I'm back with our thinking about becoming a better disciple. This is the third installment of the thoughts of Henry Knight III on Life Enriching Practices of United Methodists. The first section was on longing in life or Longing for God. The second was about Knowing about God or Knowing God. My contention is that the best way of Knowing God is to know Jesus Christ who we can know in reading the gospels and being in a relationship with Jesus.
Today we take on one of John Wesley's great contributions to discipleship, going on to perfection. We are not perfect, but we can be working on perfectly loving in all we do.
I had the opportunity to do a funeral for a gentleman the other day, who had a string of perfect attendance pins at Methodist Sunday school on his lapel in the casket. His wife said he tended to be a perfectionist in his life. He may have caught some of that working on perfect attendance at Sunday School. But perfectionism, or perfect attendance does not make you an automatic disciple or apprentice of Jesus. Perfectionism or going onto perfection is not a performance, but a loving attitude. We need to find ways to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as Jesus loves us. (Mark 12: 28-35)
As pastors in the United Methodist Church we are asked just before we are certified and again just before ordination, the historic question of John Wesley, "Do you believe you are going onto perfection?" In front of all of annual conference we are supposed to answer "Yes!" and really mean it. So we try to grow in perfection and love. It's not easy but it worth working on. The 8 life enriching practices will add together to help make us a good apprentice and representative of Jesus.
One of the biggest misunderstandings we have about love is that it is emotional. That we should feel love. That impression has come to us from our culture and years of romantic inclinations. Our huge divorce rate happens sometimes because we stop feeling "In love" with the other. Love is really more about doing the right thing, the best for the other, regardless of how we feel. That's why Jesus commands us to love.
For John Wesley, perfection was loving to the best of our ability, and as long as we were heading in that direction, we were doing the best for what God asked us to do. John's practical applications were to help us to love better than before. He was trying to improve our love life, which might get people's attention now.
So for John improving our love included a deeper prayer life, a devotional reading of scripture, participating in the Lord's supper regularly, worshiping frequently, being involved deeply within a Christian community, living with a lifestyle that was guided by faith, caring and serving neighbors in need and being able to share your faith journey with them. We will look at each of those this summer.
Come along for the ride.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Hunger for God pt. 2
It's pouring outside, we are hunkered down in the basement with constant warnings about a tornado in our area. It's a good time to reflect on power beyond our control, don't you think?
Yesterday I started reflecting on the message I shared on Sunday, you can catch it on you tube at Liberty Grove U.M.C. Pastor Jeff Jones sermons for 6/9/13 on Hungering for God. Yesterday I highlighted the first section on Longing in life and Longing for God, we should be longing for God and what God wants above all else. God does want what's best for us always, so it's not a waste of energy to pursue the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said on the sermon on the mount, God knows you need these things, so pursue and long for the Kingdom of God.
Today, I'm taking on the next section, Knowing about God or Knowing God. We do know about God, we get that from Sunday School, from previous messages, books we've read, and a lot of what we think we know about God comes from poor but popular and persuasive sources. I mentioned that national pollsters when surveying about attitudes ask the question of their interviewees, to quote their favorite verse from scripture. The number one answer, no matter who is polling the crowd is "God helps those who help themselves." It's not a good answer, it's not a quote from the Bible, it's a quote from Ben Franklin. It's quite different from what God would say, but we all think it's right. It tells us we think we know about God.
Knowing God is a relationship. Knowing in biblical languages is intimate, understanding, knowledge that is total and complete, inside and outside of you. A connection. That's one of the reasons that I keep emphasizing that we connect to God, it's a way of Knowing God. The absolute best way to know God is to have a significant and ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus shows us God. Everything we need to know about God we can see in Jesus. To quote him, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." so we can be reassured that if we want to know what God is really like, we need to know Jesus as well as we can. That would mean reading all of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) very closely and probably on an ongoing process. We are being evaluated by how well we do what God has told us to do. We can know what the questions are going to be by studying Jesus, and knowing him.
Being a follower of Jesus, being what some spiritual formation people call being an Apprentice of Jesus is very difficult. But in the long run, it is the most important thing we can do. It is very different from what we sometimes think is what a Christian is. I am hoping that this summer series in Sunday messages and weekly blogs will help people see what God means by being a disciple. There will be some moments that will shake us up, for some of us feel like we have this discipleship thing down very well. I know I keep discovering how difficult it is to do all of it, but thanks to the Cross of Christ, forgiveness for all those missing the target God planned for me moments, are really the only thing that saves me.
An apprentice of Jesus should be in worship every week. The commandment for a Sabbath day is not here or there, or when you feel like it. You can be excused if you are sick, we don't want your germs. Otherwise come on down. If you are out of town, there are other churches spread out everywhere, find one and bring us the bulletin. I get good ideas from other churches.
An apprentice of Jesus knows that returning our financial resources to God out of gratitude for all that we have physically, spiritually, emotionally, eternally, is a sign of our thanksgiving. No giving means no thanking God. We aren't the first to skip this important part. The Old Testament has many stories of the calamity that falls upon the nation when they rob God of the tithe. Malachi tells us that, but shows God's forgiveness with a challenge, do so, the full tithe, and see how God will bless you, keep the bugs off your crops, will allow you to prosper, you will be amazed at how true this is. The storehouse of God is the church, specifically the general fund, not some where else. That would be an offering beyond the tithe.
An apprentice, who knows God, accepts the leaders who have been placed over them. It doesn't say you have to like them, but you do have to respect them. St. Paul in Romans 13 was very specific that the responsibility of an apprentice is to honor and respect the leader. That means we have to show respect to the leader of our companies, our communities, our country and the church.
An apprentice of Jesus wants what is best for the community of faith where they participate. Disagreeing with how some things are done, is okay, but when we take our own opinion over what is good for the whole community we act like we don't Know God, who has called and created the church to be the way the world is put back in good order.
Thanks for getting this far, I hope I've given you some things to think about in your spiritual journey. My next blog is about reaching perfection. Wouldn't that be nice if we could. Afraid not, but in John Wesley's ideas, it is perfect in love, and that sounds like more fun.
Blessings on your journey
Pastor Jeff
Yesterday I started reflecting on the message I shared on Sunday, you can catch it on you tube at Liberty Grove U.M.C. Pastor Jeff Jones sermons for 6/9/13 on Hungering for God. Yesterday I highlighted the first section on Longing in life and Longing for God, we should be longing for God and what God wants above all else. God does want what's best for us always, so it's not a waste of energy to pursue the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said on the sermon on the mount, God knows you need these things, so pursue and long for the Kingdom of God.
Today, I'm taking on the next section, Knowing about God or Knowing God. We do know about God, we get that from Sunday School, from previous messages, books we've read, and a lot of what we think we know about God comes from poor but popular and persuasive sources. I mentioned that national pollsters when surveying about attitudes ask the question of their interviewees, to quote their favorite verse from scripture. The number one answer, no matter who is polling the crowd is "God helps those who help themselves." It's not a good answer, it's not a quote from the Bible, it's a quote from Ben Franklin. It's quite different from what God would say, but we all think it's right. It tells us we think we know about God.
Knowing God is a relationship. Knowing in biblical languages is intimate, understanding, knowledge that is total and complete, inside and outside of you. A connection. That's one of the reasons that I keep emphasizing that we connect to God, it's a way of Knowing God. The absolute best way to know God is to have a significant and ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus shows us God. Everything we need to know about God we can see in Jesus. To quote him, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." so we can be reassured that if we want to know what God is really like, we need to know Jesus as well as we can. That would mean reading all of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) very closely and probably on an ongoing process. We are being evaluated by how well we do what God has told us to do. We can know what the questions are going to be by studying Jesus, and knowing him.
Being a follower of Jesus, being what some spiritual formation people call being an Apprentice of Jesus is very difficult. But in the long run, it is the most important thing we can do. It is very different from what we sometimes think is what a Christian is. I am hoping that this summer series in Sunday messages and weekly blogs will help people see what God means by being a disciple. There will be some moments that will shake us up, for some of us feel like we have this discipleship thing down very well. I know I keep discovering how difficult it is to do all of it, but thanks to the Cross of Christ, forgiveness for all those missing the target God planned for me moments, are really the only thing that saves me.
An apprentice of Jesus should be in worship every week. The commandment for a Sabbath day is not here or there, or when you feel like it. You can be excused if you are sick, we don't want your germs. Otherwise come on down. If you are out of town, there are other churches spread out everywhere, find one and bring us the bulletin. I get good ideas from other churches.
An apprentice of Jesus knows that returning our financial resources to God out of gratitude for all that we have physically, spiritually, emotionally, eternally, is a sign of our thanksgiving. No giving means no thanking God. We aren't the first to skip this important part. The Old Testament has many stories of the calamity that falls upon the nation when they rob God of the tithe. Malachi tells us that, but shows God's forgiveness with a challenge, do so, the full tithe, and see how God will bless you, keep the bugs off your crops, will allow you to prosper, you will be amazed at how true this is. The storehouse of God is the church, specifically the general fund, not some where else. That would be an offering beyond the tithe.
An apprentice, who knows God, accepts the leaders who have been placed over them. It doesn't say you have to like them, but you do have to respect them. St. Paul in Romans 13 was very specific that the responsibility of an apprentice is to honor and respect the leader. That means we have to show respect to the leader of our companies, our communities, our country and the church.
An apprentice of Jesus wants what is best for the community of faith where they participate. Disagreeing with how some things are done, is okay, but when we take our own opinion over what is good for the whole community we act like we don't Know God, who has called and created the church to be the way the world is put back in good order.
Thanks for getting this far, I hope I've given you some things to think about in your spiritual journey. My next blog is about reaching perfection. Wouldn't that be nice if we could. Afraid not, but in John Wesley's ideas, it is perfect in love, and that sounds like more fun.
Blessings on your journey
Pastor Jeff
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Preparing to Grow as a Disciple
Hello travelers on a spiritual journey
I'm writing a series of summations of last Sunday's sermons to help people keep up with our summer series on growing as a disciple. I'm using Henry Knight III's book on Eight Life-Enriching Practices of United Methodists this summer and thought you might like to follow along. You can read it for yourself, or you can join us as I try to interpret what is being said to and for our benefit.
This past Sunday was an introduction about our hungering for God. If we are going to develop a real and meaningful and significant relationship to God, it starts with our hungering, our desire to be connected to our Creator. But there are several blocks in the way and we need to try to break them down or find a way to get around them. There is Longings in life versus Longing for God. There is Knowing about God and really Knowing God. And there is Going onto Perfection, where we take seriously the desire to be perfectly loving, as our way to develop holiness. It's an adventure for sure.
We long for a variety of things, a happy marriage and family for some, the corner office and a good job for others. We may want the perfect car, or one that is fun to drive and good on gas. We long for a happy life, good get-aways and relaxing vacations. The world we live in shows us every day and according to media specialists 1700 times a day, we see a commercial that influences our longing. If it's to just get the stain out of our favorite shirt.... The world not connected to God makes sure we think about a lot of things, like trying to keep up with the Joneses. Not these Joneses, I assure you. But keeping up none the less. As one of the Christmas movies suggests, they should be able to see the lights on our house from outer space...
As Christ followers, we should be longing for God and our relationship with God and more importantly what God wants with us and from us in our lives. Are we longing for, seeking after with our whole heart, the Kingdom of God and it's righteousness? Are we really committed to seeing the work of Jesus Christ happen because we are longing for God? Can we say that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? And are we loving our neighbors as we love ourselves? We really need to be thinking that way. If we haven't, then we stand in need of the forgiveness that God offers so that we can be connected and loving and longing for the Kingdom.
So how are you doing in your longing for yourself or longing for God department? Are there somethings you think about about and wish for instead of God and all that God wants? I'll let you think about that and I''ll come back with more of this story tomorrow.
The sermon will be on youtube in a day or two. You can search for colby626 and search for Liberty Grove UMC or Pastor Jeff's sermons.
Check back in a day or two as we look at whether we Know about God, or really know God!
blessings on your journey
Pastor Jeff
I'm writing a series of summations of last Sunday's sermons to help people keep up with our summer series on growing as a disciple. I'm using Henry Knight III's book on Eight Life-Enriching Practices of United Methodists this summer and thought you might like to follow along. You can read it for yourself, or you can join us as I try to interpret what is being said to and for our benefit.
This past Sunday was an introduction about our hungering for God. If we are going to develop a real and meaningful and significant relationship to God, it starts with our hungering, our desire to be connected to our Creator. But there are several blocks in the way and we need to try to break them down or find a way to get around them. There is Longings in life versus Longing for God. There is Knowing about God and really Knowing God. And there is Going onto Perfection, where we take seriously the desire to be perfectly loving, as our way to develop holiness. It's an adventure for sure.
We long for a variety of things, a happy marriage and family for some, the corner office and a good job for others. We may want the perfect car, or one that is fun to drive and good on gas. We long for a happy life, good get-aways and relaxing vacations. The world we live in shows us every day and according to media specialists 1700 times a day, we see a commercial that influences our longing. If it's to just get the stain out of our favorite shirt.... The world not connected to God makes sure we think about a lot of things, like trying to keep up with the Joneses. Not these Joneses, I assure you. But keeping up none the less. As one of the Christmas movies suggests, they should be able to see the lights on our house from outer space...
As Christ followers, we should be longing for God and our relationship with God and more importantly what God wants with us and from us in our lives. Are we longing for, seeking after with our whole heart, the Kingdom of God and it's righteousness? Are we really committed to seeing the work of Jesus Christ happen because we are longing for God? Can we say that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? And are we loving our neighbors as we love ourselves? We really need to be thinking that way. If we haven't, then we stand in need of the forgiveness that God offers so that we can be connected and loving and longing for the Kingdom.
So how are you doing in your longing for yourself or longing for God department? Are there somethings you think about about and wish for instead of God and all that God wants? I'll let you think about that and I''ll come back with more of this story tomorrow.
The sermon will be on youtube in a day or two. You can search for colby626 and search for Liberty Grove UMC or Pastor Jeff's sermons.
Check back in a day or two as we look at whether we Know about God, or really know God!
blessings on your journey
Pastor Jeff
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