Love God | Understand Yourself | Serve Others

Colossians 1:9-10 (New International Version)
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.

There is such wonderful wisdom expressed in these short verses. We see the importance of having people who are praying for us, people who care about us and about our yearning for God. Being surrounded by a community of like-minded people helps to keep us on track and moving in the right direction.

That foundation gives us the encouragement we need to grow in our knowledge of who God is and who God created us to be. We can seek out opportunities to learn more about God through reading the Bible, studying together, bouncing ideas off of each other, discussing our questions, wrestling with tough issues, sharing our insights.

That increasing knowledge and wisdom helps us to be able to live in a way that reflects God’s love in our lives. Our actions more and more demonstrate what we have learned, and our thoughts and words show the way that God is transforming our spirits.

I love that progression. A foundation of loving community leads to growing in knowledge of God… which leads to changes in thought and action… which leads to an even deeper knowledge of God. The New Living Translation of verse 10 reads: “All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” 

It’s a great reminder that following God is a process, not an event. Growing closer to God is a journey. Growing God’s image in us is an adventure that never ends!

Question:
What has been most exciting to you so far about following God?

Philippians 4:6-7 (New Living Translation)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

There’s a song I’ve sung hundreds of times in worship services: “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

Every time I sing it, it strikes me how hopeful those words are meant to be, but how sad they can be in reality. We have a constantly available, open line to the Creator of the universe, but how often we forget it! We have a God who is not only willing, but eager to hear what we have to say, and we’re too busy rushing around on our busy schedules to spend real time communicating with the one who gave his all to save us. (Or… am I the only one guilty of this neglect?)

My hope today, this week, this year, this lifetime, is that we will take time each day to stop. To really stop. To stop and talk with the One who gave our lives to us. The One who loves us, and who wants to give us freedom and joy in our lives today.

Question:
Let’s do this! What do you say?

Philippians 2:3-8 (New Living Translation)
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges: he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Culture: Look out for number one! … Alternative: Don’t be selfish.
Culture: You have to talk yourself up! … Alternative: Don’t try to impress others.
Culture: Be aggressive and forceful! … Alternative: Be humble.
Culture: It’s all about you! … Alternative: It’s not really about you.

Jesus taught us what it meant to truly love. Jesus loved us so much, that he was willing to leave behind the glory of heaven and come to earth as a simple human being. He had the power of the universe at his command, but he only used that power to heal and to teach and to save. He never once used it for himself, even when it could have spared him great suffering and saved his own life. He was endlessly self-giving, always looking for ways to demonstrate God’s love through his words and actions.

How would our lives speak to the people around us if we chose — as an experiment — to live by the words of today’s reading for one full day? What would people see in us if we didn’t try to impress them with our possessions, knowledge, beauty, fashion, connections, or anything else that could set us apart? What if we took an active interest in the people around us, just to get to know them better, with no other motivation? What if we put our own desires aside for a day, and sought to meet the needs of the people around us? What if we tried for that day to show God’s love, forgiveness, and grace in every single conversation and interaction?

Question:
What would that look like? What might happen in your life that day?

Philippians 1:12-14 (New Living Translation)
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.

If only I had a theology degree, then I could lead a small group. If only I had more time, then I could help out with Vacation Bible School. If only I could manage to get up earlier, then I could be a greeter on Sunday morning. If only I had more money, then I would be able to help out more. If only I could leave my job and start working for a ministry, then I could make a difference.

If only…

Now, before you start to panic, this is not a guilt trip! I’m certainly not saying that you need to all — or indeed any of the things listed above. But I do want you to consider the limitations that we place on our lives. These restraints might just keep God from being able to use our lives in an amazing way.

Paul wrote today’s letter to the church in Philippi from a jail cell, where he had been imprisoned for speaking about Jesus. For most of us, that would be a pretty depressing situation. We might think that our ministry was on hold until we could finally be released from prison. “If only,” we wouldn’t blame Paul for writing, “If only I were released, then I could get started again.” But, no, not Paul! He just continued to joyously share God’s message of love and reconciliation. He wasn’t able to talk with the people of the town any longer, so he shared instead with his fellow prisoners and his jailers. He continued to encourage churches all around the Mediterranean with beautiful, loving, challenging letters. Paul was limited in circumstances, but utterly unlimited in his joy in God.

Later in this same letter, Paul would declare: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (4:13). That is true for us, as well! Pray about, think about, wrestle with what you would love to do for God. And then find a way — even a small way — to start doing it now. Want to lead a small group? Talk with someone who has done it, and find out what it is like. Curious about what activities they do with the kids at Vacation Bible School? Ask how you could be involved and help out. Feel passionate about a ministry, but don’t have the financial resources to contribute? Contact the ministry to learn other ways you can participate in their work. Whatever it is that God is calling you to do, whatever it is that’s pulling on your heart, find a way to do it!

Shake off those false limitations, my friends, and, with great joy, jump into what God is going to do through you!

Question:
If you were not held back by time or resources, what would you do with your life? How can you start doing that now?

2 Corinthians 9:7b-9 (New Living Translation)
To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

We don’t know what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. People have debated it for years. Some say it might have been a physical weakness, such as malaria, depression, or epilepsy. Or was it an emotional thorn, maybe guilt over his past in persecuting the church? Others imagine the thorn to be those who ended up persecuting Paul, keeping him from sharing his message of hope and love. There are about as many theories as there are authors writing about it.

But, perhaps, we don’t need to know. It well may be that the power in this verse comes from the not-knowing. For we all have our own thorns that bother us. We all have places in our lives that we beg God to heal. We all have areas where we would like to be stronger. We do know that his “thorn” was a weakness that bothered Paul, maybe even angered him, and that he desperately wanted God to take it away. But God answered clearly, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

Each of us has natural limits, places where we are not as strong as others around us. And that is part of God’s design. What if you literally had it all — every talent, every resource? What if you possessed the perfect balance of gifts: administration, creativity, teaching, preaching, mercy, evangelizing, music, leadership, languages, giving, serving, wisdom, knowledge, healing, everything wrapped up in one neat package? (Sounds pretty awesome, right?)

Well, with no weaknesses whatsoever, why would you need the rest of us? And, even more important: why would you need God? From the scriptures, we can easily see that Paul was a talented preacher, gifted teacher, excellent motivator and administrator. He said that he was given this “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from becoming proud.

Just as our skin defines the outer limits of our bodies, so our weaknesses define the outer limits of our strengths. Our strengths enable us to be a part of God’s great work in the world. And our weaknesses remind us of our dependence upon God, and our interdependence with the people around us.

Question:
What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? How do you imagine God could use both?

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (English Standard Version)
And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Paul reminded the church in Corinth that he hadn’t come to impress them with big, fancy words, or to wow them with his intelligence or knowledge. He had come to Corinth for one purpose and one purpose only: to tell them about the gift God had given to the world in Jesus.

When we share in the Lord’s Supper in a church service, there are usually certain words that we say before we take the bread and juice together. The words — the Communion “liturgy” — help us to remember the events of Jesus’ last days on earth and the gift given to us in his life, death, and resurrection. Toward the end of that liturgy, we recall how Jesus shared in a meal with his friends on the night he was betrayed:

“On the night in which Jesus gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks, blessed it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat. This is my body, broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ When the supper was over, he took the cup, again gave thanks, blessed it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.'”

God took the simple elements of a meal — bread and wine — and transformed them into a reminder of Jesus’ unprecedented self-giving. It’s counterintuitive that two such commonplace items could hold such multifaceted meaning: forgiveness and freedom and sacrifice and joy and gratitude and hope.

In a similar way, when we invite God in, God takes the familiar elements of our lives and transforms them into something new and powerful. Conversations with loved ones become more meaningful. Work becomes an opportunity to give of our talents and abilities. Helping others becomes a calling. Growing a deeper relationship with God becomes indescribable joy. All this — and much, much more — is a free gift of the God who loves us. No strings attached.

… and that is something that the wisdom of the world will always struggle to understand.

Question:
What new meaning has following God given to your everyday life?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New Living Translation)
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Right up until he injured his knee, my Dad loved running marathons. I witnessed his devotion to a structured training schedule. I saw the exercises that helped him prepare. I knew that it was a priority for him to get a long run in several times each week, and shorter runs in between, ramping up as race day came closer. We loved cheering him on from the sidelines of the races, and seeing him cross the finish line.

But it wasn’t until I ran a 5-kilometer race with friends a few years ago that I began to fully appreciate the depth of effort involved. I was in fairly good shape, so when a group from the church wanted me to run, I decided to join in at the last minute. After all, I thought, how hard could it be?

Oh boy, I had no idea! I started out well, running along at what I thought was a respectable pace. But it was too slow for most of my group — all of whom had actually trained — so they quickly deserted me. One sweet, gracious friend stuck with me as I began to huff and puff and had to slow to a walk. Then run. Then walk again. A friend yelled from the sidelines: “Hey! It’s called the ‘Run Like a Bunny 5K,’ not ‘Walk Like a Bunny!!!'” I stuck my tongue out at her as I hastily downed a cup of water before continuing on. (That was, according to the inevitable rules of Murphy’s Law, when the course photographer snapped my picture. How was I to know there were paparazzi hiding in the bushes?)

I did make it the full 5K, and my group cheered as we crossed the finish line. Running a race was SOOOO much harder than I anticipated. And lack of training made it nigh impossible.

That’s why I love Paul’s use of the running metaphor in today’s reading. Just as it takes time to build up the endurance and skill level you need to run a long race, so we need to be disciplined in strengthening ourselves spiritually. How often have I heard someone say, “If only I had faith like my friend ________. Then I wouldn’t be struggling like this.” Well, the truth is that — most likely — your friend didn’t immediately possess that faith for which you yearn. It took time to develop and deepen their connection with God. It took hard life lessons. It took study and practice and vulnerability and persistence and diligence.

But, oh!, it is worth it!

Question:
What spiritual practices have you been considering, but haven’t started because you’re worried about making the commitment?

1 Corinthians 9:10-13 (New Living Translation)
I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.” Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!

When Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, those foundational decrees opened with: “You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea” (Exodus 20:3-5).

God knew that the Israelites would be surrounded by people who worshipped gods they had made with their own hands out of wood, gold, silver, jewel, precious metals. From the earliest days recorded in the Bible, people struggled with what it means to worship this God of the Israelites who could not be represented by something physical.

It is so interesting to me that this same tendency continued among the early Christians. In today’s reading, Paul was writing to the church he loved so much in Corinth, urging them to recall that they had committed to following Jesus Christ — not to following one of the human beings who had introduced them to Christ.

Still today we sometimes yearn to follow something tangible — perhaps because what is tangible is controllable. Or perhaps even because an imperfect human being is easier to dismiss or discount than a divine Savior.

It’s understandable, isn’t it? After all, it’s completely natural for us to attach to a person who has helped us to grow in our relationship with God. But, in the end, it must be about God, and no other. One of the many things I love about the apostle Paul is that he immediately stepped in to address this situation, lovingly reminding the people of Corinth that their freedom, forgiveness, and redemption came through Jesus. Anyone else involved was nothing more than a conduit of God’s love.

Question:
How have you been a conduit of God’s love to someone this week?

Acts 19:1-3 (New Living Translation)
Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.

Every year in the town where I grew up, thousands of people strap on their running shoes to compete in “The Boilermaker,” a 15-kilometer road race. Over the 35+ years of its existence, running clubs all around the Central New York area have sprung up, as people prepare together for the race. There is something inspiring about training with a group of people who have a similar goal. The runners share tips and strategies, commiserate about their struggles, and encourage each other to keep on running. People tend to be more motivated when they have someone urging them on!

In every town the apostle Paul visited, he found like-minded people to work alongside him. When he arrived in Corinth, he connected with Aquila and Priscilla. We learn in today’s verses that Paul was a tent-maker by profession, the same as this couple. They had been ejected from Rome along with other Jews by the Roman emperor Claudius, and had set up shop in Corinth. They would become part of Paul’s intimate group of friends — people who supported each other and helped each other stay true to the faith.

That is one of the (many) gifts of community. When we make the effort to invest in relationships, amazing things happen. When we’re excited to learn more about God, when we’re doing well and full of joy — that’s when the people who love us celebrate with us. When we become distracted or weary — that’s when people who know us can give us a much needed boost. When we’re tempted to take the easy way out instead of doing the hard work of following God’s path — that’s when people who care for us can hold us accountable and remind us why the effort is well worth it. When we’re struggling or worried or frightened or confused — that’s when it is wonderful to have people walking alongside us, loaning us their strength.

If you’re not already in a small group at your church, I would really, really, really encourage you to look into it! We’re all running this race of life, and it is such a blessing to run closely along with people who know you, love you, study with you, and pray for you. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity!

Questions:
Are you currently in a small group? Have you considered being in a small group?