Proof

So one Sunday just before worship started, this church member named Barb came up to me and stopped me. And she joyfully said, “Christopher! I was reading my Bible last night. While I was reading, I came across this verse and I thought of you…You’re our letter!!” I thanked her and then looked at the little green sticky note which she had put in my hand. The words, “2 Corinthians 3:3 Christopher” were written on it. I still have it.

It was meaningful then as it is still today. It was great to hear that a church member was reading the Bible on her own. And of course it was very sweet that she thought of me. I held onto that sticky note and looked at it often during very trying times.

The verse?

“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3, NIV).” Now you should know that the “you” is plural. So while it was so nice of Barb to apply it to me, Paul in writing to the Corinthian Christians was calling all of them “letters.” And it’s no different today. We all can be sent and addressed to others to show and demonstrate something about God.

But here’s my take on this. Not sure I am worthy of this…it’s quite an endorsement. But it does remind me of a pure and true desire on my part to be…proof.

We live in a time and a world where everyone wants proof. Proof that God exists, that God is good, that He cares and is involved. We have to prove ourselves at our jobs. We feel like to prove ourselves to spouses, family members and friends. We feel like we have to constantly prove that we are good enough and worthy.

Maybe it’s because we are so visual; or maybe it’s because of the influence of being so litigious. Perhaps it’s because we just don’t trust systems and people.

We have to see it to believe it…

And of course faith is, well, the opposite in many ways. We have to believe it in order to see it.

And of course we know that faith doesn’t come easy. Clearly, God gave us the Bible so that we could know Him more.

Even more to the point, God gave us His Son so that as the quote goes, “God’s love would be more (or most) visible through Him.”

With Jesus presently in Heaven, there have to be other ways to show, to demonstrate, to prove that He and all that He is, is real.

I have been thinking lately about what I want to accomplish in terms of ministry. There are many roles to play – shepherd, pastor, teacher, evangelist, comforter, and others. But I have been thinking lately that perhaps through those roles and just as a human being, I want to be…proof. It’s like Paul said, “…I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:19-20).”

I want my life, all of it, to point to not only God’s existence but His grace, love, and power. Just like with any kind of proof or evidence, it has to be visible, it has to be authentic, it has to be tested and found consistent.

And believe me, I am unable to do this on my own; it’s not even my idea really.

But maybe for believers, seekers and doubters alike, maybe by the way I serve, by the way I love, by the way I forgive, by the way I reach out, by the way I seek justice, by the way I pray, by the way I believe, by the way I hope and see possibility, by the way I lead, by the way I endure trials, by the way I rejoice and praise God, by the way I want to please God more than anything else, by the way I am a spouse, father, son, brother and friend and many other ways, maybe through all of it – someone might come to believe or deepen their belief – to believe that there is a God, and that He is holy and wonderful and forgiving and redeeming and fully engaged for good in our lives.

What if people said of you and me, “I know what it is to be loved by God because of the way you loved me?” That’s the kind of goal or achievement I am seeking after. That my life, my loving, my faith – all pointed to God that clearly. And think of how transforming it would be within churches and beyond them into communities!

When people look at our lives, if we are doing this faithfully, the only conclusion they can come to is, “Only Christ could be the author of that kind of life.”

So as letters of God’s – there really is only one true and faithful response – “Here am I; send me.”

Here we are Lord; write us with your Spirit, address us to other lonely, broken, despairing human hearts and…send us.

Amen.

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

cbrianwolf@gmail.com

www.christopherbwolf.com

Christopher B. Wolf is pastor of First Reformed Church of Saddle Brook, New Jersey. He is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and the forthcoming, With You: Every Step of the Way (2011).

“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.” N.T. Wright

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Who Knows?

Maybe it’s because I have reached my limit. Maybe you have too.

 

Maybe it’s because I can still vividly remember walking in the 1978 Memorial Day Parade in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, holding an American Flag alongside my Dad and his ambulance corps and feeling so proud of my nation.

 

Maybe it’s because we seem to be on a downward spiral and it seems less and less likely that we can turn around.

 

Maybe it’s because I believe a nation has a kind of soul and our nation’s soul is wounded and ill.

 

Maybe it’s because I have a daughter of a similar age.

 

But I can’t help but be so disturbed by the thought and reality of that little girl’s body found in the garbage dump after having gone missing recently.

 

Kids are supposed to be alive and walking home safely in their neighborhoods. Little girls should be swinging on the swing in the back singing Taylor Swift songs and writing and illustrating books with stick figures and backward letters.

 

But not for Somer Thompson, whose body was, as her father described, “discarded like a piece of trash.”  

 

I know this is not the first time it has happened…and it won’t be the last.

 

But it is a very startling metaphor – a young, innocent girl killed and dumped in the garbage. It screams of a people and a nation that do not value life. And we have known this for a while. It’s just a little more visible today.  

 

How can we say that we value life when we worship nearly everything else but the Author of Life? In God We Trust?

 

It’s more like – In…money, violence, sports, alcohol and drugs, possessions, sex, appearances, video games and ourselves…We Trust. You don’t need to be a person of faith to see where this has brought us and where it is going to lead.

 

The apathy doesn’t help either. Our apathy helps us drift off slowly, painlessly as we have watched our nation’s soul and many of the things of real substance disintegrate.

 

After hearing a message of warning from one of God’s prophets, a people of long ago began fasting. The king of those people was also moved by the message and said, “Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways, and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish (Jonah 3).”

 

And God’s response to those people? “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened (Jonah 3).”

 

What does God see when He looks upon America’s soul? What does God think of Somer Thompson’s body in a Georgia garbage dump?

 

Yet, God does see and respond to repentance and turning our hearts to Him. The people of Nineveh, which I mentioned above, did so, and God relented. He is after all, a God of second chances.

 

I know this is not a typical Living Water. I would have preferred to write something else. But I had to be obedient. As much as I love to talk about grace, it doesn’t take away from how much sin and evil still offend God.

 

And I am no king, but I couldn’t be silent today about how I see sin and evil corrupting our nation and how we have to turn from it – soon.

 

Let everyone in our nation call urgently on God and let us give up our evil ways and violence.

 

Who knows?

 

Amen.

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Life and Death

John 5:24

Life and Death         

 

“It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father…has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.” John 5:24 The Message

 

You’ve heard the phrase, “It’s a matter of life and death,” right? Meaning, it’s all on the line, or that it is a very serious situation.

 

Have you ever given it much thought?

 

We don’t face a lot of “life and death” situations in our lives. Certainly, in health, medicine, military or emergency personnel – that’s everyday.

 

My Dad was an EMT for many years and he used to say, “No one dies on my rig.” And he meant it. Sadly, some died. But he gave his all to keep people from crossing from life into death, if he had anything to do about it. And many, many lives were saved.  

 

Do we think of faith as a “life and death” matter? Do we think of salvation – our own or for others – with this same intensity – as a matter of life and death?

 

I mean, we often do when we think about the end – end of life.  

 

But what is really a matter of life and death? Work? Relationships? Well, maybe one relationship…

 

In this above passage, Jesus was saying that something momentous happens when someone believes what he said about himself being the Son of God and the Savior and thereby enters into a relationship with Him through faith.

 

At the moment of belief – calling on the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior – “has at this very moment (accessed) the real, lasting life (eternal life) and is no longer condemned to be an outsider (of the Kingdom of God).”

 

A brief note about “outsider.” See, God is holy. We are not. We are sinful by nature, which means that on our own – no matter how good we may or may not be – we start as outsiders in relation to God. But God didn’t like that. He wanted for us to be reconciled with Him. But the sinfulness had to be dealt with – it had to be atoned for because God is merciful and just at the same time. So Jesus paid for all of our sins for all time on the cross – opening the door to a living, life-giving relationship with God.

 

And so to believe that Jesus was God’s son and that He died on the cross for our sins, acknowledging that we needed the Savior to forgive our sins, and that we open our hearts and our lives to His rule and ways – is to become and insider in the Kingdom. It’s that simple and not that simple, if you know what I mean.

 

Then it says, “This person (who puts their faith in Christ) has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.” Another translation has it as, “crossed over from death to life.”

 

We are dead in our sins – eternally and in daily life. When we live by our desires, our ways, our pride, our wills – they all lead to death – but also a life that is not really alive. But when we “cross over” through faith from death to life – everything starts to change. We awaken. We become truly alive as God designed it to be…

 

Where are you today?

 

Have you crossed over from death to life yet? Do you have a heartbeat but feel dead inside? Do you feel like the power of sin is holding you down – keeping you in the “realm” of death?

 

That power of sin and death were crushed at the cross and left behind in the empty tomb. They are still at work, but they no longer have the last word.

 

Do you feel like an “outsider” to the Kingdom? The door is open.

 

Do you feel like you are unworthy and unforgivable? A total lie.

 

Crossing from death to life, entering the Kingdom, living a life that is truly alive – all of this – is just one step away…

 

The classic hymn sings, “The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

 

Often, when we think of faith today, we think of church and religion – maybe sermons, music and Sunday School, coffee hour and things like that – nothing very urgent. Maybe that is what it is for you.

 

But it is so much more. It is about a saving, living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But not just any relationship…

 

It is after all, a matter of life and death.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever heard salvation described in this way before? How does it sound?
2. Are you a religious person but not in a relationship with God through Jesus? What do you think after reading this?
3. What do you think when it says, “sinful by nature?” Agree or disagree?
4. Do you need a savior? Why or why not?

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Reaching, Finding, Healing

 

 

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God.” James 5:19-20 The Message

 

 

I want to tell you about an important scene from one of my favorite movies, Seabiscuit (2003). It is one of my favorite movies because it so beautifully illustrates grace. Charles Howard is a man haunted by loss and death, looking to buy a horse and he goes through all the regular channels. But out of the corner of his eye he notices something different. He notices a “crackpot” horse trainer named Tom Smith. Later on, under the cover of night (like Nicodemus) Charles comes to find Tom. He notices that Tom is treating an older horse that no one else wanted and asks why he is “fixing” the horse. Tom explains that every horse is good for something. And then Tom says a line that I always remember – it is at the heart of the grace of Jesus Christ and the heart of my ministry, “You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause he’s banged up a little.”

 

Banged up a little. That’s all of us – whether we are open about it or not. Whether it is visible or not. Whether it was by our choice (sin) or by circumstances and events. That is one of things I was reminded of yesterday about why Youth Sunday always stands out. The brave young people who shared their testimonies poignantly reminded us that we are all banged up a little. The difference – each year, several of our wonderful young people speak bravely and openly about it. No pretense, no apologies –

just authenticity, some tears and hope – a lot of hope.

 

Speaking of hope. “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him (Jesus) (Isaiah 53:6).” It is by this fact that we are people of grace – received, undeserved, unearned grace as in forgiveness.

 

See, God didn’t write us off, when he could have. Sometimes Christians and churches get so good at celebrating God’s grace that we forget that God could have written us off. And we lose sight of what it was/is to be without grace and a kind of blindness develops to those who are “banged up” and who have wandered away from God.

 

That is why, when we are tempted to think people are less than perfect and don’t belong and to think that lives can be written off, we need to stop and listen…

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God (James 5:19-20).” 

 

Do you know someone who has wandered off from God’s truth? Do you know some people who are “banged up a little” or worse? I know I do. And I have been going after them for most of my life. I do because first I know that I am “banged up a little” and I know the grace by which I am saved – for which I am eternally thankful. And I do this because I believe every life is precious to God, even if they are “banged up a little.”

 

It is hard to precisely put into words how amazing it feels when God has allowed me to be a part of “getting them back and rescuing precious lives…” It is a peace beyond words and it feels sacred; it is the true definition of fulfillment for me. I know that I experience healing when I am a part of others’ healing. God is the initiator of grace, but if we are faithful, the grace we receive can be shared and multiplied – and really that was God’s design – for the grace to be shared. And how “wonderful and marvelous” it is to play a lead role or even to be an “extra”   in stories of grace and redemption. And though I may not get it right every time, it is at the core of my soul.   

 

As many of you know, the partnership of Charles Howard and Tom Smith led to finding the rider Red Pollard and the horse Seabiscuit. It is story of winning despite lost causes; it is story of finding and sharing grace and healing in the midst of brokenness; it’s about redemption. At the end of the film, during the last race, the sound of hoofs and cheers recedes to the musical theme played softly and to Red’s voice, who explains, “You know, everybody thinks we found this broken down horse and fixed him. But we didn’t. He fixed us. Every one of us (as the camera shows each of the main characters). And I guess in a way, we kinda fixed each other too.”

 

See, when it comes to people, according to God – and therefore to us, there is no such thing as a lost cause. And to believe this – to live this – is to be in the palm of Jesus’ outstretched hand.

 

We can’t prevent or stop all the wandering and the dents that we get in life – self-inflicted or the ones that just happen. But we can experience and be a part of the reaching, finding and healing.

 

That is where I want to be.

 

Will you join me?

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What is your own redemption story? Have you ever shared it with anyone? Would you like to share it with me?
2. Have you ever been a part of someone else’s healing and grace? What did that feel like?
3. Can you think of someone for whom you can be a part of reaching, finding and healing? What will you do about it?
4. How you can share some grace today?

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No Going Back

No Going Back                    

Galatians 2:20-21

 

“The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going back on that. 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 come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.” Galatians 2:20-21 from The Message

 

Rule-keeping…Peer-pleasing…religion?

 

Ouch!

 

And yet it hits home.

 

Based on findings in a national study released this week, USA Today reports, “When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers. The percentage of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.”

 

To be honest, we didn’t need the study to tell us what is going on. We can see and feel it for ourselves. In a lot of key ways, we have made Christianity, and Church something other than what they were intended to be. It is the way of things – to drift from the place it started. We get that. Everything evolves, people evolve.  

 

But it’s what we have made it. See, Paul was writing long ago to the believers in Galatian churches, already then, warning them not to lose sight of what it’s all about. How interesting that back then, in the first century, that within years, following Christ – a living relationship with God, had become “rule-keeping and peer-pleasing and religious.”

 

Good news, bad news. Good news – it is a human thing – it is hard (not impossible!) to live a Spirit-led life – it is easier to cling to rules and traditions and to please others rather than pleasing God first. Bad news – we are doing the same thing today.

 

See, the way Paul taught Christianity was about it being an exciting, freeing, loving adventure based on the fact that the Son of God loved us and gave himself for us. Not a religion, but a relationship. And in His giving of Himself, we learn to leave ourselves behind and live for Him. And yet it quickly fell away from that.

 

And here we are today, with Christianity hemorrhaging people and “more people…falling off the faith map completely.” Why? Because, we have made or allowed Christianity and Church to become about things that aren’t faithful to its origins. We have made it about institutions instead of people. It’s about money instead of being “living sacrifices.” It’s about appearances instead of the heart. It’s about pleasing people instead of pleasing God. It’s about being safe instead risking. It’s about control instead of passion. It’s about telling instead of teaching. It’s about “my” truth rather than “The Truth.” It’s about performance instead promise. It’s about ease and comfort instead of challenge and growing. It’s about going our own way rather than sharing life together. It’s about pretending to be perfect rather than being open to God and others. It’s about judgment instead of grace. It’s about maintaining instead of reaching out. It’s about us instead of Christ.    

 

Then or now, there is a phrase used to describe when something definitively falls away from its origin or intention. It’s called “Jumping the Shark.”

“Jumping the shark” is a colloquialism used by critics and fans to denote that point in a TV show, movie series’ history, or music band, where the plot or music veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, particularly for a show or band with falling ratings apparently becoming more desperate to draw viewers and listeners in. In the process of undergoing these changes, the TV, movie series or band loses its original appeal. Those that have “jumped the shark” are typically deemed to have passed their peak (Wikipedia, CW additions).”

Has Christianity in North America “Jumped the Shark.” It certainly looks like it. Haven’t we “veered off into absurd story lines” so to speak? Haven’t we done desperate things to draw people in? Haven’t we lost our original appeal? Does it seem like we have passed our peak (especially in comparison to Africa and South America’s explosion of Christianity)?

 

But all is not lost. We know what this faith is really supposed to be about. At some point along the way, we have caught glimpses of what it is…what it could be.

 

We have seen it when Christianity and Churches are at their best – a people on fire for the Lord and His Word, boldly loving, forgiving, growing, welcoming others and sharing their lives together. We have seen it when Christians and Churches have broken through routines and pretenses and put their focus back on being a living body of Christ. We have known it when we have caught just a hint of how God sees us and all that is possible in the midst of our sinful natures and brokenness and warped world.

 

Because, once you have even had just a taste of the freedom, of the passion, of the joy, of the unconditional love, of the power, of the hope, of the perfect grace in Christ, there is no going back. There is nothing like it. A real, personal, alive, unpredictable, but always purposeful relationship with God…

 

We all fall off the path at times. But the path is still there…waiting. C’mon, there is no going back now.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Do you agree that Christianity has fallen away from its origins? In what ways?
2. Do you agree with my description of what it has become about? What are some of your thoughts?
3. Can we reverse this trend of Christianity decreasing? How?
4. How is your relationship with God? Is it alive? Is it through Christ? Is it just based on a church?

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