Invited Into the Real You

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 Msg

Oh how attractive Jesus’ invitation to discipleship. Very different I think from how we so often think of it. Jesus is always inviting us to follow him into a way of life that, rather than diminishing who we are, brings into fullness the reality of who we were always meant to be. 

Read the words in the passage from Matthew, above. Imagine you are with Jesus and he is speaking these words specifically to you. 

• How does his invitation make you feel? 
• What does it look like for you to move toward his invitation? 
• What is your next step?

Peace, hope and love

Doug

Remember

Remember is an important word in the Bible. 

After the flood, God promised Noah that he would remember his covenant with his people, using a rainbow as tangible marker, a reminder of his faithfulness. (Genesis 9:15) God tells the people of Israel to remember the horrible slavery that they endured in Egypt, not so as to cultivate bitterness, but to be freed through the wonder that it was God who delivered them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. (Deut 5:15) Much of the book of Deuteronomy is a sermon by Moses to a suffering people who were moving into a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, a time of blessing. He knew the human heart and the ease with which it can forget God’s goodness and grace -- especially when things are going well. And so, Moses writes: 

Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.  Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.  Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,  and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  (Deuteronomy 8:9–14)

Not very long after that admonition from Moses, life got easy for the people and they forgot. God, through the prophet Hoses laments "When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me." (Hosea 13:6)  

Remembering is an important practice for us as the people of God. It is dangerous not to remember; “take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. (Deuteronomy 4:9)  

This past Sunday we took time to pause and remember the ways that we saw and experienced God this past year at Creekside. If you missed it, you can listen to the sermon here. You can also read the Annual Report and remember with us. As a people of God we live moment by moment in his grace. Remembering how he has been with us in the past gives us the courage to move into the future he has for us.

Peace, hope and love

Doug

Surrender, Grace, Freedom

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?  Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”  But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)  Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?  Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”  Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved.  Romans 3:3–8

One of the fascinating things about studying the book of Romans is the juggling of, and appreciation for, both the uniqueness of the context of first century Judaism and the applicability for us today. The passage from this past Sunday (above) was just the most recent example of this. While Paul is responding to explicitly Jewish criticism, it is not hard for us to find ourselves right there with them. You see, at the heart of their criticism was a heart that wanted to be in control of their “faith.” At the heart of their rebellion was a heart that wanted to dictate what God could and could not do; what he could and could not require of them. Like I said, we are right there with them so much of the time.

If we -- even implicitly -- believe that we somehow have earned our way to God, then he can never ask move of us than we want to give. It is a negotiated bargain, if we lived up to our end, God has to live up to his, and cannot require more from us without renegotiation. The problem is that grace does not work that way -- thankfully.  We are saved by grace as a free gift from God, we give nothing but ourselves, we trust God with ourselves and in the process discover real freedom and peace. Grace is not a negotiation. Grace is free. 

It is free, but it is costly. While we cannot do anything to earn it or to pay it back, it cannot be fully received without surrender. Surrender is the key that unlocks grace. When you read “surrender,” hear “acceptance.” Surrender seems so hard because we see look at it as a losing of something. In reality it is a gaining of something. Surrender in this context is an acceptance of God’s grace. Acceptance of God’s grace requires surrender of the things in our lives that are opposed to grace. Each of us have in our lives these grace opposing things, these earning things, these things that we have to do to “be ok inside or with God.” 

• What are the grace opposing things in your life? 
• Write down the grace opposing things -- give them a name. 
• Pray over these things as you give them up to God.
• Check back to the list and continue to give them up -- they may have owned you for a long time, it will take some time to be rid of them. But, as they decrease, you will find yourself increasingly living into grace and freedom. 

Peace, hope and love

Doug