understand. I now realize in a new way that life is an opportunity to serve God by serving people. And, as Sarah put it, that is the biggest honor of all.

LHH must be a culture of love and service. 

As Caroline and I sat in a Church Planter’s Bootcamp, I dreamed of a phrase that would encapsulate my passion for growing people in the likeness of Christ. 

And God gave me the phrase that is on the front of your bulletin - Loving and Serving to Know Christ. 

God made it very clear that if the people of LHH were to know Christ – to know Him intimately – they must learn to LOVE AND SERVE as He did.

So how do we do this?  How do we serve? 

There’s no magic formula or special assignment for serving.  Rather, it’s as simple as OBSERVING the needs around you and ACTING to meet those needs.  It’s as simple as practicing HOSPITALITY.  It’s as simple as being KIND.  It’s as simple as HEARING that still small voice stirring inside you to do something and OBEYING it.

In conclusion, LHH will be a culture of service.  And the more we model service to our community and our children, the more we RESEMBLE Christ.

Remember, serving others is as simple as consistently placing a yellow flower in a vase, even when your body is shutting down, because it’s important and God has called you to do it. 

LHH Culture

Over the next 7 weeks, we will be looking at 7 areas of culture that God desires to see lived out in this church – in you and me because we are the church.

These 7 areas were birthed out of countless hours of prayer and study – birthed out of countless hours of communication with God.  And these 7 areas are my passion because I know that if we live them out we will be living out our purpose here on earth. 

If we are active in being the people God wants us to be, we will see a church united in faith that will be pleasing to Him.  If we pursue the culture God has so vividly allowed me to see, we will one day stand before God with confidence and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  And I don’t know about you, but these are the words I long to hear when my time on this earth comes to an end.

Before diving into God’s word, I thought I’d share a true story by Sally Arnett that will lead us into the first area of culture that God wants for LHH.

Love Is Action, Not Feeling

"If I never saw this kid again, Lord, I wouldn't be sorry!" I thought.

Tears clouded my eyes as I stood in our laundry room. Clenched in both hands were new jeans and a shirt belonging to my 16-year-old stepson, Brett. The clothing was already destroyed from burn holes and vomit stains after a drunken binge.

Exhausted and defeated, I sank to the floor. The clothes were just one more thing Brett had ruined. He had already kicked a large hole in his bedroom wall; his bedcovers were torn. Numerous windows in our house needed repair due to his breaking in to steal money when he chose to live on the street. Yet none of this could compare to the emotional damage Brett had inflicted on our once quiet home.

I knew that Brett's needs were deep, and I had often prayed for wisdom and love. The second greatest commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," had taken on new meaning when Brett came to live with us when he was 12 years old. If I were to love my neighbor, was I not to love my own troubled stepson even more?

During those four years I had dealt with Brett as patiently as possible, but inside I was churning. "I don't want him in my house another day, Lord," I cried as I knelt on the laundry room floor. "I just can't stand him!"

Chest heaving, I poured out my despair. Then God tenderly spoke to me in my weakness. Matthew 25:35-40 rose in my thoughts---Jesus' declaration that when we invite a stranger, feed the hungry, clothe the naked or visit those in prison, we are doing it as unto Him. For the first time I saw this story in light of the action words. Jesus was saying, "Act. Meet these people's needs. Through your actions you are loving them and Me."

God's encouragement to me that day helped me to gather strength and continue parenting Brett. Still, Brett did not change his behavior.

When Brett was nearly 18, he landed again in Juvenile Hall, this time on suicide watch. Through prayer, my husband, Dave, and I sensed God's leading to send Brett to a boarding school with a high success rate for helping troubled teens.

The psychological training at Brett's school was rigorous. Out of more than 20 people in his class, Brett was one of only five graduates.

At the graduation ceremony the graduates stood one by one to thank those who had helped them. Each graduate held a long-stemmed, white rosebud to give to the person who had meant the most to him or her.

Brett spoke lovingly to his mother and father and for the first time took responsibility for the heartaches he had caused.

Finally Brett spoke to me. "You did so much," he said. "You were always there, no matter what. My mom and dad, I was their kid. But you just got stuck with me. All the same you always showed me such love. And I want you to know that I love you for it."

Stunned, I stood as Brett placed the white rosebud in my hand and hugged me hard.

At that moment I realized the truth in God's words to me. Although I had struggled with silent anger toward my stepson, Brett had seen only my actions.

Love is action. We may not always have positive feelings about certain people in our lives. But we can love them.

God says LOVE must be evident in each of our lives, but not through mere words.

And God’s Big Idea for LHH culture from 1 John 4: 7-21 is this:  SINCE GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

How do we do this?  How do we love one another?  We show it through our ACTIONS.  Love – true love, not romanticized feelings – is displayed in our ACTIONS toward others. 

And our actions look like this:  We GREET with a smile; We see needs and assist; We PRAY; We don’t judge for sin and appearance, but encourage to seek righteousness; We ENJOY and APPRECIATE; We listen and are engaged; and We CARE.

God makes it pretty clear through the apostle John that the church must be a place of love.

Verse 7 – LOVE ONE ANOTHER for love comes from God

Verse 8 – No LOVE!  No GOD!

Verses 9-10 – Love FIRST came from God

Verse 12 – Love for one another DISPLAYS an unseen God because He lives in us

Verse 16 – LIVING in love means you live in God and God in you

Verses 17-18 – Live in love!  No FEAR on the Day of Judgment

Verses 19-21 – Loving God REQUIRES love of man

The culture of LHH must be one of love because the greatest love ever given to this world – to you and me – was an atoning sacrifice for sins through God’s Son, Jesus.  If love doesn’t exist – isn’t displayed through us – then we are not the Church. 

We must be a people who see all through the COMPASSIONATE EYES of Jesus.  We must be a people who are willing to be PATIENT with others God wants to save – for He wants no one to perish.  We must be a people who ENCOURAGE one another to persevere in the faith.

Notice I did not say PLACE.  Church is not a place, but rather is the people who make up the Body of Christ – for Christ is the Church.

And so we MUST RESEMBLE the One who is Head of His Church.  LHH is nothing without this love that Jesus has shown us.  And if we say we love Jesus, but have not love for our neighbor, we are liars – not a true representation of the Church of Jesus Christ.

The December 5 devotional by David McCasland in the Our Daily Bread devotional booklet says this about God’s love, “God’s love is not a slowly dripping faucet or a well we must dig for ourselves.  It is a rushing stream that flows from His heart into ours.  We can draw from the Lord’s inexhaustible source to know His loving care for us, and we can pass it on to others.”

And so this is what we will be.  We will be a church that surrounds itself in the love of God so that others may know His love through us.  We have no greater responsibility than to show the world the love that has been shown to us.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3: 16-17)

God loved you and me so much that He allowed the only perfect human, Jesus His Son, to be killed so that we could have life forever. 

Shouldn’t we want to show that same kind of love to those God brings into our worlds?

The Invitation - Part 4

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.

Here we are once again to commemorate God’s Invitation to us to join Him at His banquet.   A banquet we don’t deserve to attend, but never-the-less have been invited to for one sole purpose:  God desires relationship and wants us there.

Now, as I shared in the opening message of this series, an invitation deserves an RSVP – a yes or a no.  There is no in between.  We must decide and we must understand that this invitation is personal, meaning I cannot attend on the response of someone else.

Yet despite God’s great effort to write out the invitation, to address it to you and me, to seal it, and then to bring it personally to us, we often put the invitation and its reply on a shelf; off to the side as we will “come back to it later.”

But you know, sometimes in the busyness of life, the desire to get ahead and pursue entertainment and success, we forget about the Invitation and its deadline until it’s too late.  And so we hope that if we send our RSVP in a little late, it will still be accepted and we will be counted as part of the guest list.  

The reality of this invitation is that we’ve got a lifetime to get the RSVP returned and counted.  So the longer we wait to RSVP, the more chance there will be that we will forget to send it back.  And if we don’t RSVP on time with a “yes,” we will not be permitted to attend the banquet.

God sent us an invitation some 2000 years ago.  The invitation didn’t come in an envelope or with return postage.  But rather, it came in the form of a human being, a baby.  And as we’ve studied from scripture, this was God’s Son, not created of human conception, but rather through the overshadowing of a virgin named Mary by the Holy Spirit.

And so the story picks up with the earthly step-father of Jesus, Joseph the carpenter.

There’s very little that the scripture tells us about Joseph other than he was:  a carpenter, a righteous man, betrothed to Mary (which meant married, but not yet living together in the same home), and not the father of Jesus.  

Yet, though little is written about him, there is great application we can take from what is.

In Matthew 1: 18-25 we see this part of the story that describes to us the role Joseph played in bringing The Invitation into this world.  We see a man who one day was betrothed to a young teenage virgin girl and the next, has his world rocked and turned upside down when his bride-to-be tells him of the news that she is pregnant.

In his mind he’s got to be thinking, “This is not how it is supposed to be.  How could she have cheated on me?  She and I were to have a life together.  So who is the father?  Is it one of my friends?  This hurts bad.  What do I do?  At some point the people of this community are going to know and see that she’s pregnant.  I could publicly divorce her and disgrace her for her adulterous promiscuity, but this means she could be stoned to death.   But I don’t want that.  I love and respect her too much to do that.  I guess I’ll just divorce her quietly to give her a chance at life.  Maybe then she can marry the father of the baby and no one will know any better.”

But then God steps in by sending an angel to speak to Joseph in a dream.  And when Joseph wakes up, he follows through on what the angel commanded him to do – to take Mary home as his wife.

So what can we take from this story?  What example did Joseph give us to follow?

Well God’s Big Idea is this:  Faith obeys when reality makes no sense.

Joseph is a great example of someone, who when trying to discern what to do in his own mind, was willing to make his life much easier by divorcing Mary and moving on in another direction.  Yet Joseph, when listening to the voice and reason of God, sacrificed his will to do what he thought was best, to do what God said was best.

When the angel made clear that he was to take Mary home as his wife, he followed through – he obeyed.  

It took faith to believe that what he had dreamed was not merely the result of some “bad pizza” he had eaten that night.  It took faith to act on what he heard said to him in the dream.  It took extreme faith to obey when he knew the child was not his and he would be responsible for the care and well-being of this child.

It’s through his obedience we see the character of this man – he was God-fearing, sensitive, empathetic, caring, and loving.  

Joseph was not some male chauvinist who saw women as property to be kept when they satisfied him and discarded through divorce when they didn’t.  Instead, he loved Mary enough to take her home as his wife and to care for the child that was not his. 

Honestly, he’s much the opposite of most men today who run from their responsibilities; who won’t marry, let alone stick around to care for the babies that are theirs.

So why?  Why would he be so responsible to follow through on what he heard in his dream?  He did it simply because God asked him to:  “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Now keep in mind that what he is hearing in his dream were the same words that Mary had shared with him when she told him the news of her pregnancy.  What he heard reinforced that Mary was telling him the truth.

And so Faith obeys when reality makes no sense. 

Now the story itself doesn’t make a lot of sense.  It goes against everything we see in nature.  And really if you don’t believe the Bible is truly the inspired Word of God given to us throughout the ages, then this story is a fable (a mere super-hero story where the good guy wins and saves the day).  But the proof that the writer, Matthew, gives for the literal truth of this narrative is in quoting OT prophecy (Isaiah 7:14) “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means ‘God with us,’” which was prophesied some 700 years before Jesus was born.

Faith obeys, it trusts, it hopes, and it perseveres.  Faith requires a mere step in the direction of the unknown and uncertain in order to see what God wants you to see.  For if you can see it and touch it now, then no faith is required.

So how can I have faith?  I can have faith by trusting in something and someone far greater than myself.  I can have faith by letting my guard down and accepting some ideas as truth.

Now, not all things are relevant.  Not all things are truth.  But one thing that is for certain for me is the hope that I have of eternal life in this baby child, named Jesus, Immanuel – “God with us.”

Jesus - The Invitation, The Gift - always invites us to respond to the banquet His Father will one day throw on behalf of those who RSVP on time with a “yes”.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take a chance of leaving it on a shelf where I will come back to it later.  Too many have done this over the ages, and never returned their response.

But this season – this Christmas Season – is our opportunity to open and accept the most magnificent gift that anyone could ever give – the gift of abundant life now and eternal life later.  And this gift is rather simple to open.  All we have to do is have faith to believe that this baby Jesus would one day grow up and sacrifice himself for the sins of humankind – would sacrifice himself for the sins of me. 

Remember, Faith obeys when reality makes no sense.

The Invitation - Part 3

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.

What are the things in life that bring you the most fear?  That hold you back from experiencing new things?  That stifle your abilities and God-given curiosities?

Are they things that really do deserve your fear?  By not doing, do they keep you and/or your family safe?  Are they merely a form of protection from letting others know what you are afraid to try?

I know when I see the Citicard commercial of the lady climbing and standing on the pinnacle of the rock ledge looking out over God’s beautiful creation, I feel the tension stirring inside me.  I feel the queasiness of knowing how I can’t stand heights, and how that despite the magnificence of the adventure, you will never find me there - which is okay because my fear keeps me safe.

Yet, there are areas where I know my fear of the unknown keeps me at arms distance – a safe distance – from experiencing some of the greatest beauties out there.   I know my fear of driving in big cities keeps me from experiencing some of the great things a city has to offer.

So there is a tension within all of our lives to keep MY SPACE, MY SPACE, and to establish boundaries that won’t let others into that space.  And so we compartmentalize life into convenient categories.

But we find that it’s a struggle to balance these compartments in life because some areas spill over into other areas.  For example, what about the frustrations at work that I bring home?  Or, what about the argument last night at home that I took to work today?  What about the depleted checkbook that robs me of my Christmas cheer?  We try so hard to guard our fragile compartments.

And safe to say, we also do this with God.  We have compartments for Him like:  Sundays before noon, grace before dinner, in moments of crisis, an occasional prayer after we hit a golf ball or while stuck in traffic.  God has His place in our life; church fits into our boundaries, where we keep things from getting too uncomfortably close.

We certainly don’t let God invade our whole world, rock our status quo, or give Him the keys to every door and closet in our home.

Well, let’s look at a young lady who did just the opposite of what we do with God in the routines of our lives.

In Luke 1: 26-38 we see Mary, a young teenage girl minding her own business and doing the normal, when God interrupts.  He disrupted her normal routine with an invitation to become uncomfortably close and intimate with the Christmas experience.  This invitation was going to profoundly alter and interrupt her life.

Yet Mary sets an amazing example and provides and incredible challenge to us.  And through her example we see God’s Big Idea:  Allow Christ IN Every Part of Life

Why?  Why should we let Christ into every compartment of life?  Why should we be willing to break down those compartments when it comes to God?  Why should we accept God’s invitation to live within us?

We should because God’s presence within us is far greater than God’s presence with us.  When He is in us, He is with us all the time and everywhere we are.  But when we compartmentalize Him and only desire His presence be with us, we limit His ability to actively help us when the miracle can’t be seen, found, or heard. 

God in me provides me with peace when my world is falling apart.  God in me provides me with strength when I am being attacked.  God in me provides me with joy when I should be crying.  God in me provides me with love when I feel like hating those who’ve wronged me.  God in me is freedom – freedom to be the person God intended me to be.

And because Mary willingly submitted to allow God to be in her, literally, Mary’s life became blessed to the point we still tell of her story today.

Did she become an image of worship?  No!  But her example is truly one for us to follow with God because she said “yes” to something that ridiculously made no sense then, and still makes no sense to many today.

Think about it:  She was betrothed to be married to Joseph – she was a virgin – and yet by agreeing she would now become pregnant with the child of God.  

What did this mean?  It meant she could be considered mentally insane, that she was no longer of value, that she would not be cared for the rest of her life, most likely  considered an outcast by her people and her own family, and could possibly mean being stoned to death for her promiscuity – her adultery.  I mean after all, how else does pregnancy happen in their day without the union of male and female – let alone saying the conceived child is God?  It’s all blasphemy!  Blasphemy!

Yet with all these risks, she let God into every compartment of her life, by saying, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  She willingly said to God in my words, “You can have all of me.  I will do as you want me to do.”

How often do we say what Mary said? 

I think we often say, “God, you can have this part or that part, but You can’t have it all.  You can have this part because I’m comfortable with giving you this part.  But don’t ask me to do something that will push the boundaries.  Don’t ask me to teach children.  Don’t ask me to give up addictions.  Don’t ask me to preach or lead worship. Don’t ask me to serve.  Don’t ask me to make a commitment, to get married to my fiancé, and to love him/her when trouble comes.  Don’t ask me to love my wife and children as Christ loved the church.  Don’t ask me to communicate with others when I feel like going into a shell.  Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask.”

Jesus said in speaking about his coming death, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life (the man who understands his need for a Savior) will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me.”  John 12:  23-26

God wants us to be like Mary – to willingly submit ourselves – to die to self and gain – so that we can be honored in the presence of God Almighty.  God wants us to be transformed from just learning about Him to knowing Him intimately.  God wants to move us from mere knowledge and romanticized feelings about Him to pure obedience when He calls us.  God wants us to say, as shared with us in Galatians 2: 20, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

In order to be all that God wants, we can neither resist nor assist.  If we resist, we’re not open to God’s calling.  And if we think we can assist God, then we believe we can tell God what to do, which is a little pridefulJ 

All we can do is be like Mary who responded willingly and completely, and then offered herself in full service.

Are there areas in your life that you’ve tried to do God-size things on your own?  Like trying to quit a life-controlling habit or addiction, overcome past hurts, forgive the abuser, heal the marriage, conquer a fear, defeat the worry? 

We can’t do it on our own. 

We can try, but as always, God’s grace cannot shine through if we’re trying to resist by doing it all on our own or trying to assist by telling God how to do it.  We must be willing to openly surrender our will and allow the Invitation – the Christ - in every part of life.  Then, and only then, will we see the true gift of what Christ can overcome in our lives.

IMAGINE IF WE LIVED LIKE THIS.