Presby-what?

A few years ago I was helping out at our church's booth during fall festival. We’d set up a sailboat race and saw several hundred people try the game. Next to our prizes was a stack of flyers about the church. Many would look at our materials and say something like, “Presby... Presby-what?” For those who could pronounce Presbyterian, their next question was something like, “So what kind of church is that?”

Often, in my attempts to explain what a Presbyterian church is, I got the impression the person regretted asking the question! And I regretting trying to answer it; in the end I’d rather talk about the gospel. But there are reasons why we are Presbyterian, and as I’ve gotten better at explaining why, I thought I’d share with you three key things that have been helpful. 

It Doesn’t Tell You Much About Theological Convictions

First and foremost a we are a Christian Church. This is why, in addition to supporting our own denominational church plants, we support the planting of a Reformed Baptist Church in Nairobi; we are also helping a non-denominational church plant here in West Jordan by letting them use our building on Sunday evenings. 

“Presbyterian” really tells you more about a church’s government than it does its theology. Presbyterian churches trace back to a common origin, but now you will find a pretty wide range of theological positions within various Presbyterian denominations. In fact, we have more in common theologically with many non-denominational churches than we do with some Presbyterian churches. 

Plurality

The word “presbyterian” comes from the greek word presbuteros, which is often translated as “elder” in our english Bibles. (Acts 20:17, 1 Peter 5:1) Most simply, “presbyterian” means “elder-led.” Pastors are called teaching elders, and ruling elders are lay people elected by the local congregation. When eldership is mentioned in the New Testament church, it’s almost always spoken of in the plural. Thus, a Presbyterian church will always have at least one ruling and one teaching elder. If a church has only one elder, elders from other churches will be assigned to help oversee that local church until it elects its own. There is never one person in authority; it’s always shared.

Accountability

This ties in to the next distinctive of Presbyterian churches: there are multiple layers of accountability. Our local elders are accountable to a presbytery, all the elders from a particular region. We are part of the Northern California Presbytery and meet three times a year. Additionally, presbyteries are accountable to what is called the General Assembly, which is the collection of all the Presbyteries in our denomination. Everyone in a Presbyterian church is accountable in one way or another.

Why it matters

Why do we care about all this? For one, it means we can take comfort in knowing there are a lot of checks and balances in our church and denomination. It is much harder for a pastor or church to stray theologically in our form of government. It also means that members of a presbyterian church have a process of appeal if they believe a local church or presbytery has erred. The Presbyterian form of church government makes it possible for an individual’s voice from a local church to be heard.

Just this week, I was listening to a podcast interview with Thomas Crumplar*, an attorney who has spent a lot of time prosecuting sex abuse cases, particularly ones in churches. In his interview he made a bold claim: “If I had any advice to the church on how to avoid abuse, I’d say [choose a] presbyterian form of government.” As much as I wish this was because we sinned less than others (we don’t!), it’s in part because of the two distinctives I mentioned: plurality and accountability. He said presbyterian churches are the least likely to be caught up in sex abuse suits, because “they catch them and do something about it.”  We certainly aren’t perfect, and we shouldn’t deceive ourselves into thinking sexual abuse couldn’t happen in our church. (We must always be on guard and wise.) But I’m thankful to be part of a denomination that provides robust accountability to keep sin from spreading and to give victims ways to make their voices heard. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

* Get the whole interview at: http://www.alliancenet.org/mos/podcast/44247 

When On Vacation, Don’t Take a Break from Worship

Psalm 115 warns that we become like what we worship. The truth of this is seen in the teen who starts dressing and talking more like his or her favorite celebrity. As we get older, we are still shaped by what we worship, but it often takes different forms. One of the landmarks at our church is worship. Landmarks help keep you pointed in the right direction when you are traveling. In the same way, right worship of God keeps us going in the right direction on our journey to know Christ. Essentially, worship is showing you value something. It’s saying no to things you value less in order to give time or attention or money to the things you really value. Everyone, no matter his or her beliefs, worships; we just have different objects of our worship. 

This is all to say, as you travel, camp and enjoy your vacations this summer I’d encourage you not to take a break from worshipping our God. If we truly love him, why would we want to take a break from worshiping him? Let’s talk about a few benefits of worshiping while on vacation. Why should we do it? 

To help pass our faith on to the next generation

I believe one of the keys to raising children who love God is to be parents who genuinely love God. When we worship God while on vacation, it helps to show our children we really value him. One constant when my family traveled was Sunday worship. So whether we went to the outdoor amphitheater at a National Park, or listened to a cassette recording of a sermon and sang from old hymnals, or looked up a church to visit in the local phonebook, we worshiped God. From a young age, my parents showed me that worshiping God is a privilege that we enjoy even when no one (or at least our pastor) is watching.

To be encouraged by how God is at work elsewhere.

Often I only think of how God is at work in my own area of life. So when I go to a different church and hear stories of how God is at work there it’s a refreshing reminder of how much bigger God is than me! He’s at work in so many ways beyond what I can see. To see it in some small church out in the country reminds me there is no place too small for God to give us careful attention. 

To encourage others about how God is at work in Utah.

When I travel outside of the state, people are always interested to learn what it is like to be a Christian in Utah. They are always interested in how God is at work. Fortunately, Utah is such a fruitful place for ministry that it’s easy to share some stories of amazing things God is doing. When we travel we can encourage other believers. 

To be reminded that we are all part of the body of Christ.

A few weeks ago I got a letter on thick stationary with the U.S. Capitol building embossed on it. It was a letter from a young man I met when I visited Capitol Hill Baptist Church back in March. He works as an aid to a congressman, and yet he took time out of his busy schedule to write me a note to express how he had been praying for us and our church. One of the beautiful things about visiting other believers is that we quickly discover how much we have in common. I often will pray for the people and churches that I visit, and I know many of them have in turned prayed for us. 

To be reminded how hard it can be to visit a new church.

It’s easy to forget all the questions and fears you have when visiting a new church. How will people dress? Will they do anything weird? Will people say “hi” to me? What do we do with our kids? Visiting a church on vacation gives you a taste of what the visitors here experience each week. It’s helpful to be reminded of that so that we as a church can take extra care to welcome visitors and help make our church a friendly place for them.

How To Find a Church to Visit

Church directories are helpful. If you wanted to visit another PCA Church (our denomination), this directory can help.  If you want to explore other churches a little, the Gospel Coalition church directory will give you a list of churches that hold to many of the same essential beliefs we do but come from various backgrounds.

If you are camping or in a remote place, it can be a good opportunity to have family worship. Print out a few songs you are familiar with, download a sermon MP3 or have your own family Bible study and then pray together. Sometimes some of the best discussions can come out of these times. 

In the end, worship is about showing what we value. Vacations are times to be with the people we value most, and certainly God and his people should be part of that. 

In Christ, 
Pastor Jon

A Walk Through the Worship Service: The Sacraments

If you have ever needed a document notarized, you know how much of a hassle it can be. Sometimes the simplest form (oftentimes some sort of government document) requires an additional trip to the post office or the nearest bank, and you may even have to pay a fee, all for a simple stamp and a signature. The notary stamp does not change the document in any significant way, but it is placed upon the document as a seal of the document’s authenticity, attesting that the signature is genuine (not forged), and that the signer was not coerced into signing. 
 
Even if getting certain documents notarized seems like a hassle at times, we all recognize the value of an authentic signature in the right situation. By a simple signature, the President of the United States can take a bill from Congress and make it a law. The president’s signature does not add any substance to the bill, yet the bill cannot have the authority of the law without it. On a more personal level, when we see the signature of a loved one at the bottom of a a greeting card, it helps us to connect with the sender in a special way that receiving an unsigned card cannot. The words in the card are the same with or without the signature, but when a loved one signs the card, we know that the words it contains are true for us.
 
In a similar, but much more significant way, God gave his church ongoing reminders of the authenticity of his love for us. We call these ongoing reminders “sacraments.” From the time of the New Testament and onward, the Christian church has recognized that there are two sacraments, which Christ commanded as ongoing ordinances to be received until he comes again: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (or Communion). 
 
In Romans 4, Paul says that Abraham “received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:11). Much can be said about this verse and how it displays God’s saving grace for Abraham through faith. As it pertains to the sacraments there are a few things that should be pointed out. 
 

Signs

First, the Old Testament ordinance (circumcision) is called a “sign.” A sign is simply a visible marker that points our attention to something greater. A sign on the front of a restaurant cannot feed you, but it represents or points to the place where you can be fed. For this reason signs are very important. Without them we would hardly be able to navigate around our world. Still, the signs are only as good as the realities they point to. Baptism, as a sign, points to how we have been washed free from sin and raised with Christ into a right relationship with God. Communion, as a sign, shows that we are continually nourished by God, and we enjoy constant fellowship with him because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. 
 

Seals

The second thing that Paul says about the ordinance given to Abraham is that it is a seal. A seal, as described above, affirms the authenticity of what is being stated. Just as an ancient king would place his wax seal across a letter with his signet ring, God places his seal on us to affirm that we have been forgiven of our sins and that we live in union with him. As seals, the sacraments do nothing to add to Christ’s work, but they benefit us as God’s signature over our lives. The sacraments make an authentic declaration on behalf of God that we are his, and he will never let us go. The reformer John Calvin put it this way: “The sacraments are exercises which make us more certain of the trustworthiness of God’s word...Mirrors in which we may contemplate the riches of God’s grace, which he lavishes upon us.”
 

Faith

Finally, we can see in Romans 4 that Paul says Abraham received the sacrament “by faith.” There is nothing magical happening in baptism and communion. They do not work, as is taught by Roman Catholics, simply because they are performed. They are effective only through faith, so they are of no benefit to those who have not trusted in Christ for salvation. A person might indeed receive the sign prior to faith (as was the case in the Old Testament with circumcision, and today with baptized babies), but the sign is of no benefit until faith is awakened in one’s heart. Moreover, God does not look favorably upon the one who consciously receives the sacraments apart from faith (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). On the flip side, when the sacraments are received by faith, nothing can rob us of the grace that God gives us in them, because his Holy Spirit confirms in our hearts what the sacraments signify. 
 

Baptism and Communion

As a final word, it is worth mentioning how the two sacraments are similar, and how they are different. The two are similar in that they are both given by God, and the Holy Spirit confirms to us the benefits of Christ. They are both seals of the same covenant of grace, and both are to continue as sacraments until Christ comes again. The sacraments are different in what they represent, and therefore, in how they are administered (how we do them in church). Baptism is given only once as a sign and seal of our new life in Christ (justification). To put it simply, since our salvation is a “one time event,” the sign for salvation only happens one time. The Lord’s Supper, however, represents and exhibits Christ as our continual spiritual nourishment, and continual growth in him (sanctification). Because we are always being nourished by Christ, we continually take communion. 

I hope this helps you as you continue to grow and understand what we’re doing in our worship services every Sunday. 
 
In Christ,
Pastor Bryan

A Walk through the Worship Service: Confession of Sin

A couple years ago I read an article about websites where people could mail in anonymous postcards with a confession or secret, and the card would be displayed online for all to see. Some are lighthearted: “My new year's resolution is to brush my teeth every day. I’m 21.” While others let you feel the weight of one’s struggle; written on a pictures of donuts is, “My mother’s eating disorder affected me more than she will ever know.” 

While confession as part of a worship service is becoming less common, the act of confession is thriving outside the church. While the details and understanding of this confession are different from what we do in church, it shows we all have something in common–we aren’t who we wish we were. While we try to hide those things, it’s also freeing to give words to them. But we are scared that if we are totally honest no one will accept us.

Confession in our worship service gives us something better than these websites. In our confession of sin, we can be honest with a God who has already forgiven us and promises to help us. 

Many think of confession as something only Catholics do. You sin, you go to the priest, he tells you what to do to make it right, and tada! Everything is good! Underlying this is the thought that if we sin without having confessed that sin, we aren’t fully forgiven. Our relationship with God is somehow dependent upon how we are doing. No sins this week? Great! God and I are on good terms. Bad week? Well I’ve got to spend some time in the dog house before God brings me back into his home. 

But such thinking doesn’t fit with Scripture. While part of becoming a Christian is repenting of our sins and trusting in Christ, once we are in Christ, Paul clearly says us there is no condemnation for us! (Rom 8:1) We don’t need to worry about confessing every sin if we want to be free of God’s judgment. Jesus has paid it once for all!

That is exactly why we should rejoice in our ability to have a confession of sin; although there is no condemnation for us, our actions are often contrary to what Christ wants. We sometimes call this process of becoming more like Christ “sanctification.” The weekly confession of sin is an integral part of our sanctification; it’s not about needing to get right with God again every week.

In Romans 2:4 we read that the kindness of God leads to our repentance. Don’t mix the order up. Often we think that our repentance leads to God’s kindness, but God always shows us his kindness first. His kindness melts our hardened hearts and brings a conviction of sin. The first step to godly change in our life is a conviction of our sin. Confession gives us a place to name those sins and ask for God’s grace and power to help us change. Confession is a mark of the Christian life; when we confess our sins we should be encouraged–it is a sign that God’s Spirit is at work in our hearts! When we go weeks, or even days, without a sense of conviction, that’s when we should be concerned. 

Most of our confession takes place in our private prayers. But there is a long history and value to having a time of corporate confession in our worship services. Here are a couple reasons why:

It strips us of hypocrisy.

Christians (sometimes rightly) are accused of hypocrisy, as we can be up in arms about others’ sins while turning a blind eye to our own. When we gather together as a church and confess our sins it reminds us we are all sinners in need of God’s grace.

It unites us with each other.

It’s easy to think we are alone in struggles with sin or to think our problems are harder than others. One of the beauties of coming together in our time of confession is that it reminds us that those around us are also sinners completely dependent upon God’s mercy. While the details of your sin might differ from the details of my sin, both our sins required the death of Christ. Two people with little in common find companionship in knowing they are both sinners and both in need of God’s grace. 

Confession of sin keep smaller sins from growing into bigger ones.

People are sometimes forced to make a confession when they have been caught in a big sin. But there is beauty in confessing sins that are more like the little weeds that have just started to grow in your heart. When we hear God’s word preached it brings a conviction of those little sins that often no one else knows about. Continual confession help keep the weeds of sin from overtaking your heart. 

I always look forward to the confession of sin in our worship service. It often feels a like a detox for my soul. It’s a moment where I can be honest with God, more honest than I am with anyone else, about the state of my heart. I can pray for God’s Spirit to change me and mold me more and more into his image. What a privilege it is to bare our souls to God and know that he will never leave us or forsake us. God chose us to be his, knowing all our sins past, present and future. And now God is committed to changing us into the likeness of his perfect son Jesus. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

Christianity in a World of Cultures

Christianity has always related with culture from its onset. In fact, Christ was born into one of the cultures in the world. It is the relationship of culture to Christianity that is of concern here, especially now that the world is presenting duplicity of cultures or beliefs as a result of postmodernism, which is challenging absolute reasoning and authority. We cannot assume, given the evidence in history, that culture has no effect on Christianity or vice versa. It is true that Christianity has traversed many cultures, if not all. But how does it maintain its core aspects amidst cultural diversity? Does it lose some of its truths by becoming multicultural, or does it influence cultures and so force them to lose some of their aspects? It will be meaningful to see how the gospel, worship, relations, conflicts and missions in the Christian set up are handled among different cultures. 

This relationship of Christianity and culture has been viewed in several ways before. In Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture, he presents five views that are common to man. The views take the form of Christ against culture, Christ for culture, Christ making use of some part of culture, Christ dwelling in tension with culture, and Christ transforming culture. However, it is impossible to take one view and run with it because different cultures will present other forms. Moreover, we can risk relativism if we were to propose all views. 

D.A. Carson, in his analysis of the five views, found them insufficient to be proposed as a view to be taken by Christians. He therefore proposed a multicultural view alongside christian segmentation of various cultures. In this view, Christianity embraces all cultures but segments those areas of culture that are sinful or life threatening. This perspective will now form our basis as we look into the various aspects of christian life in various cultures.

In proclamation of the Gospel, Christians coming into a new culture must ensure that the presentation reaches the thought forms of the new culture while also maintaining the truths of the gospel, especially the beauty and offense of the cross and resurrection. The aim will be understanding that brings conviction.

Worship styles will definitely be different across cultures; yet the great question for us when we worship in these cultures should be whether we are bringing out the important elements of worship to the new person in a manner that he may participate and realize the reverence of God. We will be forced to leave the forms we are used to and take the new culture's forms while segmenting it to offer reverence to the word and glory of God. The greatest dilemma so far in worship is music, given that different cultures have various forms. But the christian mindset should be clear to take up those forms, styles or tunes that are not associated with sin. 

Moreover, Christianity has played an important role in building strong relations between people of different backgrounds, encouraging friendships, marriages and partnership for the Gospel from people all over the world. In view of Cross-cultural friendships, marriages or partnership for the Gospel, the Bible points out that these interactions are to have Jesus Christ and the Gospel as the center of meaning and reason when two people from different cultures come together. However, these relations have not been smooth in all cultures. There are some situations where conflicts have risen due to the different cultures. Christianity not being blind to the facts has been able to solve conflicts by pointing to the various cultural misconceptions due to sin in man while presenting the gospel as the solution to sin and peace for all men.

Finally, Revelations 7:9 presents to us a multicultural Bride of Christ, indicating that cultures are inherently not bad. This fact should encourage us to heed the call of Christ to make disciples of all nations, being careful to present the gospel clearly and give glory to God.

In Christ,
Amos Omia

A Walk Through the Worship Service: Preaching

Many people question how effective preaching is today. More and more studies show simple lecture style learning is not as effective as other learning methods. So why would we continue to have a person get up each week and talk to us for 30-40 minutes? Surely there are more effective ways to communicate! 

Such reasoning, though, misses the point of preaching. It’s not first and foremost about passing on information about God. Indeed, if that were the goal there might be better ways of doing that. But preaching is a God-ordained act that accomplishes his work of new creation; therefore, it is not primarily about passing on information or even teaching. Preaching must do that, but it is about more than that. 

One passage that makes this clear is Romans 10:14-17, 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

To summarize, we could say saving faith (which is God’s gift) comes through the preaching of God’s word. Christian preaching is miraculous. It brings a new life of faith; it plays a vital role in God’s work of making a new creation, one where the world is made as it ought to be. This seems like a tall order for the person who gets up each week to speak. The good news is that the power of preaching doesn’t come from the speaker; it comes from God and his word.

These days we don’t like to think words have power, but the Bible shows the incredible power of words in Genesis one. God speaks, and darkness gives way to light. God speaks, and deserts become lush gardens. God speaks, and stuff happens! 

Not long after the creation of the world, sin entered the picture. It messed up life as it was supposed to be. It broke the relationship between God his people. But God promised that he would make all things new again. He would begin a work of new creation, to restore and redeem everything that was broken. 

How then does this work of making all things new spread throughout the world? It’s by preaching. God takes the preacher’s ordinary words and imbues them with his holy power (1 Cor 2:1–5). Ezekiel 37 gives us an incredible picture of this power. God takes the prophet Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones. The vultures had gotten their fill. Maggots and worms finished the job. And now the desert sun had bleached the remaining bones until they started to crack. God then asked Ezekiel if these bones could live. Ezekiel responds by saying, “O Lord God, you know.” God tells Ezekiel to speak to the bones, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” As Ezekiel did so, the bones started coming together, flesh appeared, oxygen filled their lungs, and suddenly from the dry bones sprang up an army of living people! That is the power of God’s word. Preaching in this biblical sense matters because it’s how God works in the world to bring life out of death. Preaching can occur behind a pulpit or in a valley of dry bones. The location doesn't matter. Preaching is what God uses to restore life to what has died. Each week we get to experience the miraculous work of God in our lives through hearing God speak through the preaching of his word. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

A Walk Through the Worship Service: Singing

A few years back, in 2014, I remember hearing a story about a fellowship of people in California, that describes itself as a “god-free community that meets monthly...to celebrate life.” During the gatherings, the community listens to lectures, plays games, and sings songs. Although they would shy away from being described in religious terms, some have appropriately tagged it as “atheist church.” Furthermore, I found out that this was just an offshoot (church-plant) of a larger group (denomination) founded by two comedians near London who wanted to do something like church, even though they were atheists.  Called “Sunday Assembly,” the group now has over 70 chapters (congregations). 

When I first heard about Sunday Assembly, it did not surprise me that there was a community of do-gooders meeting together who want nothing to do with god-based religion. What was strange to me is that they always sang songs together as part of their service, but I guess this should not have been surprising either. People love to sing together. Whether it is belting out a good song on the radio with your friends, singing along at your favorite concert, or getting together with a bunch of people on a Sunday morning, the joy of song seems to be woven into the fabric of humanity, spanning cultures and generations.

Of course, God is the one who invented songs and the human voice, he is the one who made music enjoyable, and singing is not something that we should shy away from. Quite the opposite, in fact, Scripture commands singing as part of regular worship: “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name” (Psalm 30:4). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16). 

Still, as with so many other things that God has created, there can be a tendency to use songs for purposes other than glorifying God. In the book of Exodus, this is poignantly displayed. After God brings his people through the Red Sea, Moses and the people sing a song to the Lord about his great deliverance (Exodus 15:1-21). Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the people were worshiping an idol, and it was their loud singing and dancing that gave them away as having broken God’s law. This caused Moses to smash the tablets of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 32:15-19). The prophet Amos talks a lot about singing, especially singing in church, but never in a positive light. Indeed, God was repulsed by the fact that his people had turned away from him in almost every way, except for their church services, which seem to have been as vibrant and joyous as ever. So he says to them, “Take away from me the noise of your songs...I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation” (Amos 5:23; 8:10). 

Knowing this, we want to be mindful of how we sing in church. We don’t gather together to be enraptured by song and swept away by melodies, with only a passing glance at the words that come out of our mouths. We are instructed in Scripture to be both emotionally and rationally engaged in singing — to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). So Paul says, “I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also” (1 Corinthians 14:15). The songs we sing in church should make our hearts leap for joy, bring us to deep contemplation, and even to humble repentance, but not because they are beautiful and mindless melodies, nor because they are crafted with brilliantly poetical verse. Instead, they should instruct our hearts with the gospel truth of Scripture, that the word of Christ might thrive in our souls (Colossians 3:16). While this doesn’t mean that in order for a song to be a “good church song” it must be boring, it does mean that everything we sing must be uncompromisingly true. 

Finally, you need to realize that God doesn’t care if you sing well. The widow who gave out of her poverty gave much more than those who gave out of their abundance (Luke 21:1-4). You might have the vocal equivalent of two copper coins, but God is happier to hear you sing to him in reverence and worship of Jesus Christ, than an entire professional choir singing Handel’s Messiah with no regard to the person of Christ. Self-conscious as you may be, the psalms repeatedly instruct us to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord!” (Psalm 95:1-2; 98:4,6; 100:1). It is my hope and prayer for you that you can take these words to heart, looking forward to that day when we will all sing the song of Moses in heaven:  “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!” (Revelation 15:3). 

In Christ,

Pastor Bryan

Walk Through the Worship Service: Corporate Reading

I struggle to spell the word “ridiculous.” I messed it up on the first try, but thankfully I have spell check. Another option would have been to ask any one of my three girls. Each of them can spell it just fine. I have Disney’s Descendants movie to thank for this. It includes a song that spells out ridiculous. R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, It’s (ridiculous), Just (ridiculous) and so they go a-singing and surpass me in their spelling abilities.

Children are natural learners, especially learning through imitation. And kids have a remarkable ability to mimic the thing we don’t want! While our inclination to imitation isn’t as strong as we get older, people still are social creatures and learn through seeing and hearing others. 

Catechesis is not some relic of a bygone era, but something that happens every day through what we hear and read. The word catechism comes from the Greek word katekhizein, which means to teach or instruct. So it’s not so much a question of whether or not you are being catechised, (you are) but what is catechising you? 

Each week in our service we participate in a corporate reading that often comes from a catechism (we are currently going through the New City Catechism) or some historic creed or confession of the faith. Congregational participation has been part of worship for several thousand years. In the Old Testament, God’s people gathered on two opposing mountains and would shout God’s words to each other from across the valley. (Deut 27:12-13) This practice continued in the early church, where there are records of reciting an early form of the Apostles creed when someone was baptized. 

One reason we do this is because it reminds us of what we have in common with other believers. People often accuse Christians of being divided, or wonder why there are so many different churches if there is just one God. While various churches may differ on less important matters, most of these churches are united around the basics of the faith, as described in the historic creeds of the church. For instance, while we are a Presbyterian Church, we only ask one hold to the basics of the faith to be a member.

Fuzzy notions about God and superficial understanding of biblical truth are unfortunate marks of too many congregations today. A lack of theological foundation has left many unanchored and pulled by the currents of whatever water one is swimming in. When Paul speaks to the church leaders in Ephesus, he warns them of those who would act like believers, but promote false beliefs. (Acts 20:29-31) In other words, sometimes the greatest threats are not from the secular culture, but from those claiming to serve God. When you are in an unfamiliar place your senses are heightened to danger, but when you are in your own home your are at ease. Unfortunately, too many books, movies, and speakers roam freely in the Evangelical community, yet (often unknowingly) teach about God, Jesus and salvation in ways that are contrary to Scripture. While this may seem innocent, the danger is that it leaves a groups of people who are, in the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:14, “tossed and blown about by every... new teaching.” A faith built upon such teachings leaves one always thirsty, but never satisfied, because one is not actually drinking from the rich truths of Christ. A Christianity based upon a Jesus who is a few degrees off from the Jesus in the Bible robs people of the Christ who holds all joy. A catechism and other statements of the faith provide teachings that are easy enough for children to memorize, yet robust enough to capture the essence of biblical teaching. What is taught in these statements isn’t what just one person has come up with; they have been affirmed by believers across time and throughout the world. When we recite these corporate readings in worship we stand with a great cloud of witnesses! 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

A Walk Through the Worship Service: Prayers

In this newsletter series, Pastor Bryan and I are explaining the purpose behind the elements of our worship service. Our service is not just based on what we’ve done in the past (although it is influenced by our Reformed and Presbyterian heritage), nor is it simply based on what will attract the most people (although we do want our service to be inviting). More importantly, our worship is based on how God instructs us to worship. We want to worship God in a way that pleases him. A well intentioned gift of peanut brittle to someone with a severe peanut allergy does not bring joy. In a similar way, even if our intentions are good, we want to ensure our gifts of worship are the type God actually desires.

This month we are examining the role of prayer in our worship service. One of the instructions the Apostle Paul leaves for the church is to pray when we gather for worship. (1 Tim 2:8) Thus prayer is a necessary part of our worship service, but the particulars of the prayers in the service will vary church by church. Let’s look at some of the prayers we offer in our service:

Invocation: This is the prayer that comes near the beginning of our service. This prayer is our response to the call to worship where God initiates a conversation with us. The invocation reminder us that unless God is at work, our worship will fall flat. This is important because people often think worship is effective if there is a great band or impassioned preaching. But such things–apart from God’s Spirit–are like the flash of a match that is lit but soon dies out. Worship’s effectiveness is found in God who fuels our (sometimes feeble) efforts to praise him. 

Prayers of the People: As a child I was always curious which elder would be doing this prayer, so that I could prepare myself for long how it would take! However, our purpose isn’t to bore children (or adults), but to pray for God to work on behalf of others. At our church we usually pray for people in the world, our state and our church. We try to model our prayers on the things we are told to pray for in Scripture. This certainly includes physical needs (Matt 6:11), but many of the prayers in Scripture focus on growth in godliness. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Church is a good example:

“I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.” (Eph 1:16-17)

Prayer for Illumination: God’s Spirit takes the words of Scripture and brings them to life.  The power of preaching is not in one’s speaking ability, but in God’s Spirit working through the preacher and through the minds of the hearers. 

Prayer as Discipleship

One other reason we pray in our service is to help teach others to pray. We have the blessing of having a number of people visit our church who have never been part of a Christian church. If I get the chance to talk with them I will often ask what they thought about the worship service. I frequently hear things like, “The prayers are different than other prayers I’ve heard... in a good way,” or, “When you pray you sound like you are talking to someone you know.” The prayers in our worship service have made people curious about our relationship with God. 

I was recently talking with someone who had no Christian background but through the ministry of our church is coming to know Jesus. She has struggled to pray, in part because she’s never done it out loud. But as we were talking I noticed that she listens to the prayers during the service. Our prayers are helping teach her how to speak to God in a way she never has before. This makes sense; children learn to speak by hearing others speak. Christians learn to pray by hearing others pray. This underscores the importance of prayer in our worship service, but even more, it shows us how important it is for Christians to be willing to model, through prayer, what a conversation with God looks like.

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

A Walk Through the Worship Service

The other day I saw an advertisement for a certain brand of apple cider, and I learned that there are over 600 varieties of apples, each with its own characteristics that can influence the taste of cider, favorably or unfavorably. In order to get the best tasting cider one has to pay close attention to the varied qualities of the apples used. 

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Christian churches, you might feel sometimes like you are choosing from a wide variety of ciders. A worship service might be sweet (enjoyable), bitter (legalistic), bitter-sweet (good sermon, bad music), bursting with flavor (exciting and exuberant), or complex (reverent). Of course, the “flavor” of any individual worship service has as much to do with the attendee’s preferences as it does the service itself. In much the same way that you might prefer Granny Smith over Fuji apples, you might have acquired a taste for a certain “flavor” of worship. 

Scripture, however, does not treat worship as a matter of personal taste, but of spirit and truth (John 4:23). Even if there is room for variety, judging any particular worship service based purely on our personal preferences over-against those of others reduces worship to interactions between people, rather than seeing it as a meeting between God and his people. With this in mind, we’re going to spend some time over the next several months talking about our worship service — what we do, and why we do it — so that we can begin to see worship for what it is: God meeting with us by means of his word and sacraments, drawing attention to the worthiness of Christ our Lord and Savior, and our responding in thanksgiving and adoration.

The Call to Worship — God Invites His People to Glorify and Enjoy Him

When speaking of the Lord’s Day, puritan theologian John Owen said, “All duties proper and peculiar to this day are duties of communion with God. Everlasting, uninterrupted, immediate communion with God is heaven.” Although we often think of being in the presence of God as something that we only truly get to experience in heaven, nearly everything that is true of God’s relationship with his people in heaven is true of God’s relationship with his people today. This means that heavenly worship can happen today (Hebrews 12:22-23). 

Communion with God is and always has been something that he initiates and carries out through his speech. It was the case with Adam (Genesis 1:26-28), Abraham (Genesis 12:1), Moses (Exodus 3:4; 20:1), and culminated in God speaking to his people in his living Word, Jesus Christ (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:2). The consistent pattern in Scripture is that when people try to initiate a relationship with God apart from his word, it results in idolatry and confusion, but when God initiates a relationship with his people by his word, fellowship with him is established and blossoms.

With this in mind, our worship service on Sunday mornings begins with a call to worship from Scripture. Through his word, God invites his people to glorify and enjoy him. The selected passage will always be one which draws attention to the magnificent attributes of God, the benefits he offers to his people, or the honor that is due his name, and will sometimes instruct God's people to draw near to him accordingly. Often, this passage will come from the Psalms, like Psalm 95, “Come let us worship and bow down.” As easily, it might be a New Testament scripture like 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Since worship is always responsive — God speaks to us and we return praise to him — we will often read portions of these passages aloud together. 
 

The Benediction — God Blesses His People With His Continual Presence and Power

In a similar manner, when we conclude worship on the Lord’s Day, we go with a word of blessing from God. He is the beginning and the end, and he has the first and final word in the Call to Worship and Benediction. “Benediction” just means “good word,” or “blessing.” Although you will often see people closing their eyes during the Benediction, it is not intended to be a prayer of the people to God. Rather the Benediction recognizes God as the final gift giver. So being, the minister will often lift his hands as way of signifying that God pours his blessing out on his people. There are many benedictions in Scripture (Romans 15:13, Hebrews 13:20-21), but they all share the common sentiment of Numbers 6:24:26: “The Lord bless you and keep you…” He blesses, and we are blessed. 

One could say that worship is about seeking what tastes the sweetest to us, but not in the same sense as choosing red apples over green ones. Rather, it is an invitation from God to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). To realize that we are not blessed by what we bring to God in our variety of worship, but by what he gives to us as he speaks to us in and through his word.

I hope this helps as you think about why we do what we do at JVC, and that you will have a sense of God’s presence as he meets with us every week. 

In Christ,

Pastor Bryan

You're Invited!

I'm excited to invite you to our annual missions weekend! I look forward to this event as we hear about how God is at work through the people and ministries we support.

As a church, you get to decide how much we give away for missions. I'm thankful that we have such a generous church! Because of your support we will be giving away almost $16,000 towards missions efforts this year! That is more than 14% of our estimated budget. On Sunday, October 29th, we will collect missions pledge cards for 2018. These cards indicate your prayer and financial commitment to our missions efforts for 2018. Please prayerfully consider how you would like to support missions for the upcoming year. 

Our missions speaker is Brian Tsui. He grew up in a Chinese American household where the family religion involved worshiping ancestors and other Buddhist practices. Through the ordinary witness of Christians and the Church, Brian came to know Jesus. He now serves as the Campus Minister at San Jose State University where he shares the gospel with people from many religious backgrounds. Brian is passionate about being a faithful witness in a place where Christianity is not part of the dominate culture. 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Schedule

• October 28
  • 5:00-6:00PM – Missions Dinner (catered by R&R BBQ)
  • 6:00-7:30 – Missionary updates and missions devotional. (Childcare provided)
• October 29
  • 9:45-11:00 – Missions worship service and collect missions pledge cards.
  • 11:30-1:00PM – Missions potluck (please bring a side or dessert to share)
  • 6:00-7:00 – Joint Reformation Service at JVC with all the other PCA churches in the area. (Childcare provided)

Ministries We Supported in 2017:

• Gospel Presbyterian Church & Lifehouse Ministry
• City Presbyterian Church
• Crosspoint Presbyterian Church
• Reformation Carried Forward by Kenyans Pastor's Conference
• Pastoral Internship for Kenyan Amos Omia (Starting in Jan 2018 at Jordan Valley Church)

The Reformation and Missions

On October 31st, 1517, a monk in his mid thirties named Martin Luther published his ninety-five thesis, accusing the Catholic Church of misconduct. Initially Pope Leo X dismissed Luther as another drunken monk. But the Papal theologian Prierias was not so dismissive. He quickly published a response, Dialogue Against the Arrogant Theses of Martin Luther. Luther’s thesis had struck a nerve and would change the course of western history. 

This October marks the five hundredth year since the Reformation. October is also when we host our missions conference. While the Reformation is not often associated with missions, you could argue that the Reformation was missional. Prior to the Reformation, people lived according the mantra facere quo in se est (do what lies within you). It was the idea that salvation is tied to your personal effort. The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas taught that grace does not do away with nature, but completes it. In other words, grace works hand-in-hand with your effort to make you acceptable before God. But this only led to anxiety. People wondered, ‘have I done enough for God?” Many priests would answer that question by simply saying, “try harder.” And the priests provided many opportunities for people to give more to the church in order to further their own righteousness. 

The medieval book Hortus Deliciarum (“Garden of Delights”) depicts salvation as a ladder of virtues. God greets those who make it to the top by handing them a crown of life. Each rung of the ladder represents another virtue that one must acquire to earn salvation. There are demons all around, ready to shoot down all who try to climb up. On the side of the ladder is written, “Whoever falls can start climbing again thanks to the remedy of penance.” 

It was under this system that the continent of Europe lived, including the young monk Martin Luther. Luther was determined to do his best. But as Luther reflected on all that effort he realized, “[T]hough I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience... I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners.” 

Luther and the the other reformers lived in a mission field where churches were prevalent, but few knew of God’s gift of salvation. The people lived under a system that understood righteousness as something you needed to earn, and grace worked in conjunction with your own effort. The reformers’ message flipped all of that on its head. Instead they showed a burdened and weary people that righteousness is God’s gift through faith, that grace is given before they do anything on their own. 

The Reformation was about missions. The reformers had to establish gospel-centered churches and leadership where none existed. They had to educate a whole people about the basics of the real gospel message. It’s because of these things that I’m excited that we are commemorating the 500th year of the Reformation alongside our missions conference. In order to better understand the impact of the Reformation and how it applies to us today we will be doing a sermon series looking at the five key teachings of the Reformation: scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and God’s glory alone. During Sunday school we will be diving into some of the historical context around each main doctrine that came out of the Reformation. I’m excited for this series, and I hope you will join us for the sermons and Sunday School.

The final sermon in this series, “To God’s Glory Alone”, will be preached by Brian Tsui at our Joint Reformation Service at 6pm October 29th. We’ve invited all the other PCA churches in the area to come, and we are excited to fill our building with other believers, worshiping with the same liturgy those Christians used back then. After learning about the Reformation in our series, we will get to experience it and see how the theological and practical issues of the Reformation influenced how those believers (and we today) worshipped. 

I’m excited about the many things we have going on in October and look forward to seeing you there. 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon
 

Reformation Month Schedule
1 Oct - God’s Word Alone
8 Oct - Faith Alone
15 Oct - Grace Alone
22 Oct - Christ Alone
28 Oct - 5:00-7:30PM Missions dinner with our missionaries. 
29 Oct - 9:45-12pm: Missions worship service with lunch afterwards
29 Oct 6:00-7:00pm God’s Glory Alone: Joint Reformation Service with all the other PCA churches.

Five Reasons we like Kids in Worship

One unfortunate trend in churches is the increasing age segregation of worship. Children are placed in kids’ programs from an early age and can even grow into adulthood having never worshiped with people of different ages. Even if we could have the most exciting kids’ ministry possible during our service, we wouldn’t want to do that. Why? Because we believe letting our children worship with us is one of the best ways for them to learn to love God. 

Here are five reasons why we like our children to worship with us:

We will all worship together in heaven.

Dividing up people by ages for worship stands in direct contrast to the picture of ideal worship we see in Revelation 7:9:

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. 

The picture of heavenly worship is marked by both unity and diversity. While there is no reference to different age groups, the principle is clear: heavenly worship involves all God’s different people worshiping together in unity. We should ensure our worship reflects this ultimate worship service. 
 

It helps children see the world is bigger than them. 

When children worship with others, they learn that life is about more than just them. When a child grows up in an environment that caters to his or her needs, it can subtly teach that the world revolves around them. But Christian worship means taking our eyes off ourselves and focusing them upon God. When we exclude children from our worship, we miss out one one of the few places where our lives are put into perspective as we encounter a living God. 

 
It gives your kids an opportunity to see your love for God. 

Many of us desire to have some type of family devotionals, but it’s hard. Life is busy. Participating as a family in worship on Sunday mornings gives your children an opportunity to see your love for God. Your kids notice you singing and listening to God’s Word. When they see your eagerness and love of worship it rubs off on them. Remember how many bad habits our kids pick up from us! Kids are natural imitators. Why not let them learn some good habits from us? Why would we miss out on the opportunity for our kids to mimic our worship of God? If children never worship with parents, they miss seeing them practice what they preach. 

 
It allows your children to see a community loving God.

When children participate in worship they get to see other members of God’s family express their love for God. A parent's faith isn’t just something that they’ve made up, or do in isolation. In other words, our faith is not just something our family does, but something a community participates in together. 
 

God works through ordinary means

There isn’t a simple five-step plan to ensure children grow up to love God. One of the tenants reformed worship is that God works through ordinary means. Through God’s word, prayer, and the sacraments, God brings extraordinary change. These are simple things, things that will constantly be attacked as outdated or out of touch. Indeed if it were simply about how powerful these things were by themselves they would be outdated! But God promises to use our ordinary acts and combine them with his supernatural power to bring real change in people's life. It’s not about our skill (or lack of it) that brings genuine Christian growth. The public worship service is one of the places where God’s ordinary means of grace all show up. We trust those are good enough to bring real spiritual growth in adults. But they are also good enough to bring real spiritual growth in children. Why would be want to take our children out of a place where God promises to work? 
 

Concluding Thoughts

We don’t want to be a church that is only welcoming to those who are committed to keeping their kids in Church. Many factors can make this difficult for families. For some, the idea of kids in church is new. Others are single parents or come to church without a spouse, and it’s hard to both manage children and participate in worship. Children have different temperaments, and some will struggle more than others. As church we want to be sensitive and welcoming to all families.

We think of children's ministry during the worship service as a series of steps to help our kids make the jump into worship with everyone else. The first step is nursery for children up to three years old. Here, children get used to coming to the church and start building relationships with other children and people here. From ages four to six they can participate in a program called Stepping Stones where they stay through the first half of the worship service. This gets them used to being in the service without having to sit through all of it. The third step is for children over six. They participate through the whole worship service, but we offer snacks and kids’ bulletins with worship related activities to help children stay engaged. These are all optional; in the end each family decides how they want their kids to participate in worship. 

Every one of us makes a big difference too. Parents notice when we have a welcoming attitude toward kids in worship.. A loving smile or word of encouragement helps a parent who worries about the noise their child is making. In the end we want to be a church that reflects God’s kingdom when we worship. And that means people of all different backgrounds and ages coming together to show our love for the God who is making us new. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

Christianity Is a Team Sport

This past Sunday we started a series through Nehemiah called “Forward.” In the opening chapter Nehemiah hears of the struggles in Jerusalem. It is striking how much Nehemiah identifies with these distant people. Their problems are his problems. Their sins are his sins. This thinking is the opposite of the individualistic way we approach spiritual growth: “If I’m spending some time reading my Bible and praying, I’m good.” But Nehemiah’s spiritual health is tied to the spiritual health of all God’s people. The theologian Don Carson says, “Lone ranger Christianity won’t make much sense of the book of Nehemiah.” 

In our sermon on Sunday I challenged each person to ask if they are living as if Christianity is an individual or a team sport. The book of Nehemiah and the rest of Scripture show that Christianity is much more of a team sport than an individual one. 

David and Goliath – 1 Samuel 17

Growing up in the church, I remember being taught the story of David and Goliath. Afterwards, my friends and I tried to create slings.  We all dreamed of being like David, defeating giants with only a stone and sling. (I never did face a giant, but it there was one window that didn’t survive!)

Fun as that was, the story of David and Goliath makes more sense through the lens of a team sport. It’s like a sudden death shootout at the end of an overtime soccer game. The star player kicks the ball, bottom left corner of the net, score! The whole team wins! David’s success (or failure) against Goliath was the success (or failure) of all the Israelites. If David won, Israel won. 

When we read it this way, we see the story is less about us being like David and more about how a true hero brings victory for all the people. That takes us right to Christ, whose victory over a power even greater than Goliath--evil itself--brings victory for us all. In fact, our salvation is only possible if we see this is a team sport. 

The Body of Christ – 1 Corinthians 12

In this passage, Paul describes the church as a body made up of people with different gifts. Often people interpret this as Paul speaking about a single church, made up of various people with various gifts. But we know Paul is speaking of all Christians because in verse 13, he addresses those who were baptized “into one body by one Spirit.” Paul is talking about all who have been baptized with Christian baptism. He goes on, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (12:26) Think about this literally. If you break your big toe you can’t just go on functioning like everything is fine. It affects all of your life. Paul's point is that all believers have this organic connection. We cannot ignore the pain of other Christians any more than we can ignore the pain from a broken toe. 

Growing In Christ  – Ephesians 4:15-16

Here Paul tells us how to talk to Christians who are carried away by every new teaching or belief: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  Every Christian has a responsibility to grow in Christ, and we grow in Christ by speaking the truth in love. In other words, while officers of the church ought to equip people for ministry (Eph 4:11-12), all Christians ought to speak truth in love to each other. Every one of us has this responsibility. God’s model for the church is not to have a few people who provide spiritual care; no, every person is called to ministry. In other words, the Christian life is a team sport. 

Implications

There are many implications from these passages, but I want to focus on the question I started with: are you living as if Christianity is an individual or team sport? A simple diagnostic is to look at how are you invested in the spiritual growth of those around you? Husbands, we cannot say we are doing well spiritually if we are not investing in the spiritual growth of our wives. Parents, likewise, we cannot say we are doing fine if we are not invested in the spiritual growth of our children. And for every member of the church, our spiritual health is tied to the spiritual health of those around us. So what impact are you having on the spiritual growth of those people around you? Are you praying for their growth in Christ? Are you speaking the truth in love to them? Small groups are a great way to be invested in the spiritual growth of others. Each person in our church, from the youngest to the oldest, has the ability to make an eternal impact in someone's spiritual life. 

All this ties into our vision; we are on a journey to know Christ. My dream is that we would be a church where, when we make it to the end, we will look back and see that we made it not so much because of any one person, but because of our community and the thousands of often small things we did to encourage one another in Christ. 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Kids in Church Part 2

This month, we continue our series on passing our faith on to the next generation. One thing that is often overlooked is that, if we want our children to have an authentic faith, we must have an authentic faith. In the Old Testament God desired authentic love. (Psalm 51:16-17, Hosea 6:6) Outward acts of sacrifice, when divorced from a heart of repentance and love, were actually offensive to God. We may not offer physical sacrifices or burnt offering like the Israelites did, but we do offer other types of sacrifices and offerings to God. We sacrifice our time by volunteering in the church, and we give offerings of money. But there is a danger in these becoming empty forms of worship if they aren’t accompanied by a heart that loves God. God wants authentic worship. God wants us to love him, and when we love him, we will give him all of our lives. 
 
So how does this apply to our children? Sometimes children's programs in the church can become like empty sacrifices and offerings. It’s easier to put our kids in Sunday school or youth group than it is to cultivate a genuine love for God in our own hearts and then share that with our children. But in Deuteronomy 6, God calls for parents to display a love for God in every corner of their lives. This is much harder than dropping your child off at the child check-in, but it also offers something much more lasting. 
 
When a genuine love for God emanates from parents’ lives, their children notice. We can sometimes wonder why our kids pick up certain habits or mannerisms. But most likely they picked up these things by observing us! Children are observers of all our actions–even our unpleasant ones. Angela Duckworth, in her book Grit, talks about how much influence our actions have. She describes a psychology experiment at Stanford University in which the children observed the adults playing with toys. Half of the children watched them play with tinker toys the entire time. The other half of the children watched them play with the tinker toys for a few minutes, but then the adult turned and started hitting a life-size inflatable doll. The adult yelled and screamed at the doll and eventually kicked it out of the room. 
 
Next, the children were given opportunities to play with the same toys. Those who watched the adults play peacefully with the toys did the same. But those who watched the violent outburst were aggressive towards the doll, sometimes even copying exactly what they saw the adult do. Much of a child’s learning takes place through informal observation. So parents must ask themselves what their children are observing. Do their children see parents who love God in their thoughts, words, and deeds? 
 
When we understand this organic way our children grow it both simplifies our task as parents and makes it much harder. It simplifies our task because faith is often best passed on to your children through simple, ordinary means, such as conversations around the dinner table, prayers together, and making church a priority. Little things like this over the course of years add up to something substantial. 
 
But this organic way of raising our kids is also harder. It means we must actually love God. We must live a life that reflects what it means to be a follower of Christ. Is it any surprise when a grown child walks away from the faith after observing his parents make hundreds of little decisions that show a priority of sports, vacations, and other things over the regular worship of God? Unfortunately, I sometimes get the impression that parents who seek the most exciting church experiences for their children do it because they are trying to give their children something that they have not actually experienced themselves. The decision a child makes regarding his faith doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is often the fruit (whether good or not) of the spiritual environment they grew up in. 
 
In the next months we will get into some of the practical ways we help our children grow in Christ, but it must start with us and our authentic love for God. This is the foundation for everything that follows. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

This is adapted from the booklet “Helping our Kids Grow in Christ.”  It is freely available on the JVC website.  

Helping Our Kids Grow in Christ (ebook)

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Kids in Church

Over the next couple months we will look at what Scripture has to say about raising children in the faith. People outside the church often ask me about our kids’ ministry. I get the impression they assume that the best way for a child to grow up to know Jesus is through a vibrant children's ministry and fun youth group. But when we look at Scripture, God doesn’t tell  us to have these things. This doesn’t mean they can’t play a role, but they aren’t foundational. Instead God gives some of his clearest instructions in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NLT):

Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Moses is telling the people what they need to do in order to ensure the generations after them continue to experience the blessings God has promised. He calls for wholehearted commitment to God and tells them how to pass that on to the next generation. Notice that Moses doesn’t say the children need to be enrolled in Sampson's Hunting Club or David’s Music School; on the contrary, the things we typically associate with kids’ ministry are absent. These things are not wrong, but God’s design for passing on our faith to the next generation is less about programs and more about authentic displays of God’s word in all of life. Notice the commands: “repeat them,” “talk about them,” “tie them,” “wear them,” “write them.” Now notice the locations and situations: home and on the road, going to bed and getting up, on your hands and foreheads, doorposts of house and gates. Moses is talking about creating an environment, an environment that encompasses the child’s whole life. The idea of sectioning off part of your life for God--this day or this hour--is foreign to God’s design. Moses is calling on people to live spiritual lives where every action is done for God’s glory. 

Christian faith is best passed on to the next generation through authentic Christian environments. Certain programs fit into that, but a program is not an environment. Programs end; they have boundaries. God calls Christian parents to something without boundaries. We are to raise our children in a climate where God is loved.

Let me illustrate this. For several months I lived with a family in Hawaii. About the time I showed up the family planted a banana tree in their front yard. A few months later the banana tree was producing bananas. For a guy who grew up in the high elevations of Colorado this was shocking. It took over ten years for my family to get our new apple tree to produce fruit. Hawaii, though, was an excellent environment for bananas. A good habitat fosters growth. A really good youth group can act like fertilizer, but a plant cannot survive on fertilizer alone! For lasting growth, it needs an entire environment with water, good soil, sun, the right temperature, and so much more. Likewise, the key for a good spiritual environment is authentic love for God; it’s like sunlight, water, rich soil, and a good climate all at once. 

Authentic love for God must undergird everything we do if we want to see the next generation grow up to love Christ. Everyone in the church has a role to play in this. Over the next several newsletters we will look at some of the ways in which we all can show our children this love for God through family activities, worship, children's programs and more. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

This is adapted from the booklet “Helping our Kids Grow in Christ.”  It will be freely available in the coming weeks on the JVC website and resource wall. 

Christians and Immigration: Part 2

Back in March, we talked about sphere sovereignty and how it can help us think and talk about immigration. Then, we considered this issue within the sphere of the government. In this newsletter we are going to look at how we should think of immigration within the sphere of the church. 

To review, sphere sovereignty is the idea that God has created distinct spheres of authority within the world. Governments have a certain sphere of authority, while the church has another sphere of authority. When applying passages of Scripture we need to ensure we are not taking a passage that is written for one sphere--say, the church--, and applying it to another sphere, such as the government. A simple example is a Christian police officer who is both to use the “power of the sword” (Rom 13:4) to protect the citizens and to follow Jesus’ teachings to “turn the other cheek.” (Matt 5:39) The sphere the police officer is currently operating in (as an on-duty officer, or as a private citizen) would tell him which scriptural principle to apply to his situation. As I mentioned in the March newsletter, many misunderstandings about the response to immigration result from taking a single Bible passage and applying it to all spheres. This wouldn’t work for Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek, and it doesn’t work for passages related to immigration.  

Churches, while they reside in particular nations, do not belong to those nations, but are embassies of God’s eternal kingdom. (John 18:36, Phil 3:12) God’s kingdom is made up of people from every nation, tribe, people and language. (Rev 7:9) In one sense, God’s kingdom is wholly made up of immigrants. In Romans 4, Paul tells us that we are not born into God’s household, but become part of God’s family through faith. In other words, we all had to go through an immigration process when we became Christians. And we now live as spiritual foreigners--refugees--, awaiting the day we make it to our new home. This should give all Christians compassion for refugees and immigrants.

The purpose of the Church is to make disciples from all nations. (Matt 28:19) Traditionally, this meant missionaries would go overseas, but now, with the ongoing refugee crises, the nations are coming to us. We now have opportunities to bring the gospel to all nations without even leaving our city.  In Acts 17:26-7, Paul tells us that God has ordained the boundaries and movements of all people throughout history. Thus the millions of refugees seeking a home is not a mishap, but part of God’s sovereign purpose. 

Many refugees come from places where it is difficult to send Christian missionaries, and now God is bringing these formerly isolated people to us. As a church we should welcome people from around the globe because of the opportunity to share the gospel with them. Are there risks in welcoming refugees? Yes, of course. It’s the government's job to figure out how to minimize these risks. But as Christians, when did we start thinking it wasn’t risky to be a Christian? When did we start thinking there wouldn’t be  a cost to following Christ? Can we claim to follow Jesus, who willingly suffered and died on a cross for his enemies, if we first seek safety and isolation from the very type of people that Jesus died for–those who wanted to kill him? 

The influx of refugees and immigrants should be exciting for God’s Church. Now the nations are coming to us! And what a message of hope the Gospel has to those who have no home. For at the heart of the Gospel is the story of a man named Jesus, who, not long after he was born, was taken by his parents as a refugee to Egypt. The Gospel offers the hope of a new beginning. Whether we live in the suburbs or the slums, the Gospel shows the best is yet to come. Because of Christ, we are all immigrants, walking by faith towards the true home Jesus has prepared for us in heaven.

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

We Are Just Getting Started

Last year, on Sunday, October 16th, we outlined a new vision for our church. This Easter Sunday, April 16th, marks exactly six months from that congregational meeting. It’s hard to believe it’s been six months! And yet these past few months have been so encouraging. So many people have helped out–I’ve counted at least thirty different people! They are excited about how good it all looks. After six years of flat or declining attendance our church has started to grow again. This is an exciting time for our church. 

Most of our renovations are done now. The building looks amazing. But the thing is, it won’t last. The beautiful new floor will get scratched and worn. The fresh paint will eventually look dated, and the carpet will fray. So why all the renovations? Because they are temporary things that help us share what is eternal–the Gospel. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul’s words are striking. He’s saying the central focus of his ministry is Jesus Christ and his death--more specifically, his crucifixion. We hear of Jesus’s death so often that we can almost become immune its power. But Paul says that the crucifixion is central to all of Scripture. Fleming Rutledge’s book, The Crucifixion, helps us understand the power of the cross in a fresh way:  “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central focus the suffering and degradation of its God.” She goes on to say, “Men and women did not forsake their former ways of life because they were offered spiritual direction or instructed in righteous living; they became converts because of the explosive news that they heard.” 

It’s been a busy few months at our church. The renovations might be nearly done, but our work is just getting started. Why? Because all that work serves something greater, the proclamation of Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is the explosive news that transformed people in the first century. The message that the God who made everything was shamed, suffered, and died in one of the most humiliating ways known to man. And he did this because of his great love for us. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus! We want all people to know this love. 

God is at work, using us to share his love. I’ve had many gospel conversations with visitors since we’ve become Jordan Valley Church. I spoke with a college student who visited our church and was overwhelmed by the welcome she received; now she wants to learn more about our church. I’ve been able to read the Bible with someone who responded, “I’ve never heard this before. This grace sounds too good to be true.” I’ve had a conversation with someone who said he’s not a Christian, but he’s interested in what’s happening here, and he keeps coming back. God is working in our church! We are just getting started, and by God’s grace the best is yet to come. 
 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Christians and Immigration: Part 1

How should we as Americans and Christians think about immigration? I realize I’m a little late to the party. Immigration was a hot topic a few weeks ago; it seems to have died down a bit now. But Presbyterians are always late to the party on things like this; at least I am. Or perhaps that’s why I’m Presbyterian?  

I wanted to write about this because so much of what Christians are saying about it seems to be marked more by political ideology than by biblical thinking. This concerns me. I’m not an expert on immigration, but, having lived in Iraq (one of seven countries named in the recent temporary immigration ban) for over a year, I do have a unique perspective on some of the issues. But I’m also a pastor; part of my role is that of “public theologian;” I ought to be helping people see how the Bible speaks to the issues of our day.

Sphere Sovereignty

When we read scripture we should ask what spheres of life (or authority) these passages fit into. Consider a police officer; his job is to serve and protect the people. This authority comes from God himself. (Rom 13:1-7) But say this police officer is also a Christian, and thus should follow Jesus’s command to not resist an evildoer, but turn the other cheek. (Matt 5:39) How does the police officer reconcile these two seemingly conflicting commands? Should he return fire at the bank robber who is shooting at him? This would make him a good police officer, but not a good Christian. Or should he stand down and offer his other cheek as a target to the robber? This would make him a good Christian, but not a good police officer.

The idea of sphere sovereignty is helpful here. In his role (sphere) as a police officer, he has a duty to protect others, using force if necessary. However, in his personal life, it would be wrong for him to use that authority by pulling out his service pistol to confront a neighbor whose dog poops on his lawn. Here, in the personal sphere, Jesus’s command to turn the other cheek would take precedence.

This same principle applies in our talk about immigration. A government that fails to protect its people is failing in one of its basic mandates. But there is also the sphere of a Christian's personal life where we all should be willing to lay down our own lives for the sake of the Gospel. Much of the disagreement I’ve seen among Christians happens because people take scriptures meant for one sphere of authority and try to apply them to another sphere. But that’s the same mistake as the police officer saying he won’t return fire on duty because he needs to turn the other cheek. In the immigration debate, someone might cite a scripture passage regarding the care of immigrants, yet ignore passages regarding the government's priority to protect its people. Understanding the different spheres of sovereignty helps us to both welcome immigrants and be committed to keeping our country safe.

Total Depravity

One of the most ignored (and helpful) teachings of Scripture when it comes to immigration is the doctrine of total depravity. This doctrine teaches that, while humans are not as bad as they could be, every part of humanity is affected by sin. (Jer 17:9; Titus 1:15; Rom 3:10-19)

Some who would advocate for more open borders forget that people are totally depraved. I get the sense that some politicians believe that, if they could just sit in a room and talk with certain extremists, they would win them to their side and the American way. Unfortunately, this belief ignores that people are totally depraved. Some have been so twisted by sin that they take pleasure in the brutal killing of others.

But others who advocate for much stricter policies seem to forget that we are all totally depraved. The threat of violence is not just “outside the gates” but also within. The sin that leads terrorists to commit horrible acts of violence is the same sin that is within us. This should give us a healthy dose of humility. When we forget total depravity, it can lead to pride, to thinking we are somehow better than others. But we forget that we only have what we have by the grace of God. Because of this we should have compassion for all people.

Christ Is the True King

As Christians who are citizens of the United States we cannot forget that God is our true protector. This keeps us from unhealthy paranoia regarding acts of terrorism. It even allows us to accept some risk in accepting refugees, if there are good reasons to accept them. Trusting in an earthly king more than in God is what often got Israel into trouble. Israel often wanted a king who would build a strong army, economy and alliances; yet, ironically, the more Israel sought those things, the more they tended to lose them. Had God’s people worried less about military and political might and had instead sought God first, they would have been safer.

Forgetting All People Are Made in the Image of God

In Genesis 1:26-27, we learn that God created all people in his image. No higher honor can be given than to be made in the image of the God who made all things! This means we must reject “us versus them” thinking. We must reject ostracising certain groups of people because of a few bad apples. Even in the worst people, God’s image remains. We must show a respect for every human life, never stooping to the same lows that those who wish us harm would use.

One of the things that struck me while deployed in Iraq was how much I had in common with most of the Iraqi citizens. They were all Muslim, and yet they were a lot like me. They had the same desires, worries and struggles that I did. The vast majority of Iraqis I met didn’t hate us; many were incredibly hospitable. Even those who would aid Al Qaeda by planting a roadside bomb were not usually religious extremists. The economy was bad in Iraq, and no one had money; so Al Qaeda started to pay good money to people to plant roadside bombs. This was the only work available. To “sweeten” the deal Al Qaeda operatives would often threaten to kill his wife and kids if a citizen refused. If you were in that same situation can you be sure you wouldn’t have made the same choice many of the Iraqis did? Plant the bomb, and your family gets to live. The Americans at least had body armor, which is much more protection than your children have if Al Qaeda comes for them. The greatest casualties of Islamic Extremism in Iraq were Muslims themselves.

When I get to know people who are different than me I soon learn we actually aren't that different. Because we are all made in the image of God, we have many similarities. And because we are made in the image of God, we all have dignity.

We Need to Respect Our Leaders

Romans 13:1 gives us some of the clearest guidance for our posture towards those in governmental authority. It says,
 

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Who should submit to the governmental authorities? Everyone. But what if they support things you are against? Doesn’t matter. They are in that place because God placed them there. Now, if a ruler asks us to do something that violates God’s law, we must obey God. (Acts 5:29) Ultimately God will hold leaders accountable for their actions and whether they submit to God or not. (Psalm 2) One of our first duties is to pray for them. (1 Tim 2:1-2) How many of us can say our prayers for our leaders outnumber our complaints about them? Scripture says that our attitudes towards our leaders should not change whether or not their politics  mesh with our own. Paul plainly states that we should “honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17) He makes no exception for Roman emperors who are unfriendly to Christians.

Concluding Thoughts

We’ve looked at some principles for how we should think about refugees within the sphere of our national citizenship. Next month we will look at this topic as it relates to the sphere of the church. I cannot tell you what you should believe regarding our national policy for immigration and refugees. But it is my hope that we will seek to turn our thinking on the matter in a scriptural direction. How can we truly call ourselves Christian if we do not seek to conform all our thinking to Christ?

The Government has an obligation to protect its people. There are evil people who take pleasure in destroying anything good, and so the government must protect its citizens from them. But most people don’t fit into that category. Most refugees, I suspect, are like many of the people we met in Iraq. People caught in the middle, simply wanting to take care of their families. Recognizing this was one of the things that turned the tide of the Iraq war. Instead of seeing the local populace as our enemies or a nuisance, we started seeing them as partners and allies. They were then less likely to help Al Qaeda operatives; in fact,  they would give us tips on where the roadside bombs were. Sometimes I even suspect they knew where a roadside bomb was because they planted it! But they didn’t want to harm us; they were just trying to keep their children alive by doing what Al Qaeda forced them to do.

Let’s realize the issues are complicated and that good people can disagree. And just because someone disagrees doesn't mean they hate America--no, they probably want the same thing you do, to keep our nation safe. They just have different ideas for how to do it. Remember, every one of us if deeply affected by sin, so let’s show some more humility. Most of all, let us ensure that we are honoring God and esteeming the name of Christ in all we do.

In Christ,
Pastor Jon