Equip: Why Do We Need Community?

The concept of community has been something that society has wrestled with for centuries. From the Egyptians, to the Romans, and to the Americans. There are even whole studies in which people give the majority of their lives to understand this idea community. If community is so important, what does that mean in the life of a believer?

It seems that although we crave strong connections with other people, there is a distinct lack of meaningful relationships. Individuals have tried to create these connections, but it seems that the opposite is happening. Two examples would be Facebook and Twitter. These companies were established to connect people. Facebook has a section called “Friends” and Twitter has a section called “Followers”. What is sad about these titles in these mediums is that they give a false impression that you have a lot of relationships and have a strong community. People get validation from the “Likes” on the Facebook post or “Retweets” on their Twitter post. The ironic part is that even though we have this way to connect with so many people all around the world; people feel even more alone than ever before.

The main problem with our society is that we have found our identity in relationships or feeling like a part of a group(s) of people. Individuals may find their identity in the political party they ascribe to. As long as they are a part of a party that they agree with, they feel at home with those people of like mind. Others find their identity with their race. Some people say that they feel more at home or comfortable when they are with a certain race. Some people find their identity in their music selection, to the point where they dress according to the “style” of that genre, specific musical instruments they play, and music they will “only” listen to in the car.  More examples of groups people find identity in are gamers, car people, motorcyclists, jocks, cheerleaders, PC/MAC, tea/coffee, etc. Sadly it’s even in the church. Some people look down on others, because they are not part of their denomination, theology, methodology, etc. When those groups eventually fail us we feel like we have been slapped in the face.

Am I saying that being in community and liking a certain type of group is necessarily bad? No, but we have totally lost the center of what community and relationship should be. I think community is essential for human beings. For this reason solitary confinement is a form of punishment. If we have completely lost the center of community, then what is the center and what does that mean for us?

I think to rightly understand this question we have to do as John Calvin says in Chapter 1 Section 1 of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. “ …no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts toward the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves; no, that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone”. In simple terms, we have to look to how God is to truly understand ourselves.

We know that God is a triune God. That the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God. This is an amazing mystery. This triune God has always had perfect community since before time began. All three of them have been of one mind with no discourse among them. The Father sends the Son, the Son willingly comes and dies, the Son sends the Spirit, the Spirit gladly point to the Son, and the Son happily brings us to the Father. Now this triune God decided to create a group of creatures unlike anything else that he had created. In Genesis 1: 26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” Part of that likeness and image is that we are made to be in community by our very nature, because God in His very nature is communal and relational. This is why humans have missed the central understanding of community. The very nature of community stems from God himself. Community makes no sense outside of God. This is why even in lower creation there is community. Birds fly with other birds, penguins are always in big groups, and even ants have colonies. This is even more in human nature, because our being in community is a direct image of the triune Gods’ relationship with himself.

Jesus makes this very clear when he answers a man that comes to him asking what the greatest commandment is. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22: 37-40 ESV. Jesus starts with the understanding that we look to God first and the he is our ultimate. If we rely on him and submit to Him completely we will have a natural follow up; which is to love others as ourselves. Jesus knows that human nature is directly connected to God himself who made us. Jesus does not let these two truths be separated.

The idea of community is brought to light in the relationship of the church. One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 1: 5 where the Holy Spirit through Paul tells the church that we were adopted. This means that we were once not children of God, but through the work of Jesus Christ we are adopted into the family of God. This is a central understanding for us as a church. We are FAMILY! The God of the universe brought us into a family that will be eternally united through Jesus Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This family is similar to many of our families with many dysfunctions and issues, but like your family will stick together because you are family. The greater miracle of the church is that unlike your family which may get so dysfunctional that even blood doesn’t matter; this church is united and related on the infinite, powerful, holy blood of Jesus Christ. Our sins were not only paid for on the cross, but also our being brought into a family was bought at the cross. The nails that stuck our savior to a tree were also the nails that built the foundations of the church.

Equip Book Review: "The Benedict Option, A Strategy for Christians in a Post Christian Nation"

Christianity in Culture or Christian Culture?

A review of Rod Dreher, "The Benedictine Option" by Bruce McCallum

In times of political and personal turmoil, religious communities can provide a sense of membership in a caring community with a meaningful mission. Rod Dreher, editor for the American Conservative magazine and author of several books, has written "The Benedictine Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation" (New York : Sentinel, 2017, page references to Kindle Edition) to document models of communities with a sustainable Christian culture.  The New Your Times called it, “the most discussed and most important religious book of the decade” (David Brooks, review of the Benedictine Option, March 14, 2017).  The title calls to mind monks in cloistered mountaintops like Luke Skywalker after the Jedi revolt.  But it is not a call to retreat from culture.  It is a call to rebuild Christian culture from within through practices drawn from the Benedictine tradition to save our own souls. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (KJV)”

His premise is that religious conservatives have lost the culture wars in America. The crusher for Dreher was Obergefell, the June 26, 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage throughout the United States.  Since then, “Christians who hold to the biblical teaching about sex and marriage have the same status in culture, and increasingly in law, as racists. The culture war that began with the Sexual Revolution in the 1960s has now ended in defeat for Christian conservatives (p. 3).” Dreher has written this book to alert Christians to the fact that they face a choice between religious persecution or compromise with surrounding culture.  His book is worth reading to explore the survival strategies religious communities have employed to prosper as a minority groups, whether as monasteries, Jewish ghettos or counter-cultural Christian churches, schools or businesses.

Dreher’s prophetic judgment on the status of conservative Christians raises the question of where to draw the line between healthy and compromised communities.  To be sure, he laments the slimmed-down version of Christianity studied by sociologists like Christian Smith, who documented a ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’ in the generation of Christians coming into adulthood for whom God is a cosmic therapist who helps good people become happy with themselves and nice to others. These views represent a departure from the pattern of belief in traditional Christianity centered on repentance from sin, faith in the representative death and resurrection of Jesus and a life of service to the glory of God.  However, by the time sociologists detect widespread trends, they are second nature. Dreher argues that the only way to return to healthy communities with active engagement in the life of Jesus is through a changed lifestyle.

Sexuality is the lifestyle area most in need of formation. Christian teaching on sex and sexuality is “the linchpin of Christian cultural order (p. 198),” asserts Dreher citing Philip Rieff.  “Gay marriage and gender ideology signify the final triumph of the Sexual Revolution and the dethroning of Christianity because they deny Christian anthropology at its core and shatter the authority of the Bible (p. 203).” Since Dreher places sexual practice at the center of Christian culture, a few summary comments on his views of human sexuality are necessary.  Dreher argues that Christian anthropology regards men and women created in their gender specificity toward specific ends, and those ends are procreation and enculturation.  Marriage is part of the cosmic order meant to channel the generative powers of nature into cultural and social good.  Sex is something to be discovered through the practice of chastity and fidelity and not something to be used to express personal desires.  “Everything in this debate…turns on how we answer the question: Is the natural world and its limits a given, or are we free to do with it whatever we desire (p. 201)?” Of course, Dreher asserts nature is favorably inclined to human prosperity as shown by God’s incarnation in a human body.  Bodily incarnation validates human community and institutions like marriage that sustain it. Gay marriage challenges this view at the very core by equating sexuality with the struggle for human rights.  If gay sex is a natural, then gay marriage should be enshrined in law as a human right. Any viewpoint-religious or otherwise-that limits sexuality to heterosexual sex is a violation of basic human rights. No accommodation between these views of human nature is possible, according to Dreher, so the solution is to strengthen the practice of Christian marriage in families and in communities with the understanding that Christian marriage is a minority view in modern culture, with all that entails.

I agree with Dreher that sex is central to Christian and non-Christian culture, along with money, power and religion.  Deviations in sexual practice introduce all manner of disruption to social order.  Dreher’s contention that Christian sexual practice was the primary change factor in the original confrontation between Christianity and  Greek and Roman pagan culture finds support from an important study of romance and sexuality in Rome and early Christianity by Kyle Harper, "From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity." (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013).  Dreher’s recommendations for enriching sexual practices through the discipline of chastity(no fortification), stronger families, and parish sodalities are helpful. Where I disagree with Dreher is his limitation of sexuality to anthropology and the natural embeddedness of male and female gender specificity.  Two creation accounts in Genesis separate sex and sexuality.  The second creation account in Genesis 2:23-25 characterizes sexuality as an expression of personal identity.  Adam’s cry of recognition, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…” is very much an expression of identity, although it is an identity between man and woman who constitute one flesh with different sexual desires.  Paul’s exhortation to husbands in Ephesus to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” places marriage in the context of soteriology, not anthropology.  Paul’s insight extrapolates from Christ’s teaching on divorce, which revealed the hidden identity in human sexuality, namely God unites men and women in one flesh (Matthew 19:6).  For Paul, this mystery is grounded in membership in the resurrected body of Christ.  Paul’s vision here is soteriological and eschatological, a horizon in which marriage will ultimately be replaced with the eternal presence of God.  Indeed, since the Kingdom of God is already inaugurated, marriage is optional for Jesus and Paul.  Jesus and Paul (and Benedictines) practiced celibacy because the strong erotic drive towards sexual fulfillment can be elevated to the sublime love of God—the source of resurrected, eternal life. For Paul, a single man with deep jewish ethnic roots, the elevation of eros can be experienced in marriage and singleness through the ultimate satisfaction of these desires in the realm of soteriology and eschatology.

The generative power of sex is embedded by the first creation account in the cultural sphere as a moral duty to rule over nature.  The Hebrew words for male and female in Genesis 1:27 (zākār, nᵉqēbâ) signify non-cognate, gender specific human beings, each bearing the image of God.  While gender is common to all sexual reproduction, it is only with male and female human beings that gender is ascribed as a unique creation of God.  Sexual reproduction has a cultural function insofar as the divine mandate directs human beings to reproduce and rule over nature. It’s not simply being male or female; it’s how one behaves as male or female.  Recent research in human biology has shown that gender has a cultural dimension (William R. Rice, Urban Friberg and Sergey Gavrilets, “Sexually antagonistic epigenetic marks that canalize sexually dimorphic development,” Molecular Ecology [2016], 25: 1812-22). Gonadal sex is fixed at conception, but secondary male/female traits are molded during fetal growth by exposure to the enzyme testosterone.  Epigenetic factors modify sensitivity to testosterone such that secondary traits like body hair and sexual attraction can be differentially expressed in early childhood and puberty.  Epigenetic traits are usually erased at conception, but sometimes male traits can imprint on female embryos and female traits on males.  Although precise epigenetic markers have not yet been found, this model could explain gonad-trait discordances like body hair and same sex attraction. No “gay gene” exists.  But same sex attraction or gender dissatisfaction can be manifested within the basic sex differences between male and female human beings.  The question is what can be done to resolve discordances between sex and sexuality to achieve cultural good?  Medical culture offers surgery, hormone therapy and gay marriage. Christian culture offers spiritual healing to all men and women with abused or discordant human sexuality, while lifelong, heterosexual bonding is the norm for reproduction.  Christian culture does so to increase human flourishing, not to deny human aspirations.  

It may be that we are in a period of hyper pluralism where surrounding culture is no longer merely indifferent but outright hostile, as Dreher envisions.  Christians have spent too much energy trying to change American culture and not enough building up Christian culture. The results are fun youth groups and awesome worship experiences but very little understanding of the foundations of Christian life. It may also be true that it is too late to correct this imbalance with better messaging.  The path to renewal is through practice.  The area of practice most in need of formation is sexuality, according to Dreher.  Parents and church leaders need to confront sexual abuse, childhood exposure to pornography, teenage sexuality, and marital breakdown with fearless honesty.  More needs to be done to support and encourage chaste, single lifestyles.  Christians must prioritize social interaction with other Christians to give and receive spiritual encouragement at a personal level where sexuality is experienced. Cultural formation is not an accidental product of Christian conversion.  Adherence to a biblical Christian sexual ethic must be enforced through example, pastoral leadership and church discipline.  We can be thankful for people like Dreher who have recovered links to examples from Christian tradition in the past and present. Those who want prescriptive help solving problems with sexuality will have to look elsewhere than Dreher.  Some may wish Dreher spent more energy on Christian approaches to money, power or religious reformation.  My remarks have been directed at his explanation of Christian sexual ethics. I believe we can do more to recover traditional Christian teaching on sex and sexuality within a modern culture that seeks companionship in marriage and knows more about human biology than our ancestors.  We need to celebrate what G.K. Chesterton calls ‘the romance of orthodoxy.’ Christianity has enriched marriage and health in every culture where it is practiced.  Dreher believes we live in an age where no choice is left to us but to practice Christian culture first and not Christianity in American culture.  We can do no less if we want to save our own souls.

After this blog was prepared, I became aware of the Nashville Statement on human sexuality signed by Evangelical leaders. Their leadership is a hopeful sign that Evangelicals will not accommodate to the new transgender cultural agenda.

"The Benedict Option" is a recommended reading for Equip’s September focus on the Theology of Community.  The book can be purchased here.

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Equip is the adult education ministry of Mercy Hill Church.  Equip takes place every Wednesday night at 6PM.  Equip informs the body of Christ about the Nature of God through Classes and writings such as this one, in order to transform who we are by this knowledge of Him.

Equip: From Cessationism to Continuationism

I grew up in a cessationist church.  Cessationism is the belief that the miraculous sign gifts of the Spirit ceased within the first 100 years of the church. The opposing viewpoint is continuationism which is the theological belief that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit have continued to the present day. The church I grew up in was full of gracious people and the gospel was preached.  I assumed most good churches believed in cessationism.  I heard horror stories of ridiculous preachers doing comical sign gift routines with their churches that we attributed not to the Spirit but to Satan.  I was taught that in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 when this passage says that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will pass away when “the perfect comes” which my teachers saw as the completion of the scriptures.  

Eventually I met some Christians who believed in the sign gifts and they seemed normal.  They laughed at some of the funny YouTube clips of weird sign gift preachers as well.  I came to realize that lumping all continuationist Christians with some of the crazier teachers was a straw-man; and this thinking allowed me to not honestly engaging the scripture.  This opened the door for the first time in my mind to look back at the scriptures and draw out of them what they were trying to say without my biased background affecting my thinking.  Here is how I think through the passage today. 

"Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."  I Corinthians 13:8-12 ESV

The passage states that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will pass away and are partial in nature.  It then explains that when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  At this point, instead of finding and connecting meaning to a verse in the bible that also has the word perfect (which is what I used to do), I kept on reading the passage.  Paul, instead of defining what is perfect, illustrates the concept with Childhood.  Kids grow up when they stop thinking and acting like children and mature in their ways. 

Paul explains the illustration in verse 12.  He says the church sees in a mirror dimly (when they use the sign gifts of the Spirit), but at some future point will see face to face.  The phrase “face to face” is key because that insinuates seeing God face to face which can only happen in the next life.  So, the next life is that point of maturity that Paul is talking about when we will not need the gifts.  This is backed up by the very next phrase that says, “now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  That phrase tells us that our bits of knowledge now (a sign gift of the Holy Spirit) will be as full as God knows us (God knows us pretty well).  This is exciting because for eternity future we get to know God better and better! It is a promise and task that is well suited for eternity.   

This shift theologically from what I once was has made me into a cautious continuationist today.  That is the way it is with any doctrine of God, search the scriptures to see whether they are true.  It is good to still make sure that the gifts are used in accordance with the way God wanted them to be used.  But that leads to a post for another day…

Equip: The tension of Pentecostal Theology and Sola Scriptura

Within the last century there has been an increase amongst professing Christians of experiencing the “sign gifts” attributed to the Holy Spirit.  In conjunction with these experiences many questions have arisen concerning the nature of revelation.  For many, the personal edification that takes place by speaking in tongues is a cherished gift.  For others, the edification of a group of believers that takes place in the interpretation of the tongue is an unmistakable sign of God’s present care for his body.  Yet for some who cite Sola Scriptura, a belief or practice in either of these gifts is a rejection of the sufficiency and relevance of Scripture.  It can be difficult for sincere Christians as they feel torn between a practice of specific gifts and fidelity to the Word of God.

What if there is another way? What if our understanding of the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit doesn’t betray our understanding of Sola Scriptura? What if the Spirit working in an individual’s body works similarly in the corporate body of Christ?

First, we must define Sola Scriptura.  We look to the historical definition cited in 1646, drawn up by Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the standard of doctrine for many in the Reformed traditions.  It states, “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”

If we disregard context of this writing it would be easy to see the application to Pentecostal practice today.  This application is made by leading voices in evangelicalism today.  After all, is prophecy and the interpretation of tongues a work contributed to the Spirit?  And is God not revealing information to his people through these means?

If the focus of Sola Scriptura is simply the last line “nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men”, it is easy to understand why the sign gifts would be rejected in our modern context.  But if we take into account the time at which it was developed and the statement as a whole, we will see that it has nothing to do with what Pentecostals consider a working of the Spirit.

If the Solas are the fruit of the Reformation era, and Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses were the seed, then the abuses of Papal authority proved to be fertile ground for their development.  While not yet completely opposed to the doctrine of indulgences at the time he developed his theses, Luther was beginning to see the direct contradiction to the gospel that theologies attributed to papal authority presented.  As Justin Holcomb notes,

“Luther’s Ninety-five Theses hit a nerve in the depths of the authority structure of the medieval church. Luther was calling the pope and those in power to repent—on no authority but the convictions he’d gained from Scripture—and urged the leaders of the indulgences movement to direct their gaze to Christ, the only one able to pay the penalty due for sin.”

It is my opinion that the Reformation was a response to 3 issues within the Roman Catholic Church at that time.  Those issues were: An abuse of power, A necessitating denial of Scriptural authority to maintain that power, and the false gospel they produced.

If we are to apply Sola Scriptura against the use of tongues and interpretation we must ask three questions.  They are:

1. Do we believe that those practicing tongues and interpretation in a corporate setting are establishing themselves as the supreme authority above scripture and the church?
2. Do we believe that those practicing tongues and interpretation in a corporate setting are equating the edification with new revelation that it should be considered on par with cannon?  If your answer is yes, do you believe that 1st century believers did the same?  If so, where are the manuscripts of their services to be added to canon?
3. Do we believe that those practicing tongues and interpretation in a corporate setting are establishing a false doctrine and diminishing Christ?

It is my belief that Pentecostals would answer a resounding “No” to the questions posed.  I am sure there are examples of abuses in Pentecostal gatherings that can be pointed to that would allow us to answer yes to these questions.  However, within most pentecostal denominations this is not the case.  In my opinion as the Spirit instructs, convicts and comforts individuals in their daily circumstances, he also does so for his corporate body.  Individually and corporately the Spirit edifies His people.  Whatever is interpreted is measured against scripture for its validation.  Scripture is always the ultimate authority that all our experience is subjected to.

Pentecostal experience and 16th century Papal authority are not connected.  To apply Sola Scriptura against those practicing the gifts in a corporate setting is a category error.  We should take joy in the whole counsel of God.  We should also take joy in the edification the Spirit brings to his people.  Just as two friends do not need to be reconciled; Sola Scriptura and corporate edification by the Spirit do not need reconciliation, but celebration.

Why Italy?

Each year as we prepare for, or as the team is serving, I am asked about our trip to Italy. It is usually a question of “Why Italy?” out of a sense of curiosity. But, admittedly, some of the questions are much more pointed. Some ask why we would send people and resources to a European “Christian” country when we could have a much greater “impact” elsewhere.
 
While one is out of curiosity and one is more direct, they both provide the opportunity to dive deeper into our understanding of Christian missions. It allows us to dig deeper and have a clear understanding of where God is needed, how He has chosen to save the world, and how modern mission trips fit in.
 
Where is God Needed?
 
In our effort to send missionaries to the ends of the earth, in some ways we as American Christians unfortunately fall victim to our own efforts. In order to raise support, missionaries need to motivate people to give, and to do so they share their ministry as a compelling need. And what is more compelling than the picture of the hurt, poor and lost of this world. Think of the picture of the African child in tattered clothes looking up to the camera with sad eyes. It compels us, but it also very subtly deceives us. It deceives us into the notion that their need is “greater” than that of our neighbor next door, or a citizen of a European country. All three contexts share the same truth: there are people in each who don’t have the restoration and redemption of the Gospel in their life. 
 
This is reminds us of Jesus when he said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV) We are called to all places at all times. And this includes Italy, a nation where Catholicism has become cultural and has minimal impact on a personal level. While 80% of Italians claim to be Christian, only 3% report actively participating in their faith.
 
How Will He Save?

So if God is needed in all places and at all times, how should we reach out? Unfortunately, this is where we once again fall victim to our own efforts. Since most mission trips involve a significant financial commitment, we have approached our trips as wanting to “maximize impact” and making sure the trip is “worthwhile”. We think in terms of return on investment.
 
But let me be clear. God’s salvation plan has not included one-week trips until the last 50 years. For the first 1,900 or so years God’s plan was focused on planting Gospel-centered faith communities among the lost of the world. His salvation plan was first the saving grace provided through His Son, and then proclaiming this good news through local churches animated through the transforming and restoring work of His Holy Spirit.
 
The hope of the world is first and foremost God’s saving work, and second, His bride the Church. When God poured out his Spirit He did so to a local community of believers who were committed to each other and to the Gospel, and through them the good news went out.
 
As a reflection of this, everything we do in missions at Mercy Hill Church for missions is centered around the local church wherever we serve. Whether we serve in Italy, Rwanda, Mexico or locally, we partner with and edify the local church in those communities.
 
So, How Do Mission Trips Fit In?
 
“If the hope of the world is the local church, then why go at all,” you may ask. But this question is still flowing out the view that a mission trip is about what we can accomplish or achieve. The proper question should be what will we allow God to accomplish on this trip?

And if His plan of salvation is our guide, then we know what is most important to Him is relationships. It is our relationship to Him, our relationships with each other, our relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, and our relationships with the hurting, lost, and broken of this world. Just as Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
 
Because of this, our mission trips at Mercy Hill Church center on building relationships in all these areas. We design and create space on our trips for this to happen. There is individual time for people to reflect and walk with God. There is time in cafes in Italy, on the terrace at Solace Ministries in Rwanda, and time on our other trips. There is time ministering with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the local context so we can encourage them and they can edify and teach us. And there is time to be involved in reaching out in ministry. If this involves some construction work or a tangible project, cool, but that will just be secondary to our main focus on building relationships.
 
With all of this in focus now, I hope that you can see that our question of “Why Italy” can now change to the statement “Of Course Italy.” Of course Rwanda, and Mexico, and Royal Family Kids, and India, and the Middle East, and Milwaukee, and beyond.

May we be a church that at all times and in all ways is reaching out to all places. And as our church family is reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Padova, may we be lifting them up in prayer this week and beyond.

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MH Missions Trips

Find out more about Mercy Hill missions trips at mercyhill.org/missionstrips

Equip: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: In Step with the Spirit

Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: In Step with the Spirit

Last year as the Italy mission trip approached, I tried picking up enough Italian to get by. I downloaded an app and absorbed as much as I could. I aced level after level on the app and soon was ranked as 25% or so fluent in Italian. I thought I had it in the bag, and was ready for the trip.

Then I arrived, and tried to order my first coffee at a cafe.

The expression on the waiter’s face was one of polite confusion. It seemingly didn’t even register with him as Italian, and that it must have been some other foreign language. Embarrased, I switched to English and made my order. While I knew the mechanics and vocabulary of Italian, my lack of experience and immersion led to my ultimate failure when it came to living it out.

If I am honest with myself, I have made the same mistake in regards to the Holy Spirit, and the lesson is simple: intellectual knowledge is no substitute for experience.

As Phil mentioned in his blog a few weeks ago, the role of the Spirit is to guide, control, lead, guide, advocate, convict, teach, comfort, encourage, counsel, give peace and help to pray. But simply knowing these roles on an intellectual level will leave our experience of God lacking.

In the New Testament, both the narrative surrounding experiences with the Holy Spirit and the prescriptive passages about the Holy Spirit use language that is very relational in nature. One passage that highlights this is Galatians 5. In verse 16 we are told, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” followed later by verse 25 which says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” Unfortunately, this passage is one that is glossed over by us as Christians, and we mistakenly view it as simply flowery description of a theological concept. In fact, most of us skip over this language and latch on to the list of don’ts (verse 19-21) and do’s (verse 22).

This is where our experience of Christianity must move beyond merely an intellectual exercise. Only through daily walking with God, allowing Him to move and speak to us in all the ways outlined in Scripture, will we truly experience the freedom that is inherent in the Gospel. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But here’s the scary thing: we can accomplish much that has the appearance Christianity in our own ability.

That is why our doctrine of the Holy Spirit cannot exclude the need for the real experience of the Holy Spirit. In fact, I suggest that the most important piece of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is that He is to be experienced and not merely understood. We are called to walk in the Spirit.

So what does this look like? How can we walk with God?

Again, I think our modern Christian expression can become pragmatic too quickly. We tell each other to “spend time in the Word”, “pray at all times”, “attend x, y, or z church event” and many other straightforward action steps. While these are valuable disciplines and steps to take, we will never be able to capture the Holy Spirit through our own effort or ritual. He moves and speaks as He wishes.

And that is the first step to walking with the Spirit. Are we truly willing to walk where He guides and leads, or are we trying to craft our faith in our own image? Are we willing to dive into our own hearts, pains, and hang-ups and let Him speak into them? Are we willing to let him nudge us out of our comfort zone and into the lives of others? Are we willing to let Him guide us beyond our own expectations into the depth and life He has for us? Will we truly walk with Him?

It sounds like a simple question, but a brief survey of the book of Acts tells us that when the church walks with the Spirit, we are not only released into the fullness of a Gospel community, but also exposed to persecution, pain and suffering. When the Spirit leads, it is not to a place of complacency or comfort, but one to where we see God redeem and restore the hurting and lost around us.

But this collective experience must start at the individual level. We must resist the urge to live life in our own effort, of our own design, and be willing to stop and repeatedly check whether we are walking with, speaking with, communing with the Spirit. I encourage you each to pause in the next week and lay that question before the Spirit: “Am I walking with you, or am I walking at a pace of my own design?”

Equip: The Anatomy of Groaning

Do you find yourself groaning as a Christian?  You don’t groan alone.  The Holy Spirit groans with you, according to Romans 8:26: .  

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

What makes the Holy Spirit groan? Is he disappointed with us? Are inarticulate groans sighs of self-pity and despair? Do inarticulate groans refer to the experience of speaking in tongues?  

In our exploration of the anatomy of groaning in Romans 8, we want show that the Holy Spirit groans as he gives birth within us to a new identity in Christ that wills to do what God wants.

Who is the Spirit?

Romans 8 contains more references to the Spirit than any other chapter in the Bible, yet not once is the name “Holy Spirit” used.  Instead of a proper name, we have descriptions: Spirit of life (v 2), Spirit of God (v 9), Spirit of Christ (v 9), Spirit of Him who raised Jesus (v 11), Spirit of Sonship (v 15) or simply “the Spirit.” God the Son has a proper name. He is Christ Jesus (v 1).  God the Father is “Abba, Father” (v 15).  But nowhere do we hear of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8.

Good theological reasons stand behind this ambiguity. The Spirit’s groaning is not inarticulate. “He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with the will of God” (v 27).  Paul tells us two things.  First, the Holy Spirit is a person with a mind whose groans are intelligible to the Father.  Secondly, the Holy Spirit’s groaning is intelligible because it is congruent with God’s will.  The Holy Spirit accords with the will of God because the Holy Spirit is the will of God. The Holy Spirit is the going forth of God in the power of his love.  Going forth in power assumes a source and a goal.  God the Father is the source, and Jesus Christ is the goal.  The Holy Spirit is neither source nor goal but that which unites both. As the will uniting Father and Son as well as the power of God in us, the Holy Spirit acquires many names depending on the function He plays: counselor, comforter, enlightener, etc. These functions and more are summarized by the name “Holy Spirit” as defined in the Apostle’s Creed: We believe in the Holy Spirit.

God’s Spirit and Our spirits

If the Holy Spirit is God’s will going forth in the power of his love, how does God’s Holy Spirit relate to our spirit? “The Spirit,” Paul tells us, “bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children” (v 16). How do we know through our experience we are God’s children?

We know we are God’s children, Paul tells us, whenever we put to death the lingering enmity towards God that constitutes our old way of life.  The transition from verse 13 to verse 14 captures the relationship between our spirit and the Holy Spirit.  Paul starts this section reminding us we have an obligation (v 12).  The obligation we have grows out of the previous section in which we are told our old self is dead because of sin, and our spirits are alive because of righteousness.  We have a new self.  It is Christ in us (v 10).  Christ in us complements verse 1 where we are in Christ.  Christ in us is a new identity based on his perfect sacrifice for our sins and his perfect obedience imputed to us (v 4).  Verse thirteen contrasts those who live according to their old identity to those who “by the spirit put to death the deeds of the body.” The spirit in verse thirteen refers to our spirits as the means of mortification.  This is shown by the causal link to verse 14:  “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  The Holy Spirit cannot be both cause and agent of resistance to sin.  We have an obligation to mortify sin as the Spirit of the Lord empowers us to do so.  Our active resistance to sin is the sign we experience as the work of the Holy Spirt in us showing us that we are God’s children.  

How do we mortify sin?  John Owen (1616-1683) wrote a book that is vital for us today entitled, Mortification of Sin in Believers.  In short, Owen advises us to name it, repent of it, starve it and oppose it by trusting in Christ’s perfect obedience in us.  Oppose lust with Christ’s joy, resist anger with Christ’s peace, and defeat pride with Christ’s humility.  Christ’s perfections are preferred over our old hatred of God by the power of God’s love manifested in us through the Holy Spirit.  

The Groaning of the Holy Spirit

The work of the Holy Spirit in us is called vivification.  To vivify means to animate or give life.  Paul compares the groaning of the whole creation to childbirth in verse 22.  Think of a newborn. After the trauma of childbirth, a newborn is held aloft and spanked on the buttocks to cause it to scream.  A scream inflates the lungs, filling them for the first time with the breath of life.  To the newborn a scream is shocking, but to everyone else it is a welcome sign of life.  To us, the Holy Spirit’s cry is a wordless shock at the overwhelming power of God’s love over our unloving, faithless hearts (which can be expressed by the gift of tongues, the outpouring of our hearts to God).  To God, it is the welcome sign of his love at work in us to want what God wills.  Vivification is the other side of mortification.  As we put to death our old self, the Holy Spirit brings to life our new self hidden in Christ. 

Equip: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit - Temples

We are spirit beings, and as spirit beings the only thing that can contain our spirit is our bodies (our flesh), without our living bodies we cannot physically exist in this world. Just like an astronaut cannot live in space without their space suit which provides them with air to breathe etc.., we cannot live here without our own suit, our bodies. But let's go deeper, what if I say that our body is more than a suit, it is also temple?

Let’s look at the dictionary definition of the the word temple.

Temple:
A building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence.

You see, as believers and followers of Christ; the Bible tells us (see verse below) that our body is the temple for the gift that God has given us, The Holy Spirit.

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 -  (NLT)

So, if the Holy Spirit does not reside in your temple, or as I would phrase it, “Is not sitting on the throne of your heart and mind”, then who is? Know this, the temple is never vacant. There is always someone sitting on the throne of your heart and mind!  It’s either you or the Holy Spirit dwelling in the temple!

If it is you and your sinful nature occupying your temple, then you will fail at being a follower of Christ.  The human heart is the most deceitful of all things (Jer 17:9), we may think our way of doings things seem right but if you are dwelling as the god of your temple in place of the Holy Spirit, our lives will lead to death and destruction (Prov 14:12).  Yet, many christians say “I’m good Holy Spirit, I will be sitting on the throne of my temple, I’ll call you when I really need you!”

But Christ knew better, he knew that while his followers were still on earth, that they would not be able to willingly serve and obey God, let alone do the will of our heavenly father by our own mere willpower. He knew that his people needed supernatural help. He also knew that being holy wasn’t just a matter of following rules, for his priority was based on a intimate relationship with our heavenly father through his son Jesus Christ.  

As a result, God made it possible for us to follow and obey God by making sure that the Holy Spirit rightfully resides in the throne of our temple as he leads us to Christ, and unlike our sinful nature, when the Holy Spirit is leading us he never goes against Scripture! The Holy Spirit entered our temple when we decided to give our life to Christ.

We need to continually ask the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us, and to help us do the things God wants us to do, and when we continue spiritually growing as Christians, our desire should be to allow the Spirit to take control over more and more areas of our lives. Why on earth would anyone want to try to be a believer and follower of Jesus Christ without having the Holy Spirit on the throne of their temple? Quite simple, because we still want to be the God of our own temple (our body and life) and rule from the throne of our own hearts.

Below are some action words from scripture that describe what the Holy Spirit desires to do when you give him the throne of your temple.

Controls:
"But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you." Romans 8:9

Guides:
"O I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves." Galatians 5:16

Leads:
"He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth." John 14:17

Directs:
"But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses." Galatians 5:18

Advocates:
"But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." John 14:26

Convicts:
"And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment." John 16:8

Teaches:
“He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." John 14:26b

Helps:
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness." Romans 8:26a

Comforts, Encourages and Counsels:
"But when the Father sends the Advocate (Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Counselor) as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit." John 14:26a

Gives you peace:
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart." John 14:27 -

Helps you pray:
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words." Romans 8:26

If your temple and the throne of your heart isn’t for the Holy Spirit to dwell in, then you are your own God (yes, I just said that), and it’s no wonder that you might be struggling as a Christian. Our God was caring and loving enough to provide us with the Holy Spirit, why wouldn’t you want to him to dwell in you?

Equip: Parenting in Proverbs

In our midweek Christian family night, we just completed a two-week study of parenting in the Book of Proverbs. Two proverbs often come up in discussions of parenting.  “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (ESV), is one. “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him,” (from which we get the English proverb, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”) is another. Both are found in Proverbs 22, verses 6 and 15, respectively.  Together these two proverbs form a tightly bound parenting model, but we need some context to use them profitably.  

We were reminded that a proverb is a concrete comparison that demands practical application. Concreteness is the verbal art of capturing spiritual values in everyday figures of speech.  An example is the fictional setting of father and mother home schooling their children found in chapters 1-9 of Proverbs.  Especially noteworthy is the personification allegory of parental instruction as Lady Wisdom in Prov 8:22-31.  Proverbs capture children’s imagination with lively comparisons which stick with them throughout life.  These comparisons can be verbal or contextual. “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips” (Prov 24:26) brings truth telling to life by comparing it to a kiss.  “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly” (Prov 26:11) depicts stupidity in the form of repulsive canine behavior.  Another example is the English proverb, “It ain't over till the fat lady sings,” which means the outcome is not known until the end.  This proverb comes from the context of opera, but it is often cited at the end of sporting events.  Finally a proverb enacts its own authority by requiring application to everyday life. A proverb arouses the imagination by posing a verbal riddle that once solved adds to the knowledge and lived experience of the hearer.  

Through their unique art, Proverbs convey wisdom.  Wisdom is the practical application of God’s moral order revealed in everyday life.  “The Lord gives wisdom” through his revealed covenant order with King Solomon at its head as God’s representative (Prov 2:5, Cf. 1 Kings 3:9).  By literary convention, Solomon’s wisdom often appears in the mouths of mother and father. It is no accident. Moral formation of children at home is upstream from culture.  God’s moral order enacted through Solomon and disseminated through parents is that basis for culture.  The foundation of wisdom is the “fear of the Lord.”  The fear of the Lord is the emotional and intellectual capacity to bring God into consideration in everyday life where neither priest nor prophet have specific instructions. 

With this background, we turn to those two proverbs mentioned above.  The first thing to recognize is that these proverbs belong to one another. Proverbs 1-9 contain longer poems, and Proverbs 22:17 to 24:22 contain thirty sayings from anonymous wise men.  Between them lies a collection of shorter proverbs in chapters 10:1 through 22:16 attributed to Solomon.  Though short, these proverbs belong to coherent units that form a series of lessons.  The last lesson in the Solomonic section is Proverbs 22:1-16.  

The lesson starts with the proverb: “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (v 1).  This proverb is addressed to the child, and the following proverbs instruct the child how to acquire a good reputation.  The child must choose between the “fear of the Lord” (v 4) and the “paths of the wicked” (v 5).  The key word “path” or “way” is taken up again in the famous proverb “Dedicate a youth according to what his way dictates; even when he becomes old, he will not depart from it” (v 6, Waltke translation).  This proverb is addressed to the parent.  The promise to parents that good parenting has lifelong consequences must be balanced with the preceding proverbs putting before the child a choice between good and bad reputations.  It is an ironclad truth that wise instruction results in good character, and character will build reputation, but the child must choose to receive parental instruction.  

In addition, the path to wisdom is modified by the inclinations, capacities and personality of each child.  “His way” is the literal reading of the text, not an impersonal “the way.”  Though the goal of a good reputation is the same, each child requires different means to reach that goal.  In her personal testimony, Elise Orlando shared stories about different responses from each child to her parenting.  The differences were so great that she had to change parenting styles for each child. 

The second well-known parable about corporate punishment is the penultimate verse in this collection.  In other words, spanking is the parents’ last resort.  “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away” (Prov 22:15), Between this verse and the earlier promise to parents in verse 6 come proverbs characterizing the results of good or poor character, including the rich, the unjust, the generous, the mocker and the well-spoken person.  A pivotal proverb reminds the youth about the Lord’s protection of good character by exposing the false, misleading lies of easy money and easy sex (Prov 22:12-14).  The premise of these proverbs is that without parents and without God’s help, children are inevitably drawn by seductive words towards lazy or immoral persons.  

As we all know, delayed gratification is hard for children to learn.  Basic human nature wants what it wants, and wants it now.  It takes work to delay gratification.  If children don’t learn that lesson early in life, they can become selfish and sexually addicted adults.  Parents are responsible to help children seek wisdom above all else rather than follow their natural desires.  Education, rewards and example are the best tools.  But parents need a bottom line, and corporal punishment applied properly is that bottom line.  It should be the last and least used tool, as it is the last promise to parents in this collection of proverbs.  The only proverb remaining after this one is a dire warning about a wasted life (Prov 22:16).  In other words, God will do through consequences what parents could do with pliable children.  

Together these two proverbs give parents tremendous promise and awesome responsibility.  The promise is that character is king.  Parents can take comfort in the promise that character will stay with their children through the vicissitudes of life.  Of course, a child has to accept parents’ guidance.  The same promise implies an awesome responsibility. Parenting is hard work. At every stage along children’s development, parents provide either good or bad instructions through word or deeds on the path to wise character that reflects God’s own wisdom.  

Stories of Mercy: Sean Gilles

We are excited to bring you the first of many Stories of Mercy.  Sean Gilles story includes his recovery of cancer and a testimony of the church coming around him to support and love him in one of the most trying times of his life.  

Being the Church in Janesville - Six Months and Counting

On Sunday March 26th, the Mercy Hill Church Rock County campus will be celebrating our six month anniversary of our launch last September. Over these past months, it has been a blessing to see the birth of a church and watch as God causes it to grow. We’ve nearly doubled in size, and have seen the work of the Spirit in lives and hearts.

I wanted to take a few moments to share some of these things with you, so that you may join us in rejoicing and glorifying God for his grace and work in Janesville.

Because of our downtown location, we have been able to minister to a number of the homeless in the area. With the help of another local parachurch ministry, some have been able to receive training and secure jobs as they get back on their feet. Marriages have been strengthened, addictions have been battled, leaders are being developed, and a love of Christ is growing.

Currently we have four different community groups that meet at least monthly. Participation has been great, and we’ve seen God use these to begin to build a close community within the body. Because of this we are able to begin to encourage people to “be the church” in ministry towards one another.

As we have grown, we have been blessed to gain a wide spectrum of people and backgrounds. There are those seeking Christ, brand new Christians, children, young families, young single adults, and those that have been walking with the Lord for decades. This has given us an amazing mix of diversity to celebrate the many ways that God works in people's lives, as well as depth in relationships and encouragement to one another.

I would ask Mercy Hill as a whole to continue to pray that God continues his work in the Rock County location. It has been a privilege to see Jesus grow His church in these ways and others. Please pray that God would continue to provide the finances that we need to expand our children’s ministry area and materials for outreach. Pray that God would continue to grow His church through a healthy mix of unbelievers, Christians, the hurting, the healthy, and leaders. And pray that he grants us wisdom in ministering to the city, and new ways to authentically engage our city, proclaiming the Gospel in relationship and actions.

Thank you,
Pastor Joshua Dostal

Fervent Prayer: Church Planting

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles."  Acts 2:42-43 ESV

From the birth of the Church in Acts, we see what the new gathered Body of Christ focused on: God’s Word (apostles’ teaching), community (fellowship and breaking of bread), and prayer (communing with God).  Thus, from the very beginning of Mercy Hill, these verses have been close to our hearts and has helped define and shape our mission of being the Church.  Keeping our focus on the simplicity of the Gospel, as taught in Scripture, and proclaiming that Good News both from the pulpit and through personal relationship, is a big part of what I think makes Mercy Hill Church the amazing community that it is.  And it seems that God is stirring the hearts of others all over southeastern Wisconsin who desire to see churches planted that are committed to the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel.  God has been building His Church with people ready to be His Church, and because of this, we are excited for what God is doing through the church planting efforts here at Mercy Hill.  

Today, let’s focus our prayers on the area of church planting:

• Pray that God would continue to build His Church here and abroad
• Pray for our current church planting efforts/connections:
• Mercy Hill Rock County, Janesville (Josh and Angie Dostal)
• Imago Dei, West Milwaukee (Pete and Kristy Ziolkowski)
• Nuovo Vita, Salerno (Justin and Abbey Valiquette)
• Pray that God would provide to expand His Church:
• Leadership, resources and finances
• Pray that we would continue to train and equip leaders for church planting
• Pray that God would continue to make His mission clear to our churches
• Pray that God would clearly direct our Elders in future church planting efforts

Fervent Prayer: Financial Commitment and Provision

Hopefully throughout your time at Mercy Hill, you’ve sensed and heard that why we give matters more than what we give. We emphasize this every Sunday during worship. And through the example in Luke 21, the Bible gives us many reasons to be generous. Today I’d like to highlight one of those reasons; to care for others. 

Matthew 6:33 says to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  “These things” referring to essentials like food, water, clothes. The author, Craig Blomberg in his book Neither Poverty nor Riches states the following:

“As the community of the redeemed seeks first God’s righteousness standards, by definition they will help the need in their midst.”

We see this play out in Acts 4 with the early Christians when it states “ There was not a needy person among them.”

In January, we communicated highlights as to where our finances were for 2016 and the general direction for 2017. What excites me about this year are two things; we will be celebrating 10 years since launching Mercy Hill and our hearts for church planting continues to be a part of who we are. What was written as our mission then still holds true today,

“Mercy Hill is committed to a philosophy of church that values community and focuses on the development of people rather than the expansion of the organization.  We are not focused on building a church, but rather, focused on being the church.”

Being the church to our community, sharing and living out the Gospel. This continues to be made possible by God’s gracious provision and your continued submission to gracious giving.

To reiterate what we shared last month; we ask you spend time today in prayer and in discussion with your families to continue to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading you in terms of engagement with the broader church, whether through finances, serving at church, or serving in a community group. Let’s continue to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

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Fervent Prayer: Outreach

“... The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest…” (Luke 10:1-2)

Throughout Holy Scripture, it is clear to us that we have been commissioned by Christ to go forth into the world as his ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20). As we do this, we are to proclaim the Gospel wherever we go, endeavoring to raise up disciples as we ourselves follow after Christ who is with us “to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19,20).

Today our prayer focus turns to our efforts as Mercy Hill as we reach out to the local communities of Bayview, Lake Country, and Rock County with the love of Jesus Christ and the message of the Gospel.

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Please join us in prayer for local outreach and our 20/20 projects:

1. That the Holy Spirit would grant wisdom and direction in projects of evangelism and relief care where the need is greatest.

2. That the financial provision needed would be provided for by God and through his saints.

3. That many within our church would hear the call of God to action on his behalf and respond as Isaiah did by declaring “Lord, here I am! Send me.”  (Isaiah 6:8)

And please join us in praying that above all, the work would be anointed and blessed by God, for His Glory and the salvation of the lost. Soli Deo Gloria!

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Fervent Prayer: World Missions

Mercy Hill leadership believes that one of the core functions of the Church is to be involved in the ministries of world missions.

Some Christians might say, “Why should we be involved in ministries overseas when there are plenty of people that need to hear the Gospel and be saved right here in the United States!?”

While that is most certainly true there is both mandate and model from Scripture that we are to be involved in taking the Gospel to the people of all nations.  It is quite clear from God’s story in Scripture from the Old Testament to the New that he desires to forgive, redeem, adopt, and sanctify people from all the nations he has created so that we all may worship him as our Lord and King.  

Indeed, this is the picture we see in John’s vision of the future that he recorded in the book of Revelation.  The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fall down before the Lamb and state “for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,” (Revelation 5:9 ESV).  

A little later John sees those who have come out of the great tribulation:

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"(Revelation 7:9-10,ESV)

What a wonderful picture of celebration and exultation from God’s mosaic, people from thousands of different and varied cultures and languages worshipping their Creator, their Savior, their Redeemer!  

So it seems that God will most definitely accomplish this in the culmination of all things.  So why do we need to be involved then?  This reminds me of the story of William Carey. He was a lay Baptist pastor in 18th century England who went on to become known as the “Father of Modern Missions”.  It was believed by most in the Church at that time that the Great Commission was only a command to the apostles and that those in other “heathen” nations were of no concern to them.

When Carey presented the idea of going abroad with the Gospel to a group of pastors, one of them replied, “Young man, sit down.  When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine.”  Yes, God is certainly sovereign and He will accomplish His will.  The question is, will we be obedient to follow His commands to make disciples of all nations and be used as instruments in His hands?  

Along with Paul we must ask:

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"(Romans 10:14-15, ESV)

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With this in mind, we pray:

Lord, we pray that you use the people at Mercy Hill Church to help bring the good news of our Savior Jesus Christ to people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.  We pray that you show us how to partner with our brothers and sisters in the church around the world to bring the Gospel to their nations.  We ask that you give wisdom, strength, and endurance to the missionaries that we support around the world.  We pray that you continue to raise up people among the body at Mercy Hill to be part of your mission to reach “people for your name” among the nations.  Finally, we pray that you help Mercy Hill to reach people from other nations who live amongst us here in our own communities. Amen.

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Fervent Prayer: Community

The term community has become a buzzword in our culture. Millennials are said to desire it, employers seek to build it, sociologists bemoan its demise, and churches have rediscovered its value. But as with most buzzwords: when you hear it often enough it gets lost in the noise.

Some communities form around political affiliation or social activism. Others develop because of ethnic or cultural commonality. Some are built around common interests or hobbies. But no matter what its foundation, what holds a community together is its sense of belonging. That we come from this place, believe this thing and are headed in this direction.

When we define community within the Church, we are talking about the relational unity that is derived from our common salvation in Jesus Christ. It necessitates that those within a particular body have that sense of belonging. But where does that sort of unity come from?

Godly unity is given by the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:3), leads us into deeper faith in Christ (Eph 4:13), stirs us to sacrificially love our church family (Rom 12:10) and demonstrates the glory of God to the world (John 17:23).

This sort of supernatural unity allows for people from all walks of life, all backgrounds and experiences, all races, ethnicities and classes to walk with one another in love. Not because of all the things we have in common, but because of the One person we have in common. It reorients our life and allows us to put aside distractions and agendas for the sake of the Gospel.

So as we pray about the topic of community today, let’s pray that these would be the elements that would be demonstrated at Mercy Hill. That we would see the unity given to us by the Holy Spirit, around Jesus, for the good of the church and as a witness to the world.

Pray for our community groups to dive deep into the Word. Pray that we would be open to deep, challenging, encouraging relationships in our own lives. And pray that we would not sacrifice the gift of unity for the folly of our own agendas.

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Fervent Prayer: Sing

"Therefore, God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful. Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:12-16 HSCB)

In this text from Colossians and from Ephesians 5:19 as well, singing with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are mentioned. A word study brings out these ideas:

"Whereas a psalm is the story of man's deliverance or a commemoration of mercies received, a hymn is a magnificat, a declaration of how great someone or something is."

"Of things spiritual, communicated or imparted by the Holy Spirit, meaning those things pertaining to the Spirit; "spiritual songs," meaning those composed in the Spirit on spiritual and instructive subjects."

(from The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament © 1992 by AMG International, Inc. Revised Edition, 1993)

When I read the Colossians text, I see what led up to all this singing.

God chose us and then the message we received from God was Jesus. In Jesus the Messiah we received from God our Father heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. He accepted us through Jesus and forgave us for all the wrong we have done and will ever still do. Through Jesus we have forgiveness and peace with God our Father and are put together with others in Christ’s body, the Church. And what are we the Church doing? Singing, singing, singing songs that teach and warn leaving us very grateful to God our Father through Jesus our Messiah.

God has placed gifted individuals among us to both teach and to play music for our songs. From the pulpit some sing songs that teach us. From the stage some play instruments for the songs we sing. Next to us many are gifted with beautiful voices that sing blessing to those around them, while the rest of us may sing silently in our hearts. We all sing to our great God and we all sing to one another of His wisdom and His great works. We all teach and admonish each other to sing.

May God help and bless those among us who help lead us to sing; and may God’s grace and wisdom bring us all into a life where we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

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Fervent Prayer: Confession & Commitment to Spiritual Disciplines

"Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."  1 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV)

I came across an interesting quote from John Maxwell:

"Look at our society, everybody wants to be thin but nobody wants to diet, everybody wants to live long but nobody wants to exercise. Everybody wants money yet seldom will anyone budget or save their money."

It’s an interesting observation about our society but I think it has a corollary in the life of the Church. Everyone wants to be Godly but nobody wants to take Paul’s advice and train themselves for godliness. It would be hard to find a true follower of Jesus who will not confess their desire to continually progress in godliness. However, the commitment to spiritual disciplines that produce the progression of godliness is something we too often neglect. And that truth can have tragic consequences. When I read Scripture I see the encouragement to progressively grow in our knowledge of Christ, to progressively grow in our righteousness, to progressively grow in faith. I understand instinctively from my experience that this is meant to combat the reality that the believer’s spiritual life is never static. If we are not progressing towards Christ we will be regressing towards the flesh. We, individually as believers and collectively as the church, will suffer for it.

This is why it is essential that we face the call in Christ to train ourselves for godliness and recommit ourselves to the spiritual disciplines that help to produce in us this godliness that is of value in every way. There is a long list of spiritual disciplines that many find valuable for the production of godliness in their lives but there are 3 specifically that as pastor at Mercy Hill church I would like to see us commit ourselves to in 2017:

1. Personal and Corporate Prayer
   The call to prayer is often made but too rarely received. Prayer is not an incidental spiritual activity but an essential pillar for spiritual growth. This year commit yourself to responding to a greater degree to the call to prayer. Make sure you set time aside every day specifically designed to be quiet in communion with God but in addition I am asking you to expand your investment in prayer in the corporate setting. Mercy Hill needs to be a praying church. Participate in our all church prayer events if you aren’t already, participate in pre-service prayer if you aren’t already, participate in our prayer and fasting times if you aren’t already. AB Simpson states is well: Prayer is the link that connects us with God.
    

2. Study of God’s Word
   We need to be people who study God’s word. I want you to note that I said study not simply read. Far too often we read because we have to, but to learn requires the investment of study in order to implant the truth in a transforming way. The discipline of studying God’s word requires a humble spirit, recognizing that the chief end is not merely to amass information, but to experience it, learn from it, and be changed by it.
    

3. Fellowship in Celebration and Community
   In my life I have learned that the most powerful instrument for growth has been to come in fellowship with fellow believers. Participation in the fellowship of the Church is vital to spiritual development. This participation calls for a commitment to the times of celebration. Times when we worship together, hearing the teaching of God’s word, sharing and serving with one another in the gathering of the church. And times when we fellowship in smaller communities. Where we gather to pray for one another, to share our hearts and hurts lifting each other up. The greatest sermons the Spirit of God has ever delivered to me was through His working in the life of a brother or sister.

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Dear Heavenly Father,

We come before you in humility and repentance acknowledging the truth that our willingness to train for godliness has rarely matched our need for it. We repent of the fact that we have continued to elevate the desires of the flesh above the call of the Spirit.

Help us Father, by your Holy Spirit, to change our course. Help us Father, by your Holy Spirit, to embrace the disciplines of faith that we know will transform our spirit lives. Help us Father by your Holy Spirit to enter your holy of holies through the gift of prayer, to cherish the treasure of your Word by faithful Study and to commit to our place in your community with contentment and joy as instruments of the Gospel whether we are single or married, may you empower us to find fellowship as we commit to your community.

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Looking Beyond

If I were to believe social media or popular culture, 2016 is a year to wipe from our collective memory. 

Celebrity deaths. Politics. Terrorism. Civil wars. Cyberattacks. And so much more. It has spawned all sorts of viral memes and metaphors from the silly to the dead serious. But in the echo chamber that has become popular culture, I have noticed one thing that is distinctly missing.

Hope.

The popular culture that pervades social media and society is distinctly humanist. It disguises itself as the “new”, “liberated” and “evolved”. Yet lacks the self-reflection to see that it is the oldest of human perspectives. It states that we, as men and women, are the pinnacle of existence and nothing greater lies outside of ourselves. But what begins with man, must also end with man, and so the meaning and purpose of our popular culture ends at death.

But as Christians, we are called to look beyond. Beyond ourselves, to something, to Someone who pulls us out of our own limited perspective into a broader story, as the Apostle John wrote:

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2, ESV)

And so we are. 

What beautiful words to encapsulate the hope that we have as Christians. That sentiment is echoed repeatedly by the apostles, whether John, Paul, Peter or others, to look beyond our circumstances and to the hope that we have in Christ.

That is why, when we are faced with the realities of this world - death, pain, loss, or injustice - we as Christians should fix our eyes on the point beyond the horizon where our true Hope rests. 

It is a lesson I had reinforced when learning to paddle a canoe years ago. Besides feeling just a quick movement away from tipping, I got started by fixing my focus on the waves just beyond the bow of the canoe as I paddled from the stern. My nervous focus on what was in front of me left me to get tossed around by waves and zig-zag my way across a lake. But when, over time, I learned to look up and fix my eyes on my destination on the other side of the lake, my paddling became more steady and my path became increasingly straight and true towards that goal.

If all we have is that which we can see in front of us, we are, as popular culture, without hope. But we are called to something much greater, much bigger, and so much more fulfilling- a life lived as children of God, forever, with Him.

And so whether you’re finding yourself struggling right now after a difficult 2016, or wrapped up in excitement and joy from the year, the question is the same- are you looking beyond? Looking beyond your current circumstances, and broadening your perspective.

As we take that step into the new year, may your Hope be found in Him and what lies beyond our sight for those who love Him.

Honoring our Co-Laborers in Christ

If you were at service this last Sunday you were made aware of the tragic deaths in a house fire of our dear friends Steve and Patti Gray, the pastors of International Christian Fellowship in Padova, Italy. Many of you know of our special relationship with this church and these co-laborers in Christ as a result of our annual missions trips to minister to the church but many of you do not know the profound role this church and these ministers played in the formation of Mercy Hill Church. 

In 2003 I found myself between positions with no clear direction of God’s calling for the next stage in our ministry (or if there even would be a next stage). Pastor Steve called and asked us to come fill in at ICF-Padova for several months while he and Patti were back in the states raising funds. God used this time in our lives, along with Pastor Kevin, to birth in our hearts the church that would become Mercy Hill. 

I wanted to share with you an email Chris Peterson, who is one of our elders, sent to the elder board in the wake of the Gray’s passing because I think it beautifully captures the profound relationship that can exist between two communities of faith separated by many miles.

Brothers,
 
Steve & Patti Gray went to sleep today but will be raised again by our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for our sure hope!
 
Over the centuries our God has moved by His Spirit to proclaim the Good News to people in darkness. Many years ago Steve invited Tommy to come to Italy to help him care for the church there for a season. This happened at just the right time that led to (Pastor) Tommy and (Pastor) Kevin sitting around and talking over cappuccinos. It was there in Italy that the Holy Spirit chose to birth the idea that has now become Mercy Hill Church. So you see, Steve & Patti were key people God used to create the circumstances where step-by-step later Mercy Hill came into existence. I say it was just at the right time for Tommy too, having just been rejected by all so to speak, and was alone with Elise and a couple of others. God knew before the foundation of the world and had a plan to start Mercy Hill Church and it is clear Steve & Patti were part of that plan to help Tommy be where he needed to be at just the right time.
 
I wanted to share with you fellow elders that we at Mercy Hill owe honor to Steve & Patti for by His grace God used them in part to bring to pass the Mercy Hill blessing we see today. I support whatever God puts into Tommy heart to do to bless the Gray family and the church there in Podova that fittingly honors God’s vessels He used to bless us so profoundly. I know it may seem like a small part they played in Mercy Hill coming into existence but I suggest there would be no Mercy Hill Church today without Steve & Patti. Something else for sure, but not Mercy Hill as we know it today. 

The Corinthian church in a sense owed the first church at Jerusalem (2 Cor 7:13-9:1) for the gospel came to them via that church.
 
Please join us in lifting the Gray family and the family of ICF-Padova in prayer before the Lord as we all mourn the passing of these dear friends to whom we owe such gratitude. It will be our calling to continue to honor Steve and Patti by blessing this precious church however we can in the days and years to come.