Hell's Kitchen - Pt 4 (Again)

I have to say this was really a great series to study for.  It was fun, thought provoking and I hope challenging.  I love the passage from Matthew 13 on the Kingdom and yeast and how the Lord used this passage to turn the tables a bit on the normal way of thinking in that day and age.  

Yeast, throughout scripture, always carried a negative connotation.  It was almost always connected to evil and the effects of evil in a person's life.  But in Mt. 13, Jesus uses the analogy of yeast in a more positive light, reflecting on just how a little bit of  yeast influences a batch of dough, so righteousness influences both the individual and the church.

The power of yeast wants to create an inner transformation of the heart.  Transformation cannot take place corporately until it happens inwardly.  Inward transformation is a direct result of an individual experiencing or seeing the holiness of God and recognizing their shortfall. 

When Jesus spoke of yeast as “evil” he was referring to the ability of sin to permeate our lives and so he called us to get rid of the yeast.  Paul understood the same concept and called the Corinthian church to get rid of the yeast.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NIV)

But in Mt. 13, Christ is speaking of the permeating affects of yeast for “good” in our lives – a transformation of the heart. I think Ezekiel understood.

19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart,
Ezekiel 11:19 (NLT) 

I find it very difficult to comprehend at times how someone can be of faith with no apparent change in their life.  I was speaking to a friend recently about friends that I have that have "faith" in Christ, but with no apparent change in their personal lives, no "yeast" activity.  Maybe they didn't have enough yeast in the first place?  Maybe our function as a church body is to plant yeast like we were planting seed.  Hmmm!  Interesting concept!  Tell me what you think.

Randy

Hell's Kitchen Pt. 4 (I think)

John MacArthur stated in his Commentary on the book of Matthew 5:13 about the influence of salt.  Here is what he said - “The primary characteristic Jesus emphasizes is that of preservation.  Christians are a preserving influence in the world; they retard moral and spiritual spoilage.”

My mom over the years has done her fair share of canning.  You know what I mean, canning fruit, meat, vegetables, etc.  Except for her canned fruit, my mom would often add salt to the jars as a preservative, meaning to keep the contents from spoiling.  So when Jesus calls the church to be salt in the world what he means is that we are a preserving agent, attempting to keep the world from spoiling.  That calling comes with a high demand and consequence because a large majority within the world today resist any agent who calls moral and spiritual actions to account.  

I like what Paul said to the church in Corinth and how it connects to the role of the church in a world lacking the influence of salt- 
15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NIV) 

Obviously none of us are up to this task without the power of Christ, but don't you find it amazing how Paul encourages the church to remain steadfast in righteousness as a means of being salt in the world.  Being salt in the world today is a delicate balance for the church.  We can be the "aroma of Christ" or the "smell of death."  We can encourage a friend in the midst of adversity or we can confront a friend living in sin.  Both add salt to the recipe, but how much.  Both are the result of how graceful we are in our use of salt.  


Randy

Hell's Kitchen - Pt. 2

George Barna was quoted saying - “For several decades, the Church has relied upon greater sums of money, better techniques, bigger numbers and facilities, and more impressive credentials as the means to influence society at large.  These elements have failed us; in our efforts to serve God, we have crowded out God Himself.”   

 I shared this last Sunday how I believe Christ to be the architect of the church and we are the materials in which that building is put together.  As I stand back and look at the church from a distance, however, what I think I see is this vast distance between where Christ is prepared to build and where the church is dropping off materials.  Often I wonder if the church hasn't continued to drop off their materials in places where the Lord once worked but has transitioned into new arena's or fields (I would be interested in hearing your interpretation of what I just said :)).  

I believe the church needs to rediscover what it means to be both Missional and Transformational.  

• Missional - are we actively seeking ways to express Christ’s love in new arena’s, new ways, and with relevance.
• Transformational – are we expecting results that reflect Christ.

 Think about where we have come as a church.  I believe being Missional is really the same as a ship with a crew member standing watch in the crows nest making sure the ship (church) is sailing in the appropriate direction.  Being Transformational then calls us to steer the ship in a direction that allows us to reflect Christ's love in ways unique to our sailing vessel (church) with dramatic results in the lives of people.

Far to often our sailing vessels have NO one in the crows nest, pointing us NO where.  What a difference we could make in people's lives if we would only "man the nest" and extend our telescopes to reveal the "Cross"-hairs of Christ.

Can't wait to hear from you.

RC

Hell's Kitchen

Eddie Gibbs, in his book, "ChurchNext," stated this...

“During the past four decades, churches have found themselves increasingly marginalized and their influence on society considerably weakened.  The church’s loss of social strength has revealed its spiritual impoverishment so that there is a numerical decline to the point that the continuing viability of increasing numbers of churches, especially in rural and inner-city areas, is a matter of growing concern.”

 The promise of Christ to the church, that was yet to materialize, was that our foundation was Him, the resurrected Lord.  The promise guaranteed our strength and power as a church in a world that has become increasingly antagonistic towards that very thing, the power and strength of the church.  

So, share with me, what do you think Gibbs means when he states that the influence of the church has been "incredibly weakened" and that our "social strength has revealed its spiritual impoverishment."  Where do you see the church today lacking specifically, and what do you see as ways in which we can fix it.  

While you are thinking about what to write, please feel free to share this blog with any friends that could chime in on this subject as well.

Randy

Hell's Kitchen

In the next week a new Series will begin here at SUB entitled "Hell's Kitchen."  If you are a follower of the "Tellie" you would know of the television show that center's around Chef Ramsay.  "Hell's Kitchen" is a reality show for some of the great chef's of our country that are put head-to-head in competition, the winner taking over as Ramsay's chef at one of his restaurants. 

This series does not really center on Chef Ramsay, but more on the power of the church in our day and age.  An interesting thought came to me one day concerning this topic.  I asked myself a question, "Why do we let the devil play in our kitchen, when we should be cooking in his?"  The devil, scripturally, is still the "prince of the power of the air" over this creation, and yet, the church has been given the power to be the aggressor when it comes to being an ambassador of Christ in this world.  I'm concerned for the church of North America because I'm not sure we truly understand what it means to be the conduit of Christ in a fallen world today.  Thus, the reason I ask, shouldn't we be cooking in the devil's kitchen instead of him in ours?

I would appreciate your thoughts on what you believe to be the churches purpose in this world.  Are we to be more engaging?  Are we to retreat and "hunker" down?  What do you believe to be the churches purpose in this world?  Tell me your thoughts and stories.

Pastor Randy

Storm Stories - Pt 3

There is a classic story of adversity that comes to us from the book of Genesis 37-50. The story details the life of a 17-year old boy by the name of Joseph. If you have been around in Church circles for some time this is probably a very familiar story. Joseph’s father was Jacob, son of Isaac & Rebekah and younger brother to Esau whom Jacob stole a birthright from. Jacob’s name meant “deceiver” and a deceiver he was. In fact, not only did he deceive but was also the recipient of deceit. We know that Joseph’s mother was Rachel, actually Jacob’s second wife, but first-love. Jacob loved Rachel and loved Joseph because he was the firstborn of his first-love.

Because Joseph was so favored by his father Jacob, animosity grew between Joseph and his brothers, some of which was deserved because Joseph had a tendency to be a bit arrogant. The story of Joseph shares how Joseph was given a colorful tunic or coat. Symbolically the coat he received carried with it a message of rulership. This idea was encouraged when Joseph shared with his family two dreams that proclaimed the day in which his family would bow down to him. This of course angered his family deeply especially his brothers who put into process a plan to get rid of Joseph for good.

· They throw Joseph into a cistern or well.

· They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites as a slave.

Joseph’s story has many twists many of which seem to have a very unhappy result. After Joseph was sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites, he was…

· Sold to Potiphar, an Egyptian Captain of the Guard.

· Accused of sexual assault on Potiphar’s wife and thrown in jail.

· Interpreted dreams of the Cupbearer and Baker and promised to be rescued from prison only to be forgotten for two more years.


By now you can imagine that Joseph was feeling a bit frustrated and discouraged and potentially wondering if God had turned his back on him or was even punishing him. However, as you will see this was far from the truth. Joseph’s circumstances were actually “God’s weaving of the tapestry of his life” (Boice).

“You may look at your life and see dark threads and wonder how God can possibly use those threads to produce a thing of beauty. But you should look to the life of Joseph and remember that God uses even the wrath of men to praise him.” James Montgomery Boice

Ever wonder what God was thinking when he allowed adversity to come your way.  I know Boice summed up a great deal of my own personal questions when he compared my adversity to the "dark threads" that make up this tapestry of "my life" submitted to "His will."  When we stand back and look at the picture the Lord has created it tends to make more sense when we see it from a distance.

Love to hear from you as far as your stories and connections to this issue.


Randy

Storm Stories 2

Just thought it would be kind of nice to share a few excerpts from this most recent series I have been doing.  Here are some principles concerning Storms / Adversity in life. 

Storm Principle #1:  Neither Jesus nor scripture ever promise that faith will take adversity away from us.

Storm Principle #2:  Storms create one of three personal responses – Fight – Flight – Faith. 

Storm Principle #3:  God will never leave us alone in the midst of any storm we go through.

Studying Peter has truly been a joy because for so many years Peter was always donned the "arrogant" disciple, when in reality he was the most courageous of all.  I really like what I see in this man based on the Matthew 14 story of Peter walking on the water.  I think this incident tells us a lot of the challenges of faith while facing our own personal storms.  Think about some of the truths concerning faith and storms.

Tested faith will replace fear with courage.  I find this to be powerfully true.  Think of a moment in which your faith was tested.  Did you find your stamina to handle a situation like became greater so that you could handle a similar circumstance more effectively in the future.

Christ won't steer you from storms but he will call you out into them.  Far to many Christians today believe that storms are a result of lackluster faith.  I don't follow that way of thinking.  I believe the Lord is always utilizing whatever means necessary to help us in our walk and sometimes those means are not popular.

Storms will examine the depth of our faith and call our faith into account.  No one enjoys being kept accountable for our actions, and certainly not our walk with Christ.  But adversity does have a strange way of keeping us accountable not only to our faith but to our call to righteousness.  Now, don't get me wrong.  Just because our circumstances seem to be a bit adverse does not mean God is disciplining.   Sometimes, or should I say a lot of times, adversity is nothing more then a fluke situation or just a poor decision on our parts.  The reality of it all, however, is there are lessons to be learned and if Christ is the center of our life then anything we learn can have a Christ-like connect no matter what.  

Let me hear what you think.

Randy