Finding Freedom in Christ

One question I am often asked by people is what it is like being a pastor in Utah. I love getting this question because it gives me the opportunity to share about our church. I am able to tell people that our church is a place that offers a third way for people here in Utah. Anyone who has lived here very long knows Utah is polarized. Everyone is identified by their relationship to “The Church.” Some people look at the “The Church” and just see a bunch of rules that are forced on you. Other’s look at “The Church”  as the only foundation for morality and family values. 

 
And what Jordan Presbyterian provides (and any historic Christian church here does as well) is a third way, a way of the cross. And perhaps what most marks this third way is freedom. More specifically, freedom in Christ. Freedom in Christ means that we are a people who have stopped worrying about trying to make our relationship with God right. We finally acknowledge there was nothing we could do to make it right in the first place. God took every law that stood against us and nailed it to the cross with Jesus, silencing it forever. Freedom in Christ then means that we do not let others judge us by what we eat or drink. (Col 2:13-16) And so at Jordan we strive to be a people who live our lives out of that freedom we have. We are free to worship God out of joy. We are free to love others selflessly. We are freed from the burden of wondering whether we have done enough to please God. 

If you are asked what it means to be a Christian here in Utah how do you respond? One way I've found helpful is to say that being a Christian means have true and lasting freedom. I’ve discovered that is something that is exciting to share with others. 

A Book of Wisdom

Someone once said, “knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing that you shouldn’t put them in a fruit salad.”
 
Beginning the second week of August, Pastor Jon and I will begin a new sermon series through the book of Proverbs. The most gripping aspect of Proverbs is that it gives wisdom. The book simply and decisively presents wisdom and the benefits of accepting wisdom. It also clearly presents the devastating effects of trading in wisdom for folly.
 
We all understand this from experience don’t we? Well the wise do anyway. I have ministered to literally hundreds of people over the past 21 years who have traded in wise and godly counsel to pursue sexual liaisons, greater wealth, fame and possessions, and power.  These can take so many forms and always lead ultimately to discontented, unhappy lives.
 
But God’s wisdom provides something different. It provides at the heart level a peace and contentedness that has very little to do with how much or how little we have. The life of the wise is evaluated by quietness, a general happiness and the love of those you live with.
 
Everyone is foolish to some degree but what the book of Proverbs calls us back to and instructs us in is how God made us to work best. He designed human beings to function a certain way. And when we forfeit God’s design, our sense of well-being unravels. So the call to the disobedient is to come back. The call to the immature is “start on a good path and keep at it.” And the call to the wise is to live in such a manner as to be an example.
 
The Lord Jesus isn’t mentioned in Proverbs. And yet He is the very personification of wisdom. He once declared, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it to the full.” Christ saving us and paying the penalty for our sin is the power to see our lives for what they are and change where needed.  He is the One who changes hearts to make us desire wisdom instead of folly.
 
I have said many times, “anyone can make a mistake, but a fool keeps doing it over and over again.” Come to Christ and let the gospel correct and instruct you. Find the wisdom that He offers for your good and His glory. It all begins with a proper and healthy fear of God. Not dread, but fear. Only a fool would resist God’s invitation to listen and learn and live life to the fullest.
 
Growing with you,
Tim

Worry: Pursuing a Better Path to Peace

What is it that you worry about? We’ve heard that there are only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. But perhaps we could add worry to that list. We all face worries, when we’re young they may be wrapped up in questions like who we’ll marry. But as we get older the worries change: How will my kids turn out? Will I be able to retire? What worries do you face today? 
 
In his booklet Worry: Pursuing a Better Path to Peace, David Powlison walks us through Christ’s teachings about worry in the Sermon on the Mount. Our worries can be stated in terms of, “If only...” “If only I could have this.” “If only this wouldn’t happen.” Underlying worry is a desire for us to control things mixed with the reality we have have very little control. Powlison says that, “anxiety and control are two sides of one coin.”
 
So how can we live a life free from worry? Powlison is helpful in that he acknowledges the real pressures and reasons we have to worry, but he also points us to seven better reasons why we should not worry, these are based on Luke 12. Powlison then provides six tools that will give us practical ways to address the temptation to worry. 
 
Perhaps what I like best about this booklet is that it’s only thirty pages. I finished reading it in less than a half-hour.  

This book is available on our book table.

The Big Picture

Imagine if you happened upon an old scrap of paper. It was a few verses from the Bible, but you didn’t know that. In fact, in this alternate world, you had never heard of Jesus before. Imagine if this short excerpt of Scripture was from Mark 15:16-32, the account of Jesus crucifixion. As you read this passage you learn of a man, you don’t know his name though. Perhaps he wasn’t that important in the long run. This man appeared to try and make himself king. He opposed the rulers of the day, but was caught. He was beaten and mocked the guards. Any followers this unnamed man had have now all fled–there isn’t a single person there showing support. The passers-by mock him, the religious leaders mock him, even the two other criminals sentenced to die with him mock him. As you read this passage you undoubtedly would get the impression that this man’s life was an utter failure. You return the scrap of paper and think, “wow, what tragic life” and then perhaps you never remember that story again. 
 
Without the whole story you would never know that this man’s name was Jesus. That his life would change the course of history. That over the course of two thousand years there would be several billion people who would call themselves Christians. You see, it’s important to know the whole story. 
 
I wonder if we too often live our lives like that person who only found a scrap of the Scripture story. We focus so much on our present circumstances that we miss the bigger story. We don’t put our days, our months into the context of our life, and more importantly into the context of how God is working in the world. Instead, we feel the temptation to evaluate our lives by only looking at our present situation. 
 
Perhaps you are struggling with some event in your life, and you feel like God is silent. But remember, God was completely silent in this passage of Mark. Perhaps you feel like you’ve been forgotten, in this passage, we are never given Jesus name. But just as this one section of Mark is not the end of the story of Jesus’ life, neither are your present circumstances the end of your story. 
 
Perhaps, instead you feel like everything is going really well, you’re finding success in this life, you're having fun, and honestly you don’t feel the need to have much, if any, relationship with God. Well this passage serves as a warning for you too. The Roman Soldiers, the religious leaders, the masses, they too thought they were doing just fine–they didn’t need what Jesus offered. But this passage wasn’t the end of their story either. They would eventually see how wrong they were. 
 
Whatever you're facing, I’d encourage you to put your days into perspective, to step back and look at the whole picture. To remember that neither your suffering nor success, is the end of your story.

People Count

One of the favorite things that people like to say to church planters is, “don’t worry about numbers, just be faithful.” And one of the things that church planters like to say is “I don’t care about the numbers, I just want to be faithful.” I have planted a church from scratch and I can tell you that they are probably lying. :>)
 
Numbers tell us a lot. In Acts 2 after the Holy Spirit had descended on the early Christians and gave them the power that God had promised, Peter very courageously preached about the risen, living Christ and we are told “those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” How did they know there were three thousand? Where did that number come from? SOMEONE COUNTED THEM.
 
You count people because PEOPLE COUNT. We have done that from the very inception of Jordan Presbyterian Church. (We are actually required to report those numbers to the denomination) It is interesting. Counting doesn’t mean “all you’re interested in is numbers.” Counting is one way of evaluating the effectiveness of ministry and one thing to consider when looking at a church’s efforts and resources to see if they are well spent. But numbers aren’t, nor should they be, the driving force of ministry. The gospel is the driving force. Numbers are just one thing to consider.
 
For the past four years we have had basically the same average attendance in church. That’s not to say we haven’t grown. We actually have. What I mean specifically is that while we have had many people move away our numbers haven’t really decreased. For example a small but significant deaf congregation used to attend here and they left, but our numbers stayed the same. For a period a number of the folks at Gospel Presbyterian worshipped with us. When they left our numbers didn’t really decrease. Two years ago we had nine High School Seniors graduate and they have largely scattered but our numbers are about the same. What this means is that more and more people are coming and finding a loving, Christ-centered fellowship of believers here.
 
We have something wonderful to offer. We have Jesus. I want to personally encourage you to invite and encourage people that you know who do not already attend a Biblical church to come and find what you have found here. Jesus did not reveal Himself to you so that you could keep it secret. His whole purpose for saving sinners is so that God will get glory. So give it to Him. Tell people how great He is and tell them where you are learning about Him. One place should be your church.
 
There are a number of opportunities to invite people to this summer. VBS, a church dinner, a women’s dinner, an ice-cream social, just to name a few. Don’t evaluate these things based on whether you like chicken or ice cream or women’s events. Rather think, “Do I know someone who might enjoy this?” We do these in part to give you opportunity to invite people. Not to mention we have weekly worship and Sunday School. So I encourage you just like always, if you’re in town and not sick come to church. That’s what Christian’s do. And bring someone with you. We’ll count them because each one of them counts. Your circle of people matter to God.
 
Serving with you,
Tim

Staying Alive

I have been told that the way they teach CPR now is to do the chest compressions to the tune of the old Bee Gees song, “Staying Alive.” It works out really well. As you hum it in your head you get the rhythm and the goal all at the same time. 

The Lord Jesus has made us alive. He did this by His own resurrection. The power in Christ’s resurrection is power that makes the dead come to life. Jesus went from completely dead to completely alive. And He is “staying alive” to continue to rescue people to worship God. 

To do that, the Father and the Son have sent the Spirit who is called the life-giving Spirit. Spiritually speaking, we were completely dead and now we are completely alive. And we are “staying alive” by the same power that brought Jesus back to life. 

 “Staying alive” is the rhythm and the goal of the Christian life. It is the idea that your relationship remains vibrant and joyous encompassing all of life. The same gospel that saved you, keeps you living and thriving as a Christian.  

It is not that staying alive should be our goal as Christians. Staying alive is Christ’s goal for us. He is fully committed to you and will not settle for anything less than you flourishing as a Christian. That should give you tremendous confidence and security.  And in order to make sure you thrive, He has gifted you. 

So Christ’s goal is that you live abundantly. And to accomplish His goal He has created a rhythm to the Christian life. It is consistently, regularly, rehearsing the gospel to each other. It is giving and receiving forgiveness. It is enjoying God’s provision. It is celebrating our mutual relationship to our Father in heaven. It is working together to expand Christ’s kingdom. And it is serving one another in love. If you embrace the rhythm then the life is vibrant. If you don’t then “church” becomes boring. But that can be easily remedied. 

Christ made you alive. The Holy Spirit then gifted you to serve in a local body of Christians. Again, I encourage you to ask God, “In what ways would you like to use me?” Some of the new ideas that are coming out of our recent “Network” class are things like a more intentional mercy/outreach/serving ministry, more fully developed children’s ministry, greater strides in music ministry just to name a few. 

Where do you fit in? Pastor Jon or I would love to talk with you further about this. I just want you to understand that “staying alive” in Jesus’ idea is actively, intentionally giving yourself unreservedly to the One who made you alive in the first place. It is blooming where you are planted, embracing who God has made you to be. 

Easter is fast approaching. Jesus is alive to give life. So are you. How will you use life to give life to others in His Name.

Serving With You,
Tim

Ministry Multiplication

For those of you who participated in the Network Study, this story will be familiar, but it’s worth repeating:

Once upon a time... right after creation... all the animals got together and formed a school. They established a well-rounded curriculum of swimming, running, climbing, and flying.

The duck excelled at swimming. In fact, he was better than the instructor! But he only make passing grades in climbing and was poor in running. He was so slow, he had to stay after school to practice running. This caused his webbed feet to become so badly worn he became only average in swimming.

The rabbit was at the top of her class in running. But after a while, she developed a twitch in her leg from all the time she spent in the water trying to improve her swimming.

The squirrel was a peak performer in climbing, but was constantly frustrated in flying class. His body became so worn from all the hard landings he did not do too well in climbing and ended up being pretty poor in running.

The eagle was a continual problem student. She was constantly disciplined for being a nonconformist. In climbing class, she would always beat everyone else to the top of the tree, but insisted on using her own way to get there.

In a couple of weeks we are holding an informational meeting to talk about my and Pastor Tim’s roles at JPC. All the elders have met and we are really excited about our plan! Earlier this year many of you went through the Network study. This study had a big impact on the discussions that Tim and I had as we talked about our roles at JPC. We realized that we don’t share the same top spiritual gifts, we have different styles, but we are united in our passion. So our question was, how do we both work in the areas where we are gifted. Or, in other words, we don’t want to be like rabbits trying to fly!

We believe that when everyone is are using their spiritual gifts in a way that fits their personality, for God’s glory, our efforts will be multiplied. And we need to multiply our efforts. God has given us something good–the knowledge that the power of sin is broken and that he is restoring broken, sinful people to himself. As a church we want everyone in this valley to have the opportunity to hear this good news, and there is a lot of work left to be done. This is an effort that is too big for just one person, or even one church. But we serve a God who took a few loaves of bread and two fish and fed 5,000 people. We are excited for this journey! Are you ready to join us?

Serving with you,
Pastor Jon