Jul 11

Just Ignore the Owner’s Manual

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
Psalm 86:11

How foolish would it be to buy a new car, but then just toss out the Owner’s Manual?  Then when the light comes on the dashboard, just think it is a nice color or a cute picture.  We would call that practice foolish.

The Bible has been compared to an owner’s manual.  Not that it’s full of maintenance schedules, but that it is our Maker’s guide to us for living.  How often do we encounter a problem, but not seek the Lord’s answers to it?  How often do we simply ignore the warning lights of life, thinking it will get better sooner or later?  That is often how we treat the direction given to us by God in the Word of God.  The oil can symbol on the car is not a genie’s lamp for us to rub and get three wishes.  It is a signal that we have a problem and must follow the prescribed solution given by the manufacturer.  You may get the oil light to go off by putting water into the oil reserve, but the engine will not go much longer.

In Proverbs the admonition that there is a way that seems right to us, but the end of that way is the way of death (Prov 14:12; 16:25.)  That is the bottom line this week, are we going to do it God’s way, with God’s wisdom, and God’s righteousness; or we going to do it our way, that often does not end up very well? 

Pastor Greg

Jul 04

Leadership in the Kingdom of God

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15)

There are many discussions, books, articles, and opinions on leadership in the church.  If I were to dig through my old books, I am sure I have a half dozen volumes on pastoral leadership and leadership in the church.  I have gained insights and inspiration from much of this material.  Yet, biblical leadership really comes down to a fundamental concept, an overarching image.  That is of a shepherd.

Jesus calls himself the “Good Shepherd” in the Gospels.  And show us that a good shepherd protects, cares for, sacrifices himself for, and feeds the sheep.  In our text for this Sunday, 2 Samuel 5, David is made king because he demonstrates a shepherd’s heart for the people.  We can meditate on one of his most loved Psalms that begins with “The Lord is my shepherd.”  Then Jesus gives us hard-hitting teaching on being a shepherd of God’s people in John 10.  The contrast in John 10 is between the enemy that seeks to “steal and kill and destroy,” and God’s shepherd that seeks abundant life for the flock.

Leadership in the Kingdom of God is on many levels, including responsivities we take u in the church, as parents in the home, as supervisors on the job, of even the shepherd of you own soul.  In all these to be a successful leader, the qualities that God is looking for is that of a shepherd that feeds, tends, and protects the lambs of the fold.  Sometimes we call this “Servant-Leadership.”

“Do you love me?”  If our answer is yes, then our actions must be to “feed my lambs.”  Who are you tending to in the service of God?  What flock have you been placed in to care for those that are vulnerable?  How well do you feed Christ’s sheep?

Pastor Greg

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.

Watch for closings and delay messages
during the winter months on TV Channels 3, 5 and 8.

Twinsburg First Congregational Church