Unexpected Gifts

 

Thinking about gifts I want to give this year, I told my wife I wanted to bake something. She looked at me skeptically. I am not a baker or any kind of a cook. She said she’d help. Within a few hours we had 6 little cakes that will be ready to go. She “helped.” Ha, ha. She did everything. All I did was peel the apples. Her help was a tremendous gift to me.

            A friend is undergoing tremendous challenges. I thought he was mostly alone in the world. I have known him for years and I come alongside him in his difficulties, but there’s limits to how much I can do. Recently, I received a text from someone three states away. He also knows my friend and will help in very big ways. I didn’t know he existed and now he will do much to make things better for my friend. This has been an unplanned, unexpected gift.

            Two of my three children now drive. Teaching them to drive and helping them get their licenses seemed to be a matter of course. It’s just something you do when your kids turn 16. I didn’t anticipate that they would both be thoroughly competent drivers whom I could not only trust, but appeal to. Hey son, I am busy. Can you go to store and pick up what we need? Having them as drivers has been a real gift that at key times has made life easier.

            I could go on with examples of unexpected gifts. I count these as blessings from God. When Jesus was born, Israel wasn’t thinking, okay, in the time of King Herod, under Governor Pilate, God will send a Savior. No one was watching for Jesus, at least not the way he came, born among barnyard animals, born into poverty. Some hoped for a dynamic military leader, another David who would strike the heart of Goliath (Rome). No one anticipated a peasant savior whose defining act would be to die on a cross.

            God is a giver of unexpected gifts. If you know Jesus, you know that. You know that the one we celebrate changed your life, gave your purpose and hope, calls you into his church, and into his kingdom. If you know Jesus, you know all of this. But maybe you’ve forgotten. Turn back to Him. This Christmas, turn back to the giver of good things, the Savior. 

          If you don’t know Jesus, you can! Read the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, and the book of Romans. You have plenty of time between now and Christmas Day. Give yourself the gift of walking in this story. Confess your sins and open your heart to God and he will come in. He will give the gift of salvation and new life. You’ll never be the same.

Trust

 

11/6/2024

            When I was a small child, my father would throw me up in the air and catch me. I would laugh and say “Again, daddy.” Upon becoming a father, I delighted in throwing my son high, high up, and catching him. Do fathers just like throwing children? No. Fathers love seeing joy burst forth from their kids. There’s no better feeling in the world. Why do the kids go along with it? Why, at 4 years old, would I say, “Again, daddy?” Why would my 2-year-old son, being hurled aloft, have a look of delight on his face? Trust. Trust in safety; trust that the protector wants goodness, fun, and happiness for you; trust that the one protecting you will put your needs first.

            Is it hard to trust, living in the world as it is today? Maybe. Truth be told, I have many nights where I am awake at odd hours, unable to sleep because I find the world to be untrustworthy. Sometimes it angers me. Sometimes it scares me. It always tires me out. Exhausted, I must retreat into the arms of the Lord, who I know has my best interests at heart. At the very core of Christian joy and freedom is absolute dependence on God and absolute trust in God. We muddle along in a fallen, broken world, a world of pain and death, a world of contention and anger. Yet, even amid the chaos and pain of sin running amok, we can have joy and delight because of who walks with us. Our God can be trusted.

            What happened on November 5 neither changes that nor confirms it. Some of those reading this were pretty happy about the election results. Some were upset by how things went. The results are not a confirmation of God’s providence or special calling on the United States; neither were the results four years ago, or four years before that. God does not rescue worldly empires or favor one nation over others. In fact, the Bible, read through a New Testament lens, does not endorse any earthly government, not in Jerusalem, not Rome, not Washington DC. God’s word calls followers of Jesus to a sanctified indifference with the way the world is, including the United States government.

Sanctified indifference does not mean with withdraw from the world. Quite the opposite. God sends us to the world, and as citizens, we vote, we pay taxes, we serve in the military, and we might even run for office. Even as we fully participate in society, all the while we know we are aliens here (Philippians 3:20). Our destiny is the Kingdom of Heaven.

            Therefore, we do not ever tie our confidence to election results. We do not rely on the performance of presidents, senators, governors, or judges. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Psalm 118:9). Our so-called earthly leaders are untrustworthy, and trust is too valuable to give to those who won’t handle it with care. What happens if the dad throws his child up and then walks away, as the child plummets back down? If the child survives, he won’t gleefully say, “Again daddy!” He won’t trust a protector who fails to catch him. Eventually, the president and other elected officials will betray our trust and we will fall. It is better, says the Bible, not to put our confidence in princes (or presidents).

            The Lord can be trusted. That’s why we should do our best to resist outrage or elation over the election results. Elections, but if we are truly in Christ, they aren’t that important. We can’t be too upset. We have too much joy from our trustworthy God. Conversely, if our candidate won, we aren’t too giddy because we know real joy doesn’t come from him or her. We find real joy when we turn to the source: our triune God – Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It is to God that we give all our trust, knowing He will catch us, hold us, and walk with us. That’s true regardless of anything that happens.

 

The Paradoxical Proverb

 

 

Proverbs 22:4 says, “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” Odd. By its very nature, humility would not only seek no reward, but one acting humbly would actively avoid being recognized or rewarded. How can there be a reward for a posture and way of being that at its essence eschews recognition?

And what a reward! Riches, honor, and life. Just a few verses prior, Proverbs 22:1, we’re told, “a good name is to be chosen rather than riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” How does one go about achieving a good name? Can one achieve a good name and still be humble? I suppose it doesn’t matter because the good name is more desirable than the payout for humility – riches and honor and life.

How are we to make sense of the word of the Lord, and specifically the different nuggets of wisdom in the book of proverbs? Understanding is the subject of the sermon preached at Hillside Church on October 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOLTKHxTsM). Maybe that message will help the reader synthesize what all is to be gleaned in the word of God.

Humility is an important them in Proverbs, and theologically, humility is at the core of the messaging at Hillside Church for the next month. On October 13, we will have Don Harvey from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina leading us in a discussion on different possible pathways forward for our congregation.

October 20, we’ll have our final message in the Proverbs series. Read Proverbs chapter 7. Verses 4-5 tell us to call wisdom our sister and insight our “intimate friend.” We need these close relationships because they will help us fend off the temptress. What tempts you to walk paths other than the one God lays before you? How do you resist temptation? Only in humility can acknowledge that we need help in being who God calls us to be. Proverbs 7, though couched in misogynist mythologies, offers a warning we must heed: the world with tempt us. Yielding to temptation, we walk the path of destruction.

October 27, Daynette Snead Perez will be our preacher. Please pray for Sheemoo Tatataw, our youth group, and me as head to the beach for a weekend of spiritual growth. And pray that God would speak to our church through the powerful, beautiful witness of Rev. Snead Perez.

Finally, in the first two Sundays of Novembers, we will look to the Gospel of Mark (10:35-45) and to the Psalms (146) to be reminded that real leadership is service and the only true king is our God. Those messages will reject a bipolar politics of division and winning-losing, and instead turn to the politics of the Gospel of Jesus. Yes, those messages are intentionally situated before and after the first Tuesday of November. Yes, the only to participate in either politics or faith, as a follower of Jesus, is to do so humbly.

Pray for the Neighborhood

Pray for the Community

 

This is my call to you, whomever you are, wherever you are, to pray for your neighborhood and your town. People are hurting. People are frustrated. People need Jesus, but they don’t know him and don’t know they need him. Through Jeremiah, God told the people of Judah, God’s chosen, to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf” (Jer. 29:7). They were not in the City of David, Zion, the place God called home. They were far, far from home. Yet the Lord told them, not only to seek the welfare of those Babylonians who had taken them into exile, but to pray for them.

What is exile? How does one exist when he or she is forced to leave home and go to a foreign place?

Paul considered himself a foreigner in his present age.  “Our citizenship is in Heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).  In fact, his only motivation for remaining on this earth was to help people grow in their faith in Christ (Philippians 1:24-26). That was motivation enough. Paul joyfully (1:26) remained and, like Jeremiah, sought the wellbeing of his age. He was convinced wellbeing is tied to faith in Jesus.

I am too. We aren't at home here. Our place is in Heaven, with Jesus. Yet, he has us here. Most of our neighbors in Carrboro and Chapel Hill don’t go to church or in any noticeable way live lives of faith in Christ. Even if they appear to live happy, fulfilled lives, without Jesus, they are lost. God has planted us here to help our unbelieving neighbors find their way to Him. So, pray for our town. Pray for those on your street who don’t follow Jesus. Pray, and when the time is right, invite someone to church, or share why Jesus means so much to you. 

 

Science and Faith - the Conversation Matters

 

I begin by encouraging you to learn as much as you can about Biologos. Start here - https://biologos.org/about-us.

Why would I direct you to learn about this organization? It is where excellent scientists and committed followers of Jesus gather in cooperation to explain the natural phenomena of the world and to glorify God in the process. When I became the pastor of Hillside Church in 2006, I realized I would be preaching a few miles from one of the top research institutions in the country. Would I be able to intelligently explain faith in Jesus to a scientist who understood the natural world better than me?

My attempts to answer that question drew me down a path of learning. I have read works from atheist/agnostic scientists and philosophers who deny God’s existence. I have studied extremely conservative Christians who, from their interpretation of scripture, reject established scientific truths like evolution and a universe that’s billions of years old. The God-rejection and science-rejection are extreme viewpoints.

Apart from these extremes we can find true scientists who are also true believers in Jesus. How does this all fit together? One must do a lot of reading to answer this question. There are many podcasts and YouTube videos that also help.

Of course, a believer could just say, “I believe in Jesus and that’s it. I don’t know about evolution and am not interested in learning. I don’t know how old the earth is or how old the universe is, and I don’t care.” You have the freedom to take this type of approach. But, if you get into conversations with people, and they say, “Well, I don’t believe in God because I understand science,” how will you respond?

The Bible tells us, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). We are commanded to love the Lord our God will all our … mind (Matthew 22:37). How will you explain your faith to someone who knows science in detail, and based on that knowledge, rejects all faith? We are called to be informed about the Gospel. We also compelled by God to explain the gospel intelligibly in our context. Readers of this blog who live near me in Chapel Hill share a hometown with some of the most knowledgeable scientists in the world. We must be ready to share the gospel in a way that makes sense to our neighbors.

Our neighbors still might reject God. We know from 1 Corinthians 1 that the wisdom of God seems likes foolishness to the world. We can’t control what people will choose to accept or reject. That’s between them and the Holy Spirit. We can, though, control how much we know. If we were witnessing in Cuba or Mexico, we better learn Spanish. If we are sharing the gospel in a rural setting, we can’t just be blithely ignorant about farming. It is imperative that our testimony be understandable. In the world UNC and the Research Triangle, it helps that we recognize that science is a gift from God.

That’s why I find the science-faith conversation so important. I will continue to read works by scientists and believers of different persuasions, and I invite you into the conversation. Discover God’s majesty as it is revealed in the natural world He has made. Scientists are the ones working to understand that natural world. Appreciate their work and help them see how their work can glorify the Lord.

Resolve to be Kind

 

            It is included in one of Paul’s so-called “virtue lists” (2 Corinthians 6:6). It is the way God will give grace when are gathered to him in his eternal kingdom (Ephesians 2:7). It is fruit produced in us when the Holy Spirit fills us, works in our lives, and through our lives (Galatians 5:22).

            Kindness. The United States of America desperately needs a tsunami of kindness to overwhelm us.

            The United States is beginning a presidential election year. Our politics have always been contentious, but the divisions of the past decade rival any from the most bellicose times in our nation’s history. Many of your neighbors are apolitical, but those who have political feelings hold them stridently and in the extreme. And if you are among the masses who would rather avoid politics, you will inevitably be pushed into political conversations by your aggressively partisan neighbors. It’s never a nuanced discussion respecting those who hold different perspectives. It’s always a vicious fight.

            What can followers of Jesus bring to these fractious times? Kindness.

            In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, “We have commended ourselves … by kindness.” In other words, for Paul and his missionary colleagues, kindness is a job requirement. He can’t adequately travel and represent Christ without it. In Ephesians, we read that God has “raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places …, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness. The heavenly eternity we long for is defined by kindness and unintelligible without it. “The fruit of the Spirit is … kindness” (Galatians 5:22).

            Some Christians are determined to be bold in their witness. I agree. We are called by God to courageously testify that Jesus is Lord. We are called to this proclamation no matter how much it costs us. However, boldness cannot be claimed as the forfeiture of kindness. In Christ, we can be both: bold and kind. We must be. To make a difference in a militantly polarized day, we have to insist that to follow Christ is to commit to kindness.

            I’m not recommending you make resolutions as we step into 2024. Neither am I recommending against resolutions. I have my own list of resolutions I hope will make me a more likable, helpful person. If the practice of keeping New Year’s resolutions helps you recenter and refocus your life, go for it! Just be sure and keep the resolutions you make!

What I as a pastor, charged with guiding souls in the way of Christ, do commend is the pursuit of kindness; all year! When the fighting around you gets loud and ugly, change the temperature by being an agent of kindness. Disorient your neighbors by meeting their intensity with your gentles, inviting spirit. Make it your 2024 goal to pursue kindness in your relationships, in the world around you, and in your own heart.

The Words of Advent

 

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love

When did these become the words of Advent?

Life is right for one who has these, but what else is needed? What more comes?

 

What about Faith, Grace, Mercy, and Justice?

What about Truth, Holiness, Resurrection, and New Creation?

Are these subsumed under Hope, Peace, Joy, Love?

The words of Advent

 

Do prescribed scripture readings walk in step, languidly with the words of Advent

or do they bump into one another and step on one another’s toes?

 

‘In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.’ Hope?

 

‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire.’ Peace?

 

‘He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.’ Joy?

 

‘You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.’ Love?

 

As we wait for the coming of the King,

I bless you with the words of Advent

Justice, Truth, Grace, Laughter, Surprise, Holy, Faith, Mercy, Eternity, Direction, Purpose, Forgiveness, New Creation, Revelation, Resurrection, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Light