Practice Sabbath
Wilderness Wanderings
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8). Sabbath is an important theme in the Scriptures. We neglect it to our peril. I will not advocate that we go back to Old Testament Sabbath keeping, nor to the fierce definitions of what qualified as work and rest that we once engaged in. However, Sabbath rest is essential for Christian spirituality. Let us recall how Israel was instructed in Sabbath keeping. There was the rhythm of a weekly rest day. It was so essential that while in the wilderness, God provided two portions of food on the sixth day, so that...
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Sincere Love
Wilderness Wanderings
Love must be sincere (Romans 12:9a). This little phrase, “Love must be sincere”, is the heart of Romans 12. Everything that has come before--the stuff about personal transformation: “…in view of God’s mercy…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice to God…be transformed by the renewing of your mind…discerning God’s good, pleasing and perfect will…” and the stuff about the relationships within the church, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…in Christ...
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God, the Wealth Producer
Wilderness Wanderings
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today (Deuteronomy 8:18). Last Monday, we reflected on God’s creation of humanity as working beings. We work under God’s care and direction. Let’s reflect on this some more. It is so easy to ignore God while at work or at least to think that he has little interest in such mundane matters. But the Bible will have none of that. Wealth production is the work of God himself. Most of us have some sort of job description, even if...
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God's Colours
Wilderness Wanderings
A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Genesis 12:1-5 & Matthew 5:14-16. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it . Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: Dive In Questions What image of the church is given in today’s text and message? What three parts of ‘our story’ are explored in the opening chapters of the Bible? What is the problem in this world? What is the remedy? In what is our...
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Holy Rest
Wilderness Wanderings
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8). Last week, I ended with the question, “What kind of rest do we mean?” When the Bible invites us into rest, what does it mean? What did God intend when he commanded Israel to observe the Sabbath? Let’s begin this series on rest by exploring that question. A fruitful place to begin is by noting the word that often describes Sabbath, the word ‘holy’. This word does not always come with helpful connotations today. We think of those who have been declared saints or those who live by high moral...
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Belonging to the Church
Wilderness Wanderings
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us (Romans 12:4-6a). What does it mean to be part of a church? Does showing up on Sundays for worship services count? Maybe. There are many ways to answer that question. Our text offers two. Before we discuss those, let’s remember that when the New Testament uses the word church it...
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A Gritted Teeth Faith
Wilderness Wanderings
A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Psalm 147. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it . Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: Who is our God? What do you do when the reality of life in this world does not match with what we expect of God? What two things do we do in lament? What assurances does this psalm offer us?
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Calling & Gift
Wilderness Wanderings
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). We begin our weekly reflections on work here. This text invites us to think about work as more than what we do to earn a living. In Genesis 2, God plants a garden and puts humanity in it to work it and take care for it. This means that each of us is tied closely to the created order. Even if we are not farmers, even if our fingers rarely touch the soil, we are creatures of the earth, and the flourishing of the earth is our responsibility. We can understand this as both calling and gift....
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Avodah Series
Wilderness Wanderings
Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so, on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done (Genesis 2:1-3). Today, we begin a new Wilderness Wanderings Series. It is called Avodah. This is a Hebrew word which is translated into English with the words: work, worship and service. There is a long history in the Christian church to separate life into the sacred and the secular....
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Avodah
Wilderness Wanderings
A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Luke 10:25-37. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it . Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: Dive in! For further reflection: What does ‘work’ mean? What images does it create in your mind? What does Genesis 2:15 say about work? How does it change the way we view it? In what ways have you seen the effect of the fall on work? How have you contributed to...
info_outlineAnd my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
Yesterday, Kyra reflected on the gifts the Philippians had given to Paul. Today’s text is a promise that the young church in Philippi will be cared for; cared for by God. These two things belong together; they follow each other. The way Paul writes, it sounds like God will care for them because they have cared for Paul. But is that right? Yes and no.
Because we believe so firmly in ‘saved by grace alone’ we have a difficult time with certain texts in the New Testament. Jesus tells us to lay up treasures in heaven and Paul adds that we will receive a crown of glory. Are these rewards for good behaviour? Sort of.
There are rewards for the life of Christian faith that go above and beyond just our salvation in Christ. Should we want these rewards? Of course, but why should we want them? It’s a thing we should wrestle with. It’s our desires that we need to wrestle with. Paul’s reflections are helpful.
Paul's desire was not for gifts, even though he is blessed by them and receives them gratefully. His desire is not stuff. His desire is the place from which these gifts come. These are gifts of love from the Philippians as a response of faith to God. These gifts mean that God's Word is bearing good fruit through the Philippians. And that is enough. There's abundance in the Kingdom of God even when he goes without, because he is strengthened not by the stuff of this world but by Christ.
The economy of the kingdom is a gift economy. Its not one of balance sheets. The things that the Philippians give are “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice” given in response to all that God has given. The Philippians were living Romans 12. They are “living sacrifices,” giving all in the service of God—all that you have and all that you are. When we do that, we store up treasures for ourselves in heaven, a crown of reward.
We do it, of course, not to get that reward per say, but as a response of faith—to be pleasing to God, recognizing as Paul had said already, that our contentment—our rest—is in Christ. We can say with Paul that “our God will meet all our needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Whether he does so in this world or the next, it does not change the calculus: God has given much. We are amply supplied in Christ and therefore we give as a response of faith. It’s a joyful storing up not in this life and according to the rules of this world, but rather according to the Kingdom principles of the world to come.
As the Heidelberg Catechism says, true faith is a “also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, I have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation” (A 21). But it opens with this, “Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him” (A 1). We don’t live generous lives to get rewards. We do so to give him glory, to please him, believing that he is more than able to provide for us.
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.