Blog Archives
The election is over, but it ain’t over
Don’t you just love election day? No more campaign mailers falling out of your mailbox, or littering your neighborhood. No more radio ads of candidates bashing one another. Ahh…. But election day isn’t really over.
Oh, the national, state, and local elections are over, but the day to day election is not. What am I talking about?
On election day we cast a ballot for the person(s) we want to take the reins of leadership in our community, state, or nation. We elect those who will make the important decisions that affect our lives. But every day that you wake up you do the same thing. Every day that you wake up you cast a ballot for the one you want to take the reins of leadership for your life for that day. Every day you get to choose who will make the important decisions that affect your life that day…and in the future.
This is the core idea behind Jesus comments about the “kingdom of heaven.” A kingdom is the place where the king is making the decisions. This is also what Jesus was talking about when he said, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” He was saying that we have a choice about who will be our leader. It could be our heavenly Father. Or it could be ourselves.
We regularly face decisions about relationships, priorities, finances, careers, ethics, family, and more. We can cast a ballot for ourselves, in which case, it’s all about me, my agenda, my appetites, my priorities, and my self-actualization. OR, we can cast a ballot for Jesus. In this case, it’s all about Jesus, his agenda, his desires, his priorities, and his mission.
Remember the movie, “Ground Hog Day”? Every day started the same. When you wake up tomorrow, imagine that election day is like that. Every day is another election day. Every day is a chance to decide who will have the reins of leadership in your life. Who will make the important decisions that affect your life? Whose agenda will set the tone?
You can consider this blog post the “campaign ad in your mailbox.” Jesus is campaigning for your vote. How will you cast your ballot?
-Pastor Mark
Is the click-bait culture clouding your vision?
Chicken Little was sure the sky was falling. Increasingly, the conversations we are having in our country and communities sound a lot like Chicken Little. The sky is falling because _________. (insert your favorite problem here) But is that true?
That’s the question posed by a well-known Harvard psychologist named Steven Pinker. In his recent book, Enlightenment Now, he argues that despite the tsunami of headlines that have us convinced the sky is truly falling, the numbers and data tell a different story. For example, he notes the following:
- Humans are living longer lives than in previous generations
- Millions fewer people are living in extreme poverty
- War-related deaths are down significantly
- Totalitarian regimes are in decline
- Literacy and equal rights are far more wide-spread
- Economic prosperity is growing for many populations
- Terrorist deaths are reduced
- Overpopulation threats are diminishing
Is he right? Well, some agree, and some accuse him of cherry-picking the data. I’m not doing either one of those. Whether you agree with Pinker or not, his point is powerful: Our opinions of our current and future well-being have almost EVERYTHING to do with what we choose to focus on. In 2018 it’s super easy to focus on the click-bait headlines and get thoroughly disgusted and demoralized. Pinker’s suggestion is to look at something else, namely the hard data.
Here’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus calls us to focus on something other than only what’s going on under our noses. The temptation is to become fearful and anxious because of the events happening in our family, our city, our nation, or our world. But there’s another place to focus: the kingdom of God. That glorious, unstoppable revolution that Jesus started, and which he will one day finish when he returns. If the book of Revelation has left you scratching your head, then know this about it: Jesus wins! That’s the message of the whole book. For that matter, it’s the message of the WHOLE book, from Genesis thru Revelation.
But we easily forget that. The click-bait culture is conspiring to cloud our vision of true reality. We get so tightly focused on here, that we forget there’s another reality. Here will one day be caught up in the “hereafter.” Oh, don’t be confused. It’s not that we’re getting whisked off this planet. No, it’s actually scheduled for a radical restoration project, much like the radical restoration project that God has already begun in the followers of Jesus. (For details on this, I highly recommend N.T. Wright’s, Surprised By Hope, a book that is sure to rock your understanding of life in the here AND the hereafter.) The hard question is, “what are we focused on?” Is it the immediate…the headlines…the click-bait?
What if, while working faithfully on the real challenges we DO face (because we’re called to be the light of the world), you could focus on the reality that Jesus wins. What if, when tempted to wring your hands and fling your accusations at the mess around us now, you could lift your head up and see down the road. What if, in those moments, you could see the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace. What if you took him at his word when he said,
Don’t worry…but seek first his kingdom. (Matthew 6:31-33)
What if we left Chicken Little behind and became men and women whose vision was transformed by the power of the Spirit of God, and fueled by the HOPE of the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ? Then whatever happens around us, we can be those who ignite the HOPE of the gospel in our city, county, and world.
-Pastor Mark
Nothing is impossible. Right?
What if you wanted to fly? (That was the most frequently mentioned super-power last Sunday.) Didn’t Jesus say that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed then nothing will be impossible?
Yes, he did say that.
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)
But he was talking with his disciples. About things that he had called and empowered them to do. Things that were part of his agenda to bring restoration and redemption to this world. So in that context, with even a tiny amount of faith in Jesus and his new kingdom, then nothing is impossible.
The problem we often face is we’re not aligned with Jesus’ agenda. It’s not that we’re necessarily OPPOSED to it, we’re just not aware of it. Or very interested in it. Because we’ve got our own agenda. Our own concerns. Our own dreams. Our own problems. And flying would be nice.
But what if we could line up our concerns, our agenda, our dreams, and even our problems with Jesus? If we did that, we would start to see some pretty amazing things happening.
- Prayers answered.
- Prodigals returned.
- Marriages restored.
- Financial peace.
- Injustice abolished.
- Communities thriving.
- Dreams becoming reality.
Which sounds a lot like how the church actually got started.
I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. When the time comes, I’ll pour out my Spirit on those who serve me, men and women both, and they’ll prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18 The Message)
So how do we do this? How do we do the impossible? It begins with faith the size of a mustard seed. Not “I’m convinced of these propositional truths,” but “I’m giving my allegiance to a new king, King Jesus.” It begins with a decision, EVERY decision, to align my life with the purposes and plans of a new leader. It’s a learning curve for sure.
That’s what we’re attempting to address each and every Sunday at Seneca Creek. Hopefully you can join us, either on the premises or online.
And together, nothing will be impossible.
-Pastor Mark
P.S. We did it! We brought in 300 bags of groceries for Gaithersburg HELP in the month of June! Thank you for making a difference in the lives and pantries of hundreds of families who struggle with food insecurity.
Living in faith, hope and Love 