Sunday, October 28, 2012

Touching Base! Part 186

Jeremiah was a bullfrog? - Part 4
Who Wears the Jacket?


(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.

[Hey, just before you jump into this TB, let me remind you that Ken Vissers (one of our International workers from Honduras) is with us today, Sunday, Oct. 28th. He will be meeting with people who may be interested in one of the missions trips this February or March, after both services.]

You would no doubt agree that all of humanity has the ability to determine who is in or out, who belongs or should be gone. We develop this “sensor” from a very young age, and it can lead to school yard bullying even bullying in the office. In our text today, there is definitely one who doesn’t belong, someone who is an outsider. Yet we should be shocked that he doesn’t belong because he is in a place that should feel like home, a place that, in fact, should have a welcome mat out for him.

Text: Jeremiah 20:1-6
Who is on the outside in this story?
On Sunday I used the analogy of my lumberjack jacket to illustrate who was “counterculture”. Who is counterculture, or who wears the jacket in this story?
What in this story illustrates that Pashur is not acting alone?

Pashur, in fact, is only the tip of the iceberg. He is the embodiment of a whole system that stinks. Read the following verses and see how systemic this corruption is in the prophets, priests and kings.
Key verses: Jer. 2:26,27,
Religious leaders – Jer. 14:14; 23:10,11,14,21
Kings – Jer. 22:11-19

Leadership, says Harvard’s Ron Heifetz, “...is the art of disappointing people at a rate they can stand.” The leadership of Judah was sprinting at a record pace. And in the midst of all this, there stands Jeremiah, wearing the jacket of counterculture, not fitting in, in fact speaking out against it.
Has God ever called you to wear the jacket? Ever found yourself confronted with a system that stinks?

Here is what I find interesting: Jeremiah finds himself in a place that many of us have found ourselves in. No, not in the role of prophet to a nation, but in a place where we see (or maybe have even been hurt by) predatory leadership, compromised role models, or corrupted systems. They may not have beaten you and put you in stocks, but their fall from grace, their compromise may have re-stocked or refueled your cynicism/pessimism towards leadership.

If you are in a small group think about the following categories I referenced on Sunday and ask the question- Are there any leaders in these categories that stoke your cynicism towards leadership?
Politics
Business - think of what is being unveiled in Quebec these days.
Sports - one word – Armstrong.
Church - I am sure you can think of a few religious leaders who have stoked your cynicism.





Ever found yourself in the green, yellow or red zone? Bet you have!




So what do we do? We just become a cynic, red zoned! Is that a healthy place to live? The story reminds us that people/leaders will fail us - prophets, priest, kings, athletes, politicians, business people, and religious leaders. But there is something Jeremiah knew, that there would come a Leader who would be worthy of our trust and worship. Who would likewise stand in the temple and not belong, would be seen as an outsider, a threat to the establishment. Jeremiah said of this leader in v.23:5. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” While other leaders and people we look up to have feet of clay, this leader would excel where so many had failed. This leader would be a prophet, priest and King all wrapped up in one and He too would wear the jacket of counterculture. He would not end up beaten and in stocks but beaten and on a cross and rise again!
Prophet- Matt 21:10,11, Priest- Heb 10:11,12, King- John 12:12-15

Big Idea: Jesus wears the jacket (the jacket represents being counterculture and not fitting in). swimming upstream in a downstream world. In a world of fallen leaders, broken systems, Jesus stands wearing the jacket, worthy of our trust. Some of us may have gone through or be in a season where it feels like Jesus is the only credible leader in your life.
Ever gone through that?
What do you say to that person?

Let me give you one example of how counterculture Jesus was and why He is worthy of our love and worship.

He told the truth, was the Truth and He lived out the truth, in contrast to the leaders of Jeremiah’s day and many in Jesus’ day. Check out John1:14, 8:32, 14:6,16:12 17:17 8:32

The truth He spoke would radically challenge our perception of who is in or out. It was truth that would make many people miserable before it would make them free.

Yale philosopher Nicholas Wolterstoff observes that throughout world history, human beings by nature tend to be tribal. We don’t think of “outsiders” as having the same worth and rights. What counts for the emergence of this moral subculture that says every human being has rights?
His answer- the teaching of the Scriptures, which clarified and made available to all the world through Jesus that every human being is made in the image of God and loved by God. (Resource: John Ortberg, Who is this man?)
The idea of equality was not self evident to the ancient world.
There are gradations of talent, intelligence and beauty, Martin Luther King Jr said, but “there are no gradations of the image of God.”
Jesus wears the jacket. He stood counterculture to the prophets, priests and kings of Jeremiah’s day and His day.

Celsus, one of the early critics of Christianity, said that all they could draw to themselves were “stupid, ignorant, weak people.” Slaves, women, and children. He was concerned that the way of the “hero”, the excellence and greatness that had taken centuries to emerge would be lost. (Ortberg, p.83)

Why is this good news? Because some of us are so aware of our sin, our brokenness and our hypocrisy, that we are afraid to come to Christ. But you can be assured this prophet, priest and king who wears the jacket will not oppress the hard-pressed, or exploit our weaknesses but will instead embrace us as we come to Him in repentance and faith. Jesus said (John 8:32) “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus is that Truth! Life-giving, hope-filled Truth!

Finally, every culture, every generation has leaders that fail us, priest and pastors that disappoint, artists that mislead, politicians and business people that are predatory, distractions that will tempt you and me to fall into the dark waters of cynicism, pessimism and the toxins that go along with that. You may even have been put in stocks of some kind. My advice? Keep your eyes on Christ! For Jeremiah’s prophetic words have been fulfilled.
Jer. 23:5. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

How does one keep their eyes on Christ in a day and age where leadership in many spheres of life seems so compromised? How does keeping our eyes on Christ guard our hearts from being toxic?

Mark

If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com



Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Touching Base! Part 185

Jeremiah was a bullfrog? - Part 3
Burn Baby Burn!


(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.

[Hey, just before you jump into this TB, let me remind you that Ken Vissers (one of our International workers from Honduras) will be with us on Sunday, Oct. 28th. He will be meeting with people that may be interested in one of the missions trips this February or March, after both services. Mark your calendar!]


Ever been guilty of letting the word of God “go to pot”? Read Jeremiah 36 and especially note v.20-26 - Jehoiakim had been King in Judah for about 5 years when Jeremiah emailed him the scroll of his prophesies. The news was not good - Jehoiakim did not like what he read so he burned it in a firepot in his winter apartment.

As a group or on your own read the entire chapter to get the context of what is going on. On Sunday we had said that Babylon (under Nebuchadnezzar) was threatening Judah… they were hot on their trail. In addition to the outside threat, Jehoiakim had to deal with this text that was declaring Judah would go into captivity because they were unrepentant.

As you read this story in the larger context see the contrasts that the writer wants us to see.
Read chapter 35 and note the contrast between the Rechabites and Judah.
Read 2 Kings 22:11 (about Josiah discovering the word of the Lord 17 years earlier) and compare with Jeremiah 36:24
Read Daniel 1:1-6 and note the contrast of Daniel, a man who honored the word, and Jehoiakim his ex-king.
Read Daniel 2:46-47 and note that after a series of experiences even Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim’s captor, surrenders to God and His word.

These are interesting contrasts that show even more clearly how hard Jehoiakim’s heart was.

What is the application for us today?
Here is the big idea I took away from this text on Sunday - Don’t let God’s Word go to pot!

Here is the question that I think we need to ask as we reflect on this story. What text(s) am I burning?... What is in my firepot these days?... Are we really that much different than Jehoiakim in his winter apartment?... Do we have a tendency to burn, alter, or deny the authority of the word of God?... Mad because we think it is wrong?... Mad because it’s actually right? If we were to look into the firepot what text might be sitting there smoldering?

Today, how do we “burn” the text in our response to it?
Sometimes we just outright disagree. There might be the same anger and obstinacy as with Jehoiakim - burn baby burn! Ever gone through a season where you were clearly angry at God’s word and refused to obey it? How did that get resolved?

Perhaps our “burning” is more subtle - we selectively read the text. It is a friendly bonfire around the firepot. We have other firepot owners that, along with roasting marshmallows, burn various texts. We say to ourselves that we are smarter than the word of God; that we are more sophisticated, more learned. We find others like us who subtly celebrate smoldering texts in the firepot.

We have replaced the old camp song- “It only takes a spark to get a fire burning” with “It only takes a spark to get a text burning….and soon all those around will warm up to its glowing…”

Take some time to ask the question, “which texts am I burning?” Our refusal to walk in the word is the modern-day equivalent of burning. You can read through the texts we read on Sunday and see if any of these have burnt edges.
1 Cor 6:18-20, Matthew 7:1-5, Hebrews 10:24,25, Psalm 1:1-3, Eph 5:18, Col 3:9, Phil 4:8, Matthew 6:25-27.

The final point to consider is found in how this chapter ends (read 36:27-32). The fact is that we can reject the word of God, but that doesn’t change the facts. You can burn the Scripture but you cannot destroy the word of God. You can deny gravity all you want but next time you jump get ready for a big smack down! Truth is truth!

Yemelian Yaroslavsky said” Christianity is like a nail, the harder you strike it the deeper it goes.” No amount of denial, burning, or editing will change God’s truth.

I want to encourage you to study God’s word and below you’ll find a great tool to help you with this. I encourage you to take time each day to invest in God’s word. Why, you might ask? Because along with the other 65 books of the Bible, God’s word was designed to help shipwrecked people find their way home.

Don’t burn it, live by it!


If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com

S.O.A.P

S for Scripture
Select the book of the bible that you might want to start reading. Take time reading and allow God to speak to you. When you are done, look for a verse that particularly spoke to you that day, and write it in your journal.

O for Observation
What do you think God is saying to you in this scripture? Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and reveal Jesus to you. Paraphrase and write this scripture down in your own words, in your journal.

A for Application
Personalize what you have read, by asking yourself how it applies to your life right now. Perhaps it is instruction, encouragement, revelation of a new promise, or corrections for a particular area of your life. Write how this scripture can apply to you today.

P for Prayer
This can be as simple as asking God to help you use this scripture, or it may be a greater insight on what He may be revealing to you. Remember, prayer is a two way conversation, so be sure to listen to what God has to say! Now, write it out.


Thursday, October 11, 2012

Touching Base! Part 184

Jeremiah was a bullfrog? - Part 2
Full House, Empty Hearts!


(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.

[Hey, just before you jump into this TB, let me remind you that Ken Vissers (one of our International workers from Honduras) will be with us on Sunday, Oct. 28th. He will be meeting with people that may be interested in one of the missions trips this February or March, after both services. Mark your calendar!]

Ever tried to gauge someone’s heart health? Not their physical heart, but that part of a person which is the “inner” person, comprised of our thoughts, affections and attitudes. Our story resides in our hearts. Our deepest thoughts, wounds and dreams, reside in our hearts. Sometimes we pull the curtains over our hearts closed, and at other times we pull them wide open for people to see in.

On Sunday we discovered that a whole nation, Judah, had a bad heart. Manasseh had been King of Judah for 55 years. 2 Kings 21:9 sums up the damage that he did - “Manasseh led Judah astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.” That is bad, real bad! But then Josiah became King, and upon discovering the book of the Law (believed to be Deuteronomy), he tore his robes in repentance and brought drastic reforms (see 2 Kings 22, 23). This is the first instalment of Extreme Make Over. From head to toe, Josiah swept the nation clean.

But here is the problem - we come to Jeremiah 7 (Josiah ruled for 31 years and is now dead) and after all the reforms, we now stand in the same temple that Josiah stood in as be brought reforms, and what do we discover?

Text: Jeremiah 7:1-15 (read)
We discover that these sweeping reforms did not go deep enough. So much revelation… so little reformation! Lots of external posturing, very little internal processing! Lots of makeup that was just really a cover-up! Josiah’s sweeping reforms had failed to sweep into the hearts of the people and they had normalized abnormal. They had gotten used to a dysfunctional kind of spirituality where they said the right things and did the right things but their hearts were sick, very sick. Jeremiah 12:2 sums it up - ”You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. So God was using Jeremiah to call them on it.

BIG IDEA: When we normalize abnormal, eventually God calls us on it.

QUESTION: WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN WE NORMALIZE ABNORMAL?

When we normalize abnormal, we “dumb down” the experience of gathering (v.1-2)

This is a toxic scene. These people are coming and going, standing in the temple, and following Mosaic instructions on worship and sacrifice. But instead of a gathering experience which brings repentance, holiness, contrition and worship, it is just a “lip service”. Lips are flapping, but hearts are snoring. Thus Jeremiah’s plea - “reform your ways.” Check out what God thinks of these pretenders (v. 2:13, 4:22, 5:1,23, 6:15,16). They have normalized abnormal!
Do you think we are guilty of “dumbing down” our gathering experiences?

What are some examples?
  • We may gather for prayer, but we go through the motions and our hearts are cold.
  • We gather for worship through music but it becomes entertainment, not connecting with the words, not asking God to speak to us
  • We gather for teaching, but it is turned into therapy… a better me
  • Bible study becomes a weird exercise of saying the right things but being untouched by the Word. Like jumping into a pool without getting wet
  • Accountability becomes deceptive and coy
  • Ministry becomes a “task” instead of being servant-leadership

Sometimes when we think of rebellion or someone rejecting the faith, we think of people that leave the church, walk away from God, and have nothing to do with other Christ followers. But Jer. 7 demonstrates that we can walk away from the faith but still walk right into the community, the church. We’re physically there… but miles away from the heart of God.

Why not pause as a small group and pray that when Bethel gathers (small groups, Sundays etc) that true life change would be taking place.

We believe lies to accommodate our foolishness (v.3-15)

Notice what they are relying on. V.4 and 8 show where their trust is placed - WORDS, DECEPTIVE WORDS.
They believed judgment would not come because in Jerusalem was located the temple of the LORD (repeated three times to emphasize their belief in its protecting power). The people of Judah viewed the temple as a talisman or a good-luck charm that could ward off any attack. The lie they had believed was that, by being in a place and doing and saying the right things, everything would be ok.

They are in fact hiding behind the lie. It’s easier to mouth this mantra than it is to get on their knees and do the hard work of dealing with their hearts. Their lies enabled them to normalize abnormal. You know what God calls that? BS - Bad Strategy! :-) It didn’t work for Shiloh (see v.12-15). God doesn’t get tricked by their BS… or our BS.

What are lies we often tell ourselves or others to avoid the hard work of dealing with our hearts?
  • “I’ll do it tomorrow”, when in fact tomorrow never comes and we never do it!
  • “I have done all I can”, when in fact we haven’t even started
  • “I never said that” when in fact we did, but believing the lie, and getting others to believe it gets us off the hook of doing the hard work of repenting
Remember this lie from the 90’s by a guy by the name of Clinton? “I did not have sexual relations with that woman...” Now there’s a load of... Bad Strategy!

To normalize abnormal we often cozy up beside some deceptive words.

Why not pause here and pray that our lies would be exposed and our hearts transformed, because we eventually get burned by our lies.

We justify the unthinkable v3-15

This point is a no-brainer... if we are going to dumb down our faith and then use lies to detour our hearts then the obvious result is justifying the unthinkable. It’s kind of like… if I am going to eat chips every night and sit and watch TV all the time… then I am going to get fat.

What can we do? What is our response?
  1. We can start by praying for the church. Note Jeremiah is not talking about the world, he is talking about people who are supposed to be the people of God.
  2. Be a Jeremiah - “stand at the gate”- maybe your family, your roommate, your small group, your... Go ahead - call a spade a spade. But as Peter admonishes us, do it ‘with gentleness and with respect.’
  3. Ask yourself the hard questions: Where have I normalized abnormal? Have I dumbed-down aspects of my faith walk? Have I used lies to avoid dealing with my heart? Am I guilty of the unthinkable?

Approximately 600 years after Jeremiah stood at the temple gate, Jesus would stand in the rebuilt temple calling people to reform their ways. They had turned the temple into a Wal-Mart! Is Jesus calling us now to reform our ways?


Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com

Touching Base! Part 183

Elders' Update

(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.

If you attend Bethel, then it is important that you know what the Elders’ Board is prioritizing these days. Here are some of our focus areas.

1. DISCIPLESHIP

This year, the Elders’ team consists of Steve Dickey (chair) Doug Brown (secretary) Roy Chan, Ron Dickey, Ewen Mackenzie, Eric Prost and me. As we move into the fall we are focusing our meetings around the question, “how do we make disciples?” Our priority is to make sure that, as people participate in the life of Bethel Church, they either come to faith and/or grow in that faith. Jesus made it pretty clear that disciple-making is the “what”, but the “how” can present some pretty interesting challenges - how do we measure spiritual growth? How do we know if someone who is part of the church is moving along in the right spiritual direction? Do we have the right tools in place? Where are our biggest gaps?

As a board we realize that this is one question for which Jesus will hold us accountable. It was clear in His commission, and so it needs to be prioritized in our mission. If you come to Bethel, you should care about this issue as well.

So as a board we will be studying this issue prayerfully and inviting others to join us as we think through the issues and execute a plan that will complement the Vision Pathway that we have already developed.

2. PARTNERSHIPS

Some of you have heard me say that “partnerships extend the reach of the church”. That’s not original with me, by the way. I actually got it from Jamie Stinson… who got it from.... (there’s nothing new under the sun, right?) We certainly are experiencing the truth of that statement as we deepen and mature our existing partnerships. With respect to the City, one of our key partnerships is with the Salvation Army. On a national level, we partner with Constance Lake, and on a World level we partner with Honduras.

This fall, all the chair people of our partnerships will be meeting together to discuss the health and progress that our partnerships are making. As a board, it is not our desire to micro-manage these partnerships, but to monitor and prayerfully support these key relationships.

3. CORPORATE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE

We are very excited about looking into the possibilities of birthing a third service. If you have been around Bethel long enough, you will know that we experience “the bounce” - we hit the ceiling of growth then bounce down a bit then bounce back up. This is typical in church scenarios where the church is 80%-or-more filled each Sunday. Again, the board is not micro-managing this but is allowing me to pull together a team that will investigate the “how, when and where” of this issue. If you are interested in this issue please talk to me.


4. STEWARDSHIP

Finally, a key area of focus is the stewardship issue. We continue to prayerfully look for a treasurer to handle a growing budget. We also realize that the days of just updating the church on our finances by posting it in our bulletin and… voilĂ ! The money appears… are over. As we continue to push forward on the vision, our finances need to keep pace or we will find ourselves bogged down by a lack of resources.

We have realised that many give generously, while others, for whatever reason, are not as faithful in this area. For the church to go forward this stewardship issue must be addressed. So our game plan is to put together a finance team that will be able to look at systemic issues regarding giving at Bethel and put a long-term plan in place to help our people be good stewards of their cash resources.

So in closing let me list some other things that are going on at Bethel:
  • We have two new interns this fall, Tom Desloges and Joe Popma. Tom will be working with Fred in youth ministry. Joe will be working with me in the areas of discipleship and the third service.
  • Our Adopt-a-Student Ministry that is headed up by Fred Grendel has 56 students registered in it this year! We are grateful for the many “parents” who have gotten involved in this program. It can be a great encouragement to our students.
  • We had 56 (yes, a popular number) out to our Leadership Community event on Sept 23. At this event we looked at the values that define the kind of culture we are attempting to shape at Bethel. Our values are Teamwork, Excellence, Authenticity, Relevance and Solidarity
  • Bill Duffy continues to be part of our staff. Bill is a senior who has never learned the word “retire”! I am personally grateful for that. Please don’t let him know the word exists. He continues to make contacts in the church, visit, and help people connect into Bethel.
  • Our Ellel partnership continues to grow. There were around 90 in attendance for the September module, whose theme was on “fear”.
  • Pray for the staff as we head off for the two-day Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Oct 18-19th, in Ottawa. This is an event I have been attending for about 15 years and is one of the best conferences on the best practices of leadership.
  • We have about 16 small groups running this fall. That means we have room for about 200 people in small groups. If you are interested in going to the next level in community please contact me at markkotchapaw@gmail.com

I encourage you to continue to contribute to the team. Great churches are, first and foremost, Christ-centered, Biblically-rooted, and Spirit-empowered. Great churches are also filled with people that understand that it takes a team, not a solo leader, to build a dynamic church. For God’s sake be part of the team, and let’s see Bethel continue to move in a direction that builds His kingdom!


Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com