Heroes Wanted

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”    —Mark 11:9

On a sports note, the Denver Broncos, signed Payton Manning to be their new franchise-saving, championship-winning quarterback. Prior to the press conference announcing the move, the Broncos removed all the posters of their latest hero, Tim Tebow. Tebow was the rookie quarterback whose overtime winning pass defeated our beloved Steelers in the playoffs.

Tebowmania, which had been over the top in Denver, is now moving to New York City as Tebow was traded to the Jets. Tim Tebow, the unashamedly Christian role model introduced us to tebowing. Tebowing is praying on the field on one knee with one hand on his helmet and head bowed. Tim Tebow went from being the darling and hero of the Denver Bronco fans to being a forgotten memory and opponent in a mere couple days. People in general and football fans in particular are tremendously fickle.

Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on the colt of a donkey on Palm Sunday. People recognized Jesus as the miracle worker and preacher from Galilee. They greeted Him as their new hero and hopeful deliverer from Roman oppression, “Hail King Jesus!” But a few days later, some of the same crowd, at the urging of the Jewish religious leaders, cried out, “Crucify Him!” (Mark 15:13) Jesus went from King to criminal in one week.

As we read the Gospels, we find two situations in which Jesus sought escape from the crowds: one, when they wanted to make Him King and the other when they wanted to kill Him before His time. After feeding the 5,000, John records, “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (6:15). Another time after claiming to be God, “At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds” (John 8:59).

Tim Tebow did nothing but good for the Denver Broncos organization, team, and fans. He lived a godly life and led them to the playoffs his rookie year. In a much greater way, Jesus did nothing but good for the Jews and the entire world. Jesus lived a holy life, taught us the truth about our Father in Heaven, and performed miracles blessing the lives of everyone He touched. Yet, in the eyes of the masses, Jesus went from hero to scapegoat over night.

Let us rejoice that God’s love is steadfast and sure. 1 Corinthians 13 describes God’s love for us. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (vs. 7-8). The next time you catch yourself doing a flip-flop with your love and attitude, remember Lamentations 3:22-23 rsv, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness.” Jesus was faithful to the very end, the Cross of Calvary. Praise God! He arose, and we can know and serve a risen Savior!

I pray you will make plans to find a church where you will worship the Lord this Easter season. If you already have a home church, I pray you will dig down deeper and be a person of steadfast character that can be counted on. Be the kind of hero Jesus died and rose for you to be.

Real Spiritual Worship

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”      —Romans 12:1

When I moved my family to seminary, many years ago, we had to find a church to attend. Prior to seminary, I had preached for seven years, serving a small church in the Punxsutawney area, Albion Heights, for three years and then adding three more churches, the Sandy Creek Charge, for my four years at college. At seminary, we chose to attend the large United Methodist Church next door.

The first two Sunday’s were glorious worship experiences for me. Being led in worship and hearing the Word of God proclaimed by another was inspirational. On the third week, however, I began asking questions of the worship. Was it meaningful for me? Did I like the way the minister ended the service? Did he challenge me appropriately?

From that point on, my worship experiences during my seminary years went downhill. I struggled to understand where the glorious feelings of the first two weeks went. My worship of God declined when I began taking the pulse of every service. When I began measuring how much I was getting out of the service rather than how much of myself I was surrendering, my worship to God was neither holy nor pleasing.

Last weekend, I had the privilege and responsibility of interviewing possible candidates for Bishop. I asked one candidate what changes needed to take place in the United Methodist Church for it to continue to be a viable witness in our time. He responded with three changes: (1) We must change our thinking that the church exists for us to an understanding that the church exists for those who are not yet there. (2) We must change our understanding of worship from how much I like it to how much of myself I surrender to the Lord in worship. (3) We must change our concept of Christian growth from making members to making disciples.

I began to think about my understanding of worship. Last Sunday, we had a great kickoff service for our 100^th Anniversary year. We combined our two services into one unified service at 9:30 AM followed by a pancake and sausage brunch. The service was awesome. Everyone I spoke with loved it. We sang old favorites and shared testimonies about how the ministry of Oakland Church had blessed our lives.

After all the dust had settled, I had the realization that the service was all about us and we loved it. We usually have four or five visitors per Sunday, but on our 100^th Anniversary Kickoff, in the nearly-full sanctuary, I could identify only one new person. We didn’t advertise the breakfast to the public because we were completely overcrowded just feeding ourselves. No room for outsiders. Ouch! Did we really say that?

Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). True spiritual worship according to Romans 12:1 is to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” We should measure the quality of our worship by asking, “How much of myself did I surrender in service to God and others?” Giving of oneself, holy and pleasing to God, is our spiritual act of worship.

I don’t seek to ruin your worship experience or criticize anything your church does or doesn’t do; rather, I want to encourage us all to seek to be true worshippers who surrender our lives to Jesus Christ. It’s not about us, but it’s all about God and others. Remember Jesus’ two great commandments are to love God with our whole being and our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Let us measure our worship by how much we give rather than how much we receive.

Family Matters

“He said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”              

-John 19:26b-27

A wonderful surprise came via FedEx the other day. A cardboard box wrapped with white athletic tape appeared on my porch. I wondered what we ordered and why they used athletic tape to seal it. Closer inspection revealed that my younger brother sent the package. I hadn’t heard from Ray in several months. With much anticipation and excitement I opened it. Honestly, I felt very much like a small child on Christmas morning.

The package contained a maroon sweater and a hand written note. The sweater was my father’s first varsity sweater from New Bethlehem High with a football letter on it and one stripe on the sleeve. The note reminisced about conversations Dad had with Raymond as they commuted to junior high football practices. I think Dad was trying to inspire Raymond by telling him how fast and great a football player his big brother was and that if Dad had been as big and fast as Randy, nobody could have tackled him. Actually, I was not very fast and, although I loved playing football, only played intensely enough to get by.

My dad played on undefeated football teams back in the single wing days. Single wing is a football formation where the quarterback calls signals from a position close to the line and the ball is snapped directly to the running backs. Dad injured his knee when he was tackled on a break away run at the end of the last game of the season his senior year. Even though he was an All-Conference running back, he enlisted in the Navy and never played again.

As Jesus hung on the cross in the final hours of His earthly life, He thought about His human family. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, watched as her Son hung naked on a Roman cross. She watched His agony and death even as many of His followers forsook Jesus and fled. As He looked down from that cross with love at His mother and at John, Jesus commends Mary to the care of His Beloved disciple. Family matters.

Even though many of Jesus’ closest family members did not believe in Him during His lifetime (John 7:5), and even though at one point Jesus’ mother and family came to take Him home thinking He had lost His mind (Mark 3:21, 31), in the end, Jesus’ family still mattered.

Are you in a good relationship with your family? Maybe you’re not exactly on bad terms but you’re not really intimately connected. Maybe this Holy Season leading up to Easter is a good time to reconnect. I am not talking about staying in an abusive relationship or giving a manipulative and damaging person another opportunity to harm you. But, if we have neglected our family, now is the time to remember, family matters. If we have refused forgiveness and love, now may be the time to say, “I love you.” “I’m sorry,” or “I forgive you.”

As I opened the gift box from my brother and read his note, I was moved emotionally. I just completed an email to my brother Raymond. I told how much I love him and how proud of him I am. Yes, it’s true. Family matters. Is there a note or phone call you need to make?

God’s Esteem

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”   —Romans 12:3

This past week I had the privilege of reconnecting with an old friend and fellow pastor, Jonathan Bell. Jonathan recently returned from seven months of active duty serving as a Chaplain of the Air National Guard in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Octavius V. Catto Medal for “dedicated, brave and efficient” service in the Guard. He was the first ever to receive it in the 130 years of the award’s existence. Later, as we said our goodbyes, I encouraged Jonathan to walk with the Lord as he seeks to be faithful as a Medal winner, Major, Chaplain, Pastor, Husband, Father, Son, and, oh yes, a Child of God.

“Who is this guy?” I thought. Jonathan seems to be much like the Apostle Paul seeking to become “all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).  I first knew Jonathan as a young person leading the Connellsville District Youth, but he is also a preacher’s kid, the son of a clergy couple. He is the husband of Annie and father of three boys. Jonathan is a Major and Chaplain in the Air National Guard, and the pastor of the Blacklick Community United Methodist Church.

Think about the many roles and positions YOU fill. Who are you? The emphasis on self-esteem these days causes us to continually ask the question, “Who am I?” There is so much pressure to discover who we are that many persons leave hometowns, jobs, churches, and even families to go off somewhere to find themselves. Sadly, some never return. One counselor I know foresees a future where there will be a one to one relationship between the population and the number of counselors. Everyone will have their own personal counselor.

Instead of seeking self-esteem, why don’t we try finding God’s esteem? Who does God think we are? When Jesus was baptized by John, God spoke to Him audibly from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). The Bible also states directly how God feels about you and me. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Again in Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” As I understand these verses, the Bible teaches that God loves us as much as God loves Jesus. We are children of God, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Jesus.

Having God’s esteem for ourselves won’t give us overinflated egos. Yes, if we only read the child of God and heirs of God verses, we might get swelled heads, but the Bible cautions us not to think too highly of ourselves, but to soberly consider who we are in Christ and how God has gifted us (Rom. 12:3). The Bible clearly states that we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).

God loves and accepts us in spite of our sins. Jesus took the punishment for our sins. The Gospel message may be described in terms of God’s love for us. God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die in our place, accepts us where we are, and finally, loves us too much to leave us there.

What is God’s esteem for you and me? Yes, we have sinned and don’t deserve God’s love, but God loves us so much that, when we turn to Him, He meets us where we are, makes us His children, and empowers us to be anything He wants us to be. Lift your head up high. Receive God’s love in Jesus Christ and be the child of God you were created to be.

Being the Church

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”   —Matthew 6:1

I heard about a church serving at a local festival by helping vendors setup, for free. They simply showed up, asked if they could help, and served. They all wore shirts that read in big letters, “Don’t go to church.” Stated in smaller print below was the phrase, “Be the Church!” How do we do that? What comes to your mind when you think about “being the Church” or consider “church” as a verb?

If you could boil the Christian life down to three practices, three verbs that would describe what “being the Church” should look like, what might they be? Jesus summed up the Old Testament law and prophets in two commands, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches the proper way to perform our “acts of righteousness.” Jesus identified, “Pray, give, and fast.” In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, “When you give” (6:2), “When you pray” (6:5), and “When you fast” (6:16). Notice that Jesus said, “When you fast,” not “If you fast.”

I posed that question to my Facebook friends. They all gave wonderful ways we should act out our Christian faith, but only two persons included fasting. One person, who attended our Ash Wednesday service and heard my sermon on the Daniel Fast, replied, “Give, pray, and fast. I paid attention.” The other person was my brother. He replied, “Fast, pray, give.” Way to go, Nick. If I would have given three words to describe my practice of the Christian faith before my recent studies on fasting, I might have omitted fasting like most western Christians today.

Rev. David Cho, founding pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, S. Korea (the largest church in the world), was once asked by a group of American church leaders, “What is the secret to your growth and evangelistic outreach?” Cho replied, “Prayer and fasting.” The Americans replied, “Besides that, what is your secret?” His answer remained, “Prayer and fasting.”

Much of the western Church has ignored this spiritual discipline and forgotten our own history. The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost after a time of prayer and waiting. The Gospel was first proclaimed to non-Jews after Cornelius and Peter each had visions from God following a time of prayer and fasting (Acts 10). The first missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, were sent out after a time of fasting (Acts 13).

The great awakenings in England and American occurred in concert with Christians who prayed and fasted. Times of prayer and fasting have preceded many movements in American history and revivals in the Church. Joel 2: 15 urges, “Declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.” As we look at our nation, the election, and the state of Christianity in America, maybe we should declare a holy fast and call a sacred assembly to seek the Lord.