Let This Mind Be in You

A confirmation message.

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The Scripture that Dylan read a few minutes ago from Philippians, chapter two, what Paul wrote, to let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus[2].  I had a sermon, a WONDERFUL sermon prepared today.  On the way here God changed it; sometimes I hate it when He does that.  But God placed it upon my heart that everything about this confirmation was contained in that one sentence, let this mind be in YOU that was in Christ Jesus. 

The “mind of Christ” – that’s a strange sentence, isn’t it?  When Jesus was feeding the 5,000, what do you think the mind of Christ was doing at that moment?  What was he thinking about?  When he reached out and grabbed a leper by his diseased hand, what was His mind considering?  Jesus did some stuff that, I wonder, if we would ever do. 

Confirmation: the word itself means to make firm.  Have you ever ordered something online?  Yeah, I know; I should have said, during the first hymn, did you order anything online.  We do that all the time, right?  What do you get in an email 7 seconds later?  The Confirmation!  They’re telling you, YES…we got your order, and we are PLEASED to take your money…thank you very much!  That money would be out of your account before you even spoke.  Confirmation means something has happened.

In just a few moments we’re going to have this platform filled.  We are going to be confirming these young people.  We generally think of confirmation in the church as something the church does TO the young people; NO…this is what these young people are doing BEFORE God!  And so will we…we will be answering also (see the answers in the bulletin).  It says, do you, the congregation….  That’s you!  We are reaffirming our vows, but for these young people, for the first time, they’re making firm their vows publicly before God.  If you were here on March 27^th, we had a “wet experience” in the fellowship hall.  We baptized those young folks in the gigantic fish tank.  The early church identified as fish…it was kind of the secret handshake they drew in the sand to identify each other back when Christianity was illegal.  They were saying they were of one mind.  What mind?  The mind of Christ.  That’s what this is all about, they’re making firm their vow before God.

Look at those promises (vows) in the bulletin.  I want you to see that there are five of those promises that these young men will be saying “yes…we do…we will be supporting this church and its ministries by these five ways.  They’re saying what each of you members said when you became part of this church, that these five working parts of the Christian faith is the sermon challenge for each of us…those who took those vows in the past, those who are taking those vows today, and for those who will consider taking those vows in the future.

Let’s look at the first one

1.  We vow our Prayers

What we ask is, are you going to participate in the church’s ministries by your prayers?  We’re asking for that mind to be in Christ Jesus by doing what Jesus did, continually praying.  I had a friend who recently passed, who, years ago gave me an understanding of what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote pray without ceasing.  She told me, Russell, I have so much to pray about I can never say Amen.  I thought, Donna, what in the world are you talking about?  She said, when you say ‘Amen’ that’s the end of the prayer, right?  I never stop praying; I have this conversation that’s going on with God all the time.  That is the issue with the praying promise…are you going to be joining with your fellow believers in this mind of prayer, which is the mind of Christ, and have an ongoing conversation with God…24/7 (I know that will keep you awake at nights, but He will let you sleep when it’s time to sleep).  So, by your prayers you are known.  Then…
2.  We vow our Presence

Your presence is exactly what you’re doing this morning…you’re here!  You’re showing up.  Isn’t that 90% of life, just showing up?  Once you get past that you can see what else (the other 10%) needs doing.  I’m not just talking about showing up in church; I’m talking about all of life.  Are you engaged?

There are two ideas about that business of “presence.”

a.     When you’re in school the teacher takes attendance.  She calls your name, and you answer, present.  That’s presence

b.    But what happens when the lecture gets boring a little later?  You’re not so present anymore, are you?  You kind of check-out sometimes.

To be “present” in terms of this vow is to be engaged in what God’s saying.  The preacher may have a message, or think he does, but God is speaking through the preacher’s words.  The question becomes, are you engaged enough with God in that message that it will go with you when you leave?  If you invite God to be Lord over your life, and not just Savior from spiritual death, He will go with you everywhere. 

Prayers, Presence, and then…
3.  We vow our Gifts

Stewardship…your tithes and offerings are the gifts we vow.  But there’s another sense in which gifts come into play.  The idea of stewardship is to be found faithful[3] with what you have been given.  This is a favorite theme of mine.  Whatever we are doing, wherever we find ourselves, at school, at home, at work, in the garden, fishing, going on vacation, all diverse ways of spending our time,  are we faithful stewards of the gifts we have been given?  Maybe you’ve been given the gift of discernment – you need to be on guard to look and see what is being said, or what is going on, so you can make discerned decisions and act according to what the mind of Christ demands.  If you’ve been given the gift of preaching, you ought not stay silent.

So, Prayers, Presence, Gifts, and there’s also…
4.  We vow our Service

Service is making sure you are faithful over the resources you’ve been given.  As a faithful steward your presence involves service.  It’s not just “onlooking.”  We are not just “onlookers” observing what happens in the world, we are hands-on!  Your service means you are willing to help other people.

These five words – five things we do as Christians, are the way we exercise our commitment to God, our vow, worked-out in daily life.  These are the true measurement sticks by which we monitor our progress of growing into Christlikeness.  There’s a fifth word…

5.  We vow our Witness

My understanding of “witness” is simply retelling your story, that which has happened to you.  To witness to someone is to tell that person what Christ has done in your life. 

Now, listen, I get the feeling – I get the sense, that, if you get the first four words right, that tells you you’re meeting the criteria for the fifth word.  For instance, if your prayer life is what it ought to be.  You’re in an ongoing conversation with Christ, and He’s talking back to you, speaking to your heart, moving you into serving, you’re going to be the kind of witness for Christ He needs, because that conversation with Jesus is not going to stay silent…it will come out of you. 

What about gifts?  If you are a faithful steward with what God has placed in your hands, to help other people in service, financially, or however God directs, then that, is a witness…is it not?  Where you are on a Sunday morning (presence) is also a testimony (witness) to other people.

Years ago I read a story about an elderly lady who had spent all her life in church.  And it was still going on.  Every Sunday morning she’d get up early, study her Sunday School lesson, get ready and walk the three blocks to church.  And every walk was past the same houses.  One of those houses, there was a guy who never darkened the doorstep of a church.  Each time the lady passed there he’d mutter, there she goes, church lady, goin’ t’ church, every Sunday…church, church, church!  After years of this it was finally enough.  She got up one Sunday, studied her lesson, got dressed and walked to church.  When she got in front of that house, he was at it again, there she goes, that church lady, goin’ t’ church, every Sunday…church, church, church!  She stopped, turned to him, and kindly said, that’s ok, friend…I got my priorities and you have yours; I just want God and everybody else to know whose side I’m on.

And that’s the point about witness.

Truly, I think, the most graphic, the most vivid demonstration of whether you’re on His side is your service.  It’s when there’s no question that, if someone needs an arm around the shoulder, your arm is ready.  It’s when you’re ready to take that five-dollar bill out of your wallet when you’ve only got two of them, and place it in the hand of that one who has nothing.  Offering to bring someone to church.  Offering to help someone rake their yard, or whatever needs doing.

So how do you do all that?  How do you get your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness all in line?  It works something like the picture of that “double tree.”

“Christ likeness” is the goal.  If friends, or a family, church, or even a nation would be unified, enjoying genuine fellowship, then Christ like is what we seek.

A great Bible scholar named A. J. Gordon wrote: 

Two little saplings grew-up side-by-side.  Through the action of the wind they crossed each other.  By and by each became wounded by the friction.  The sap began to mingle until one calm day they became attached.  Then the stronger began to absorb the weaker.  It became larger and larger, while the other withered and declined till it finally dropped away and disappeared.  And now there are two trunks at the bottom and only one farther up.  Death has taken away the one; life has triumphed in the other.

To become Christ-like, is to grow so close to Him that people see Him, and precious little of you.  This is unity, where the spirit of Christ has taken over.

Our goal is to grow into Christ in maturity, to be so much absorbed in Him that when people get to know you, or even just observe the way you live your life, they will become curious enough to ask the question:

Are you a Christian?

And what they’ll mean is…I believe you are a Christian…you’re like a picture of Him.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!  

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[1] This sermon is transcribed from video, with minor edits for clarity

[2] Philippians 2:5

[3] Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.  1 Corinthians 4:2  

Is IT Really Finished?

 

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!  His faithful love endures forever.  Psalm 118:1

I attended a friend’s church last Saturday evening.  Pastor Michael’s sermon was an inspiring recounting of the transition that flows from the cross, as Jesus proclaimed those fateful words:  It is finished.  That flow turned the typical Easter din of “cross, grave, empty tomb….and (yawn from getting up too early for sunrise service) to now what else?  The sermon was:  It is Finished; but He is Not![1] 

The message centered around the Greek word tetelestai, from which we translate into English “it is finished…or completed”.  The word is military in origin, as in a completed mission.  It was also used in antiquity as a legal tool for debts.  When a debt was fully-paid the debt-holder would write TETELESTAI across the original document, as testament to the honorable completing of all claims.  This is the word shouted from the cross by Jesus…completed…nothing else required.  That is true beyond question, as Scripture declares over and again that His death was propitiation for our sins…paid-in-full. 

But what of the last part…IT was finished…but HE is NOT?  The crux of Micael’s message rested on the fact (again rooted in Scripture) that the completed work of the cross was but the firstfruits of what was to come.  To summarize, it means Christ died once, for all sins; but He’s still working with us (and on us) to develop who we are…we are being transformed into His image.

This concept isn’t new.  Any believer who has entered the world of discipleship, following Jesus with prayer, presence in worship, meaningful stewardship of tithes and offerings, learning to serve others in the community, and being a faithful witness, has an understanding that Christ is anything but finished working on us.  He is bringing us to a mature stature in His character.  For all of us, THAT takes a considerable transformation.  It’s what apostle Paul meant when he wrote to the church at Ephesus:

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Ephesians 4:13

Now, here’s the candy of it all – it isn’t something we HAVE to do…it what we GET to do!  It’s like this:  Elizabeth and I have struggled all our lives to make a monthly mortgage payment.  We never quite got there in the first four houses we bought.  By the time we got to this fifth house, we settled on a 15 year mortgage.  It was paid-off several years ago – I don’t think they actually wrote tetelestai on the mortgage paper – but we did get a letter of thanks from the mortgage company saying our debt was over.  It was finished.  But we are not.  We get to live in the house now.  Elizabeth gets to (within reason) redecorate and rearrange.  Russell gets to repair and take care of cutting the grass. 

And that is what Jesus did with your eternity.  He’s given us a place and a purpose that is as secure as the promise of that empty tomb.  And He’s given us freedom to create (with him) all the beauty that life holds in promise.

For You Today

Two great truths to rest on here:

·       IT (the payment of debt for your sins) is finished.  Receive that gift, and cherish it!

·       YOUR walk with Christ through an eternity of blessing is just getting started, because his faithful love endures forever!

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

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] You can listen to the sermon here

Using Power Wisely

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Friday, February 7, 2020

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.  But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.  For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom.  Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.  For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first of all pure.  It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.  And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18[2]

No, that guy isn’t John Wayne, or Roy Rogers, or some superhero; that’s Russell a few years ago on vacation in Brevard, riding a horse for the first and only time in my life.  It’s easy to tell the difference between the superheroes and Russell; I’m the one shaking in the saddle. 

And it’s all because of Big John, my ride for that afternoon.  They had a sign that said if you’re over 210 pounds (I was, and I’m not going to tell you how far over), you couldn’t ride unless Big John was available.  Normal humans who can’t leap 28-feet in the air need a stepladder to mount the stable behemoth.  I’m smiling in the picture, but it’s a frozen in time, is this how I’m gonna die kind of smile.

Well, the afternoon turned out to be a favorite memory of mine.  Big John was well named for his size, but better named for his disposition.  This was a beast who was gentle and calm.  There was no doubt who was in charge; when Big John wanted to stop along the mountain trail to munch on some low hanging branches, well…by golly…no matter how much Russell urged us on, we stopped and munched on low hanging branches.  Big John that is; Russell had Reece’s PB cups.

Sometimes it worked the other way around.  There were a few times I wanted to stop and take a picture of the lovely mountain scenery.  Brevard has some breathtaking views of rolling, majestic sights, including lots of waterfalls.  But John had seen them so often he would just keep plodding.  Once I did what our guide had suggested when instructing this greenhorn…if John didn’t stop, to just tighten up my knee pressure on his neck and yank a bit on the reins.  And when I did it, John ignored me like a rhino with a gnat on his back.  We kept plodding...no pictures!

In the end I decided John was smarter than the one riding him.  Big John had done that trail hundreds of times in his 25 years; he knew the right way to enjoy an afternoon.  I learned a little something that day about truly vacationing as opposed to cramming leisure time with too much distraction; life in the 21^st century has enough of that.

One of the takeaways from that few hours with Big John is an understanding of keeping a focus on how to use what power you’re granted.  John could’ve flattened me if he chose.  He could have insisted on riding me, or just depositing me in a ditch.  However, he chose to use his power wisely, treating me to a wonderful afternoon ride, aesthetically pleasing and memorable.  It was a gift!

It’s almost painful to make this leap, but such are the risks of contrast and comparison – I wish some of our political leaders would learn Big John’s lesson.  Access to power doesn’t mean grabbing what you want at any cost.  Rather, like my four-footed beautiful friend taught me, it means offering the best you have to the people you serve.

For You Today

If you’re watching too much news coverage of impeachment trials and disaster, take a Big John ride…breathe! 

And then thank your heavenly Father for the view.

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth (original photo)    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

[2] For another post on this James 3:13-18 see Wisdom From Above

James the Just - Part 11 - The Way of a Servant

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Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Choices are like friendships; there are options.  In an airport choice, you can either get on the plane – or not; you simply cannot do both.  The same can be said of friendship with Christ – you can go to Him, or you can live a worldly, comfortable, selfish life…you just cannot do both!  If you choose Christ and His way, here is the pathway for the rest of your life:

The Priority of a Servant Attitude

I want to share with you a few principles about how to have a servant attitude – which is about as far opposite from a selfish attitude as you can get.  Here are three pieces of the discipleship puzzle:

Puzzle Piece #1.  In Human Relationships Conflict is normal

Genesis to Revelation is all about conflict.  From the time Cain killed his brother…to the Corinthian Christians who sued each other in the courts…to Euodia and Syntyche, sisters in the Philippian church who were constantly sniping at each other, probably over who was going to wear the purple dress on a given Sunday…right down to today…conflict is normal.  The question is, How are you going to deal with the inevitable conflicts in life?

Puzzle Piece #2.  In Christian Discipleship Dealing with Conflict as Believers is Critical

In God’s economy there are only two ways to deal with conflict, selfishly or as servant.  Cain was the selfish example.  He didn’t like the approval his brother got from God, so Cain got rid of Abel; he killed him, the first murder in the history of humankind, recorded on the pages of Genesis.

The servant model is found in many places; the prototype for us, however is Jesus.   In John’s Gospel ^{(Chapter 13)} we find Jesus dealing with the selfishness of the disciples.  Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, so he was preparing the disciples for life without his physical presence to comfort and guide them. 

What were the disciples doing?  They were dividing up the executive perks – arguing over whom was going to sit in the seats of power in the kingdom.  Jesus got up from the table, put on a towel, and, to the amazement of his followers washed twelve pairs of dirty, stinky feet, even the feet of Judas! 

You say, I can’t do that!  I say, You’re plumb on target!

Puzzle Piece #3. You need GRACE to live like that, and grace only comes to the humble.

And he gives grace generously.  As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  So humble yourselves before God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.   James 4.6-7(NLT)

Humility isn’t an easy thing.  The word humble in the language of the New Testament comes from a few words linked together which mean, literally, face in the dust.

During the latter stages of World War II Harry Truman was thrust into the presidency, by the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn took him aside and gave him some advice on being humble:

From here on out, you're going to have lots of people around you.  They'll try to put up a wall around you and cut you off from any ideas but theirs.  They'll tell you what a great man you are, Harry.  But you and I both know you ain't.^[2]

For You Today

There’s a human tendency to hide our low-down ways, and exalt our more noble attributes.  Where I was raised we had a good, old fashioned term for that – braggin’.  To receive grace is to put your face in the dust.  It is to turn everything upside down from the way the world gives its approval.  It is to recognize the truth about you and sin…and agree with God.  So, the questions before the house, then, are;

·      am I ready to follow Christ all the way? 

·      am I ready to exalt my low ways (confess my sins), and hide my good points (not depend on my self-goodness)? 

·      Am I?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons     Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker)

From Gutter to Glory

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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Praise the Lord!  Yes, give praise, O servants of the Lord.  Praise the name of the Lord!  Blessed be the name of the Lord now and forever.  Everywhere—from east to west—praise the name of the Lord.  For the Lord is high above the nations; his glory is higher than the heavens.  Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high?  He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth.  He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.  He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people!  He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 113:1-9(NLT)

A

A woman in a worship service was standing with eyes closed, hands raised in prayer and praise. 

A three year old, standing in the pew in front of her turned around, saw the upraised palms and gave her a high-five!^[2]   Worship should be enthusiastic.

On the other hand, have you ever encountered the time when you just plain don’t feel like you have it in you to get up anything approaching worshipful praise? 

A minister shared this:  Five or six years ago I visited a church in Connecticut.  In the middle of the Eucharistic liturgy, when the whole congregation was kneeling and singing the “Alleluia,” I saw a woman near

me with her hands lifted in praise. 

The thing was, those hands were terribly twisted and gnarled, and she had a pair of crutches near her.  Dear Christ, I thought, what makes Christians sing “Alleluia”?  Clearly there was something besides self-interest welling up from that woman in the act of praise.^[3]

Another example involves Margaret Sangster Phippen who wrote this:

…in the mid-1950s [my] father, British minister W. E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, his throat would soon become unable to swallow.

Sangster threw himself into his work in British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. “Let me stay in the struggle Lord,” he pleaded. “I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general, but give me just a regiment to lead.” He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. “I’m only in the kindergarten of suffering,” he told people who pitied him.

Gradually Sangster’s legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily. On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, “It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, ‘He is risen!’—but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.”^[4]

There is a common thread which runs through stories like these, and, in fact all the human testimony of people who give praise and maintain incredible faith and joy in the worst of circumstances:  He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.  Psalms 113:7^(NLT)

It’s hard to not read Psalm 113 as a command – it is book-ended by the imperative to “Praise the LORD!”  But in reality it’s less command, and more invitation.  By unfolding a magnificent picture of the character of God, the Psalmist is inviting us to be like Him.  God is great, the creator and sustainer of all life; He even has to look down to observe the highest of the heavens.  By contrast God’s compassion is so great He lifts the lowliest person to sit by Him. 

Do you recall the hymn, There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy?^[5]  This is it!  From glory in heaven to the gutter of hell (and vice-versa), God’s love invites everyone to come close and be cleansed, healed and forgiven.  That’s a WIDE gap for mercy to cover, and God is inviting us to live like that; to be like that!

For You Today

No matter how big you’ve sinned, that wideness of God’s mercy can cover the gap. 

Can you say Praise the Lord?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Jenifer Smith, Fort Gratiot, Michigan, Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom”

[3] James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited ©1988.

[4] Vernon Grounds, Denver, Colorado. Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 1

[5] United Methodist Hymnal, 121, WORDS:  Frederick W. Faber, MUSIC:  Lizzie S. Tourjee.,