Time for Communion?

Ahh, Communion.  It may be the one thing that Christians have disagreed over more so than anything else (except maybe the color of the carpet in the church building).  We can’t even agree on the name.  Communion?  Lord’s Supper?  Eucharist?  Breaking of the Bread?  Regardless of what we call it, we know it’s important.  But why is it so important and how should we celebrate it?

Jesus instituted Communion during His last Passover meal.  All four Gospels record the meal, but probably the oldest description of Communion is found in 1 Corinthians11:23-26.  There, Paul describes how Jesus, after the meal, shared the bread and the cup of wine with His disciples, explaining that the bread was His body and the cup was the new covenant of His blood.

So, why is Communion so important?  For several reasons, but I’ll hit on just a few. 

- First, after Paul described the Lord’s final supper, he said that whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup, we “proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”  In some ways, this ties Communion with baptism: a public proclamation by Christians that we follow a resurrected Jesus. 

- Second, Christians partake in Communion as part of God’s covenant of grace; not that Communion saves anyone, but the bread and wine represent Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation and forgiveness of sins (Matt 26:28). 

- Third, Jesus said that when we partake in Communion, we do so in remembrance of Him.  We “remember” Him not just as a memorial of His death, but also His life, His resurrection, and His reign. 

Okay, hopefully we can agree that Communion is important for Christians to celebrate.  But how?  Again, here’s a short list.

- Keep it simple.  Jesus didn’t create some elaborate ceremony.  He simply shared the bread and the cup of wine with His disciples.  The more we try to create some high ritual, the less biblical it becomes.

- Celebrate often.  There are extremes in the wider Church: some celebrate only once per year (at Passover) while others celebrate several times a week (sometimes daily).  We can glean from Scripture (1 Cor 11:26; Acts 2:42,46; Acts 20:7) that the early Church celebrated often, probably weekly.  Jesus did not prescribe a certain recurrence, but it’s better to celebrate more often rather than less often.  And don’t worry that celebrating often will diminish its meaning; if that’s true, then we need to cut down on sermons, prayers, and singing.

- Really celebrate!  Communion is not a funeral.  We are not memorializing a dead person.  Our Savior lives, He reigns, and He will return to make all things new.  How can we be so somber when we remember our Lord?  Yes, be respectful.  Yes, humble yourself before the Lord.  But be thankful (the meaning of “eucharist”), be joyful, and celebrate!

- Partake in the community.  When we take Communion, we are gathered together around the table of our king.  The church is also the embodiment of Christ on earth.  There is community between individuals in the congregation and between the congregation and Christ.  Every member should lovingly participate together (see 1 Cor 11:12-22).  (And while I believe wine is appropriate for Communion, remember your brothers and sisters who struggle with addiction or overindulgence, and offer unfermented juice as well.)

- Have a love feast.  Also called an Agape Feast, this is a real meal along with Communion.  That is how Jesus celebrated Communion (remember, it occurred after the Passover meal), and is likely how it was celebrated in the early church.  Time constraints prohibit this in most Sunday morning worship services, but it would be great to celebrate Communion along with a fellowship meal once in awhile.  Try it, you might just enjoy it!

Christians: Please Don’t Just Invite Folks to Church

Christians are a “sent” people.  Jesus’ last commandment was to “Go and make disciples…” and He said that His followers would witness to others all over the earth.  The majority of the church’s mission takes place outside the four walls of some building.

But how exactly are we Jesus’ witnesses?  I have absolutely no doubt that the primary way that most Christians witness to others—if they witness at all—is by inviting unchurched people to church.  I’m sure you may have heard someone extend the Christian invitation: “You should come to church with us.”  Maybe you’ve even used that line yourself.  There are plenty of variations (“we’d be happy to have you visit,” “you should hear our preacher,” etc.), but they are all basically the same.

The idea behind the invitation is that if we could just get the person to visit our church, they will have a chance to hear the pastor’s sermon and be saved.  That’s a lot to lay on a pastor (but we’ll save that topic for a future post).  Even worse, it is non-biblical.  Jesus didn’t tell us to invite unbelievers to a worship service.  He told us to be His witness; to go and tell others about Him.

I really appreciate the intent of Christians who extend a church invitation to their friends.  However, I suggest that instead of inviting people to a church service, invite them to Jesus.  Don’t slough off your responsibility as a witness onto your pastor.  Display Christ to others through your words and actions, and when someone asks you, tell them why you have such a hope within you: because of what Jesus has done—and continues to do—for us all.  And if they are interested in learning more, then invite them to a Bible study, or lunch with a couple of other believers who can answer their questions, or yes, even a worship service.  Just be sure to introduce them to Jesus first.

A Mission of Compassion (Part 2)

My last post was based on the first half of a sermon I prepared a couple of years ago.  This post is the second half.  I ended the last post with the point that God is compassionate, and we are called to show that same kind of compassion.  We’ll pick up there….

Here’s the good news: God is already at work with the lost and hurting people around us.  Look at what Jesus says in verses 37 and 38 of Matthew 9:35-38: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  Jesus tells us that the harvest is ready. 

Many folks here in Green County live out in the country.  Some of us are farmers.  Almost all of us have gardens.  Let me ask you… when do you think most folks harvest their crops?  Right after they plant the seeds?  When the plant is still coming up out of the ground? 

No, you harvest your crop when the fruit is ready.  God is already ahead of us.  He is growing the plant.  He is preparing it.  People out there want to know the truth.  They want to know God.  They know that there’s something out there bigger than themselves.  They are suffering and they are ready for help.

Why is God calling us to be on mission to the lost and hurting out there?  Because they are ready.  They are ready to be reached.

What happens when you don’t pick the crops when they are ripe?  The harvest rots.  The fruits and vegetables wither up.  I planted a garden a couple of years ago, just like I do every year.  But that year we had a drought.  Most of my plants looked pretty pitiful.  But you know what happened?  It eventually rained at the end of summer.  By then, I had pretty much given up on my garden.  I didn’t even go down to check on it any more.  One day, I figured I’d go ahead and till the garden under and get it ready for winter.  Well, I walked back there and took a look and guess what?  There were tomatoes and peppers and beans all over the garden.  But most of it was spoiled, rotting on the vines, and covered in weeds.  I had not gone out and harvested it when it was ready.  That was a crying shame.

You know what’s a bigger shame?  The lost and hurting people out there who are ready for us to reach out to them.  But we don’t.  We aren’t going into the harvest fields.  We aren’t praying for the harvest.

Harvest work is hard work.  All of you that have worked on a farm know what I’m talking about.  You have to actually get up off your rear end and get out there.  God has already done the heavy lifting, but we need to pray and to work.

And you know what?  It's hard work, but it’s also joyful work.  Bringing in the harvest is a joy.  I tell you, there’s something really satisfying to have cans on your shelf and a deep-freeze full of fruits and vegetables that you harvested yourself.  Think how much more satisfying it is to harvest a soul!  To help somebody who’s hurting.  To tell somebody about the good news of Jesus Christ.  Those cans of beans on the shelf are good, but they pale in comparison to all that.

Let’s go back to my original question.  Based on today’s passage, why should we help the needy and lost?  Because we should be compassionate towards others and because God has already prepared the harvest for us.

Now, here’s what I want you to do.  I want you to commit to something.  Don’t get worried, this is very easy.  I want you to pray each day this week a special prayer.  The same thing Jesus told us to pray for.  It’s a very short prayer.  It goes something like this: “Lord, please send out workers into your harvest.”  That’s not a long prayer.  It’s not complicated.  It’s simple: “Lord, please send out workers into your harvest.”  Please remember to pray that prayer every day this week.  I’m betting that God will answer that prayer with workers who will harvest a good crop.

A Mission of Compassion (Part 1)

In the movie “Blues Brothers,” Jake and Elroy repeatedly said they were on a mission from God.  I don’t know about Jake and Elroy, but we Christians are on a mission from God.  No doubt about it.

I know what you’re thinking.  “Here goes Tim, telling us again about how we need to be on a mission of spreading the Gospel.”  Yes, I’ve said many times in many forums that we all need to be consistently focused on our mission.  But why? 

We’ll look to Matthew 9:35-38 to answer that.  Let’s set the scene.  Jesus has been going around Galilee—which was like his main base of operations—healing people and teaching people and calling the apostles to follow Him.  That’s kind of what we think about when we think of Jesus: going around the countryside, preaching and healing people. 

Well, He did that.  In fact, just a couple of chapters earlier in Matthew, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, which was out in the countryside. 

But Jesus also went to the cities and villages.  Now, cities in Israel were not quite like what we think of as cities today.  Only about 5-7% of the population lived in cities.  But there was something special about the cities.  The wealthy people tended to live in the cities.  The rulers and the elite lived in the cities.

But guess what.  On the edge of the cities were the outcasts of society.  The beggars and the poor stayed right outside the city gates.

Jesus wanted to reach everybody.  He didn’t care what their social status was.  And the cities had the rich and the poor.  So, in verse 35 we read “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”

Jesus is going to where people are: the cities and villages.  And what’s first on Matthew’s list of places where Jesus went?  The synagogues.

The synagogues were kind of like the churches of that day.  That’s where Jews assembled to study the Scriptures and pray.  Most folks back then couldn’t read or write, and the synagogue is where they listened and learned.  So it made sense for Jesus to start where people were already somewhat open to reasoning from the Scriptures.  He taught people in the synagogues.

He also evangelized.  He spread the good news—God’s Kingdom had come.  And guess what—that kingdom was personified in Jesus Christ himself!

And what else was He doing?  “… healing every disease and every affliction.”  Jesus went to the people who were hurting and He healed them.  Matthew says “every affliction.”  It didn’t matter to Jesus what their hurt was… whatever it was, He helped.

Let’s pause and think about that.  Was Jesus facing something that we don’t face today?  I don’t think so.  We have lost and hurting people all around us.  We can step outside our church buildings and not go a quarter of a mile before we run into somebody who is hurting—either spiritually or physically or emotionally—in a serious way.

I won’t harp on that because I’ve said it a hundred times, and besides, you know it’s true.  Some of you may even be the ones that are hurting, and you don’t need to hear it from me.  But let’s just agree that there are hurting people out there that need our help and need our Lord.

Matthew says in verse 36 that “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  Why did Jesus help people?  We know that He was doing His Father’s will.  We know He wanted to save people from hell.  But here we see that Jesus had compassion on the crowds.

Jesus’ compassion is a recurring theme in the Gospels.  He felt compassion before He fed the 5,000 (in Matthew 14).  He felt compassion before He healed two blind men (in Matthew 20).  He felt compassion before He fed the 4,000 (in Matthew 15), and before He healed the leper (in Mark 1), and before He brought a widow’s son back to life (in Luke 7).

Compassion for others is what drove Jesus to help and heal.  He looks out on the crowd and feels compassion for the lost and the hurting.  He sees them as sheep without a shepherd. 

That’s an interesting line: “like sheep without a shepherd.”  There’s a couple of different ways that can be interpreted.  The first interpretation is one that most of us would think of: helpless sheep that would just wander around hungry and lost without their shepherd.  That is definitely one way of looking at lost and hurting people: they have spiritual and physical needs, and we need to help them the way Jesus modeled: teaching, sharing the Good News, and healing.

Think about those crowds that were coming to Jesus.  They had leaders back then.  Very religious leaders, too.  The Pharisees, priests, and scribes were there.  But instead of helping the people, they loaded them down with more religion.  The leaders only made things worse for their people.

That’s why the crowds were coming to Jesus.  Jesus could relate to them.  He cared for them.  He taught them the truth.  He helped them.

“Sheep without a shepherd.”  Yep, they were wandering, lost, with no real help from their leaders.  But there’s a deeper meaning here that we overlook sometimes. 

When Matthew says they are like “sheep without a shepherd”, he’s pointing back to 1 Kings 22:17.  That’s where the prophet Macaiah told the king of Israel that his people were like lost sheep.  In that context, there was about to be a war in Israel, and the sheep were going to suffer and be scattered.

So, bringing that symbol forward, we can see that the people aren’t only like sheep because they are hurting and without someone to help them.  They’re also the targets of war: Satan’s war on Creation.  He wants to keep them lost.  That’s why Jesus had compassion on them.  They were hurting.  They were lost.  And Satan was doing his best to keep them that way.

We need to have that same compassion, for the same reasons as Jesus.  Our neighbors are hurting, they’re lost, and Satan is doing his best to hang onto them.

To be continued…

Don’t Judge Me, Man!

Don’t judge others.  This command of Jesus is so famous that even many non-Christians know it.  Both Matthew and Luke record Jesus telling this to His followers. 

It’s funny to hear someone say “Don’t judge me” when they are caught in an embarrassing situation.  They knew they shouldn’t do it, but they did it anyway.  And they got caught.  Then they try to escape humiliation by using the “don’t judge me” card.  Classic!

How should we avoid judging others?  Here are some pointers:

-  We certainly shouldn’t judge others simply by what they may have done in the past.  They may not be the same type of person now as they were then.

-  Be sure to know the facts.  Gossip can destroy a person’s reputation, whether or not there’s any truth behind it.

-  Ever heard the saying “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”?  That implies a person is just like their parents (or other relatives).  How fair is it to judge someone based on their bloodline?

-  Judging by appearances is one big FAIL!  I’ll spare you all my stories of people who mistakenly judged others by their clothing, accent, or mannerisms, but trust me: looks can be deceiving!

The real question we need to ask is: what did Jesus mean when He told us not to judge others?  Like any biblical quote, we have to look at it in context.  In Matthew, Jesus was explaining that we shouldn’t be hypocritical in our judgments.  In Luke, Jesus described judgment as something to be performed with mercy, trust in God, and based on words and deeds.

So is Jesus telling us to be tolerant of anything people do?  No.  In fact, He said that when we judge, we are to judge rightly.  We don't ignore sin, in ourselves or others.

We don’t ignore sin, but before we can help someone else come to grips with a failure in their life, we first have to examine ourselves to see where we fall short. 

We don’t ignore sin, but we help others by showing mercy, gentleness, and respect.   

We don’t ignore sin, but we should be ready to forgive just as God forgives us.

We don’t ignore sin, but we must realize that the final judge is not us, but God (and He judges righteously).

Do We Really Need to Put Prayer Back in School?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard fellow Christians say “Our country started going downhill when they took prayer out of school” or “We would be better off if we put prayer back in school.”  I’m an American patriot and an evangelical Christian.  But I don’t agree with the idea that we need to put prayer “back” in our public schools.  Before you grab the pitchfork, let me explain.

Yes, at one point we did have prayer in government-run schools.  In fact, we had official prayers before lunch in my elementary school.  And yes, the Supreme Court decided that mandatory, teacher-led prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.  And finally, I agree that our public schools have taken a turn for the worse over the last few decades.

Yet none of that convinces me that prayer in public schools is necessary, or even beneficial.  First, there’s no evidence of cause and effect; no one has any proof that the decline of our schools was caused by banning mandatory prayers.  Second, who decides the prayers to be recited?  For instance, if a Roman Catholic parent wants their child to say a Hail Mary, that’s their free choice, but I don’t necessarily want my child to be forced to pray that particular prayer.  Finally, there’s the theological issue: prayer is a deeply personal communication with God which, in a mandatory school setting, would become either offensive to those who disagree with the standardized prayer (both Christians and non-Christians) or be so generic that it serves no purpose.

Let me be clear: I’m simply saying that mandatory prayer in government-run schools is not the answer to turning people back to God.  Instead of prayer in schools, we need God in schools.  Not mandatory religious classes or daily devotionals at the start of school (where we run into the same problems as mandatory prayer).  How do we get God in school?  We take Christ with us when we go to school.  Christian students, teachers, administrators, and staff can—and should—take Christ (who lives within them) to school each day.  We can model Christ.  We can speak about Christ to others (with gentleness and respect).  We can pray together or alone.   We can identify others who are lost and hurting, and show them the love of Christ. 

Our school-age children need the Good News of Jesus Christ.  But we can’t trust that to the government, a mandatory teacher-led prayer, or some generic religious class.  It takes a lot more work than that.  In short, it takes all of us Christians doing a lot more than we’ve been doing the last 50 years. 

Christians and Sin

We recently went on a mission trip and had a great time.  As anyone who has worked on missions knows, the ones doing the work are actually the ones affected the most.  We met some folks very different from us in many respects, but they shared with us a love for Christ.

One curious observation crept up during our stay there.  Many of the local folks had a great profession of love for Christ.  They were not afraid to share their faith.  And yet a few of these same folks didn’t “walk the talk.”  They were living with someone to whom they weren’t married.  Or had children out of wedlock without rectifying the situation.  Or had “wives” that they weren’t supporting.  In other words, they were not yet mature enough in Christ to recognize and remedy the sin that held them.  To me, it seemed strange that a person who proclaimed Christ as Lord of their life could simultaneously live so blatantly with sin.

And yet, don’t we see the exact same thing in our own communities?  Maybe in our own lives?  We tend to accommodate certain sins.  We don’t want to face up to the very sin that holds us most closely.  Which sin?  I guess it depends on the person.  For some, it may be pornography.  For others, maybe the inability to get through the day without a beer.  Sex outside marriage.  Bigotry.  Gluttony.  Homosexuality.  Self-centeredness.   The fact is that we all sin, but as Christians we shouldn’t willfully indulge in any persistent sin.  We aren’t perfect, but we shouldn’t use that as an excuse to sin.

The point is, if we are maturing as Christians, we will be on the lookout for any sin that keeps us from becoming all that God wants us to be.  And we need to help those we love to face up to any sin that grips them, too.  That doesn’t mean harping on their sin or breaking off our friendship with them, but it does mean gently and respectfully making them aware.  And always doing so in love.

Must Christians Attend Church?

Want to hear an astonishing statistic?  Surveys show that around 78% of Americans claim to be Christian, but only about 18% attend church services.  My first thought was “if 78% of Americans are Christians, where are they all hiding?”  But then a more serious question popped up: must a Christian attend church?

I already can hear some of my fellow Christians: “Of course they need to attend church!  We’ve gotta fill those pews!”  But one thing needs to be clarified right up front: if “attending church” means going to a special building to observe rituals, listen to some entertaining music, and suffer through a sermon, then no, church attendance isn't necessary.  Being a spectator in such a setting isn’t biblical at all.

However, the New Testament emphasizes that it is essential for Christians to participate in a community of believers.  We are considered a family, and as such we are to meet together.  Why?  Well, for many reasons, including:

• To enjoy the fellowship of other Christians and God (1 John 1:3). 
• To continue the working out of your salvation.  I mentioned in an earlier post that salvation is an on-going process.  Sanctification does not occur only in quiet times alone; it also happens (maybe primarily happens) with other Christians, especially those who teach and evangelize (Eph 4:11-16).
• To serve others as a member of Christ’s earthly embodiment (1 Peter 4:10).
• To be held accountable by church leaders (Hebrews 13:17) and to help and hold accountable each other (1 Thess 5:14-15).

We also follow the examples of Jesus and the early church in meeting together regularly.

What about someone who says that they can meet God better while they are alone fishing?  No doubt, that can happen.  I meet with God on a tractor as I work in the fields.  But He meant for us to meet him individually and corporately.  He designed the church and designated it as the assembly of His followers, capable of destroying the very gates of Hell.  To desire only a one-on-one relationship with God separate from other believers is to desire something God never intended.

Will going to church save you?  Nope, no more than going to a garage will make you a car.  But participating in a healthy church will help you grow as a disciple and equip you on your mission from God to create other disciples.

Having trouble finding a healthy church?  We’ll tackle that in an upcoming post!

Church Warning Signs

We know from Scripture that God loves the church and works through it.  At the same time, we know that the church is made up of imperfect humans, which is why it is a long way from being heaven on earth!

If we want to imitate Christ and love the community of believers, we need to be aware of when we are heading off track.  Guys a lot smarter than me have come up with warning signs for various aspects of church: Thom Rainer, Larry Osborne, and Ed Stetzer, to name a few.  But I’d like to offer what I consider a few basic symptoms of an unhealthy church from a radical Christian perspective, in no particular order:

- Giving the church building a higher priority than the people inside (or outside) the building.  Wouldn't it be great if our “business meetings” focused on the real business of God—making disciples and reaching the lost and hurting—rather than about things with no eternal consequences.  Is the new carpeting, flashing sign out front, bigger and better sound system, or memorial plaque more important than the Great Commission?

- A mentality of “come and see” rather than “go and be.”  A church is not about a pastor preaching a riveting sermon, musicians delivering a good show, youth ministers leading a cool program, or groups putting on extravagant Easter pageants, Christmas plays, 4^th of July fireworks, or any of the other shows we love so much.  Rather than being entertained, are people being transformed and then going out to help and heal others?

- Fellowship = Food.  When the word “fellowship” is mentioned in your church, is it followed by the word “meal?”  Many churches even have “fellowship halls,” which translates into “dining areas.”  Christian fellowship is much more than a potluck meal or shaking hands on Sunday mornings.  It means we have conversations with one another that go beyond “peace be with you” or “pass the beans.”  It means remembering one another in prayers and in deeds.  It means each of us invests wholeheartedly into the lives of our fellow believers.  And as for outsiders: remember that folks aren’t looking for a friendly church; they are looking for friends.

- Services, activities, and programs are on cruise control.  Is your church in a rut?  Are you going through the same exact motions each time you meet?  Is this year’s church calendar basically a duplicate from last year’s?  When was the last time you tried doing something different, reaching people who are different, or stepping outside your comfort zone?  Maybe it’s time to let the Holy Spirit guide you, instead of following tired traditions “the way we’ve always done it.”

- Lack of vision.  How can a church know what God wants it to accomplish, here and now?  How can it know what God wants it to become?  Here’s a radical concept: ask Him.  If your church hasn’t gone through the tough process of communally seeking exactly what His will is for your particular church, then it will either chase after the latest fads (often playing copycat of other churches) or become immobilized.

- Lack of relevance to outsiders.  Let’s say we are on a mission trip to a village where no one speaks English.  The villagers want to read God’s word.  Would we hand them an English-language Bible and wish them the best?  Not so smart.  But we do the same kind of thing here in the US when we insist cultures bend to our Christian subculture.  Do we force 21^st-century Americans to read only an Elizabethan-English Bible translation (King James only)?  Do we use “church-speak” that they don’t understand (“lay it all on the altar,” “hedge of protection,” etc.)?  Do our Christian symbols mean anything to non-Christians?  We never compromise the gift of God’s truth, but sometimes we might need to put it in different wrapping paper.

- Only talking the talk.  Lots of churches talk about the need to pray more, read the Bible more, reach out to the lost more.  But Jesus didn’t tell us to talk about these kinds of things… He told us to do them (and He set the example by doing so Himself).  Does your church “support missions,” yet seldom actually send people on mission?  Is church simply that place you go to on Sunday (and maybe Wednesday evening)?  Have you heard about the many spiritual gifts, but seldom see them in action? 

- Relying on someone other than Christ.  Is there someone or some group in the church that holds veto power over everything the church does?  Maybe it’s a pastor, an elder, or a deacon.  Maybe it’s one or more of those folks who have been in the church for many, many years and hold undue influence.  Obviously, there has to be a leadership structure in church (preferably one that empowers all its members).  But if one person or one group is squelching the work of the Holy Spirit, then that person or group is doing something Christ would not do.  This can be a delicate issue, but a tell-tale sign is if someone pushes an agenda that is unbiblical.

- Measuring the wrong metrics.  How does your church measure success?  Tithes?  Attendance?  Building-fund growth?  Those are decent measurements, but they are secondary.  How many lives are being changed by Christ?  How many members are becoming servant-leaders?  How do we fare in outside assessments?  How many people are connecting through small groups?  How many disciples are making disciples?  Those metrics are tougher to gauge, but the real reason we don’t measure them is because we are afraid of what they might tell us.

This list of warning signs isn’t complete, but it’s a start.  If your church has one or more of these signs, it’s not doomed to failure, but probably warrants a deeper look.