2014-05-09
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week the question was posed: How do we live in this covenant relationship with Christ and keep up our end of the covenant? One of the first points is to live as a community of believers, although the kind of communal living first practiced in the early church [AC 2: 42-47] was an experiment that didn’t work. Of course, their lifestyle is not the only way to live as a community of believers. It was found that the sinful nature of mankind is always present, as we saw with the story of Ananais and Sapphira [AC 5: 1-11]. Each of us is capable a service or services that others need. We each have our own God-given skill set. Repeatedly, we read in the Bible, “Love your neighbor as yourself [LV 19: 18; JN 13: 34-35]. One story that comes to mind is God’s instruction to the early Jews about leaving corners and gleanings in their fields at harvest time, so that widows and orphans can be fed from them [EX 16: 18; LV 19: 9-10; LV 23: 22; DT 24: 19-22; RU 2: 1-9; 2 COR 8: 13-15]. This figures prominently in the story of how Ruth meets Boaz and becomes one of the three Gentile women in Christ’s own genealogy.
The Bible has warnings against idleness, in places like Proverbs, for example. 2 THESS 3: 6, 10-12 also expresses the notion that all who are able-bodied should work, contributing to society’s needs. “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us…For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat. We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” As with the first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul’s second letter was written to encourage new converts from Paganism to godly living and to work for the good of the entire community.
The Covenant of Grace doesn’t encourage undisciplined lives today either. JAS 2: 15-17, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” In the very beginning of our time in our own congregation, it was mid-sized, and the focus was mainly on finding ways to encourage discipleship. We needed to grow both physically, and through making our faith translate into action. As we added members, we gradually switched our focus from simply encouraging godly living to actually reaching out beyond our walls to our community, nation, and even foreign missions. Today, we are a very large congregation with programs for all of these things. Every year, we have had a shelter for the homeless, taking turns with other congregations, a food shelf that operates all year long, a clothing shelf, mitten programs to raise money for an orphanage in Jamiaca, a group that knits and crochets prayer shawls for people in crisis and hats for cancer patients, and the like. We even have a jewelry-making group that sells its wares at craft shows to help raise money to support our pre-school program. Every year groups of youths are sent on missions, often to other states, to help with projects like painting new homes, doing repairs on old ones, including a group that goes us to Kake, Alaska each summer to run a sports program and help out with vacation Bible school. And yes, we have missionaries in places like Venezuela, Ecuador, Norway, Israel, and Jamaica. In addition to all of this, I have mentioned our “Greater” program within our congregation encourages discipleship through small group participation, Bible studies, Scripture memorization, and other kinds of service (like singing in choirs, playing hand bells, running audio-visual equipment, greeting, ushering, writing devotions, teaching Sunday school, etc.). From the Parable of the Ten Virgins, we learn, in LK 12: 48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
There are those people who can’t work for a living—the mentally, emotionally, and physically disabled, for example. These people need to depend on others, mainly churches, for help with supplying their needs. We live in a very harsh climate in the winter, so that the need for shelters for the homeless is with us every year. Depending on the government for these things doesn’t work. Soup kitchens in the areas where those who can’t afford to buy food are a felt-need in some neighborhoods. Working in her church’s soup kitchen has brought tremendous satisfaction to a lady I know. This is living proof that the benefits of service to others in the community goes two ways—to the giver and the receiver. Through this work, my friend has made many life-long friendships with her co-workers. Such pay is the stuff of heaven and not just on earth, as money would be. These are benefits of being in covenant relationships with God and with others. The soup kitchen at my friend’s church not only serves food for the body, but also food for the soul. One church I know of is trying to experiment with a program setting people up in their own apartments, so they get off the streets and can focus on getting employment. Once on their feet, they are encouraged to pay forward, helping others to do the same.
PRAYER: O Lord, we acknowledge Your superior wisdom in making us our brother’s keepers, by virtue of our covenant relationship with You. LK 10: 30-37 is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. From it, You make this point for us with great clarity. This is not a new idea. PR 10: 4 relates it well. “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” As the Holy Spirit reminded me above, that wealth is not always legal tender, but instead can be in the things which are intangible, such as a great friendship. These intangibles are the things of heaven. In COL 3: 2, You tell us, “Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things.” This is great advice for our present world with its materialism and greed. We should all feel the urgency of getting our spiritual houses in order, because You alone know the time when Christ will appear, and it can be any time [MT 24: 36; 1 THESS 5: 2]. This need is all-inclusive—the status of our faith (heart-attitude and maturity spiritually), our service to others, the discovery and development of the talents for Kingdom work that You gave us, the strength of our faith, the willingness to put our good plans to reach out to non-believers with the message of salvation and peace into action —everything that You will use in the Last Judgment. This will be a judgment of individuals and of congregations. Lord Jesus, we know that You deserve our eternal praise and thanks for the patience, righteousness, and compassion You show us in giving us the time to be perfected and readied for glorification [2 PET 3: 9]. We offer You these things and our heartfelt love. In Your holy/mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Before we leave the subject of our service to others, we also need to discuss the sharing of our resources. This is what the Holy Spirit guides me to write about next week. If time and space permits, we’ll look at name changes and a meal. When I went to volunteer for In Search of Shalom, I learned just how rich we all are in our congregation. I don’t mean monetarily rich, but rich in opportunities to learn, to serve, to witness, to grow in our discipleship, evangelism, and in so many other things. We see people developing God-given talents that are nothing short of remarkable. But then, isn’t everything God gives and does remarkable?! The opportunity that I have each week to share what the Holy Spirit teaches me about covenants and how they impact people’s lives is a joy to me. I’m learning right along with each of you, who take the time to read my messages. God will do this, if we allow Him to lead in our lives. PS 37: 8, “The Lord says ‘I will teach you; I will instruct you and advise you.’” It’s His promise to do what each of us can experience from His leadership. He further tells us, in 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” As if that were not enough, God gives us a personal pipeline directly to Himself through prayer. We don’t have to feel set loose without a way of working through our challenges and being good servants to our divine Covenant Partner and our human covenant partners/ potential partners. And the best we can do is to pray PS 143: 10, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” And if we pray this, He will answer us. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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