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Premeditated Love

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By Jeff Foerster

Roses. Red roses. Long-stemmed, red roses. Dinner prepared just so. A stuffed bear. A heart-shaped box fragrant with chocolates. Discovered notes left carefully, quietly by smile’s light. Cards and poems breathing those three little words and hope written on tiny candy hearts.

“What will she think?” and, “Will he like it?” and, “I can’t wait to see her reaction!” We plan and we prepare. We wait with anticipation for the moment’s hour to arrive.

I wonder. Why do we give gifts and why does it feel good to do so? Then I remember the Giver. I remember fields and slopes of mountains sprinkled with flowers. I remember skyscapes painted across the dawn and fading into the dusk. I think of the rich smell of green each spring and the last note of that song which never stops its singing. I remember the touch of cool ocean air and the warm embrace of the sun. The first sight of snowflakes dancing on their descent toward the ground. I’m reminded of the smell of good, tilled earth and the knowledge that from it comes endless varieties to tantalize the tongue and fill the belly.

Then, I remember.

With a whisper and a SHOUT! Spanning thirty-three years and two millennia, the Father gave us an unspeakable gift — Himself. Who could imagine such a thing? Who could dare to ask it? Yet from eternity past was this gift planned and prepared. Love letters were carefully crafted and placed for us to read, at just the right time. We were told in advance, that man should anticipate the day. We are told of the past that we might cherish each word, yearning to be with the One who truly completes us, our soul’s mate.

– Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Eagles’ Wings and Other Things

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By Tom Chase

On Sunday, we heard about and processed things that rob us of our peace. We live in a world that is constantly telling us the opposite of what God’s truth claims. Like in the video we watched on Sunday, so many things are calling, so many things telling us we don’t measure up. These things and more create roadblocks that can prevent us from hearing and interacting with the One who will tell us the truth. If we listen too long, all these voices simply beat us down and diminish our worth, saying we have no value, there is nothing special about us, etc.

I am reminded of a truth which is made evident in the person of God. He is the Eternally Existent One, the Three in One — the Trinity. I was told long ago that all theology makes a difference in our lives, but I find that sometimes the effect is hard to see. But here is how this theological truth has impacted me.

When God chose to make the world and to make each of us individuals, He did not make us because He needed us or because it fulfilled something lacking in Him. No, that is not the case. He exists in three Persons, whole and complete, fully satisfied within his own being with perfect community and harmony. So why did God make us, then? It is because God wanted us. Can you believe it? God wanted me and God wanted you! None of us are here by accident. Isn’t that truly amazing?

When I stop and contemplate this truth, I feel a lift in my spirit. Isaiah 40:31 tells us that

“…those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”

That light-stepping feeling in me increases when I see God for who He is. Much of Isaiah 40 describes just how great and awesome and majestic this God who wanted you and me really is:

“Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.”

Isaiah 40:28

Someone infinitely significant wants us!

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God,” are the beginning words of Isaiah 40. That’s His desire for you. So let us run to the One who not only loves us, but wants us as well. In Him we find our significance and peace from all the other messages we hear constantly in our world. If you are looking for a treat, why not read Isaiah chapter 40 and bask in His glory!

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Suffering

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By Tomina Sharpe

As I have processed through the news this week of my dear friend Nancy’s worsening cancer, I have really been in turmoil. I know that in light of eternity it is not going to matter to me whether I lived on this earth 1 year or 100 years. The number of years that any of us has on this earth is completely up to God and His sovereign plan.  If God chooses now to take Nancy at the young age of 49, I can accept that as His plan, even though it is not what I or anyone else would choose.

What my mind has been in turmoil about and unable to accept has been seeing my friend’s pain and suffering and knowing the pain and suffering that her family is experiencing. Cancer is a horrendous disease that was never God’s intention for anyone to experience. Over the years I have seen this disease in action from afar. It has come closer to home for me recently as I have watched Nancy go through it and as I watched my grandfather die from it in February. Cancer is horrific and the pain goes on and on over long periods of time.

As I was thinking about this today, my mind went to the pain that Jesus suffered on the cross and I questioned for a while whether even Jesus suffered as much as I see those with cancer suffering. Jesus’ pain lasted a matter of days while those with cancer can suffer for years. I felt almost blasphemous even thinking the thought that someone else suffered more than Jesus. But then it hit me. The physical suffering that Jesus went through, while horrible, was nothing compared to the suffering that He went through when he took our sin upon Himself and the Father turned His back on Him.

We measure our life through the lens of time, but I don’t know that Jesus experienced this suffering within the framework of time. I cannot comprehend the suffering that my friend Nancy is going through and I pray I will never experience that suffering myself to understand it. But I know that nobody on this earth has ever experienced anything close to the suffering that Jesus felt on the cross when He took our sin upon Himself and the Father turned His back upon our Savior. This brings me to my knees before my Jesus and I can only weep at the love that He must have for me and for the whole world to willingly endure this.

As I see those around me that have suffering forced upon them through cancer or loss, I have to remember that Jesus didn’t have suffering forced upon Him. He chose it. He chose it out of love. Whatever suffering I may experience on this earth can only serve to remind me of the suffering that He experienced on my behalf. While I would never willingly choose to experience suffering such as my friend Nancy is experiencing, there is one joy that she is experiencing that I never may. She has a much more intimate knowledge of pain and suffering which gives her a deeper knowledge of the love that Jesus had in order to choose to suffer for us, a love so great that our minds will never be able to come close to wrapping around.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

See from His head, His hands, His feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
LOVE SO AMAZING, SO DIVINE
DEMANDS MY SOUL, MY LIFE, MY ALL

O, the wonderful cross
O, the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find
That I may truly live
O, the wonderful cross
O, the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace
Draw near and bless Your name

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Greetings

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by Stan Peterson

First impressions are lasting impressions! When I first visited Elim what I remember most were the great people and being welcomed into the fellowship by individuals who had the heart of God. These people were focused upon God, thus being able to turn away from themselves and look outward to those who were new. What makes up a great church is great people who serve a great God. We the church are living stones who carry the presence of God wherever we go, building up a spiritual house (1 Peter 2.5). We here at Elim desire to be a great church displaying a great God.

Starting on September 11 there will be a notable difference upon entering the sanctuary for our corporate worship. At each entrance we will have posted a servant (greeter). These servants will display the heart of God by welcoming all who cross the threshold. The servants will greet with the eyes, ears, hands, and feet of Christ. The mission of the greeter is to greet and connect those who come through our doors. first to greet: This is a dual purpose task.

1. The servant is on the frontline to greet all who come through our doors.

2. To stand as a marker to remind those who are not on the greeting team to be engaged and greet other’s as well.

We as the body are all commanded to greet one another 1 Th 5.26 “Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss” (no kissing please) and 3 John 14. greet the friends by name. To greet in the New Testament means to be happy about something on the basis that it would prove particularly welcome (thus implying a type of future orientation). As we greet we are filled with joy by anticipating what God is going to do in and through each individual. This is where the power of God is unleashed by the Holy Spirit in YOU! Our God is limitless in what he can do in and through a body that is yielded to the Spirit. This all starts as people enter in to commune with our God and each other, this is exciting!

Second, the greeter will be a connector! He or she will be used by God to connect guests and members with God and each other. This is done by the Holy Spirit and comes out in FRUIT of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and gifts of the Spirit displayed by the Body of Christ. This is worked out through pointing guests to our information table where they can talk with a greeter and learn more about Elim and who we are. This process of connection will be a starting point for our guests to become fully absorbed into this local Body of Christ.

Who is qualified to be a greeter? All who call Elim home should consider themselves a qualified greeter. God commands us to greet one another. This means that this is a ministry that the WHOLE Body of Christ should be involved in and not just a certain few (greeting team). Please contact me if you are interested in serving God and others in this capacity for His glory.

*Last item to communicate: Please do not take away from the front-line greeters’ ministry by lingering in the doorway visiting with the greeters or others. Remember why we have greeters and go forth and greet others within the sanctuary.

May our God be loved in our endeavors to greet and love each other.

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The high standard that we will be held to

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By Larry Short

Are we, as fallen people, capable of doing good things apart from God?

I think the answer is a qualified “yes.” Please let me explain what I mean by that.

We were created in God’s image. God is love. We are obviously capable of love. But I do not think we can love, perfectly, apart from God’s help, and the motivation He provides for truly loving unconditionally.

An unbelieving soldier gives his life for his country, and a father takes a stand against a mugger to safeguard his family. Or perhaps, a mother who does not know the Lord carries to term a young child even at the risk of her own life. All are acts of selfless love. They are inspired by (godly) ideals, ideals placed into the heart of man by a God who created us in His own image.

That image was, of course, grossly tainted and distorted by sin in the fall. Too often, now, we are capable of the opposite of love … or perhaps of acts of what we think is love, but what is in reality, at its core, something far worse and not God-like in any sense.

While traveling last year I enjoyed very much reading a book called “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson, the inspiring story of a former mountain climber who began to build schools in impoverished communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, after a failed attempt to summit K2.

So it was very painful for me to watch a “60 Minutes” expose recently which claims that many of the stories shared by Mortenson in his book were either gross exaggerations (at best) or outright fabrications (at worst) — and that, while Mortenson had indeed helped many poor children by building schools in the area, he hadn’t built near as many as he claims, and much of the tens of millions of dollars raised for this purpose by his speaking and his writing and through his nonprofit organization have actually been spent for other, less noble purposes.

Disappointing, if true. (And I’m also naturally suspicious about the media’s role in uncovering these seeming inconsistencies.) I think the jury is still out on these claims against Mr. Mortenson.

But I do remember wondering, as I read about Mortenson’s philanthropy, of his core motivation. As far as I can tell, he’s not a believer, at least not in the sense that you and I classically understand that term. Are nonbelievers capable of doing good things? Yes, of course. But even those good things will be put at risk of being tainted by evil, if the godly motivations for doing them are absent or in question.

Far sadder, of course, is the case of people who should be doing good works as a demonstration of their authentic faith in Christ, but who fail to do so. James writes in the second chapter of his epistle:

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds ….

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

If some good can be done apart from God, what kind of good should be done by those of us who claim to be acting together with God?

In other words, how much higher of a standard will God hold us accountable to? There is a great deal of media scrutiny on faith-based organizations such as World Vision, and perhaps deservedly so. If we claim to be loving people in the name of Christ, we had better do so in a manner worthy of Christ — selflessly, with the high level of excellence, and with the motivation, He demands of us.

We as a church are just beginning this adventure of demonstrating our sincere faith, through our deeds. Through the Elikya Center we are seeking to show God’s love to orphans and widows in the Congo. Through KidREACH we are tutoring at-risk children. Through MOPS we are reaching out to young moms with the love of Christ. Through Freezing Nights, the Salvation Army, and Francis House we are seeking to be the hands and feet of Christ to the homeless and vulnerable in our community.

My prayer is that as we seek to do good, we will share the Whole Gospel with the Whole Person, and do so in a manner worthy of those whose motivation is the true grace, mercy, and love of Christ, extended compassionately and without condition to the Whole World. He is holding us to a higher standard! In response to His amazing work in our lives, let’s pursue this goal with our Whole Hearts!

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Does God respect us?

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By Larry Short

If you would have asked me that question a year ago, I think I would have had a much different reaction. “Respect us?” I would have asked, perhaps scratching my chin thoughtfully. “Wow, I don’t know. I guess He respects our right to make decisions for ourselves. But how could He REALLY respect us? After all, He is God, and we are not. We are utterly depraved, He is utterly holy. What’s to respect?”

I might have even secretly wondered if the question itself was a bit blasphemous!

But two things I have studied in the Word recently have caused me to drastically change my perspective on this question. And the implications of what I have learned have both frightened me and given me a new and profound respect for our Creator. I hope I can share these impacts with you here.

Job, God, and Satan

Several months ago, the Young Adults Ministry finished up a very interesting study in Job. I confessed to them that there was something about this story that had always bothered me … and that is the apparently unfettered access Satan has to the throne of God.

And more than that, the apparent respect with which God treats Satan in the story! In Job 1 He asks Satan two questions as if He really cares about the answer (and, by extension, cares about, respects, perhaps even loves Satan himself): “Where have you come from?” and “Have you considered My servant Job?” He listens patiently to Satan’s answers, then tells him: “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” He speaks with authority … and respect. To the devil!

This has always troubled me deeply. God abhors evil, right? And no single created being more fully represents evil than Satan himself. If I were God and saw Satan hanging with the angels in Heaven, I think I would throw a major thunderbolt and watch him plunge in smoking flames! I certainly wouldn’t ask respectful questions, listen patiently for the answer, and then give him (nearly) free reign to torment the man Scripture says was the most righteous person on the planet at the time! What on earth (and in heaven) is going on here, anyway?

Jesus and Judas

Recently I was reading the New Testament and was struck by this verse, right between the eyes. I realized quickly how similar the situation (or, at least my reaction to it) was to the God and Satan story in Job 1. This is from John 6, shortly after Jesus has given a difficult teaching about being the Bread of Life. Verse 66 says that “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” as a result, and He asked the 12, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” But Jesus replies, in verse 70: “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” And John offers this footnote: He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.

And that’s when it hit me: Long before Judas actually betrayed Jesus, Jesus knew he was going to betray Him! How long? I asked myself. And I realized there really only was one answer: For as long as Jesus knew Judas, even before the day He selected this scumbag to be one of the 12, He knew.

If you and I were in Jesus’ shoes, extending the honor of apostleship to 12 individuals who agreed to follow us, and knew that one of them would ultimately stab us in the back … would we do it? Not me, no way! How could I work shoulder to shoulder with that person, day after day, in my most intimate and troubled moments, and look him in the eye, knowing that? I have a hard enough time just tolerating the coworkers in the cubicles around me when they talk too loud on the phone!

The enormity of the chasm between me and God

It was at this very moment that I realized anew the terribly vast gulf that separates me from God. God truly loves even His most vicious enemies. That love is demonstrated in respect. The One who told us, “Love your enemies” treated Judas no differently than He treated all the other disciples, even though He knew of the pain and destruction that would come from Judas’ choices. And God created Satan, knowing full well that he would become the devil. Scripture teaches that Lucifer was the highest of God’s creations. It seems to be in God’s nature to give His creatures, whom He endowed with free choice, a wide latitude to make decisions even if those decisions are bad and harmful.

Why is the need to show such respect for people’s freedom of choice so difficult for me? I think the real reason is that it is much easier for me to hate people than it is for me to hate evil. For God, the very opposite is true. And with that realization, you see how enormous the chasm between me and God truly is.

The implications of profound respect

So, does God respect me? Absolutely He does, more than I ever realized before or probably ever could realize. I am His precious creation, just as Judas was. His love for me is infinite, and this infinite love manifests itself in respect.

So, what is the practical implication of this respect? When you truly respect someone, you give them complete freedom to live in accordance with their own choices. They are an independent entity. They can choose to accept you, to love you in return, or they can choose to reject you. You certainly don’t “weight” things by coercing or forcing them to do one or the other.

I’ve heard it said that God is ultimately pro-choice, and I realize now what that means. He respects our freedom to choose to such a great extent that He will even allow us to make life miserable for others (as Satan did for Job). In fact, one of the most heinous evils I can think of is a person who would hurt, or even kill, an innocent child (born or unborn). It’s hard not to wonder, Why does God allow that? Why doesn’t He stop the person who commits such terrible atrocities? Why did God create Adolf Hitler or Idi Amin or Osama Bin Laden? I think the answer relates to respect. Each of those has the freedom to choose, and that freedom entails the power to choose to hurt others.

So, ultimately, what will come of this freedom? I think the final story will be very sobering, but also very good news, depending on how you look at it: Ultimately, there is justice! As we choose an evil path, Scripture says we are hardened in that path, and that hardening ultimately results in separation from God. The evildoer will not always have the power to hurt others with his evil. In God’s good timing, in this life or the next, there will be justice. A lake of fire is coming for Satan and his angels. People ask: “How could a loving God create Hell?” The answer is, Hell is the only logical possibility when you couple our freedom to choose evil, with the fact of God’s ultimate love and respect for us and our choices.

That hardening and condemnation is bad news for the person who chooses it. But the one who will choose life, who will choose God, who will choose the good, God will also confirm on that path of choice. We will be softened to God and the journey will lead us away from injustice, away from the pain wrought by evil, toward willful submission and obedience, and ultimately to Heaven. To borrow C.S. Lewis’ terminology, that is the “great divorce” that is coming, the separation of evil from righteousness, Heaven from Hell. History is the process of God using His winnowing fork to work out the balance between absolute love and absolute freedom of choice.

On which side of His winnowing fork will you fall? God’s respect for you means that you alone, in all of Creation, can choose the answer to that question.

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