Every Step

Hello: This is part update, part Living Water. Over the last few months I have been working on a second book. As you may know, my first book, Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs came out in 2007. To learn more about it please visit www.christopherbwolf.com. I am also working on having Giving Faith a Second Chance converted into an ebook.

I have completed the manuscript for a second book, With You: Every Step of the Way. I am currently exploring publishing options for it. I welcome your prayers and encouragement. This week’s Living Water is the description and introduction to With You: Every Step of the Way. For updates, more information and to “like” my writing, please visit my Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-B-Wolf/17378287393. Blessings, Christopher

With You: Every Step of the Way

With You: Every Step of the Way is a new and practical “word atlas” for believers and seekers – anyone who desires to navigate and draw closer to God along the unpredictable but exhilarating journey of faith. It is a lifelong expedition with much uncertainty and loneliness. The weight we carry rarely gets lighter and it requires more strength than we know we have…

Along this journey, we lose our way and our confidence, yet celebrate and find meaning, get distracted and stuck, learn and gain wisdom, become hopeless and despairing, deepen relationships and build new ones, leave our old selves behind and become new creations, and ultimately arrive at discovering who God created us to be and who God really is.

With You: Every Step of the Way reveals and illuminates these very things we need and receive along the way: Assurance, Heart and Soul, Fellowship, Possibilities, and Transformation. Pastor and author Christopher B. Wolf’s clear, authentic, engaging and encouraging writing style and messages will very quickly become a trusted and faithful companion.

Formatted for the individual who needs insight and support as well as for the small group that wants to grow, study and think together – With You: Every Step of the Way includes thoughtful, discerned messages as well as reflection questions that will inspire contemplation and discussion.

An Invitation

I have always been a fan of journeys. Growing up, as soon as I was able – all the way to graduation, I walked to school. I loved it. In college, I was able to go from the student center to across the street from where we lived with a combination of buses and trains. Near the end of college, I started on the greatest journey. I had always believed in God but with just a few months left before graduating, I went on a walk, a journey during which I committed my life to Jesus and His will and design for my life. And that is when everything started to change.

No longer was the journey as easy as walking home from school or making the train or bus. The journey got a whole lot more complicated…as well as wondrous, perilous and joyful.

It seems very accurate and appropriate to think of the life of faith as a journey. And in my role as a pastor, brother and friend, I have learned many things from my own as well as others’ journeys. Every Step of the Way is putting to words all the things that we pick up, let go of, need and come with this journey. In broad terms, these things are: Assurance, Heart and Soul, Fellowship, Possibilities, and Transformation.

These are all good things to share about and explore in the following pages. But there is something else. Perhaps the most important thing needed for this journey, the thing that drives, confounds and is desired most in this journey is – company. Company on this journey can make all the difference. The journey is one thing, but even just the thought of it being a voyage of solitude is unbearable. Yet, with one or many walking along with us – we can find the strength and hope to keep going on. It’s that powerful. And of course, we aren’t alone – the Lord is always with us. But you and I know, as much as we believe, it sure feels lonely a lot of the time.

So I want to walk alongside you for a while. Maybe we can even stop and sit and rest for a while together. All of our journeys include mountaintops, valleys, wildernesses and it often seems like the weight we carry doesn’t get any lighter. As you know, I can’t change the journey God has lovingly designed for you – but I can encourage you, make it more bearable, and illuminate pitfalls and breathtaking views along the way.

Will you walk with me for a while?

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With You

Some of my favorite times in life have been going for walks with family and friends. I love walking talks! With Jenny around the TCNJ/TSC (our college) campus. With Brian along the Princeton Canal and other places. And today, almost daily, Madelyn and I go for a walk to the park or around the neighborhood. Hand in hand we walk and talk about a whole bunch of stuff. Good exercise, yes, But with each of them and others, I am also trying to communicate that I am with them. Through presence, words and closeness – these are all ways to let them know I am there.

What are some other ways that we let each other know how much we mean to one another?

And, how affirming and assuring is it when others share and communicate that we are valuable to them? Very.

Well, the reason why I mention this is because there is a passage in Isaiah in which the Lord wanted his people to know that he was with them – that they were His. At this part in the book of Isaiah, the message has transitioned from judgment and consequences for sin to comfort and assurance. After all that had happened, they really needed to hear that He was still their God. I think we could hear some of that today too…

So I thought it would be good to see how we try to communicate appreciation to one another and then show how God actually does this as well…

There are all sorts of ways…

Calling someone by name always makes a difference. I mean, “Hey, man or buddy” or “It’s you!” don’t really work, right? As many of you know, I love knowing and using people’s middle names and making up nick-names for people as well as hearing all of my nicknames! It is one way to say I treasure you and you mean something to me.

The Lord says, “…I’ve called your name. You’re mine (Isaiah 43:1 The Message).” Our God is not some far off, distant supreme being. He is a personal God…”this time it’s personal” – yes it is in a very good way! And we are so His, that nothing in this world can separate us from Him (Romans 8:38-39).

You know that it always makes such a huge difference when someone calls and knows what you are going through and confidently tells you that there is an other side to whatever is happening. Further, the ministry of presence is so important. Just being there with people is so important. Wise words and speeches may be nice, but often just being in the room or on the phone says much more. So many times I have told people that I will be there with them all the way. That is my goal. It’s not my idea – I am just imitating the One I follow.

Listen to what God says, “When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end – Because I am God, your personal God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior… (Isaiah 43:2-3 The Message).” In traditional translations, instead of rock and a hard place, it talks about walking through fire and the flames will not burn you! So often our circumstances can make us feel like we are drowning, or being overwhelmed or just being consumed. But God says, “I’ll be there with you.” He is right now!

And, notice how it doesn’t say, “no getting in over your head” or “no rough waters or hard places.” Oh how I wish, and probably you too, that we could just avoid these. I am sure we have all said many prayers along the lines of, “God, can’t we just avoid rough waters and hard places – take them away.” Yet, we all have them. Why? That’s a tough one to answer broadly. When we are honest, a lot of our hard places ends and rough waters come from our own choices that He allows us to make. But, let me just say this, with all of our hard places and rough waters that we have made it through, survived and been rescued from, wouldn’t we say that we learned to trust God a little more each time??

Of course, we can just tell people we love them and what we would do to demonstrate the height, depth, width and length of our love for them…

At the end of this passage, the Lord does just that, “That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell of the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you (Isaiah 43:4 The Message).”

For us, a lot of times, we just say words. But our God did not just say these words. God’s Word (and words) is true and faithful. And then He sent Jesus to put the exclamation point on this idea of how much He loves us – at the cross. At the cross, Jesus endured the depths of sorrow, pain, death and hell, so that we wouldn’t have to – and through faith and believing this we are rescued from earthly and eternal dead ends! But also, Jesus went to the cross so He could be a savior that understood and experienced suffering, desolation, hard places and rough waters. He is truly the one that goes all the way for us and with us – and gets us back.

I want you to know that God is personal – that He knows what you are going through – and that He is with you today and will hold you the whole time and way. And, whether it is walks, calling by name (or nickname), being there, expressing love in word and action, we can show others that we are with them – because we know God is with us – each step of the way.

Amen!

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For Real

I get it. I really do. Maybe you do too.

It’s much easier and safer to follow rules or a checklist than it is to have a living, breathing relationship.

Take friendship for example. To be a good friend, one can call regularly, budget time to spend together, remember special days, say prayers, and so on. That would make for a good friendship, right? A safe, superficial, appearance of a friendship.

But think of your best friendships. You’ve fought and forgiven, you’ve loved and laughed when it didn’t make sense, you’ve cried and been silent together, you’ve prayed and wondered late at night, you’ve learned to trust beyond doubt and appearance, you’ve faced weathering storms together and shared the best of times. Now that’s friendship, right?

I know you see the difference. Yes, it might be easier to work off a checklist in anything. And things might be accomplished efficiently and effectively. If that were the goal.

How about the difference between religion and a relationship with God? See, loving God and people involves risk and pain, but also unspeakable wonder and joy. Checklists, well, one can get a great sense of accomplishment 😉

I thought the goal with this was to passionately follow Christ and to be Christ to one another – which takes Word and Spirit working through our confused, sinful, oft-misdirected lives. And yes, following rules and checklists might clean it up a bit and package it nicely, but will they come anywhere near what was intended? No.

Paul warned of this in his letter to the Galatians who like us, wanted to slip back to more comfortable ways shortly after learning about the new life in the Gospel. “Is it not clear that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could easily come by rule-keeping then Christ died unnecessarily, Galatians 2:21, The Message.”

Unfortunately, many churches and Christians today seem focused on the rule-keeping and peer-pleasing kind of religion. Little to no transformation, keep it safe, no risk, no loss (no real gain) but very assuring. Please hear me. The church is of God – it is Spirit-born and led and I love it. As much damage as we sinful human beings can do to it, it’s still holy and it’s the body of Christ. And assurance is a good thing too; it’s the foundation for transformation in a life of faith.

But you and I know when churches and Christians squeeze and box out the Holy Spirit and desire a religious club that provides mostly assurance – the emphasis and the fruit simply cannot be on what Paul called above, “a personal and free relationship with God (through Jesus).” Also, grace will be at a minimum. Because as Paul explained, “rule-keeping and peer-pleasing religion…repudiates God’s grace.” Rules and check-lists – if followed sufficiently produce self-righteousness or “perfection” rather than needing and thirsting for the grace of God – won at the cross – to flow down and wash away our sins.

I guess what I am saying is that it often seems like we are putting religion before or over and above a living, breathing relationship with God – and then at the same time, wondering why so many churches in America are declining or dying.

And I get it. I really do. Many think that in a seemingly unraveling world that grows more and more chaotic, can’t we keep one thing or one place that is sacred and safe? It’s a valid question and comes from a good place.

But the assumption or foundation is a misread. Religion, and more specifically the church, whether in the first century or twenty-first century, is to be both the magnet and vehicle – is the engine to draw, save and equip people for the life-altering, mystifying, exhilarating, always moving toward good roller coaster adventure of daily following Jesus and further revealing His Kingdom. It’s not supposed to be the brake nor the merry-go-round.

To paraphrase the song “The Heart of Worship” – “We’re sorry Lord, for the things we’ve made it; cause it’s all about you, all about you Jesus.” Well today, we’re sorry Lord, for making this more about personalities, ministries, styles, exclusivity, agendas, traditions, performance, programs, and budgets.

The question for you and I – and for churches is this – is it first about a relationship with Jesus or not? Is that the starting point?

It’s the difference between an attractive, safe, preserved, routine shell of a relationship, and the real thing – which is a flesh and blood, Spirit-ual, transforming, shared, saving, eternal union.

Amen.

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No Separation

Romans 8:38-39

No Separation  

38 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

 

The word “separation” has a lot of meaning. As you know it carries the connotation for marriage of a husband and wife no longer living together. There is “separation anxiety,” a state in which children and adults suffer severe emotional reactions to be being apart from loved ones. It is also the subject of a lot of songs and literature.

 

When I think of separation, real separation, it has an uncomfortable quiet to it. The voices we miss. The faces it hurts to not see as we once did. At the same it has a desire to it. You want to be with certain people or places but can’t. To be separated from love (from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (39)) though is something else. Phone calls and emails in the end aren’t enough. There is no substitute for presence and love and affection and care. I think of widows and widowers who lose their loved one after 40 to 50 years of marriage and they can’t feel that love anymore. Not only them, anytime there is separation of a cherished relationship. This is the heartbreak of separation. We can barely feel the love anymore.

 

 

In other words, it is on our minds a lot.

 

In a spiritual sense there is separation as well. Listen to this list from Paul in the letter to the Romans, of all the things that could conceivably keep us from God: death, life, other spiritual powers, time (present or future), distance, and then “anything else in all creation (38-39).”

 

What is it about these? They are all things that we as humans could either find as separating from God or use as excuses for remaining separate from God. Sometimes it seems easy for us to say, “I am so far away from God, and I can’t get back (spiritual distance).” Or we say, “It has been too long or I am too busy (time).”

 

The one thing they all have in common is all of them are created. Nothing that is created can have power over its creator. So that “anything else in all creation (39)” does not compare to and has no power over the Creator, God. No other person, no institution, no amount of time, no distance can, “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (39).”

 

And this is what Jesus accomplishes through His life, death and resurrection. Through and thanks to Him, the separation was bridged – eternally. The love of God in Christ Jesus can be ours – ours to experience and to be healed through and to share with others. It only takes faith in Jesus as Savior. That is the confidence on which Paul stands with his claim of “nothing…will be able to separate us…” (39-39). It is the confidence we can also stand on today.

 

And when Jesus bridges our separation from God’s love, it can give us the ability to close the distance, years and history between others and us in this life and the life to come.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What are some ways we can feel separated from God?
2. What are some things you are allowing to separate yourself from God?
3. How are you experiencing separation in your life and faith?
4. Today’s passage is a bold claim. Can you believe it? Do you see Paul’s logic?
5.  What does it mean for our lives, if there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?

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A Quieting Love

Zephaniah 3:17

A Quieting Love

 

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

 

 

In a word…assurance.

 

In so many ways today, we are looking for…assurance. The eternal kind, the living kind, the financial kind and the interpersonal kind.

 

And this verse speaks to assurance in many ways.

 

First, it talks about God’s presence and by that very presence we are reminded that He is mighty to save. Meaning, He is capable, He has the power to save us. So it starts with eternal assurance.

 

For us, just knowing that He can…and does save has to be part of our sense of assurance.

 

It also talks about how He will take great delight in you and me. Other translations have it as God will “exult over you.” Meaning God is doing handstands at the thought of you and me. I have also heard it put in this way, “God has our pictures on His refrigerator (so to speak).” This is a God that delights in His Creation and in His people.

Another form of assurance, whether divine or human is the idea and reality that God or someone else delights in us. That at the thought or sight of us makes someone happy – that is assuring.

 

And then it says, “He will quiet you with his love.” This is the part that originally drew me to write about this verse this week. Think about it. “He will quiet you with his love.” First you think, with everything going on in our world and in our lives, there is a lot of restlessness and a lot of inner turmoil. Right? Then think about what kind of love can “quiet” us…a special kind. A kind of love that is unconditional (it’s not going anywhere). A kind of love that is faithful (isn’t based on circumstances) – it’s constant. A kind of love that is close, like a quilt or blanket.  

 

I don’t know about you, but it made me think of lullabies. When we sing lullabies for children it usually helps them fall asleep. It’s that kind of comfort, warmth and love that I think this verse is trying to communicate. Now I can’t remember any lullabies that were song for me. But I have sung a few in my time and I know that it’s a different kind of singing. It’s part singing, part whispering, it has an intimacy to it because you are singing for one little person, and it has the purpose of quieting or soothing.

 

It would seem a bit absurd for adults or young people to ask for or acknowledge a need for a lullaby. But we have a God that loves us in a way that is quieting and comforting and brings peace. The song “In Christ Alone” has a verse along these lines, “What heights of love, what depths of peace, When fears are stilled, when strivings cease! My comforter, my all in all – Here in the love of Christ I stand.” There’s your lullaby 😉 But more importantly, this is assurance too.

 

Moving from a lullaby to perhaps more volume, it concludes with “he will rejoice over you with singing.” God Almighty rejoicing over us and singing??!! Sounds too good to be true. But here it is. When is rejoicing over people and singing in order? I guess I would say in times of celebration and just general pleasure with someone or something. The Christian band, Building 429 celebrates this idea in their song “Singing Over Me” with the words, “Yeah then I realize that you are always by my side In my worst and best, in this beating chest, When I’m living dying always finding, You – You’re singing over me, You’re singing over me tonight.” To be rejoicing and singing over people, one has to know them well and be close. Some more assurance, right?

 

Listen to these characteristics attributed to God in this verse – Might to save, Delighting in us, Quieting us with His love, and Rejoicing over us with singing. No matter what is going on in your life this day, I want you to know that there is a God…a God who lovingly knows, treasures and assures His beloved ones like you and me.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Are you in need of some assurance? What is going on in your life that this verse can speak to?
2. Have you ever thought of God character in these terms? Why or why not?
3. What other kinds of assurance do we seek? How do they compare with the God kind?
4. What is one way God’s assurance can help us in our daily lives?

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Wide Awake

Psalm 121

Wide Awake (Remix of Sunday’s sermon – audio download – http://www.firstgrandville.org/content.cfm?id=213&category_id=4 )

 

 

What is keeping you awake at night?

 

Many things. Finances. Guilt. Keeping a job. Finding a job. The marriage or relationship. The diagnosis. Caring for adult parents. An addiction. Trying to raise kids. The past. It could be many things…

 

Me? For many years now, what keeps me up at night are a bunch of people – no, not noisy neighbors J. In my lifetime, I have cared for a lot of people who have struggled with things – really hard things. And it has given me purpose. I wouldn’t change a thing. But I do often find myself awake, wide awake at night – sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. Part of it is “I wonder if the late night call is going to come” – for which I will be ready, if it ever does. There was a time when I kept a set of clothes out each night as well as a planned place of refuge because of the situation this friend was going through. God hears lots of prayers from me in the early morning hours.

 

Ministry or not, I have always been the kind of person that wanted to do whatever I could to help those struggling with difficult things. How many times have I prayed for it (whatever it was/is) to go away? And as things go, it usually doesn’t happen that way. So I guess I always thought that by being awake, being ready to help at any time of night – phone call, visit, whatever, that and prayer was the next best thing I could do.

 

My favorite song is “Bad” by U2 and it is my favorite because it so accurately captures and articulates this desire to care for others in extraordinary circumstances – but also the futility of it. It is my anthem in many ways. Bono wrote in response to a friend he was helping through a heroin addiction. “I’m wide awake, wide awake, I’m not sleeping,” the refrain goes. I have found one of the best live versions of this song, in which he explains the story behind the song and then sings it with tremendous passion. It’s often how I feel. Here is the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7KjiDZMD5o. I like to think that I am wide awake for these people. I want them to know I am, or that I at least try.

 

But here’s the thing. At some point, I will fall asleep. As passionate as I may feel about staying wide awake for others, I can’t help it. Bono will fall asleep too. We are human. There is no conceivable way of me staying awake and “being ready” at all times. And it is this way for all of us, no matter what may be keeping us up at night.

 

Some good news?

 

There is someone who can literally, actually stay wide awake all the time – and does. He’s watching over us right now.

 

“The Lord is your protector, and he won’t sleep or let you stumble. The protector of Israel doesn’t doze or ever get drowsy (Psalm 121:3-4).”

 

Whatever is keeping us awake at night, there is somebody who is already on it. Already knows about it, already working on it. There is nothing that He is going to miss in our lives because He never sleeps, never has to.

 

Sometimes, often at night, I can feel Him watching me. It is hard to describe and I have to be in a very peaceful state. But I know He is watching, watching over me.

 

And He is watching over you too, whether you know it or not, whether you can feel it or not.

 

I may still be wide awake at night thinking about some people. But they are in much better hands than mine – the hands of the One who does not sleep or slumber – who watches over are coming in and our going out forevermore (Psalm 121:8).

 

We miss out on so much comfort and assurance and sleep when we try to take on and handle things that are really only for Him to handle. The old hymn says, “This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget that oft the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad.”

 

We miss out on so much comfort and assurance and sleep and joy when we keep thinking that it is our world, our problems, our struggles, when it is and always has been and always be our Father’s world…

 

 

Discussion Questions

1. What are the things keeping you awake at night? Has staying awake at night solved any of them yet?
2. Why do we find it so hard to hand things over to God?
3. What keeps you from living as if the Lord never sleeps while watching over you? What does living in that reality look like?
4. What is one thing you can give over to the Lord to handle today?

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