my Barbaric YAWP - A Youth Pastor's Blog

Another week and catechism memory

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:43:00 +0000

It's late and I'm studying now for two exams that I'll take Thursday. I had originally planned on taking the Sacraments exam this Thursday, but after a meeting with one of the pastors in our presbytery, I was encouraged to go ahead and knock out the Bible exam, as I have it basically down. If I can get in a good night of studying tonight and then all day tomorrow, I should be able to nail it.

One thing that has been impressed upon me during this process is the greatest of the Westminster documents. I know some may be offended by that, as they are indeed man-made and imperfect documents. They obviously don't replace Scripture as the only authority for our faith and practice. That said, you can't beat them for a concise and very clear summary of our basic Christ beliefs.

As I have prepared for my exams, I have taken to memorizing the Shorter Catechism. Frankly, I don't know what I would have done without it. Not only has it given me the right language in forming my answers, but it has helped me to consolidate all that I believe to be true. It isn't that I haven't read it before or even studied it, because I have. There is something to memorizing it that makes it that much more clear and applicable. I find myself quoting it often.

It has also spoken much to the important of Scripture memory. If a man-made document with imperfections can speak to me so loudly, how much more than can God's holy word speak to me and change me. As the WSC says, the Word is made effectual in building us up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation. What great truth!

I have often shunned Scripture memory because of bad experiences in college and simple rebellion against the system, but there are few things more that I believer could do to be strengthened in his faith than to commit God's Word to memory.

So, two exams Thursday. I'll also be turning in my exegesis of Psalm 42 and 43, which became a labor of love and a paper I actually enjoyed. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing...and it's not a train.

Exam #1 Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:59:00 +0000

I sat down on Thursday morning at 8:30 AM to begin the Theology exam for ordination. I completed the exam at 4:30 PM. That was officially one of the hardest mental challenges of my life.

I knew my stuff fairly well, though I could have done better. All in all, it was a great experience that left me not only mentally spent, but also physically and emotionally as well.

For this week, I have to complete an exegesis paper. I am doing it on Psalm 42-43 - a text that I wrote a paper on in seminary and I'll rework to make it more like an exegesis paper. I didn't have the fortune of training with the writing of these papers, but I have friends who did, and they have lent me copies of their papers to copy their structure (not content obviously).

I chose to do the exegesis paper in Hebrew, since that is the freshest on my mind now. With that, I'll have to do my sermon out of the New Testament. Since I am preaching on July 4th already, I plan to use that sermon for my ordination sermon. Here's for killing two birds with one stone.

Next week, I will take my second exam - the Sacraments. This should be a bit of a break - not that I'm an expert, but its because the material is more specific and easier to study for.

Still plugging away at this. It is going to be hard, but the reward is becoming more and more apparent.

The Big Day - Exam #1

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:03:00 +0000

Tomorrow I take the first of five ordination exams. I am taking the theology exam first, as I have just finished memorizing the majority of the catechism, along with just finishing a course on the Reformed Faith. The knowledge is relatively fresh in my mind, and seeing as this exam is often spoke of as the most difficult, I chose to go ahead and get it out of the way.

I can't believe this moment is already here. I remember starting this whole business about 5 years ago thinking, "There is no way I can ever get through this." In my haste, I even proposed a method to possible get ordained without ever having gone to seminary. The worst part, I honestly believed that I could pull it off.

In all likelihood, had I been given the chance, I probably could have. I have discovered, however, that this process isn't just about passing exams to get you "in". A host of people could do that. The process, in a sense, is part of the exam. The process of going through school and finishing all the reading and writing is a trial in and of itself. I'm thankful for having gone through it now and I can't imagine what my life would be like without the experience of seminary. Granted, I did it much different than most (having gone through RTS Virtual) but I did it nonetheless.

Tomorrow will be tough, but I'm ready. I won't get it all right, but I know my stuff and I look forward to being able to show that on paper.

There is even a softball game after the game (provided I finish in enough time) so that will be a great way to wind down - at least if I don't get beaned in the head again.

Another week down

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:00:00 +0000

I'm continuing to study and finish up things. I just found out I made a 99% in one of my last classes, which is obviously a good thing. I honestly spent 3 hours writing the paper for that class (8 page book report/analysis/synthesis) and turned it in thinking I didn't care what I made on it. And, I made a 97%. With that, my goal of achieving a 3.5 GPA in seminary is closer to real, but not solidified. I'm waiting for my ITS paper and final grade, which should be in soon.

Then there's Hebrew. Hebrew II may be the class that side-swipes me from achieving my goal. It isn't that GPA is all that important in seminary, but it's just a personal goal that I wanted to do to prove to myself that I'm better than the 2.9 I pulled in undergrad. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

I have a mid-term in Hebrew this week, and next week is my first ordination exam. In studying for it, I'm finding it to be much more broad in scope than I ever could have guessed. The funny thing is that there isn't anything on the exam that I don't know, it's just so much information that I don't know if I'll be able to get it all out for the exam. And after 3 or 4 hours on one test, I don't know if my brain will melt.

That's next week, so we'll see. Until then, back to the books.

In Process

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:06:00 +0000

I'm a terrible blogger...

I am currently in the middle of finishing my classwork and studying for exams. I didn't finish as early as I would have liked, but that is what it is.

I have a date with a Credentials sub-committee on August 19 for thorough examination, and a meeting with the whole committee on September 2 for my sermon and other questioning. The presbytery meeting in which I am hoping to be ordained at is September 21. This week I have the last paper I'll write for seminary other than my thesis. I have to finish Hebrew still, which is going well, considering I didn't look at it for weeks.

All in all, things are good. I feel like it's just heating up however. My hope is to chronicle my experience so I can look back at it sometime, and also for someone who might be wanting to know what the process is like.

2010: Looking forward.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:24:00 +0000

This year, at least seemingly from the outset, has much in store for me and the family.

First, we plan to welcome a new member into the family. Another girl. We are thrilled to have another sister join us. If you would have told me that my first three children would be girls, I would have laughed. I would have laughed because I could have never seen myself raising girls. That said, now I couldn't see myself raising boys. Funny how things switch like that. We haven't decided whether we are finished or not, so there may be a boy in our future...or another sweet princess. Time will tell.

I will also be ordained this year, Lord willing. I have a plan now to be done with my seminary training in April and graduated in June. There is a master's thesis to be worked in there someplace. Then, there are the "trials of ordination". Many exams and papers and meetings. I can't say that I'm looking forward to the process, as it will likely turn the deepening peninsula on my head into an island, but I definitely long for the end.

I have questioned my goals and motives for being ordained many times, and though there are times that my motives are dumb and my goals are ill-advised, there are those few occasions of clarity when I can say that the Lord has definitely called me into ministry and he has a great plan for me in the midst of it. I see how he has gifted me for particular areas of service and not others, and how he has continually shaped me to do what I do and to do it well.

With a new baby, seminary graduation, and ordination, I have a busy year. I've had busier. I've had simpler to be sure. All the while my Savior leads me - that is what continues to strike me as incredible. As I've walked the path the Lord has laid before me, I've seen and experienced many, many things. Though it has sucked at times, I can look back and say he's been there. There is nothing more assuring to my faith than that.

1/3 Sermon - Who is my neighbor?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:06:00 +0000

Timothy Tepas and his son Keith went to PNC Park in Pittsburg to celebrate Keith’s 21st birthday. Little did he know it would be one of the most interesting days of his whole life.
Timothy is a retired school teacher from New York and he’s also a Cardinal fan. Who can blame him? It’s only right to root for the greatest team in professional sports. His son, Keith, is also a fan of the Cardinals, and an even greater fan of Cardinals first basemen Albert Pujols. Pujols is certainly the best player in the game today and will likely go down as one of the greatest player to ever put on a uniform. Many of you know that I’m pretty nerdy when it comes to baseball stats and I could go on about Pujols’ accomplishments, but I won’t. I’ll just simply say that he is not just great – he’s in a league of his own.
So Timothy and Keith Tepas were sitting on the first base side of the field, right on the field. These seats were absolute fantastic. This was punctuated by the fact that one of the Pirates players hit a dribbler foul right along the wall. Timothy simply needed to reach over and grab the ball and he would have a great souvenir. Well…at least it should have been simple.
Timothy plopped head-first onto the field, scraping his face very badly and contorting his neck even worse. As he lay there, realizing he was basically ok but wildly embarrassed and still without a ball, he heard a voice say, “Sir, just lay back down.” It was Albert Pujols. He was the first person on the scene – he had just run over from first base. After ensuring that Mr. Tepas was okay, Pujols then comforted his son Keith who was standing there in horrified shock.
You see, comforting Keith was Albert Pujols’ primary concern. Keith immediately drew the attention of Pujols because Keith has Down syndrome. This drew his attention because his oldest daughter, whom he adopted, has Down syndrome as well. Not only that, Pujols has started a foundation that is dedicated to the love, care and development of people with Down Syndrome. He has also built a wellness center for adults with Down Syndrome in Chesterfield, a suburb of St. Louis. So, for Pujols to comfort Keith Tepas on his 21st birthday as he watched his father be wheeled away on a stretcher was nothing – it was just part of loving his neighbor.
Albert and his wife Deidre are born-again believers in Jesus Christ. They take serious the command to love their neighbor. Albert didn’t consider his superstar status as he ran to a fan’s aid. He didn’t consider his money, social status, baseball ability, or the fact that he was currently involved in a professional sports contest thwart him. He simply did what was commanded of him by his Lord.
As we look at this very familiar passage of the parable of the Good Samaritan, let’s consider the question, “Who is my neighbor?” We’ll look at the lawyer’s question and Christ’s response to that. With that, let’s look at the text together in Luke 10:25-37:
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
For a bit of a context as to why Christ might use this story to answer the lawyer’s question, we need to go back a bit. Look at 9:51 – “When the days drew near for him to be taken up he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” So, Jesus, at this point in his ministry, was literally preparing for the days in which he would die and be resurrected. He knew that certain events must take place, and Jerusalem was where it was going to happen. At this point, many had already determined that Jesus must die.
As Christ passes through the Samaritan village, he is rejected by them. This would be significant, seeing how Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along, but this comes after his incident with the Samaritan woman in John 4. His interaction with a Samaritan woman (something Jewish people, especially Jewish men, just didn’t do) who was divorced many times and currently had a live-in boyfriend. Yet, he didn’t see her as an enemy, but as one who needed him. Through his ministry to her, a whole Samaritan village came to belief. So it is very interesting that this time, it is Samaritan village that is rejecting the very One who accepted them. The outcast becomes the one who is outcasting.
On top of this, the disciples then say, “Hey Lord, let’s call down fire on these people.” So, first we have the Samaritan people thinking they are top of the food chain, then the disciples counter with a, “We don’t need these dirty Gentiles, let’s smoke ‘em.” The Lord quickly rebukes them for this.
Jesus then sends out 72 of his disciples and they come back proclaiming, “Lord, even the demons listen to us in your name.” Christ rebukes them saying, “Do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Again, we have a case where these people are rejoicing in something that makes them think they are more than they really are. The Samaritans held their nose up because they were Samaritans; the disciples touted their position as disciples and Jews, and the 72 rejoiced in their control over the demons. What is Christ’s response?
He thanks the Lord that it isn’t any worldly measurement or standard that saves us, but that one must consider himself nothing before he can find salvation. He thanks the Lord that He uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong – and that the gospel is about what the Lord has done but not what we can do.
Enter the lawyer. There isn’t a normal break in the action here, so we have to assume that the lawyer is likely overhearing the Lord’s prayer and his conversation with these who have returned. Note that the lawyer would have been very versed in the law – and that law was the Torah – the first five book of the Bible. He job would have been to interpret the law, whereas the priest applied the law. This lawyer knew Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy backwards and forwards. So, his question was one that he knew the answer to. The text says that he was asking this question to test Jesus, or the word there could even be interpreted as tempt or trick. Whatever it is, the motives of this man’s question were not good. Jesus knows the hearts of men, and saw right through this question, and followed with a question of his own. The lawyer answers precisely, which Christ affirms, but then the lawyer, not getting what he really wanted with the first question, followed with another, “Jesus, just who is my neighbor then?”
This is where, I believe, we get to the crux of the lawyers questioning. Just imagine the buzz concerning Jesus, the man who goes and talks to Samaritan women. The man who eats with sinners and tax collectors. The man who associates with the lowest end of society. We also have the 72 returning, ones who had associated with all sorts of people. With all of this, I doubt the lawyers question was coming from the idea of, “Lord, thank you for that insight – I really want to follow you – just show me who to serve.” Quite the contrary – the text tells us that he wanted to justify himself, essentially make himself look good. Apparently the lawyer wanted to limit his neighborhood.
Why would he want to do that? In seeking to justify himself, he wanted to know exactly what he was being called to do – if this Jesus was really calling him to go to all peoples or just to those he deemed appropriate.
This is where we enter in, isn’t it? 1’d venture a guess that we have likely asked this same question of our Lord many, many times over the course of our lives as believers. Why do we ask this question? Maybe we legitimately want to know just who he is leading us to serve, but often times, I think we likely fill the shoes of the lawyer in this story.
I grew up getting the Sunday school answer to this question, “Well, our neighbor is whoever we come in contact with on a daily basis.” Well, I guess that works, but after I examined the people that I came in contact with on a daily basis over the course of a few years, I began to realize that the only people that I came in contact with were those people who were just like me. The places that I often frequented rarely presented me with any social challenge. I would even pray things like, “Lord, I want to tell others about you, but I just don’t seem to be coming into contact with any non-believers.” Sure, I fully supported mission work, but didn’t consider myself a missionary – “It’s just not my gift.” I would say.
Maybe many of you have said very similar things. “Well, I want to share my faith, I just never see any non-believers…” Why is it that we only like to associate with those who are like ourselves? Though many of us would gladly concede that we need to be reaching people who aren’t like us, deep down we truly believe that there is something better about “us”. We believe this so much that we readily pass to the other side of the road. How does Christ respond to this?
Christ’s response to the lawyer is very famous. Hospitals, charity organizations, and humanitarian awards are named after this award. We often focus on the “Good Samaritan” of the passage, and so we should to some degree. However, I think there is a greater message here than “go and do good things for people who need it”. This message helps us to understand our motives for not coming into contact with those who aren’t like us. Let’s consider this.
A man, likely a Jewish man, is going the 18-mile stretch from Jerusalem to Jericho and he is beat up by bandits. Not only is he beaten, but he is stripped and left “half-dead”. “Now by chance” the text says, a priest walked by. You know this feeling right? You’re standing in line at Wal-Mart, a long line, you have a cart full of groceries, complete with perishables that are warming by the second, and the family that is checking out manages to spill a large bag of cat food. You’ve all been there right? I was there just a few days ago. What is our common response when we see the figurative train wreck? We avert our eyes. We turn the other way and pretend to be talking to someone on the phone. We do anything we possibly can to not “get involved”, because hey, we’ve got things to do right?
So this priest sees much more than a spilled bag of cat food. It’s a dying human being. This priest knows what he should do. Instead, he looks at his watch…fumbles with his keys…pulls out his phone and starts talking on it…pretends not to see the mess in the road, but is sure to find the far side of the road as he walks by.
The same thing happens with the Levite. A Levite here would have like been an assistant to the priest at the temple. Whoever he was, he was much too important to consider the mess on the road, and he averted his own path to make sure it didn’t cross into that of the dying man on the road.
Enter the Samaritan. A few things about Samaritans first – Samaritans were not Jews and were not Gentiles, but a mix of the two. In 722 BC, the king of Assyria, one of Israel’s enemies at the time, loaded up the province of Samaria with non-Jews. They brought with them their own religion and their own culture. Over the centuries, the Jewish people intermarried with these foreigners to create a mixed race. They also had a mixed religion – which looked similar to that of the Jews, but had its own Torah, or book of law, its own temple at Mount Gerizim, and its own customs. With this, the hatred between Jews and Samaritans was deep-seeded and mutual. Both considered the other “the outsider” and the Jews especially looked at the Samaritans as a “mutt race”, one that was created from the enemy no less. With all of this background and history between Jews and Samaritans, the Samaritan in this story does the unthinkable – he stops to help the Jewish man who is dying on the road. He cleans him up and binds his wounds. He forsakes his own comfort in travel and places him on his donkey. He gives of his own finances to make sure the man is cared for in the inn. The Samaritan didn’t consider all the other factors that may have caused someone of his background to second-guess the encounter. He didn’t consider the discomfort or financial obligation this would cost him. He didn’t consider long walk through rock terrain to the inn. He didn’t consider all the things pressing on his time and his own priorities. He didn’t even consider his own race to be superior than the other mans. He considered him a man who needed help – and he helped him.
At this point Christ instructs the lawyer, who now likely realizes what Christ is getting at, to go and do likewise. Why did the Samaritan man do it? I think because he easily saw himself laying on the road. The priest and Levite were much to good, civilized, busy, important to stop. The Samaritan, however, didn’t consider these things. Isn’t this the same thing our Lord Jesus did?
Look at Philippians 2, starting at verse 3 through verse 8. It reads, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” So, Jesus Christ, Almighty God himself, took the form of a man on Christmas Day 2000 years ago so that he could deliver you and I from our sins. You see this? God Almighty, the Creator of all things, the Ancient of Days, comes to earth as a helpless baby…Why? So that he could be humiliated and die a terrible death…for what? For me. For you. Don’t you see? We are the man broken and stripped on the road. Christ, the Good Samaritan, not only helped – but he became the broken and stripped man on the road. He was hung on a cross, the place where you and I should have been, so that we wouldn’t have to be. He is the broken and beaten man on the road – and for it we have been delivered.
Now, back to our motives for picking and choosing who we will call “neighbor”. Why do we do it? Ultimately, we have forgotten that we have been delivered, not as kings and queens, or sons and daughters of God, but as broken and stripped people laying on the side of the road left for dead. We have quickly forgotten that without Christ, we would have no hope. Like the priest and Levite, like the lawyer who asks the question, we quickly skirt around those in need (who is everyone without Christ) because we can’t be associated with that kind of people or because we aren’t gifted or because we don’t have time or whatever…you know what your own excuse it. Christian, have you forgot that you to were broken and stripped laying on the road, undeserving of any and all help you received – yet one who set you aside from the beginning of time came down and delivered you. Humanly speaking, have you forgotten the person or people who sacrificed for you, prayed for you, gave their time for you, so that you would know about and love Jesus? The outcasts too quickly become the one’s casting others out – we forget our place. Christ, remember who you are! You were once broken and stripped left for dead – but Christ didn’t look at you and say, “You know I just don’t associate with those types…” or “Well, maybe if he or she clean his life up first, then I’d stop to save him…” or “Well, he deserves what he gets – look at how he lives his life.” No, he saved you without any conditions attached. How should this motivate who are neighbor is? Our neighbor is the one who is on the road, broken and stripped. Our neighbor is everyone! More specifically, it’s not just the people who you choose to associate with, but even those you don’t. When we truly consider ourselves as the ones who have been delivered from that broken condition, we know then we have nothing to lose when consider others who are still there. It frees us up to minister to all people. Martin Luther said, “We’re just beggars telling other beggars where we found bread.” Christian, as we seek to minister to others and follow Christ’s commandment here to “Go and do likewise”, let us not forget this.
What then for the one here today who isn’t a believer? Maybe you are here this morning and saying to yourself, “I see myself as the one who is broken and stripped in the road.” You might feel like life has gotten the best of you in one way or another. You may feel like you have been ostracized by a group or groups of people – maybe even the church. You may even be here this morning, perhaps giving the church one more chance. Like many I’ve heard, you say, “The church is full of hypocrites.” You know what, you’re right. But that’s what make our relationship with Christ so great – we don’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to be the priest or the Levite in the story, but we are called to realize our place before Christ was right there in the road, unable to save ourselves and in desperate need of a Savior. Do you need a Savior? Trust in Jesus today. Scripture says you need only call upon the name of the Lord and you’ll be saved. Do that today.
Christ has called us consider those who are lying broken and stripped on the road. He came to this world to bring hope to the broken. He has called us to the great and extraordinary ministry as well. Christian let us cast down any worldly semblance of importance or exclusiveness and reach out to those, our neighbors, who desperately need hope in a dying world.

11/22 Sermon - God Will Provide (8th Commandment)

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:59:00 +0000

(My sermon preached on 11/22 at Cornerstone PCA; available through our podcast as well)

My thieving ways started at a fairly young age. Stealing things from my brother and sister was one thing, but I had to eventually set my sites on something bigger and better. That “something” was the Brach’s candy display at the local IGA, a grocery store chain. The IGA was just a hop, skip and jump away from my grandmother’s house. After school, we walked to my grandma’s house and she kept us till my mom got off work. Typically, we would come home charged up and hyper after a long day of being pent up and, well, that drove my grandma nuts. So, we found friends in the area and started hanging out with them and one of the local hangouts for a upstart fifth grader was the IGA – I mean, it had 2 video games. So, we would go there and play games, and long for the candy in the Brach’s display. So, one day, I got up the nerve, and took a piece. I looked around, saw that no one was watching, and took it. I quickly, and rather obviously, took off running outside, ran behind the store and ate my loot as fast as I could. I can’t even tell you what kind of candy it was or what it tasted like. I think it went straight from my mouth to my stomach, without touching one taste bud. After that, I sprinted the 100 or so yards back to my grandma’s house and hid in the back bedroom and watched TV. Well, I hear my mom pull up, walk in the house and start walking back to the back bedroom. You know the feeling right? I could tell by her walk the look she had on her face. She came in, told me that she had found out about what I did – apparently the store manager watched the whole thing. She said that I had to go apologize to the manager. I immediate lost all emotional control. I apologized to the store manager and never looked at the Brach’s candy display again.
I think what amazed me the most about the whole experience was how everyone thought it was funny. It wasn’t that I didn’t receive the Belt of Truth for my actions, because I did. It was just that even after the fact, everyone readily dismissed my actions as “cute” or something “silly little kids” do. Even as a 10-year old I knew that what I did was wrong and that God had written something about it. But, it seemed like everyone just readily dismissed it as “just the thing little boys do”.
Interesting enough, it seems that society as a whole has taken a similar approach to thievery. Theft takes many different forms today, but really it boils down to someone taking another person’s property, whether that property be physical or intellectual…or even digital. Music, movie, and software piracy have grown at astronomical rates over the past 10 years. People will often illegally download music or software under the guise of “sticking to the rich corporations” or “free exchange of ideas” when really it is just getting something that isn’t your for nothing, while someone else is doing all the work. You see the same thing when people cheat on their taxes. People will do so under the banner of “just maneuvering the system” or whatever, but deep-down it just thievery. Stealing seeps into businesses as employees are doing everything but work and employers are under-paying their staff. It seeps into churches when people don’t give back to God what is his anyways – whether it be monetary or spiritual gifting – and they do so under the disguise being spiritual by saying, “Well, I just don’t feel lead to give that much.”
Why do we do that? Why do we rationalize the way we do? In the end, though we could list many reasons, ultimately it is because we don’t believe the gospel’s clear message – The Lord Will Provide. As we look at this 8th commandment, let us consider how we are ultimately stealing from the Lord and how He has abundantly provided for us.
Let us look at the text together. First turn to Exodus 20, looking verses 1-3, then verse 15.
" And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me."
"“You shall not steal.”
Also, let’s look at Matthew 6:19-34. Here, in the Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, he masterfully exposits the Ten Commandments in such a way that shows us our need for Him. Hear God’s Word in the Gospel of Matthew:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
For a context on what is going on with this commandment, let’s again go back to the book of Exodus, where the ancient Israelites were delivered from tyranny and slavery by the Lord. Upon hearing this commandment for the first time, what must have been ringing in their ears? Surely some of them were thinking, “Hmm, you shall not steal…well in order for someone to steal from me, I have to own something first, right?” To the slave’s ear, the fact that the Lord was forming laws around property ownership was truly an amazing thing. In fact, a good many of the civil laws in the book of Exodus have to do with property ownership, whether it be a neighbors donkey or his house. This principle stems from the very beginning of creation. Back in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve, the first couple, were placed in the garden and they were given a specific job to do. As we have talked about, they were put in the garden to tend it and keep it. They were given work to do. What does this imply though? The Lord is saying to them, “Here, tend it and keep it. Take care of it – though I ultimately own it, I made this place for you.” All the way back in Genesis and Exodus, you see this concept of ownership.
So, from this, we can gather that property ownership is important to the Lord. He made us to be owners and stewards of property and possessions. It’s part of our humanity. We see this play out in a number of ways. A prisoner is stripped of all his or her possessions – a very dehumanizing act. Socialism has failed because it takes away the basic right of the pursuit of personal property. Research has shown that the greatest way to build up under-developed neighborhoods is through home ownership. It’s the reason why after a robbery, you feel so violated – almost as if they have taken a little bit of you when they took your TV or car or credit card number. It’s completely dehumanizing.
So what are we doing when we steal? We aren’t just taking an item – whether that item be a downloaded song from Limewire or an hour on Facebook taken away from your employer. We are taking away someone’s God given right to ownership. It’s a part of who he created that person to be. It isn’t just an affront to the creation – it’s an affront to the Creator. We aren’t just robbing from a person – we are robbing from the Lord God.
Ultimately, we have to realize that all things are his things. The Lord has created all things, therefore claims sole ownership over all things – whether it be your money, your abilities, your house, your dog – they are all his things. He has given us a very real stewardship over these things and holds us responsible for the right use of these things – but they are all his. So when we steal – we steal from the Lord.
Also, if the Lord is the owner of all things, then we also rob from him when we aren’t being good stewards of the things he has given us. A steward is essentially someone who takes care of something for someone else. We could apply this to almost every area of our lives. We see this in the way we wrongfully mange our finances, the way we misuse the relationships in our lives, the way we even mistreat our own bodies. So stealing in Scripture is not only a wrongful taking of something that isn’t yours, but also bad stewardship of the things that have been entrusted to you.
So, again we ask the question, why do we do this? What causes us to want to take something that isn’t our or misuse something that has been given to us? Again, as we have looked at over and again during this series on the Ten Commandments, we have looked at the idea that all sin at its root is idolatry. We have read in Jonah 2:8 that those who would cling to worthless idols are forsaking the grace that could be theirs. What idols are we clinging to?
When we steal, we are essentially saying to the Lord, “Lord, I know the plans you have for me, but you see, my plans are much better. I know what you have provided for me, but you see, what I can provide for myself is much better. I know what you want me to do with what you have entrusted to me, but you see, Lord, my way is so much better.” We are essentially shaking our fist at the Lord with the insolent attitude of a 15-year old.
When we do something like download music or software illegally, we have basically taken it upon ourselves to get what we want, when we want it. There is no delay in our quest for gratification. If the Lord would have us wait – well, the Lord is just wrong. We do the same thing when we cheat on our income tax. It’s like the television commercial that my daughter used to scream in our house, “It’s my money, and I need it now.” We have taken the phrase, “The Lord Will Provide” and changed the wording to, “No, I will.” We are seeking to find contentment and satisfaction in these items that can’t possibly provide that for us. One interest thing I’ve found with these things is that you can never get enough. It isn’t uncommon to find that the person who was just going to steal one song or two ends up having to buy a separate hard drive for all their music. One youth pastor friend of mine actually had over 2,000 movies that he had illegally downloaded and his comment to me was, “I just can’t stop – there is always one more that I need to get.” With tax cheating, it’s the same idea. There is always just one more dollar to be weaseled away from Uncle Sam. You know what, there will always be just one more song or one more dollar because you can’t possibly find contentment in these things. We’ll always come up empty handed.
What about a more abstract thought? Take the relationships for example. We need contentment in life – and the Lord has created us with a need for it– and his perfect plan is for him to fulfill that role. Well, we then take it upon ourselves to find our own contentment in other people – essentially, taking it from them. We skip from one relationship to another wondering, “Why can’t I find contentment from these people? Why aren’t they making me feel content?” You see this in relationships of the opposite sex, but you also see this in platonic relationships, where there is no love interest. There is, however, the need to find contentment from this relationship, so how do people often try to find it? They find it by unloading all of their garbage onto the other person, thinking, “Maybe they will listen…someone has to!” You keep going this way, and you keep finding other people, but in the end, you can never tell enough people to unload to. Your attempting to obtain something from them they can’t possibly give you . You will always come up empty handed.
What shall we say then? We know these tendencies in our own hearts. We all seek after other things to bring us contentment. We all cling to these worthless idols and make gods out of things that can’t possibly fulfill that role. What is the hope for us?
Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” What is Christ saying here? That we need only seek after him – he is the one who can provide all we need. He said, “Does the bird worry about where they will eat? Does the flower worry about whether or not it will look nice? No. Nor should we worry about our provision – he says, “How much more does your Father love you and want to provide for you?” We shouldn’t be seeking our treasures here on earth – when we do, we are seeking to serve them. We can’t serve our treasure and the Lord.
How does the Lord provide for us? Sure, he provides us with the “daily bread” – at least most of the time. The teaching here is that he provides for our daily needs, but it isn’t just that. Ultimately, he wants us to see that our ultimate provision is Himself. “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness – you see we can’t possibly do this ourselves. That’s why it seems like you can never been satisfied. That’s why my youth pastor friend downloaded 100’s of movies, because they couldn’t satisfy. That’s why people skip from relationship to relationship, because people can’t possibly satisfy. When we seek other things to satisfy, we are robbing from God his sole right to give to us all that we need. When we try to find contentment in other things, we come up empty because only God can give us true contentment.
So what for the person who regularly steals music, movies and software – cheats on their taxes…fill in the blank. Embrace the contentment that Jesus Christ has given to you. These things can’t possibly satisfy. Turn to the one who can provide for you. Let go of the idol of instant gratification and getting just one more dollar. The teaching for you today is to seek first the kingdom of God. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance. The Lord will Provide.
What for the one who hops from relationship to relationship seeking satisfaction? You’re coming to the realization that this isn’t working – you need something else. That something, or someone, is Jesus Christ. Let go of the idol of acceptance and fulfillment you’re trying to find in another person and cling to Christ. Seek first his kingdom. Turn to the Lord in repentance. The Lord will Provide.
For the one who uses relationship as a means of therapy and dumping? You’re seeking to find contentment from the people you dump all over, but you aren’t going to find it there. Go to Jesus. Seek his kingdom, and righteousness. Stop stealing from the others what the Lord wants to pour out on you to overflowing. Turn to Jesus and repent. The Lord will Provide.
Maybe you’re here today and you’re hearing this for the first time. You wouldn’t call yourself a Christian, but you’re seeing yourself in this somewhere. Are you seeking after riches from something that can’t possibly give you any ultimate satisfaction? Are you robbing contentment from something else only to find yourself more lonely and empty-handed that before? Come to Jesus today. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." That though Christ had a place of glory and majestic for all eternity in heaven, he came to earth and was born in a cattle stall and placed in the feeding trough so that you and I could have the riches that he had. Though we deserve hell, Christ came and took our idolatry, our sin, upon himself. Because of his death on the cross and his resurrection, we have the promise of life for all eternity. Come to Jesus today. Seek his kingdom – He so wants to provide for you – now and for all eternity.
It started with Brach’s candy, but in my life, there have been many more times that I have sought contentment in something else besides what the Lord has for me. Time and again we all turn to things that can’t possibly satisfy, but we turn to them anyway. Thanks be to God that we have one, Jesus, who became poor that we might be rich. Christian, hear this today. Seek the Lord and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. For now and for all eternity, it is the Lord who will provide.

Sermon Player -

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:04:00 +0000

We have finally entered the podcasting world at Cornerstone! Below is a player you can use to listen to our sermons. There is a link available through the player to our podcast as well. Enjoy!

10/18 Sermon - I Will Give You Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:18:00 +0000

My second sermon on the Sabbath, this time looking at the idea of Sabbath rest.

One of the most fascinating things to me as I travel around is the concept of rest stops. A rest stop can take many forms. One form is the quaint roadside stop that has a few benches and a trash can with a great scenic view. On the other end of the spectrum, there are large “travel plazas” that call themselves “commercial rest areas”. They offer everything from the latest five-dollar DVD, a hot shower, and a 24-hour buffet of whatever. You go in these places and they vary in size, but for the most part, there is hardly any rest happening. Just one look at the cashier behind the counter and you can gather that he or she isn’t rested. Then you look at the people running around frantically to get their drinks, use the “rest” room, or chase their kids around, who have now invaded the store. You got into a rest area with the sole purpose of not resting at all – you go in as a means to make your travel or whatever more comfortable.
Why aren’t people “resting” at the rest area? If you were to ask them, they would likely say something like, “I just don’t have enough time to rest.” We can all relate with this idea at some level and to varying degrees depending on how busy we have made our lives. We all feel the tug of time – as it tics on without any care of those who are whisking around wildly in order to meet its demands.
So what is it with our fascination and even fear of time? Since the beginning of time, God made a plan for our time. In Genesis, we read about how he spent his time, and later, in Exodus, we read that this paradigm that God has set up is to govern how we view time – particularly, the days of our lives. God said that we would work six days, but on the seventh, we would rest. Last week, we looked at the concept of work and how the Lord has ordained the work we are doing – how he gives hope to the daily grind. Today, we’ll look at what it means to rest, and particularly how rest has found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. We can experience the rest Jesus Christ has to offer if we go to him – the only one in whom we will find true rest.
With, that lets look at the text for today. We’ll be reading again from Exodus 20 and also from Deuteronomy 5. Remember that these commandments are not contradictory, even though they give different reasoning behind this commandment. They align in the person of Jesus Christ.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Now in Deuteronomy
‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Pray
As a reminder, let’s remember that these commandments were given to a specific people in a specific time and place yet are a basis for moral law for all mankind. As we talked about last week, Israel had just been delivered from slavery in Egypt when Moses began writing the book of Genesis. So, upon their first perusal of the text, the early Hebrew nation read that God created work and a paradigm for them to work within – six days they are to do their work, and on the seventh they are to rest. Unfortunately, we think of the commandments, particularly this one, as being oppressive and restrictive. But, can you imagine how the Israelites must have jumped for joy? “WE GET A DAY OFF!” “We get a day of rest.” On this day, we get to not work.” How incredible that must have been for a nation of former slaves. How gracious is our God to his people? In his law, he has given his people a provision for them to rest. This doesn’t mean that on this day the people were to lay around in the sand all day taking siestas. It meant, that on this day, the seventh day of the week, they were to rest. Again, this wasn’t a suggestion. Israel isn’t told, “The seventh day will be my day, and on it, you are to rest. Now, rest can take whatever form you’d like for it to take.” He also didn’t say, “If you are tired, I want you to rest – but if you are strong and able, just keep going.” His command was universal. He took it so serious in fact that punishment for breaking the Sabbath rest was death or cut off from the people. The Sabbath was a day that he had set aside – made holy. In that, it was to look different from the other days of the week.
Don’t miss the grace here. Not just the idea that they got a “day off”, but also the concept that there were given six days to work. The Lord could have easily said, “2 days you shall work and get it all done, because those other days, you’d better be sitting in the pew.” No, instead, he gives his people a gracious six days to do their everyday things, so that on the seventh, they can lay aside these matters – literally cease – from work. They were to follow the pattern of their God – 6 days on, 1 day off.
So, God from the beginning of time, showed us that we are rest on the Sabbath, for them the 7th day of the week, just as he did after he created the heavens and the earth. Why did God rest? Obviously he wasn’t tired. He had just created time, space and matter out of nothing, so I’m sure he had a bit more in his gas tank. God doesn’t get tired, nor does he need physical or mental rest like you and I do. Nor should we simply read this like, “God’s rest was simply him stopping from work.” So what was God doing on that seventh day? God is reveling in the creation he has made. At the end of the sixth day in chapter one of Genesis, we read that God looks at all that he has made and says, “It is very good.” So, on the seventh day, God cease from his work – because his work was finished. It was complete, and it was very good. He didn’t just sit back and sip sweet tea – he consecrated that day and made it holy. He was proud of the things he had made. He was enjoying the fellowship he now had with the one created in his image.
What then for the believer? The Church has celebrated its Sabbath on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week for these 2000 years. It is to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord from the tomb – which happened early on Sunday morning. They used this day as a day to gather together and join in fellowship, taking of the Lord’s Supper and praying and worshipping Jesus together. They worshipped together often, but the Lord’s Day was set aside as the day when the whole Church worshipped the Lord together. All of that to say, the Church now celebrates its Sabbath on Sunday, and the principles set in place for the Sabbath then are the same today. God would still have us complete our work in six days so that we can rest on the seventh. The Lord knows his creation, and he created them to rest – mentally and physically. We need a break – a cessation from our work. Workaholics decide that need a break after the first heart attack usually. Societies throughout time have experimented with the work week, always coming back to the Sabbath principle of six days and one day. But for the believer, the Sabbath isn’t simply a cessation from work. Nor is it deciding “what rest means to me”. It is setting that day aside. It is consecrating it in your own life as God has done for his whole creation. It is resting. This isn’t an abstract concept. The rest that we experience on the Sabbath is a rest that God gives to his people because he is with his people. The Sabbath day has been set aside for us – for our good – for our rest. This means that we order all of our regular work in the six days we have been given. What is that work? For the 9-5er, its leaving your work at work on Friday afternoon. For the student, it’s making sure you appropriate your time well during the week so Sunday is free from homework. For the family, its getting all of your work – your school, your grocery shopping, your sports leagues – done on day 1 through 6 so on 7 you can spend the day honoring the Lord. Embrace the rest that the Lord has set aside for you. Join with the body of believers in worship to our God – the giver of all good things – the giver of rest.
So the Sabbath was given for a day of rest and honoring the Lord, but like all things, the Sabbath has also been perverted by the effects of sin. As we have talked about, all sin has its foundation in idolatry. John Calvin says that man’s nature is a perpetual factory of idols. Our sin nature is one that takes something good and makes it into something bad – that is what we do. Even in Christ, we struggle with this same tendency – we long to have the things of Christ, but we constantly cast those things aside for things that do not last. The Sabbath is no different.
Israel was in a constant state of Sabbath disobedience. Many times when we think of the Jewish culture, we think of them being so stringent with their laws and customs, but many times that isn’t a reality. All through Scripture we read of their misuse of the day that the Lord had set aside for them. We read in Numbers about a man who just went to gather wood on the Sabbath – Moses asked, “Lord, what should we do to him?” The Lord’s answer was quick, “The man must die.” He was taken out of the camp and stoned. Many other times the Lord speaks of his people desecrating the Sabbath – and we should notice the language used. The vast majority of times the Sabbath is mentioned in the Old Testament, we read it as the Lord saying, “my Sabbath”. So, when the exiles returned from Babylon and they began rebuilding the city walls and the temple, Nehemiah was shocked to see his leaders and the people doing business on the Sabbath. These are people who had just been delivered from exile – again - and now they are desecrating the Lord’s Sabbath.
Those silly Israelites – always turning from the Lord! We are often quick to look down on their actions without realizing that in the pages of the Old Testament we are simply being shown a picture of our own turning away from the Lord – our own tendencies and desires for autonomy. I think we see this in two main perversions. I think one thing we are guilty of is rationalizing it away – even adapting a relativistic attitude toward it. We are quite sure of the absolute principles in things like “Don’t murder” or “Don’t cheat on your wife”, but when it comes to the Sabbath, we are so quick to say things like, “Well, I know the Lord’s calls me to honor this day, so I have decided to honor him by utilizing this day and getting lots of things done – by loading up my schedule – by getting my family involved in one more extra-curricular activity” Or, we say things like, “Well, this activity is restful for me. He says I should rest, and, I feel rested when I’m doing this.” You often hear these things closely associated with the quoting of the passage in Matthew that Jesus is “the Lord of the Sabbath” and that “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
So, let’s take a look at that passage. In Matthew 12, we have this incident where the disciples are picking heads of grain in the pick to stay their hunger. There Pharisees are moseying right along behind them saying, “Tisk, tisk – you know you shouldn’t be doing that.” Jesus responds by reminding them that their greatest king ate the consecrated bread of the temple on Sunday. Why? Because he was running for his life and he and his men were starved. Jesus then goes on to heal a man later that day – and of course the Pharisees hated this as well – and it says that from this point, they sought out ways to kill him. In this passage, Christ says to the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man – and on top of that, and he is the Lord of the Sabbath and has the sole authority to decide what is permissible. From this, our confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith, says that these works, works of necessity (eating) and works of mercy (healing the withered hand).
So, with this passage, I find it interesting that we often justify our mundane Sabbath practices by comparing them to the works that Christ did here. We take the one day that God has given to us to make different, and we use it as an excuse to make it look like the other days. “Well, I just don’t enough time during the week,” or “This is how my family treats the Sabbath.” We take this day that the Lord has given us and told us to make it different, and we make the same, because we can’t possibly dream of taking this day and resting – our lives would fall apart.
This is just one perversion of this commandment however. On the opposite end of that spectrum, we have those who would make a tyrant from the Sabbath day. The Pharisees took Old Testament law and made it seem like the only thing one could do on the Sabbath was sit still all day. They used these laws to oppress. Though they had been delivered from slavery, there were still those that would use this commandment to enslave once again.
That practice still goes on today. The Sabbath commandment likely gets abused in this legalistic manner more than any other. It is our tendency to put laws on it that aren’t there. We add stipulations to the Sabbath, thinking that by doing so we are somehow increasing our favor with the Lord and thus are given some leverage with our brother and sisters in Christ. Some may say things like, “Oh, you do that on the Sabbath? My family just seeks to honor the Lord on that day and nothing else.” Though it may have the appearance of honoring the Lord, it is really just another idol to build ourselves up. Obedience to the ordinance has become the goal, not the Lord of the law.
These are just a few perversions of this commandment. We could likely go on. I could bring a chalkboard in and we could make a laundry list of all that is permissible and all that isn’t allowed. We could write it down and follow it to a tee. Is that what the Lord would desire of us? No. He knows our hearts – hearts that are self-seeking and self-glorying. Don’t hear me saying that keeping the Sabbath isn’t a good thing – but let’s go back to God’s reasoning for it. In Exodus we read that the Lord would have a rest like he did – he would have us appreciate his work and rest from ours. In Deuteronomy 5 we read that the Sabbath is a day for remembering that we were once slaves, but we are now free. We are no longer slaves to tyranny, but we are free from bondage and free to live. If those Israelites in the time of Moses had freedom from their oppression, how much more then do we today have freedom in Christ Jesus? With that, the Sabbath isn’t a day to pursue our own interests or a day to go into lockdown, but a day to remember where we came from – slavery – where we are – freedom…and where we are headed – sweet rest.
How can we obtain that rest? We know our hearts are sinful and bent on not resting – so how can we have it? In chapter 11 of Matthew, just previous to the narrative we just looked at, Jesus is teaching a crowd and says them to, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Was Jesus say, “Hey come over here and lie down, rest a while,”? No – he was obviously speaking of a rest that transcends any physical rest or mental rest. He was speaking of a rest that Israel had longed for all of its days – since it cried out in Egypt for deliverance, since Moses looked from Mount Pisgah down into the Promised Land, since the beginning of its then current oppression under Roman occupation – it was a rest they long for. Here he is, the Lord of the Sabbath, there before them. “Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest – Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.”
So, what for the one who would readily rationalize the intended rest we are given away by simply extending his or her week another day? You are forsaking the grace that could be yours by clinging to this idol of work. For you, know that it is right for you to rest. Hear that – it is right for you to rest. These other things that you think won’t get done – you are free to rest from them. The extra activity that your kids just must have in order to be a complete person or a good resume – trust Jesus, rest. Have faith in the things you can’t see or you can’t do by yourself – rest in the Lord Jesus who willingly give you rest for your tired soul. The Sabbath is for you. Rest in the Lord.
What about the one who has made the Sabbath a tyrant in their lives? Hear that the Lord has set you free from that. You are forsaking the grace that could be yours by clinging to this idol of the law. We are free not only to rest, but also to honor the Lord in all we do, even on the Sabbath. Christ has set you free from the yoke of slavery that entrapped the Pharisees – your perfect adherence to the Sabbath isn’t what the Lord desires – he desires mercy. The Sabbath is for you. Rest in the Lord.
What for the one who doesn’t believe? Maybe you are here this morning and you are not a Christian and this talk of Sabbaths isn’t making any sense. Know that Jesus Christ followed the law so that you don’t have to. Know that because of his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, you can have eternal life – more than that, you can have this rest too. Christ says, “Come to me, you who are heavy laden…you who are burdened” Do you feel burdened this morning? Are you carrying around weight that you can’t bear – finances, family, work, social life, whatever…do you feel weighed down by these things? Jesus says to you, “My yoke is easy, my burden is light – come to me.” The Sabbath is for you. Rest in the Lord.
Though our sin and desires for our own rule have perverted this 4th commandment, Jesus Christ has come and has fulfilled it. Not only has he graciously provided us six whole days to complete our work, he has provided us with a day to rest – to rest physically and emotionally – and also a day to gather with one another in the name of Jesus Christ – praising him and bringing glory and honor to his name. The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to not forsake gathering together as some would do, but continuing to meet together to encourage one another as the Day approached. The “Day” is the day when Christ will come back and make all things right. It is the day that our work will find final and complete consummation. It is the day that we will finally be able to rest for all eternity in the arms of our Savior Jesus Christ. Until that day, we can experience the rest that Christ has for us here on earth. For us to rest here, it will require faith. Christ bids us to come to him and rest. Christian, have faith in the Lord – take the rest that he has freely offered to us.

10/11 Sermon - Hope for the Daily Grind

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I preached this sermon yesterday. I normally wouldn't post it in this forum, but I feel like there are some in my broader circle who could find encouragement from this. It is also the first time I have written out a full manuscript.

I love cotton. Cotton to me isn’t something that clothes are made out from or an old Southern cash crop tied to slavery and Eli Whitney. At one point in my life, cotton was my life. Growing up, my mom worked for, and still works for, a cotton gin, where she works as the office manager. My brother is the foreman in the warehouse, and the dad is one of the main hands on the farm responsible for planting, caring for, and harvesting the plants. Growing up, I worked the fields every summer. This took various forms – beginning first with me walking up and down the rows with jersey gloves and a garden hoe, and ending with me doing research and taking data on what makes plants grow and ultimately how cotton could be a more profitable crop for farmer who depended on it to put food on the table. My family still works in it and in the summer, especially this time of year as we near harvest, I long for those times. I want to feel the dirt in my hands and smell the smells and hear the sounds of the harvest. Seeing a cotton picker in a field creates an emotive response in me that is surpassed by few things.

Why is that? Where did I develop this love for the cotton plant? I can remember the satisfaction of seeing it come through the ground, then nurturing it until this time of year when it is harvested. It was something that I could put my hands on. It was something that at the end of the season, at the end of the day even, I could stand back and say, “Look what I’ve done. I started with this, and finished with this.” It brought satisfaction to my life.

That isn’t the case with most of our work is it? A quick perusal of the Facebook news feed shows me that most people are unhappy and discontented with their work. Not only are people unhappy, a few of my Facebook friends seem to be content with their lack of productivity and contentment at work. Statements like, “I hate my job and my boss doesn’t have a clue as to what he is doing.” It would be safe to say that though everyone may not be as forthright about dislike for their work – whether that work be in the home or outside of it – a majority of people struggle to find ultimate meaning in the daily grind. Even terms like “daily grind” have vastly diminished the original purpose of work and show the saturations of sin in human nature and in culture.

The fourth commandment has much to tell us not only about what the Sabbath day is and what the rest associated with that is, but also about what the other six days of the week should look like. Scripture teaches us that we can find meaning in our work because God created it, and through Christ, our work has been redeemed. So with that, let’s look at the text together:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

I’d also like to read from the account of the Ten Commandments in the book of Deuteronomy 5:12-15. These verses give the same commandment with a very different reasoning for the commandment. It isn’t that the two are contradictory. Quite the contrary. As Deuteronomy, or literally “Second Law” is a second giving of the law, it is fitting that the Lord would give this same commandment differently to a different group of people. That said, both point us directly to Christ. We simply read this second “version” to give us a right context in dealing with the 4th commandment.

Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

As we come to this text today, we have to remember a few very important things about it. This commandment wasn’t delivered in a vacuum – that is to say that it was given to a specific people at a specific time. Though the commandment given then is for all people at all times, it was given to Israel in a time that had recently seen them delivered from years and years – 400 or so – of slavery and oppressions under Egypt. In Egypt they had been subjected to slave work with many generations of Israelites not knowing freedom in their lifetimes. They worked 7 days a week and were treated like dirt.

Now this Moses comes along and says, “Let my people go.” and Pharaoh, under much coercion, finally decides to oblige. Moses begins writing the book of Genesis. In it, one of the first things the Israelites read is that Adam, the first man, was created to work. Not only was he created to work, but that work was a good thing – created before sin and death entered in. Can you imagine hearing this with Israelite ears? Work – a good thing? Work – created by God? Work – created before sin?

In Genesis we read that Adam was created and was given both an overarching goal for his work and specific tasks. First, he was given what we call the cultural mandate – to multiply and fill the earth, then subdue and have dominion over it. Then in chapter 2, Adam is given a mate, a helper, and they are put in the garden to work it and keep it and eat its fruit. Adam was a gardener – and Eve was his helper. They were to fill the earth and subdue it – all the while keeping the Lord’s garden. Adam wasn’t created to sit around and be fed grapes by his loving wife. Often times, particularly in secular culture, you see the idea of Adam and Eve as two who lived in the lap of luxury – and thus had no cares or responsibilities. Their lives are portrayed very “loosy-goosy”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Adam and Eve were given a real job – to tend and keep the garden – and thus were workers for the Lord. They weren’t lazy hippies – they had a job to do and were expected to do it.

What does this mean for us today? The Lord has created work. Obviously, it takes many more forms for us today. We still are to live under this basic mandate to populate the earth and have dominion over it – but how this works itself out in our lives takes many shapes and forms. For some, like my dad, they are in a big garden, working and tilling the ground still. There are teachers, Navy officers, engineers, stay-at-home moms, drive-thru cashiers, and students. Though he doesn’t call us all to the garden anymore, we are still called to work.

Look at the text again, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work…” This isn’t a suggestion. We don’t read, “Some of you should work, and the rest of you should sit around.” We don’t read, “Only people that are this old or this young should work.” This part of the commandment is very clear – “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work.” What is the mandate? The Lord has given us a six day window in which to do our work. And just as God put man in the garden, he has put each one of you where you are, in the work you are doing. He is sovereign over Adam and Eden, and he is sovereign over you.

What implications does this have for your life? If God has ordained the work you are doing, that means that the work you are doing is important. If God says the work you are doing is important, than it has lasting meaning. There is this misconception that is rather prevalent in the Church that what we do on this earth doesn’t matter, only what is done for God matters. That assumes that the work we do, that our six days of labor, are in vain and aren’t done for anything. It assumes that our work is only a means to feed us, clothe us, and provide us shelter. Our work has no lasting meaning – no ultimate purpose. If that is true, what a sad state of affairs we live in? Thankfully that isn’t the case. Because God created work and created you for the work you are doing, your work has meaning and value. Because your work has meaning and value, you can rejoice in it. You hear that? Christian, be free to rejoice in the work you have! Your work whatever it is, isn’t just a means to eat, drink and be merry, but it has inherent value. Have faith in what the Lord says – hope in the thing you can’t see. Know that the Lord has given meaning to what you do – to your “daily grind”.

So God created work – and that lasted a while. Then sin entered into the garden. All of a sudden, we are told that things are going to be much different from this point on. Genesis 3 outlines the punishments handed down to Adam. Verse 17 and following says, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the day of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweet of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken.” So Adam, who had a cherry job in the garden of Eden, tending the Lord’s garden and eating its fruit, suddenly, because of his pride and desire for autonomy, is cast out of the garden and is forced to toil for his food until he dies. So from then on, Adam’s farming of the land will be arduous – and for the life of him he will struggle to find meaning in it. We see this playing out very quickly in Scripture with the story of the first children – Cain and Abel. Abel was one who found meaning in his work – Cain only found heartache. He ultimately sought to quench that emotion with the murder of his brother.

Solomon, the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes, speaks to this broken idea of work. In Ecclesiastes 4:4-8, we read about his view of work and the worker. Solomon writes, “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.” I appreciate this summation of how Solomon views work because I think that is encapsulates a lot of how sin has corrupted our view of work, even in the modern workplace. In verse 4, he details our motives – “comes from a man’s envy of his neighbor.” Work has become a vehicle for our covetous desires. The harder we work, the more we have. The more we have, the harder we have to work. We often mask this idea by saying something like, “I need to work hard to provide my family with things that I never had.” Don’t hear me saying that hard work is a bad thing. Quite the contrary in fact, we are called to excel in our work. That said, when work becomes our identity – when it becomes a means for us to feed the beast of idolatry in our lives, then work is an idol in itself. We work to be the best on the street – to have the best this or that – to have the shiniest car, the most square-feet, and the slickest shoes. Our work has become a means to increase our stature before man, and Solomon calls this vanity – chasing after the wind. Why? These things don’t last. You may as well be looking for that pot at the end of the rainbow.

Another perversion of work Solomon mentions is the idea of non-work. He says, “ The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh”. He goes from an idea working to keep ahead of your neighbor to one of not working at all. This was a theme that Paul dealt with in the New Testament church, where some he was ministering to were so pious that they didn’t need to work – they were just going to sit and wait for the Kingdom. Well, Paul’s admonition to the elders there was to say, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Paul goes on to say that there were many who were idle, not being busy at work, but busybodies. This word “busybody” is just used once in the New Testament – here in this passage in 2 Thessalonians 3, and it’s a very interesting word. It literally means “around work”. Paul is using this word to describe someone who likes to give the appearance of work, but isn’t actually doing any work. So working isn’t the idol, but busy-ness is. For this person, he or she is never content to be at rest, but gets identity and satisfaction in life for being busy. The work that is being isn’t necessarily of any value, but is simply trifling. Paul even gives the impression that these people go about doing this busybodying so that everyone will see. Paul’s instruction to the elders was to command and encourage these to do their work quietly.

So, we have named two perversions of work at opposite ends of the spectrum, but dealing with basically the same idol – the idea that our work provides self glorification. What is this at the end of the day? Vanity, Solomon says – striving after the wind. We could go on to list many others, but why? They will all basically fit into this category of self glorification and self gratification. This building up of self has no end because it can’t be done by our hands. It is indeed a grind that has no hope.
What now? Well, we know that Christ’s coming to the world to pronounce the kingdom of God wasn’t so that we could all pack our bags and wait at the Bible bus stop. If that had been the case, he never would have placed Adam and Even in the garden in the first – or he would simply just rapture us up once we are converted. Our goal as believers isn’t to simply be consumers and users on the earth, then leave it a barren wasteland. We were given a mandate from the very beginning – to multiply and fill the earth, to subdue it.

How are we to do that today? First, it comes with the realization that in Christ, we have God’s favor. God’s favor is so much more than any self-glorifying daily grind. As we have heard repeated all throughout this look at the commandments, Jonah 2:8 tells us that those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. By clinging to a work that only feeds our self-glory, we are forfeiting the favor of God and the favor that he has placed upon our work. Psalm 90:17 says, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” Our work has meaning in the Lord – our work is established in the Lord. For the one who boasts, “I want to give my family more than I ever had…” no that in Christ you have all you could ever want. More square feet or a shinier car aren’t going to satisfy – only the grace that is rich in Christ Jesus can. You need not work for earthly endeavors – God’s favor rests on you and he has established your work. He has redeemed it in Christ Jesus.

To the busybody who is clinging to the worthless ideal of the appearance of busy-ness – you are forfeiting the grace that could be yours. Many people in this position add this “busybody” persona because they feel like the work they are doing is pointless and fruitless. Know now that whatever work it is you are doing does have meaning. In Christ, you have found the favor of the Lord, and he has established your work. You don’t have to go about trying to fool people. Your work has been redeemed in Christ Jesus.

Maybe you are sitting here this morning and you are not a Christian. You look at your job, or work in general, as tedium, as striving against the wind. Jesus says all those who call upon his name will be saved. It is only in Jesus Christ that you will find true fulfillment, not only in your work, but in all of life. He told his disciples that he came into the world that we may have life to the full. So the question for you today is, “Are you experiencing life to the full?” In Christ you can have it. Your work, your play, everything you do has its fullness in Christ. In Christ, you can find favor with God – not because of what you have done, but because of his love for you.

Sin’s influence has perverted something that God created as good. In Christ, work has again found its meaning. Our mandate to fill and subdue the earth has found its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, as he gave us the Great Commission – that we are to go to the entire world, teaching them about Christ and making disciples. We, the Church, are to spread the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. How do we do this? Sure, we do it by sharing our faith with those who do not know him. I challenge you, however, to see your job, whatever that is – whether you are programming computers, flying helicopters, or changing diapers – as God’s divine establishment, his plan for you to further his kingdom. How can we find meaning in writing a computer program that will be obsolete in 3 months? Because we believe in eternity – because we believe in the one who gives hope to the hopeless and establishes the work of our hands. How can we find meaning in changing the 20th diaper of the day or doing the 10th load of laundry for the day? Because we believe in eternity – because we believe in the one who give hope to the hopeless and establishes the work of our hands. We believe in Christ Jesus – the one who gives hope to the daily grind. Cast off the idols that would cause you to forfeit the grace you have in Jesus – do the work you have been called to do for the Lord, and for His glory.

See You At the Pole - My Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:13:00 +0000

So, this morning I was at "the pole" at one of the local high schools with some students. It was an enjoyable time as I was able to connect with other area youth workers and we were able to coordinate for possible work together. The thing that was impressed upon me most this morning was the kids though.

It was neat to hear their prayers. Admittedly, I don't often call on kids to pray as I know it embarrasses them and leads to awkward moments of silence which don't bother me but usually bother everyone else. It is easier for me to simply the say the opening/closing prayer and just be done with it. I have to tell you that I have missed out on a great blessing.

It was great hearing their hearts come forth as they prayed for each other, their school, their teachers, and even their bus drivers. It was interesting to watch them (yes, I usually have my eyes open) look around to see who was going to pray next...each one quietly strengthened and encourage as one of their classmates prayed. As each student prayed, I could feel a sense of ease coming over the students. This wasn't a miraculous thing and we didn't speak with tongues of fire...I just think the students were worked up a bit.

I remember the mornings of SYATP when I was growing up. I attended church as a youth, but I wasn't a believer at the time. However, I always felt compelled to be at the pole those mornings. I felt compelled to do that just as I felt compelled to "need to go to my locker" or "go to the bathroom" instead of standing around and praying, acknowledging that I was "one of those guys". In a high school of less than 300, "those guys" stood out.

Even as I talked to one of the students this morning on our way to the even this morning, I recounted those feelings to him. I knew I couldn't be seen around the pole because of my concerns for the opinions of others. Oddly enough, I have come to realize that I wouldn't have ever been accepted by those whom I was trying to impress. My only friends were in the church (for the most part), and on that one morning of the year (save once, I think) I stood them up to impress people who could care less about me. I hated high school. As I write these words, I'm realizing that part of me still does.

So, it's easy to see why the students were worked up a bit. Though it was easily discernible, the tensions increased as the cars started pulling in and the buses whizzed by. Other students would walk up, stand in the circle momentarily, then leave. Maybe they were just curious...or maybe they were trying desperately to identify with their Christian brethren, but in the end they just couldn't do it.

As they prayed, I could feel this lifting. They were building one another up, and being built up simultaneously by the Wonderful Counselor, who knows our hearts and minds and frailty. He knows that every inner working of each student there was pulling him or her away from the pole this morning, but He loves and comforts none the less. He also loves and comforts those who, like me, had to go to their locker or the restroom. He comforts those who are afflicted. Believe me, to go to high school and be a believer who stand for the name of Jesus Christ is to be afflicted. It was the same in my day, as it is in this one.

I admire those who stood there and prayed over their school today. Thanks be to God that we live in a country where that is possible. Lord, lift those kids up. They have a tough job representing you in their schools. I don't envy them.

Seminary Update - Spirits Lifted

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I attended the annual presbytery retreat. As is usually the case, I enter into these meetings with some degree of trepidation. These men will eventually choose to ordain me, or not. Seeing as I am a doubter and a cynic, it doesn't take much to completely derail my confidence. So, the evening of the first day, I was wrought with doubt and insecurity about my impending ordination...and once again, considered waste management as a possible career option.

Enter my fellow ordination pursuers. Thanks to them, we were able to formulate a plan of attack that hopefully ends with us standing before Presbytery this time next year for ordination. The end is in site - it's reachable - it's finally here!

That said, this year will likely be one of the most difficult of my life. I will be juggling school work (culminating in the writing of a thesis), a new baby (due in March), a full-time job, and last but certainly not least, ordination exams and papers.

So, as these times near, I envy your prayers - not only for me, but for my brothers who will help to bear this load with me. Pray for Cornerstone as the church has been so gracious and wonderful to me during the closing act of my seminary training. Also, pray for my family, as this time will mean concentrated times of study and additional time away from them.

I left the meeting feeling quite confident that though this year would be hard, I would be able to endure. Thanks be to God for putting up with a non-trusting son and for keeping me close to his side during these times. Though I desperately try to do this on my own, he isn't letting me. That's a comforting thought.

On Temptation - Teaching on 1 Corinthians 10

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:39:00 +0000

I posted this to my regular youth group blog and thought my blog readers (both of you) would like it.

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-14

(after speaking to a few of the youth, I felt like it was needed to talk more about the role of temptation in our lives with Christ and how he alone is the one who can change our hearts)

Verse 13 of this chapter is probably one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament. It makes us feel good inside knowing that there is a way out. That said, many of us are taking the wrong way in searching for that way out.

In this chapter, Paul begins by rehashing the stories of Israel in the wilderness, reminding the people of Corinth (or for many, perhaps hearing this for the first time) about the trials of Israel and how the Lord brought them through. Paul makes sure the reader understands that the people were given every spiritual blessing, even going so far as to reveal that the Rock which Moses struck for water was Christ. Israel saw amazing things during there exodus, but all the while they were sexually immoral(v7-8), they tested the Lord (v9) and they grumbled (v10). They saw the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, yet they longed to return to Egypt. They were fed each morning with manna from heaven, yet they turned to Baal upon crossing the Jordan. The God of the universe had chosen them for his own - but they chose something else.

Why is this? Paul gives us some interesting insight in verses 11 and 12, as he says that these verse were written for our instruction and as a warning and that the reader need to take heed, lest he fall into similar temptation. What was the temptation of Israel? Verse 14 alerts us to it - Paul says, "Flee from idolatry".

Israel's primary idol wasn't a piece of wood or a brazen bull, but these things were manifestations of their true idol - their self. They truly believed that their needs and desires could be met through their own devices and means - and that God didn't need to be in the picture. Aren't we just like that? Though we have Christ and know that he is not dead but risen, we live as if he is just a picture in a comic book and we are left alone to save ourselves and fulfill our longings. We see this in the way we live, work and play.

What are the idols of our lives today? The need of approval and acceptance of others - going to great lengths to attain such? The need of control in your life and the life of those around you? Comfort and security? Getting into the right school or right sports team? Making sure we'll be "set" for the rest of our lives and relying on money and possessions to free us from worry? And when these things don't bring us what we are longing to get from them, how then do we seek to find fulfillment? Anger? Sexual immorality? Overeating/Dieting? Fill in the blank - we are idol factories.

What is the answer? Well, Paul reminds us that God provides a way out? What is that way out? I have heard it said many, many times that the way to ward off temptation is to better prepare yourself - and that is your way out. "When you are prepared to face temptation, then you will know the 'way out' when it comes." That is great - we should do all we can to ward off temptation and sin. IS that the be-all-end-all answer for us? If it is, we are still relying on ourselves. For example, an internet porn addict and have his computer taken away and all internet access blocked, but you know what you have then? A porn addict without access. The heart is still broken.

Behavior modification cannot mend our brokenness. Only Christ can do that. HE IS THE WAY OUT! In the wilderness, Israel grumbled, God send snakes and many died (Numbers 21). He also sent "a way out". That way out was the bronze serpent. What does Jesus say, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes might have eternal life."

Our prayers must be then that God would change our desire - from things that do not fill, to Jesus our Savior. We need to gather accountability around us, not to beat us over the head, but to continue to encourage us and be real with us about their own struggles. Parents, share your struggles with your children. They know you have them, be open with them about how the Lord is changing your heart and about how you seek out other things beside Christ to fill your desires.

Though this side of heaven we won't have a full release from our sin nature, we do have One who has told us that not only has He made us new, but he is and will continue to make us new until we join him in the place he has prepared for us.

Loading and Unloading Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:32:00 +0000

In a conversation I had with a friend today, I was brought face to face with what an actual loaded question looks like.

As college is beginning, there are many in my circle who are taking that giant leap and starting college. Flummoxed by the myriad of emotions and anxieties, they are thrust into a new world of new things and new realities - namely the reality of being in sole control of themselves for what is likely the first time in their lives.

I was was chatting with a few of my soon-to-be college freshmen friends, I was curious as to what emotions were swirling in their heads as they entered this stage. The answer I got was "Well, I guess I'm excited." Obviously a ruse, I dug deeper, "Well, how do you really feel?" The reply was something like, "Well, everyone is asking, 'Are you excited?'...

Ah...there it is. A loaded question. Are you excited? When they ask, surely they aren't asking about true excitement - a feeling of upheaval that stirs one to action. They asking about "baseball fan excitement" - "Are you happy about going to college?" I mean, what kind of question is that?

Of course the answer has to be, "Yes". That is what people want to hear, isn't it? Compare it to the age-old introduction question, "How are you?" Of course you are expected to give the obligatory, "Fine" at this point. Anyone who answers with a negative response is typically given the "Don't ask him how he's feeling..." response. Don't we all feel that way?

Even as my family and I returned from a recent vacation, which was good but stressful, restful but exhausting, many asked us, "Well, did you get rested up on your vacation?" What are we supposed to say? "No, actually we came back more tired than when we left?" Why is it that I was only free to tell the truth with those that I trusted?

Interestingly enough, this pattern presents itself over and over in our lives doesn't it. We honestly refuse to believe in a world where everything isn't good and everyone isn't "fine". We have come to expect to hear only good thing - and if not, we readily move on to something that will feed us "positive and encouraging" thoughts. Why is that? It is because we know deep down that there is real hurt all around us. We know deep down that are people who really aren't fine. Sometimes, we have come to realize, that everything isn't going to be okay.

What should our response be? Does that mean that we should simply just alway tell people how we really feel? To some degree, as long as it is measured with the hope and assurance that we do have - and for believers in Christ, that hope and assurance is in him.

I marvel at how the unbeliever lives from day to day. Even in this season of my life that has been marred with doubt and insecurity about my own faith, I am continually amazed at how the unbeliever even manages to cope with adversity. It is in Christ that I have my hope and assurance - in him that I have my security. Even though life just flat sucks sometimes, I know that He is moving me forward. What hope does the unbeliever have?

Over the years, I have been training myself to notice these "loaded" questions. I still find myself responding with the same simple pleasantries (as to not show myself as the cynic I really am). In that however, I have learned that everyone really isn't fine all the time. Everything really isn't okay all the time. Sometime, this world just plain sucks. I believe that learning to embrace that is key to learning to embrace that hope we have in Jesus. Outside of that, our glossed-over fine's and okay's are basically an attempted at finding hope outside the cross of Christ.

As Paul puts it to the Galatians, "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...". May we not boast in our well-being or circumstances. May we only boast in the Lord. That will free us up to not only walk with others who aren't "fine", but it will free us up to allow others to come alongside ourselves when things aren't "okay".

Seminary Update - Hebrew I and beyond

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:24:00 +0000

So, last week I started Hebrew and things are going well so far. I have mastered the alphabet and the vowel structure (at least on an introductory level) and should be able to take my first exam early so I won't have to worry so much about it on vacation.

Also, things in my other classes seem to be going well. Systematics III has been a bit of a drain, but all in all, it has been good material. Dr. Duncan has been very easy to understand at 2x speed, which is very nice.

I hope to be done with my coursework very early in '10 - looking toward ordination this time next year.

Subtle Reminders

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Today I was reminded about how the Lord cares for his children.

That isn't to say that I had forgot that fact. In my almost 13 years as Christian, I have always at least intellectually held to that basic Christian tenet. It is easy enough to believe that God cares for his children, right? I mean we read things like "God is love" and "I will always be with you" and surely those things have carried some weight with them in our journeys through this earth.

For me, however, I'm afraid that I often come to the point of forgetting that - at least in practice. I live my life as if He isn't present or as if He is, but isn't all that concerned with my life because, frankly, I'm not that important.

Well, today I was reminded of how important I am and how important the Church is to him. I won't go into details, as they aren't altogether important. I was just compelled to share this idea, as it is something I have practically forgotten.

Thanks, Father, for taking care of your children.

My Sanctification: Things that Suck

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:41:00 +0000

"Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”" (Revelation 7:13-17, ESV)

This has been my favorite passage over the past few months. As I hear stories from people I love and care for who are suffering personally or vicariously, I can't help but come back here.

Though the Revelation has its "odd" passages that people translate even more oddly, this passage seems to be so complex yet so simple. Here, we have the saints in glory - who have come through tribulation and have replaced their rags with the white robes of glory. The passage that follows takes your breath away.

What do we have? What rest do we have? Though we have come through tribulation, we are sheltered in his presence, we have no need, we have no danger, and how glorious is it that our tears will be wiped away.

Tears in heaven? As Dr. Kistemaker says of this passage in his commentary, "If there is one text in Scripture that comforts the saints, it is this verse. Here we meet the infinite tenderness of our God, who is able to remove from our eyes every tear caused by suffering, death, and sorrow." This idea echoes Old Testament views of restorations and freedom from exile. The idea of "tears in heaven" has been given prominence in songs by the like of Eric Clapton and Ray Boltz. Of course, the two are talking about totally different things. Clapton sings a lament for his lost son, who died tragically at a young age - singing with the knowledge and hope that where his son is, there are no tears. Boltz has a more cheesy approach (all the while very tactile) in which he describes tears of joy as we look at all the good things we have done. I don't think this passage is talking about either of those tears though.

The tears that are spoken about here are the tears that finally see our suffering and "exile" in the light of true restoration and redemption. The hope of glory and the promise of resurrection is finally realized. To say there is no sadness in heaven may be an overstatement. I think there may actually be sadness - but I think in that sadness we'll have full comfort and full rest - for the first time in our lives seeing what true covenantal love is.

So what today? We do have these promises today. We do have the hope that a place in being prepared for us and that in this life we can have life to the full. We know that God is actively working our our sanctification here and now, in the midst of things that suck. That said, I don't believe it is wrong for us to shout from the rooftops with John, "Come, Lord Jesus!" I long for the day when I can go home. I long for the day that the Lord's promise of "I will settle you in your own land" comes true, and we can finally see our mansions in glory. To walk the streets with Jesus -- to drink deep and eat heartily at the marriage feast of the Lamb.

To finally come to a point in my existence where I can truly say without any hesitation, "I am finally home!"

My Sanctification - Lord, Help My Unbelief

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Today I'm having a hard time believing gospel.

You might ask, "What do you mean? I thought you were a Christian!" Well, yes, I am a Christian, but that doesn't mean my life or my thought life I should say is always rosy. I am a very cynical person. I don't trust people. By and large, I typically expect the worst from people and usually expect them to dump on me somehow or let me down. I don't depend on them, because I'll be let down. When people criticize me, I don't like them. When they question me, I cast them off my "People That Matter" list. There are very few people in my life who I will willingly receive a rebuke from and love them enough to receive it without contempt towards them.

Why? Basically, because I don't believe the gospel like I should. I somehow am placing my addiction to approval and want for control over my need to trust Jesus alone for my salvation and my comfort. He really does look out for all my needs, and whether or not people's motives are pure doesn't concern me. Whether or not they are truly bent on my destruction is inconsequential. What matters is that I'm accepted and loved by my Creator, and He alone sustains me.

So, in the midst of these ideas, how do I love people and become less cynical? The comments I have always gotten (at least since middle school/high school) is that I'm too negative and that I should "look at the bright side of life". Agreed. But what if I don't see a bright side? I simply can't be fixed through "being better and doing better". That said, I also recognize the commands of Christ to "love one another as (my)self" and to love the body.

So, as I sift through comments about me or my work, I have to come to the conclusion that the Lord has called me to love. He has also called me to belief the gospel - which says that though I should consider those comments and suggestions, love the ones who made them, and sort them according to priority and seriousness, it also says that those comments about me don't change my standing with Him. That doesn't change.

I'm thank that Jesus died for cynics like me. Lord, help me to see the bright side of life. There has to be one, because you have never left, and your won't forsake us.

Writer's Block

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:21:00 +0000

Currently, I'm experiencing a bit of writer's block. It isn't that the ideas aren't there - I've just lost the part of me that used to log on and write them down. I do have a piece on our triathlon that I plan to post, but other than that, I don't see much on the horizon.

Maybe a trip to church camp or a visit to the mall will jog my mind back into its right place in front of a keyboard. Time will tell.

Triathlon Training - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:15:00 +0000

Triathlon training is going. It isn't going as well as expected because of the time constraints my job places on my life. I don't at all say that to complain, though it may sound like it. I am thoroughly excited that I am engaged and involved in the lives of the people I am doing ministry with. That takes time, and ministry obviously has a priority over my triathlon training. That said, I feel like I'm in a good place and will be at a better place come race day.

I have also started p90x, a TV infomercial that my friend Shaun turned me on to - not the existence of it, but the idea of actually completing it.

It has been tough, but it has been a joy. Now, if I can stop eating pizza and biscuits, I should be fine.

Youth Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:13:00 +0000

So, I felt the need to post information on this blog about my youth group blog. Some who know me would likely be interested in seeing what my youth group is doing and what they are learning about.

The link can be reached through my profile, or by clicking the link below:

Cornerstone Presbyterian Youth Group

Triathlon Training Again

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:55:00 +0000

Well, I am running another triathlon. This time, my wife is joining me. The race is on May 31 in Pocomoke City, Maryland. It is on the Eastern Shore. The race lengths are:

Swim - 1/2 mile
Bike - 15 miles
Run - 3.1 miles (5k)

Currently, I feel good about the first two legs. My 1/2 mile is currently hovering just above the 20 minute mark - a mark I hope to blast by the end of May. My 15-mile on the bike just went below 1 hour. The bike portion of the race is my most relaxed part, as I'm very comfortable on the bike, especially since buying a new Trek - very nice. My 5k is likely still around 35 minutes and will probably stay there. With that, however, I plan to achieve my goal of finishing the race under 2 hours:

Swim - 20 minutes
Bike - 60 minutes
Run - 35 minutes

Total - 115 minutes, or 1 hours 55 minutes

So, that is my goal. We are still 6 weeks out and are starting to ramp up our training, with about 4 hours/week dedicated to the cardio portion of the race. For me, I'm additionally doing a strength/endurance program another 6 days a week.

Good times.

The Masks We Wear

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:57:00 +0000

Recently, I have come to learn much about my own addiction to the approval of others and how I need it like an addict needs his next high. Without approval, I feel panicked and even cowardly, as if I can't complete my job and can't even function. That said, I easily realize how many Christians could possibly have issue with this - not just my "approval addiction" but the fact that someone could actually be some upfront with his sin and yet claiming to love Jesus. I recognize that may cause some concern - especially since I'm training to be a pastor.

I worked at Hardess in college. While there, it wasn't uncommon to come across the occasional unsavory customer who felt like they had been slighted in some regard and thus were literally throwing it back at us. In those altercations, I would don my mask (which I had made from a ZooPal party plate) and I would go to the counter and just stand there, motionless and silent. My new face was the face of a smiling tiger. The tiger never flinched, never wavered in its resolve, just simply stared adversity in the face with a smile. Behind the mask, of course, there was much expression - usually suppressed laughter. The angry customer would either turn and yell at the tiger or laugh and walk away. Either way, I was able to change the situation because I didn't have to be myself. I didn't have to face possible rejection because it wasn't me standing there, it was the tiger - and frankly the tiger didn't give a care.

How does that relate to our experiences in the Church? Well, we wear masks. It would be nice if we could get by on wearing ZooPal masks, because then we could at least laught with one another, but we can't. We wear our ties and our coats and our nice dresses. More importantly, we wear our morality - our good deeds...indeed, our lack of bad deeds. We wear our Sunday school demeanors. We wear our smug self-righteousness. We wear the keys to the closets of our sin around our necks - under our shirt no less, but we wear them. We don't want anyone to see what goes on behind the curtains, unless it somehow adds to the mask that we have on - unless it somehow makes us look better than we actually are.

What is the problem with this? Well, we have a Church full of mask-wearing believers who don't know who each other are. We also are giving the wrong idea to the lost world, who looks on the inside of our churches and see a bunch of goodie-good people with smiling faces and well-dressed children. They also see us as a bunch of people who can't even recognize that we are dirty - even though our dirt is so very apparent. So they say things like, "I can't go to church - there are nothing buy hypocrites in there." or "Follow Jesus? If those people are following him, you can count me out."

The church must remove its masks. We must come to a point where we realize first that we are sinners - and it is only through Christ that we are cleanses and that we have redemption. We are sinners, and the only hope we have of becoming more holy is by believing the gospel more and more each day. It has nothing to do with how many verses we memorized last week or whether or not we went to both services on Sunday - the question is: How much do you believe the gospel? If you believe the gospel, then you believe that Christ has saved you and what you do doesn't matter. Only Christ's works and His righteousness are effective for your salvation. There is no need for you to wear a mask because you are secure in Christ. It doesn't matter what people will think or what people will say - you are secure in Christ. Christ, take of your mask and face one another - how else can we truly walk together in a state of loving communion and the sense of "bearing one another's burdens".

Our prayer should be that Christ would instill in us the desire to show ourselves truly and freely to one another so that we could not only grow together - but so that we could show others that the Church isn't for good people - but for people just like them.

My Sanctification - Becoming an Insider

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Chipman) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:47:00 +0000

As I was looking through my facebook pictures today, I came across this one again. It was taken on a hillside in Wales on a very windy day. I remember standing up there and seeing the city in the valley below thinking, "Wow, this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen."

As I look at the picture more and more, I see it as a direct representation of the perception I have of myself. For whatever reason, I have positioned myself on the outside--that is where I like it. Indeed it's very comfortable on the outside because you don't have to commit, you don't have to trust, you don't have to worry yourself with others, and most of all, they don't have to worry themselves with you. It's an easy place. It has become a comfortable place for me.

For whatever reason, I have come to this place. Maybe it is because of a major situation I had as a young Christian that caused me to not trust people. I honestly remember a time before then that I was very open and naive (in a good way) and generally thought people were basically good, even though I knew they weren't. I accepted the fact that though people sometimes let you down, it is generally a good idea to give them the benefit of the doubt. My how times have changed.

After "the incident" (which took place over the course of a year) I was so deeply hurt (in the truest sense of those two words) that I turtled up and became a cynical non-compliant rebel. Granted, those tendencies had always been there, and even to a greater extent as a non-believer in high school, but as a young Christian, those issue had been largely covered up. It wasn't until I was given a reason to not trust that my true nature came out and I had to face the fact that my sinful side was only covered up and not appropriately dealt with.

In the years since, I have used this cynicism as protection mechanism. By and large, I don't trust anyone and think that everyone operates according to purely selfish motives. I can't imagine a situation in which someone would do something for someone without their own best interest in mind.

Something has began to change in me over the past year that has caused me to realize that the reason I don't trust and the reason I think every motive must be bad is because I myself am a person that shouldn't be trusted and a person that has largely bad motives. What a hard realization that was! It's not them...it's me.

Over this past year, the Lord, according to his odd timing, has shown me these things and they have had an immense impact not only on me but on those I minister to, especially those closest to me. I have been able to see people according to what Scripture says as opposed to my own survival instincts. I have had to go out on a limb. I have trusted people. I have been let down. It has been good. I have a long way to go, but I believe I'm on the road from the outside back in. I'm becoming more of an insider. Though it isn't always pretty on the inside, I can't effectively do ministry from the outside--the inside is where the Lord wants me.

Again, I don't understand why the Lord has waited to begin this stage of my sanctification. I wish I would have come to these understandings as a young youth pastor--wow, how my ministry would have been different. I wish I could have understood this as a younger husband. Alas, the Lord is good. He's right. I'm just thankful he is changing me and hasn't given up on me yet.