PASTOR'S BLOG
Discovering Spiritual Truths & Celebrating God's Grace in the Every Day Happenings of Life.
Here’s what I’m thinking about doing. As our kids get out of school this week, and summer officially begins, I’m thinking about telling my wife that I am going to take the summer off from her and the kids. Don’t get me wrong, I obviously still love her and the kids. They are still really, really important to me. Really, I mean it. These are not just words to make me feel better about this decision. It’s just that there are some other things I want to get done this summer also—and sometimes they cramp my style, they slow me down. Places I want to visit and things I want to do; having a family prevents me down from checking things off of my bucket list, what I want to do. Don’t worry. I will reassure her that I’ll see her again in three months. Plus, if there is some sort of major emergency, I will probably check in with her for an hour or so. I may even make an exception for a week or two in August so we can do some sort of obligatory family vacation. I will even Venmo her a few bucks after each paycheck to keep her happy. But other than that, it’s “Sayonara baby!” Think about it… for the next three months I’m not going to waste any of my resources—time or attention, energy or money on my family. Just three glorious months of no one to make happy but me. No more coming home, spending time with family. No more cleaning. No more dishes. No more laundry. No more conversations. No chauffeuring kids to games or piano lessons. I am just going to spend 92 straight days doing whatever I want, whenever I want.
Sounds ridiculous, right? Of course it does. This is not really going happen. I would never do such a thing; and Calie would not let me. 😉 Even the suggestion of taking a summer off from your family sounds neglectful and absurd. Which wife in her right mind would tolerate a husband living in selfish solitude golfing and fishing the summer away without her? Yet the irony here is how easy it is for far too many to take the summer off from God. Seriously! Sure, we may not see it that way, nor do we do it intentionally, but the summer months often lend themselves to a less than consistent worship schedule. Most churches experience less attendance, less excitement, and less generosity during June, July, and August. Truth be told, this trend has already crept its way in here. As our summer schedules fill up, we can find ourselves tripped up by Satan and slacking in our “remember the Sabbath” duties. We spend all of Saturday busy, so Sunday feels like a good day to sleep-in. Vacations and trips to the lakes or down to the Jersey shore are the norm during the summer—but that doesn’t mean our worship habits should take a back seat. God will understand you taking a well-deserved vacation. He told you to “rest” on the Sabbath, as He knows you need a change of pace in order to recharge your batteries. Exodus 20:8-10 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” God didn’t tell you to ignore worshipping Him for months at a time, but instead, find ways of worshipping him as you take a break from the busyness of your daily life. Maintain God as a priority in your life, not just when it is convenient. The most important thing we can do for our families is show them that Jesus is still on the throne of our hearts, even when it gets to be short-sleeve weather. On Sundays over the summer whether you’re in town or somewhere else—go to church. Be immersed in His story. Seek out a place to worship God and be fed by the holy goods that only He can give. Worship is the place where God promises to meet us and give us His life-giving, forgiveness-granting goods. Church is the place where God gospelizes and graces His people. It is the place where the Divine serves us. What a gift, don’t miss it! “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrew 10:23-25 “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” (Martin Luther) (Devotion adapted from our Weekly Blast, 6.1.21)
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Imagine parents seeing their child playing on a busy street, saying, “Everything is OK.”
Or a doctor finding cancer in a patient, saying, “That’s fine.” Or people watching a blind man walk toward the edge of a cliff, saying, “He will be safe.” That, in essence, is what God accused the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day of saying. These prophets “say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you’” (Jer. 23:17). They comforted the unrepentant. They affirmed evil. Instead of preaching the law and calling sinners to repentance, they said, “Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re good.” Claiming to speak for heaven, they preached for hell. None of us likes correction. But we need it. We need to hear the stern and clear Word of God that shows us our sins, points out God’s threat to punish evildoers, and calls us to repent. This is neither an easy thing to preach nor an easy thing to hear, but the truth must be spoken. God save us from churches that do not preach the law, and do not call us to repent! God also save us from churches that do not follow this preaching of the law with the proclamation of the Good News of forgiveness and life in Jesus. It ultimately does no good to realize we are sinners and we have done wrong if that is the end of the proclamation. Telling us, “Do better!” will not help. Telling us, “Improve your life!” will not help. What we need is the sweet, consoling, life-giving Gospel preached into our ears. That Gospel will generate repentance. That Gospel will enliven us. That Gospel will pour Jesus into us so that we stand forgiven, righteous, and holy in him. Preach the law? Yes. Preach the Gospel? A thousand times, Yes! That Good News is our hope because it gives us Jesus, who forgives, renews, and leads us to a life pleasing to him. (Devotion from author Chad Bird, 6.11.24) “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4) "A man who wants to help people tell them the truth, and a man who wants to help himself tells people what they want to hear." (unknown) “Well, this is going to stink.”
This has been the consistent reaction in the Jefferson/Sparta areas over the past 18 hours. Perhaps you have heard, but Route 15 Southbound is closed indefinitely. One of the bridges they have been working on for the past year has now been deemed unsafe. Rumor has it that parts of the bridge began to crumble into the river below yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, they were able to make this determination early so that no one was on the bridge. Even still, this is closure of a major highway that will be a lengthy headache for many. Travel plans and work commutes have been radically disrupted. Frustrating. Inconvenient. Prolonged. Our local social media outlets have been saturated with people venting over this recent development. NJ DOT has warned, “expect significant delays” and “look for detours.” Truer words are rarely spoken. Earlier this morning, my wife and I found our commutes to work about 30 and 55 minutes longer than normal respectively. Of course, we both took alternate routes (we had no choice), but so did everyone else that normally travels down Rt. 15. As I sat in stop-and-go traffic this morning, I pondered the teachable moment in this. The Holy Spirit always has a lesson for a discerning heart. The verse that came to the forefront of my mind were these familiar words of Jesus, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) When it comes to our eternal salvation, there is no detour. No alternate route. No roundabout way to get to the same place. Jesus makes it clear that He is the ONLY way to eternity. Fortunately, and unlike this current transportation nightmare, this is hardly inconvenient. Quite the opposite is true. There is great joy and freedom in knowing that we need not fire up Waze or another traffic app to find the quickest alternate route. Two weeks ago, we heard these beautiful words of Jesus from the Gospel of John. You know them well. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” There is nothing stinky about this message. This promise and invitation of God is an open gift, to all people. The highway to heaven is paved with the blood and love of our Savior; and this road that leads to life will never be obstructed. It will never be too congested. It will never be closed. By faith, we journey down the traffic-free road of salvation through the vehicle that is Jesus Christ. Sadly, there are a lot of people today who feel there are many ways to get to heaven. They believe the way to heaven is like a mountain with many paths leading to the top. They are convinced that it doesn’t matter what “god” you believe in or what religion you are—as long as you do the right thing and are a good person, you can earn your way to heaven. This type of teaching is false and very dangerous; but it is far too commonplace in our culture today, especially in our northeast American context. The Bible is clear that there is only one way to heaven, and that is through faith in Jesus. Is this exclusive? Yes! But it is also a gift that is available to everyone. It is inclusively exclusive. To the unbelieving world this message is foolishness. As God’s children, this message brings us peace. It also nudges us to be more bold and vocal about this reality. Just as we may try to warn our fellow commuters about closed roads and compromised travel plans, so also may we proudly showcase the life-giving path that only Jesus provides. “Keep using my name in vain, I’ll make rush hour longer.” –God 😉 |
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