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Whose Kingdom?

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by Rebecca Passic, Ministry to Women team

While listening to my favorite podcast, Knowing Faith, I stumbled across a book that has changed my perspective on my daily living: Seek First: How the Kingdom of God Changes Everything by Jeremy Treat. I highly recommend it. I’ve been reading this book slowly, because it is packed with simple but profound truths about God’s kingdom.

One particular line Jeremy writes is, “If we submit to Jesus only in areas of our choice, then we’re looking to him not as a king but as a puppet. We call him Lord but try to use him to validate our own lordship. The call of the kingdom is for God’s reign to shape all of life.”

I was taken aback reading those lines; my face burned with shame as I realized that indeed, I have and do treat Jesus like a puppet instead of King at times. I want Christ to rule in my church life, and even in my social media, but do I truly allow the Lord to reign in my marriage and parenting, and do I trust Him to continue to reign well into my future, or do I desire reign over those things? There while reading that portion, I confessed to the Lord where specifically I had been withholding from Him ruling in those areas. It wasn’t just about how I lived my life at church but also how I lived my life at home. Does my daughter see me as a mother who is submitting to Christ, or does she see a mother who is submitted to herself? What about my husband, family, and friends? Perhaps you’re not a mother or married, but we all have areas in our lives that we need “Christ to rule in and over our lives,” as Jeremy puts it. Maybe for you its your employment, single life, college, or high school, or it’s your artistic expressions, hobbies, and sports. God cares about all aspects of our lives because He should rule over all areas of our life.

Thankfully, Christ hasn’t left me alone in my shame; instead, He has forgiven me and given me a helper, the Holy Spirit. Instead of trusting myself, I can trust what the Holy Spirit has done and continues to do in my life. He enables me to seek Christ, to submit to serving God’s church and His commission in my home and community not just by transforming me into new life but to grow in that new life. I think Philippians 2:12-13 (AMP) shows just how wonderful the Spirit enables us:

“Continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.”

I ask that we all continue to evaluate our hearts, to trust those promptings of conviction the Spirit gives us. Not only in the major areas of lives but also in the mundane. Christ cares about all that we do because we are his subjects and children, representing His kingdom to the world.

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Celebrating Signs of Life

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 By Pastor Ryan White

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.” (Zechariah 4:10, NLT)

I am relatively new to Elim. I was not here with you through your multiple leadership transitions, the extended interim period, or the dark days at the start of this coronavirus pandemic. Every local church has its seasons. It sounds like Elim’s last season was all about stasis and survival. The image I have picked up on is not of a body on life support, but of a body that suffered trauma and was put into a medically induced coma so that it might heal, recover, and prepare for its next chapter of living.

Yet the joy of my journey with you all thus far has been to witness signs of life returning to this body, to see our collective chest rising and falling as the breath of God’s Spirit rushes into us and races back out through us.

There is much to celebrate. It warmed my missionary heart to drag our baptismal out of storage and scrub it clean of cobwebs and spider nests, readying it for use. Since that time, God’s rescuing Spirit has done His work among us. Four souls have been buried with Christ into the waters of baptism and raised to walk in newness of life, declaring before family and friends their devotion to Jesus. These four—Jake, Lily, Emmy, Violet—are the maturing children of this church, proof that God’s faithfulness extends from generation to generation. Yet Christ’s heart grows bigger still. He reminds us, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also” (John 10:16, ESV). Therefore it is thrilling to report that this coming Sunday we will be baptizing and celebrating our first adult convert since Easter. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has defeated the powers of evil, sin, and death and is making all things new, even us—even Shirley, our new baby sister in the faith!

It says in Psalm 117, “Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!” I love the imperative nature of this psalm. You must praise Him. Stop what you are doing, the psalmist sings, and rejoice in who God is and what He is accomplishing in your midst. It is a call to celebrate, an invitation—in the words of Adele Ahlberg Calhoun—“to take joyful, passionate pleasure in God and the radically glorious nature of God’s people, Word, world, and purposes . . . delighting in the all the attentions and never-changing presence of the Trinity” (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, p. 26).

I am not saying Elim has arrived, but I am inviting you to celebrate. This is a rhythm for which we were created. Don’t despise small beginnings. Don’t look past these early sprouts. The Lord rejoices to see the work begin. We should as well. Jesus is breathing his life into us once again. Let’s mark the moment. Let’s lift up our gratitude and engage in actions that orient our hearts toward worship, thanksgiving, and praise.

In this season of newness at Elim, what is it that you are celebrating?

Here are just a few things for which I find myself praising God since Easter:

  • I keep hearing reports of Elimites who are living as Jesus’s witnesses in their communities, hosting barbecues, water fights, strawberry shortcake parties, and more for the express purpose of building relationships and deepening connections with neighbors who do yet know Jesus.
  • Newcomers are again walking through our doors, investigating Jesus and what life in God’s family is all about.
  • After a beautiful season of family worship complete with worship bags, Hula-Hoops, and kids’ moments, Kids’ Ministry has returned on Sunday mornings and God has raised up our own Beth White as Elim’s new Kids’ Ministry Director.
  • I am celebrating the three new families we have welcomed into membership and the others we’ve seen return after a time away.
  • I am grateful for the many tireless and faithful volunteers who have mowed the lawns, weeded the playground, prepared meals, welcomed guests, led us in worship, ran and troubleshot our technology, and gotten back into the rhythm of loving children in the name of Jesus.
  • Personally, I have been deeply blessed by rich times of bonding with other men through our softball team and Thursday-night study through the Gospel of John.
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That’s Amore

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By Dan Amos

One of the rabbit trails in my head the other day had to do with a Dean Martin song. After work most days, I’ve been working on a home project for a few weeks, and I usually wear a set of Bluetooth hearing protection. They are great at blocking out tool noise and letting me listen to streaming media. I had been listening to comedy, but I didn’t like how it was affecting my thought patterns. I switched to listening to music from the ‘40s and ‘50s, and one song kept coming to me at other times. It wasn’t the song that was important, but it reminded me that what I put into my head is what ends up rattling around in there.

Paul made that point in his letter to the Philippians: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

I added sermons from another preacher to that playlist and found my thought patterns changing. I felt less stressed about work and life though there was lots of room for “less.” “More” was already used up. There’s nothing terribly profound here. I can just confirm from my own experience the wisdom of what has been revealed to us.

When the moon hits your eye
like a big pizza pie,
that’s amore.

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What Does God Expect from Us?

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By Larry Short

“We don’t need your money.” After reflecting on Ryan’s fascinating sermon on Acts 5 this past Sunday, that’s what I considered titling this blog. But then I realized the story of Ananias and Sapphira really isn’t about money at all, and so titling what I wrote in that manner could actually be a distraction from what God really wants us to get out of this story.

And what, exactly, does He want us to walk away with now that Ananias and Sapphira are dead and buried?

Certainly, what it isn’t is that somehow we owe God (or our church, or a ministry, or fill in the blank) our money. We’re not told what happened to the money Ananias and Sapphira brought before Peter, but it was probably a sizeable amount (even if they weren’t being honest about the final sales price), so from Peter’s perspective, why rock the boat?

This may be a spoiler, but I also thought about this in the context of Acts 8, where Philip visits Samaria and the Holy Spirit does a major work to form a new church there. One of the new converts is Simon the Magician, who previously wowed everyone with his magic arts. When the apostles come to convey the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the new converts through the laying on of their hands, Simon observes this and really wants this new “power” for himself. So, he offers Peter a big donation to give him the ability to lay hands on someone and so convey the Holy Spirit to them.

You may recall Peter’s powerful response in verse 20: “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!” In saying this, Peter is no doubt turning away a very hefty donation, but he doesn’t hesitate. His core values are, once again, clear. (And no doubt the painful memory of Ananias and Sapphira falling dead was still in his thoughts!)

So, what core values do each of these stories demonstrate? If God’s not after our money, what is it He really expects from us?

One interesting facet in both accounts is envy. Simon envied Peter and John’s ability. Ananias and Sapphira envied the respect that Barnabus (“Son of Encouragement”) gained through his generous contribution. They, too, wanted to be thought well of, even if they really didn’t have the love and faith required to “give it all” or to tell the honest truth about what they were able to give.

So, they chose to lie about it in order to hopefully bolster their own reputation and gain respect. And as Peter points out, the lie wasn’t merely to the church or its leaders—it was to the Holy Spirit!

It’s clear that money is a tool we sometimes use in ways that might seem good, but are really designed to make us appear different or better than we really are. I think this is a temptation to envy that we all experience. We all want to be seen as generous, kind, and caring individuals. The question is, do we invest the resources God has given us (money or otherwise) in being generous, kind, and caring, or do we invest them so that we may be seen as more generous, kind, and caring? See the difference here? It really matters.

Elim is a family of generous people. A couple of times I’ve been blown away when someone made a truly generous—and anonymous!—gift. For years I’ve wondered, “Could it have been so and so? Or perhaps so and so?” The humility in anonymity raised the tide that raised all boats, so to speak.

But money isn’t the only asset we sometimes use to puff ourselves up. Recently I was discussing with someone online who had raised a question about the meaning of Matthew 23:8-10, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.” One conclusion after reflection was that there was nothing wrong with titles like rabbi, father, or teacher (or pastor, for that matter). When Jesus says “you are not to be called [insert title here],” I think what He’s really saying is that you are not to seek such titles of distinction in order to exalt yourself. This falls clearly in line with His instruction throughout the Gospels not to seek the places of honor, but to humble yourself as a servant. Even when two of His disciples asked to sit at His right hand and at His left in His coming kingdom, He made it clear that such a privilege came at the cost of service and suffering (Mark 10:35-45).

As Ryan mentioned, Jesus decried the Pharisees for doing things in order to be seen by others as somehow “more holy”: “They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long” (Matthew 23:5).

We don’t do phylacteries or fringes, but what is the equivalent for us? Is it our generosity? Ministry position or title? Praying profound public prayers or writing brilliant Last Words?

What does God expect from us? Humility. Honesty. Service. Seeking to build others up before building ourselves and our own reputations. Bringing glory to God rather than to ourselves. Lord, this is our desire, but such things are all much harder for us and go against our “natural” grain, so please help us as we struggle to become more like You in love, humility and service!

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Virtue Takes Practice

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By Jason Comerford

What were you forced to practice as a child?

Did you learn an instrument? Or maybe your parents signed you up for a martial art? Maybe, like me, you spent time with mom and dad flipping through multiplication table flash cards.

Do you remember what it felt like at the time? Boring, time-consuming, and probably tiny bits of unnoticed progress here and there. Practice is rarely fun. That is, until you’re able to produce beautiful music, skillfully win a sparring match, or ace that dreaded math test you have on Tuesday.

In short, we practice to form habits.

You might be surprised that the same is often true in the Christian life. We don’t often use the words virtue and vice anymore, so I think one dimension of their meaning has fallen out of use. Virtue and vice aren’t just referring to the good or bad things we do; they refer to acquired habits of character.

You practice the instrument, or you don’t. The result is either a skilled musician or a poor and inconsistent one.

You practice financial generosity to the people around you, or you don’t. The result is someone who is habituallygenerous or someone who is habitually selfish.

Do you see what I mean?

When Paul says “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18), surely this is a piece of what he’s referring to. As the Lord renews the inner heart, the outward evidence is not merely one-time acts of kindness and love, but habits of kindness and love.

Now, here’s the challenging part. If we want to become people who practice kindness, mercy, and generosity, we have to purposefully seek out times and places to do it. Many of Jesus’s teachings emphasize the need for perserverence, and I think one of the ways we persevere is by seeking opportunities to put Jesus’s teachings into practice.

How often do you walk around your neighborhood looking to talk to neighbors? Do you talk to them? Get to know them? Set aside time to spend with them? What about the homeless and poor in your neighborhood? Do you speak with them? Are you generous with your money? Or what about those politically different from you? Do you engage them and treat them with kindness and dignity, seeking their well-being? Caring for the things they care for?

It’s easy for us to avoid people who make us uncomfortable, who ask us for our time or our money. But if we want to be Christ’s disciples, those are the very people we need to embrace and love generously. Instead of excusing ourselves from engaging our neighbors, what if we made every effort to connect with them?

Elim, there are ample opportunities all around us to practice our generosity, to develop our kindness, or to fine-tune our mercy. But if this is something we really want, we’re going to need to leave our homes, spend our time, and give our money.

It might not be easy at first, but don’t worry—practice makes perfect.

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