Do you have a nickname? Nicknames are fun. They can build a warm, relational bond. Did you know that Jesus seems to like using nicknames?
To his disciples James and John, he gave the nickname “Sons of Thunder.” To another disciple, Simon, he gave the nickname “Cephas” (Aramaic) or “Peter” (Greek), which both mean “the Rock.” (Side note: Peter’s father was named John, so Peter was son of John, and in their ancient culture, your surname was often just “son of ____”, which has carried down through the centuries to some of our contemporary surnames that have “son” at the end. “Son of John” becomes “Johnson”. Peter, then, could be called “Simon ‘The Rock’ Johnson.” I wonder if he could do the People’s Eyebrow?”).
That nickname “Peter” is from the Greek word “petros”. You can hear the connection to our English word “petroleum.” (Side note: petroleum is a combo word. It takes the Greek, “petros,” combines it with the Latin, “oleo,” which put together refers to oil that comes from rock.)
This week, as we continue our Trust and Obey blog series, we will look at one time Jesus used Peter’s nickname to talk about the church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says that he will build his church on the foundation of a rock. Always good to build on a strong foundation. When builders are erecting skyscrapers, they really want to build on immovable bedrock, because those skyscrapers are so tall, so heavy. They don’t want a Leaning Tower of Pisa situation. That has always been true, including in ancient Palestine.
Using that common building metaphor, then, Jesus says that he is going to build his church on the strong foundation of rock. That part of the verse is easy to understand. What is not as easy to understand is which rock Jesus is talking about.
Most literally, it seems that Jesus is referring to Peter himself. Is there something special about Peter? Because his nickname is “The Rock”, maybe Jesus is saying, “Peter you are that one special leader that is going to lead and build my church.” Historically, that prediction becomes reality. After the hugely disappointing episode where Peter denies Jesus three times is all cleared up, and Peter is restored in John 21, Peter takes a leading role in the church. He leads the charge to fill the 12th disciple spot vacated by Judas Iscariot (Acts 1). Peter preaches the first sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). In Acts chapters 1-6, and then Acts 10-12, Peter is arguably the central leader of the church. After that, though, we know that James the brother of Jesus becomes the leader of the mother church in Jerusalem, and Peter travels as a missionary. But as far as missionaries go, it is Paul who seems to be depicted as leader. So how could the church be built upon Peter?
Tradition has it that Peter goes to Rome and becomes the leader or bishop of the Christians in Rome. Peter also writes 1st and 2nd Peter. Eventually Peter is killed, crucified upside-down, something he asks for when he is about to be killed, because he did not feel worthy to be crucified right side up like Jesus. Years later when the idea of naming popes becomes a thing, the catholic church declares, based on Matthew 16, that Peter must be that special foundational leader, ordained by Jesus, and therefore all succeeding popes are “built” on the foundation of Peter. To this day, one of the Pope’s titles is “successor the prince of the apostles,” which is referring to Peter. Further the Pope presides over the church called St. Peter’s Basilica, which is adjacent to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
But Protestants have a different idea about the foundation of the church. Protestants believe Jesus was not saying that Peter was the rock upon which the church would be built. Instead, Jesus is just using wordplay to make a point about a different foundation, the real foundation of the church.
This coming week on the blog, we talk about the foundation of church.
Jesus has been attempting to prepare his disciples for a major change, that he will be leaving them. But he says he will send the Spirit to be with them. Clearly, the disciples are unsettled and confused. So Jesus needs to explain further. Here’s what we read in John 14, verses 18-20, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
So now we have the complete Trinitarian picture. Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus sends the Spirit who will live in us, and thus Jesus, who is in the Father, will also be in us. As we are in him.
Notice the union. Here in John 14, Jesus describes what has been called the doctrine of union with Christ. We are in Christ, together with Christ. This is so much more than belief in our minds, more than just intellectual assent about an idea. It is a union with Jesus.
Look at how he describes it further in verse 21, “ Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
We show our union with him, our love for him, when we not only have his commands, but we keep them. Jesus doesn’t want us to be able to win a trivia contest about his commands. He wants us to actually do his commands. Why? Because they are for our best, and for the best of the community around us.
Be sacrificially generous to those in need? Yes. Good for us, so we trust in him rather than trust in ourselves or our money. And good for those in need.
Help those who are hungry, need clothing, housing, healing, and those who are incarcerated, strangers, foreigners? Yes. Good for us, so we focus outwardly rather than get stuck on ourselves, while we live in a culture that constantly tells us we should live in such a way as to please ourselves. And when we are sacrificially helping those in need, it obviously good for them.
Those are just a few examples. When we live the sacrificially generous life, we help people meet Jesus.
In verse 22, Judas (not Judas Iscariot) asks him a question, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Judas seems a bit confused about what Jesus meant, so Jesus essentially repeats himself. “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
God wants to make his home with us! He is so relational. Think about that. God wants you to be his home. Wild, right? You, body, soul, spirit, however you think about who you are, God sees you as his house. God wants to live with you. That’s deep union.
Now, notice the situation that is in place for God to make his home with us. Notice the word “belief” is long gone in this passage. Instead, Jesus has now been reiterating multiple times precisely what he means: loving him means obeying his teaching.
Christians are people who do what Jesus taught, and what Jesus did. First and foremost, that means we show we love him by obeying his commands. And what did he command?
Jump back to chapter 13, verses 33 and 34. Earlier that same night, Jesus gave his disciples a clear teaching, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Love of others can be inconvenient, sometimes messy, is often sacrificial, costing time, money, emotion.
I was talking with a man in my church this week, and he told me how a number of people in our church cared for him before and after a major surgery he had while I was on sabbatical recently. Through tears of joy for the meals, the car rides, the check-ins, and more, he said, “You should be proud of the church.”
That is love in action. That is obeying Jesus’ commands. What a joy for me to hear this testimony of care and loving like Jesus.
It’s now just hours before Jesus will be forcibly taken from his disciples, and less than a day before he will be killed. In John 14, Jesus is having a final conversation with his disciples, trying to prepare them for what will rock their world. Of course, they cannot imagine what is coming and how it will make them feel. But still, Jesus is trying to prepare them. But as we learned in the previous post, Jesus is being somewhat mysterious, evidence by the questions that his disciples ask him. They are not getting it. Jesus needs to clear things up, and he uses the word “believe”. Look at his response to Philip in verses 9–11.
“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”
Believe, believe, believe. Jesus is saying, “You saw the works I did, the miracles. How else could I be a miracle worker, except from the Father in me doing the work.” Because of the clear evidence of those miracles, Jesus is saying that the proper response to the evidence is to fully believe in him.
Then he comes to a key point about belief, and the nature of belief, to show that it is not just intellectual assent. In verse 12 he makes this clear when he says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing,”
Belief in him, total reliance on him, will show itself because that person will do what Jesus did.
To put it another way, look at what he says in verse 15, “If you love me, keep my commands.”
Jesus is being abundantly clear here. We show what we believe by how we live our lives. We show our reliance on Jesus by doing the things he did.
We live a particular kind of way. The way of Jesus. The way we live shows what we believe. We do not need to believe perfectly or live perfectly to enter his kingdom. Instead, we live by trusting in Jesus, and we show that trust by striving to live like he lived. His ways will very often be counter-cultural, sacrificial, not always the easiest road. But as we live his ways, the result will be trust and reliance on him.
And as we follow his kingdom way of life, we are not alone. It is not as if we are striving to live like Jesus all by ourselves. Jesus continues, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
And that is exactly what happened. The Holy Spirit came, which we read about in Acts 2, and the Spirit helps us become more like and live like Jesus. Notice in John 14:17, Jesus tells us that the Spirit lives in us. God in us. It is amazing to think about.
What the idea that God’s Spirit lives in us can also be mysterious. If you are a Christian, do you feel God living in you? Maybe sometimes yes. Maybe sometimes no. Jesus’ disciples had likely never felt that, because the Holy Spirit had not yet arrived. So once again, Jesus needs to do some more explaining. We’ll hear his further explanation in the next post.
In John 14, verse 1, Jesus is talking about belief, as we saw him do in the previous posts on John 3. But between John chapter 3 and John 14, time has passed, and now Jesus is hours away from his death. He is meeting with his disciples, having a meal together, trying to prepare them for the difficult days ahead.
He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” Again, as we learned in the previous posts, that belief is not just ideas in their minds. Instead, Jesus is saying, “Rely on me totally.” Then in verses 2–4 he talks about going to his father’s house, preparing rooms for them, and taking them there. Notice how he is using Kingdom of God imagery. He concludes in verse 4 by saying, “You know the way there.”
In verse 5, one of his disciples Thomas, ever skeptical, says, “Wait. What? We don’t know what you are talking about.” I love the honesty of that question. It is a great reminder that questions are not wrong not. God welcomes our questions.
Jesus has been speaking a new and deeper Kingdom reality, and Thomas said what was probably on most of the disciples’ minds, that even though Jesus says “you know the way there,” they do know what way he is talking about.
In response, Jesus gives another famous verse, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Jesus himself is the way. And he says that since they know him, they know the Father. There is a one-to-one equality that is mysterious. Jesus and the Father are one, yet also different.
His disciple, Philip, now responds in verse 8, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” That question is hilarious in the eye roll kind of way, because Jesus has just said that if you know him then you know the Father. In a strange way, Jesus could say, “You’re looking at him. I am him. He is me.”
Frankly, I get it that the disciples were confused. Their entire religious framework was built on Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Now Jesus is saying that he is the Father and the Father is him.
The disciples are confused by all this. So Jesus needs to clear things up, and we’ll see how he does so in the next post.
“How can an adult be born a second time?” So asked Nicodemus to Jesus, who had just said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” Good question, if you’re thinking very literally. My daughter-in-law just recently gave birth to my 8lb, 4oz, grandson, a that was difficult, as so many mothers well know.
Again, thinking literally here, as Nicodemus was, can you imagine a mother somehow giving birth to a full-grown adult, even a very small one? It’s a ridiculous scenario, and it makes me wonder how Nicodemus could have been stuck in the literal. Jesus was obviously using metaphor. As Jesus himself said, the second birth is being born of the Spirit. But even that is mysterious. How is one born of the Spirit of God?
That brings us to John 3, verses 10-15, in which, answering Nicodemus’ question about how to be born again, Jesus features the word, “believe.” Look at verse 12, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”
Clearly for Jesus, believing him is important.
Then in verse 13 we read this interesting, and also confusing, sentence, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”
What does that mean?
It seems Jesus means that you don’t just up and go to heaven because you want to. You can’t make it on your own. Only Jesus can do that. And with that important context, Jesus is now ready to explain how people can be born of the Spirit and thus access the eternal life of the Kingdom of God.
To explain how to be born of the Spirit, Jesus refers to a story in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, chapter 21. God had freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, after which the wander in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land of Canaan. But they act out, rebel, and God allowed a plague among them. Moses pleads with God to stop the plague. God responds, saying that if Moses displays a snake up high on a pole, the people can look to the snake and be healed. This is why a snake on a pole is the universal symbol of medical personnel like doctors and nurses.
Jesus says, just like the people who believed by looking at the snake were healed, those who believe in Jesus (and here he notes that he too will be lifted up, which seems to be a reference to the way he would die) will have eternal life. But they will not have eternal life in and of themselves. Notice the final two words in verse 15, eternal life is in him. Eternal life is made possible by Jesus. We do not make it happen. We believe in him and what he did.
That gives John the motivation to do some further explaining, which brings us to John 3:16. Notice that in John 3:16 this whole amazing “born of the Spirit to enter the Kingdom” thing is rooted in God’s love for the world. God gives of himself sacrificially for us. That is love. Love sacrifices. We believe in that love.
And there’s that all-important word in John 3:16, “believe.” What does “believe” mean? At the risk of overstating the obvious, here’s a definition: “to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.’” (Louw & Nida)
I like that definition’s combo of trust and reliance. It could be very easy to think that belief is just thinking ideas are true. That kind of belief is called intellectual assent. “In my mind I agree with an idea. I believe it,” we say.
But notice that the definition says that the kind of belief Jesus is talking about is not intellectual assent. The definition says, “to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance.” This is an active belief. It’s like the famous saying, “Your actions speak louder than your words.”
See how that definition starts to bring the two words of the blog series together? Trust and Obey. Belief is active, complete trust and reliance.
If a person says they believe in Jesus, but don’t rely on him, their belief has been revealed as simply intellectual assent. And intellectual assent is not what Jesus wants.
What kind of belief is the belief that Jesus wants? Or to put it another way, what kind of belief will actually empower someone to access and participate in God’s Kingdom?
To answer that question, we are really getting at the second word of the blog series title, “Obey.” What did Jesus say about that second word, about obeying him?
I’m back from sabbatical, and for the next few weeks, the blog series will be “Trust and Obey,” which is the name of a song I learned when I was a kid in Sunday school. During sabbatical I thought about how those two words help us understand what it means to be followers of Jesus together as a church in our contemporary American culture, and in particularly right here in our community.
My goal in this week’s posts is to lay a foundation for the next two weeks. For that foundation let’s start with what is arguably the most famous verse in the New Testament, maybe the most famous verse in the whole Bible? What do you think it is?
John 3:16. Perhaps you don’t need to turn there because you can quote it. Anybody want to put themselves out there and try to quote it in front of us???
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Did you hear the word “believe” in the verse? That is very much related to the first word in the title of the sermon series, “Trust.” And the other word in the title of the sermon series is missing, “Obey”. If the words “trust” and “obey” are both vital for followers of Jesus and the church, but John 3:16 only has the word “believe”, then maybe John 3:16 is not the only verse Christians and churches should be relying on. Yet many have relied almost exclusively on that one verse. Is it possible that many Christians and churches have so emphasized John 3:16, so emphasized the concept of believing, they are missing the other equally important “obey”?
I think we need to study John 3:16 a bit closer.
Let’s take a look at John 3:16 in the context of its whole chapter.
Open your Bible, and if you scan up to the beginning of the chapter, we learn that this chapter features Jesus’ conversation with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Pharisees were religious leaders. At the time of Jesus, there were about 6000 of them. They were not located at HQ, aka the Temple, in Jerusalem. Instead, the Pharisees were kind of like a religious FBI stationed throughout the towns in Judea and Galilee. They were keeping an eye on things, with the express purpose of making sure the people kept the law. Not the Roman law, as that was the Roman soldiers’ job, because at the time, Palestine was occupied territory. The Pharisees made sure the people kept the Old Testament Law.
We tend to think of the Pharisees as awful, hypocritical people who were power hungry, lovers of money, and hated Jesus. They were that, sometimes, but they were also motivated by their understanding of faithfulness to God. Yes, many of them would become greedy and controlling, and ultimately they were the ones pushing hard for Jesus to be killed.
But Pharisees were also passionate about Israel being a people who keeps God law. Their national history told a very sad tale about what happened when Israel stopped following God’s law (see 1 & 2 Kings). Israel was so rebellious, idolatrous, and unjust, that they eventually lost their land and were exiled. During exile, they desperately wanted to return to Palestine and Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee, and their exile motivated many of them to change their ways and get serious about following the Law. And eventually God brought them back to the land.
It was in the era after the exile that the Pharisees began, with the purpose of helping the people of Israel to faithfully follow the Law of Moses, and thus to be in the best possible position to receive blessing from God. So the Pharisees were started for a good purpose.
In Jesus’ day, not all Pharisees were consumed with greed and hypocrisy. Nicodemus was one of the good Pharisees. John 3 tells the story of how Nicodemus met with Jesus under cover of night, because he didn’t want to risk being seen. He was genuinely curious about Jesus. The two of them start talking about the Kingdom of God.
Notice that Jesus brings up the Kingdom of God in verse 3, with his famous “you must be born again” line. To enter the Kingdom Jesus repeats in verse 5, you must be born of water and Spirit. Water birth is natural human birth. A baby is ready to be born when its mother’s water breaks. But a person also needs to be born of the Spirit if they want to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus is being intentionally mysterious here, and Nicodemus is confused. Look at verse 9. “Born again? By the Spirit? How???”
Some Bibles print Jesus’ words in red, some don’t. Why? When the Gospels were originally written, even though original copies no longer exists, scholars are fairly confident that the Gospel writers did not use red ink when writing Jesus’ words. Why are they confident?
Because the first person to publish a New Testament with the words of Jesus printed in red was a man named Louis Klopsch in 1899. He came up with the idea when reading Luke 22:20, where, seated around the tables of the last supper, Jesus tells his disciples, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Klopsch thought red ink would not only make the words of Jesus jump off the page, it would also symbolize the blood of Jesus. (Did Klopsch want us to think that Jesus’ words are written in blood?)
This is more than just a hopefully interesting piece of bible printing trivia. Let me explain by asking a question, What do you think is the most famous verse in the New Testament, maybe the most famous verse in the whole Bible?
Arguably, John 3:16. Perhaps you can quote it.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Grab a Bible, or open it on your device, and check if that version of the Bible prints John 3:16 in red.
If you are reading the New International Version 2011 edition, and your Bible includes the words of Jesus in red, you’ll notice that John 3:16 is not printed in red. Shouldn’t John 3:16 be in red? Isn’t that the most famous thing Jesus said? Some of the most popular English Bibles print John 3:16, and in fact all of John 3, verses 10 through 21, in red. The King James does, the New King James does, the English Standard Version does, as does the New American Standard Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, and the New Living Translation.
Why, then, does the NIV 2011 not print John 3:16–21 in red?
Here’s where it gets weird: The NIV 1984 edition does print John 3:10-21 in red. Why the change? The team involved in translating and printing the NIV 2011 edition disagreed with the team involved in translating and printing the earlier edition.
Here’s why. There is a scholarly debate about how much of these verses Jesus said, and how much John said. My opinion is that verses 16-21 sound an awful lot like John sounds in his epistles, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. It seems like verses 16-21 are John commenting, editorializing on what Jesus just taught in verses 10-15. It’s not just the style of writing. Notice the pronoun change. In verses 10-15, the pronouns are “I” and “you.” These pronouns indicate that the speaker is in a personal conversation. But in 16-21, the pronouns change to “he” and “him,” which is not the kind of speech you’d use in a personal conversation. Conclusion: it is possible that Jesus didn’t say John 3:16, but John did.
All this is not trivial, because it helps us focus on what Jesus said. I’m not suggesting that John 3:16 is somehow degraded if Jesus didn’t say it. What I’m getting at is that we would do well to pay attention to what Jesus said, as of utmost importance. Yet, in the past couple centuries, some evangelical Christians have over-emphasized some of Jesus’ teachings, while de-emphasizing others. Even if all of John 3:10–21 should be printed in red, meaning that Jesus actually said it all, we would do well to hear and follow all of his other “red letter teachings.”
Between now and Advent, we’re going to look at some of those red letters, seeking to hold in tension the more well-known ones with the lesser known (read: difficult) ones.
New phones every year promising life-changing improvements, leaving you discontent with your old phone.
New gadgets for every task under the sun, promising the good life, resulting in your feeling discontent without them. Whether it is your vacuum, clothes dryer, car, or just about anything.
New clothing styles. This has been going on for decades or centuries. New fads have you discontent with the old fads. Unless you wait thirty years and the old fads become the new fads.
New entertainment, sports betting, politics. I could go on and on. All of it taps into our discontent, our empty self, promising that the new season of the TV show, or the new medicine, or a politician will solve our fears and doubts.
How have you felt discontentment?
Discontentment hit me recently when our dog cut himself badly in a fluke accident. It was kind of dramatic. Our daughter was there when it happened, and let’s just say there were big emotions. When we learned the cut needed surgery, then I had big emotions. You maybe well know what veterinary surgery cost. When my wife told me the price, immediately I felt discontent and discouraged.
I calculated the amount of hours I spend prepping, teaching, and grading for my adjunct Bible course, and then figured my hourly income for that course. Then I compared that to the hourly rate of the vet for the surgery. Guess whose hourly rate is higher? It’s not even close. That dose of reality can ruin an afternoon. Or a few days.
Maybe you know the feeling. You start thinking thoughts like “It’s not fair. Our society values the wrong things,” and that can lead to despair.
In Philippians chapter 4:10–13, Paul writes,
“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
That last sentence is often quoted: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Several other translations say, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” Usually it’s quoted all by itself, ripped away from its context. I see it on social media, often shortened. “I can do all things.” Or sometimes it’s just “All things” where a person is doing something difficult, maybe a tough workout, or maybe climbing a mountain, or starting up a new business venture, and they show a photo of them doing that thing with just the words, “All things, baby,” knowing that so many people get the reference.
“All this” or “All things” could lead us to believe that Paul is talking about literally anything. But we would do well to read this verse in the context of the surrounding verses Paul has just written.
Paul is not trying to say, “God will empower you to do literally anything.” Paul is saying that God wants to empower you for a specific set of things that he has already talked about.
I think that can be instructive for us. We can say that we are trusting God for a variety of things in our lives. “Lord, I’m trusting in you to help me get a parking spot in the front row at the mall because I am running late and I need to get in and get out fast.” Or “Lord, I am trusting you to transform this difficult situation in my life.” Compared to trusting God about getting a parking space, trusting God to transform a difficult situation sounds like a great thing, doesn’t it?
But read between the lines with me here. What do we mean when we say, “I am trusting you God to transform this situation, this person, this _______” (you fill in the blank with the difficult thing you want changed in your life)? What we usually mean is “God I want you to override that person’s free will because I can’t take it anymore.” But that is trusting God do something that he has not said he will ever do.
That’s why we need to hear what Paul is saying here. Just what is Paul saying God will do? When we put verse 13 in its context, God will strengthen us not in all things, but in a specific set of things.
So now let’s go back up to verse 10 and discover the context of this verse. In verse 10 Paul talks about rejoicing. And it’s not just any normal rejoicing. Paul describes it as “rejoiced greatly.” Actually the word “greatly” could be translated as “mega-intense.” When is the last time you rejoiced in the Lord in a way that could be described as “mega-intense”?
Ever?
I remember being in Guyana, South America, in the summer between my junior and senior years of college, on a missionary internship. The people there were living in dilapidated wood shacks on dirt roads, working in the brutal heat and humidity cutting sugarcane, and just barely making it, and in some cases not making it, and yet in worship services on Sunday they would belt out praise to the Lord with mega intensity. I’ll never forget it. The first time I heard them singing, I thought, “Why are they singing so loud?” It was obviously different from how I ever heard singing at my church back here in Lancaster.
I am not suggesting that rejoicing in the Lord can only occur inside church buildings during worship services. I am also not saying that rejoicing in the Lord is only or always involving singing songs. There are so many ways to rejoice in the Lord. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God. We can and should worship a lot. And yet do we? Do we worship God, thank God, praise God, without the assistance of worship leaders or worship songs, because there is literally so much that we have to be thankful to God for? Do our hearts bend toward praise? Or do our hearts bend toward critique, conspiracy, complaint?
Why does Paul rejoice mega-intense? Because the Christians living there in the city of Philippi renewed their concern for him. The word “renew” could be “revive,” and it has a word picture, that of a flower blooming. Something that seemed dead has now come to life, the concern that the Philippian Christians had shown for Paul.
Paul is talking about a generous donation that they made to him so he could keep living. He was on house arrest when he was writing this letter. In the Roman Empire, when you were on house arrest, it wasn’t like the Roman government was going to pay for it. You were on your own. Paul was only able to be cared for by the good will of his friends sending him money. So you can see why he is rejoicing mega-intensely at the Philippians’ generosity, which meant that they were thinking about him, remembered him, figured out what he was going through, and then sacrificially gave out of their personal money to care for him.
And that gives him the opportunity to share some further thoughts about his circumstances. He says he has learned to be content with whatever is happening.
Then he describes those circumstances. Sometimes his circumstances were humble, like people of low status. Sometimes he had abundance with loads of leftovers, where he more than enough. Then he says that he has learned the secret to being content, and it has come through personal experience. My paraphrase of what he says is,
“I have learned the secret to being content, whether I have a smorgasbord’s amount of food to stuff my body to the gills, or whether I am so hungry it feels like my stomach is an empty hole, or whether my life has abundance or whether I feel like I am constantly struggling to catch up.”
So no matter the situation, he can be content. But what is contentment? It is being happy with what we already have in our current circumstances. Other words for this are “satisfied,” “being at peace.” As I think just about those words, I realize I struggle with discontent. Peace that is not dependent on external circumstances? I can struggle with that.
But Paul says he has learned the secret of being content no matter the circumstances. So what is the secret?
Sure, life is filled with all sorts of good and bad situations. But what is the secret to being content in them all? What is the secret to finding peace and satisfaction in the midst of the highs and lows of life?
The secret is back in verse 13. Now that we know the context of verse 13, we can understand this important verse. The secret to contentment in any circumstance is God’s strength.
God’s strength is not for the purpose of doing whatever we want, or getting whatever we want, or a promise that God will override people’s free will and change our earthly circumstances like we want. Paul’s point is that the secret to being content, whether life is amazing or whether life is horrible, is God’s strength in the midst of it of any circumstance. Strength for what? Strength to do the next right thing. Strength to live the fruit of the Spirit when we don’t feel like it. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. Strength to redirect our focus on God and rejoice in the midst of the difficult.
But how do access that strength? Peak back up at verses 4-9. There Paul shares a whole bunch of practical suggestions for us.
Verse 4, be people who rejoice.
Verse 5, live with gentleness to all.
Verses 6–7, be prayerful, with thanksgiving.
Verse 8, think about what is good and true and beautiful and right.
Verse 9, practice doing what godly people do.
This requires intentionality. Practice. Building new habits. Which can and usually does take time and repetition. It takes being around those who will encourage the habits of contentment in your life.
And if God is directing us to live this way, and this passage clearly shows God is, then it is for our good and for the good of those around us. To learn the secret of contentment is for our good. Dwelling in discontentment is the way of our culture, and that is not for our good. So it is worth the work and the practice to seek God and his strength to be content.
What has happened since my previous sabbatical ended April 1, 2018? In the past seven years, so much has happened.
Faith Church had started a capital campaign in 2017, and it lasted through 2019. We resealed the parking lot, put in all new doors and windows, a new roof, new kitchen appliances, new WIFI system, new smoke alarm system, and a handful of other small updates. Our Operations team did a fantastic job leading all these updates, but as the one full-time staff in the building, it is normal that I get involved.
In the fall of 2018, I started doctoral studies. Two classes at a time for five semesters, with little break in between. Count the semesters with me. Fall 2018, Winter/Spring 2019, Summer 2019, Fall 2019, that’s four. One more semester…Spring 2020. What happened in spring 2020? Covid. 2020 was also a massive political year. Then there were serious racial tensions. In that spring, during the Covid shutdown, I finished my doctoral coursework and passed my comprehensive exams. That meant I could start writing my dissertation.
Meanwhile, 2020 raged on. I suspect 2020 will go down as one of the wildest years ever. As a church we stopped meeting in person, and we scrambled to figure out how to be the church without Sunday morning in person worship. Our worship leader’s first day on the job, was the first Sunday of the Covid shutdown. In short order, we learned to use all sorts of digital media, YouTube, and so on.
Easter Sunday 2020 was our first live worship on Zoom. I was sitting in the church conference room alone, watching as, one by one, people joined our Zoom gathering. We played the song “Death Was Arrested” in the background, and I felt very emotional. It had been weeks since we’d seen each other.
Eventually, we reopened our building, wore masks, and did a few outside events. Hospitals and medical workers were slammed, and the news reported infections and death counts all day long. Kids did online school and many struggled. I will never forget Christmas Eve 2020. We did a combined worship service one of the churches that rents from us, and there was hardly anyone there.
That fall as the presidential election neared, I knew there would be people in the congregation whose candidate would lose, and some whose candidate would win. How does a church family have meaningful fellowship with one another when our political ideologies are so deeply different?
Michelle and I decided I should preach on the “Love one another” statements in the New Testament. Of course, we should love one another. That week, as results of the election came in, I received two emails. One from a recent visitor to the congregation saying they would not be returning because they felt my “love one another” sermon was too progressive. The other email from seven-year members of the church saying that Faith Church was too conservative, and they also would not be returning.
If 2020 will be one of the craziest years ever, 2021 will likely not be that far behind. Throughout 2021, the culture-wide drama and trauma just kept going. Fueled by cries of a stolen election, on Jan 6, 2021, a devastating riot broke out at the capitol in DC. As a result, the National Guard, including our son’s unit, deployed to protect the capitol before, during, and after the presidential inauguration. All along, Covid kept raging with new variants. At the same time, Michelle and I navigated how to care for and lead our church family through this difficult time, attempting to stay true to God’s word and mission.
At Faith Church, as with the rest of society, we slowly moved past the drama of Covid. Mask guidelines were removed, we stopped using the chalky-tasting pre-packaged communion wafers/cups. Zoom continued as an option for worship, but most everyone returned in-person. As vaccinations spread, by the end of 2021, things were mostly back to normal.
In May 2022, I finished writing my dissertation, successfully defended it, and graduated. I felt a load off my shoulders.
But doctoral studies, societal upheaval, and Covid had taken their toll. Many have said that Covid was an accelerator of what was already in place years before. That is certainly true for the American church. Across the country, church attendance had been in decline for decades. Due to Covid and its aftermath, the bottom dropped out. Churches everywhere saw it. We saw it. We were smaller than we were before Covid.
Something else happened here at Faith Church during Covid. Rentals increased. We have long rented to other congregations. In the early 2000s, we rented to one of our denomination’s Latino church plants for a few years, and then to an independent Latino church, also for a few years. In the 2010s, we rented to an Ethiopian Orthodox church, the Door Christian Fellowship, and the American Orthodox church. But most of them were short-term and only rarely overlapped. Right at the beginning of Covid, we started renting to Thrive (then called First Baptist), the Burmese Church, and a Hispanic Church. Then a Honduran church. Then a Haitian church. Then Church of the Word. Suddenly, we had seven churches renting from us at the same time. We have never advertised or sought out rentals. Even more churches approached us, and we had to say No because we could not handle any more.
It is an amazing generous spirit of our church family to open our doors to that many churches. And it certainly mutually benefited us through rental income, and learning to share God’s building with others. We also opened our doors free of charge to the Girl scouts, Boy scouts, and we rented to a few other smaller groups.
During those years, we had a succession of church secretaries and Ministry Coordinators. While they helped with some of the rental management, quite a bit of it fell on my plate too.
In fall 2022, my denomination’s seminary in India invited me to come teach my doctoral dissertation as a class. One of my pastoral colleagues who was also a doctoral classmate joined me, and we were in India for all of March 2023. It was a wonderful experience, and I am so thankful for it.
As I taught my dissertation in India, it gave me more time to think about the possibility that the dissertation could become a book. I had always wanted to turn my dissertation into a book, and I slowly got started on it.
Also in 2023, our second grandchild was born with a rare heart condition. Our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson temporarily moved to Pittsburgh for her birth, multiple surgeries and recovery. It was a five-month process. We made a total of nine trips to Pittsburgh, and carried lots of emotion and anxiety. Our church family (and many others) prayed and cared for our family so well during that time, and we thank you. We praise God that our granddaughter is thriving.
Also in 2023, we were so proud as our church family responded incredibly lovingly to a difficult situation in the church. Through that situation, God opened the doors for us to start the prison worship team.
Then in 2024 a team from our church family worked hard to help resettle a refugee family from Africa. We opened also opened our doors to CV SEEDS, hosting their ESL classes and several other programs, free of charge. So many people volunteered to drive, make meals, childcare, teach, assist. It has been amazing.
The main work of editing, rewriting and new writing took place in summer 2024, and it was published in December.
Throughout each year, month, and week, of course, is my regular rhythm of preaching, communicating, visiting, and pastoral care.
As 2024 started, I knew that in 2025, seven years would have passed since my 2018 sabbatical. So I requested another sabbatical, and the Pastoral Relations Committee and Leadership team approved it for 2025, so that I could apply to the Lilly Foundation for a sabbatical grant. Lilly has a grant competition that would pay for the sabbatical. Unfortunately, I was not selected for the grant. So the sabbatical moved forward on its own, and God has provided.
I tell you this history from 2018 to 2025 to admit to you that I feel ready for sabbatical. I don’t think that it is owed to me. I wish everyone would be able to get a paid three-month sabbatical every seven years. Our American approach to work generally glorifies excessive work and workaholism, so that it could be culturally normal for some to view teacher schedules and pastoral sabbaticals as an unnecessary indulgence, or even wrong. I feel that concern. I can feel guilty or wonder if others think I am being irresponsible for wanting and taking a sabbatical, while at the same time feeling like I need sabbatical. I am deeply, deeply grateful for the sabbatical. I think more people should see if their employers will grant paid sabbaticals.
With that I sign off. I will not be writing blog posts during my sabbatical. What will I be doing while on sabbatical? Here’s a brief overview:
Having six sessions with my spiritual director.
Going to six session of counseling.
Volunteering one day per week with Chestnut Housing.
Teaching Interpreting the Bible class at Messiah University one evening per week.
Taking three short trips with my wife.
House projects.
Helping my in-laws with some downsizing.
Reading. Running. Playing with my grandkids.
I’ll return to blogging in November 2025. May God bless you.
I started at Faith Church in October 2002 as full-time youth associate pastor. That meant, given my denomination’s recommendation that pastors receive sabbaticals every seven years, that my first opportunity for a sabbatical could have been as early as October 2009. But I didn’t take a sabbatical until January 1, 2018. Nine years later. Why?
For many reasons. First, I became senior pastor on July 1, 2008, and my wife and I felt it unwise for me to ask for a sabbatical only a year after I became senior pastor. We felt it best to put in seven years as senior pastor, thus seeking a sabbatical on July 1, 2015.
Second, Faith Church had never given a pastor a sabbatical before. And there were three pastors in a row before me who had been here for seven years or longer. So even when I reached the seven year mark of being senior pastor, a sabbatical was not offered because it had never been offered before. It wasn’t part of the normal rhythm of Faith Church.
The seven-year period from July 2008 through July 2015 here at Faith Church were some of the most joyous and most difficult in our lives. When there is a pastoral transition at a church, any church, research has shown that on average 20% of the congregation moves on. That happened when I became pastor. We had numerous people leave the church, in a kind of trickle, because they were not in favor of changes happening in the life and ministry of the church.
Much of those changes had to do with worship. For example, in July 2008, we had a part-time choir director and a part-time organist. By July 2010 we had discontinued the choir director and organist positions, and created a new part-time worship leader position. That worship transition was very difficult for some. Some of our leaders and I had numerous meetings with people to discuss the changes, and still numerous people chose to leave. It is hard to communicate the toll that people leaving the church takes on a pastoral couple. I wasn’t prepared for how it would affect me. It still affects me.
In those first seven years, we also had a number of people pass away. There was one stretch in which I did eight funerals in seven months, with at least one every month. I was also not prepared for how staring death in the face so regularly would affect me.
There were also two two-year long difficult situations during that time that were pointed at me. Those were very painful.
In August 2015, I started manifesting symptoms of anxiety and panic. I got medication, counseling, prayer, and the symptoms subsided. I remain on medication to this day.
So July 1, 2015 came and went. I had put in seven years as pastor, and Michelle and I did not have a sabbatical after seven years as senior pastor. Why? Again, because Faith Church had never given a pastor a sabbatical in its 50 years. The idea of a person having three months off seemed luxurious, over the top, unnecessary. Still, we were feeling the burnout and tiredness of pastoral ministry, so we asked for a sabbatical in 2015, but the request was denied.
Over the next few years, still feeling burnout and tiredness, we kept asking, and some others started advocating for it on our behalf, and by 2017, opinion changed, and PRC and Leadership approved a three-month sabbatical. We planned for a sabbatical in 2017, but at the same time, we hired a new worship leader. To give the new worship leader time to acclimate to the church, we held sabbatical off until January 1, 2018.
As final planning came together in the fall of 2017, I was concerned that the sabbatical might not go well. I really wanted it to go well because this was new for the church family. Thankfully, it seemed to me it went very well. So many people stepped up to serve, and in some cases enjoyed it so much they wanted to keep doing what they were doing even after sabbatical was over. For example, the rotation of worship hosts. Prior to sabbatical I was the host every Sunday. Now, we have a rotation. It is so much healthier for more people to be involved, to hear more voices, and perspectives.
There were even more ways that sabbatical was beneficial. A major way is that it helps the church family learn that they are not dependent on the pastor to do the work of ministry. A church family was never meant to be dependent on their pastor, and yet there are plenty of churches and pastors that can treat the work of ministry that way.
Instead in Ephesians 4:11-12 Paul writes that pastors are to help train the people in the church do the work of ministry. The people in the church are not to be spectators. They are not to be consumers of ministry. And the pastors and other ministry staff are not the players or actors, and they are not the providers. Instead all the people in the life of the church are to be involved, all are important. All have their role. And one of the roles of the pastor is to help the people in the learn church learn and serve in their role, in their gifting. By going on sabbatical, that growth in people serving happened!
As a result, Faith Church’s first ever pastoral sabbatical was January through March of 2018. And quite frankly, I made a few mistakes during that sabbatical. First mistake, I did two weddings right at the beginning. Second mistake, I didn’t realize how weird, awkward and even difficult, sabbatical would be for me. The first month, I was an emotional wreck. It took time to get used to sabbatical. That’s one reason why sabbaticals are best if they are at least three months. The next two months were great. Third mistake, my first Sunday back from sabbatical was Easter Sunday. Big mistake. To come back from a three-month sabbatical on the biggest Sunday of the year was not a wise idea.
But all in all, the sabbatical went very well. What has happened since April 1, 2018? In the past seven years, so much has happened. I’ll talk about that in the next post.
Engaging Scripture 