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Published: 31 October 2019

John Piper’s book on missions is very good, in my opinion.  In “Let the Nations Be Glad,” Piper wrote something like this, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”  In other words, because God is the Creator, the Source of life, the Sustainer of life and the Savior of mankind, we ALL should love, adore and worship Him.  We were created to worship.  We all worship something or someone, maybe even ourselves!  Mankind’s greatest failure and most obvious evidence of sinfulness is our failure to worship God for who He really is.  The first four (of the Ten) commandments are about this.  He loves us and wants us to live in relationship with Him but we have ditched Him for lesser loves.  He gives us all things richly to enjoy, but then we end up enjoying the gifts rather than the Giver.  We often leave God out of our lives until things go poorly, then we want Him to “snap to it,” and fix the problems.  We treat Him like a genie from the lamp and hope He goes back inside once we have our wish.  John Lennon wrote a song about imagining a world without religion.  I would rather imagine a world engaged in “white hot worship of God.”  I believe that what Lennon wanted was right.  I also believe that his longing could never be fulfilled apart from the One who gave us life and sustains it.  The world will never be a better place trying to “get God out of here.”  It will only get better as we worship God for who He truly is and live in light of His purpose.  That’s why we “do missions.”  Missions exists because worship doesn’t.  Remember the words of Jesus to the woman at the well, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."   Let’s be those people…and encourage others to join us.

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Published: 24 October 2019

It’s Money Sermon week!  I promise not to make you feel guilty for drinking a latte while people somewhere in the world don’t have clean drinking water.  I’ve read a lot of books on giving, missions, money and sacrifice.  Some authors seem to delight in heightening the pain of our already weary conscious by making us feel bad about enjoying God’s good gifts.  I confess that I cannot read too many of those books and then drive an SUV out of my suburban neighborhood to eat at a restaurant what I could have made at home without feeling horrible about what I have.  I often feel bad for being a white Christian male living in America.  Not only do I fail to recycle as well as I “should.”  According to many experts, people like me are responsible for most of the ills of the past two millennia.  It’s a lot to carry.  Paul’s words to Timothy are a lot more refreshing.  Soak on this a minute, from 1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”  I guess it is possible to receive, enjoy, do good and give; all in a way that glorifies God.  Let’s do that.  For the King and His Kingdom.