Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As we draw near to the start of Vacation Bible School we would all do well to spend some time meditating on those acts of the apostles that give shape to this year's VBS lessons. The primary scripture texts are Acts 27 and 28. Here you not only see the acts of the apostle Paul but the Lordship of the ascended and enthroned Christ. Jesus said after his resurrection, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go..." (Matthew 28:18-19). In Acts 27 and 28 - from the deck of a fragile merchant's ship cast upon a stormy sea - we witness the sureness and stability of life for those who have the risen Christ as Captain.
As you are reading the narrative of Acts 27 and 28 keep the following five lessons of VBS before you, they will enrich your understanding.
Day 1 (Acts 27:1-12) - Christ gives me prophets. Children will see that the risen Christ gives us prophets to keep us from danger. The children will be challenged to recieve God's prophets by heeding their words in the Bible.
Day 2 (Acts 27:13-26) - Christ commands my destiny. Children will see that the risen Christ controls our life not accidents or nature. The children will be challenged not to be afraid of anything because Jesus rules over everything.
Day 3 (Acts 27:27-38) - Christ encourages me to keep trusting. Children will learn that they can wait on Jesus for he keeps his word. The children will be challenged to not let fear turn them to their own ways.
Day 4 (Acts 27:39-44) - Christ keeps his word to me. Children will learn that the risen Christ fulfills his word. The children will be challenged to love Jesus for his strength and faithfulness.
Day 5 (Acts 28:1-10) - Christ is Lord of lord and Lord of mercy. Children will learn that the risen Christ rules over all the gods of men. The children will be challenged to abandon all false hopes and trust Jesus alone.
How can you help make this summer's VBS a success? (1) Pray for the workers and God's gathering of children to each night; (2) Courageously invite neighbors, friends, grandchildren and other relatives; (3) help us build the ship Sunday after worship on July 11; (4) bring supplies that we need to the church this Sunday and next. The supply list includes:
(1) Wooden crates and barrells that look old and are sturdy (to be props for a merchant ship's deck).
(2) Gunny sacks stuffed with paper or something soft (to be props for a merchant ship's deck).
(3) Anything else that you think might help us promote merchant ship life (please ask me before you bring it in).
A special "thank you" to all who are helping us "navigate" this project of the Lord Jesus Christ's magnification here in Thetford, Summer 2010 - CRAFTS: Lauren Haren, Jean Munn and Elizabeth Morrell; GAMES: Bill Pedi, Sara Wilmot and Annie Hartley; DECORATIONS & COSTUMES: Annie Hartley, Emalie Hartley, Gunilla Kuniholm, Roger & Chris Berger; BIBLE STORY HELPERS: Scott & Christina Amado, Susan Bonina and Sara Wilmot; MUSIC: Christina Amado, Jen Hartley; REGISTRATION: Janet Stowell and Nancy Hammond. SNACKS: Women's Bible Study Group
Yours in Christ, John
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
E-Note 6/18: The Foolishness of God
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This past week I have been thinking about those penetrating words from 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 that we heard last Lord's Day: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." There is, I think, something that keeps us from fully appreciating these words.
Like the apostle Paul we live in an age where those who are wise by human standards, where those who are influential, where those who are of noble birth all seem quite confident that religion is obviously for weak and marginal people. Obviously. The unbelieving scholar, philosopher or intellectual would hear those words from the apostle Paul and say, "Duh! I knew that already. Of course Christianity is for the uneducated and the lowly born. Religion is a crutch for such people because knowing they have failed in this life they imagine succeeding in a life to come. They are fools."
So let me ask the obvious question: Are the strong of this world really and truly shamed by God's choice of those who are weak? Are the wise of this world really and truly shamed by God's choice of those who are ignorant by human standards? No. Not yet. But they will be. That is the key to fully appreciating Paul's stunning point: not yet have they been shamed. Right now they are the wise and the strong. Right now they are glorious before the world and the world vindicates their unbelief with all its attendant systems and philosophies and policies. The shame God is bringing upon the worldly strong and the worldly wise is not yet, it is still to come. It is slow and subtle. It is even something of a conspiracy. But it is coming.
You see the worldly strong and the worldly wise will be divinely shamed only when they discover that it was their pride in not being worldly weak and their pride in not being worldly ignorant that kept them from recognizing the wisdom of God in Christ crucified. In the plausibility system of human pride the necessity of a crucified redeemer is utter foolishness because it debases and discounts all that man would see elevated and rewarded: his own achievements. Christ crucified doesn't eradicate achievement but it does eradicate boasting in it. And this is the great scandal of the cross, that God accepts us only when we boast in the weak, marginalized and ignobly born Jesus of Nazareth, strung up to die between criminals. When we are found at his bloody feet praising God for such mercy, then evidence of the Spirit's work in ushering fools into the wisdom of God is on display. But the proud do not have eyes to see it.
Paul's point to the Church is powerful and shocking: God is preparing the shame of many by choosing for salvation weak and lowly men who boast in a weak and lowly Christ. When the strong and high-minded discover that the way up was down they will be shamed by the deception their own pride led them into. On that day of discovery they will be like guests who show up at a grand ball only to discover that the exorbitantly expensive tickets they are holding are counterfeits. They will gnash their teeth when they see the Master of the house greet by name lepers and freaks and no-names who are welcomed in only on the basis of their great love for the disfigured Master. Those who had no glory in the presence of the world will be radiant in the Master's presence then. The worldly strong will be so disgusted by the scene they won't want to go in even if they could. They will be eternally destitute and still they will not regret their pride.
Of course there is hope even for worldly boasters. Paul says, "Not many of you were wise...." That "not many" clearly suggests that God chooses even a few from the top of the world's summits for Christ. If you have eyes to see them you will. In one important way they are very much like their more lowly born and more worldly ignorant Christian brothers: they are fools for Christ. Paul is a beautiful example of this. In Acts 26 he bears testimony to the resurrection of Jesus before the Judean Governor, Festus, and the Herodian King, Agrippa. Suddenly Festus lashes out at Paul: "'You are out of your mind, Paul!' he shouted. 'Your great learning is driving you insane'" (Acts 26:24). Fools for Christ do not disdain false accusations of this sort nor taking the risks that elicit them.
Be sure of this, however, God's fools do their most important work in Lord's Day worship. To disengage from all the things we share with the citizens of this world and gather to praise the thrice holy God with the lowest of men (if you are high) and with the highest of men (if you are low) is truly God's foolishness and might. As Christ's Church of fools unites weekly to testify to our foolish love for the disfigured Master, God, in that time "destroys the wisdom of the wise" with such power that even our children will be saved.
Yours in Christ, John
This past week I have been thinking about those penetrating words from 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 that we heard last Lord's Day: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." There is, I think, something that keeps us from fully appreciating these words.
Like the apostle Paul we live in an age where those who are wise by human standards, where those who are influential, where those who are of noble birth all seem quite confident that religion is obviously for weak and marginal people. Obviously. The unbelieving scholar, philosopher or intellectual would hear those words from the apostle Paul and say, "Duh! I knew that already. Of course Christianity is for the uneducated and the lowly born. Religion is a crutch for such people because knowing they have failed in this life they imagine succeeding in a life to come. They are fools."
So let me ask the obvious question: Are the strong of this world really and truly shamed by God's choice of those who are weak? Are the wise of this world really and truly shamed by God's choice of those who are ignorant by human standards? No. Not yet. But they will be. That is the key to fully appreciating Paul's stunning point: not yet have they been shamed. Right now they are the wise and the strong. Right now they are glorious before the world and the world vindicates their unbelief with all its attendant systems and philosophies and policies. The shame God is bringing upon the worldly strong and the worldly wise is not yet, it is still to come. It is slow and subtle. It is even something of a conspiracy. But it is coming.
You see the worldly strong and the worldly wise will be divinely shamed only when they discover that it was their pride in not being worldly weak and their pride in not being worldly ignorant that kept them from recognizing the wisdom of God in Christ crucified. In the plausibility system of human pride the necessity of a crucified redeemer is utter foolishness because it debases and discounts all that man would see elevated and rewarded: his own achievements. Christ crucified doesn't eradicate achievement but it does eradicate boasting in it. And this is the great scandal of the cross, that God accepts us only when we boast in the weak, marginalized and ignobly born Jesus of Nazareth, strung up to die between criminals. When we are found at his bloody feet praising God for such mercy, then evidence of the Spirit's work in ushering fools into the wisdom of God is on display. But the proud do not have eyes to see it.
Paul's point to the Church is powerful and shocking: God is preparing the shame of many by choosing for salvation weak and lowly men who boast in a weak and lowly Christ. When the strong and high-minded discover that the way up was down they will be shamed by the deception their own pride led them into. On that day of discovery they will be like guests who show up at a grand ball only to discover that the exorbitantly expensive tickets they are holding are counterfeits. They will gnash their teeth when they see the Master of the house greet by name lepers and freaks and no-names who are welcomed in only on the basis of their great love for the disfigured Master. Those who had no glory in the presence of the world will be radiant in the Master's presence then. The worldly strong will be so disgusted by the scene they won't want to go in even if they could. They will be eternally destitute and still they will not regret their pride.
Of course there is hope even for worldly boasters. Paul says, "Not many of you were wise...." That "not many" clearly suggests that God chooses even a few from the top of the world's summits for Christ. If you have eyes to see them you will. In one important way they are very much like their more lowly born and more worldly ignorant Christian brothers: they are fools for Christ. Paul is a beautiful example of this. In Acts 26 he bears testimony to the resurrection of Jesus before the Judean Governor, Festus, and the Herodian King, Agrippa. Suddenly Festus lashes out at Paul: "'You are out of your mind, Paul!' he shouted. 'Your great learning is driving you insane'" (Acts 26:24). Fools for Christ do not disdain false accusations of this sort nor taking the risks that elicit them.
Be sure of this, however, God's fools do their most important work in Lord's Day worship. To disengage from all the things we share with the citizens of this world and gather to praise the thrice holy God with the lowest of men (if you are high) and with the highest of men (if you are low) is truly God's foolishness and might. As Christ's Church of fools unites weekly to testify to our foolish love for the disfigured Master, God, in that time "destroys the wisdom of the wise" with such power that even our children will be saved.
Yours in Christ, John
Friday, June 11, 2010
E-Note 6/11: Give Thanks
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The next time you suffer from a malaise of meaninglessness take a close look under the hood and see if you have disconnected your "prayers of thanksgiving" from the "circumstances of life." Nothing quite like thanklessness dulls us into an insipid secularism that breeds apathy, aecidia, and sloth. Thankless lips before God make even the most necessary tasks of life a drudgery. Everything becomes heavier. You begin to feel only half alive before the dishes, the laundry, the yard, the kids, and the wife - not to mention the job, the neighbors and Christ's church. Thanklessness is a peculiar form of death.
Here is the way of life: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Did you notice how exhaustive those commands are? Look at them one more time: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Life in Christ removes all the old reservations. In Christ joy is no longer reserved for special occasions. In Christ prayer is no longer reserved for those times when we are obviously desperate. And in Christ thanksgiving is no longer reserved for select comforts and delights. In Christ all three - joy, prayer and thanksgiving - are invasive, they take over everything, like kudzu vines but better!
Why is it God's will that we give thanks in all circumstances? Because we are now "in Christ Jesus." This is the foundational reality upholding the Christian habit of exhaustive thanksgiving. To be "in Christ" speaks of our union with the Lord Jesus. It is a phrase that addresses our standing before God. We now stand before God "in Christ." Of course, Jesus Christ is God, God the Son, so it would be just as right to say we stand before God in God. But it is particularly "in Christ" that we stand because God the Son was sent to us in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to condemn all our sin in the flesh through his curse-bearing death and so bring our flesh into his Kingdom forevermore.
So when Paul says that exhaustive thanksgiving is God's will for you in Christ Jesus he is not simply saying, "Stop being such a naughty, gloomy Christian." He is saying that God would have you give full attention and take complete advantage of your standing before him as one united to Jesus Christ. It is God's will that you take hold of God always, continually and in all circumstances because by grace you have been taken hold of through Jesus Christ. In Christ God is always being your God. As Calvin said, you are so thoroughly and tenderly embraced by God in Christ that God is always turning to your advantage and welfare everything that befalls you. Thus there is nothing in your life as a Christian - small nor great - that falls beyond the reach of a holy thanks-giving. So give thanks to God for the so-called little stuff, like the laundry. In Christ doing laundry is now a gift, for with charity and faith it is done unto the glory of God. "Thank you God that because of Christ I can now glorify you with dirt and detergent." Give thanks to God for the most painful stuff too, like cancer and chronic pain and difficult spouses and hard days with the kids. These things did not slip past God and into your life while he was blinking. No, in Christ and only in Christ does it become clear that these things are appointed trials to prove your faith genuine that you may be full of praise, glory and honor when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:3-9). Because of his love for you God works out your eternal salvation through these things. Even the worst of them should not silence your thanksgiving because you are reminded that even this great horrible thing can not separate you from God's love that is yours in Christ.
Of course we continue to pray for relief and mercy while we live under such weighty hurts, but when we also give thanks we mortify the grumbling and bitterness of unbelief that would have us look away from our being in Christ. So take hold of the Lord by giving thanks in all circumstances. He has taken hold of you in Christ and he does not let go. And that, beloved, is why we can repent and give thanks to him again. Great is his faithfulness! Yours in Christ, John (for more on this theme read Tim Keller's recent post titled "Long Distance Spirituality" over at http://www.redeemer.com/news_and_events/newsletter/?aid=46).
The next time you suffer from a malaise of meaninglessness take a close look under the hood and see if you have disconnected your "prayers of thanksgiving" from the "circumstances of life." Nothing quite like thanklessness dulls us into an insipid secularism that breeds apathy, aecidia, and sloth. Thankless lips before God make even the most necessary tasks of life a drudgery. Everything becomes heavier. You begin to feel only half alive before the dishes, the laundry, the yard, the kids, and the wife - not to mention the job, the neighbors and Christ's church. Thanklessness is a peculiar form of death.
Here is the way of life: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Did you notice how exhaustive those commands are? Look at them one more time: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Life in Christ removes all the old reservations. In Christ joy is no longer reserved for special occasions. In Christ prayer is no longer reserved for those times when we are obviously desperate. And in Christ thanksgiving is no longer reserved for select comforts and delights. In Christ all three - joy, prayer and thanksgiving - are invasive, they take over everything, like kudzu vines but better!
Why is it God's will that we give thanks in all circumstances? Because we are now "in Christ Jesus." This is the foundational reality upholding the Christian habit of exhaustive thanksgiving. To be "in Christ" speaks of our union with the Lord Jesus. It is a phrase that addresses our standing before God. We now stand before God "in Christ." Of course, Jesus Christ is God, God the Son, so it would be just as right to say we stand before God in God. But it is particularly "in Christ" that we stand because God the Son was sent to us in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to condemn all our sin in the flesh through his curse-bearing death and so bring our flesh into his Kingdom forevermore.
So when Paul says that exhaustive thanksgiving is God's will for you in Christ Jesus he is not simply saying, "Stop being such a naughty, gloomy Christian." He is saying that God would have you give full attention and take complete advantage of your standing before him as one united to Jesus Christ. It is God's will that you take hold of God always, continually and in all circumstances because by grace you have been taken hold of through Jesus Christ. In Christ God is always being your God. As Calvin said, you are so thoroughly and tenderly embraced by God in Christ that God is always turning to your advantage and welfare everything that befalls you. Thus there is nothing in your life as a Christian - small nor great - that falls beyond the reach of a holy thanks-giving. So give thanks to God for the so-called little stuff, like the laundry. In Christ doing laundry is now a gift, for with charity and faith it is done unto the glory of God. "Thank you God that because of Christ I can now glorify you with dirt and detergent." Give thanks to God for the most painful stuff too, like cancer and chronic pain and difficult spouses and hard days with the kids. These things did not slip past God and into your life while he was blinking. No, in Christ and only in Christ does it become clear that these things are appointed trials to prove your faith genuine that you may be full of praise, glory and honor when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:3-9). Because of his love for you God works out your eternal salvation through these things. Even the worst of them should not silence your thanksgiving because you are reminded that even this great horrible thing can not separate you from God's love that is yours in Christ.
Of course we continue to pray for relief and mercy while we live under such weighty hurts, but when we also give thanks we mortify the grumbling and bitterness of unbelief that would have us look away from our being in Christ. So take hold of the Lord by giving thanks in all circumstances. He has taken hold of you in Christ and he does not let go. And that, beloved, is why we can repent and give thanks to him again. Great is his faithfulness! Yours in Christ, John (for more on this theme read Tim Keller's recent post titled "Long Distance Spirituality" over at http://www.redeemer.com/news_and_events/newsletter/?aid=46).
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
What do you think?
A Tribute to a Friend
by Ed Welch
“Nothing has changed.”
I wasn’t so sure. It seemed to me that everything had changed. With four words – “your cancer is malignant” – his parents would lose their oldest son, his wife would become a widow, his four children, way too young to lose a father, would, indeed, lose their father, and what about me? Not that it’s all about me, but I would lose a dear friend in just a little more than a year. The cancer was inoperable and there were no viable treatments. But those were his first words to me. He said them about twenty-five minutes after he was given his diagnosis and prognosis. “Nothing has changed.”
This is what he meant. The hour before he was given his dire and accurate prognosis, he was certain...[more]
by Ed Welch
“Nothing has changed.”
I wasn’t so sure. It seemed to me that everything had changed. With four words – “your cancer is malignant” – his parents would lose their oldest son, his wife would become a widow, his four children, way too young to lose a father, would, indeed, lose their father, and what about me? Not that it’s all about me, but I would lose a dear friend in just a little more than a year. The cancer was inoperable and there were no viable treatments. But those were his first words to me. He said them about twenty-five minutes after he was given his diagnosis and prognosis. “Nothing has changed.”
This is what he meant. The hour before he was given his dire and accurate prognosis, he was certain...[more]
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