The Beginning

For the last few days another conversation I had a few years ago has been on my mind. Not sure why, because with this one I haven't really wished I'd said something else.

At one point when I was a youth/young adult pastor in Michigan a discussion began at our young adult Bible study over young earth/old earth. There is scientific evidence for both, and I could make an argument for both if I had to. But in my mind it doesn't really matter all that much to my walk with Christ. I return to my adapted version of a quote from my college Church History professor, "The Bible contains everything you need to know to become like Christ, it does not contain the answers to everything you are curious about."

I don't need to know how old or young the earth/universe is. It really doesn't matter, if it did, the Bible would tell me a specific date. All I need to know to become like Christ is what the Bible tells me.

Genesis 1.1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1.3, "Then God said...and there was..."

Genesis 1.6-7, 9, 11, 14-15, 24, "Then God said...and it was so..."

Genesis 1.20-21, 26-27, "Then God said...God created..."

At the end of each day the Bible tells us "and God saw that it was good."

We can then jump ahead to John 1.1-3, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

That is what we need to know in regards to the beginning of the world. Does it matter to salvation and holiness how old the earth is? No, if it did then God would have told us. Are we curious about it? Of course, and so God gave us science to learn and explore as we try to figure things out. But for me and you to become like Christ, everything we need to know is in the Bible.

In terms of creation, all I need to know is that whenever the beginning was, it was then that God made everything. He created everything that exists by speaking, and when He made it, everything was good.

While science is fascinating, let's not get caught up on the things that we really can't prove and let's not let them become dividing walls among the Church. Let us instead unite around the Truth given to us in the Bible as we strive to become like Christ.

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

Wrestlers

This winter I've had the opportunity to work as an assistant wrestling coach with the local high school team. It's been good to lace up my shoes again and step on the mat. I've enjoyed coaching, my wife says that I'm most alive when I'm working with boys and young men, helping them reach their potential. And with wrestling there are different types of young men.

You have some with talent, and some who don't have any. There are some who work hard and some who slack off. There are some that are there to compete, to be the best, and others who are there simply to goof around. Some of them frustrate you and others you love, and coaches have to work with all of them.

There are a few kids that should be state bound this year, they have the talent and know how to use it. There are some who have the potential to be phenomenal wrestlers. They are strong and solid, but have little drive or aggression. There are two that have the talent to be good, but just goof around all of practice, wasting their talent. And there are some with little talent, or little experience, that out work everyone else in the room. It's often that way, the ones with the least talent are the ones that work the hardest.

I was one of them. Most kids today start wrestling at four or five years old. I didn't start until seventh grade. Right away I was a middle weight with guys who had been wrestling most of their lives, I had a lot of ground to make up. I out worked everyone. I worked hard in the room, and did everything I could in the off season, running, lifting, as many open tournaments as I could find, open mats wherever I could get (thank you to my dad for the time and money he put into this). And even when I had gotten to be a good wrestler I kept working hard, I had seen the results of it, and so it continued to drive me.

That's why it frustrates me so much now to see some of these boys. They have more talent then I ever did, but they waste it because the work is hard. It frustrates me that some of the hardest workers don't get to see the victory that their work deserves. There is one kid who has a goal that his work has earned but his talent, barring a miracle, will never achieve. And some have the talent to be the best but their work ethic keeps them from achieving their full potential. It makes me wonder why God didn't bless the hard workers with the talent.

The Bible talks about Spiritual gifts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. These are God given talents to be used by us to serve others, build the Kingdom, and glorify God. Some have several, no one has them all, everyone has at least one. "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly" Romans 12.6; "But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" 1 Corinthians 12.7.

God has given each of us at least one skill to use for Him. think about it, the God who spoke the universe into existence has decided to give you and me a talent that we can use to serve Him. The God who holds the universe in the palm of His hand, a universe that we are really, really small in, has given us a gift to serve Him. He has invited us to give Him glory that He must receive, allowing us to take part in the worship of Him. It is a service we are unworthy to give and unfit to offer, but He still invites and desires for us to give it to Him. Not only that, but He enables us, empowers us, to do it!

Why then do we waste our gifts? It is something precious given to us by God, and we ignore it, or treat it like it's nothing at all. One of the most frustrating things to a coach is the talented kid who wastes his talent by not working hard. It's almost heartbreaking, you see a kid that could do so well, who could get so for and do so much, and simply won't work for it. Do you think God feels the same way?

Let us not waste our gifts, let us use them for the glory of God. My mentor says there are six things that show a person where they are gifted; three internal and three external. The internal are joy, ease and losing track of time while you do it. When you serve you are joyful, you aren't drained but energized. When you serve it is easy, you get it done quickly and efficiently, you don't have to work that hard at it. When you serve you lose track of time, you aren't constantly looking at your watch. The external things are, fruitfulness, affirmation, and confirmation. When you serve things happen. When you serve people affirm you, telling you that you do it well. When you serve leaders confirm you, that you have that gift. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CtCYrfGHQw)

Find your place to serve, discover your gift. Use it, don't waste it. Jesus told a story once about a master who went on a journey and gave each of his servants an amount of money. Two of them put it to work and on his return we praised. The third one however did not. He buried his portion, and when the master returned he called him wicked and lazy and said, "'Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" But to the ones who had used their portion the master said, "Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master"(Matthew 25.14-30).

Which one do you want to be? What do you want to hear? Use your gifts for the glory of God.

Peace be with you

Philippians 2.13

"for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

God is at work to will and work for His good pleasure. God is at work in me. God is at work in the situations I face. God is at work in all of this for His glory. He is working for His glory both now, in this moment, and for His glory in the future. Everything that takes place ultimately must result in the glory of God. The universe exists to glorify its Creator.

No matter what happens God is at work for His glory. God is at work for His glory in every situation that takes place. Because of this, He will strengthen me. When He strengthens me I can endure all things that I must suffer for His sake. It all leads to the glory of God. Everything must lead to the glory of God.

I really began to think about this a few years ago. The verse that really made me see this was Philippians 2.11, "and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." All of creations declares Christ as Lord, not for the glory of Jesus, but for God the Father. Everything that happens must ultimately end in God's glory. He is the almighty Creator of the Universe. He is the standard of Love, Holiness, Righteousness, Truth and Purity. God must be glorified. Creation exists for that one purpose.

When I think about life and the stuff I deal with in that light, with God being glorified through everything, it makes it all seem worth it. It humbles me, and makes me realize my true place and purpose in the universe. I'm really not too big, or important, but God has decided to let me glorify Him. He works in me for His good pleasure. And not just in me, but in you as well. What an honor to be able to glorify God almighty.

Peace be with you

Computer Problems

For the last two weeks my sermon writing day has began with computer issues. I have adopted my mentor's sermon writing process in part. Monday you read the text, that's it. He writes it out, sometimes I do this recently I haven't been just because the sections have been large. Tuesday I read and take notes on things I observe, questions that I have, and words or phrases that intrigue me and I want to look at in the original language. Wednesday is commentary day, reading what other people have seen and found. My mentor says one of the biggest mistakes you can make with sermon writing is consulting a commentary too soon because at that point you no longer know what your original thoughts are. After working with the text for three days, Thursday is the day I sit down to write, and for the last two weeks, Thursday has begun with computer issues.

I have spent hours in store and on the phone with people who aren't providing the customer service that a company should provide. People say they can't do anything and that I need to call this number. I call the number they give me another number. In store they say there is nothing they can do even though I have a warranty I paid for. It's a very stressful experience that I don't wish upon anyone. And it's the last thing you need when you're trying to write a sermon for Sunday.

But I've come to see in the last few hours that the computer issues have been God trying to get my attention. Last week I sat down Saturday to write the sermon for the next day, and as I'm writing it hits me that the message isn't for this week, God is leading me in another direction. I had to save it for the next week and come up with something new. Fortunately it's God who is guiding all of this and He doesn't drop the ball. He laid the four weapons of the enemy on my heart that past week because that was what He wanted me to preach.

This week is our children's Christmas program at church. There will hopefully be visitors, the parents of the children in the program. The section of John I was going to be using last week is fully focused on salvation, and my thought was God wants it this week so I'll save it, and it's pretty much done. But as I sat down yesterday to finish what I had started five days earlier, I was greeted by more computer issues. More time on the phone, more frustration, and once it's resolved, not motivation to write a sermon.

My wife and I went to lunch, and since she's going to be taking on Wednesday night children's ministry we were able to spend the afternoon together at a Christian book store looking for material and resources for Wednesday night church. While we were there I saw something that I had been meaning to buy but had forgotten about. It's a four dvd pack by Louie Giglio called The Heart of Passion. Last night we watched two of them, Indescribable and How Great is our God.

I have seen both of them before, but last night I was reminded of how awesome God is. In both of these Louie talks about the universe, the wonders that are out there, the size of all of it. Indescribable focuses on the greatness of God, how God is at the heart of everything, and how Jesus came to die on a cross. How Great is our God focuses on the size of the universe and us in it, how small we are compared to how big the universe is, and how small the universe is compared to God. And yet how God, the creator of all of it knows each of us by name, and cares about each of us. God Himself holds us together.

As I listened to him I realized that God wanted me to share that with the people this Sunday. That the God who made the vast universe, a universe full of wonders, billions of galaxies, countless stars, cares about us so much that He came to a speck in the universe to die on a cross in order to save us from sin. It truly is indescribable, God truly is so great.

Christmas is all about the creator showing us how much He loves us. He came to earth, a place you can't even see if you look at a picture of our galaxy, and died on a cross to save us. That is what Christmas is all about, it really makes computer problems seem insignificant.

Peace be with you

Created to be Creative

Today I feel like talking about the Universe, it is something that constantly fascinates me. I have a very limited understanding of it. Basically I know it's really big, so big in fact, that we don't even know how big. Scientists believe there are hundreds of billions of galaxies out there. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way has an estimated 100 billion to 400 billion stars, depending on your source. And God spoke it all into existence.

There are so many wonders out there that we haven't even discovered yet. There are some we may never see. But God made them all. Part of me wonders if the reason we still find new things is because God is still creating new things. God is a creative God. Look at the stuff we have right here on Earth. Then look up.

The unique thing about Earth is that we are in the perfect position in our Galaxy to observe everything else. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, and our solar system is located near the edge of one of the spiral arms and above the equatorial plane of the galaxy. The one planet we know of that contains intelligent life is ideally placed to view the rest of the galaxy, what are the chances that this happened randomly?

The God who made all of this made us in His image. He is creative, and He made us to be creative. He created us with the ability to create telescopes to observe the universe from our unique position in the galaxy. He made us with the ability to create satellites and space ships to to venture into the final frontier and discover the vastness of space.

If Heaven has free time and we are allowed and enabled to do whatever we want I would opt to travel across the universe and see the wonders that are out there. To see everything that my Creator has created. My second choice we be to travel through time. I'd see the world before the fall of man, see it in it's infant perfection. I'd go to each civilization during the peak of their cultures. See ancient Egypt in it's prime. Spend time in ancient Greece when it was all new. Explore Israel throughout the Bible times. Visit the Roman Empire. I'd want to see all of it.

I'm drawn to that because I'm drawn to the creativity of the image of God. I've shared this before, "The glory of God is man fully alive." When are we more alive then when we are creating something? God made us to be creative. Let's never stop.

Peace be with you

He calls me Friend

Over the last few weeks there as been a verse on my mind, Galatians 4.9a, "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God" the more I think about it, the more amazed I get.

I think back to one of my theology classes in college, we talked about the vastness of creation. Look at the universe, not simply our solar system or our galaxy, but the entire universe. The current estimates I found is that there are somewhere between 100 and 200 billion galaxies in the universe, a universe that we don't even know how big it is because we can't even see it all!

Louie Giglio has a DVD called Indescribable, where he talks about the vastness of the universe, he mentions a verse in it, where God measures the universe with his hand. He can hold it in his hand! If we look at our galaxy the world doesn't even show up. Even in our solar system it appears as a pal blue dot. But to that pal blue dot God came as a human, not to live a simple life, but to die a painful, humiliating death.

John 15.13-15

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."

He died for us, he calls us his friends! The creator of a universe so big that we can't even comprehend it, loves us so much not just to create us, but to be involved in our existence, to die in order to redeem us, and calls us his friends! It truly is indescribable.

Galatians 4.9 says, "or rather to be known by God." Who cares that we know God? We should know him, he made the universe, he holds it in his hand, so what's the big deal for us to know him? But for him to know us, that's what's so incredible. The fact that while we exist in an incredible universe, amid countless stars which God knows by name (Psalm 147.4) he calls us his friends, truly is indescribable.