In Joel 2:28-29 we read the following:

Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. – NRSV

I love this verse and it makes me think about the New Growth waiting for us in 2023. God’s true character has been revealed and their Spirit poured out on us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know walk with amazing accessibility to the Spirit which is all around us and have endless moments to partner with Christ in restoring creation.

This restoration brings new growth from the most unexpected places, what unexpected new growth does God have for us in 2023? To discover the new growth, we have to lean into Christ and allow God’s Spirit to overflow by giving up our control. May we be vulnerable and discover the new growth God has instore for us in 2023.

I have been reflecting around a verse found in the book of Revelations. The verse I am about to share is often used by churches in the direction of non-believers, but this verse is found in Revelations when Jesus is addressing the church. In this part of the story Jesus is addressing the church in Laodicea, and we read the following:

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” – Revelations 3:20-22 NRSV

          I am struck by how far too often in Christianity we skim over this verse as if we know for sure we have all heard Jesus knock and have opened the door. It is clear though that Jesus is speaking to the CHURCH!  We have Christ speaking to his followers…… not to those who do not believe.

          The reason we skim over this verse is because it forces us in churches to ask ourselves, “Is Jesus knocking at our church doors, and are we not hearing it?”

This is a question I believe all of us as Christians should ask ourselves and then look at our communities for the evidence of Christ love. If we have opened the door and Christ is dinning with us in our communities, the evidence of his love will be all around us.

Last week I spoke about Speaking the Truth in Love and explored Ephesians 4:15-16 in more depth.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

– Ephesians 4:15-16

Too often we have used this misquoted verse to excuse some of the most unloving actions in Church history. We cannot go back in time to change any of these actions but we can control how we live out the Gospel in the present.

Remembering the first time “in love” is used in this section of Ephesians which is aimed at maintaining Unity with Christ followers. At the beginning of this section, we read the following:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

-Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV

This means that Speaking the Truth in Love cannot be separated from humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and mainlining unity through the bond of peace. We also need to remember that TRUTH in the Bible often means to simply not lie, it has nothing to do with sharing our unrequested opinions to others. To ensure we Speak the Truth in Love let’s live out the Gospel of Christ with our actions and humbly share our convictions when requested.

How many harmful debates around God would end if we simply humbly shared our convictions upon request? Allowing our actions to preach the Gospel and only using words when required as Saint Francis of Assisi encouraged us to as Jesus followers.

To be honest this doesn’t take a major effort on our part and truthfully adding the simple phrase, “but I could be wrong,” at the end of our sharing of our conviction could have profound implications allowing many to experience the love of Christ. The Love of Christ has the power to change our world! We are simply asked to live it out and humbly share our convictions when requested.

This is Speaking the Truth in Love

The following is Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation. We hear from Diana Butler Bass who speaks about Seeing Jesus Again.

The question of how we see, and what the lenses are that allow us to understand our lives and the world more deeply is a question that I’ve cared about for a really long time. . . . How do we understand where and how the divine, where God, the Holy Spirit is operating in our lives, in our institutions, and the world around us? What gives us the capacity to even understand any of that? . . . In the latest book [Freeing Jesus], what I really wanted to do is settle down to the basic issue, or the basic central reality of Christianity. Because people started asking me about ten years ago, “Why do you stay Christian?” . . . And I’d have all sorts of fancy answers and then I’d just say, well, it’s because of Jesus. . . . That’s where I wanted to go, and think about: who is Jesus really? Who has Jesus been for me? And why has that been so central to my own life story? . . . And I think where Freeing Jesus has taken me is that somehow staying Christian is about staying in and with and through Jesus. Jesus has everything to do with it. And that really matters to me. Yet Jesus has not stayed the same for me through my whole life’s journey. And so, I’ve had to be open to understanding that, even though there’s one verse in Hebrews that says “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever” [Hebrews 13:8], I have not stayed the same yesterday, today, and forever. The church does not stay the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so, in a very real way, Jesus has changed for me. Jesus changes for the world. Jesus changes for the institutions of faith, for the church. . . . If you’re not doing that kind of work, of letting the end of one image emerge for you and a new image of Jesus be born for you, you’re probably in a pretty static place in your own faith. In Freeing Jesus, Bass describes our relationship with Jesus as a dynamic opportunity to see God and ourselves perpetually anew: If we think that being with Jesus means getting the right answers from a creed or remembering points of doctrine from a sermon, we probably will not manage to truly know Jesus. We will only succeed in keeping the right responses scribbled on some back page of our memory. “Who are you, Lord?” [Acts 9:3–5] is the question of a lifetime, to be asked and experienced over and over again. That query frees Jesus to show up in our lives over and over again, and entails remembering where we first met, how we struggled with each other along the road, and what we learned in the process. [Diana Butler Bass, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence (New York: HarperOne, 2021)]

Check out our recent Podcast which looks at the version of Jesus depicted in the Gospel of Mark.

Self-Worth (July Series)

Throughout this series we are going to dive into our Self-Worth. Looking at what the Bible tells about our Self-Worth and how to curb some of the toxic self-talk that can plague our everyday living. Knowing our true Self-Worth through the eyes of Christ is essential as we navigate through life.

July 4^th

The Divine Fingerprint

We will look at how we all have a divine fingerprint within because we are all created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 139:13-14; John 3:16-17)

July 11^th

Putting Ourselves First

We will look at how it is important to put ourselves first at times so we can give others the best version of ourselves. (Mark 1:29-39)

July 18^th

 In The Mirror

We will unpack the power of the Holy Spirit which magnifies our divine fingerprint which encourages us to look within. (Acts 1:8; Philippians 4:13)

July 25^th

Flipping the Script on Self-Talk

We will look at how we can flip the script on our damaging self-talk by resting in how God sees us. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

We are starting a new series at our Church this month called, In The Beginning: Diving into Genesis Ch. 1-11.

In this series we are going to look at what God can show us through these amazing stories found in the beginning of our Bible. These stories are too often skimmed over or debated between scholars and theologians. Our goal throughout this series is to dive into the heart of these stories and see what they reveal to us about the Nature of God and humanity.

The book of Genesis is a beautiful part of our Bible and can teach us so much if we are willing to sit with the text. Allowing God to show us more than we can imagine as we sit with them and reflect on the things happening in our world when God inspired these Holy scriptures.

We would love for you to join us on this journey as we practice our value of Going Deeper with Genesis Ch. 9-11. You can stay up to date with our sermon by either checking out our YouTube Channel or Podcast (which you can find details about below). We will have weekly blog post and Midweek Devotionals throughout this series going deeper into the book of Genesis.

Our series kicks off this Sunday May 2nd, and feel free to attend our service at Geham SS from 9:30am to 11:00am followed by a light morning tea.

Sincerely,

Pastor Matt

Highfields Church of Christ – YouTube

Tuesday, December 15, 2020 from Center for Action and Contemplation by Richard Rhor

Jesus’ life offered an example of humility and self-emptying, but he chose an additional model for his disciples: that of little children. Despite what we see depicted in so much religious art, it was not meant as a “cute” or sentimental gesture! As Albert Nolan shares, it was a radical revaluing of human dignity, based on nothing that society could see or quantify! Taken seriously, it is still a profound message for us today.

Jesus was uncompromising in his belief that all human beings were equal in dignity and worth. He treated the blind, the lame and the [sick], the outcasts and beggars with as much respect as that given to those of high rank and status. He refused to consider women and children unimportant or inferior. This turned a carefully ordered society of status and honor upside down—even more so when he advocated moving down the social ladder instead of striving to reach the top. [1]

When his disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, Jesus put his arm around a little child (Mark 9:36–37). According to Jesus, the least or most insignificant persons in the society are the greatest (Luke 9:48). In the society and culture of the time, the child had no standing or status whatsoever. The child was a “nobody.” The implication is that Jesus and those who want to follow him are “nobodies,” right at the bottom of the social ladder. For Jesus, the child was a model of radical humility (Matthew 18:3–4) [or what I am calling “self-emptying” this week]. Those who wish to follow him will have to become as humble as little children. [2]

Richard again: It’s difficult to hear, but Albert Nolan is simply quoting Jesus from several contexts—usually when the Twelve are all in their heads arguing. We cannot become humble by mere intellect or willpower. Pretending to be humble only makes us more self-absorbed and self-referential. All we can really do is become more aware of our pride or vanity by noticing how we respond to even minor slights or humiliations. That will be more than enough to let us know how self-centered we are and how meaningless our taking offense truly is in this infinite universe.

by JARED BYAS, M.A. from the following website, just click here

As a former teaching pastor and professor of philosophy and biblical studies, he speaks regularly on the Bible, truth, creativity, wisdom, and the Christian faith. Tweets at @jbyas

In the Bible scholars often talk of two kinds of law: apodictic and casuistic. These are part of a collection of fancy words that we use as a secret code to determine who really is the nerdiest among us (see also: Deuteronomic, theophanic, and other impressive terms that end in ‘c’.)

Apodictic laws are Divine Commands that tend to be both general and absolute. Take, for example, the Ten Commandments. “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” That’s a very broad statement but is clearly meant to be an absolute command. It’s black and white – which you would think would help us be clear about it. But because life is in color, and all shades of gray, apodictic laws are actually confusing.

Enter casuistic laws.

Casuistic laws are case laws. They are very specific and also conditional (meaning they usually start with “if” and are followed somewhere along the way with a “then”). In some ways casuistic laws are the on-the-ground working-out of apodictic laws. We see this relationship in the Bible all over the place. If only we didn’t skip those sections out of boredom but then lie and tell people we really did read the whole Bible in a year.

A famous example of course is found in the contrast between Exodus 20 and Exodus 21. Exodus 20 contains The Ten Commandments, which contains things like:

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (v. 3)

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (v. 8)

“You shall not murder.” (v. 13)

“You shall not commit adultery.” (v. 14)

“You shall not steal.” (v. 15)

And so on goes the list of apodictic laws.

Exodus 21 begins with a very different kind of law. See for example verses 28-29:

“If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.”

These casuistic laws are trying to apply the abstract principle “You shall not murder.” If my bull kills someone, is that murder? Well, it depends. Does your bull have a habit of goring? Have verbal warnings been given? Casuistic laws have a lot of “it depends.”

Why do I bring you down into the dungeon of nerdom? Because I’ve been thinking a lot about how this applies to our ideas about love. 

I find almost no one who pushes back on the “apodictic” law of love.

In the abstract, black-and-white, principled sense – who wouldn’t agree that love is the highest good?

It’s when we start to get into the casuistic applications that things get messy. In other words, expressing love in our life is more about practical wisdom than it is abstract principles. It’s messy. It’s the push and pull between the ideal and the real, the “this should work in theory” and “why the heck didn’t that work?”

What might not be obvious when we read Exodus 21 is the experiences and stories behind those casuistic laws of “if/then.” There was likely a time when the pronouncement was made: “Thou shalt not kill.” And we felt safe and secure knowing we had a rule. And then a bull gores someone. And we have to ask, “What do we do now?” There is no rule for this particular situation at this particular time involving these particular people. And we are stuck. To apply a universal rule that doesn’t take into account the specific situation feels unfair and unhelpful. To ignore the rule feels ungrounded and unhelpful. 

So, we work through it. And then leave it as an example for the future generations to say, “This is how we did it. But you will need to make your own path.” 

So, what is love? It depends.

Post from https://peteenns.com/engaging-the-bible-as-if-god-were-out-ahead-of-us/ for more information about Pete Enns and the work he does please visit his website.

Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. ~ Ecclesiastes 7:10

Thus says the ancient, postexilic, author who went by the penname Qoheleth. 

Qoheleth likely lived during the time when the Persians ruled, or even later during the Greek period. His world was complex and messy, a far cry from the ordered world of old that birthed his Jewish tradition. 

To read Ecclesiastes is to see someone struggling to stay connected to his tradition amid a changing world—not for lack of trying, but because the tradition did not help him explain his present. 

The finality of death, skepticism over the afterlife, the absurdity of life’s labors, and his blaming of an inscrutable God for this whole business pitted him in a struggle with the God of old, and he made no bones about doing so.

I am very glad that Ecclesiastes found its way into the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. His experience of alienation from the faith of old very much rings true for many Christians today, namely those who are having trouble staying connected to the faith of their youth.

They are seeking new language for their evolving faith, which, like that of Qoheleth, is sparked by the tensions between an ancient faith lived in a modern world. 

What resonates with me so powerfully about Qoheleth is that he calls into question a tendency that is so common in American evangelicalism today: to think of the Bible as a mandate to return to the “former days”—a sentiment evidenced whenever “biblical” or “unbiblical” is used to describe someone’s thinking. 

I think if we were to pin Qoheleth to the wall and ask him whether he actually rejected the tradition, he would say no. In fact, the book ends with a call to “fear God and keep his commandments” (12:13)—an affirmation of tradition if ever I heard one.

But . . . 

This affirmation of tradition is set side by side with the affirmation of Qoheleth’s bracing challenges to the tradition. After nearly 12 chapters of skepticism, even cynicism, the writer of the brief concluding section still calls him a wise teacher who “wrote words of truth plainly” (12:9-10).

Call it a paradox: honor the tradition of old and interrogate it as we exist in the present. 

Or perhaps better put, honor the tradition by interrogating it. This is how I understand Ecclesiastes 7:10 cited above: not as a blanket rejection of tradition, but as a warning not to idolize it. 

Traditions survive by adapting to the challenges of the present. A tradition that does not remain curious and flexible, willing to address the moment, is a tradition that will die a slow but inevitable death. 

I find this paradox life-giving, particularly because Scripture as a whole models this paradox again and again, not only in Qoheleth’s challenging of the tradition, but, for example, in Job’s rejection of the theology of retribution such as we read in Deuteronomy, and Jonah’s realization that God may not hate Israel’s enemies.

And the New Testament writers proclaim the Gospel as deeply tied to the ancient tradition while at the same pushing past the tradition—obedience to Torah, temple worship, a monarchy, and possession of the Promised Land. 

For the New Testament authors, these core elements of the tradition were not rejected, but neither were mimicked or reproduced. Rather, they were radically reinterpreted to keep pace with a God who was out ahead of the tradition, leading it to place “no eye has seen or ear heard.”

The Bible simply does not allow its readers to glorify an idealized past time as a golden age. The Bible, rather, bears witness to how knowledge of God is a process of on the move— changing, developing, evolving—because God is always out ahead of what we can possibly understand or think.

The Bible itself bears witness to the process of moving forward rather than retreating to an idealized past. 

And so engaging the Bible seriously today means more than seeing it as a vault of unaltering, static pieces of “information.” It means paying attention to this paradox of old and new. 

Never simply a choice between one or the other, but always both. 

Never thinking that God is found only in the one and not the other, but in both.

Never limiting God’s activity to the past, but always asking where God might be out in front of us. 

Like Qoheleth, we live in a messy world made more and more complicated, for generations, now, by explosions in technology and science. To think the Bible provides an escape from addressing constructively the challenges of our day is not only to miss the Bible’s own witness, but will signal far and wide that the Christian faith is only prepared to wish for a past rather than create a future. 

Engaging the Bible responsibly means today what it has always meant: embracing the expectation that God is doing a new thing among us. Our job is to discern what God is doing, not isolate ourselves from that sacred responsibility by cloaking ourselves with prooftexts.

By Pete Enns, PH.D.

Peter Enns (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Abram S. Clemens professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous books, including The Bible Tells Me So, The Sin of Certainty, and How the Bible Actually Works. Tweets at @peteenns.