A Weekend for Service

In this year’s Good Friday service, I taught from John 13.1-17 and how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. I focused in on vs.15 when he said that he gave them – and us! – an example to follow. That word, ‘example’, in the biblical language is the same word we use for pattern, as in a pattern for a piece of clothing. It is as though Jesus wants us to wear our love, service, and sacrifice like a garment.

We have two opportunities to “wear our love, service, and sacrifice” like a garment this weekend and I hope you will avail yourself to them to help others in our church and community.

On Saturday, we are having our inaugural Spring Fling for the Childcare Center from 9am – 2pm. This promises to be a wonderful time for the families in our Center, as well as raise awareness for those who might be looking for childcare, summer camp, or Georgia Pre-K. We will have food, games, bouncy houses, visits from local police and fire departments to show off their equipment and promote safety, and opportunities to “touch-a-truck” with some really cool construction vehicles. Guests will also be able to meet the Center staff and check out our facilities.

On Sunday, we will complete our recent gift basket project for the Community Welcome House. The Community Welcome House is our local domestic abuse shelter and the residents are often fleeing for their lives with nothing more than the clothes they are wearing. We are providing trinkets and other items to help care for these families in crisis. The baskets will be assembled on Sunday following the 11am worship celebration. Per the email that was sent out on Monday, we still have some needs for the baskets:

-          For Women:

·        Socks

·        5 make-up bags (to hold small stuff)

·        Journals

·        Flashlights

·        batteries (all sizes)

·        Chocolate candy

·        Large tissue boxes

·        Gum/mints

·        Nail files or polish

·        Miscellaneous - scarves, jewelry, etc.

·        Flip flops

·        10 gift cards (Wal-Mart, Target, Dollar Store, etc.)

-          For Children:

·        4 containers/baskets

·        Socks (boys & girls)

·        Flashlights

·        Toys - boys & girls

·        Candy

·        Juice boxes

·        Little blankets

·        Flip flops (boys & girls)

·        NOTE: we do NOT need crayons; we have plenty

Please make plans to be a part of these special events and opportunities to serve this weekend. May we all follow the Apostle Paul’s advice in Colossians 3.12 and clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience in service to others in our church, Childcare Center, community, and beyond!

Why Are You Crying?

I sure hope you find this message well and still basking in the glow of a glorious Easter! This past Sunday we completed our Questions GOD Asks Us message series as we pondered Jesus’ question to Mary Magdalene on Resurrection morning: “Why are you crying?” Mary had gone to the tomb to care for Jesus’ body, but when she arrived at the garden tomb, he was gone. She ran back to tell the disciples, and after Peter and John assessed the scene, she again found herself alone. When she looked in the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying. Then, turning around, she saw Jesus – mistaking him for a gardener – and heard him ask her why she was crying. You can read the entire account in John 20.1-18.

If you were not able to attend Easter worship at Cokes Chapel this Easter, or would like to watch the message again, you can view it by clicking here. All of the messages from our Questions GOD Asks Us series are available on the website, too.

Crying is a gift from GOD. Like the gift of language, crying is something that is exclusive to humans. We produce three kinds of tears – those that lubricate our eyelids, reflexive tears caused by irritants, and emotional tears. Something that is interesting is that the different kinds of tears have different chemical compositions – the first two are mainly water, but the third kind has proteins and hormones containing the stress hormone, cortisol. Our shedding of emotional tears helps us literally flush stress from us, which is one reason we can feel so much better after a good cry.

Something we have to bear in mind, though, is we are best served by understanding why it is we are crying. Sometimes it is obvious, but there are also times when we break into tears and might not be able to immediately recall why. This is likely because we have suppressed negative thoughts and feelings that we did not want to deal with at the time. Problems eventually arise, because while these feeling might get covered up, they never go away. Pressure builds within us and eventually will burst forth, causing tears to flow as a result of years of trying to manage the emotional baggage caused by grief, anger, and disappointment. So when Jesus was asking Mary why she was crying, he very well might have been asking Mary to get in touch with the feelings deep down that were causing her to weep…feelings of loss, disappointment, loneliness, despair, et cetera.

Jesus revealed himself to Mary by simply calling her name. When he did, she latched on to him to make the connection she longed for with her Lord, and before he told her not to hold on to him, I imagine he gave her a quick pat on the back with his nail-pierced hand. Then he told her to go to the other disciples and pass along the message that his God and their God…his father and their father…was waiting for them. Embedded in those words was forgiveness and acceptance. Moving beyond their betrayal and cowardice from Thursday night and Friday morning, Jesus was telling his disciples that they were still included in God’s plan and their mission had not changed; in fact, it was just beginning!

There is one more little nugget from this passage that I want to explore. We see in John 20:15 that Mary mistook Jesus for a gardener. It might very well be that he was doing some gardening work there where his garden tomb was located. Maybe he was smoothing out the soil, pulling some weeds, and planting some seeds…we don’t know exactly. But thinking back to how our Questions GOD Asks Us series began, we saw the first exchange in a garden as the Lord was walking through Eden looking for Adam and Eve after the Fall. It was Adam and Eve’s disobedience that brought sin into the world, marring the landscape of creation with the proverbial weeds of sin. So maybe, just maybe, as Jesus was working in the garden, he was pulling the weeds of sin, smoothing out the soil, and planting the seeds of Easter hope to repair the damage done by Adam and Eve at the Fall. And in the midst of Mary’s personal darkness and grief, he was there for her to let her know that she was not alone and a brand new hope was available to her and all of us!

Thanks to Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, we all can embrace the hope that Mary received as she encountered the Risen Lord. We can hear the message that says in spite of our previous failures, we are still included in God’s family and given a mission for sharing it with others.

So in this week after Easter, allow the nail-pierced hands of our Lord Jesus to pull the weeds of sin in your life. Allow him to smooth out the broken soil and plant the seeds of hope that come as a result of God’s love and resurrection power. And if necessary, allow his nail-pierced hands to embrace you and let you know you are not alone.

“What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.” (1 Peter 1.3-5, MSG)

Happy Easter!

Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?

Last night we had an incredibly moving Maundy Thursday service. As part of our Questions GOD Asks Us series, we explored the question Jesus asked in John 13.12: “Do you understand what I have done for you?” You can read the entire account by clicking here.

This question takes place just after Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. As the crew gathered for the Passover feast, which would turn out to be Jesus’ Last Supper (and the basis for our service of Holy Communion; also known as the Eucharist), they were jockeying for who would get the seats of honor near their host, Jesus. The Lord witnessed this and proved the love He had for them by performing a task no one else was willing to do: wash their feet.

The task of foot washing was typically reserved for the lowest of servants or slaves. Let’s face it, the shoes worn in those days were the simplest of sandals and the roads were dirty – either extremely dusty when it was dry or muddy when it rained. And since those participating in the Passover feast had to ceremonially bathe before the meal, they were “clean” with the exception of their feet from walking. A servant would, therefore, be available to wash the feet of the participants so they could be deemed clean enough to enjoy the feast.

The book of John indicates that there was no dedicated servant to perform this task. I imagine this is exactly how Jesus wanted it. So He took off his robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and began the task of washing the disciples’ feet. All of them. The one who participated in the creation of the world was holding these dirty feet in His hands, soaking them, dislodging the muck between the toes, and patting them dry with the towel He was wearing. And according to John, Judas was still in the room, so Jesus even did this for his betrayer. Imagine the power…the emphasis that John states in 13.1: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Good and bad, He loved them. From the tops of their head to the bottoms of their callused feet, He loved them. To the very end, He loved them.

Then Jesus comes to Peter and Peter objects. Jesus’ retort is stern, stating that if He isn’t allowed to wash Peter’s feet, then Peter can have no part of Him. I firmly believe here that Jesus wasn’t just referring to washing away the dirt that Peter had traipsed through on his way to the Passover feast, but for the sin and dirtiness he had in his life. So as Jesus held Peter’s heel in the palm of his soon-to-be-nail-scarred-hand, the hope and promise of a future through forgiveness was surging through the only one who could forgive sin. I cannot help but wonder if Peter was able to feel his foot in Jesus’ hands as he wrote, “…and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” (1 Peter 3.21-22)

Once Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, He asked them: Do you understand what I have done for you? Jesus, their master and Lord, had humbled himself to the role of a servant, holding their dirty feet in His hands, and given them an example for how he wanted them to live…a model of love, service, and sacrifice. In fact, in the original biblical language, the word Jesus used for example is best translated into the English word, pattern, similar to the pattern used to tailor a piece of clothing. So in essence, Jesus was telling the disciples, and as, too, that He wants us to wear our love, service, and sacrifice as a garment for all to see!

Once Jesus finished washing the disciples’ feet, He dressed himself again with his robe and went back to his duties as host of the Passover feast. Even though he acknowledged that they would not fully understand what He had done until later (John 13.7), He had given them an example…a pattern…for how they were to carry themselves from that point forward. Consider these words from Colossians 3.12-14:

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. (The Message)

Friends, it has been an honor exploring these questions that GOD asks us through this series. On Sunday we will conclude the series with the final question from John 20.15, “Why are you crying?” You will not want to miss the conclusion to this series as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter Sunday! I hope to see you at 7am for the Sunrise service; breakfast at 7:30am; traditional worship at 9am; Sunday School at 10am with the Cokes Kids Resurrection Party & Egg Hunt; and the contemporary service at 11am. It will be a jam-packed day, but one that you will not want to miss.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what you should wear? Remember the garments that Jesus suggested: love, exemplified in compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, and discipline.

May GOD fill you with His resurrection power so we may all follow the example—the pattern—of Jesus Christ!

Do You Want To Get Well?

We are almost to Easter and that means we are almost to the end of our Questions GOD Asks Us message series. This past Sunday we explored John 5.1-14 and Jesus’ question, “Do you want to get well?” If you happened to miss the message, you can watch it by clicking here.

The context for this question occurred at the Pool of Bethesda, which was just outside of Jerusalem, and was believed to have healing powers. People would wait at the edge of the pool for the waters to get stirred and once they were, the first person was believed to be healed. A man who had been paralyzed for 38-years sat alongside the pool and was confronted by Jesus who asked the question, “Do you want to get well?”

Initially, we would expect a resolute “yes” answer to that question, but the man’s response takes more of the form of an excuse. He blames others for not helping him get into the water. Where we ourselves might expect a resolute “yes” answer if we were asked the same question, we often fall into a similar pattern of passing off responsibility to someone else. Jesus’ response to the paralytic, therefore, is really fascinating to me: “Take up your mat and walk.” So put yourself on his mat…if Jesus were to come to you in the midst of your spiritual, physical, mental, or emotional paralysis, what would He challenge you to do? How would you respond?

Jesus’ command must have elicited a crisis of belief for this man; for 38 years he was unable to walk, and all of a sudden, he is being told to walk. Fortunately the scripture tells us that he did indeed get up and walk, but even attempting to stand must have been a challenge. His life – and I think it is safe to assume his identity, too – had been tied up in his paralysis. To get up and walk forced him to embrace a new identity and a new reality. This can be a challenge for anyone whose “infirmities” become an identity. I believe Jesus knew that, and for that reason, wanted to set him free. So as I think about Jesus’ question, I think we could also understand it as asking, “Do you want to be free?” Free from paralysis? Free from other’s expectations? Free from other’s judgment? Do you want to be free? If so, what would that look like in your life?

This takes on an even more critical understanding in the times when we pray for healing, but it does not come according to our expectations. GOD wants us to be whole, but in reality, we won’t achieve full healing and wholeness on this side of heaven. We just won’t. So taking a new approach to understanding GOD’s presence in our lives is critical…GOD wants us to experience freedom in Him in spite of our infirmities…in spite of our difficulties! GOD wants us to know the power behind in gracious presence, even when it feels like everything is against us. Paul wrote about this as he relayed GOD’s answer to his for removing the “thorn” in his flesh: “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12.9-10)

We might be inclined to think that our weaknesses inhibit GOD’s power, but the opposite is true…we can come to better understand GOD’s powerful and amazing grace when we turn our weaknesses, ailments, and infirmities to Him, and allow our excuses to become expressions of faith. It is amazing the freedom we can gain when we allow GOD’s presence and power to fill and transform us, and yes, even in our weaknesses.

What is GOD calling you to do? How have you been challenged to stand up and take that first step of faith? If Jesus were to ask you if you want to be well, what else would that entail? And how could you possibly experience freedom in the Lord if the power He manifests in you does not come in a particular kind of expected healing, but in the freedom to stand up, step out, and serve Him despite whatever it is you might otherwise think is holding you back.

So, do you want to get well? Do you? 

Who Do You Say I Am?

This past Sunday we continued our Questions GOD Asks Us message series. If you missed it, you can watch the message online by clicking here. This week we pondered the question Jesus asked the disciples at Caesarea Philippi: “Who do you say I am?” This question and Peter’s answer is the turning point of the gospel narrative. Leading up to the question, there is a palpable momentum building in Jesus’ ministry. But right after Peter’s answer to the question, Jesus tells the disciples about his pending death and then he turns his face to Jerusalem. You can read about the account in Mark 8.27-38.

The question Jesus asked – Who do you say I am? – forces us to make a decision about him. This is where we find a dilemma. Do we believe what Jesus said about his identity, namely that he is the Son of GOD? That is something that really causes people to struggle. There is no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is the most famous person who has ever lived. There is no doubt that the stories he told and the teaching about relationships with GOD and others are some of the most pivotal in all of human history. There is also no doubt that Jesus died by execution on a Roman cross. Virtually anyone can accept that Jesus lived and was a great moral teacher, but some just cannot go as far as to call Jesus the Son of God. The only problem is Jesus did not give us the wiggle room to accept some of the things he said without accepting them all.

Christian writer, CS Lewis said that this scenario actually creates not just a dilemma for us, but a trilemma. When Jesus told the disciples who he was – the Son of GOD who came to be the atonement for sin – he was removing the flexibility that we might want to be able to say that he is anything less, namely a prophet or a good moral teacher. It is his declaration that he is the Son of GOD that must be our decision point…is he or is isn’t he? So in seeking to answer that question, we must decide if he is (A) Lord and exactly who he said he was; (B) a liar who was intentionally trying to deceive people; or (C) a lunatic who thought he was GOD and did not know any better.

Let’s quickly consider those three in light of an episode that took place in Mark 3.20-26:  ^"Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.' And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.' So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: 'How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.'”

Jesus’ own family thought he was nuts. The religious elite thought he was an agent of the devil. Yet Jesus goes on to talk about the one thing that only GOD can do – forgive sin. Lord, liar, or lunatic?

  

In his book, Mere Christianity, CS Lewis wrote these words about his trilemma as it pertains to Jesus’ identity: "I am trying to prevent anyone saying really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

So who is Jesus? Is he a madman along the lines of someone who considers himself a poached egg? Is he a liar using the tools of Satan to pull people away from GOD? Or is he the Son of GOD who came to save us from our sin?

Lord, liar, or lunatic…who do YOU say Jesus is?

What Are you Looking For?

This past Sunday we moved into the New Testament for our Questions GOD Asks Us message series. We explored the question Jesus asked of Andrew and another disciple (possibly the Gospel writer John himself, writing in the third person): What are you looking for? You can read this entire story in John 1.35-42. If you missed the message, you can watch it by clicking here. 

The background of this event is that it takes place right at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. John the Baptist had been baptizing people and calling them to repent because the promised Messiah would soon burst onto the scene. When he saw Jesus, he pointed to him calling him the Lamb of GOD. This prompted Andrew and the other disciple to begin following Jesus. Jesus took note of the two trailing him, so he turned and asked them, “What are you looking for?”   

Andrew had likely been listening to John preach for a while, and like so many, Andrew was eagerly awaiting the time when the promised Messiah would come and reestablish GOD’s Kingdom. When he saw Jesus, I can only suppose that he was curious if Jesus was indeed the one he had been eagerly awaiting. With excitement, and perhaps great anticipation, Andrew began following Jesus. So when Jesus turned around and asked him, What are you looking for?, I can only imagine it caught him a bit off guard, so he answered, “I want to see where you are staying.”

You probably know how this works in real life. When you’re in an exchange with someone and want to talk about something difficult, but aren’t really sure how to go about doing it, you might either say you forgot what you wanted to say or say something simple and unrelated. I think there is a possibility this is what Andrew did in response to Jesus’ question. The good news is Jesus, who knew what was in Andrew’s heart, didn’t bat an eyelash, but instead invited him to come along, walk with him, and see.

This exchange provided Andrew an opportunity to listen to his heart and process what he was indeed looking for. Was it just that he wanted to see where Jesus was staying, or was he looking for the one who he believed was going to change the world? And by offering the invitation to come and follow, the relationship was initiated and Andrew would never again be the same.

As we hear Jesus ask the same question and ponder its significance for us, we, too, are given the opportunity to answer and let Him know what it is we are seeking. Jesus really does want to know! What we must come to grips with first, though, is we often don’t plumb the depths of our hearts to know exactly how to answer. We might offer up a superficial answer and stay at a surface level relationship with the Lord, but He knows what is going on deep down within us anyway…He knows the yearning of our souls…He knows the burning of our hearts. The journey we are invited to share with Him, then, becomes one of self-discovery where we can experience the true essence of life and our calling to be in relationship with Him. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

It does sound great, but honestly, it is easier said than done. In reality, when Jesus calls us to walk with Him, it often – if not always – calls us to something bigger than us, and probably even scary! To follow Jesus means we have to be willing to sacrifice, serve, and truly live in faith. This is put forth so clearly in Matthew 16.24 as Jesus said, “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” Plumbing the depths of our hearts means that we have to be willing to go beyond the surface level relationship and superficial desires so we can – with His help – answer the calling that characterizes the yearning of our soul and the burning of our heart.

How do you hear Jesus ask the question, “What are you looking for?” Are you looking for something simple and easy, or are you looking for the answers that will unlock the true passion in which, and for which, you were created? The answers you find might be challenging, but Jesus is inviting you to walk along with Him so He can impart His wisdom to you and empower you with His Holy Spirit. So again, how do you hear Jesus ask the question, “What are you looking for?” How might you answer Him as we get closer to Easter? It changed the disciples and it has changed the world…I guarantee, it will change you, too.