In Joel 2:28-29 we read the following:

Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. – NRSV

I love this verse and it makes me think about the New Growth waiting for us in 2023. God’s true character has been revealed and their Spirit poured out on us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know walk with amazing accessibility to the Spirit which is all around us and have endless moments to partner with Christ in restoring creation.

This restoration brings new growth from the most unexpected places, what unexpected new growth does God have for us in 2023? To discover the new growth, we have to lean into Christ and allow God’s Spirit to overflow by giving up our control. May we be vulnerable and discover the new growth God has instore for us in 2023.

I have been reflecting around a verse found in the book of Revelations. The verse I am about to share is often used by churches in the direction of non-believers, but this verse is found in Revelations when Jesus is addressing the church. In this part of the story Jesus is addressing the church in Laodicea, and we read the following:

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” – Revelations 3:20-22 NRSV

          I am struck by how far too often in Christianity we skim over this verse as if we know for sure we have all heard Jesus knock and have opened the door. It is clear though that Jesus is speaking to the CHURCH!  We have Christ speaking to his followers…… not to those who do not believe.

          The reason we skim over this verse is because it forces us in churches to ask ourselves, “Is Jesus knocking at our church doors, and are we not hearing it?”

This is a question I believe all of us as Christians should ask ourselves and then look at our communities for the evidence of Christ love. If we have opened the door and Christ is dinning with us in our communities, the evidence of his love will be all around us.

Last week I spoke about Speaking the Truth in Love and explored Ephesians 4:15-16 in more depth.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

– Ephesians 4:15-16

Too often we have used this misquoted verse to excuse some of the most unloving actions in Church history. We cannot go back in time to change any of these actions but we can control how we live out the Gospel in the present.

Remembering the first time “in love” is used in this section of Ephesians which is aimed at maintaining Unity with Christ followers. At the beginning of this section, we read the following:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

-Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV

This means that Speaking the Truth in Love cannot be separated from humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and mainlining unity through the bond of peace. We also need to remember that TRUTH in the Bible often means to simply not lie, it has nothing to do with sharing our unrequested opinions to others. To ensure we Speak the Truth in Love let’s live out the Gospel of Christ with our actions and humbly share our convictions when requested.

How many harmful debates around God would end if we simply humbly shared our convictions upon request? Allowing our actions to preach the Gospel and only using words when required as Saint Francis of Assisi encouraged us to as Jesus followers.

To be honest this doesn’t take a major effort on our part and truthfully adding the simple phrase, “but I could be wrong,” at the end of our sharing of our conviction could have profound implications allowing many to experience the love of Christ. The Love of Christ has the power to change our world! We are simply asked to live it out and humbly share our convictions when requested.

This is Speaking the Truth in Love

The following is Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation. We hear from Diana Butler Bass who speaks about Seeing Jesus Again.

Check out our recent Podcast which looks at the version of Jesus depicted in the Gospel of Mark.

Self-Worth (July Series)

Throughout this series we are going to dive into our Self-Worth. Looking at what the Bible tells about our Self-Worth and how to curb some of the toxic self-talk that can plague our everyday living. Knowing our true Self-Worth through the eyes of Christ is essential as we navigate through life.

July 4^th

The Divine Fingerprint

We will look at how we all have a divine fingerprint within because we are all created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 139:13-14; John 3:16-17)

July 11^th

Putting Ourselves First

We will look at how it is important to put ourselves first at times so we can give others the best version of ourselves. (Mark 1:29-39)

July 18^th

 In The Mirror

We will unpack the power of the Holy Spirit which magnifies our divine fingerprint which encourages us to look within. (Acts 1:8; Philippians 4:13)

July 25^th

Flipping the Script on Self-Talk

We will look at how we can flip the script on our damaging self-talk by resting in how God sees us. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

We are starting a new series at our Church this month called, In The Beginning: Diving into Genesis Ch. 1-11.

In this series we are going to look at what God can show us through these amazing stories found in the beginning of our Bible. These stories are too often skimmed over or debated between scholars and theologians. Our goal throughout this series is to dive into the heart of these stories and see what they reveal to us about the Nature of God and humanity.

The book of Genesis is a beautiful part of our Bible and can teach us so much if we are willing to sit with the text. Allowing God to show us more than we can imagine as we sit with them and reflect on the things happening in our world when God inspired these Holy scriptures.

We would love for you to join us on this journey as we practice our value of Going Deeper with Genesis Ch. 9-11. You can stay up to date with our sermon by either checking out our YouTube Channel or Podcast (which you can find details about below). We will have weekly blog post and Midweek Devotionals throughout this series going deeper into the book of Genesis.

Our series kicks off this Sunday May 2nd, and feel free to attend our service at Geham SS from 9:30am to 11:00am followed by a light morning tea.

Sincerely,

Pastor Matt

Highfields Church of Christ – YouTube

Tuesday, December 15, 2020 from Center for Action and Contemplation by Richard Rhor

Jesus’ life offered an example of humility and self-emptying, but he chose an additional model for his disciples: that of little children. Despite what we see depicted in so much religious art, it was not meant as a “cute” or sentimental gesture! As Albert Nolan shares, it was a radical revaluing of human dignity, based on nothing that society could see or quantify! Taken seriously, it is still a profound message for us today.

Jesus was uncompromising in his belief that all human beings were equal in dignity and worth. He treated the blind, the lame and the [sick], the outcasts and beggars with as much respect as that given to those of high rank and status. He refused to consider women and children unimportant or inferior. This turned a carefully ordered society of status and honor upside down—even more so when he advocated moving down the social ladder instead of striving to reach the top. [1]

When his disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, Jesus put his arm around a little child (Mark 9:36–37). According to Jesus, the least or most insignificant persons in the society are the greatest (Luke 9:48). In the society and culture of the time, the child had no standing or status whatsoever. The child was a “nobody.” The implication is that Jesus and those who want to follow him are “nobodies,” right at the bottom of the social ladder. For Jesus, the child was a model of radical humility (Matthew 18:3–4) [or what I am calling “self-emptying” this week]. Those who wish to follow him will have to become as humble as little children. [2]

Richard again: It’s difficult to hear, but Albert Nolan is simply quoting Jesus from several contexts—usually when the Twelve are all in their heads arguing. We cannot become humble by mere intellect or willpower. Pretending to be humble only makes us more self-absorbed and self-referential. All we can really do is become more aware of our pride or vanity by noticing how we respond to even minor slights or humiliations. That will be more than enough to let us know how self-centered we are and how meaningless our taking offense truly is in this infinite universe.

by JARED BYAS, M.A. from the following website, just click here

As a former teaching pastor and professor of philosophy and biblical studies, he speaks regularly on the Bible, truth, creativity, wisdom, and the Christian faith. Tweets at @jbyas

In the Bible scholars often talk of two kinds of law: apodictic and casuistic. These are part of a collection of fancy words that we use as a secret code to determine who really is the nerdiest among us (see also: Deuteronomic, theophanic, and other impressive terms that end in ‘c’.)

Apodictic laws are Divine Commands that tend to be both general and absolute. Take, for example, the Ten Commandments. “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” That’s a very broad statement but is clearly meant to be an absolute command. It’s black and white – which you would think would help us be clear about it. But because life is in color, and all shades of gray, apodictic laws are actually confusing.

Enter casuistic laws.

Casuistic laws are case laws. They are very specific and also conditional (meaning they usually start with “if” and are followed somewhere along the way with a “then”). In some ways casuistic laws are the on-the-ground working-out of apodictic laws. We see this relationship in the Bible all over the place. If only we didn’t skip those sections out of boredom but then lie and tell people we really did read the whole Bible in a year.

A famous example of course is found in the contrast between Exodus 20 and Exodus 21. Exodus 20 contains The Ten Commandments, which contains things like:

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (v. 3)

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (v. 8)

“You shall not murder.” (v. 13)

“You shall not commit adultery.” (v. 14)

“You shall not steal.” (v. 15)

And so on goes the list of apodictic laws.

Exodus 21 begins with a very different kind of law. See for example verses 28-29:

“If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.”

These casuistic laws are trying to apply the abstract principle “You shall not murder.” If my bull kills someone, is that murder? Well, it depends. Does your bull have a habit of goring? Have verbal warnings been given? Casuistic laws have a lot of “it depends.”

Why do I bring you down into the dungeon of nerdom? Because I’ve been thinking a lot about how this applies to our ideas about love. 

I find almost no one who pushes back on the “apodictic” law of love.

In the abstract, black-and-white, principled sense – who wouldn’t agree that love is the highest good?

It’s when we start to get into the casuistic applications that things get messy. In other words, expressing love in our life is more about practical wisdom than it is abstract principles. It’s messy. It’s the push and pull between the ideal and the real, the “this should work in theory” and “why the heck didn’t that work?”

What might not be obvious when we read Exodus 21 is the experiences and stories behind those casuistic laws of “if/then.” There was likely a time when the pronouncement was made: “Thou shalt not kill.” And we felt safe and secure knowing we had a rule. And then a bull gores someone. And we have to ask, “What do we do now?” There is no rule for this particular situation at this particular time involving these particular people. And we are stuck. To apply a universal rule that doesn’t take into account the specific situation feels unfair and unhelpful. To ignore the rule feels ungrounded and unhelpful. 

So, we work through it. And then leave it as an example for the future generations to say, “This is how we did it. But you will need to make your own path.” 

So, what is love? It depends.