Stephanie's blooming flowers...Matthew 17:24-27...Jesus the perfect fishing guide (longer post - Charlie Kirk)

 

Look at the color that greets us on our deck!  Stephanie sure has a green thumb.  I'm just the waterer and also diligent to keep spraying to keep the critters away.  It is also the sign here that colder weather is on the way.  There is snow on the tops of the mountains again and there was also frost on the roofs.  Summer people are headed to warmer temps and we settle in not just for the colder climate but also for the time the core has to zero in on each other.  What will come of our colder months together in light of the further developments of being a better established biblical church?  I am praying that we will develop a pathway to go from investigating SCC to investing in the ministry here, from being infrequent in attendance to being a frequent flyer with us, from just attending to one assigned to a ministry, and from the pew to being a player.  How are we assisting in this process and what does this person look like in practical terms?  What are the biblical principles being played out that we can keep each other accountable to for the spiritual benefit of the one and also the greater good of the whole body?  Sounds like I'm starting the colder climate conversation right here!

Our passage was a Matthew only recorded event.  Jesus again acts as the fishing guide to the professional fisherman Peter.  Jesus shows that He is sovereign and at the same time fulfills His role as a teacher to help Peter go from the physical to the spiritual.  We live in a physical world that has temporal demands of us while we are a part of the spiritual family that has eternal promises.  Many of the temporal demands of this physical world do not violate the commandments of the Scripture.  If one does then the instruction is clear to stand with God in the face of man and accept the physical consequences of doing so because the spiritual consequences is a standing for Christ no matter what.  If one doesn't violate the Scriptures then the instruction is clear to fulfill that demand so that we don't trip them up, offend them, or close the door on a relationship that could lead to eternal things. 

The coinage in the mouth of the fish paying the temple tax for both Jesus and Peter is a beautiful picture of Jesus paying with His own life what is owed of us.  He paid the price for our sin.  He did it His own way by following His Father's plan and will to the cross.  Peter's part was to respond to the instruction of Jesus with obedience.  This is what we do when the eyes of our heart are opened to see Jesus as both sovereign and teacher.  We respond with simple obedience to repent (turn from the world and to Him) and believe on Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Simple in the fact that the instruction is easy to understand but it might be hard to fulfill because we might still be thinking "what will others think" if I respond in a Jesus way to this situation?  If you are truly following Jesus, you will look "odd" to the world at times but no matter because Jesus has gone from being on bench in your life and calling Him in to play when you need Him to being the captain of the team that you take orders from.  

Next week we start chapter 18 and it is another discourse (teaching section) of the Gospel of Matthew.  This will be number 4 of 5.  Get ready to talk about humility.

Some have talked to me specifically about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.  Prayers for his family and organization and also all those young people who witnessed it.  I have learned a lot from people like Charlie who could articulate his views while challenging the other to defend their positions.  He was a professing Christian with a testimony of responding to Christ as his Savior and Lord.  He spoke often of his faith in Christ to those who were at his events.  So a Christian was murdered, taken out, on US soil last week.  His views were so tied together between what some might call political with his application of them to the Scriptures.  This is where I think the waters get muddy by our own doing.  Many political issues are called political but they really are spiritual issues addressed in the pages of the Bible.  When we call them political instead of spiritual we call people to our man-made sides of red and blue.  When really we need to keep them in the realm of right and wrong in relationship to what God has said.  We know that this young man didn't like Charlie's views by the testimony of his family to his own words about him but what views didn't he like?  Are the views he didn't like firmly established Biblical truths?  If so, then the shot was to silence one who was speaking God's words and challenging others to submit to them.  We may never fully know but I am thankful that Charlie put himself in a place to challenge the next generation to think through what they believe and hopefully to stand on more solid ground than the man-made party line of their earthly tribe.  "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."  May we be standing on that Rock.

I also wrote this this morning in our church email that pertains to the events of the last week.  I will include it here for further instruction from God's word that is needed from Christians and the church to assist the world.  We need to proclaim His truth and practice it.

What is going on?

The last couple of weeks have been hard to witness in our country. Fatalities have occurred in public settings, public transportations and public and private schools. What do we make of this? I have been thankful for the conversations with some of you in the church about how to deal with recent happenings. This is my attempt to make sense of it. The video above will probably give a fuller picture of this than my notes here but my notes also contain things afterwards that might make more sense. Do both!

Our culture is running at break neck speeds. We have a thirst for speed in the car world. Cars are graded by how fast they can go from 0 to 60 or in the quarter mile. Each decade the seconds have been ticking off. There is an electric race car that can now reach 60 mph in just 1 second! I think this is a good picture of our society. We go in 1 second from what is said to our accusation. We jump over the conversation that in includes context and content. This is a crucial step if we are going to give an answer to what is said.

When we jump over this step we miss out on what we might have in common. We miss out on a fuller understanding of where they are coming from even if we don't agree. We miss out on questioning them that might lead to a different conclusion for them that is based off of your standing upon the Scriptures. We miss out on them also giving you an opportunity to share in content and context your position. We miss out on showing humility. Humility is seen in that conversation. Pride is seen in the jump from the sound-byte that is given and right to the accusation.

The Bible tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger. When we make the jump over conversation with context and content we become slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to anger. We have heard enough and even if it is just one word; we fire off our response on multiple social media platforms; and we are quicker to acting out an extreme as we have seen the last couple of weeks that hurts more than it helps.

The Bible gives us what to do and I ask who is the proclaimer of this? The church is the answer and we just don't proclaim it but we also practice it. I try to make it a practice if something is said or brought to my attention that I go back to the source and listen to the entirety of the event. I need to hear the context and content before I respond. My response might still be the same as when I heard the sound-byte but most likely the delivery of that response will have changed.

The Bible gives us 3 God created institutions: the family, the governing authorities, and the church. The family cared for the family by instructing and walking alongside this family member to do the right thing by turning himself in. The governing authorities will abide by the laws of the land and bring above a just judgment for the crime that was committed. The church will point back to God's word to speak and show the right solution to our society. We need to make sure that we are doing our part. The world needs to see this in our homes, our churches, at school, on the job sites, and at play.

We miss so much going at this speed. Stephanie had a job cleaning a factory break room and bathrooms when we lived in Michigan. It had to be done at shift change. I would go with her and make the 10 mile trip up I-75 from Gaylord to Vanderbilt. The speed limit was 70 mph at the time but sometimes we had time and we would drive the old speed limit of 55 mph. It was the time of day when we might drive the whole stretch and not encounter another car. It was amazing what we observed by slowing down. Just a couple minutes more to get to our destination but what was gained actually enhanced our day and allowed our mind to be more prepared. I think this is true in our culture that if we would slow down and enter into the conversation to get the context and content then we would make better responses to what we are hearing at break neck speed. Let's be a church that is quick to use our ears, slow to use our mouths and allow that to guide our actions to be in line with God's word.

Pastor Adam