As Iron Sharpens Iron...

Holy Week

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:57:00 +0000

No week of the Christian year comes with the weight of this one. Far from the anticipation of Advent, this one comes with near dread. Each day of the week comes with heightened intensity as the cross looms larger and larger. What started off at Ash Wednesday as a small figure on a far horizon, now towers over us as we start up the steep hill of Calvary. However, without this week coming back to us each year, how easy it would be for us to forget the unfathomable love of God and price Jesus was willing to pay for us to find life abundant and eternal. This is the week we exchange our decorative cross for our crucifix. Without this week, there is no Easter, and without immersing ourselves once again in the story and in the liturgical events of this week, Easter comes with too little appreciation. I return each year to the following passages:

Monday- Mark 11:12-19 The Cursing of the Fig Tree and the Cleansing of the Temple
Tuesday- Mark 11:20-13:37 The Day of Challenge and Teaching
Wednesday- Mark 14:1-11 The Anointing at Bethany
Thursday- Mark 14:12-72 The Last Supper, The Garden, The Betrayal, The Arrest
Friday- Mark 15:1-47 The Suffering and Death of Jesus

This week calls us back from our preoccupation with life to contemplate the source of our life. It calls us back from our false sense of self-sufficiency to knowing with Paul, "my life is not my own, it has been bought with a price". May this Holy Week bring us all back to Jesus the crucified that we might fully adore and serve Jesus the risen Christ.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 10- Week 4 Prayer

Word: “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” I Samuel 3:10

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Reflection: Learning to Listen

I love Lily Tomlin’s line, “Why is it when we talk to God we call it prayer, but when God talks to us we call it schizophrenia?” Certainly when we hear the word “prayer” we instinctively think about our talking to God as opposed to listening. But, if the primary purpose of prayer is to be in relationship with God, to know and be known, to love and be loved, then surely we can’t be the only one doing the talking. Jesus said in John’s gospel, “my sheep know my voice”, but we have to learn to recognize God’s voice. I think that begins with learning to be quiet long enough to hear. Learning to pray without words (meditative or contemplative prayer) is a critical but often neglected aspect of our prayer life. As Elijah discovered in the wilderness, God wasn’t in the “earthquake, wind, or fire”, but in the “still small voice” or as sometimes translated, “the sound of sheer silence”. But not only do we have to discipline ourselves to be still and to quiet our mind and body, we have to invite God to speak. I love the simple prayer Eli taught Samuel to pray when he was just a boy and did not yet recognize the voice of God, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” That is a good place to begin in learning to listen to God in our prayer life.

Dallas Willard has a great book entitled, “Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God”. In it, Willard says that there are three factors in recognizing the voice of God. The first is the quality of God’s voice. Willard says that God’s voice has a certain weight or authority it has. When we hear from God in the depth of our heart it leaves an impact or impression that inspires us to obedience. E. Stanley Jones said that “God does not argue with us or try to convince us” our subconscious does that (in Freudian terms, the battle between the id and ego). Secondly, God’s voice has a certain “spirit”. It has a sweetness or peacefulness that brings calm to our own souls (even while occasionally disturbing us). As James put it, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” (James 3:17). Finally, Willard says, there is a content that marks the voice of God. In other words, God’s speaking will always be consistent with God’s truth (principles in the word) and God’s nature. Willard warns that there are many rivals to the “still small voice”. It takes a consistent and committed prayer life to learn to listen. We may listen through praying or meditating on the word of God or reflecting in and on the creation (creator), but above all we are simply learning how to be “with” God. The rewards of this kind of prayer cannot be underestimated. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” (John 15:5)

Practice: Focus your prayer life this week on listening instead of talking. Resist the urge to pour out your laundry list of request and instead find a place like Samuel to “lie down in the temple” and offer his simple prayer, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional: October week 3- Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 10- Week 3 Prayer

Word: “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they think they will be heard because of their many words . . . Pray then in this way . . .”

Matthew 6:7-9

“Lord teach us how to pray . . .” Luke 11:1

Reflection: How to Pray

One of the most surprising conversations between Jesus and the disciples took place when they had been watching Jesus pray and went on to ask him to teach them how to pray. What is surprising is that these were good faithful Jewish men whom we would assume had been praying all their lives. Something about Jesus’ prayer life made them realize that there are many ways to pray. Richard Foster’s book, “Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home” has twenty-one chapters, each on a different method of praying. The book of Psalms is really a collection of different kinds of prayers. We might just assume that everyone naturally knows how to pray, but forget that for many of us we were taught early on how to pray. At bedtime our parents might have taught us this prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray my Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray my Lord my soul to take”, or at mealtime, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. By his hands, we are fed, thank you God for daily bread.”, or at school or church we learned, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name . . . .” Hopefully through those taught prayers we eventually learned to find our own words for prayer, but how we prayed was taught to most of us. There are prayer acronyms like ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) and the “five finger prayer”. I love one teacher’s simple description of prayer, “HELP!!!!!!!!!!” (reminds me of Paul saying when we don’t know how to pray the Holy Spirit will pray for us in groans not words). Jesus gave a couple of pieces of advice about praying like the story of the unjust judge and the widow in which he said we should pray and not give up. He warned about not praying like the religious professionals who prayed on the street corner to be heard (pray instead in secret) or with many words (or big words). He was more impressed with the simple prayer of the tax collector who prayed, “Have mercy on me a sinner”. While there are many ways to pray, with words, without words, through the Word, without ceasing, with persistence, asking and letting go, by faith, with honest doubt, praise, thanksgiving, confessions, intercession, supplication, with authority, with humility, etc, etc, etc, the most important thing is that we pray. The first chapter of Foster’s book is about “simple prayer” in which we simply talk to God who is always listening. We open our heart to God in honesty (one of the beautiful things about the Psalms who spill every emotion out to God in prayer), because everyone wants to know that we are heard, that there is someone who knows me so well that I don’t have to pretend or hide anything of myself. Prayer itself is an act of faith even when we feel our faith is small and fragile and in it we find the greatest security, the unconditional love of our “Heavenly Father” who knows our needs before we ask and longs that we ask anyway.

ractice: Try some different ways of praying this week than your normal practice. Read a book on prayer for directions like Foster’s book to glean new ideas. But, above all, just talk to God in a running conversation throughout your day.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional: October week 2- Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 10- Week 2 Prayer

Word: “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly.” James 4:2b-3

Reflection: Obstacles to Prayer

If you asked most Christians, “Is prayer important?” the answer would be “yes, of course”. If you asked the same people, “How’s your prayer life?” the answer would be, “not as good as it should be”. For most of us, when it comes to prayer, there is a gap between what we say is important and what we do about it. There are all kinds of reasons why this is so and I want to explore a few of the obvious obstacles to a meaningful and effective prayer life.

No statement about prayer has ever spoken so profoundly to me as Richard Foster’s observations, “To learn to pray we must learn to waste some time on God.” Nothing inhibits meaningful prayer more than the busyness of our lives. We live in a world in which we are driven by production. Time is a scarce resource and to be successful we learn to make the most of every minute. How often when we try to pray does our mind begin to race to all the things that are waiting to be done, and we begin to feel like we simply have too much to do to just sit with God. Bill Hybels wrote a book on prayer entitled, “To Busy Not to Pray”. Prayer is a countercultural act in which we resist the urge to do and accomplish and in the process learn to trust God with what we are not doing. While we can “pray without ceasing” while we are on the go, there is no substitute for stopping to let God “search our hearts” and to listen for the “still small voice of God” revealing His heart to us. One of the truths God has been impressing on me is simply, “God rarely speaks to the back of our heads”.

I think it is true that the fervency of our prayer life is directly proportional to the depth of our need or height of our troubles. As a result, prosperity can become an obstacle to our prayer life. Because we so easily allow our prayers to turn into a laundry list of my needs and the needs of others, the better our life is the less we pray. God warned the Israelites coming out of the trials of the wilderness in the exodus that when they got into the land and had everything they needed they would be in danger of forgetting about God. How easy it is to forget to pray when our bodies are healthy, kids are prospering, marriage is good, and finances are sound. It is important to remember that thanksgiving is a key driver a successful prayer life.

The last obstacle to prayer is one that can develop over time and through heartache. It has to do with our own expectations of God and the experience of unanswered prayers. When we mistakenly think of prayer as our means to get something from God instead of getting to know God, we can end up disappointed and disillusioned with prayer and with God for that matter. The key to overcoming all obstacles to prayer is remembering that the goal of prayer to know God and be known by God, to love God and be loved by God, for there is never a shortage of our need to be loved unconditionally and listened to compassionately.

Practice: This week pay particular attention to what gets in the way of my prayer life and began to develop strategies for how to overcome these obstacles.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional: October week 1- Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 10- Week 1 Prayer

Word: “Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed . . . .” Luke 9:28-29

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Reflection: Why Pray?

No spiritual practice is more commonly associated with religion than that of prayer. The words pray, prayer, prayed, or praying are found more than five hundred times in the Bible. Prayer is not only a regular part of worship services, but also meals and bedtimes, ball games and congressional sessions. In fact, sometimes it seems that we pray or talk about prayer so much it seems a perfunctory practice, something we do out of habit or tradition. I love Philip Yancey’s book, “Prayer”, but I especially love the subtitle, “Does it make any difference?” These four devotionals will explore prayer as a critical practice for discipleship. I have saved it for last because I would argue it is THE critical practice for discipleship.

Jesus came to offer us a revelation of a heavenly Father, a personal God, who created us for and desires an intimate relationship with us. Like any intimate personal relationship, communication between the participants is critical. We have to get to know one another as we risk opening our hearts. St. Augustine once said, “True, whole prayer is nothing but love.” Jesus not only offered us a revelation of God, but also a model for how to live in an intimate relationship with God. Over and over again we find Jesus not just teaching his followers the importance of prayer, but more importantly modeling for them the importance of prayer through his own prayer life. It had such an impact on the first followers that they eventually asked him specifically not to teach them how to preach, teach, or heal, but rather to teach them how to pray like he did. Phillip Yancey says, if for no other reason we ought to pray because Jesus did. In other words, if Jesus needed prayer, how much more do we.

Discipleship is a process of being changed or transformed and in the process becoming more and more like Jesus. What Jesus revealed was that a religion focused primarily on obeying God’s rules has little power to change us, but growing in an intimate relationship with God could not help but change us. In that light, it seems that the purpose of prayer is not so much to change things (circumstances, outcomes, etc) as it is to change us. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Luke tells us that “as Jesus prayed, his face changed” and as he left that mountain he “set his face on Jerusalem”. Later in the garden, facing the end of that journey to Jerusalem and his own impending death, it was while praying that his heart was changed and fear overcome. Paul reminded us that in the midst of life’s trials our worry is overcome as we pray. So why pray? Because prayer draws us close to God and in his presence there is “faith, hope, and love” and in the end they are all that matters.

Practice: Take an honest look at my prayer life this week asking if I pray, why I pray, what I am expecting and experiencing. Then commit myself to a designated time to pray each day for the rest of this week.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 9- Week 4 Witness

Word: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” Acts 2:44-47

Reflection: An Evangelistic Church

The early church was at its heart an evangelistic church. They understood their primary purpose was to bear witness to the love of God in Christ for the purpose of reaching new people, relating them to Christ, and incorporating them into the “Body of Christ”. That desire was the motivation for all they did. They ministered to those in need as a social witness, they had joyful worship, they publically praised God in everything they did, and they met in homes and invited people to their tables. They conducted their lives and ministry in such a way that they were described as having “the goodwill of all the people”, and as a result new people were added daily. The amazing thing is that they wanted to grow and designed everything they did to that end. The same was true in the early days of the Methodist movement. It was at its heart and evangelistic church whose primary purpose was to bring new people into a saving relationship with Jesus.

Today it is questionable in many of our churches whether or not we want to grow. It’s not that we don’t want to grow in our own relationship to God, which in fact has become our primary purpose. The church exists for us, the insiders, to meet our spiritual needs and to nurture our children in faith. But, Do you know how many youth ministers I’ve seen run off because they started bringing in kids from the “neighborhood”; how many pastors are criticized for spending too much time with “new people”; how many people that complain when a church manages to start growing, “I don’t like it because I don’t know half the people here anymore.” I can’t tell you how many churches I’ve visited who have no greeters out front to welcome and accompany people, no means and plan to find visitors when they leave, no intentional effort to keep a visitor from sitting alone, much less any intentional outreach to the community or planned design of worship styles to accommodate younger or unchurched adults. Our services require insider knowledge to participate without embarrassment, and our preaching too often lacks an invitation to a relationship with Christ. Our fellowship groups are effectively but not officially closed to outsiders, and our budgets are heavily weighted to serving those who are members instead of reaching those who aren’t. In short, we’ve stopped being an evangelistic church, and as our faithful die off and our children grow up and find other more relevant places to worship we find ourselves in decline. We’ve forgotten our purpose and lost our way and if we can’t return to a place where we value those on the outside of our churches more than we value ourselves we are doomed to die a slow death. Jesus made it clear our purpose was to make disciples in all places and that disciples were those who were willing to deny themselves for a greater purpose. The question we need to ask our communities is what is our church’s “witness”? How do those on the outside see us?

Practice: Take and honest look at my church’s ministry, worship style, budget, outreach program, hospitality ministry, and ask, “For whom do we exist”? What is our primary purpose here? How can we change it?

10 Timeless Values Devotional: September Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 9- Week 3 Witness

Word: “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me’. Now Philip was from the city of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathaniel said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” John 1:43-46

Reflection: Friendship Evangelism

Witness is for the purpose of evangelism. What we witness to is the good news of Jesus Christ in hopes of bringing others into a saving relationship with God through Christ. The problem in our churches today is that the word evangelism conjures up images of “cold calling” (knocking on strangers doors asking if they died tonight do they know where they would end up- to which an unchurched friend I cultivated a relationship with responded, “down at the funeral home, I’ve already made my arrangements”), passing out tracts (with really scary comic book images of grim reapers or demons), strange loud people on street corners with signs and bullhorns, or putting up signs in my yard that read, “Jesus is coming soon, are you ready?” We still ask pastors in the ordination service Wesley’s historic question, “Will you visit house to house?”, but it is a very different day where you better have some thick skin if you want to do door to door sales. While pure percentages say that if you knock on enough doors sooner or later somebody will buy what you are selling (the Mormon theory), I’m not sure that was the original Biblical model for evangelism.

In the New Testament, the first witnesses to Jesus didn’t go to street corners or strangers doors; they went to their friends and family to share what they had experienced. Peter went and told his brother Andrew and Philip went and found his friend Nathaniel. And all they did was offer a simple invitation to come and see for themselves and make up their own mind. The only reason they accepted the invitation to “come and see” was the relationship they had to the one who invited them. Out of relationships trust is built and an openness to listen is developed. Think about it this way; if I come out of the store and somebody put a flyer for new restaurant on my car window I’m not that likely to eat there. But, if my friend says, “hey I went to that new restaurant and it was great, do you want to go with me tomorrow?”, then there is a good chance I’ll go to try it out.

One of the problems we have in the church is that all often our friends and family are already in the church. What is missing is the intentional cultivation of relationships with new people with whom I might share my faith over time. These days few of us know our neighbors next door much less three doors down, and haven’t made any effort to introduce ourselves or welcome a new family when we see the moving truck down the street. These days, evangelism and witness is all about relationship building, a consistent witness over time by word and deed, and simple invitations to “come and see” for yourself.

Practice: This week pay attention at work to who I see often but I’ve never tried to get to know and walk through my neighborhood and see how many homes there are near me whose occupants I’ve never met. Pray over the faces and places and ask God to put on my heart who to try and meet and for the courage to do it.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: September Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 9- Week 2 Witness

Word: “Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they to call on one whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?” Romans 10:13-14

“What good is it brothers and sisters if you say you have faith but do not have works? . . . Show me your faith apart from your works and I by my works will show you my faith.” James 2:14, 18

Reflection: Words and Deeds

Congruence is a critical virtue for our witness. One of the criticisms leveled at those of us in the church by those outside of it is there is a lack of congruence in too many of us. In other words, we say one thing and do something else. What that leads to is a lack of credibility and ultimately to a lack of trust. And without trust, I can influence no one. Why would I believe what you say if you aren’t doing it yourself? Jesus asked the same question of many would be followers in his own day, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?” He also commented, “By their fruits you will know them.” If we talk about grace, but act judgmentally, or talk about forgiveness, but bear grudges will anyone believe what I say? Because we have experienced that in others, I think many of us are hesitant to talk about our faith for fear that we aren’t living it well enough to have credibility ourselves. As a result many of us who follow Jesus have satisfied our guilt over not “witnessing” by simply saying, “I’ll let my life do the talking.” Now don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather people live the faith and not talk about it than talk about it and not live it, but an effective witness has do to both. If we do good things and live in a certain moral way but never tell anyone my motive and ability to do so is because Christ lives in me, then I’m just a good person and people admire me. However, Jesus said, “let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.” But, how can God get the glory if no one knows that my good works are the result of what He has done in me and my desire to please him as a result? I love the story in Acts 4 about how Peter and John, empowered by the Holy Spirit began to boldly speak about Jesus. Verse 13 says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.” What made people pay attention to their words was their actions. The question for us as witnesses is, can people hear us speak and see our transformed lives and recognize that we are companions of Jesus? It will take both our words and our actions and a consistency between the two to make us a credible witness.

Practice: Take some time for self-examination this week and see what changes I need to make in my life in order to give credibility to my witness. At the same time, look for an opportunity to tell someone what motivates and enables me to do what I do.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: September Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 9- Week 1 Witness

Word: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” I John 1:3

Reflection: Our Vows

A couple of years ago, those who are responsible for such things decided that we needed a revision in the liturgy for joining the church. For years the question asked of candidates was, “As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service?” Now we have added a fifth responsibility for church members, “your witness”. I’m not sure what that says about us that we never felt the need to have witness as part of our commitment to being a member of the church. Could it be that we were so focused on making church members that are committed to the support of the institution that we forgot that our primary mission was to reach out and make new disciples of all nations? After all, good church members should pray for each other, come together for worship and fellowship, give of our money, time, and talent to support and serve the church. But in reality, all of those things are inwardly focused as we work on our own relationship to God and minister to each other. Could it have been that finally we woke up and realized our church was in steady decline primarily because we had become so inwardly focused that we had long forgotten that our primary mission was to reach out to bring new people into a relationship with Christ? Maybe it is not a mystery why 40% of all United Methodist Churches didn’t have one profession of faith last year. Maybe we had forgotten to teach people that Jesus and the early church equated being a member of the “Body of Christ (church) with being a disciple and being a disciple meant being a witness for Christ.

Many of us would define a disciple as one who follows Jesus and that is true. Jesus however invited people to follow him in order to make them into “fishers of people”, disciples who are intentionally trying to bring other people to Jesus. What led to the explosion of growth in the early church was when people had a life changing encounter with Jesus and an infilling of his Spirit they could not help but go and tell and show others what they had experienced. The writer of I John said that we witness to what we’ve experienced in our own life so other people can share the experience and become part of our “fellowship”. Think about how often we “witness” to our experience at a new restaurant, golf course, ball game, or with a new technological gadget, television show or movie so that people might share that experience with us. Is it that our relationship with Christ doesn’t have that big of an impact on our own lives, or have we been so immersed in a culture where faith is privatized that the sharing of it is thought to be an unwelcome intrusion into the lives of others? It is time to recapture the idea that to follow Jesus is to be transformed into a witness for Him.

Practice: Pay particular attention this week to what you find yourself talking to people about. What experiences are you sharing and with whom. Consider a renewal of your membership vows that include a commitment to witness.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: August- Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 8- Week 4 Justice

Word: “Hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” Hosea 12:6

“I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight.” Jeremiah 9:24

Reflection: Justice and Love

One of the principle differences I see between the Old and New Testaments is a shift in the primary ethic for life. In the Old Testament that ethic is justice, based on a theology of a just God. The basic question a person would ask before any action would be, “is it just?” In the New Testament however, the primary ethic for life is love, based on a theology of a loving God manifest in Jesus. I John said, “God is love”, and Jesus said the greatest commandment was “to love God and neighbor”. What is interesting is that Jesus said that he didn’t come to abolish the law (a relationship with God based on justice), but to fulfill it or to bring it to its full intention (a relationship with God based on love). So in Jesus we find that justice and love are inseparable, in fact they manifest in his life and death. I John says we know what love is by the fact that Jesus died for us, but we know that Jesus died for us to pay the penalty for our sin (love and justice held together).

God never separates love and justice and he calls us to “hold fast” to both, to “do justice and to love kindness”. Our world has been and always will be (at least until the Kingdom comes in fullness) full of unjust systems and people driven by greed, power, pride, and self-centeredness. It is why Jesus could safely say, “the poor you will always have with you”. Jesus came to break down strongholds of oppression and exploitation; he fed the hungry, cast out demons, healed the sick, broke down walls of division, and gave value and worth to all people regardless of race, gender, economics, or religion. In other words, out of love he sought to establish justice. For Jesus, to live out the law of love was to do justice. Love for him was an action and not limited to those who loved you (that would be just), but even to love your enemies.

If you think about it, love without justice is not really love is it? Is it loving as a parent to have no accountability (justice) for our children? Is it loving as a church to teach people that God loves them without also teaching people that God holds us accountable for our actions? James would ask, “is it loving to see people who are hungry and say God bless you, God loves you, but not feed them”? Is it loving for a nation to be unwilling to enter a “just war” on behalf of people who are suffering genocide? For those of us who live under grace we do so because Jesus lived under justice and as result we will forever have to hold them together in our understanding of God and the living of our lives as His children.

Practice: Take time to thank God for his love that sent Jesus to fulfill his justice on our behalf. Then pay attention to situations where you have to hold love and justice together in my own life.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: August- Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 8- Week 3 Justice

Word: “The point is this, the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and the one who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” 2 Corinthians 9:6

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did to the least of these who are members of my family, you did to me.” Matthew 25:40

Reflection: Consequences

As we’ve already looked at the last two weeks, the Old Testament is grounded in a theology of God’s justice. In fact, this is so basic to the nature of God it is revealed in the creation and natural law. Isaac Newton’s 3^rd law of motion says, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” You could call that the law of consequences (justice). But, we know this is also found in the New Testament. Paul called it the “law of sowing and reaping”. It simply said that because God is just, there are consequences to our actions, direct correlations between what we do and what we experience as a result. Remember Jesus saying things like, “you will be judged with the measure that you judge others”? No story that Jesus tells illustrates this more disturbingly than the “parable of sheep and goats” (Matthew 25:31-46). In it Jesus reminds us that because God is just we are held accountable for how we live our lives, particularly as related to the practices of justice and mercy towards the poor, hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned. (remember Micah 6:8 “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and love kindness”) According to Jesus if we act with justice and kindness by feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoners we would be blessed by God with eternal reward, but if we didn’t we would be held accountable. The disturbing thing about the story is that those who were held accountable and punished for not “doing justice and loving kindness” claimed that the only reason they didn’t is they failed to see the injustice and brokenness (in particular that they didn’t see Jesus suffering it). For those of us who live in the prosperity and security of America (at least those of us who live middle to upper class lives socially and economically) it is really easy to not see. It is easy to not see how many children are hungry, how many people have no health care, how many students fail to graduate, and how many people are going to prison because it’s not happening in my neighborhood. As a church that has become largely middle to upper class socially and economically we find it more convenient to move our church when the neighborhood changes, to move our youth minister when he/she reaches out to kids “not like ours”, to budget far more to sustain ourselves than to our mission and outreach.

I love our theology of grace in the United Methodist Church, but I think we need to be reminded there is a theology of justice. There is accountability for how we live individually and corporately. We need to remember we will reap what we sow and we will be judged as we judge.

Practice: Make a particular effort to pay attention to where there is suffering due to injustice and inequality in our own community. Take a look at my church budget and see how it lines up with the parable of sheep and goats.

10 Timeless Values Devotional August- Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 8- Week 2 Justice

Word: “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” Proverbs 21:3

“Is not this the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your home;” Isaiah 58:6-7

“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

Reflection: True Worship

At the heart of every religion is worship. If God is God, He is worthy to be worshiped. Nowhere is this truer than with Israel. At the heart of their corporate life as the people of God was a dedicated practice of worship. Through their system of sacrifice they expressed thanksgiving, praise, and contrition and as a result experienced a right relationship with God. In Israel, worship went back to their understanding of not only an almighty God, but also a just God. If God had blessed you, you should bless God in return. If you did wrong against God, payment must be made to put it right. All because they understood God as just.

Over time, one of Israel’s critical mistakes in their relationship with God was the worship became a substitute for ethics. As long as you kept the feast and festivals, carried out the right rituals, and offered the right sacrifices, it didn’t really matter how you lived. In the midst of their blindness to their own actions or idolatry, exploitation of the poor, and other acts of injustice, the prophets began to preach a repeated message; God is more concerned with justice than with worship. In fact, they taught that to live out justice and kindness was in itself an act of worship that honored God more than ritual. When Israel cried out to God in complaint that they were worshiping as prescribed, but not being blessed, God spoke through Isaiah that the worship he desired was for them to live justly. Micah’s famous pronouncement to the people was that the only thing God required to be in right relationship with Him was, “to do justice and love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.”

This idea carried over into life of the early church. James wrote to the church, “religion that is pure and undefiled before God is to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27) John Wesley in beginning the Methodist movement put a great emphasis on personal holiness and the practice of spiritual disciplines towards that end, but always added that, “there is no holiness but social holiness”. Hence the Methodist movement was at the heart of justice issues among the poor and imprisoned the sick and mistreated. While worship is a critical part of what we do in the church, we cannot forget that what honors God most is how we are “doing justice and loving kindness” in our community.

Practice: This week seek to spend as much time doing some act of justice as I do in private & public worship

10 Timeless Values Devotional- August: Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 8- Week 1 Justice

Word: “For the Lord is a God of Justice; blessed are those who wait for him.” Isaiah 30:18

“The Lord is just in all his ways” Psalm 145:17

Reflection: The Nature of God

In James Michener’s book “The Source”, a novel about the history of religion, a wife comments about her husband, “If he had a different god, he’d be a different man.” The point is this, how we understand God (our theology) affects how we live our lives (our actions). This is one of the reasons good theology is so important. That means in order to talk about justice as a discipline to practice, it is important to begin looking at justice as attribute of God.

In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel’s single most defining virtue of God was justice. And because they understood God above all as just, the concept of justice affected their understanding of life itself and how it worked, as well as becoming the principle ethic from which they would live their lives. Their basic view of life under the providence of a just God was, if you are good, good things happen to you, and if you are bad, bad things happened to you (hence the great dilemma of Job, who saw himself as good but had bad things happening and was confused by his understanding of a just God). In their view, because God was perfectly just He would never do anything wrong, and because God is just He has a heart of compassion for those who suffer injustice, as well as a heart of love for those who practice justice in their own lives. This is communicated throughout the Old Testament writings. The Psalmist repeated talk about a God who loves justice and righteousness and is just in all his ways. The Law itself was seen as an extension of the nature of God and the primary ethic it demanded was to live justly. The story of the Exodus was the story of a God who saw his people experience injustice and he delivered them from it, only to see them failing to practice justice and consequently punished them through the exile. The prophets repeatedly spoke on God’s behalf a call to practice justice because they represented a just God.

Justice as the nature of God is not just limited to the Old Testament. While Jesus came as the primary revelation of God and moved us to an understanding of God as love, that love was grounded in and manifested through justice. In Luke 4 when Jesus is beginning his ministry, he chooses to read to the people a verse from Isaiah and say it would be fulfilled in him, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”(justice) He promised a divine reversal when the “last would be first and the first would be last”. Jesus life and teaching reflected a God who was just, who loved justice, and who expected people to practice justice. In the church, as followers of Jesus who appropriately ground our understanding of God in His love, it is important that we do not forget His justice and what that means for our lives and ministries as reflections of Him.

Practice: Take time this week to think about ways I have experienced God as just and look for ways that I may be failing to live justly in my own life.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: July Week 4- Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 7- Week 4 Fellowship

Word: “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

Reflection: Peer Learning & Accountability

In medical and academic circles, a fellowship is sometimes defined as “a period of training after residency”. In the church we could apply that same idea to fellowship. Fellowship is a critical spiritual discipline after deciding to follow Jesus. It is the place of ongoing learning, support, and growth. What is embedded in that model is an understanding that growth is an ongoing process and we are never done (which is also consistent with our understanding of salvation and sanctification). One of the things that happened in many long established United Methodist churches is that we evolved into a system designed to make “church members” and not disciples and as a result there is little expectation and no accountability for members. That also means there is little disciple making going on.

Traditional churches with a “professional minister model” do follow the early church model in a focus on “apostolic teaching”, and certainly that is an important part of discipleship. But, what is missing was the centerpiece of early Methodism, the “class meeting”. In our beginnings, people were discipled in “peer learning groups” where lay leaders facilitated a process of accountability for and expectation of each other to grow as followers of Jesus. Discipleship requires accountability and assumes it is not a solitary pursuit. Growth requires challenge, which means someone to answer to, someone to be honest with, and someone who loves me enough to speak the truth in love to me. That doesn’t happen when our groups are more focused on socialization and even education. When we socialize we are taught to “play nice” and “if we can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all.” (At least until we get off in the corner where we can talk about other folks). When Sunday School replaced the class meeting the focus became almost completely education and social. What was lost was the key piece of accountability for our discipleship. Today some churches are rediscovering fellowship through the development of small group ministries where people on a common journey learn from each other, support each other, and hold each other accountable. The commitment to return to our roots (in the early church and early Methodism) may well determine our future as a church.

Practice: If I am not currently in some type of fellowship/small group for discipleship. Make a commitment to find one or start one.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: July Week 3- Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 7- Week 3 Fellowship

Word: “for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:26-28

Reflection: A Close Association of Equals

One of the definitions of “fellowship” is “a close association of equals”. One of the most amazing things about the early church was the way discipleship broke down social and cultural walls that divided people. For the first time Jews and Gentiles, males and females, slaves and free, were accepted in the same group. In Christ all were of equal worth and had equal access. That is what happens in fellowship, but not in socialization. One of the reasons most of our churches are so homogenous is that we substituted socialization for fellowship and in general you socialize with people most like you. One of the criticisms of the church growth movement was that growth was based on reaching people most like you (i.e. in your “social” circles). It was an effective strategy if your main goal is to make church members. However if your goal is to make disciples of all nations it becomes problematic.

If fellowship is sharing a common journey and a common goal then where I am going is more important than whom I am with. I am willing to be with, help, and be helped by anyone who shares that goal. In J.R. Tolkien’s series, “The Lord of the Rings” one of the volumes is entitled the “Fellowship of the Ring”. In the story the common goal and journey is shared by people who never would have “socialized” together; elves, hobbits, and humans, because their common goal was more important than their differences. Some of the most effective life changing ministries in our culture are “Twelve Step Groups”. In those groups, the goal is sobriety or freedom and it doesn’t matter if you are “ditch digger” or a “doctor”, all are equal in our brokenness and our desire to be healed and free. What is often discovered in fellowship is what we share in our common humanity is far greater than the cultural differences that have been imposed upon us in the world.

One the key virtues of discipleship is humility and true Biblical fellowship is a vehicle through which it can be learned. In Fellowship, as we share a common journey and goal we learn to see all people as equals, sinners in need of grace, people created in the image of God who are trying to grow into Christ likeness. In fellowship, pride is broken, judgmentalness and prejudice overcome, all of which are critical to growing in our ability to love like Jesus loves and hence be a disciple.

Practice: Examine my “fellowship” groups to see if there is any diversity and if not, ask why not? Have a conversation in your existing group about whether your group is more fellowship or socialization.

10 Timeless Values Devotional: July Week 2- Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 7- Week 2 Fellowship

Word: “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone’;” Genesis 2:18

“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20

Reflection: Koinonia

In the Bible, the word for fellowship is “koinonia” which means the communion or the common journey. It literally means “to share in something”. In the discipline of fellowship, what is shared is the journey into discipleship. From the very beginning God recognized that we were made for community not solitude. While solitude itself is a spiritual discipline, like Sabbath, it is a discipline of abstinence or a stopping or stepping out of the normal routine of life, which is a shared journey. In the creation story, God made Eve not only as a companion in life, but a partner in his mission (caretaking the creation and living in relationship with God). Even Jesus is all his divine self-sufficiency, did not want to be alone, so as he began his mission he chose twelve other people with which to share his journey and his mission (his fellowship group). Which in itself was not the norm for spiritual leaders who commonly chose one person as a protégé to mentor to eventually take their place (remember Moses choosing Joshua and Elijah choosing Elisha). While training the twelve he never sent them out alone (at the very least two by two), and his primary promise in leaving them is that he “would not leave them as orphans (alone) and that he would “be with them always”. Remember the only thing that Jesus asked for in his suffering? “Watch with me”, do not leave me alone in this. And what ultimately broke his spirit on the cross was apparently not the physical suffering he endured, but rather that he found himself alone (“why have you forsaken me”). It seems that even in his dying he found fellowship with another man dying next to him because no one wants to die alone. We were made for community and therefore the discipline of fellowship is critical on our journey following Jesus.

If discipleship is a journey into Christ likeness and Jesus is the reflection of God and the Bible says that God is love then discipleship is a journey into learning how to love and that can only be done in fellowship. Once again remember the direction of the writer of Hebrews “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) We need other people with the same goal pushing us, and encouraging us to live in love and live out love. Jesus taught that discipleship was also a journey into obedience and the one law above all others was to “love God” and “love one another”. You can’t very well learn that without fellowship. To be in fellowship is to be with a group of people who are committed to the same goal and who are committed to helping each other reach that goal.

Practice: With whom am I on my discipleship journey? With whom do I meet regularly to “provoke to love and good deeds”? If I can’t name my fellowship group, where will I go to find or begin one?

10 Timeless Values Devotional: July- Week 1- Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”

Value 7- Week 1 Fellowship

Word: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42

Reflection: The Lost Discipline

Today some of the most dynamic churches in the world have rediscovered a basic Biblical truth about being the Church. When it comes to disciple making, less is more. Effective churches like the Acts church choose to do fewer things, but have a clear strategy and do those few things well. When the church exploded after Pentecost, the writer of Acts tells us they “devoted themselves” to only four critical practices: study, fellowship, worship, and prayer. These weren’t the only things they did, but everything else they did flowed naturally out of lives that were transformed through the four critical practices. Of those four primary practices that were critical to transforming ordinary people into extraordinary followers of Jesus, the most surprising is surely fellowship. At least as we have currently come to understand and practice it in most mainline United Methodist churches.

There is always some question as to whether our language reveals or shapes something (it is probably both). Many of us grew up in or still attend churches that had/have a “social hall”. Which was/is an appropriate name, considering it seems to me that in large part we have come to substitute social gatherings in the church for what the early church and the early Methodist would have called fellowship. The result is that fellowship as a critical discipline for disciple making has been largely lost. What happens in most social halls is socialization. Socialization is important to our humanity, it fills the need for companionship, but it doesn’t necessarily contribute to discipleship, even if it takes place in a church. Don’t get me wrong, I love family night suppers, but the best I can tell, they aren’t Biblical fellowship. As we shall see over the next three weeks, they lack intentional community, accountability, a common destination, encouragement, and admonishment. In short, there is little “watching over one another in love” that characterized the early Methodist class meeting (their version of fellowship). This misunderstanding of fellowship is one reason that it has become a commonly held belief that you don’t have to be a part of a church to be a Christian. The need for socialization is filled elsewhere. Lest this sound too critical of the church today, it has apparently always been easy to neglect this critical discipline. The writer of Hebrews had to remind the early Christians, “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) Today many people who are serious about following Jesus are rediscovering fellowship as they find their way back into small groups who meet regularly to “watch over one another in love”.

Practice: This week read Acts 2:42-47 and review your church’s ministry of “fellowship” through that model and see if you are really practicing the Biblical discipline of “fellowship”.

10 Timeless Values Devotional Guide- June Week 4: Fasting

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 6- Week 4 Fasting

Word: “Then the disciples of John came to him saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” Matthew 9:14-15

Reflection: Feasting

Fasting is not a particularly popular discipline because we associate it only with emptying, self-denial, hunger, and suffering. It helps to understand that for fasting to be effective spiritually, it must be combined with feasting. When we fast, we are intentionally creating a void that must be filled. The intentionality we give to how we fill the void we create is as important as creating it in the first place. We fast for a spiritual purpose, therefore we must fill the void with a spiritual replacement or something worse will seek to fill the void (Luke 11:24-26).

When Jesus was fasting in the wilderness and was tempted to fill the emptiness created by his fast, he responded, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) Jesus fasted from food and filled the void by feasting on God’s word. This is why we have historically always associated fasting with prayer. Through the discipline of fasting we empty ourselves of the temptation for constant self fulfilment in order to make room to fill ourselves with God. While we sometimes think we can pray without fasting (though true fervent effective prayer probably requires fasting of some sort, whether from words, people or the need to be in control) we cannot effectively fast without praying. In my experience, fasting without spiritually feasting only leaves me irritable and frustrated. To fast without feasting is to have the wrong motive and to lose the value of the discipline. Jesus witnessed that in the Pharisees and in response taught his disciples, “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who sees in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18) The reward Jesus refers to is not credit on a ledger but rather His presence in filling the emptiness the fast has created. (don’t forget that secrecy may be an important discipline to combine with fasting and prayer) We fast, in order that we may feast, for as Mother Teresa reminded us, “Even Almighty God cannot fill what is already full”.

Practice:

This week focus on the feasting side of my fast. With what am I filling the void my fast is creating. Be intentional about combining your fast with scripture, prayer, and secrecy.

10 Timeless Values Devotional Guide- June Week 3: Fasting

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 6- Week 3 Fasting

Word: “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is not water.” Psalm 63:1

Reflection: Emptying

Mother Teresa once said, “Even Almighty God cannot fill what is already full. We must be empty if we want God to fill us with His fullness.” Our lives and hence our hearts are filled with too much stuff. This is what Jesus was constantly teaching. It was his point with the “rich young man” who came to him seeking eternal life” only to be told he needed to empty himself of his possessions and to follow him. It was the point of the “parable of the sower and seed”. The word cannot take root in a heart that is full of worry and the “cares of the world”; it is like a seed trying to grow among thorns and is choked out. It was what he wanted Martha to learn when he told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.” It was the main point Jesus was teaching when he said that those who wanted to follow him must learn “self-denial”.

The discipline of fasting is for the purpose of emptying. When we fast our intention is to create space for God to speak, to live, and to satisfy. As Jesus told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.” (John 4:13) Too often we associate fasting only with food, but the discipline of fasting for emptying ourselves invites us to fast from other things. The disciplines of solitude and silence are fasting from people and words for the purpose of becoming quiet enough to hear God speak in the “still small voice” of our hearts. What about pursuing the virtue of humility by fasting from the need to be right all the time or have the “last word”. Paul advised Timothy to “abstain from senseless quarrels and controversies”, in other words to fast from bickering over insignificant things. To practice Sabbath is to fast from work, not just to rest, but to be reminded that for all our striving God is ultimately in control of the outcome. The practice of de-accumulation or giving things away is an act of fasting things (how often are we buying things we already have that are perfectly functional?). As we can see there are many actions from which we fast that can help us empty ourselves in order to make room for God.

Practice:

This week try setting aside a day or at least an hour or two for solitude and silence (fast from words and people). Look for other actions or attitudes I can make an intentional effort from which to fast in order to make room for God and practice “imitating Christ.”

10 Timelsss Values Devotional Guide- June Week 2: Fasting

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 6- Week 2 Fasting

Word: “Is not this the fast I choose; . . . . to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.” Isaiah 58:6

Reflection: Self-Examination

It appears that we are losing our ability to be self-reflective. It may be related to the pace of our lives (why Sabbath is an important discipline), we stay busy so we don’t have to look closely at ourselves or allow God to “search our hearts”. Or it could the result of our submission to self-indulgence (the reason gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins). As long I yield to every desire, I rarely see what power those desire hold over me. At any rate, for many of us, self-examination is not one of our strengths. One of the principle purposes of fasting is self-examination. Prior too many medical examinations and testing we are required to fast for a certain length of time. The purpose is to allow the exam or the test to get a clear view of what cannot be seen from the outside. We fast for lab work so that the result are not masked or skewed by what we have taken into our system. A fast for spiritual purposes carries much the same logic. When we choose to deny ourselves something for a period of time, one of the first things that is revealed is how much power it has over us. In a fast from food, we quickly find that our body rebels and begins to demand to be indulged. The interesting thing is how the body begins reacting to what time it is (mealtime, snack time, etc) as opposed a real nutritional need. What we discover is we do many things without thinking about them. If we fast from television we quickly discover how much time it occupies and how much we depend on it to “entertain us” without effort. A quick and interesting experiment for those of us controlled by time and the pace of life is to simply leave our watch off and see how often we ourselves looking at our wrist. An intentional fast from “gossip” or being “judgmental” may reveal how much we focus on the flaws and failure of others. We are unconsciously under the power of many things. To fast is the first step in self-examination and the revealing of strongholds in our lives. Only when the things that control us are indentified can we begin the process of breaking free. Often our strongholds are spiritually rooted and we naively think about things as simply bad habits or a lack of self-control. The Bible speaks of fasting as a weapon in spiritual warfare. “Why could we not cast it out? He said to them, ‘This kind can come out only through prayer and fasting’.” (Mark 9:29) One of the keys to Jesus success in the spiritual life (doing the will of God) was the regular practicing of the disciplines of abstinence. Through them he was able to see more clearly not just outward actions, but inward motives and to therefore to live freely into the will of God for his life. The same is true for those who follow him.

Practice:

Prayerfully ask God to search my hearts and begin to reveal things that have power over my life. Pick a fast from a certain practice or action, write it down and carry it where I will regularly be reminded. See how often I find myself instinctively drawn to that action or habit.

10 Timeless Values Devotional Guide June Week 1: Fasting

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 6- Week 1 Fasting

Word: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

Reflection: Self-Denial

Discipleship in our culture is particularly difficult. Ours is a culture of self-indulgence. We have grown accustomed to having what we want, when we want it. We expect everything to operate 24/7 for our convenience so we don’t have to wait for anything. As a culture that thrives on consumer credit, we have been taught that we can have anything we want, even if we can’t afford it. Our tendency toward self-indulgence has fed a society rampant with addiction, sexual immorality, broken relationships, and crippling debt. However, it is obviously unfair to blame this solely on our environment; we after all are the culture. This has always been the human condition. Genesis begins with a story humanity’s struggle with self-indulgence, for even when Adam and Eve had everything they needed for a full life, they couldn’t resist the only thing denied them.

Because of our tendency toward self-indulgence, Jesus taught that self-denial was a fundamental characteristic of discipleship. To follow Jesus inevitably would mean to learn deny self for a greater purpose beyond ourselves. To achieve this virtue, disciplines of abstinence are critical. We’ve already looked as Sabbath as one of those disciplines. Another of the disciplines of abstinence is the timeless value of fasting. Historically it has been the principle discipline by which self-denial is learned. Richard Foster says fasting is “choosing to deny ourselves something there is nothing otherwise wrong with in order to learn to avoid indulgence in sinful or destructive things.” To be effective in discipling us, fasting must be voluntary, something we choose to do when we don’t have to; it is most effective when abstaining from something that is normal not destructive; and it must be for a spiritual purpose (to grow in discipleship). Apparently Jesus assumed fasting would be a part or the disciple’s life for the said in the Sermon on the Mount, “When you fast . . . (not if)”.

It seems fasting should be one of the first disciplines we are taught to practice in a life of discipleship and yet it has become one rarely taught or practiced and one that requires a certain maturity. The great cyclist Lance Armstrong was once asked why cyclist are in their prime in the 30’s as compared other sports. His reply was, “It takes years to learn to suffer.” It takes years of practice to learn self-denial, and fasting is a critical exercise in the process, a timeless value of the faith for which there is no substitute.

Practice:

This week choose something from which to fast over this entire month. If your health allows it, begin with food. We are after all, a culture addicted to food. Make a commitment to fast one day a week or one meal a day. Pay attention to how much your mind and body demand that you indulge yourself and how much discipline it requires to not yield to the desire.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional Guide: Value 5- Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 5- Week 4 Communion

Word: “They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . . Day by day they spent much time together in the temple; they broke bread from house to house.” Acts 2:42, 44

“But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall.”

Ephesians 2:13-14

Devotion: Oneness

John tells us that on the night before Jesus died he prayed for his disciples and for all who would come to believe (the Church) that they may be one. He said our oneness with him and with each other would be the testimony to the truth about who he is. I believe it is a prayer he is still praying and one that sadly is not yet answered. Still today in the church we are divided by so many things: doctrine and theology, politics and polity, race and socio-economics, worship styles and mission focus; not to mention our personal and family conflicts that bleed over into our congregations. We are so divided that it is no wonder there are so many on the outside that have no desire to be part of us.

Paul said that in his death, Jesus has broken down the dividing walls between us. Few places in the life of the church is that experienced more than at the communion table. The old saying is that “the ground is level at the foot of the cross” and when we kneel at the table, the cross looms before us. At the open table all are welcome and we are invited not by merit, but by grace.

Few things are more personal to us than to eat together and it is more personal still when we eat from the same plate and drink from the same cup. Something that most of us would resist outside the church, we welcome at the table. The beautiful prayer in our liturgy for the breaking of the bread says, “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.”

One of the amazing characteristics of the early church in the book of Acts was its diversity. As Paul put it, “there are no longer male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for all are one in Christ Jesus.” The table was a part of the early church’s life together every time they gathered. Nothing else had the power to break down the religious, ethnic, and cultural barriers that were so deeply ingrained in them. The same remains true today. Unlike the world, at the communion table, money, power, position, or name mean nothing and open no doors, for Christ has opened the door for all who would come “seeking to live in peace with one another”.

The table then is more than an act of remembering what Christ has done or experiencing anew what Christ is doing, it is also where we get a foretaste of God’s future and what the Kingdom in its fullness will be when all are one in Christ and our prayer is answered: “make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world.”

Practice: Ask God at the table this week to break me of all pride and prejudice and to give me eyes to see all people like God sees them.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional Guide: Value 5- Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 5- Week 3 Communion

Word: “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” Luke 22:17-19

Devotion: Thanksgiving

The question I ask myself every time I come to the table for Holy Communion is the simple yet profound question Jesus once asked a man, “What can a man give in exchange for his life?” At the table I am confronted with the overwhelming truth that Jesus died to give me life. He traded his life for mine. At the table, the answer only answer I can give to the question “What can a man give in exchange for his life?” is thanksgiving. What Jesus has given is a gift that is priceless and can’t be earned or repaid. Paul said it best, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:23)

Because of that truth, Holy Communion is also appropriately known as the Holy Eucharist or the meal of thanksgiving. The name comes from the Greek word eucharistia which means gratitude or giving thanks. It is appropriate that the main part of the Communion liturgy is called “The Great Thanksgiving”. The root word for eucharistia is the word charis or grace. So Holy Communion is the meal of grace. Grace of course is the unmerited, undeserved love of God, a gift! Since God’s love in Christ is a gift, I am not expected to earn or deserve it, but only to be moved by it, grateful for it, and to respond by loving God in return (“we love because God first loved us”). That is the primary reason as United Methodist we practice an “open table”. At Christ’s table, all are welcome for he offered his life that everyone who desired could be restored to a right and loving relationship with God our Father. John Wesley believed in taking Communion as often as he could because he believed it to be a “means of grace”. The table becomes a place where we can experience the unconditional love of God for us over and over again.

If thanksgiving is all that we can give in exchange for the gift of our lives, then what does thanksgiving look like in us. It is more than words we say, it is an attitude of our hearts and out of our hearts flow our words and actions. To live with thanksgiving as a primary motivation for all that we do brings graciousness and humility to our lives and through us into the lives of others. How powerful is the table for shaping our hearts and our lives into that of gracious love for God and in turn for our neighbor.

Practice:

This week when I take Holy Communion as myself the question, “What can I give in exchange for my life?” Then each night review my day for ways in which I succeeded or failed at living thankfully and graciously.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional Guide: Value 5- Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 5- Week 2 Communion

Word: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him;” Luke 24:30-31

Reflection: Experience

Last week we talked about the importance of memory to relationships and how in the sacrament of communion Jesus offered us a shared memory as the foundation for our relationship with him. While memory is critical to relationships, it is however difficult for memory alone to sustain a relationship forever. Over time we hunger for a renewed experience of the relationship, not just to remember when we were together, but to be with each other again. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were struggling with so much grief and loss of hope that they were struggling to remember anything beyond that. With what appeared to be nothing left but memory of what was, they had no joy in the present and little hope for the future. The tragedy was that even though Jesus was with them in the present moment on the road that day their lives were so preoccupied with the pain of the past and uncertainty of the future that they could not recognize him and were robbed of the joyful experience of him in the present. Life is often like that even for the most devoted follower of Jesus. Our lives can become so full of past hurts, present demands, and anxiety over the future that though we know Jesus promised “to be with us always”, we can find it very hard to recognize and experience his presence beside us. The memory of his love for us can warm our hearts and sustain us for a time, but we get hungry for a new experience of his presence. As an act of worship, communion is more than an act of remembering, like the first disciples at the Emmaus table, it is an opportunity for our “eyes to be opened” and to “recognize him” with us in the “breaking of the bread”. At the table we don’t just hear and remember, we experience through touch, sight, and taste. As we rise, walk, kneel, receive, eat, and drink it becomes an intimate experience of His presence. As the old story of the little boy asked if he knew what communion meant so simply and profoundly puts it, “It is when the Jesus on the outside becomes the Jesus on the inside.” It is when the Jesus of our memory becomes the Jesus of our present moment. The first disciples discovered that though the experience lasted but a moment, that moment was enough to renew their faith, recover their joy, restore their hope so they could begin their journey once again proclaiming the timeless truth, “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.” So we come to the table every time expectant that we will meet him there and our relationship will be renewed and it will sustain us for our journey.

Practice: Come to the communion table this week with a focus on expectancy. Look for the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread, the face of a child or older adult at the table with you, the touch of a hand. Listen for his voice in the words, prayers, or silence of your hearts as you kneel at the table.

Ten Timeless Values Devotional Guide: Value 5- Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Martin) — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Value 5- Week 1 Communion

Word: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

I Corinthians 11:23-26

Reflection: Remembering

Memory is a critical part of relationships because they are built on shared experience. Every time we are apart it is memory that sustains the relationship and every time we are together we are building on the foundation of the memory of past shared experience. It is why we celebrate birthdays and anniversaries to experience through memory the joy a gift received in the relationship. It is the same reason we build memorials, so we don’t forget the contributions or sacrifices others made that enable our lives to be what they are today. The richness that memory offers to relationships is what makes diseases like Alzheimer’s that rob people of memory so tragic. While a person is not lost to us because we remember what we have shared, we are lost to them because they can’t. This is why worship is always building a relationship through an act of remembering. Through Word, song, creed, and sacrament we remember the love God has for us through what God has done, experience again the love of God by celebrating what God is doing, and count on the unfailing love of God by looking to the future securely as we remember that God has promised to love us always.

There is no act of worship that more powerfully conveys the love of God through remembering than the sacrament of Holy Communion. When Jesus was about to go away, he established for his followers an act of remembrance to sustain them in his absence, so they would never forget the depth of his love for them. As disciples of Jesus brought into an intimate relationship with God through Christ, we too become part of a shared experience of his love in this sacrament. In remembering we recreate and relive the experience and His love for us becomes real and tangible again and again. At the table, through the elements, we touch, taste, see, and smell in the moment, but it is the memory of what they represent that turns it into an experience of being loved. Apart from this sacrament we run the risk of an ever creeping spiritual dementia that robs us of the richness and depth of the love of God for us in Christ Jesus. What a gift of memory that Jesus left for us.

Practice:

Find an opportunity to experience the sacrament of communion at least weekly this month and imagine yourself at that first table and at the cross and in so doing, focus on remembering how much you are loved.