Hearing the Music

Our God is a global God!

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you”. _{(John 20:21)}

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples when he appeared to them after the resurrection. He was speaking to his immediate disciples, but it is clear that we are included in this mission as well (John 20:29). Jesus viewed himself as sent on a mission by the Father. In the same way, he is sending us into this mission, to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.

“As the Father has sent me.” How did the Father send him? He didn’t arrive on earth like some astronaut in a spacesuit to protect him and make him immune from all the impurities and menacing things of this world. He was not born into royalty with all of its privileges and protection. He laid aside his immunity and his power and glory. He became one of us, he took on flesh and blood. He moved into our neighborhood. He touched people, he entered into their homes and into their lives. He took on our sorrows, our infirmities, our weariness, and even our death. He came into enemy-occupied territory and experienced rejection, scorn, and humiliation.

And so he sends us to this kind of incarnational mission in our world today, to get our hands dirty, to mingle with people’s hurts and sorrows as well as their joys and celebrations. It is a costly kind of mission. It is a “word and deed” mission, that is effective and life-giving.

Who is it that sends us into this mission? It is not from some dead hero that we receive this call, but it is the risen, living Lord who has accomplished our full redemption, who has won victory over death, who has overcome and confounded the evil forces of this world. This is the one who sends us, on the same mission, with the same message, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the methods and tactics may change, but it is the same powerful, compelling, life-changing message.

As we continue our focus on the worldwide mission of our church, we can take heart that we are still a part of this 2000-year-old mission that Jesus began. He now sends us, Christ Church, with his words, with his works, and with his power into a needy world. We give thanks that our church has an active part in a mission beyond our own walls, and even beyond our own city. We are engaged in church planting, campus ministry, and prayerfully supporting 18 missionary families in 14 different countries around the world.

Our God is a global God!

Photo by Vladislav Klapin on Unsplash

Hope for the Downcast Soul

I was reminded of this again with the CDC's recent release of the results of the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. This is the most recent data, tracking trends among America's youth with behaviors such as sexual behaviors related to violence, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use, unhealthy dietary behaviors, inadequate physical activity, obesity, etc ... While there is some good news in these statistics, if you look closely, one alarming statistic stood out. Among teenage girls "persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness" rose from 36% in 2011 to 57% in 2021. Correlating to this statistic, suicides attempts have increased 50% in the last decade, with almost 25% of teenage girls attempting suicide at least once in a 12 month period. Let that sink in for a minute. Six out of ten of our teenage girls are struggling with these persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, depression, whatever you want to call it and one in four find it so bad that they want to end their life. Keep in mind these are 2021 findings. My guess is that, if anything, these numbers have only increased in 2023. Despite being the wealthiest nation in the history of the world and having access to whatever we need materially, there is a void in at the core of so many of these beautiful, young image bearers. Why is this? There could be lots of reasons. Does our very materialism contribute to this sadness? What purpose do young people have? Certainly the rise of social media is playing a huge role in this phenomena. How has our treatment of the pandemic contributed? We could proliferate our speculations, and surely it is multi-faceted. But as I alluded to earlier, this highlights some of the urgency of our life together. We need to pray, think, and act in ways that offers hope and support to these girls and their families in the midst of their struggles.

And there is hope! Listen to these words of another who dealt with persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. "My tears have been my food day and night ... Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me ... (Psalm 42:3,5, 10)."  This lament of the Sons of Korah in Psalm 42 and 43 captures so poignantly the current conditions of the teens in our midst. Cast down in the soul, they look around and feel they don't measure up.  All day and night feeding on tears stemming from these feelings of sadness and hopelessness.  But the psalmist does not leave it there: "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. .... By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me ... (Ps. 42 5, 8, 11)". The psalmist so accurately represents both the malady and the cure. The feelings of sadness and the hope to be found in God.  God, the one whose beautiful song beckons us in the night.  God, the one whose light and truth (Psalm 43: 3) continue to pursue the most desolate of us, inviting us to life. God, the one who in Jesus, bore our sorrows and became acquainted with grief. Who took all this to the cross so that we could be filled with his joy. These truths are what we must make our food and drink. This is what we have to offer the world. This is what we need to urgently hold before the world!

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Heart knowledge of Christ

Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus said and did many things that were unforgettable. His deeds pointed to his words, and both pointed to himself. One of the unforgettable things Jesus did was the feeding of the multitude (feeding of the 5,000 found in Matt.14:13-31, Mark 6:32-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-13; and the feeding of the 4,000 found in Matt.15:32-39 and Mark 8:1-10). Following the feeding of the four thousand in Mark 8:14-21 we read a somewhat confusing yet convicting passage. Jesus warns his disciples to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mk.6:15). If you go to the Gospel of Luke, you will find that the leaven Jesus is talking about here is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). But the disciples were confused about this and thought Jesus was referring to their lack of bread. Seeing their confusion, Jesus asked them about the feeding of the multitude they had just witnessed, and they were able to recount the events with amazing accuracy. What we have here is a heart condition that is often found in many Christians. We can know a lot of facts about Jesus and the Bible in our head, but our hearts can remain unchanged and the real meaning of the works of Jesus can still be missed. In other words, it is possible to have a head knowledge of the facts about Jesus yet still miss Jesus himself, who is the gospel and the true bread from heaven. If we profess to know Jesus and salvation in his name, yet our hearts remain unchanged by his grace, then our life will actually reflect the leaven of the Pharisees Jesus warns us about in this passage. 

So how do we get the true and beautiful knowledge of Christ into our hearts, and in turn, live it out on a daily basis through our actions? Theologians throughout history have pointed out several spiritual practices that can help us in practical ways. One such practice is sustained prayer and meditation, both in private and with others. Through immersion in the Scriptures and honest dialogue with God, we can appropriate the facts about God into our heart language. Another important spiritual practice in this regard is worship and fellowship. When you are justified in Christ and adopted as a daughter or son of God, you are at the same time incorporated into the family of God with Christ as your older brother and true bridegroom. Through worship and fellowship you are living out your new identity as the beloved daughter or son of God and strengthening your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Lastly, in order for us to truly live out a life in accordance with the truth of Christ, we are to build and live in a Christian worldview in all areas of our lives. A Christian worldview is not something static that you can put on once and for all, but a living map that is built through these above mentioned spiritual practices and your own lived experience. It is the framework through which you can discern how the gospel can come to bear in practical ways in all areas of your life. 

Looking forward to Sunday, Dan Churchwell will be preaching from John 4, where we find a concrete example of how the gospel changes our hearts, not just our minds. Let’s prepare our hearts to receive the Word preached and sung, and to live out the gospel of grace in every area of our lives. 

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash