Month: September 2018

Four Statements you need to hear

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Did you know God is calling you? Not on the phone, although I am sure he could. No, God is calling and has been calling you all along. We can think God is distant, but He is not. He is present and calling. I for one know there have been times when I know God is calling me and other times like after I sin that I am sure He is not calling me. But again, He is present and calling. Not only is He calling but I like the way River Tree church in Ohio puts it – He is For, With, One of, and In Us.

God is the one who sought out Adam and Eve after they sinned. It was God who initiated the seeking. It was God who called Abraham to leave his homeland and become the father of the faith. It was God who called Moses. It was God who called Samuel. When we read through Scripture we read God calls to people. If we go back further even than the garden to pre-creation creation itself, we read that Christ was slain before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8 NIV). Because God is omnipotent He knew before forming Adam that He would have to send His Son to pay the penalty for sin and still He was for us.

Because God is for us He was moved to be with us. Because God loves us He was moved to send Jesus to take up residence with us. Jesus chose to leave heaven and take on human form. Not only did He take up human form He spent time with some really bad people. How often did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day accuse Him of being friends with and liking sinners? It makes one wonder if I could be accused of such a thing.

Moving on, God is one of us. This is the incarnation! An event so great that all of heaven sang out in wonder that Christ is born as they gave glory to God and proclaimed peace on earth (Lk 2:14). This was a moment creation and heaven was waiting for. This was the first of what I think are four of the most profound statements in the Bible that relate to God’s relationship to humankind. The first being that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (Jn 1:14). God clearly pronounced what it means to be for someone. The incarnation is God demonstrating His great love for us. While the world is still sinning and far from Him, He has come to bring life. This creates the possibility for a second profound statement when Jesus says it is finished. God’s being for us moved Him to be with us, living like us and then dying as one of us.

Finally, we get to the God is in us. This is the third profound statement when the angels declare He is risen! The grave could not hold Him, and He is alive once again. This makes a way for the final statement which is in Colossians 1:27 when Paul declares that the glorious wealth of the mystery is Christ in you the hope of glory. God was for us and now He is in us.

FOUR Statements that changed the world!

  • The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. John 1:14
  • It is finished. John 19:30
  • He is risen. Matthew 28:6
  • The glorious wealth of the mystery is Christ in you the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

Just reread those four statements and let that sink in. If you are “far” from God read those statements because they tell you that God is not “far” from you. If you are a lifelong saint, then read those statements because Christ is in you and He is your hope so don’t forget that. If you are a new Christian read those statements because they will be what you hold on to in times of trouble. If you are wondering what the purpose of your life is when read those statements because they will show you that Christ died and rose just to be with you. The beautiful thing about these simple little statements is they show so much about God and so much about you. So what are you going to do about it?

Just a thought,

Mike

Sojourner or Scattered Ambassadors

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I was recently asked if you can have a regular job and own a home (or rent) and still be a sojourner. Well yes of course but we have to understand what it means to be a sojourner.

I do not think you have to leave your job or home to be a sojourner, but I am not sure you can be attached to them either. I think it is partly about what kingdom you are building. Are am I building God’s kingdom or mine? Am I amassing wealth for my benefit or His? Am I desiring to see His name proclaimed or mine? It is like Steve Saint says in the Great Omission when he talks about not everyone is called to be a missionary, but everyone is called to the mission (my paraphrase). Peter writes to the diaspora or exiles who are strangers or sojourners in 1 Peter and Paul calls us ambassadors. If I can put them together we are called to be scattered ambassadors who represents Christ. When thought of in those terms we can easily work a job and own a home as long we remember where our allegiance is.

That being said some are called to go. If you are called to go then you need to go. I know that sounds simple but that is because it is. There is great joy found in following God. We read stories in the Bible like those of Abraham and think it would be easy to follow if we could hear God like Abraham did. The problem is Abraham went years not hearing from God. There are only a handful of times we actually read that God spoke to Abraham. Scripture records more silence from God to Abraham than communication. I think we have it easier because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We can commune with the divine daily. Yes sometimes God is still silent but sometimes that is because you have not listened to the last thing He said.

There is a Rita Springer song called If you say Go and part of the lyrics say, “If You say go we will go If You say wait we will wait.” We have to get to the point where we are willing to lay down not just our lives but our wills to God.

As Christians, we are called to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests but the kingdom we belong to is invisible. It is real, and it is present, but it cannot be seen which is why geography, to a Christian, is more about direction than political allegiance. We have to come to the place where we are as willing to walk away from it all as we are to stay in it. The will is what is important and what God is after. Jesus prayed not my will by Yours be done. God wants us to turn our wills over to Him. We must be willing to go when He says God and stay when He says stay.

So yes, you can absolutely be a sojourner or scattered ambassador who represents Christ. But you can also go.

Posture and Prayer

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

So, what do posture and prayer have in common and why am I talking about them? First, I am not talking about the posture during prayer even though that might be a fun conversation. Instead, I was thinking about how posture and prayer are similar. I should probably explain…

I have horrible posture. It probably comes from sitting at a desk for years. I find that no matter where I am sitting I try to find ways to prop myself up. I put my elbows on my knees or I lean against something. I honestly have to constantly remind myself to stop slouching, sit up straight, get my elbows off the table, and so on. I am actively working on this, but it is a process. Even as I sit here and type this I am noticing more and more that my posture is horrid.

Now I am not a doctor, but I think good posture helps with all sorts of things from digestion and maybe even better abs. I honestly have no idea, but I do know that it does not feel right to slouch all the time and I am sure that because it is so hard to stop slouching I should probably stop. Besides people say things like “stop slouching, stand up straight.” Maybe if I stop slouching and using other things to support myself my back might start feeling better too.

This morning as I was hunched over the bed drinking a cup of coffee I was thinking about prayer. I was thinking about how my prayer life is weak right now. Don’t get me wrong I pray but it is usually for stuff or for help. My real prayer time though, the time I spend with God just wanting to connect with Him is lacking. My time to just sit at His feet and hear from Him or feel His love. My time to reconnect with my Lord and Savior where I can find refreshment for my soul is lacking in a big way. Because of this, I find other ways to support myself. Usually, it is trying in my own strength to hold myself up. I try to control my schedule or use my own might and power to accomplish everything. I would not say that I am being led by the Spirit right now. Wow, that hurts to say.

In Deuteronomy chapter 6 we read the Shema. If you are not familiar with it the Shema is usually summed up “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” It is called the Shema because the first word is Shema and it is usually translated “hear” but Hebrew words usually carry a lot of meaning. The meaning in shema is hear but it is also listen and obey. It is a call to attentive and active hearing that leads to obedience. In prayer we hear, listen, and obey God. A weak posture is like a weak shema in that it leads to using other things to prop you up.

Prayer is our connection to God. It is among other things an exchange of our will for His. If we are not praying, we cannot hear. If we cannot hear we cannot listen. If we cannot listen, we cannot obey. If we cannot obey we become the lord of our own lives. That will not do. We must like proper posture find ways to stand strong in the right things even though it is hard. Even if we must sacrifice other things to stand properly. It is something that is a must.

I am convinced that my lack of quality prayer time leads to my time anxiety among other things. Because it is so hard to find time to pray and spend time hearing, listening, and obeying God I am sure that means I must. What about you. Do you shema?

Just a thought,

Mike

Why must evangelism and discipleship happen at the same time?

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Frank Sinatra sang that love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. According to the song, one belongs to the other and any attempt to separate them is an illusion. In the Western world, we marry because of love and those in love will, ideally, get married. Why must evangelism and discipleship happen at the same time, because you can’t have one without the other. Evangelism is the telling of the Gospel or the good news. The gospel among other things includes that the Lord Jesus came bringing the kingdom of God. Evangelism is telling people about Christ death and resurrection and relating how it is relevant to their life now. Discipleship is not only helping accept this reality but submitting to the Lordship of Christ because the kingdom is here now. If the Gospel includes the fact that Christ is Lord, then submission or discipleship is included in the message of the Evangelism.

The goal is not church growth or numbers. At best we can understand that each number represents a life that Jesus cares about deeply. Our mission as the church is to spread the message of the Gospel and help people become obedient to that message and as Rick Wood says, “everything we do as a church must be evaluated on [that] basis.”[1] To say that a church is growing with discipleship is to say my marriage is growing without love. The two are connected because they require one another. Discipling people with mere information or facts apart from faith is like someone in the Western world marring without love. The two go hand in hand because “discipleship is transformational, not informational.”[2] Trying to separate the two puts the carriage before the horse or worse it forgets the carriage and the people inside at home.

 

[1] Rick Wood, “A Call to Radical Disciple-making,” Mission Frontiers, 2010.

[2] Eric Geiger, “Discipleship: More than Information,” 2012.