Perfect Peace; a Glorious River

 

Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again—rejoice!  Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.  Remember, the Lord is coming soon.  Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:4-7

The writer of the hymn Like a River Glorious, which we sang earlier in the service, was Frances Ridley Havergal.  She lived a short life (1836-79) in the middle part of the 19^th century.  She wrote about 50 hymns, many of which are still in church hymnals around the world.  This hymn came about because a friend wrote her a letter, in which she shared her struggle with faith, particularly about her salvation.  Frances wrote back to her quoting one of Paul’s other letters:

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  Romans 5:1

She went on to say that this peace is ‘yours already, purchased for you, made for you, sealed for you, pledged to you – by the word of the Father and the ‘precious blood of Jesus!’  Apparently, Frances recognized the vicious circle that many Christians get into, struggling to feel at peace.  The harder they struggle, the less peace they feel, which makes them struggle more.  But God’s peace is a gift already given.  We don’t have to fight for it.[1]

When it comes to struggling to feel at peace, I find two dangers and one safe place. 

Danger #1.  Always struggling, never finding

Some of us are perfectionists (how many of you are married to one?).  In Frances Havergal’s day there was a rash of that amongst Christian churches.  Many were trying to be the perfect Christian.  Somehow, they’d forgotten that job had already been filled…perfectly…on Calvary. 

As Methodists we sling around the term perfection.  Sometimes we say it like the man who just announced to a worldwide audience on CNN that he had achieved perfect humility.  Rather, we are to be going on to perfection in love as John Wesley had it.  This means acting with humility, kindness, and grace towards others – NOT perfectly knowing everything and doing everything without flaw.  That’s not a possibility for fallen humans, albeit redeemed. 

Somehow, grasping at perfection, as if it is something you could master within you, misses the point Paul made about finding peace.  He spoke to real people who had the same kinds of sin problems we do; they weren’t perfect and they knew it.  So Paul told them rejoice – and then he said it a second time again…I say REJOICE.  I believe he said it in his best capital letters voice so they’d get it.  People who are forever struggling over finding peace are like folks who bring an elephant gun to a mosquito fight…they make a lot of noise, but kill very few bugs.  Struggle doesn’t produce peace; rather it’s a formula for a spiritual coronary.

Danger #2.  Hardly struggling, despairing finding peace

This is the other side of struggle as a vocation, pursuing peace as if a prize to be locked away in a trophy closet; this is fatalism, resigning to the difficulty of peace in a warring world, and writing-off having any part of it.  This is losing the desire to even pray for peace, the essence of despair, giving up! 

Paul’s letters are filled with military and athletic competition analogies.  Paul encourages us to run the race ^{(Galatians 5)}, fight a good fight ^{(1 Timothy 6)}_,  and when it comes to being God’s worker in the field, Paul encourages us to give everything we’ve got to please God. 

Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.  2 Timothy 2:15

But as God’s co-laborers, we’re not struggling to find peace; in His vineyard we are laboring to show others the Prince of Peace.  We haven’t given-up in despair and unbelief.  There, in the fields of God’s vineyard, when we labor shoulder to shoulder, not complaining, but learning to rejoice in all things, we are the very essence of the hard-working servant hearing well done, enter into thy Master’s joy…that’s a place of peace and rest!

These are two dangers, the first is always struggling, and the second is never hoping…and then:

The Safe Place – Resting in His Unchanging Grace  and finding peace like a glorious river…Always!

In the second verse of Havergal’s Like a Glorious River, we have the image of Moses hidden in the hollow place, the cleft of the rock, both metaphors for being like the children’s song, He’s Got the Whole World (where?) In His Hand. 

And covered there with the hand of God, there is no foe, surge of worry, or care, that can touch us.  Nothing can assail or corrupt God’s plans; He is entirely unhurried by both joys or sorrows and trials. 

And in that condition, you and I experience the river, gloriously and victoriously, in perfect grace and peace; it is there we experience God’s grace and peace fuller and deeper every day.

And so, to the business of the day, which the apostle Paul called the peace that passes understanding.  It’s found not in struggle, or giving up hope…that perfect peace is found in surrendering to the safe place of communion with God.  It is when we place our hand firmly in His, trusting him fully for that peace.

We do this because, as Frances Ridley Havergal understood and wrote,

they who trust him wholly find him whole true

stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest,

finding, as he promised, perfect peace and rest.

This is the essence of that glorious river of communion, the peace of a heart unhurried and unworried, firmly planted in Christ, and in sweet fellowship with all who are in that communion with Jesus.

Our Prayer

As we move to this place of perfect peace and rest in communion with our blessed Lord, I want to give Frances Havergal the last word from another hymn she wrote.  The hymn is very short, but it helps us open the front-entry door to perfect communion, and thereby perfect peace:

In full and glad surrender, I give myself to thee,

Thine utterly and only, and evermore to be.

O Son of God, who lov’st me, I will be thine alone;

And all I have and am, Lord, shall henceforth be thine own.

Reign over me Lord Jesus, O make my heart thy throne;

It shall be thine, dear Savior, it shall be thine alone.

O come and reign, Lord Jesus, rule over ev’rything!

And keep me always loyal and true to thee, my King.[2]

Come, sweet Holy Spirit, embrace us with thy power and love as we dine together in perfect peace and rest.

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 

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[1] Perfect Peace – Frances Ridley Havergal (Excerpted from Women in Christian History, Petersen & Shreeves)

[2] The Methodist Hymn-Book with Tunes, Methodist Conference Office, London, 1933, page 567 (Hymnary.org)

Kingdom Living Series - Part 7 PROSPER

 

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.  Matthew 5:48
Those who listen to instruction will prosper;
    those who trust the Lord will be joyful.  Proverbs 16:20

If you’re old enough to remember the days of Vietnam and when McDonalds first put up the Golden Arches, you are also probably old enough to remember Julie Andrews’ song “Practically Perfect” in the movie “Mary Poppins”.   Mary Poppins was the nanny who was “prac-tic-ally perfect in every way”. 

About the same time as Mary Poppins entered the scene, Mac Davis introduced us to his version:

O Lord, it’s hard to be humble,

When you’re perfect in every way

I just can’t wait to look in the mirror,

‘Cause I get better looking each day

Now, those were fun things, Mary Poppins, and an arrogant cowboy…priceless!  But Jesus laid out a tougher plan; He said we should be perfect.  What’s a believer to do with that?

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, believed^[1] it was possible for followers of Jesus to achieve spiritual perfection – to the point of not sinning by being unloving.  Indeed, he held that God expected it.  Wesley believed the pursuit of Christian perfection in love should shape our lives here on earth.

To become “perfect,” one would have to get rid of a whole shopping-list of bad things.  The problem is that we love those things because we have a base nature that tends to get worse, not better. 

When I was a kid, I used to come in from a hard day of playing in the dirt and Mom would have the bath ready.  I'd go sit on the edge of the bathtub, wet the end of the washcloth, and clean a little spot right in the middle of my forehead.  I could then announce with a clear conscience that I'd washed; Mom would say, get real!

Reality says that if you are not 100% perfectly-clean you are still dirty.  In a spiritual sense, you are not clean, simply by quitting one or two bad habits and going to church.  That is reformation; speaking of which, we are right at the 503^rd anniversary of The Reformation started by Martin Luther.  This was rearranging church life and thought to get it right.  It didn’t.  Every denomination, church, and believer in the body of Christ hasn’t gotten it perfect….ever!

If you get rid of all the bad habits, go to church all the time, go on visitation, sing in the choir, and give all your money…well, that is incredible reformation.  And it still isn't perfection! 

In fact, that's not even what God requires, or what He wants!  God doesn’t really want your reformation; God requires a transformation!  And only the grace of God can do that!

Now, there are a lot of different ideas of exactly what Jesus meant by telling us to “be perfect” or morally healthy.  It takes a lot of thought to get our minds around this one.  We know ourselves, and we know how hard it is just to stay on a diet, or quit smoking, or quit cussing.  But to do it all – to  actually be perfect before God….that is a monumental concept. 

John Wesley’s sermon on Christian Perfection (going on in this life to perfection in love) is over 20 pages long (be thankful this one is only 4!).

So, where do you start?  How is it possible to be perfect in love?  How do you do that?  How do you change?  The answer is, YOU don't!  Christ does it in you! 

In John’s first epistle the Apostle gives us the starting place for Christian perfection: 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.^[2] 

The word “purify” (or “cleanse”) is much different than the washcloth plan I tried to pass off as having cleaned Russell.  Beloved, when Jesus cleans you, not even your mother can find a dirty spot!

Now, if this is the starting point, where is the finish line?  How can we (as Wesley asked Methodists two centuries ago)…how can we “go on to perfection in love”? 

I believe with all my heart that the answer to that question is two-fold: 

1.   RECOGNIZE AND ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU CANNOT DO IT  

Only God can create in you the kind of moral character that “perfection” suggests.  Everywhere in Scripture we are told to follow-after Jesus and his righteousness (see Matthew 6:33).  But it is not following-after-to-catch righteousness that we are urged to do; rather it is in the following-after we will find ourselves transformed^[3] by the righteousness of Jesus Christ! 

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.  This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

2.   Commit to the truth that the longer you give yourself to Christ’s will, without reservation, totally abandoned to His leading, the more you will become like Him, and less like your old self.

Committing to this truth means you will find yourself loving others even if they don’t love you back.

It has been said that the Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint.  It was never truer of something than this one issue. 

Elizabeth and I got married on February 12, 1967….and a lot of changes have taken place…yes, sir!  Hanging out with her for the past nearly 54  years has changed the little boy who tried to convince mama with a “little-dab’l-do-ya” washcloth.  Now there are no socks dropped on the floor (mostly), crumbs routinely left on the table , or messy garage (occasionally).  And do you know what?  I now like it that way! 

It is the same way with hanging out with Christ – there will be changes…you will be going-on to having your ability to love increase towards perfection as you learn to submit to His leadership. 

That’s what the Apostle Paul found out.  He first met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  He followed Jesus for the next 30 or more years, still learning.  But one thing he’d learned and found to be unequivocally-true, and the most important thing about Christian perfection:  when you hang out with Jesus you learn to love what Jesus loves, and, keeping your eyes on Jesus, the rest somehow fades away…

It’s much like Helen Lemmel’s hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:

…and the things of earth will grow strangely dim,                                                                                     in the light of his glory and grace.[4]

So…you want Christian perfection?  Say it with Paul:

I want to know Christ…this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:10a, 13b-14 ^(NRSV)

Father help us to let go of this world’s ways so we can prosper in the ways of Your blessed Kingdom. 

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father. 

Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation  Matthew 10:24-39©

Watch Sermon Video

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[1] John Wesley, sermon #40 “Christian Perfection”:  http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/40/

[2] 1 John 1:9

[3] Romans 12:1,2

[4] Lemmel, Helen, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, The United Methodist Hymnal (1922 Nashville, UMC Publishing House) No. 349

 

When the Church Loses Its Way

[i]

Monday, December 19, 2016

Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.  So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?    Galatians 4:8-9^(NLT)

A fellow UMC pastor, author and seminary professor, Alan Bevere recently posted a piece on the topic of faith and politics – here is an excerpt:

A favorite quote of mine from Stanley Hauerwas is It is God and not the nations who rules the world….I believe that while most Christians believe the truth of that claim, they do so only in the abstract.  Functionally, by the church's political engagements and by aligning themselves with the left and the right, Democrats and Republicans, Christians in actuality betray the unacknowledged belief that it is the nations that are indeed running the show.[ii]

There are so many ways to get off track, to lose your perspective and forget where you’re going.  The church, founded on freedom from the world of selfishness and evil, most easily (and most often) finds itself derailed at the intersection where the faith once delivered to the saints meets the power of political clout.

Indeed, whenever politics and religion meet up, it is invariably the ineffectiveness of weak faith that caves to the political structure.  I believe that is what Dr. Bevere was getting at; it’s not that faith cannot overcome the world; after all, Jesus overcame death and the grave!  For the church, conquering political evil should be a slam dunk.

The problem, as highlighted by Stanley Hauerwas, is that God indeed rules the world, but Christians only nod in that direction on Sunday morning and then go back to nursing at the breast of this world’s system for their daily bread.  The church has no further to look than its’ own pews for a mission field!

What to do, what to do?

Well, if Paul the apostle was right, that our very existence as Christians, as a church, is a fight against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places^{(Ephesians 6:12)}, we must once-again learn what it means to engage the enemy. 

And the first principle is remembering that we are to grow up into Christ, not grow strong in political clout.  If the church is ever going to cooperate with God, in God’s ways and timing to combat the evil forces of this world’s system, the church is going to have to be healthy! 

When is the last time you watched a boxing match, or wrestlers, or (heaven help me) an MMA slug-fest?  None of those contestants are anemic weaklings.  When they enter the ring they are strong and focused; they’ve been trained and tuned into a fighting machine. 

The church needs that; we need to stop guzzling smoothie theological red dye and sugar, and find our way again.  We need to begin to chew on some meat.  We need to become equipped disciples who will engage the political monster of this world’s evils and its systemic betrayal of ourj human heritage as images of the Creator. 

And we won’t do it without giving-up our comfortable avoidance of politics…or worse…our comfortable place in bed with politics.

For You Today

Somewhere between the political fringes of left and right is the center of God’s will – the place of doing right.  Are you going on to THAT perfection?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title image: By KAMiKAZOW (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons (modified)

[ii] Alan Bevere.com

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Christ did this, so that he would have a glorious and holy church, without faults or spots or wrinkles or any other flaws. 

Ephesians 5:27 (CEV)

Under a caption in the Detroit Free Press appeared a new prescription for retaining beauty [the ad said] “…Ladies, do you want to stay young?  Then join a church choir.  Women who sing stay younger looking.  A singer’s cheek muscles are so well developed by exercise that her face will not wrinkle nearly so soon as the non-singer.”  This is the article we have been waiting for.  Now women and men, if you do not want to look like a prune, join the choir![i]

For most of us a church without “spot or wrinkle” is a long way off!  In fact, a face without wrinkle is a pipe dream!  But, John and Charles Wesley beg to differ (at least on the church issue, if not the face).  The Wesley brothers contended that “perfection” in this life is not only attainable, it is expected in the life of a believer.  One of the questions asked by Wesley of candidates for ordination was do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?  The question remains to this day in the United Methodist Church, asked by bishops in the Wesleyan spirit.

No wrinkles, no spots…what does that mean?  Let’s look at what the Scriptures say about ironing-out the wrinkles and Oxy-cleaning the spots.  We’ll be guided by Charles’ hymn, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.

I.           Salvation from Sin v.1

Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down; 

     fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;

     visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

The idea of “perfection in this life is intimidating; how in the world can we actually be clean enough to have a heart pure enough to please God?  Even in the Sermon on the Mount ^{(Matthew 5:8)}, Jesus said only the pure in heart will even see God. 

Psalm 23 is a favorite for many people, green pastures, table set, dwelling in the house of the Lord forever!  But note what Psalm 24 says about that:

Psalms 24:3 - 4 (NLT)  Who may climb the mountain of the LORD?  Who may stand in his holy place?  Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.

It would seem that the benefits and promises of Psalm 23 are contingent on the obedience of Psalm 24.  Who can be that good?  Who can wash his hands and heart?

This is just the point…we cannot clean our hands and hearts, but Jesus, through his sacrifice on the cross is willing to do the scrubbing for us.  Oxy Clean® has nothing on what God can do with blood!

1 John 1:9 (NLT)  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

God’s salvation is just that…it is God’s!  But he is willing to share it with us as we confess our need.  This is how he “fixes his humble dwelling” in us.  Paul’s image of Christ “presenting” the church to himself is Christ giving Christ a gift – us.  The word “present” means “to stand alongside”.  Like a bride and groom stand before God, Jesus is willing to have us standing alongside him once we’ve been washed in the blood!  That’s salvation!

Charles wrote it, we sing it, fix in us thy humble dwelling…

II.        Freedom from Slavery v.2

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!

     Let us all in thee inherit; let us find that second rest.

Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be;

     end of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

The target of a holy life is to be freed from the control of sin.  Sin is a very strong addiction!  (See the book of James).

The “second rest” of assurance in Jesus Christ means God wants us to be like him – holy – different from sin-loving.  It was always his plan.  Notice what he told his servant Moses to tell Israel:

Leviticus 11:45 (NLT)  For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God.  Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

The idea of a “wrinkle” is from an ancient word in Hebrew that suggests a flow, or hemorrhage of blood.  It’s a progressive draining of the life, God’s life out of your spirit and soul.  Where sin can be characterized as wrongly putting your interest and energy into the things of this life – power, money, prestige, materialism and the like, living a holy life is gaining the priority of placing the eternal over the temporal.  Peter told the church to make a choice – this world or the next:

2 Peter 3:10 - 11 (NLT)  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  ¹¹Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live,

This world can be a strong drug – cars, boats, houses, clothes, and all the glitz and glimmer of what you see in popular culture; stuff that will make you happy.  God wants to give you freedom from that kind of thinking. 

That’s what Charles Wesley meant when he wrote the words we can use to invite God to do this work of freedom in us – sing it together,  Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast…

III.      Joyfully Serving v.3

Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive;

     suddenly return and never, never more thy temples leave.

Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,

     pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

True life in Christ finds its expression in praise, particularly the kind of praise where we find ourselves serving others. 

1 Peter 1:22 (NLT) ²²You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.  Love each other deeply with all your heart.

Genuinely moving along in “being made perfect in love” is an “on-the-job-training” kind of experience.  We learn best how to love when we love.  Jesus said we would be his “church”.  The New Testament word is ecclesia – or, the called-out ones.  To be a person of faith as a follower of Jesus Christ is to think differently than the world; to be different and act differently than those outside the family.  We are to demonstrate the love of Christ to the world by loving as Christ loved the lost. 

Charles wrote:  Thee we would be always blessing.   As you serve Christ by serving others, you will be joyful…that equation never varies!

IV.      Fully Sanctified v.4

Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be.

     Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee;

changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,

   till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT) ¹Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

Charles Wesley had one of the great distinctive Christian doctrines in mind in here:  God’s redemptive purpose was to reconcile His creation to himself.   

2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV) …that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…

To “reconcile” is to seek agreement.  When the bank sends you your account statement, you reconcile your own record with what the bank says you have in the account.  You are seeking agreement.

This world was far from being in agreement with God’s purpose and nature.  It began in the Garden of Eden, and all people who had Adam and Eve as ancestors carry the sin gene.  Now, on the cross, God did that reconciling work through Jesus’ death.  It’s called “propitiation” – Jesus paid it all!

But that only leveled the playing field; it is up to us to choose God’s gift of salvation and freedom from slavery to sin. How can you do that?  How can you “go on to perfection” – in THIS lifetime?

I believe we can count on Charles for understanding this.  He has three words, lost in wonder, love and praise.  All three of those words, like everything else in life, cannot be done “perfectly” if you consider “perfect” to be without any kind of flaw.  We are not capable! 

But the word is telios[ii] and it means not without flaw, but rather complete, in the sense of mature and functional.  It means to act as you were created to act.  A rose bush is telios, mature, when it produces roses that engage the eye and sense of smell.  A Christian is telios when he or she is living life lost in wonder, love and praise.

Wonder

…is the sense of respect and genuine thankfulness for the life with which you’ve been blessed.  You know you’re created, and you are in awesome wonder of your Creator!

Love

…is the response of the heart and life to what you’ve been made for; we were created to praise and adore God and to have fellowship with Him.  We were meant to correspond to God’s nature and reflect that glory.  The glory of God is expressed in how we live:

James 1:27 (NLT) ²⁷Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Praise

…is the outward response of a heart and life that understands just how glorious and wonderfully our God has been in creating, sustaining and loving his children. 

Lost in wonder, love and praise is Charles Wesley’s way of describing what a divine love that excels any other kind of love looks like when it washes all over a child of God.

Pure and spotless let us be… is the prayer of a life which recognizes you would not want anything unholy to be in your life so you CAN reflect the goodness, grace and majesty of your Lord and Redeemer!

And this is the finishing of God’s new creation – turning us back to being lost in wonder, love and praise of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Message version of our text says it this way:

Ephesians 5:26 - 27 (TMSG)

Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness.

Finish it, LORD, in me….finish your New Creation.  Help me to be lost in wonder, love and praise for your goodness, mercy and grace!

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1.       [i] Remedy for a Prune Face in A Treasury of Bible Illustrations, First Ed, © 1995 by AMG INTERNATIONAL, INC. All Rights Reserved. Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 2005, QuickVerse. All rights reserved.

2.       [ii] Matthew 5:48, Strongs Exhaustive Concordance