Secret? Agent Man.

We are to be agent men and woman for Christ. But secretively? I'm still thinking about this message Jesus taught in Matthew 6. In the beginning of the chapter He says to pray and fast and give to the needy in secret.

But even Jesus saw what the poor widow gave to the church (I know theologically it's not the church, but go with me on this one) in Mark 12:42.

James talks that faith without works is dead (2:14-17). And although we are not able and should not come to a conclusion about someone's spiritual faith based upon what is seen and what is not seen, works of good are evident and noticeable at some point.

Paul in Galatians encourages the counselee to share with their counselor the good things of progress (6:6). Pastors thrive off hearing about their "sheep" ministering to others.

The writer in Hebrews says to PROVOKE one another in doing good deeds (10:24). It's hard to be provoked if you feel like you're the only one doing it. Elijah even was discouraged because he thought he was alone in his efforts (1 Kings 19:14).

Teaching others how to be generous without showing what generosity is, is ineffective. Paul challenged the Corinthians to give what they promised to give and had even told other churches about the amount they promised to raise (2 Corin. 9:2-5). He must have known how much they had given and how much more they needed to give.

There are always people watching. There are always people who know. Always people privy to information. So should you stop giving to the church, giving to those in need, praying at a public restaurant, praying in your life group, because someone will see? Of course not. I think I've blogged on this before. The point is to do good to others in God's name for the sake of truly loving and caring for others and obedience to God whether people are watching or not. Our good deeds are not to be done for show or to please people. But if people are watching or people do see, still keep going strong. You might even encourage them in doing good deeds as well.

(side note for church leaders and pastors: beware that you don't judge someone's spiritual state because you see little of a person's giving, serving, worship, praying or caring for other people, or lord forbid, not come to hear you speak at "church." They are your "sheep" and you are to provoke, rebuke, and encourage them, but they are also to be co-laborers with you in Christ. Love them, get to know them, and they might share with you what's really going on in their life. That's being a true shephard. If you find yourself upset at people's giving, serving or coming to "church," make sure it's because you care about their relationship with God and not because you want them to please you and your ministry.)

Hot Pursuit in Rocking Chairs

I was reading Matthew 6 this morning. Matthew 6 is right in the middle of Jesus' sermon on the mountain, his first message after going public with his ministry. The chapter starts out talking about doing our prayers, giving to the needy and fasting, all in secret for God. The point being that we do those things not for the praise of people. The second half of the chapter talks about not worrying in getting the things we need to survive (clothes, water, food).

The students at Fellowship Church acted out this second half about a month ago by sitting in rocking chairs and trying to rock towards signs we made saying clothes, water and food on them. It was a great illustration. Most of us find ourselves at one time or another and in our own ways spending a great amount of energy and time chasing after money and possessions the hard way. Jesus says straight up "Do NOT store up treasures for yourselves here on earth!"

If God says he'll take care of us, why do we strive so hard for these things?

One suggestion is found right in the middle of this whole chapter. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (v. 22, 23).

It matters what we're looking at. The word for healthy means pure, sound, a seeking after the righteousness of God kind of thing (some have suggested that the meaning is being generous. It definitely fits within the context and being generous is certainly an attribute of living out God's righteousness). The point being that when our focus in on those things, our body will be full of light, a.k.a, we'll be able to know where we need to be and go and do. We'll be able to know that our path is good or evil. We'll have a peace of mind in being able to see. You can't see if everything is total dark. And that's what happens when our focus is not pure, sound, and seeking those righteous things of God.

You may already know what God says to do. Maybe you've been a Christian for some time now. Maybe you're even a leader in the church. But you still refuse to give up your pursuit of getting for "me and my circle." Maybe He even convicts you with the Holy Spirit about those things if you're a follower of Jesus, He does that sort of thing you know.

David says in Psalm 119:35-37 "Guide me in the path of your commands, for I delight to walk in it. Give me a desire for your rules, rather than for wealth gained unjustly. Turn my eyes away from what is worthless!Revive me with your word!"

Bumper Sticker: No Jesus, No Peace.

I threw this idea that people seek the church as this place of peace. This is not a bad thing. The church should be a place of peace. But how should this kind of peace be described and expected as one becomes a part of the church? I mean Jesus said in John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage."

This word he uses for peace here is found 92 times in the New Testament and can range in meaning from a state of national tranquility, being without war or conflict, or the "the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is" (Barclay-Newman).

I can assume that Jesus was definitely alluding to the latter meaning more than the first. The Jews were anticipating a national Messiah to rescue them from their enemies and create a reestablishment of the nation of Israel as a world powerhouse. Yet Jesus uses this same word of peace when he said, "do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matt. 10:34). Jesus was not planning on using the sword to bring peace to the earth for the nation of Israel. There was to be no mistake. Jesus was not here to bring peace to the earth. But why did He later said that He was giving peace to "you?" Connect the two and He was saying that He was bringing a sword that would bring peace to man's soul!

This sword and peace connection is also found in Hebrews. Chapters 3 and 4 in Hebrews talk a lot about this "rest" or better translated as "resting place," this place of peace. It is up to individuals to diligently seek this resting place through faith in God's message. Those who are slack in seeking this resting place may find themselves short of arriving at the resting place because of their lack of obedience to hear God's message. Right in the midst of this passage is this well known verse: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). Finding the true resting place only happens as we use the word of God to convict us of our sin and seek God's way of righteousness. True peace only exists in God's resting place. Sin and God cannot co-exist. Sin has left us short of the glory of God, short of finding rest from our work, short of living in this resting place we expect to find in the church.

The Psalmist agrees when he said, "There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin" (Ps. 38:3).

So what am I saying about this peace that we are seeking to have? Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the absense of sin, through which happens as we fight with our sinful desires and thoughts of the heart with God's double-edged sword of His Word.

So don't be upset with preachers who "make" you feel guilty. You may just be and if you don't like dealing with it, don't be surprised when you keep falling short of coming to God's resting place.

Mr. Rogers, Peace, and the Church

So I read this article about what church is not. I agree with the article and would love to add some more. I've been noticing these kind of talks here lately, about people getting frustrated with "the church," about people getting uncomfortable about being in a biblical community, and christians just wanting to shield their children from evil people. This all goes great with our series at Fellowship Church in Holden starting up in a couple of weeks. We're calling it "Why we love this place." It's a look at our core values, our principles of how we do ministry.

Often times I believe people are looking at the church for a place of peace. How we define peace or expect to get it might be the issue. Our creative theme for this next series is similar to "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." The idea here is that Mr. Rogers was all about being a part of the community, interacting with the community, sharing with the community all the while being this peaceful place you wanted to be a part of as he shared life principles and creative ways to live that out.

Sure he had this land of make-believe, but it's our minds that carry these make-believe places. Our minds are where we practice these principles of life before we speak them and practice them. If we practice these biblical core values in our minds, we can wrestle against these false values that keep our minds in some fantasy world separate from the reality God wants us to live out. It's this false fantasy in our minds that destroy what church is suppose to be about.

Peace is an interesting concept anyways. For some of us, peace is defined and desired to be something without conflict and harmony with all. But Jesus said he was giving us a peace unlike what the world gives. What exactly then is this kind of peace? I have some ideas, but what are yours?