Jun 26

How Do We Overturn this Present Evil Age?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

What does Jesus tell us about justice in an unjust age?  The core of it is in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  We often think in platitudes when we read this radical charter of the Kingdom of God.  We spiritualize Jesus’ “turn the other cheek” to the place where we can give those that harm us their “what for!”  The meek inheriting the earth is not a euphemism.  It is the God-ordained order of God’s Kingdom.  But our lack of vision for the Kingdom of God is the reason we cannot fully embrace justice for the meek, the poor, and the grieving.  Our lack of vision keeps us from being those that hunger and thirst for justice, the peace makers, the sincere ones, and accept persecution for our justice seeking lives in the face of this unjust world.

Yet, Jesus isn’t satisfied with merely overturning this world. For the very essence of his critique — that we were created not merely for justice but also for love and life — is simultaneously the only possible hope for those enmeshed in the orders of the world.  Strength eventually fails.  Power corrupts.  And survival of the fittest leaves so many bodies on the ground.  Love alone transforms, redeems, and creates new life. As Martin Luther King, Jr., a student of both Jesus and Gandhi, once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

This week we hear from David and how he responds to his mortal enemies being destroyed, and his competition for the throne of Israel being removed.  How do you respond when those that disagree with you finally get their comeuppance? 

Pastor Greg

Jun 22

The Big Question and Light Pollution

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:3-4 (ESV)

When my family moved from Seven Hills near I-480 to Hudson 22 years ago, I noticed that I could see the stars much more clearly.  But over the years with the development of industrial areas of my city, I have noticed that the stars are not as visible as they were before.  It’s called “light pollution” and keeps us from seeing the stars and planets as clearly as before.

I think that is what is going on with the rest of our lives.  The pollution of noise, media voices, the hub-bub of living has kept us from looking at creation and asking the big questions.  As the handiwork of God is being obscured by the overcrowded environment, we are challenged with our place in God’s creation, our relationship to God’s creation, and our relationship to our Creator.  

The Psalmist literally asks, “Who am I that you think about me?”  But then, we crowd our lives with the pollution of this world and we don’t consider our relationship with our Creator.

I read a nice article from ThyBlackMan.com; where the author began; “Many have a big problem conceiving God, but God does not have a problem defining man. Nowhere in the realm of intelligent, conclusive conceptions, not in religion, not in philosophy, and certainly not in science, is there a wholly acceptable and compelling definition of Almighty God.”  

What does our Creator think about us, especially as individuals?  How do we relate to our Creator and God’s standards of justice, righteousness, and morality?  These are the big questions behind the struggle we read of the women and men in Scripture.  These same big questions we wrestle with today.  But it takes us pushing all the garbage aside to give us time to think about the answers.

Pastor Greg

Devout Christians: Grasping the Ungraspable – The Enduring Quest to Define the Divine.

Jun 13

Were is God Looking?

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

2 Chronicles 16:9

We don’t think of it, but seeing is a spiritual discipline. The references to seeing and looking in
a chapter on faith, Hebrews 11, are abundant. But what are we to see? And what gets in the
way of us seeing with our faith?
God is looking. The verse from 2 Chronicles challenges us to be noticed by God. And God
notices people with hearts loyal to him. The context of this verse is a time where God wanted
to display his glory to the enemies of God’s people. Yet, their hearts were conflicted, seeking
help from sources other than their God.
We like to devise schemes to get us out of the situations we find ourselves in. Still God is
looking. We panic and grasp at straws to find answers. God is still looking. We even accept the
situation as hopeless. Still God is looking.
When God sees us in Twinsburg does God find what he is looking for? My prayer for my life
and ministry is “God look here.” To do that, I know that my heart must be loyal and seeking
after God? When God sees us in Twinsburg, does God find what he is looking for?


Pastor Greg

Jun 06

When Can I Ignore God

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

(James 1:22-23)

I don’t think King Saul intentionally wanted to disobey God. He really
thought that he had followed God’s commands in the defeat of the Amalekites. He
had just given into some reasonable expectations of his soldiers. Saul had
deceived himself. That is the tragedy of the story in 1 Samuel 15.
Almost obeying is not fully obeying. How often do we fall into the trap of
rationalizing the reasons not to fully obey God? “If I only had a better neighbor,
boss, spouse, or parent; then I would be able to obey God. If only I had an easier
job, less yard work, a better car; then I would be able to faithful to church. I could
go on, but then someone would accuse me of meddling. The point is, “if-only’s”
cannot be our excuse for obeying God fully. If we have an “if-only,” James says in
the verse above, we are deceiving ourselves.
There is a promise for being faithful to the will of God. Paul says “ And let us
not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose
heart (Gal 6:9).” Being fully obedient to God is not easy, it usually is not fun, and
it often faces opposition from those that misunderstand what we are doing. But if
we fully obey God to the best of our ability, then we will reap the bounty of God’s
blessing in our lives. So do not give up in doing the work of God.
Pastor Greg