Given a Life of Meaning!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 4 of 7: “Use the Right Currency!”
Full Sunday message, CLICK HERE
1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Everyone is looking for life that has meaning and purpose. People want to know that they matter…that their life matters.
So where does the world teach us to look for meaning and purpose?
On Sunday, I offered three areas:
- My Skills – If I have a talent in some area that others recognize and I use it to find success, this can bring a level of meaning and purpose.
- My Stuff – Often our self-worth can be determined by our net-worth. My income level can determine my significance level.
- My Status – Do I hold a position of power and prestige? Do people look up to me? Reaching a certain status can be the trigger that gives life meaning and purpose.
But what happens when you can’t do something as well as you used to? What happens if a turn in the economy or your job changes your income level? What if for some reason you are demoted and your status lessened?
We realize building meaning and purpose on these three areas is futile. That’s what Peter says. You can’t buy significance, meaning and purpose. Skills, Stuff and Status can’t redeem you from a futile/empty way of life. Only one thing can…
“the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
The fact that Jesus was willing to give up his position in heaven, come to this earth and give his blood for you communicates you have utmost value and significance in his book. His blood is the one that gives you the most important status you could ever carry: “Child of God!”
So how does Jesus blood give life meaning and purpose?
- I recognize the skills I have, even if they change, are given to first and foremost glorify God. My success isn’t based on how great I am, it’s on how focused I am at glorifying God!
- I recognize the stuff I have is really God’s Stuff. He has entrusted it to me and says, “Manage it for my glory.” Stuff doesn’t give me significance; Jesus gives significance to my stuff.
- I recognize that whatever status I have in this life, pales in comparison to having the status as a child of God. Then as a child of God, I ask, “How can I use my status, position to serve the Lord and love the people he has called me to serve?”
What’s great about this focus, is that when skill, stuff and status change, my life’s meaning and significance never change because it’s grounded in the blood of Jesus!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for redeeming me from an empty way of thinking and living and covering me in the perfect blood of Jesus. As your child, now let me use my skills, stuff and status to glorify you! AMEN!
Live in Reverent Fear!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 4 of 7: “Use the Right Currency!”
To listen to the full Sunday message, CLICK HERE
A restaurant feels it when the health inspector comes by. A child feels it when mom comes to inspect the room they were asked to clean. A new recruit feels it when their commanding officer is inspecting their uniform. A defendant feels it when he sits before the judge.
Reverent fear.
This bit of nervousness comes when I know that someone has a higher ranking than I do and has the authority to affirm or dismiss me or my work. A health inspector can shut a restaurant down. A mom can take away a privilege. A commanding officer can order more calisthenics. A judge can issue a sentence of punishment
The relief comes when the one of a higher status affirms that things are OK. Your restaurant is clean. Your room is perfect. Your uniform properly worn. Your charge is dismissed.
No matter what our status or ranking in life, we all live under the ranking of our holy, heavenly Father. He is the one that sets the standard of holiness for all people. He alone has the power to “destroy body and soul in hell” (Matthew 10:28). When we grasp this relationship, you can understand why Peter encourages, “live your life in reverent fear.”
We are not terrified of God or afraid of him, yet hold a healthy respect for him.
Recognize our status before God. He outranks us in every way!
Yet he chooses to use his status as a holy, righteous, Father to also show love and forgiveness. He has every right to condemn each of us to an eternity in hell. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) Yet, he chose to send his Son to receive the punishment our sins deserve. “The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
Consider these two things for your day:
- Live your days in reverent fear AND in humble gratitude!
- Remember that whatever status or position you have, you live under the ranking of God. So use the status and position you are in to “judge impartially” (1 Peter 1:17) as you are called to do and also “love lavishly” (1 John 3:1) as God has done for you!
Prayer: Father, help us to always remember that you outrank us and live each day in reverent fear, yet also in humble gratitude that you while you could use your rank to punish, you instead chose to give us your love and grace. Lead us to do the same in whatever position you place us today. AMEN.
Where Is Justice?
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 4 of 7: “Use the Right Currency!”
To listen to the full Sunday message, CLICK HERE
We live in a time where many are crying for justice.
Here’s a few observations I’ve noticed about justice. To have justice, one needs to agree on the standards and the consequence for breaking them. To have standards, someone has to set them. To have justice, one also needs to agree on how those standards should be applied and then how the consequences should be meted out.
Justice has been around for centuries, existing in some form in every society on earth. People cry against injustice and demand justice. Injustice comes when we perceive the standard was unfairly applied or the standard itself is perceived as unjust.
Our country is not exempt from desiring justice. We want those who do wrong to be brought to justice. We want laws that are fair to everyone. We see people in powerful positions “get off the hook” while an average citizen “gets the book thrown at them.”
So, where is justice?
God is the great equalizer. Peter puts it this way, “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially…” (1 Peter 1:17) Literally this passage says, “Since you call on a Father who judges impartially (without favoritism) each one’s work…” (1 Peter 1:17)
God doesn’t look at culture, color, or country of origin. He simply looks at what a person does measured against the standard HE has set. That standard? Peter mentions it in verse 15-16: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
This takes care of the three things you need for justice: 1) A clear standard. 2) An impartial evaluation of one’s activities and 3) a judge who perfectly applies the law.
The world’s justice will always be flawed because it is formed and carried out by imperfect human beings. However, as a “Stranger” in the world, we can realize a perfect justice (although God’s justice is hard for some to accept as well.) Here’s what it looks like. The standard is clear. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)
This standard doesn’t make exceptions because of color, creed or country of origin, we simply call on and follow the standard our heavenly Father has given.
When we break it? Justice would say, “For the wages of sin is death,…“The injustice of God is that he punished Jesus instead of us and gave us forgiveness as a gift. “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 6:23)”
With this injustice of grace from a just God, enjoy loving God and others today!
Prayer: Father, thank you for providing a clear standard for us to follow. We know you will judge us impartially based on our works of faith. In your mercy forgive us when we fail. Show grace where you have every right to punish. Amen.
Strangers: Are You Playing the Right Game…Game #4: Science vs. Scripture
Thanks for checking back in for one more reflection on whether we are playing the right game or not. (If you missed Sunday’s message, CLICK HERE for the video) As strangers in this world, it’s easy to get sucked into the games that the world plays – and as Christians we’re going to feel like we are losing because the objectives and rules just don’t parallel the objectives and rules that God put forward. We can try, and be frustrated, get overly anxious and worry a lot. We maybe try to adapt the rules, but finally we have to realize we are just playing a different game…one that still very much works in the world, but gives a different objective and different rules, and really put forward a game that provides much more meaning and significance to the world in which we live as well.
On Sunday we talked about three shifts in the games we play…
Game #1 – Instead of playing to Create Heaven on Earth … Live on Earth in View of Heaven
Game #2 – Instead of playing to Get Rid of All Suffering … Grow through Suffering
Game #3 – Instead of playing to Find Joy in the Visible … Find Joy in the Invisible.
Today, let me give you one more.
Let me start with a short disclaimer – I loved science in school. I still love to discover and understand how things work. Science is a great discipline and adds much value to our lives.
However, really a trend for about 200 years has been to make “science” the final authority on all matters of life. If science can’t prove it…it can’t be true. If I can’t experiment with it…it must not have happened. If I can’t explain it…it’s not real.
For example, how many times in the last 6 months have you heard or read, “What does the science say?” This phrase has been used a lot in regard to COVID-19 and finding a solution for the virus. Experiments, research, numbers, trends, predictions, graphs, etc. all trying to find the answer, predict the solution, and bring to an end the pandemic around us. For the most part, this is all good work and a blessing to our country. But it also indicates where we look for solutions to the problems of life…the final authority in the world in which we live: Science. If science says it, we can believe it. If science doesn’t, the theory is to be discounted and dismissed. If science has an answer, I won’t be afraid. If science tells me I can, I’ll move forward.
Again, don’t get me wrong, science and the study of the world is a great blessing to our lives and our families…no doubt. But science can subtly lead us to play the wrong game. What do I mean?
Here’s the 4th game:
The world puts its confidence in SCIENCE. God puts our confidence in the SCRIPTURE.
Science and the Bible are not mutually exclusive. Science can and does answer many questions about nature and the physical workings of the earth…and for that matter a treatment for COVID. However, the Scripture is what provides the framework and the worldview through which science exists. Science without the divine, will always come up short in understanding the world around us. Science cannot answer questions about the divine and eternity, scripture can. Science is limited to the knowledge man can observe and accumulate. Scripture reveals to us the knowledge of the all-knowing God! Science can change our mind and understanding. Scripture can change our heart and our beliefs.
Let’s tie this back to 1 Peter. Honestly, science isn’t mentioned in these verses, but I want you to hear where Peter points the people living as strangers, enduring persecution, realizing heaven is not on earth, people looking for answers. Consider 1 Peter 1:10-12
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
If winning is finding solutions for life in science, we are losing. If winning is finding solutions for life in Scripture, we will win.
I find this fascinating that even the prophets searched THEIR OWN writings to find the truths the Spirit of Christ was revealing to them. Perhaps like a scientist going back over his work to make sure he didn’t miss anything, the prophets “searched intently and with the greatest care” to understand the “time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ was pointing. To be sure…science is a great discipline that discovers the depths of reality of the God-created physical world. Scripture, however, is a great writing that reveals the depths of the heart of God and his love for people. Science can never explain grace. It will never provide a solution for sin. It will never tell you you are loved and your sins are forgiven. Scripture will.
Do you realize you have truths from God revealed in the pages of Scripture that even the angels long to look into? The truth of the Gospel, pointing us to the sufferings of Jesus on our behalf and the glories that will follow, will never be found through the lens of a microscope or in the experiments in the lab. These glorious truths are only revealed in the pages of Scripture.
Perhaps in essence Peter is saying, “Strangers in this world search the Scripture to understand this world…especially what is most important in this world – our relationship with Jesus.”
Enjoy science. Be blessed by it. But see this world through the lens and view point of Scripture. Scripture is not a science text book, but it reveals the one who gave us this world to study. Don’t get caught playing the wrong game…the world puts its confidence in Science…Strangers in this world put their confidence in the Scripture!
Have a blessed rest of your week!
Tune in Sunday (9am or 11am) for week three of our series…Strangers: Conform or not conform? Get a head start and reflect on 1 Peter 1:13-16!
Future of the Church: How Generation Z Will Shape the Future Session Notes/Reflections (session 2)
Session 2: How Generation Z Will Shape the Future
This was our second session this afternoon and had a focus on understanding Generation Z which are those under 20. This can also be called the digital generation. Taking time to understand them is important. Here are some key thoughts from this session.
What are some things that make this generation unique?
• They are the I-Generation (iphone, ipod, ipad, etc.)
• They are used to communicating digitally and are VERY good at it.
• They are used to two-way communication; interactive and participating back and forth
• Very in tune to being “sold-to”
• Access to infinite information via google, siri, or Alexa
• Shooting and editing videos is common – they are good at it.
• They more than other generations can “start” things and impact the world (young entrepreneurs – they see on Shark Tank, America’s Got Talent, etc.)
• They are globally aware – both with the good and the bad.
• They younger children can carry stress about world evils and tragedies – hard to differentiate what is a threat at home vs what happens in the world around them
• Interested in individuality – they can have a platform on a world audience and look to stand out in that crowd.
What are some things to work well with this generation?
• Take time to listen and learn from them. Don’t just “deal” with them.
• Take time to teach them to use the tool of the smart phone to their benefit and also point out real cautions.
• Don’t replace people interaction with screens – engage them and get to know them.
• This generation will help us connect globally as a church. They are used to interacting with the global community.
• Don’t over parent or over protect your child. Allow them opportunity to wrestle through and work through life challenges.
• Be careful not to communicate “be safe” to create fear of living in a youth. Rather encourage them to “Be bold!” Encourage them to be strong in the Lord.
The big take away from this was a focus on “Relational Relevance” vs “Cultural Relevance” My understanding of this point was to focus on developing meaningful relationships with this generation and helping them to do the same. To try to keep up with culture is tough as it is changing so fast, but what this generation (like others) desires is meaningful, caring relationships where they are respected not as the future, but as the present; not as by standers, but contributors. Many are lacking relationships with people who genuinely care – the other generations can be part of providing and mentoring this.