One of my favorites...
One of my favorite places and favorite times of the day is sitting at the dining room table when the morning sun filters in through the trees and heats up the room. No lights are needed and I get to feel the warmth of the sun even if it is still cool outside. Maybe a cup of pour over coffee with almond milk and I am all set to study for the next sermon or resource materials on the internet for my next project or event at the church. Mornings are my most productive time when thinking and creating and dreaming up ideas that just might work. Wherever I am at, I am going to be looking for that space in the morning that I can work but also soak in the morning rays of the sun.
This Sunday is a passage that might be easy to preach in the sense of content and context but hard to preach in the terms of applications. The applications are not hard to come by but maybe to communicate the need for revisions in our present lives in light of the Scripture will be. So many factors come into play when we look at a passage historically and try to put ourselves in their shoes. Then we try to relate it to our time and see all the differences that emerge. Scripture trumps us so we can't think that this just doesn't apply in some manner or form and it usually applies more than we think.
For instance this Sunday's topic is how we live in this world in relationship to the governing authorities that we are to be submissive to for the Lord's sake. We get a Biblical definition of what government is suppose to do and be and then we realize that our government is way beyond the definition and that also means that we as the church have not kept up with what we should be doing and allowed the government to take over some of our responsibilities. When the government does what the church is suppose to do, it eliminates a lot of the values of the church from the process that are necessary in caring for others. You dig a little deeper and your conclusion is that this is such a mess that we are in and how in the world would we every get out of it.
We have created this monster and the monster is starting to bite. I believe that our relationship with the government will become more and more separate unless we take on the values of the government over the commandments of the Scripture. The Hobby Lobby case, although deemed a victory was just one vote away from resulting in a very different outcome for those of the Christian faith and living by those values not just in the church building on a Sunday but also in their work environments on the rest of the days of the week. More churches and denominations are taking on the cultural values rather than living the Biblical values and church members are confused on what to believe.
In the midst of all of that, the gospel message of Jesus Christ needs to be proclaimed and lived by Christians and the church to our world no matter how our society changes or even how the government and church relationship changes in the future. If all the benefits of the non-profit organization are stripped away unless we follow governmental guidelines that might go against Scripture, the mandate to go and make disciples will not go away. If we in America didn't get a tax credit for our giving and no taxes for the land and the buildings that we have and benefits for full time clergy and were treated by our government as any other business, what would the church look like physically? Probably very differently but the mission would be the same. Challenging thoughts for me.
Adam
This Sunday is a passage that might be easy to preach in the sense of content and context but hard to preach in the terms of applications. The applications are not hard to come by but maybe to communicate the need for revisions in our present lives in light of the Scripture will be. So many factors come into play when we look at a passage historically and try to put ourselves in their shoes. Then we try to relate it to our time and see all the differences that emerge. Scripture trumps us so we can't think that this just doesn't apply in some manner or form and it usually applies more than we think.
For instance this Sunday's topic is how we live in this world in relationship to the governing authorities that we are to be submissive to for the Lord's sake. We get a Biblical definition of what government is suppose to do and be and then we realize that our government is way beyond the definition and that also means that we as the church have not kept up with what we should be doing and allowed the government to take over some of our responsibilities. When the government does what the church is suppose to do, it eliminates a lot of the values of the church from the process that are necessary in caring for others. You dig a little deeper and your conclusion is that this is such a mess that we are in and how in the world would we every get out of it.
We have created this monster and the monster is starting to bite. I believe that our relationship with the government will become more and more separate unless we take on the values of the government over the commandments of the Scripture. The Hobby Lobby case, although deemed a victory was just one vote away from resulting in a very different outcome for those of the Christian faith and living by those values not just in the church building on a Sunday but also in their work environments on the rest of the days of the week. More churches and denominations are taking on the cultural values rather than living the Biblical values and church members are confused on what to believe.
In the midst of all of that, the gospel message of Jesus Christ needs to be proclaimed and lived by Christians and the church to our world no matter how our society changes or even how the government and church relationship changes in the future. If all the benefits of the non-profit organization are stripped away unless we follow governmental guidelines that might go against Scripture, the mandate to go and make disciples will not go away. If we in America didn't get a tax credit for our giving and no taxes for the land and the buildings that we have and benefits for full time clergy and were treated by our government as any other business, what would the church look like physically? Probably very differently but the mission would be the same. Challenging thoughts for me.
Adam
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