Engaging Scripture

What’s wrong with the world? – Introducing Ezekiel, Part 1

What’s wrong with the world? Ever discuss that question? It’s a popular one, and rightly so because of what we see going on around us, especially in our day and age when we have instant access to news from anywhere in the globe. It can get overwhelming thinking about the problems in our world, especially when we add our own personal problems. What’s wrong with the world?

Today we start a new series on the blog in which we meet a man from long ago through whom God tried to communicate the answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” The man who was God’s mouthpiece was a prophet, Ezekiel. Next week we’ll start looking at the text of the biblical book by the same name. This week, we need to spend some time just getting our bearings. Who was Ezekiel, when did he live, what was going on in the nation of Israel, and what are the themes of Ezekiel’s prophecy?

First of all, let’s place Ezekiel on a historical timeline. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, tell the story of the origin of the nation of Israel, starting with their Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God made a covenant with Abraham that God would make his family a blessing to the whole world. Abraham’s grandson Jacob, whom God renamed “Israel,” moved the family, now with multiple wives, 12 sons, and some daughters, from Canaan to Egypt, where they could find food in the middle of famine. Over the next 400 years, the family of 12 sons of Israel grew into the nation of the 12 tribes of Israel numbering in the millions. The Egyptians who had once been very accommodating to these immigrants eventually grew fearful of them. So the Egyptian king Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites using them as laborers to build many projects. The people cried out to God, and God led them out of slavery under the leadership of Moses, heading back to Canaan, the Promised Land.

One of the major events of that journey from Egypt to the Promised was a stop at Mount Sinai. There God met with Moses and renewed the covenant between himself and the nation of Israel. If you have been a reader of the blog for a couple years, you might remember that we studied this covenant in 2019 and 2020 in the series through Deuteronomy. God’s covenant can be summarized like this: “Israel, I love you and I am your God. If you love me and follow my ways of righteousness and justice, I will bless you, and you will be a blessing to the whole world. But if you turn your back on me and follow other gods, it will not go well for you.” There at Mt. Sinai, Israel heartily agreed to this covenant! But their adherence to actually live according to covenant was another story.

The next book of the Bible, Joshua, tells us how Moses’ right hand man, Joshua, took over for Moses and led the nation in the conquest of the Promised Land of Canaan or Palestine. After beginning the conquest, though they were now established in a land of their own, for the next few hundred years the people struggled to complete the conquest, as we read in the next book, Judges. Why did they struggle? Because during this early period in the nation’s history, the people were regularly tempted by and succumbed to the sinful ways of the nations surrounding them. They broke the covenant relationship between themselves and God. So God allowed those nations to invade Israel. Then when the people would cry out to God for help, God would raise up from among them a judge, a leader, to rescue them. This cycle happened over and over and over.

The last judge was a prophet named Samuel, and we read about him in the biblical book of 1st Samuel. During his time, the people cried out to God for a king, so that they could be like the nations around them. God wasn’t happy about this, as God was their king, but he allowed it. After the disastrous first king, Saul, the second king was a wonderful godly leader, the great King David. Under David, the nation finally completed the conquest of the land, and followed God. It seemed that the covenant God had made with their forefather Abraham, that his family was going to be a blessing to the whole world, was finally coming true. During his reign, which we read about in 2nd Samuel, David set up the kingdom for peace and prosperity, to be a nation that truly followed the covenant with the Lord, and then before he died, David turned the throne over to his son Solomon.

Solomon, famous for his wisdom, led the nation to new heights of prosperity and influence, as well as building the temple of God in Jerusalem, which we read about in the book titled 1st Kings. In some ways, under Solomon’s reign, the nation of Israel was at its high point. People from all over the known world traveled to Israel to see its splendor and the wisdom of its king. In other ways, cracks in their covenant foundation were starting to appear. First, Solomon used slavery to accomplish many building projects, a dark callback to the days of Egypt when it was Israel who was enslaved to build buildings. Then Solomon made treaties with numerous foreign kings, marrying their daughters, allowing them to bring idols to Israel and worship them. When Solomon died, the nation broke into civil war and split in two, ten tribes to the north named Israel, and two tribes to south, named Judea.

In the books of 1^st and 2 Kings we read the stories of the many rulers that led these sister nations. In Israel to the north, the kings are almost always wicked. In Judea to the south, it is a mixed bag, some wicked, some righteous. During this period God speaks to the people through his prophets, calling the people to return to covenant relationship with him. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah are some of the most famous. They called the people of Israel to return to following the Lord. Sometimes the people repented. But as the centuries went by, their wickedness grew, and God allowed surrounding powers to invade the land. Eventually, first Israel, and then Judea, were conquered, with foreign powers like Babylon exiling the Israelites. With the land in turmoil and many of the people in exile, it seems as though the covenant relationship between God and Israel has broken beyond repair.

During those years of exile, we meet another prophet, Ezekiel. Things were very wrong in Ezekiel’s world. So when we ask the question, “What’s wrong with the world?” as I did at the beginning of this post, we can know that many people throughout history have been asking the same question.

Check back to the next post as we learn about this new prophet, Ezekiel, and how his prophetic message can help us answer the question, “What is wrong with the world?”

What’s coming up on the blog: a study through one of the most bizarre books of the Bible – Introducing Ezekiel, Preview

If you’ve followed this blog, you might have noticed that my normal pattern is to blog through a book in one testament, and then move to a book in the other testament. (The blog actually follows along with what I’m preaching in my role of pastor of Faith Church in Lancaster, PA. I preach the sermon on Sunday, and then I break it up into five pieces and release it on the blog as a kind of daily devotional.) Since we just finished Colossians in the New Testament, I started thinking and praying about which Old Testament book would be a good fit.

I talked it over with my wife, Michelle, and she suggested Ezekiel. Immediately I thought, “Ezekiel? Really? I don’t know about that…”

Why was I hesitant?

First of all, Ezekiel is loooooong. Very long. Take a guess at where Ezekiel ranks if you list the books longest to shortest. 4th longest! In fact, it is only 229 words shorter than Psalms, which is 3rd longest. Ezekiel has 29,918 words. (Trivia question: What are the two longest books of the Bible? Find the answer in the PS below.)

Second, Ezekiel is fairly unfamiliar to me. I looked in my files and I had only preached one sermon on it previously. If I selected Ezekiel, I’d have some learning to do. Who was this guy, Ezekiel, anyway?

Third, I feel intimidated by prophecy, and Ezekiel is one of the Old Testament prophets. The 12 short books at the end of the Old Testament are a bit more manageable because they are so small. I had preached overview sermons on them long ago, but Ezekiel is a whole different ballgame, as it is a big long prophetic tome. Could I handle it? Furthermore, prophecy can get really odd. How will people receive it? Does it relate to Faith Church in 2021?

But, I had to admit that I was intrigued. When I considered all the books of the Bible I have preached since I became pastor 13 years ago, I had to admit that other than that 12-part overview series on the Minor Prophets, I have rarely preached from the prophets. That means preaching through Ezekiel, given its genre and length, would be like nothing I’d preached before. I found that uniqueness appealing.

So I opened up the book of Ezekiel to see what I would find. As I mentioned above, if you would have asked me last week to describe Ezekiel, before I started reading it this week, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you much. How about you? Without reading it, what do you know about Ezekiel?

I was familiar with his mysterious vision of God in chapter 1, with his theme of Israel needing a new heart, with his prophecy about a foreign king that sounds like it might have a double-meaning describing Satan, and finally with his famous vision of the valley of dry bones. That’s it. And that’s not much. So one night last week as I started reading Ezekiel, I outlined it to see how it might work as a sermon series. It didn’t take me long to confirm that I did not know much about Ezekiel. I’m sure I must have read it sometime, but if I did, it was long gone from my memory.

What I was reading was mostly new to me, and what’s more, it is WILD! I kid you not, Ezekiel is unique, and it is wonderfully weird. But all the way through the bizarro stuff we’re going to discover in the book, Ezekiel’s prophetic message is powerful, and I think very applicable to us. Even though I was reading for a while, I couldn’t put it down, partly because of the strangeness of it all, but more because it is so fitting to our world. I worked through the whole book that night, and I came away from it excited about this sermon series.

On the blog next week I’m going to introduce the book, and then the following week we’ll start with chapter 1. Then we’ll continue working our way through the book in a series that will finish sometime in 2022. The introduction will set the context and help us understand the scope and themes. My prayer is that our study through Ezekiel will be life-changing for all of us. From what I read and studied so far, if we take heart to Ezekiel’s prophecy, I don’t think we can help but be changed by the Spirit of God.

PS – Answer to the Trivia question: the 2nd longest book of the Bible is Genesis (32,046 words) and the longest is Jeremiah (33,002 words).

How to fulfill your calling – Colossians 4:7-18, Part 3

Editor’s Note: This week I welcome David Hundert on the blog. David is an MDiv student and member of Faith Church. He preaches for me 3-4 times each year when I am away, and this past week I was my denomination’s national conference. Thank you, David!

Do you ever feel frustrated about how your life is going? Wondering if you’re doing what your supposed to be doing? As we conclude this study through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we’re going to hear some encouragement from Paul to a friend to press on and complete his calling.

Before we get there, read Colossians 4, verse 16 and we see an interesting aspect of life in Biblical times exposed. Paul intends that his letters were to be passed on between local churches. It makes sense, because if we are looking back 2000 years and making scripture written then applicable to us today, halfway around the world, how much more applicable would it have been in that day one or two cities over, right?

The other thing I find interesting, it that there was a letter written to the church at Laodicea! Theologians believe that if in fact there was a letter written specifically to the church in Laodicea, it must have been lost early on. Some think that Paul might have been referencing the letter to the church at Ephesus, since that letter was written pretty close to the same time, but if not, what could that have contained? What truths might it have contained? Could it still be out there in a jar in a cave somewhere just waiting to be discovered? Who knows, but it’s exciting to think about, isn’t it?

Next, Paul, in verse 17, asks Archippus to complete his work. In the letter to Philemon, Paul calls Archippus “our fellow soldier.” Here, he is exhorted to complete the ministry that he received in the Lord. There is a lot of speculation and conjecture surrounding him. One Bible Encyclopedia states that tradition suggests that Archippus was one of 70 disciples, eventually became the bishop of Laodicea and was martyred. Another reference suggests that the phrase in the letter to Philemon stating “…and the church that meets in your house,” is referring to the church meeting in the home of Archippus. There are some that believe that Archippus was actually Philemon’s son and that the ministry that Paul references in Colossians was the effort to free Onesimus. Again, a lot of this is tradition and speculation, and one day when we get to heaven, we can ask Paul for clarification.

However, what can we learn now from this? Christian comedian Mike Warnke used to say, “When you were saved, you were called for a purpose. And you are the only person in the kingdom of God that can fulfill that calling. It you weren’t, he would have called someone else!” So now I ask you, what is your calling? What are your giftings? What is the thing that God has called you to do, that no one else in the kingdom of God can do? Are you pursuing it? Are you trying to complete it? If not, what can the family of Christ, your brothers and sisters, do to help you reach that goal? Can we pray for you? Can we encourage you? All you have to do is reach out and ask! Feel free to comment below. See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord. That is something that only you can do. No one can do it for you.

Now look at the final verse in the passage, verse 18. Some of the New Testament writers used “secretaries” referred to as an “amanuensis.” They were basically someone who was employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript. This was actually very common in ancient Rome, and it was something that was used quite a bit by Paul. In this particular case, keep in mind that Paul was being held prisoner which would have made writing a long letter difficult. With that in mind, it also wasn’t uncommon for the one giving the dictation, to “authenticate” their letter by reading through it and then adding a line or two at the end. In this final verse, Paul gives the entire letter his “apostolic” stamp of approval by signing it in his own hand, asking the Colossian Christians to pray for him as he is still in chains, and then he closes with a blessing.

So what can we conclude here at the end of the letter? What can we learn from Paul’s P.S.?

First, our speech should be the kind that shares the good things that the Lord is doing for the purpose of encouragement. We should be encouraging one another. Maybe start a secret prayer partner ministry in your church. Faith Church’s Fellowship Team recently had one that lasted for a few months, culminating in a Prayer Partner reveal dessert, and it was very encouraging.
Look for those that haven’t been participating in your church family lately, people that used to be involved, and reach out to them! Drop them a card or give them a call. Let them know that they are valued and loved. Let them know that they haven’t been forgotten and that they are missed. Pray for them! You know who they are, just do it.
Join a small group. If your church doesn’t have small groups, talk with church leaders about the possibility of starting one.
We need to be intentional in our relationships with one another and with other churches. We need to be intentional with those that aren’t attending church anymore or even to those that are our neighbors where we live, and be there for them. Share the gospel with them. Be the gospel for them.
Contend, struggle for one another in prayer and in person. Turn your church family into a spiritual hospital for those in need.
Find out what your calling is and finish that to which you are called. Share that calling with the church so they can be praying for and encouraging you along the way! Celebrate when others are living out their calling.
Finally, remember those in chains. There are brothers and sisters around the world, going through persecution. Be praying for them and the communities that they serve.

How to show hospitality – Colossians 4:7-18, Part 2

Is hospitality just for hotels, restaurants, spas…or hospitals? Can we practice hospitality in our homes, in our friendships? Are you hospitable?

As we continue studying Colossians 4:7-18, the Apostle Paul mentions some of his friends, all of which were practicing hospitality. In verses 10-11, Paul mentions Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus, the only three Jews serving alongside him at this time. It makes me wonder what happened to the rest? According to one of the commentaries that I consulted, the author states, they “were the only Christians of Jewish birth who were actively cooperating with Paul in his gospel witness at this time.” Notice though, that they all send their greetings. They are all working closely enough with Paul that they are aware of who he’s writing to and probably the circumstances as well. With that, they send their greetings.

Another thing that stuck out to me about these verses, is the idea that Paul had to give special instructions to them regarding Mark. Why? As it turns out, between twelve and fourteen years prior to this, Mark had disgraced himself in Paul’s eyes by deserting him and Barnabas at Perga instead of going up-country with them to evangelize the cities of South Galatia. Mark had accompanied Paul and Barnabas during the first missionary journey, but returned home in the middle of it. You can read about that in Acts 13:13. When Barnabas wanted Mark to accompany him on the second missionary journey, Paul refused. Because of this disagreement, Paul and Barnabas parted company (Acts 15:39). Mark later joined Paul in his missionary work, and Paul praised him to others (2 Tim 4:11; Philemon 24). By this time, Mark had redeemed himself.

What we see in this passage is that Paul encourages the passing of greetings between churches. How could we keep in touch with other congregations? How can we encourage them? Faith Church is part of a local ministerium of various churches where the pastors gather monthly for prayer, study, and encouragement. How can your church have similar relationships with other local congregations?

The last thing that I’d like to add is that Paul mentions that these men proved a comfort to him. What would that have looked like? What does it mean to provide comfort to a brother or sister in Christ? I feel that it’s a given, that in order to be a comfort to someone, we need to understand the circumstances that they are in at that time. To do that, we have to be intentional about relationship. Instead we can get caught up in the idea that “so and so” has their life together, thus they don’t need me, or I’m not going to bother them with my problems. However, brothers and sisters, that is exactly when we need to be in relationship with one another. It has been my experience, that we as a part of the body of Christ need to intentionally work to make our church families safe places for each other to come and be open and honest. Matthew West, in his song “Truth be Told,” says

“There’s a sign on the door, says, “Come as you are” but I doubt it/’Cause if we lived like that was true, every Sunday morning pew would be crowded/But didn’t you say church should look more like a hospital/A safe place for the sick, the sinner and the scarred and the prodigals/Like me.”

When we realize that a church family is supposed to be like a hospital and we are all equipped to be there to wipe a forehead, or pray, or hug, or just be there for one another, we can all be a comfort to one another. Do you realize that we are all called to ministers? The definition of the word minister, is “The practice of caring for the physical and spiritual needs of others.” We are all called to care for one another. If you aren’t in a position to provide for the physical needs, than we can certainly pray for and with one another.

Next, in verses 12-13, Paul continues this theme mentioning his friend Epaphras. Paul states Epaphras is always wrestling in prayer for the church at Colossae. What does it mean to “wrestle?” First of all, the word “wrestle” comes from the Greek word “agōnizomai” is a verb and it means to contend with or struggle. It’s describing that Epaphras is engaging in spiritual warfare on behalf of the church.

What goal does he have in mind? That they would stand firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured. How often do we “contend or struggle” on behalf of our church family, that they would be mature, fully assured and effective within the community for the Lord? I’ll be honest. I need to contend more. I need to struggle more. In Luke 22:44, referring to Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, scripture states, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” The word for anguish is the Greek word, “Agōnia.” Sound familiar? What can we learn about praying with that kind of intensity? Within all of this, Paul personally vouches for him regarding the work and prayers that Epaphras is doing. To have an apostle of his standing, personally vouch for him would be a really high honor.

Next in verses 14-15 we read about Luke. This is the only place in scripture that Luke is identified as a doctor! You can tell by the way he wrote his gospel, that Luke was a physician. There were terms that were used in his gospel to describe the various state of people with afflictions, that were only used by physicians of the day. Yet he never identifies himself as a physician anywhere in his gospel or in the book of Acts. It is only here that Paul finally outs him as a doctor.

Also, at this point in his closing, have you noticed how many people have sent greetings to the church? There was clearly an effort by Paul and the other apostles, to develop the relationships between brothers and sisters amongst all of the churches. This effort had been fruitful as they contended for one another and greeted one another. They would even send support in one form of another to other churches as they had need. This can be seen in 1 Corinthians 16, when Paul addresses “…the collection for the Lord’s people.”

Finally, at the end of verse 15, Paul specifically calls out a woman named “Nympha” and asks that they send her his greetings. The neat thing is that it mentions that there was a church that met in her house. There were some areas where there may not have been many believers that would gather, so gathering in a house would not have been out of the ordinary. Other areas, for instance Jerusalem, would have been too large to gather in one person’s home. However, this didn’t give up on the possibility that there were smaller gatherings in homes that might have been an earlier version of our care groups! Not much is known about Nympha, other than her generosity in providing a place to gather. Either way you look at it, Paul is calling her out in a way that makes note of her hospitality. In what ways can we show that type of hospitality?

How to encourage one another – Colossians 4:7-18, Part 1

There is a story of a young man who went away to summer camp. While he was gone, he wrote to his dad, telling about all of the things that were going on and describing all of the drama taking place. At the very end of the letter he added, “No mon, no fun, your son.” His dad replied back with a very simple letter telling his son about all of the things he could be taking advantage of while he was there. The dad signed his letter, “Too bad, sooooo sad, your dad!”

I thought about that story as I wrestled with how to write a sermon about Colossians 4:7-18, Paul’s “PS” at the end of the letter. What I was really struggling with is this, “What is the overall theme to the end of this letter?” As I read and reread the passage, it finally sunk in. The passage is about relationship. How should we be relating to one another? In this particular case, Paul’s description of relationship within the body of Christ didn’t come in the form of instruction or explanation. Instead, Paul gives us a practical description of how the body of Christ should be and could be relating to one another.

In today’s society, Twitter limits the amount of characters that you can use to 280 which doubled from its initial count of 140. You’re limited to getting your point across to the Twitter-verse to 280 characters. When I was on social media, jokingly I competed with my kids to see who can get more “friends.” By the time I cancelled my Facebook account, I had somewhere around 1400! Now in all seriousness, if I would have died back then, I would have been fortunate if my own kids would have showed up for my funeral, let alone 1400 “friends!” However, the point is that we are built to communicate. We are designed to be social and to socialize. In his book, The DNA of Relationships, counselor Gary Smalley argues from countless hours of research and observation alongside the wisdom of the Bible that we are hardwired for relationship. This is one of the three main points of the book, relationship DNA. He shares an anecdote to describe this reality:

“The other day, I received a letter from a young man who had gotten back together with his girlfriend after a difficult conflict and a terrible fight. Eric had been working through some things at our counseling center, and it apparently had helped him and his girlfriend, and they got back together. Eric’s closing sentence was, “Sometimes I feel that I can’t live with her, and yet I know I can’t live without her.” How often do we hear that said?”

Well, there’s a reason for that. It’s in our DNA: We are made to need relationships. Even when they are hard, difficult, or just plain frustrating, we need relationships. It’s the way we are wired. We have a longing to belong to someone, to be wanted and cherished for the valued people we are.

Dr. Allan Schore of the UCLA Medical School has found that our basic genetic structure within the brain is hardwired to form emotionally based connected relationships right from birth. Relationships are not optional. From the moment we’re born, we’re in relationship with parents, siblings, and other relatives. Soon we’re in relationship with other children. Later we have relationships at school and in the workplace, and we develop relationships with close friends. Eventually, most people develop a relationship with someone they deeply love. When a relationship becomes difficult or painful, we tend to dismiss the relationship and may for a while try to abandon all relationships. But inevitably we come back and seek connection again.

Susan Pinker, the social science columnist for the Wall Street Journal, gave a TED talk in 2017 titled, “The Secret to Living Longer May Be Your Social Life.” In her research she discovered that the Italian island of Sardinia had ten times as many centenarians as North America. Why? It wasn’t the olive oil. It wasn’t the sunny climate. It wasn’t the gluten-free diet or personality types. It was the quality of close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions. She concluded her talk this way:

“Building in-person interaction into our cities, into our workplaces, into our agendas . . . sends feel-good hormones surging through the bloodstream and brain and helps us live longer. I call this building your village, and building it and sustaining it is a matter of life and death. It’s good for your health, it turns out, to be in rich communal relations with others.”

So, you might be asking yourselves, what does that have to do with Colossians? Here we are, centuries later, reading the Post Script that Paul himself adds to a letter, which gives us a glimpse into what life should look like within the body of Christ. If you were a part of this “upstart religion” in those days, there would have been a lot of isolation and ridicule, possibly even bigoted bias. So what Paul is doing here is sharing what was going on where he was, and sending others to gather information to report back to him.

We get a glimpse of this in Colossians 4, verses 7-9, where we read that Tychicus and Onesimus were sent to share what was going on with Paul and to encourage. This reminds me of when we have missionary guest speakers in worship services. When they are on home assignment, they share with us all of the great things that are taking place where they serve. It blesses and encourages me to hear all that God is doing there. Or when missionaries Skype with us, and share stories about the headway they’re making, networking with the churches in their country. It’s exciting! We recently learned about a young lady in Kijabe, Kenya, named Beatrice, who is trying to lift herself and her family out of poverty by getting her excavating license and starting a business. There is so much that we can share and learn to encourage one another.

Doesn’t this lift you up? What does this tell us about encouraging others? How can we encourage others? I think that the “prayer partner” ministry started by Faith Church’s Fellowship Serve Team is an awesome step in that direction. I’d like to add to that this question, “What can we do to encourage those that haven’t participated in the church family in a while?” Could you drop them a card in the mail? Could you make a phone call? Maybe send an email? You can let them know that they are not forgotten and that they are missed. Let them know, that if they aren’t here because they are struggling with something, maybe there is a way that you can be there for them. Maybe you can pray with them. If you can, don’t just tell them that you’ll pray for them. Do it! Right then and there. If you have them on the phone, pray with them. If you’re emailing, type out your prayer and send it. We all know that we have the best intentions to pray when we say, “I’ll pray for you,” but there’s an old expression that says, “The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions.” Don’t put it off… Pray then and there!

How to speak graciously [even when you don’t want to] – Colossians 4:2-6, Part 5

*Photo by Bewakoof.com Official on Unsplash*

I recently heard a story from a Mennonite pastor in my local ministerium. Nearly 25 years ago, his wife tragically passed away. One year before she passed away, she made the decision to discontinue wearing the traditional Mennonite head covering for women. After she died, he got lots of support, but he also got two letters from people in his church saying that if she had still worn a head covering, she’d be alive today. He said that hurt him so deeply. Can you imagine what it would take to write that kind of letter? What must be going on inside a person’s heart and mind to have the gall to write that to a person who just lost their wife?

In Colossians 4 verse 6, Paul writes that our conversation, our speech, our words, should be gracious. Even when we disagree with one another, even when we are hurting, we can be gracious. This is the self-control of the tongue, and that is hard for some of us. But know this, we can become gracious. In fact, I think it is best to read Paul’s words here as saying to us that it is imperative that we learn to be gracious, and then actually practice being gracious.

For some of you, gracious talk is the most natural thing in the world. You flow with graciousness. For others of you, being gracious can be difficult. There are extremes both ways. First, for those of you who are naturally gracious, the extreme you need to watch out for is being so gracious that you do not speak the truth. I can struggle with this. When I am in front of my congregation preaching, I don’t struggle so much. I find it much easier to speak truthfully and plainly in a sermon because I don’t see myself as speaking to any one person. I’m speaking to the whole church family. But when I’m speaking to just one person in my office or at a coffee shop, I can hem and haw and cave in to my fears and not speak plainly because I don’t want to offend. That is the shadow side of being gracious. I need, and maybe you need, to learn to speak the truth, even when one on one, and of course, to still speak it graciously.

But maybe you are the other extreme. Maybe you have a hard time being gracious. Maybe you use harsh tones, bold declarations, or even manipulation or intimidation. Maybe you don’t think enough about the feelings of the person you’re talking to. Do you need to work on speaking the truth in love? With graciousness? Do you need to learn to pause before you speak, to make sure it comes out of your mouth with a gracious tone?

Paul also suggests that our speaking of the Good News needs to be seasoned with salt. My family loves Red Robin seasoning. We almost always have that on our table. It takes so good! Not just on fries, but on burgers, on pretty much any meat, on mac and cheese. It is a salt-based seasoning. Maybe you have a seasoning you prefer. Maybe just plain salt! When we season our conversation with salt, we are flavoring the conversation in such a way that we clearly and compelling share the words of the Good News. Matched with a life that consistently aligns with the teachings of Jesus, this is a powerful combination.

You don’t have to be the poet laureate or a preacher or a Martin Luther King Jr to have conversation that could be described as seasoned with salt. Start seasoning your conversation with grace, just like Paul said. Then focusing on telling the story. Talk about how Jesus has impacted your life. And if the person you’re talking to asks a question you don’t know the answer to, say “I don’t know, but I’ll look into it and get back to you,” and then actually look into it and get back to them. If they respond with a point of view that you don’t know how to respond to, then be honest and say “I don’t know how to respond to that, but I’ll think about it or research it and get back to you.” What is absolutely important is to avoid argumentation. We should avoid viewing conversations about Jesus as battles to win. Instead focus on telling stories. Talk about the ways that your church family is seeking to share the love of Christ in the community. In my community, I loving talking about how our ministerium of churches work together in unity, despite their denominational or doctrinal differences.

Invite conversation where you listen and learn. The person, after the conversation is over, should be able to say of you, “They really listened to me…they were really interested in me.”

Prayer and sharing the Gospel through word and deed. Those are two excellent ways to measure a church.

What to pray for yourself and others – Colossians 4:2-6, Part 4

Think about the content of your prayer requests. Often the prayer requests in my church family are health-related. There’s nothing wrong with asking God to heal us. But I do get concerned when it seems we have a fixation on health. While it is okay to pray for health-related concerns, that should not be our focus. Take a look at Colossians 4, verse 3 where Paul writes what prayer request content he focuses on.

Paul asks the Colossians to pray for “us,” meaning that he is thinking not just about himself, but he is asking for prayer for his ministry associates as well. We should be people who pray for one another. For our families, for our friends, and for our church family. Pray for one another.

Then notice that Paul asks the Colossians to pray that he and his ministry associates have opportunities to speak. Paul is thinking of speaking ministry. When we hear that, we think of going from church to church, or place to place, giving lectures. I think of an evangelist, maybe preaching in the open air or at a rally. Of course those people need our prayers, but we shouldn’t limit our prayers to people who have a role as a professional evangelist. Paul is more than likely asking the Colossians to pray that he will have as many opportunities as possible to talk with people about Jesus. Doesn’t have to be a crowd. Could be one person. This is a major prayer request for Paul, as evidenced by the fact that he mentions this same prayer request in other letters. Paul was passionate about talking with people about Jesus. That is a request that we should pray for one another as well, that we and they would have opportunities to speak about Jesus with others.

How often do you talk about Jesus with people in your life? Not much? If not, then start by making this a prayer request and asking people, like Paul does here, to pray for you, that you would have opportunities to talk more about Jesus.

As I read this request from Paul, I thought Paul was constantly bold, having no problem whatsoever speaking about Jesus all the time, wherever he went. When you read the book of Acts and his letters, it sure seems like he is the last guy that needs people to pray for him to have opportunities to talk about Jesus. And yet here he is asking for that prayer. It shows his humility, his dependence on God. Perhaps we could say, how much more do we need to be praying for this for ourselves, and having others pray for us.

Paul calls the content that he wants to speak about, “the mystery of Christ.” He mentioned this previously in chapters 1 and 2 of Colossians (starting here), so I’m not going to take time to review it. Simply put, he is talking about the good news of Jesus, that there is salvation and hope and new life found in Christ.

It could be that Paul asks for more open doors to talk about Jesus because of what he says in verse 3 about his current situation. He is in chains, bound in prison, and thus he does not have the opportunity to talk with people about Jesus like he would if he was a free man. So it is possible that part of what Paul is doing here is simply asking them to pray that he would be freed from jail. But as we know from what Paul writes, especially in Philippians 1, even when he is in jail, he shares the Gospel to people there.

I think it is entirely possible that God gives us opportunity to talk about Jesus more frequently than we care to admit. Nearly everywhere we are, there is likely opportunity. Perhaps if we pray for opportunities, what God will do to answer the prayer is to open our eyes to the opportunities right in front of us. Or perhaps he will embolden us to speak. Most of us are surrounded with lots of opportunities to share new life in Christ with others, but we choose instead not to talk about the story of Jesus. How about you?

Look at verse 4 and Paul also asks for prayer that he will speak the message of the Gospel clearly.

As we well know, actions speak louder than words. Or as was famously said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” What that means is that our lives preach the Gospel far more clearly and powerfully than our words. You actually do communicate content, information, and you communicate it more impactfully, by your deeds.

For too long there has been a disagreement in Christian circles about sharing the information of the Gospel and doing the deeds of the Gospel, as if one was better than the other. Both are important. Jesus was involved in sharing the Good News both through good deeds and good words. We follow his example when we are involved in sharing the love of God through both word and deed. We work toward balancing word and deed, not over-emphasizing one or the other. This is how we speak clearly, by life choices that are in line with our words.

Researchers have been telling us that people are not interested in becoming followers of Jesus because the people in the church, those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus, live so different from the way Jesus lived.

Russell Moore recently wrote this: “In the early 1920s [a person] was likely to have walked away [from church] due to the fact that she found [church doctrines] to be outdated and superstitious or because he found moral [freedom] to be more attractive than the “outmoded” strict moral code of his past or because she wanted to escape the stifling bonds of a home church for an autonomous individualism. Now we see a markedly different—and jarring—model of a disillusioned evangelical. We now see young evangelicals walking away from evangelicalism not because they do not believe what the church teaches, but because they believe the church itself does not believe what the church teaches.”

He goes on to say this: “The problem now is not that people think the church’s way of life is too demanding, too morally rigorous, but that they have come to think the church doesn’t believe its own moral teachings.

“What happens when people reject the church because they think we reject Jesus and the gospel? …What if people don’t leave the church because they disapprove of Jesus, but because they’ve read the Bible and have come to the conclusion that the church itself would disapprove of Jesus? That’s a crisis.”

In other words, the clearest way that we can share the Gospel is to live like Jesus lived. That is what Paul is referring to in verse 5, when he says, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.” Or it could also be translated, “walk in wisdom.” Paul is talking about the choices of our lives, about what flows out of our hearts and minds and into the world. Go back to Colossians chapter 3 and review the two sets of clothing. Take off the old clothes of the sinful nature, and put on the clothing of the new life of Jesus. Our pattern of life matters more than the words we say. And people, especially the younger generations, are watching Christians’ pattern of life, that it does not look like Jesus, concluding they want nothing to do with us.

What should we do about this? We should live like Jesus lived.

The transforming power of gratitude – Colossians 4:2-6, Part 3

*Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash*

Do you ever feel like, as a parent, you are running your own private family Uber? The kids call or text, and you pick them up from practice. You drive them to events, to their friends’ houses, and all over. Or did you ever get a call like this: “Dad, practice finished early, so can you pick me up, and can you also drive ____ (friend #1) and ____ (friend #2) to their homes?” I don’t say this out loud in response to my kid, and maybe I should, but I’m thinking, “Why don’t those kids call their parents?” Probably because their parents are at work, and can’t leave, whereas I have a flexible schedule. So I tend to be the go-to driver. Last summer I drove my daughter and three of her friends for a day trip to the beach two and a half hours away. If I’m honest, the parental Uber can get to be a drag in my selfish moments, and I can long for the day when my kids get their driver’s licenses. But there is one thing that can transform my attitude about all the chauffeuring. You know what it is?

Gratitude. When my kids and their friends say “thank you” for the lift. One of my daughter’s friends says “thank you” when she gets in the car at the beginning of the ride, and when she gets out at the end of the ride. That’s meaningful, and it makes it hard for me to be grumpy.

As we continue our study through Colossians 4:2-6, looking at two marks of a healthy church family, we’ve been focusing on the first, the practice of prayer. Next in verse 2, Paul says we should practice thankful prayer. That means taking time to thank God for who he is, for what he has done, for his promises, for answered prayer. Thankfulness is transformative. It helps us remember, especially when we are in difficult times, that there is more to the story. The difficulty, the pain is not the end of the story. When we spend time actually saying or writing words of thankfulness, our hearts and minds are changed, realizing the truth about the world, that God is love, that God is good, that he cares for us.

I would encourage you to add a practice of thanksgiving in your prayer. Thank God for meals, for the day, but beyond that maybe keep a journal where each day you write five things you are thankful for. Nothing is too mundane to be thankful for. If you love to start your day with coffee, thank God for creating coffee plants. Thank him for the farmers who grow the plants. Thank him for the person who roasted your beans. I sometimes go to bed thinking about how wonderful it will be, when I wake up the next morning, that I get to drink coffee. Thank God for that. Then allow our gratefulness to go even deeper. Go on a thought path of gratefulness. Think about it: Who first discovered you could roast and grind coffee beans, then pour hot water over them, and you get a delicious drink with caffeine? Thank God for them! What else can you thank God for? There is so much we can be thankful for, including difficult times, because of how beneficial they often are to us.

When we are thankful, God helps us reset our lives on what is true, what is good, what is right, and that shapes us.

How to hear from God (aka Practicing Watchful Prayer) – Colossians 4:2-6, Part 2

I once had a friend who talked a lot. I don’t know if it was because the person looked at me as a pastor, and thus assumed, wrongly, that it was my job to just listen to them express their struggles all the time. We would meet, sometimes for an hour or an hour and a half, and they would talk almost nonstop, hardly coming up for air, rarely asking me how I was doing. Or if they did ask me how I was doing, I would get in a few sentences or a few minutes, and they would jump right back into talking about what they were thinking and feeling. It was really…frustrating. I felt used.

I wonder if God ever feels used.

This week in our study through Colossians, we are looking two marks of a healthy church, based on what Paul teaches in Colossians 4:2-6. In the previous post, we learned that the first mark of a healthy church is to be devoted to prayer. In that post we looked at a few ways to practice prayer, especially through the lens of the Lord’s Prayer. But there are still more ways to pray. Look at the next phrase in verse 2, “Being watchful.”

What is watchful prayer? To watch is to observe, to listen. Too often we think of prayer as us doing the talking, primarily to make requests of God, and God is doing the listening. But that is a warped view of a relationship, right? How would your feel in your relationships, if the other person did all the talking, and you just listened?

Is that what we do to God? Have you ever asked God how he is doing? And then stopped and listened? If we are in a real relationship with God, and we are, shouldn’t we ask him how he is doing and then actually give space and time to listen?

I have shared this before, but I’ll share it again because I think it is so helpful. My seminary Old Testament professor, David Dorsey, who has since passed away, once told us in class that in his conversations with people, he sought to practice a 60/40 rule in conversation. He would strive to actively listen to the other person 60% of the time, and share his thoughts 40% of the time. You might think, “Why not 50-50? Shouldn’t a relationship be equal?” Here’s why: as followers of Jesus we are called to die to ourselves, to consider others as more important than ourselves, so the 60/40 rule emphasizes listening to the other, leaving more space for the other person to share, but also honors the fact that any good relationship is a two-way street. Thus Dr. Dorsey felt he should share his thoughts about 40 percent of the time.

Of course, it is impossible to track these percentages in real time, unless we could configure our phones to record word count or time speaking, and alert us somehow. Frankly, that is likely possible, but I don’t think we’d want to do that. Instead, we should be aware of how much we are talking in a conversation. We should be actively inquiring about the other person, how they are doing, how they are feeling. Active listening means asking questions of them, rather than being ready to share about our thoughts. But there is also the 40% side, our side, and therefore it is not right if we, in a desire for humility, allow the other person to always dominate the conversation. Frankly, I should have not allowed that friend to talk that much. I should have confronted him. My lack of confrontation meant that I was discipling him into thinking that it is okay that he talked 95% of the time or more. It’s not okay.

And yet, how often do we do that with God? It is not okay. We need to be people who listen, and if we use the 60/40 rule as a guide, and I think it is a wise guide, we will listen to God 60% of the time! Think about how different 60% listening is from our normal practice of prayer. Evaluate your practice of prayer. How much time do you listen to God? Is it anywhere close to 60%? Given that God is the ultimate selfless One, it seems reasonable that he would be the one to listen more than he talks. So flip the percentages, and make it your goal to listen to God 40% of the time. Even then, do you come anywhere close to listening to God 40% of the time?

What I have heard from people over the years, and the question I ask myself, when it comes to listening prayer is this: “What am I supposed to hear, or what if I don’t hear anything?”

I have a couple thoughts about that. We can hear God in many ways. Primarily, we hear him through the words of Scripture, so we should make studying Scripture a priority. I have been using a Daily Office podcast lately, Common Prayer Daily, which I have found so helpful. Every day it is about 15 minutes, and I try to start the day listening to it, before everyone in my family wakes up. Each podcast includes scripture reading and guided prayer. That helps me listen to the voice of God in Scripture.

We can also hear God through nature, or through other people. I hope you hear God in sermons, in songs, and in the fellowship of the church family, such as through group discussions.

We can also hear directly from God. I also listen to The Daily Disconnect podcast. It is about 7 minutes that includes some brief devotional reflections, and then a space of 3-4 minutes of quietness, in which you listen for God to speak. Sometimes I use a prayer app that allows you to set a timer for silent prayer. 10 minutes, 12 minutes, however long you want to listen for the voice of God. This helps me practice what Paul calls being watchful.

What am I listening for? Could be thoughts. Could be memories. Could be reflections on Scripture. Dallas Willard, in his book Hearing God, says that it can take time and practice to recognize the voice of the Spirit. And when we think we hear it, we should always test it to see if it in line with Scripture.

What I think is most important to remember is this: practice watchful prayer. We will not hear the voice of the Lord if we do not listen. I encourage you to begin adding a time for listening to your daily prayer. Read a book like Hearing God to learn more about how to listen. Perhaps use a podcast like The Daily Disconnect.

Two Marks of a Healthy Church – Colossians 4:2-6, Part 1

What is a healthy church? What is a dead church? What is a failing church? How do we measure the success of a church?

As we continue our series studying the New Testament letter, Colossians, Paul shares two practices that mark a healthy church. Turn to Colossians 4:2. We are reading verses 2-6. Pause this post and read those verses, looking for the two marks of a healthy church.

Notice that Paul begins this section by teaching the first mark of a healthy church: we disciples of Jesus should be devoted to prayer.

What does it mean to be devoted to prayer? Just spend time praying, right? Pretty simple. But how much time? And what format should we use? Just pray before meals and pray before bed? Growing up my family used to pray before long trips in the car. Of course we pray in church. But what else? When do you normally pray? When a situation in life is going very badly, like a health problem, or a financial problem, and a relationship difficulty. Then we pray. We’re desperate and we have come to the end of ourselves, and we want help. So we cry out to God. As we should!

I took a prayer class in college and we learned that we should pray reverently. One way to help us pray reverently is to begin our prayer with an intentional attitude and posture of reverence to God. Think about Jesus started the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” There is a reverence, a respect there. In my mind, when I pray that line in the Lord’s prayer, I have the image of a follower of God entering his royal throne room, slowly, cautiously, wide-eyed, not wanting to be disrespectful. That image might be helpful to you.

In that college prayer class one student was from the former Soviet Union. After the prof taught us about respectfully entering God’s presence, this Russian student raised his hand and said, “That’s not always true.” Kind of bold to disagree with the prof! Was the student saying it was okay to be irreverent? Of course not. The student went on to tell us that in the former Soviet Union, the Christians had to be secretive, part of underground churches, as it was illegal to practice Christianity under that communist government. Government agents would spy on the Christians, trying to infiltrate them and throw them in jail. Sometimes government agents would find out where the Christians were worshiping in secret, and the agents would raid the house. My friend said that the Christians didn’t have time to enter God’s presence with slow, cautious reverence. They would just immediately cry out to God, “Help, Lord, help! Save us!”

It is okay to cry out to God in our desperation. That is what the Psalms of Lament are all about. That is what the book of Lamentations is all about. Lament is a form of prayer is which we cry out to God in our desperation, even with our complaint to God. Do you think God, when he hears us lament, thinks, “Oh geesh, here go these ungrateful people again. They are such bores, constantly complaining to me.”? No! God wants to hear our hearts. Even if our hearts are raw. This is why I include one psalm of lament in every Wednesday prayer guide for Faith Church. Because life is brutal sometimes, we need to know that it is okay to be honest about and express our pain to God, and to each other!

In addition to lament, there are other ways to pray. Many other ways. The Lord’s Prayer is a great model because it includes four forms of prayer, and they rhyme. Address – That is the beginning that we already talked about, where we consider who God is. We respectfully address “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.” Request – “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” Confess – “Forgive us sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us.” Assess – “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” These are requests as well, but embedded in the request is an assessment of ourselves. When we pray for God’s help in temptation and deliverance, we are assessing ourselves, and the assessment is that “we cannot do this on our own, we need help.”

Address, Request, Confess, Assess.

But there are still more ways to pray. Check back to the next post, and we’ll learn more.