God’s Values vs Man’s values Man looks at things from his own perspective, while God sees the whole picture. Man’s values are those that appear to benefit him and fail to realize the fact that what benefits others will ultimately benefit him. Without God, we are centered on getting things for us. If there are four people and one pie, man sees the benefit of getting the whole pie, but everyone can’t have the whole pie. There will be a struggle and only the strongest will get the pie. They all will only benefit if they divide the pie. God laid down His values in the Ten Commandments and throughout the Bible, to provide for the benefit of everyone, but they seem foolish to man. Why should we give in order to receive when all we have to do is take it. If we give, the other person may not give back, but if we take it, someone else will want to take it from us. We will only find peace and happiness as we understand the love of God and see things from His perspective. In the weeks ahead, I will be examining the various values and how God and man see them differently.
Archive for the ‘Kingdomtide’ Category
Third Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 21
organized teaching-In addition to a firm foundation, members need organized teaching. Often, the preaching and the adult Sunday Schools of many churches are very haphazard with no master plan. Sermons are often chosen week by week or from a series that hits the pastor’s fancy. Adult Sunday School classes are often chosen for each quarter at random. Without a basic foundation of knowledge and without organized instruction, bits and pieces of knowledge are tossed together in a heap. Many adult church members know many things about the faith but have no way to pull it together and do not understand how it applies to their life. The church needs to draw up a blueprint of what its members need to know and teach them in an organized manner. Using the Christian calendar gives structure to teaching and helps the church provide organized teaching. By going through the Christian calendar, it goes through all the major teachings of the church each year. I have a series of courses on Udemy to teach Christian beliefs. It begins with a course on Basic Christian beliefs. Next is a course on the Celebrations and how they help members understand the faith. Next I have courses on The values laid down in the Ten Commandments., including the value of life, the value of the rule of law, and the value of the family. See promos and links under “study courses”
Second Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 14
A firm foundation- Catechism. When I began my ministry, it was common for churches to have a concentrated time of study for those coming of age, generally considered about age twelve, to give them a basic foundation of understanding of the church and its beliefs. Few churches today, particularly evangelical churches, have any organized classes for twelve year olds to teach them the basic tenets of the faith. Even children who have been in Sunday School their whole lives need a concentrated time to pull together everything they have been taught. As a result, many children today do not have even a basic foundation of knowledge and cannot build their faith as they grow older. There is also no concentrated study for those coming into the church who did not grow up in church. The result is that few adult church members today have even a basic understanding of the faith. I have developed a basic catechism course of study for new members for that purpose (Understanding the Path We Walk-see “books” on website and Basic Christian Beliefs on UdemyURL- https://www.udemy.com/course/basic-christian-beliefs/?referralCode=45EA0BA6DAD6F47E7541)
First Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 7
Growing in faith-Learning By Doing-A Children learn by doing and new Christians learn the same way. Unfortunately, few churches today have training programs where new Christians can work alongside more mature Christians. By involving new Christians in hands-on ministry in the congregation and in Christian ministries under the tutorage of more mature Christians, new Christians learn how to serve Christ and the Church. They learn how to minister as they watch others minister and get to minister to others themselves. As new Christians minister to others, they not only learn to identify those who have needs and how to minister to them, they also develop a love and concern for them. However, few churches today involve many of their members in ministry. They wait until an opening occurs and try to pressure someone to take the position, even though that person may have no prior experience and may not have the gifts for it or the concern for it. As a result, many Churches today are very ineffective in training new Christians in ministry or reaching people for Christ. Involving more members in ministry will allow the church to train more people for ministry and reach more people for Christ. It also enables the church to train them for when the present leadership can no longer serve.
First Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 7
Growing in faith by watching Kingdomtide is a time when the church should be active in helping new converts grow deeper. While few new converts are coming into the church this is vitally important today when so few churches teach members how to live a life pleasing to Christ. Many members who transfer in from other churches where they were members for many years come with very little spiritual depth. As a result, I was asked to develop the lecture series. Surrendering to Christ does not automatically bestow maturity in Christ. When we are born again, we are like babies in the faith and must grow to maturity. Children learn by observing adults and copying the way they do things. In the same way, new Christians need to observe more mature Christians in the faith and interacting with them. It is very hard to explain in a sermon or Sunday School class how to love others or to humble ourselves. It must be learned by watching others who are more spiritually mature, and interacting with them, as they live out their faith day by day, however few churches today have the close relationships needed to help new Christians grow in Christ. With very little spiritual training, new Christians have few mature Christians to learn from. There is also no close interaction of members with spiritual leaders to enable them to grow spiritually as they see them in action. There needs to be active mentoring of new members by those who are spiritually mature, however many church leaders today are chosen for their financial management skills and popularity rather than their Christian maturity and do not provide good spiritual role models to follow.
Twelfth Sunday of Kingdomtide-Nov 17
Our Spiritual Journey-We are approaching Christ the King Sunday when we remember the God promised to restore the earth to its former glory, however, before we can enter that perfect world, we must be ready. We must learn what we will need there. God tried to teach the Jewish people through the law, but while they obeyed the law, they still experienced the hate and greed that led to violating the law because they did not understand the meaning of love. Therefore God sent Jesus to take on flesh and show us how to live, but we were still subject to the hate and greed by our sinful nature. Therefore Christ died and rose again to free us from the power of sin and death. When we accept Christ as our deliverer, we are born again, however we are just babies and must learn to walk with Christ. Many churches no longer teach their members to walk with Christ so they remain babies unable to discern right and wrong. The Holy Spirit can guide them but they must learn to listen to His voice and obey Him. That takes place as we hear Bible teaching and walk daily, guided by more mature believers who show us by their example, just as a child learns through their parents teaching and by watching their parents. The Christian calendar guides the church as it trains new believers to walk with Christ. It begins with Christmas by reminding us that God had to take on flesh and walk among us so we have to be the living example of Christ in the flesh to unbelievers and new believers. Lent reminds us that we need to learn God’s law and how to apply it to our everyday life. Easter reminds us of the new life we have in Christ and that Christ died to make that possible. Pentecost reminds us that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and of all those who do not know Christ. It is a time when the church reaches out to those that don’t know Christ. Kingdomtide reminds us that we aren’t alone but have other brothers and sisters in Christ to guide and support us. It is a time when the more mature members help new believers learn to experience the fellowship of the church. Finally, Christ the King Sunday reminds us that one day Christ will return and lead us into the promised land where we will be with Him forever. By walking the path every year, we are remined of how far we have come and where we need to improve. If we do not have guidance in our walk year after year, we lose our way and wander off the path. Let us pledge to renew our walk with Christ this coming year.
Tenth Sunday of Kingdomtide, Nov 3
Support the Weak-A-Remember those who are sick or elderly. Few churches keep track of those who become too feeble to continue attending and many churches drop them from their active rolls. Many shut-ins need visitation and ministry more than ever before because they are no longer able to get to church. Without the support and encouragement of the church body, they can easily be overcome with discouragement, especially as physical deterioration makes life more difficult. Lack of interaction with the church may cause them to feel the church no longer cares. If they have no family nearby, and a growing number do not, they may become isolated. Regular visits from members are important not only to help them feel a part of the church, but more important, for their emotional and spiritual well-being. Isolation can create depression and mental deterioration due to lack of social interaction. In addition, they may have needs that the church can help with. They may need help with lawn mowing, leak raking, or snow shoveling. If they live alone, they may fall or become ill and no one would know. Elderly people have been known to lay for days after a fall or illness before they were discovered, and by then it may be too late to save them. Someone should call at least once a day and better yet, both morning and night to check on them. Some of the churches I served had a Communion service every three months. I would always go out and serve Communion to the shut-ins following each communion service. It meant a great deal to them because Communion had always been an important part of their church experience.
Ninth Sunday of Kingdomtide-Oct 27
Volunteer in Social Services -Until recently, most social service work was done by the church and more recently by Christian social service agencies. Volunteer work with the agencies was seen as part of the church’s ministry and members frequently volunteered. Until recently churches supported Christian social service agencies directly and members had close contact with the agencies through regular reports but churches have increasingly withdrawn their support leaving the agencies to depend on community-wide funding campaigns and many church members no longer have contact with them. As a result, members no longer see social service work as ministry and rarely volunteer anymore. Since the 1930’s, the government has taken over the majority of social service work. In the past, many members learned to minister to others through specialized positions in the church, such as deacons and deaconesses that ministered to members and those in the community in need. Few churches have such positions any more or they do little more than provide meals for sick members or at funerals and weddings, since most such work is done by government and Christian Social Service agencies. Government agencies are well funded with tax dollars but Christian social service agencies must depend on donations. As a result, Christian Social Service agencies are often tight on funds and so cannot afford adequate staff. Therefore, they must depend on volunteers to help. Volunteering provides an excellent way for members to learn to minister to others because the agencies often provide training and supervision while they learn. Some enjoy the work so much that they go to school and get training to work in Social services.