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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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?
info_outline
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....
info_outline
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....
info_outline
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_outline“Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings. All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen” (Philippians 4:21-23).
Well, friends, a summer of slow and steady attention has brought us to the end of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. Today’s devotional will be the last installment of Wilderness Wanderings for the summer, as we have reached a natural conclusion with these last verses of Philippians. There will not be a podcast tomorrow, nor throughout the month of August. However, Pastor Michael is making plans for a new version of Wilderness Wanderings in the fall. More information on that to come, so stay tuned.
For now, let’s take a look at these last verses of Philippians 4. As we discussed with the opening of the letter, to close with greetings such as these that we read in today’s verses would have been a convention of letter-writing in the ancient world. But as with all of Paul’s letters, he uses the conventions of the genre to make particular theological points.
Verse 21 is translated in the NIV “Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus.” However, scholars point out that this could also be translated “Greet every saint [or] holy person in Christ Jesus.” Not only does this indicate his personal affection for members of this community, it also has the rhetorical effect of building on his council to the church at other points in the letter about living in unity with one another.
To a church experiencing conflict, as we discussed earlier in chapter 4, Paul’s encouragement to “greet every saint in Christ Jesus” was a challenge. And the command to do so “in Christ Jesus” is a reminder again of the fact that their unity is not in their agreement, but in their shared identity in Christ.
Paul then offers greetings on behalf of “all God’s people here.” Paul has spoken frequently in the letter of the challenges of persecution and false teaching faced by the church in Philippi, along with their internal division. Offering greetings from others who are in his company, perhaps those nearer him also providing support in the midst of his imprisonment, was a reminder to the Philippian church that they were not alone in their difficulties. They were part of a broader movement of Christ-followers also experiencing joys and sorrows, honour and shame, God’s provision and persecution by those around them. This small church was part of something much bigger than themselves, and Paul thought it important in all his letters to remind the churches of this reality.
On this note, as Paul offers his farewell to the Philippian church, perhaps this is an appropriate moment for me to offer my own word of farewell to you, my friends at Immanuel CRC. This is my last Wilderness Wanderings podcast as your pastoral intern, and my last day with you will be this Sunday, August 3. In my first Wilderness Wanderings devotional back at the beginning of my time with you, I quoted New Testament scholar NT Wright, who described the letter to the Philippian church as “overflowing with effervescent joy” and “sparkling with the delight of family affection.” As I reflect now at the end of my last week with you, I find in myself a similar sentiment, a deep joy and affection for my time with you this summer.
While I would not claim to have nearly the same travel or missional resume as Paul, as I read his letters, and have paid particular attention to his letter to the Philippian church this summer, I see the longing in his words for the communities that he travels to and from throughout his career, and it resonates with my own spirit and the travelling to and fro nature of my own ministry over the last number of years. That Immanuel has been the most recent stop on this journey is something for which I am deeply grateful to God. I will miss you all.
And yet, I will carry you with me. It’s one of the greatest gifts of the way in which God has formed his church, that we belong to each other. And so as I continue to travel and discern what God has next for me, I will take your greetings to your siblings in Christ in the places that I go with me. And I will hope to return to you with similar greetings from them should God give me the opportunity to do so in the future. Know that you will be held in my heart and before the throne of God in prayer.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to see how God is at work among you this summer. May “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
And 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.