Helping Those In Need

Dear JVC Community,

With the impact of the recent coronavirus outbreak extending into many parts of our daily lives, we want to make sure that the spiritual and physical needs of the community are being met. If you weren't already aware, JVC has a benevolence ministry whose mission is to help meet these needs. 

If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, we encourage you to use one of the options below to contact our benevolence team so that we can help.

• Fill out this online form to let us know what you need and provide your contact information. The deacons will be notified.

• Hard copies of the form will also be printed next to the bulletins at church, and you may give them directly to a deacon or place them in one of the offering boxes.

• Reach out to one of our deacons directly for assistance.

If you are interested in helping our deacons serve our community and congregation, please reply to this email or contact one of us directly (see below).

In Christ,

The JVC Deacons
David Sunwall, Jake Hehr, Robert Blair

March 15th Worship Service

If you want to join us online

At 9:15 you can join us online on Facebook. Go to the JVC Facebook page to see the live stream. The video will be saved for later viewing as well.

Follow along with our worship bulletin here.

If you want to join us in person

• Our worship services will be at the normal times. We’ve added seats to the sanctuary to allow people to spread apart. 

• We’ve suspended all non-essential volunteer positions. This includes making coffee, so make sure to bring your own! 

• We will not have a nursery or Stepping Stones. We will all worship together!

• We will not reuse bulletins, so please dispose of them after the service.

• We will not reuse kids packs, but will have coloring packs kids can take home. 

• We will sanitize key areas, before and after each service. 

• Please take responsibility to ensure your washing your hands and following other preventative measures given by the CDC. 

• If you are in an at-risk group or feel any symptoms of the disease please join us online. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – March 12th, 2020

Over the past 24 hours I’ve watched in amazement as Coronavirus/COVID-19 went from just a story on the news to something that’s shutting down much of our state. Whatever happens next, this isn’t the first time Christians have faced epidemics. Often, uncertain times have given Christians, as people who believe in resurrection, opportunities to comfort others. With all the information and disinformation swirling around, I want us followers of Christ to think Christianly about Coronavirus. Particularly, I think there are two areas where Scripture speaks to how we should respond: (1) We should seek to protect and preserve life (2) We should share the peace of Christ through word and deed. Before going into more details I want to outline the decisions our elders have made:

1. We will offer live-streaming of our 9:15 worship service. This will be provided on our Facebook page and saved for later viewing. We will email out a PDF version of our bulletin to help you worship with us from home. 

2. We will continue to have our 9:15 and 11:00 services. These services will be under the 100 person threshold outlined by our governor and give people enough room to spread out. We recognize that in anxious times, gathering together for worship has been one of the ways God’s people have found hope. Our doors will be open for all seeking peace during anxious times. 

3. We will stop our nursery & Stepping Stones programs during the service. While it appears children are less susceptible to this virus, they are excellent at spreading germs. We want to minimize that. As always, children are welcome in our worship service, and I look forward to hearing more of their “worship” during the service. 

4. We will do our best to sanitize key areas (doors handles, etc.) between church services. 

5. We’d encourage everyone to take personal responsibility for preventing the spread of the disease by following the recommendations from the CDC:

   1. In particular, if anyone in your family is feeling sick, please stay home and worship with us online. 

   2. If you are in one of the more susceptible groups (those over 60 and those with weakened immune systems), please worship with us online.

   3. Please ensure you wash your hands before and after the church service. 

6. Please contact the church if you’d like someone to visit or pray with you. 

7. At this time, other activities (small groups, bible studies) will continue at the discretion of group leaders. 

The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes the duties required by the Sixth commandment by saying, “The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others.” The recommendations from our government are intended to help preserve life, and thus we want to follow them. While the spread of coronavirus seems inevitable, slowing the spread provides relief to our healthcare system. A hospital can handle 1,000 additional patients over the course of a month much easier than 1,000 new patients over the course of a week. The above actions are in line with our government’s recommendations to preserve lives.

But we also feel a strong duty to have open doors at the church. We are thankful to live in a time when we can easily broadcast our services online, particularly for those who are most at risk can still worship. But we also believe that in a time when people are already isolated and fearful, locking the doors of the church sends the wrong message. We don’t believe that following Jesus will keep us from sickness; we do believe following Jesus keeps us from a fear of death. Writing in the fourth century, Eusebius gives us a description of the remarkable witness Christians provided during a plague that swept through Alexandria: 

Most of our brother-Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of the danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbours and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.

We are thankful for modern medicine that treats disease much better than that of the early church; I’d encourage all of us to consider how you can share the peace of Christ to those around you as our Christian predecessors did. In the following week we will be sending out additional emails about ways we can serve and spread peace during these uncertain times. In the meantime, if you need assistance don’t hesitate to contact the church or any of our elders or deacons. 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

The Meaning of the Lord's Supper

In the coming months we hope to celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently at JVC. There are some practical reasons for this change; for instance, those who have to miss the first Sunday of the month because of work might go a long time without taking communion. 

Before we move forward with this plan, we need to consider some of the practical issues. First, in order to do this more frequently, we need more people to help with preparing and serving the Lord’s Supper. Second have a significant number of regular attenders who have not yet publicly proclaimed their faith and been baptized. We ask these people to wait until they have done so to participate in the Lord’s Supper. But we also understand that sitting through communion as an observer instead of a participant can feel awkward. We want to ensure that everyone feels welcome and looks forward to the day when they partake of the Lord’s Supper. 

Aside from the practical reasons, why else might we want to celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently? Scripture hints that the early church celebrated it weekly, as part of a larger meal, but there isn’t a clear command for us to do likewise. In order to answer that question, we need to understand the sacraments more--what they are and how they benefit us. This month we’ll talk about why we want to celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently,  and next month we’ll look at the practice throughout church history. 
 

What Is a Sacrament?

The word “sacrament” doesn't come from the Bible, but from the Latin word sacramentum, an oath of allegiance. Augustine defined a sacrament as an outward and physical sign of an inward and spiritual grace. With any sacrament, there is a physical thing (water, bread, wine) and a spiritual grace connected to it. The many sacrifices in the Old Testament were the Israelites’ sacraments. These physical sacrifices didn’t have power in and of themselves to forgive sins, but they pointed believers forward to Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice. In the New Testament, baptism and communion pointed believers back to Christ’s past saving work.

The Christian Church largely agrees that sacraments confer grace, but has long debated the nature of the union between the physical signs and the grace they confer. This divide is most easily seen in whom or what the priest/pastor/bishop is speaking to when he gives the words of institution: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body...” In Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and some Anglican traditions these words are spoken to the bread and wine, changing them in some physical way to become containers of grace. In the reformed and evangelical traditions, the words of institution are spoken to the gathered people. In order for the people to benefit from the physical elements of communion, they must have some understanding of the gospel. 
 

How do Sacraments Help Us?

Many evangelical Christians put the emphasis of the sacraments on the individual. Baptism is based on my decision to follow Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is primarily a reminder to me of Christ’s sacrifice. 

Now, while sacraments do require our participation, the heart of it is God’s initiation and promise, which we then respond to. For instance, Abraham begins practicing the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision only after God makes a promise to him. Abraham doesn’t invent it to show his commitment to God; rather, God ordains it as a way to confirm his promises. Abraham responds to what God has already done and promised to do.

What then is the promise of God in the Lord’s Supper? The Heidelberg Catechism Question 75 lays out two:    
 

First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross.
    Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

In the Lord’s Supper there is a spiritual union between the physical elements and Christ. One of the most helpful ways to understand this union comes from Peter Vermigili. Vermigili was a leading reformer in Italy in the mid 1500’s. Vermigili saw a parallel in the relationship between the union of Christ’s two natures and his spiritual union with the bread and the wine. The Chalcedonian Creed, one of the definitive statements on the incarnation, specifies that the person of Christ possessed two natures that were neither changed, confused, nor co-mingled. That fact that he is fully God does not change his humanity; nor does the fact that he is fully human deface his divinity. Jesus is truly God and truly man in one person. 

Vermigli believed there is a similar union between Christ and the communion elements. The bread and wine remain bread and wine, yet Christ has united himself to these elements, so that in the one sacrament we partake of real bread, real wine, and Christ himself. To take communion is to truly feed on Christ. Hughes Oliphant Old summarizes Vermiglis’s understanding by saying: 
 

In the incarnation, the humanity of Christ is not turned into divinity but rather sanctified. Likewise, we come to Communion not for divinization, but rather that through this communion with Christ we may become holy as he is holy. Our human flesh and blood remain human flesh and blood, but being sanctified, we become the humanity God always intended us to be.

The Lord’s Supper is an important part of how we grow to become more and more like Christ. And while the grace communicated in the Lord’s Supper is not different from the grace that we receive from hearing the gospel, there is a grace conferred nonetheless. And this grace, tied to these physical elements, nourishes us in a way that complements the preached word. The Lord’s Supper is not just something that reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice; it actually feeds us Christ. As Herman Bavinck writes, “[I]t is the personal living Christ himself who imparts himself in the Supper’s spiritual food.” When we understand what is happening in the Lord’s Supper–that we actually are being nourished by the living Christ–how much more should we come with eagerness to the Table? 

The next time we take communion, I encourage you to not just reflect on what Christ has done, but to realize that you are actually eating and drinking of the life-giving Spirit of Christ, and it is nourishing your soul. Christ, the perfect human, is making you a true human, modeled after his image. What a joy! We do not just remember Christ; we actually partake of him in the Lord’s Supper! 

In Christ, 
Pastor Jon

Read the next newsletter: The Practice of the Lord’s Supper

A Letter for the Next Ten Years

With the holidays, church remodeling, and planning for two services, I kept running out of time to sit down and write the newsletter. As I wrestled with what to write, I found myself circling around the idea of gratitude. While it’s similar to thankfulness, I think gratitude runs deeper; it’s less a feeling and more an attitude of the soul.

In the past month I’ve felt a deep gratitude. Gratitude for my family and those times we all act silly together and laugh at our corny jokes. Gratitude for my wife, who balances so many competing commitments with a joy and grace that shows no hint of all that is asked of her. 

But I also have a deep gratitude for you, the people of Jordan Valley Church. After the New Year, I found myself feeling more stressed than normal--anxious, even, which is rare for me--with everything going on in the church. But one of the things that helped was seeing all the ways you are helping out. As we were looking through our lists of new volunteers, I was humbled by those who signed up to help in so many ways that it would be physically impossible for them to do all those things on a single Sunday. I was humbled by the lack of complaining I’ve heard over the move to two services. I was humbled by those who have given so many hours to help with the remodeling. I was struck wondering, with so many churches experiencing division, complaining, gossip, who am I to have a church with this spirit of unity and service? I’m humbled to be your pastor. 

Around that same time I read from 2 Corinthians 3:2-3:
 

The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

 
As I think about the next ten years at JVC, I’m sure I’ll have more crazy ideas: Let’s construct a new building; let’s plant a church; let’s plant three churches, and while we’re at it, let’s have three interns from three different countries! I always have ideas, I always have dreams, and it’s easy for these things to take over one's ministry. But Paul reminds me of something better: the legacy of my ministry is the lives of those I minister to, the story of how Christ has worked in you. 

More and more I want to be a one church pastor. I was ordained here, I hope to retire here. I want the legacy of my ministry to be the lives of the people at Jordan Valley Church. I realize things can change; God could call us somewhere else. I could disqualify myself from ministry through some sin. But I can say, having been here through the good and bad, slow and busy, it’s my desire that, more and more, the letter of your lives would be written on my heart. That I would unite myself to you in deeper and deeper ways and we would grow together. Jonathan Edwards once preached that a minister’s calling is twofold: (1) To unite himself to a particular people, like a young man who unites himself to a bride, and (2) To prepare that people to be united to their true bridegroom, Jesus Christ. My desire is to spend the rest of my career united to you, the people of JVC, and to grow together in the love of our perfect bridegroom, Jesus. There will be times when I let you down; there will be times when you let me down. My hope is that these things don’t lead us apart, but instead lead us to Christ, who will never fail us.

I hope to have the honor of officiating at your funerals and telling others of your love of Jesus. I hope to officiate at the weddings of the kids we now see come up for the children’s message. I long to be there to baptize the grandchildren that come from those marriages. I long to see legacies of faith in our church, as we see a love of Jesus passed down from one generation to another. I hope to weep when you weep and laugh when you laugh. To borrow from Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer, “I wanna grow old with you.” I want to walk with you on this journey, until the Lord calls us home. Thank you for the honor of being your pastor.

In Christ,
Pastor Jon

Uncommon Jesus

This past week, our one-year-old son Luke has been sick. His proclivity to dance every time he hears music has been reduced to the faintest head bob. He’s spending more time sitting in our laps than he is chasing balls around the house. But every once in a while, he will do something like hold out a pretzel for me to eat, only to take it away at the last second and say, “No!” with a slight smile and then try the same trick again. These moments bring me joy as I see glimpses of the Luke we know and love. One of the joys of having children is watching their personalities blossom. It’s like slowly unwrapping a gift to see more of what’s inside.

Jesus also had a personality. When we think of Jesus, we tend to think of him in terms of his work. His work as Savior, his work as Intercessor, his work as Redeemer. Jesus’ work is of utmost importance, but we cannot separate his work from his person. The salvation Jesus offers is not a software update we set to install overnight. No, Jesus’ salvation is intimately connected to his personality; only he had a personality capable of saving us. Since it is humans who sin, the penalty for that sin must be borne by a human; in order to provide a sacrifice of infinite value, he must also be God.

These two natures have, in the words of the Council of Chalcedon been, “inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly and inseparably” united into one person, Jesus. To put it crassly, Jesus has the most interesting personality of anyone! One of the strengths of reformed theology is the belief that salvation is not just a decision we made; it is union with Christ himself. Calvin says, “[Christ presents] Himself to us and invites us into such a relationship that truly we are united to Him, that He dwells in us in such a way that everything that belongs to Him is ours.” Salvation is you becoming inseparably united to the person of Jesus so that his righteousness and holiness become yours.

Some two thousand years ago God took on flesh. That embryo inside Mary’s womb contained within it not just human life, but the life of God through whom all things were made. He broke the fourth wall. Jesus stepped into his own creation. He came as God, but at the same time as a fertilized egg. Mystery of mysteries! How can the God who sustains all things be held in the arms of one of his creatures?

Mary spent countless hours holding her young son. And I’m sure like many of us do, she would gaze into his eyes and discover the delight of his first smile and start to see his personality develop. This Christmas let’s not forget that our salvation is rooted in a flesh-and-blood person. For our advent series, we are going to be looking at the person of Jesus and why his personality matters. Please join me this year in proclaiming the mystery of our God:

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail, th'incarnate Deity:
Pleased, as man, with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Why We Are Adding a Second Service

At our congregational meeting this past Sunday we talked about our plans to add a second worship service in January or February of 2020. I want to expand on some of the reasons we believe this is the right decision for our church.

If you’ve been to Jordan Valley Church recently, you know that space is an issue. At our current attendance levels, we need about 65-70 parking spaces. We have 19. You all have done an excellent job of parking on the street, but we don’t think that is a sustainable solution. Street parking will be more difficult (and sometimes impossible) during the winter months. There is also a safety risk as we have more and more young children loading and unloading along Old Bingham Highway.

Seating is also an issue. We are over 75% full about half of all Sundays. On these weeks, if you arrive to church a little late, it’s hard to find enough seats. Typically a church will struggle to grow once 70-80% of its seats are used.

Most churches grow primarily because of transfer growth–people jumping from one church to another, or moving into a new city. This past year, more than two thirds of our growth came from people publicly professing faith in Jesus. God has graciously included JVC in the work of growing his Kingdom. The longer I’m in Utah, the more convinced I am that there are many people here whom God has marked as his own, but who have not yet heard the true gospel. I’ve never lived in a place where so many people are asking spiritual questions. I believe JVC is a great church for people to discover God’s love for them. We want to make room for people who don’t know Jesus yet, and we believe there are thousands of them all around us.

We take this step in faith. God doesn’t need our church to grow his Kingdom. He can just as well use any of the other Christian churches in the area. But this move seems to be the most responsible choice given what we do know. Adding a second service might not work out like we hope, and we might have to return to one service after trying it. But I trust that, whether or not our church grows in numbers, our church will grow in Christian maturity. We often embark on efforts like this thinking of how others will grow, but often forget that God grows each of us when we step out in faith. Christian growth is never a one-way street.

Over and over I’ve returned to Ephesians 4 as a reminder for why I got into ministry. Verses fifteen and sixteen say, “Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 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.”

I can’t say with certainty that two services will lead to more people coming to faith (I pray and hope for this), but I can say that God will grow us in this. This is something that neither I or the elders and deacons can do on our own. We need your help. And as we all serve one another, I believe God will mold our community into one that looks more and more like his body. I’m excited to grow in that way. Will you join us on this journey?

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Common Questions

What time will the services be?

We haven’t officially decided, but probably around 9:00 and 10:45.

Will this split our congregation?

One of the biggest worries people have is feeling disconnected from half of the church. We hope to provide some events that will allow the church body to gather as one to help preserve unity, but the reality is that JVC has already grown to a point where most people don’t know everyone else in the church. With two smaller services, we think it will be easier for you to get to know the people in the service you attend. We also hope that the congregation will become more united, since we will need everyone to serve as they are able. As people serve together, we believe they will grow together.

What about _____?

We realize there are a number of questions that are still unanswered. We are working with key leaders to figure out many of the details and will be sharing them with you. Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the pastors or elders about questions or concerns you have.

Listen to the audio from the congregational meeting.

View slides from the congregational meeting.

Missions for the Sake of Worship

Several years ago Lisa and I attended the The Gospel Coalition’s 2015 conference in Orlando. We’d taken a red eye from Salt Lake the previous evening; by the time we arrived we were looking forward to a bed more than we were a conference chair. With tired eyes, we entered the packed auditorium and managed to find a few seats near the translation booths where half a dozen interpreters were busy at work translating the message into different languages.

After the introductory remarks we stood and sang some familiar Christian hymns. I don’t think I’d ever been around so many Christians singing with such force. A few lines in, and Lisa and I were overwhelmed by the sound of this congregation gathered from around the world. Tears overtook our words, and we just listened. It was a particularly difficult time in the life of our church, and we’d both been carrying the stress of that, but those voices revived our souls. Later on we both felt as if we’d had a taste of Heaven–of that day when all God’s people from every tribe, nation, tongue, and language would gather and sing their hearts out. Psalm 150 reminds us of that coming day. It describes a cosmic choir director inviting more and more of creation to worship. It ends, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

We could describe the mission of the church as inviting people to join that vast choir. To invite more people to engage in worship until worship overtakes the world. In the end, we get to participate in a concert that covers the globe. We get–with all God’s people!–to sing to the one in whom we live and move and have our being.

For now, not everything that has breath praises the Lord. And so our job is to expand our worship, to give ourselves more and more to worship and invite others to join us. Until that day comes when Christ returns to make all things new, and the world is as it ought to be. Until that day when everything that has breath will praise the Lord.

At the end of this month we are hosting our missions dinner. Perhaps you’ve not connected worship to missions before, but hopefully you see how they are inexorably linked. As John Piper once said, “missions exists because worship doesn’t.” I’d encourage you to think about missions that way as we prepare to hear about how God is working through the various ministries we support. I’d encourage you to prayerfully consider how you can support the spread of worship around the world. I’m excited to welcome Pastor Sam Oluch as our main speaker. He will be joined by his wife Melly on her first trip to the United States. I look forward to seeing you at our missions dinner!

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Protecting our Kids from Danger

Note from Pastor Jon: One of Jonny’s first internship projects was to draft a child protection policy. He’s written a great policy, and we will share it with the church once the elders formally adopt it. In this newsletter, Jonny summarizes some of the findings from his research.

I saw a billboard the other day which read: “Love your kids? Then make sure they’re in the back seat.” Most of us know this is standard procedure these days. I can only imagine the horrified looks I would get from other drivers if I sat my baby girl in the front seat of our Honda CRV with only an adult seat-belt on! Passenger seatbelts and airbags are meant for adults only, and a child can be seriously injured by them. But of course, if you didn’t know that, you wouldn’t take car seat safety as seriously. Knowing the danger makes all the difference. Loving our kids involves knowing the danger, so that we can take the proper steps to protect them.

We want to make Jordan Valley Church a safe place for our kids. After all, we believe that God has a special place for them to join us on our journey to know Christ (Deut. 6:4-9). So we need to know the dangers facing our kids at church, so we can protect them. If you Google “sexual abuse in church,” you will find all kinds of disturbing cases. It’s sad to read these stories. But it’s also easy to read them from a safe distance, assuming that the same thing could never happen to us. We put our kids at risk, if we don’t see the danger.

The Danger of Abuse in the Church [1]

The danger of child abuse exists because of 1) how abusers work, and 2) how churches let them access kids. Abusers work in subtle and deceitful ways. They manipulate a community to gain authority and trust, which allows them to gain access to children. Once they have access, they might use physical force or threats, or continued manipulation, to abuse children and keep the abuse secret. Abusers are masters at deception; they find what a particular community values in a person and try to be that person in public. But like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they have malicious motives to hurt children.

Unfortunately, churches often allow abusers easy access to children. To illustrate this, what picture comes to mind when you hear the words “child abuser”? Our mental image is probably a socially awkward, shady-looking stranger in a trench coat, sitting in the back row. This kind of person would actually be relatively harmless because our guard is up as soon as he walks into church. A typical abuser uses deceit to gain trust, and our misconceptions make it easy. Once they have the community’s trust, they find access to children, target their victim(s), and abuse. What this means is that the person most likely to abuse a child is [2]:

• Someone they already know,

• Someone the child, the family, and the community trusts,

• Someone who is in social or religious authority.

The harm done to a child abused at church is tragic and soul crushing. Many victims end up rejecting the God they were told about while their abuse was going on, especially if Scripture or church authority was used to cover up or legitimize the abuse. After this happens, it is very hard to break through the deep-seated pain to trust God again. Christa Brown, who was abused as a child by a pastor at her church, explains her experience this way:

“...think about a victim of torture whose torturer always played Beethoven while he beat and brutalized the victim. Years later, that victim of torture is unlikely to much appreciate the music of Beethoven...The music is just background noise. But on some level his brain is still processing it as something that is linked to degradation, pain and fear. The sort of talk of God’s love that [Christians often speak to me about] is the sort of talk that transports me to the torture chamber that is in my own head.” [3]

The JVC Child Safety Policy

What a tragedy it would be if one of our kids learned to distrust the God they heard about at JVC because we failed to protect them. We cannot afford to just assume that pastors, Sunday School teachers, and child-care workers are safe. It is potentially disastrous to give anyone at JVC easy access to children outside the bounds of good child-protective practices. This is why we are introducing a Child Protection Policy, which will outline the child safeguarding policies and behavior of this church.

Safe policies are those that will ensure visibility and accountability for adult child-care workers. This means having multiple sets of eyes and ears on our children’s ministries and taking extra steps where necessary to ensure visibility and accountability. The policy will also define safe behaviors that will inform how all adults at JVC should behave towards children. How the church will address inappropriate, unsafe or abusive behavior towards children is also covered. The fact is, we cannot judge people’s hearts or the motives behind their behaviors. But we can recognize unsafe or abusive behavior and respond appropriately. The policy is designed to help us do that for the sake of child safety.

The Church as a Refuge from Danger

Of course, protection is not the only way God calls us to love children. At JVC, we believe that we love our kids by teaching them about God and the Bible, so that they will learn to believe in Jesus and have eternal life. Our desire is not to hinder them from the way, but to show them the way (Mark 10:13-16). As we teach them, God calls us to do so in an environment of care, nurture and protection. In other words, we are to treat our kids the way God the Father treats us as his children. Psalm 32 calls us to run to God for safety. He himself is a hiding place who protects us from trouble. As we are surrounded by God’s safety, he surrounds us with songs of our deliverance. God loves his children by protecting them, and we should do the same.

Psalm 32 is about running to God for forgiveness. Our hope is that our kids will learn to run to Jesus for that kind of protection. That is our primary message; we can either underline that message by protecting them from abuse or undermine that message by leaving them defenseless. This is why we need to take this seriously. For the vulnerable, we prioritize protection. For the hurt and abused, we accept responsibility, pursue transparency, care for victims, and seek justice. In all of this, we seek to mimic the heart of our Father, who himself protects and saves the vulnerable and oppressed (Deut. 10:18; Isa. 1:17). With God’s help, in both the teaching and protection of our kids, we can faithfully communicate to them a God who is a loving and trustworthy Father.

In Christ,

Jonny

[1] For more information on the Danger of Abuse in churches, see the following 2 articles from GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment):

“Four Common Exploitations: Sex Offenders in Faith Communities”

“Child Abuse Prevention Month: From Awareness to Action”

Appendix B of JVC’s Child Protective Policy will contain a more comprehensive list of resources, including GRACE’s website, as well as other books, websites and articles.

[2] For an explanation of the dynamics at play here, see Deepak Reju, On Guard. Pg 17-36; see also Basyle Tchividjian & Shira M. Berkovits, The Child Safeguarding Policy. Pg 49-60.

[3] Brown, Christa. This Little Light, (Cedarburg, WI: Foremost Press, 2009), 216.

The Reliability of the New Testament: Canon

by: Jon Stoddard | Jordan Valley Church

Two months ago I wrote an article on the reliability of the New Testament text. In this newsletter I want to share some of the reasons why we can have confidence that the books of the New Testament are the ones God intended us to have.

One common objection I hear is that we can’t trust our Bibles because the New Testament was the result of a power struggle between various theological factions. Thus, the New Testament we have is not a pure representation of early Christianity, but a selective account designed to promote a particular agenda. In this newsletter I want to give you five reasons why the 27 books that make up the New Testament are the correct ones.

These are the earliest letters

While there are a number of other early Christian letters, and some claim to be written by apostles, the ones in our bibles are the earliest letters we have. The 27 books of our New Testament have all been dated to the first century. While some have argued for a first century dating of other early Christian letters, the consensus is that the books that make up our New Testament are the earliest letters we know of.

Some New Testament books quote other New Testament books as Scripture

The most obvious example of this is in 2 Peter 3:15-16, where Peter refers to Paul’s letters (Romans, Ephesians, etc.) as Scripture.

Another, more subtle example of this is in 1 Timothy 5:18 which says, “For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain’ and ‘the laborer deserves his wages.’” Here Paul cites two examples of Scripture. The first comes from Deuteronomy 25:4, but the second quote is from Luke 10:7. Here Paul implies the Gospel of Luke is Scripture just like Deuteronomy is.

We see early examples of the formation of a canon

The Muratorian Fragment is a seventh century document that contains a list of New Testament books that was originally published in the late second century. In it are twenty-one of our New Testament books. Hebrews, James, First and Second Peter are not listed; Second and Third John may be included, but it’s not clear. This shows that much of the New Testament Canon was settled early on.

It is notable that this list was originally published before the major councils and creeds of the fourth century. This is important because, while some argue the councils decided which books to include, they were largely already agreed upon well beforehand.

Additionally, the author the fragment states The Shepherd of Hermas (an early writing that some argue should be part of the Bible) should not be considered part of the canon because it was written recently. What does he mean by “recent”? Well, The Shepherd of Hermas is probably from the mid-late second century. Thus we see further evidence that the New Testament books are the earliest Christian letters.

Some New Testament books were (and continue to be) disputed. Martin Luther famously did not think the book of James was Scripture. But even if you removed the controversial books from the canon, you would not lose any of the essential elements of the Christian message.

The Church quickly moved from scrolls to books

During the New Testament era, books were starting to replace scrolls. This matters in the discussion of canon, because a scroll has no official ending. When you reach the end of the scroll, you just start a new one. But a book has a definitive end. You have to decide what parts to bind in the book. What is notable is that we see a rapid adaptation to books among early Christians. We have have many bound Bibles with the same books as ours; where early Bibles do include other books, they are often at the end, implying they were in a separate category from the traditional New Testament books. One example of this is the Codex Sinaiticus, which is the oldest complete copy of the New Testament we have. You can view it online here.

Many of the other possible NT Books are clearly contradictory in their message

While there are other gospels and early letters, simply reading these books shows the content of their message does not fit with what we know about Jesus and the Apostles. Here are a few examples (all freely available online if you wish to read more of them):

Gospel of Thomas: In Logion 114 it says, “Simon Peter said to them: Let Mariham go out from among us, for women are not worthy of life. Jesus said: Look, I will lead her that I may make her male, in order that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Gospel of Peter: It features a walking and talking cross and a giant Jesus who is so tall, when he stands up his head reaches above the clouds.

Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Gives us an account of Jesus as a child. In one instance a young Jesus has made a small puddle of water to play in and some another kid comes and mess up the puddle. Jesus gets upset at the kid and uses his power to wither him up like an old tree.

Acts of Paul & Thecla: In it Paul baptises a lion. The letter is set during Paul’s first missionary journey, but was soon found to be fictitious. The author of it was deposed of his ministry. This shows the early church was concerned with the propagation of misleading or deceitful writings.

Conclusion

A helpful resource if you want to look into this further is Michel Kruger’s website. Contrary to what some claim today, there never was an official proclamation by those in power to say, “These are the official books of the New Testament.” Instead we see a widespread consensus built from the ground up to ratify the New Testament as we know it. This shows that the New Testament developed because of certain qualities about the books themselves. Things like their early date, their authorship (things Christians in the first and second centuries would be able to ascertain better than we) were widely noticed and led to their acceptance as Scripture.

But there is another aspect to this as well. In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” The early Christians (and we as well) heard Jesus’ voice in these books. We call this the self-authenticating nature of Scripture. While this can seem like a subjective measure (and it’s why we should also look at the historic evidence), we shouldn't diminish what Jesus himself says about his people hearing his voice.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

The Reliability of the New Testament

In my sermon on May 5th, I explained that I didn’t preach from John 7:53-8:11 as it was not likely included in the original manuscript of the Gospel of John. Several of you commented that this helped you better understand how we got our New Testaments. Over the next two newsletters, I plan to talk about that in more detail. This month we’ll look at variation in the texts, and next month we’ll look at how the books were chosen to be included in the New Testament.

In my conversations with people outside the church I hear a couple of different objections to the trustworthiness of the Bible, but most of them fit into one of the two categories:

• Our Bibles emerged from something like the game of telephone, where a message is passed from person to person and gets changed (intentionally and unintentionally) in the process. Likewise, our Bibles are based on translations of translations, so we don’t really know what the originals said.

• Our Bibles developed in a power struggle between different sects in the early church. The group that won out ensured passages and books that didn’t fit with their theological views were left out; thus our Bibles were the work of theologically motivated groups.

Let’s look at how we got our New Testament texts as a way of answering these objections.

Where are the originals?

It might surprise you that we don’t have any original texts of the New Testament; instead there are gaps of 30 to 100 years between when the New Testament books were written and the earliest fragments we have. This can seem shocking; how can we know the New Testament wasn’t changed at some point?

Some historical context is helpful. While we are used to having easy access to original documents today, it’s virtually unheard of to have original documents for historical writings. In fact, if you place the New Testament manuscripts alongside other historical documents, you’ll see that 100 years is actually a small gap for a historical document. So while original manuscripts are certainly good, we are actually fortunate to have biblical texts so close to the originals. You might wonder why we don’t have those, but the explanation is quite natural: paper doesn’t keep for that long! Unless carefully preserved, paper and papyrus disintegrate. The way people preserved the original copies during that time was to make copies of them.

Another way the New Testament texts stand apart is through the number of old copies we have of them. There was an incredible demand for copies of the New Testament. In fact we have far more copies of the New Testament than any other historical document. As people would take their copies to various locations families of texts developed. Think of it as something like a family tree of texts, and just as certain genetic traits are passed down in a family, so also, certain traits of the text would be passed down the various branches of the new testament texts. If a mistake was made in the copying process that error would be passed down to the texts that were copied from the parent. At first glance it might be concerning to learn that mistakes were made in copying the biblical text, but again, as you learn more it will become clear these errors don’t need to cause great concern.

Source: Daniel Wallace (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/an-interview-with-daniel-b-wallace-on-the-new-testament-manuscripts/)

Errors could be introduced to the text for a number of reasons, but by far the most common are unintentional mistakes, like spelling errors, flipping words around (in Greek word order doesn't matter as much as in English), or accidentally skipping words or phrases. All copies were done by hand, and some copyists were better than others. It’s kind of like when you have a popular product; people will often create knockoffs that look similar but are lower quality. The New Testament was a victim of its own success. No one person or even group of people controlled the Bible; therefore anyone could copy it, and some copies were better than others.

Sometimes though, there were intentional changes. Often this happened with passages that dealt with controversial doctrines, or where something was unclear or perhaps seemed to conflict with other parts of the New Testament. Some copyist, eager to “improve upon” the original text would make slight emendations to it. For instance, Matthew 24:36 reads, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Some manuscripts omit “nor the son;” this was likely done by a copyist who didn’t think it was appropriate for Jesus not to know something.

How we decide which textual variants are original

This leads us to ask, if we have so many texts how do we know which one is correct? Our modern New Testament translations come from what is called an eclectic Greek text. Scholars from all different backgrounds (including non-believers) laid out all the known texts and then worked to reverse engineer the original text. The King James Version comes from the received text, which came from a certain set of texts instead of all the manuscripts. The translators of the KJV did not have access to the oldest texts like scholars do today. This is why certain passages and verses show up in the KJV but not in (or are only noted in some way) in modern translations. And yet, the KJV has relatively few differences from these modern translation that use all the manuscripts. In our modern translations scholars worked through a set of criteria to figure out what was originally written. Two influential textual scholars, Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman, summarize the process as follows:

External Evidence

1. Do any of the variants occur in a majority of the early manuscripts? If a variant only shows up later, it’s likely it’s not original.

2. Does any variant have more widespread geographical support than others? If a variant is in manuscripts from various regions, it’s more likely to be original.

3. Which variant comes from the most reliable sources? Certain families of texts tend to be more reliable than others. For instance, western manuscripts tend to show more paraphrasing than copying while texts from Alexandria, Egypt indicate a careful copying process.

Internal Evidence

1. Can you explain any of the variants as an unintentional error of a scribe? For instance, is a word misspelled or switched around?

2. Which reading is more difficult? In general, the variant that is most puzzling is more likely original, because a scribe would naturally want to make things more clear. Although some variants are so absurdly difficult that they are unlikely to be original.

3. Can certain variants be explained by a scribe’s desire to conform the text to certain beliefs or practices of a particular Christian group?

4. Can you explain any of the variants as the scribe attempting to harmonize the passage with another part of the bible? In general, you should prefer the reading that resists harmonization.

5. Does one reading fit better with the original author's style and usage elsewhere?

Daniel Wallace, the Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, has put all these variants into the following categories:

Untranslatable variations are often changes in the Greek word order that don’t come across in English. Meaningful, but not viable variations are ones that make a change to the meaning of the sentence or passage, but are not viable for some reason. This could be because the variation only shows up in an unreliable manuscript or only shows up in much later manuscripts.

The blue sliver on the chart represents the less than one percent of the variations that are meaningful and viable. After working through the process outlined above, we find that in less than one percent of the variations, we are not exactly sure what the original said. But even in these cases, no crucial doctrines are at stake. In seminary we had to do a text criticism project where we examined one of these instances. I studied John 19:39 which says, “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.” Instead of the word “mixture,” some variants say, “package” or “ointment” or a spelling variation of the greek word for “package.” As you can see, none of these options brings a substantial challenge to any key doctrines of our faith.

Conclusion

Congratulations if you’ve made it this far! Hopefully you’ve been able to follow what I’ve written and now have a greater confidence in the authenticity of the New Testament. The Bible was incredibly popular early on, which led to an overwhelming number of copies--some good and some less good. But all the variants that did occur have been documented and taken into account in our modern translations. Our Bible didn’t come from a “telephone game” process; in fact, our translations go back to the earliest documents we have. Additionally, our Bibles are not the work of theologically motivated groups; where theological changes were introduced into other texts, they have been noted by textual scholars and removed as not original. We should have confidence that the New Testaments we have closely mirror what was originally written.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Additional Resources

If you’re interested in learning more check out these two websites:

https://www.michaeljkruger.com/

https://danielbwallace.com/

Elder and Deacon Elections

Seven months ago we opened up nominations for elders and deacons at JVC. Fourteen people received the required two nominations to be considered for training; through the initial vetting process six emerged as having the character, calling, and desire for the role of elder or deacon. The training was intense, and I was humbled to watch these six candidates (for Elder: Walt Lynch, Nate McNeil and Shaun Murray; for Deacon: Robert Blair, Jake Hehr and David Sunwall) complete all the work and embrace the seriousness of their calling. Let me share with you some of the highlights. They all have:

Been assessed in their character and leadership by their wives. We asked, “Would the church be a better or worse place if your husband cared for the church like he cares for you?”

Been assessed by a peer (co-worker, neighbor, etc) for their character. We asked, “Would you have a higher or lower opinion of our church upon finding out he was a leader in our church?”

• Completed the same Bible content exam used by our presbytery to assess future pastors.

• Read more than 1000 pages of theological books.

• Written more than 20 pages of response papers.

• Met with each other for one-on-one discipling.

• The deacon candidates organized and led a church workday.

• Each of the elder candidates:

  • Preached a sermon.

  • Planned and led two worship services.

  • Taught an adult class.

  • Wrote a newsletter.

We’ve taken this training seriously because we believe the care of the church is a serious calling. It requires work, determination and perseverance. Most of all, it requires people who love God and desire to live for him and who show that in their daily relationships. It’s been a great honor to work with these men and see them grow and develop their own sense of calling to this work of caring for Christ’s bride, the Church.

On May 19th, you have the privilege of voting these men into office. I’ve shared with you some of what has gone into the training so that you can have confidence that we’ve closely examined their character, calling and competency for this office. If I had the ability, I would welcome each one of them into church leadership today, but one of the privileges of being Presbyerian is that you get to pick your leaders. As we approach this meeting, please be praying for God to give you wisdom. We’ve assessed a lot, yet we cannot know what’s in a man’s heart. Pray that God would prevent anyone from coming into leadership who shouldn’t be, but also pray that God would lay a strong calling on the hearts of each one of these men if they are meant to be there. If you haven’t gotten to know these candidates yet, please say hi to them and ask them any questions.

Just a year ago I was praying for God to bless our church with the gift of church leaders (Eph. 4:11). I certainly did not expect that God would so richly answer this prayer. Please join me in giving thanks to God who cares and provides for his church.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

The Power of Joy

by Nate McNeil

Over the next several months our newsletter will be written by one of our elder candidates as a way for him to develop his ministry to the church.

One thing you have to be ready for each year when you live in Alaska is six solid months of winter. And this is not your average, ordinary winter. It feels forever dark, hopelessly long, and without a limit to the cold. In ‘peak season,’ the daylight dips down to about five hours a day, and I wouldn’t say these are bright hours. The sun just kinda peeks up over the mountains, sparkles off of the ice and snow for a few hours and then disappears again. When I was going to college in Fairbanks, which sits near the middle of the state, it would regularly be twenty degrees below zero at night, and then warm up to zero during the day. Anything above zero in January felt like a heat wave. I still have nightmares about having to live in Fairbanks again.

Then there are the summers. Alaskan summers are amazing, period. Long days; between 60 and 70 degrees most days; green, fresh and full of life. The beginning of July is when most people have completely forgotten about the 6 months of misery they had to endure as they stay up until all hours of the night taking in the seemingly endless daylight and the beauty that it reveals.

Alaskans live for the summer.

Early in my Christian life I learned that walking with Christ is not easy. At least, it hasn’t been for me. I learned that prayer and study are much harder to make time for than they should be and I found myself often making resolutions that I was going to get up at 6:00 am so that I could have a full hour to dig into the Bible and work through my prayer list. I tried reading plans, journals, various Bible translations, devotional materials, etc…

Then the dark time would come, and crying out to God became a normal thing. I needed Him and knew that in and of myself I had nothing that was going to get me through.

Then, He comes. Breaking through the darkness and bursting the bonds apart, He reveals Himself as the God of the universe, the Lover of our souls, the Deliverer and Redeemer... the Rescuer. It’s in these times that we forget, or at least see past, the darkness we were in. The power and love of God is so much bigger than we could have imagined. And we realize we were never alone, and God was never without a plan.

It is the joy that these encounters with Jesus produce that empowers us to endure the dark and cold seasons of the Christian life.

It was for the hope of joy that Christ endured the darkness of the cross. Hebrews 12 says,

For the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

When the sun wanes and the crisp fall air begins to drive you inside, remember the goodness and endurance of our Rescuer. It may just make it a little easier to work through your prayer list at 6:00 am.

The Awe Worthy of Praise

by Shaun Murray

Over the next several months our newsletter will be written by one of our elder candidates as a way for him to develop his ministry to the church.

As we heard a couple weeks ago, our lives are filled with Awe in things and an Awe in God. I would like to expand on that for this March newsletter.

What a joy it is to worship with you all at Jordan Valley Church. I am very thankful for the Lord’s providence in bringing Rachel, Éowyn and me out here to Utah and for giving me the opportunity to go through the elder training. My heart rejoices in the gift and opportunity ahead, and I am in Awe of our Great God.

“Awe” is a word that is very hard to grasp. If I say, “Be in Awe,” what does that really mean? The dictionary on Google says: “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” The synonyms of it are: “wonder,” “amazement,” “veneration,” and “worship.”

Let’s dive into a few points on Awe:

1. God created an awesome world

God’s creation was made to bring us in Awe of Him and his creation, to bring us into wonder and amazement: The first time we see a waterfall, hear it crashing, and feel the power exploding as the water lands before our feet. The first time we feel a baby kick in her mother’s womb. The first time we step out and see the Grand Canyon--the amazing beauty of the red rock. The first time we taste ice cream as a child and say, “Wow, I want more.” The first time we go to that fine dining restaurant, have that expensive meal, and the flavors burst on our taste buds. The first time we see that person and say, “Wow, I want to marry them.” The first time we wake up at night to a rumbling earthquake, afraid and yet amazed. All these things God has created to bring us to wonder, to bring us to say, “Wow, how amazing this world is.”

2. God created us with a capacity for Awe

We don’t only live in a creation filled with Awe, but we also live as those created to experience Awe. We can tell good-tasting food from bad-tasting food. We know the difference between an amazing symphony that is in harmony and people just learning how to play violin. We know when someone looks beautiful on the outside. We can see details of colors and hues on the thousands of different things we see every day. We can touch the clothing that is smooth, silky, bumpy, rough, grooved, and so on. We can taste the cold of ice cream, the bitter of ginger, and the sweet favorite candy. Every one of our senses leads us to experience the Awe and wonder of the creation that our Great God has made.

3. Where we look for Awe will direct our life

If our Awe is in material things, then our lives will be defined by searching for material things. If we live in Awe of material things, we will spend lots of money acquiring material possessions, and to afford this ever-increasing pile, we will work a lot. We will work longer and harder to afford that bigger house, that nicer truck, and that camping trailer to travel around the world. If we live in Awe of people and our relationships, we will spend most of our time thinking about how we can have the right relationship. Young people will spend most of their waking time thinking about how to get that special someone. Once they have them it will be a constant focus of how to hold on tight to the relationship, and if they lose that person or that child or that relationship, then their whole world unravels. I could go on and on, but I hope you get the point.

4. All of these created things were meant to bring our ultimate Awe in God.

The waterfalls, grand canyons, tastes, colors, relationships, and people are all awesome things. God created us to enjoy the world, but not have that be where we stop. For what is our purpose in life, as Westminster Question 1 asks? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. As you live your life, know that all these wonderful and awesome things were not meant to be your ultimate source of satisfaction. God is--God is the all-satisfying one who is to be pointed to and praised for each scoop of ice cream, each waterfall seen, each camper trailer that brings you to amazing places in the US, each relationship and person that you enjoy to be around and talk with. All of this is meant to point you to our Great God who is worthy to be praised and his great acts, which are worthy to be told from one generation to another. So stop right know and thank and praise the Lord for all these things that bring you Awe.

Go on, stop right now and do it.

Horizontal Awe in creation, relationships and things is like a street sign. It points you to the one truly worthy of vertical Awe: our Great God--Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

5. Remember that Awesome stuff and people never satisfy

Nothing in the entire world is meant to give you peace, rest, identity, meaning, purpose, or lasting satisfaction. As St. Augustine said “Our hearts are restless until we find rest in Him.” Looking to people or stuff to satisfy our internal desire will only lead us to futility. The things of this world were not meant to do that even though culture and every advertisement we see on TV proclaims that idea.

Instead, look to the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, crushed, risen in glory, ascended in Heaven and pouring forth his Holy Spirit upon the earth as the King of Awe--worthy of praise and worthy of thanksgiving.

Join me in this wonderful, Life-giving way to Live.

Remember this quote by CS Lewis, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Let this not be us at Jordan Valley Church, but let us pray for each other this month to seek our infinite joy in the Lord that created all things, even the feeling of JOY.

One last thing, I encourage all of you to buy or check out the book Awe: Why it Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do.

In Christ,

Shaun Murray

Tell the Next Generation About God’s Works

by Walt Lynch

Over the next several months our newsletter will be written by one of our elder candidates as a way for him to develop his ministry to the church.

God has given us an amazing world to live in. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all we see. He wants us to honor him and thank Him for this world (Romans 1:21).

He wants us to “meditate” on what He has made and remind ourselves and other generations of what we have learned. Look at Psalm 145:1-10 (ESV):

I will extol you, my God and King,

and bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you

and praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

and his greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty,

and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,

and I will declare your greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

and his mercy is over all that he has made.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,

and all your saints shall bless you!

I worked for 11 years as a sole proprietor. I remember one time that I had no work. As I did cold calls, looking for work, I saw a group of sparrows taking shelter in an old building. That reminded me of the verses Matt. 6:25-26, “Look at the birds. Remember your heavenly Father feeds them. He loves you more than the birds, so do not worry. He will feed you.” The Lord did provide work from a small company nearby. Whenever I see birds, I remember God’s provision.

Look at the wild flowers. Your heavenly Father made the beauty of the columbine. God loves you more than the flowers, so do not worry. He will clothe you (Matt. 6:27-34).

I love to walk through the Museum of Natural History. I always have to see the dinosaur exhibit. Just look at the heavy bones holding up the brontosaurus. Some bones are hollow to save weight. How could it control its long neck and tail? God’s creativity and wisdom enabled these large creatures to move and find food. When I read Job 40:15-24 describing a Behemoth, I think of the dinosaurs at the museum.

Behold, Behemoth,

which I made as I made you;

he eats grass like an ox.

Behold, his strength in his loins,

and his power in the muscles of his belly.

He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;

the sinews of his thighs are knit together.

His bones are tubes of bronze,

his limbs like bars of iron.

He is the first of the works of God; [emph. mine]

let him who made him bring near his sword!

For the mountains yield food for him

where all the wild beasts play.

Under the lotus plants he lies,

in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.

For his shade the lotus trees cover him;

the willows of the brook surround him.

Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;

he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.

Can one take him by his eyes,

or pierce his nose with a snare?

This sounds like a large dinosaur. Job responded in chapter 42 verse 1 and 2, “I know that You can do everything. And that no purpose of yours can be withheld from You.”

God has left His fingerprints on the world. It is most appropriate for us to notice and give Him the praise.

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself

In the past couple weeks, Luke, our seven month old, started sleeping for 12 hour stretches at night. As proud as I am to see him grow, I’m probably even happier about my ability to sleep through the night again! We expect babies to develop and mature. In the same way, Christians should also develop and mature. We would never call a child who stops growing at age five normal, but we don’t often have the same expectations in our Christian life. Can you look back and see ways you’ve grown in Christian maturity over the last year? What about the last five?

What does Christian maturity look like? Consider 1 Timothy 3, where Paul lists the qualifications for elders: “Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.” This may lead you to think that these are special traits for special Christians, yet throughout scripture, the Bible treats these characteristics as qualities every Christian should have or develop:

What does a godly life look like? It’s being committed to your spouse, self-controlled, gentle, well thought of by others. The capstone of Christian maturity is found in simple yet often neglected character traits. How do we develop godly character? It is through Christ’s work in us, yet we are told to “make every effort” ( 2 Peter 1:5) in this work of character development.

I encourage you all to take advantage of the new year to recommit to growing in your Christian life. Each January I often set aside an evening to prayerfully work through a set of questions. Some of these might not work for you, but perhaps they can get you thinking about how to grow in Christian maturity this year.

1. What change will make the biggest difference in my life?

2. What do I need to stop doing?

3. What will I willfully neglect this year?

   There are many things that are not sinful, or even bad, but are unhelpful or a waste of time. These things often keep you from making progress on more important things.

4. How am I going to grow in Scripture?

   This past year I attempted to read one book of the Bible each month over and over and then do another book the next month. You can also pick a Bible reading plan or set some goal for reading Scripture regularly.

5. What relationships do I need to prioritize?

   Are there any relationship you realize you’ve neglected. What about ones you taken for granted?

6. What books am I going to read?

   We tend to read what’s easy for us, whether it’s mysteries, blogs or twitter posts. Pick a book or two that will stretch you. I will usually decide how soon I want to finish the book, then divide the pages accordingly, with a day or two off each week.With this method you can get through some of the longest and most challenging books.

7. What skill do I want to learn or improve?

8. When this year is finished, what will disappoint me most if I don’t do it?

   Once you have that goal, make a plan and set small goals to help you get there.

9. What will I pray for continually this year?

10. For whose salvation will I pray the most?

Write your answers down somewhere and review them once a month so you don’t forget. Don’t worry about changing or even getting rid of some of the goals if they don’t seem right anymore. This is about growing in character, not simply completing a checklist. Remember that something is better than nothing. If you find yourself unable to meet your goals, don’t beat yourself up; simply adjust the bar to be more realistic. In the end, you will still have done more than if you’d simply given up.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

How to Have a Happy Christmas

In our house we’ve been getting the question, “Is it Christmas yet?” When I was a kid December was the slowest month; now I wish it would slow down. Somewhere between the age of 3 and 36, stuff changes, and Christmas isn’t as magical anymore.

This December we are starting a sermon series called Broken Christmas. The goal is not to reclaim the magic of Christmas we experienced as kids, but to remember why Jesus came into the world at the first Christmas. Each week, we are looking at one way we’ve broken Christmas and how to re-center our lives around the God who became human. To go along with our series, we’ve got a short booklet that you can pick up on the back table that covers each topic we are looking at. You can use this booklet to help you put into practice what we talk about each week or to guide your family in a discussion about who Jesus is. I believe every person at JVC should be praying for at least one person to learn the joy of Christ. More people are open to visiting a worship service this time of year, so I encourage you to invite someone this month. Here’s a preview of what we are looking at each week:

We don’t rest: Jesus came to give us rest, but Christmas is anything but restful. How can we rest this season? What does Jesus mean when he promises to give rest to your soul? It starts with taking his yoke upon us.

We don’t relate: More and more people recognize loneliness is a major problem in the US. The holidays often serve as a reminder of how alone we feel. Even those who are married with kids in the house aren’t exempt from loneliness. But God has eternally existed in a relationship, and created us to be in relationships with him and others. We’ll look at how we can we be more intentional about relating to others this season.

We don’t reflect: Technology has allowed us to be perpetually distracted. Rarely are we left along to our own thoughts. Distractions keep us from never having to look inward. Instead of using the season to reflect on more important things we fill it with busyness. Why? Because often we want to be distracted from deeper pain and loneliness.

We don’t receive: Christmas is about receiving more than giving. John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved that he gave us his son. To enjoy Christmas we must receive and rest in Christ.

It seems as if the older we get the harder it is to have a happy Christmas. There are number of reasons for that, but one big reason is that somewhere along the way we’ve broken Christmas. We’ve forgotten the reason Jesus came and the joy he gives. Instead we fill our time hoping to make it through the season intact. My prayer for you all is that this series would help you rediscover the childlike joy of this season.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Missions

Visiting Pastor Paul (far right) in 2015.

Missions

“I was instructed on the only two topics I was preach this year: stewardship and giving. But I refused.” – Pastor Paul

When I visited Kenya three years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Paul, who pastors the Gaa-barak Local Church in Bomet, Kenya. Like the majority of pastors in Kenya, Pastor Paul had no formal training and would simply imitate some of the best known pastors in Africa and the US. Unfortunately, many of the best known pastors are people like Joel Osteen and others who never speak of the Christian gospel, but treat God more like a generous vending machine: put in your dollar, and two Cokes come out! Thus you can understand the emphasis on stewardship and giving; it’s to get more blessings from God. Unfortunately, the only people getting rich are the church leaders.

Three years ago Pastor Paul started classes at KReST (Kisumu Reformed School of Theology) and it has opened his eyes to the Bible. I was delighted see Pastor Paul as a student in my class this week. He told me he often held the Bible in his hand, but he didn’t teach it. Now everything has changed. Pastor Paul had just finished his Reformation History Class and the issue of indulgences was on his mind. He told me his denomination had leaders like Johann Tetzel, the Dominican Bishop who would cry out, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” His superiors were pressuring for more giving so that you could earn more blessings from God.

Pastor Paul refused to preach only stewardship and giving; instead he wants to preach Christ. He has been called to appear at several councils with church leadership and expects he will lose his job sometime soon. As I spoke with Pastor Paul I told him he is like a modern Martin Luther!

It’s appropriate Pastor Sam Oluoch refers to his work as the Reformation in Kenya. There are many churches here, but it’s rare to hear Christ preached. In KReST there is a bishop who oversees several churches he planted in Eldoret, Kenya. It wasn’t until he met some of the pastors leading the Reformation in Kenya that he realized he wasn’t a Christian. He is now soaking up the biblical teaching at KReST.

It’s been such a pleasure to teach here on the Gospels and Acts. Most of the students are already pastors, but they have no theological training. They are soaking up everything like dry sponges. They are eager to reform their understanding to what Scripture teaches instead of conforming it to whatever the latest celebrity pastor teaches.

Our missions conference is quickly approaching, and this trip has reminded me how important missions are. Your generosity has allowed us to help Pastor Sam plant a church in Nairobi and continue the reformation in Kenya. You have allowed our church to support new churches in Utah, as well as Brian Tsui who is active on the campus of San Jose State. While each of these ministries operates in very different contexts, they have this in common: they want to share the living waters of Christ with those who are thirsty. That’s what missions is about. We want to be a church that shares our resources so more can drink of the refreshing waters of Christ. I hope you will attend our missions weekend. I’m excited to hear about how God has been at work this past year!

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Picking Your Elders and Deacons

October is a big month for Jordan Valley Church because we are opening up officer nominations. You get to nominate the people to serve as elders at deacons for our church.

The character of our leadership is more important than any gifts or charisma. 1 Timothy 3:1-13 paints a picture of the character of the elder and deacons. What strikes me about it is how ordinary it is. It’s not looking for people who pray for two hours without getting distracted, but people who are well thought of by outsiders. It’s not requiring people who can deliver theology lectures, but people who treat their wives well. In other words elders, and deacons should exemplify the qualities we are looking for in every Christian. To be an elder or deacon doesn’t put you on a different spiritual path, but means you are doing a pretty good job of walking on the same path as all other Christians. When it comes to nominating people I think one of the most helpful questions is ask is, “Who seems to be living the Christian life well?” 

One challenge with nomination people is that about half of our people have been at JVC for less than two years. You might not know some people as well as you would like before nominating them. I would encourage you to err on the side of nominating more people instead of less. Your nominations simply says, “I see potential in this person.” We’ve remade our officer training from the ground up. The training will be intensive and last 5-6 months. If nominees are married, their spouses will assess their husbands’ character. Each nominee will provide a peer reference where someone like a co-worker or neighbor will attest to their character and answer questions like, “Would learning this candidate is a leader in his church make you think better or worse of his church?” For the elder candidates the training will involve a good amount of reading and writing. Elder candidates will also preach on a Sunday and help lead worship services. The deacon candidates will organize a church work day and recruit volunteers. At the end of the training the candidates will be examined and assessed by the temporary session. Those who pass will be presented to you for a vote. This is the vote where you should be more discerning as you are picking the people you want to lead this church in the coming years. But by the time you vote you’ll have gotten to know the candidates pretty well and seen them in ministry.  

The training is intensive and will require a lot from the nominees. This is intentional because we want to ensure that those who lead our church are up to the challenge. I’ve discovered that when faced with challenges, leaders are those who rise to it instead of shrinking away. After an initial vetting process we will present the nominees to you. I want you to rally around our nominees, pray for them, encourage. I don’t expect everyone to make it through the training; that’s fine. Some will realize they don’t have the time needed to serve; others might realize they aren’t ready yet. This training process is really about helping people grow in godliness and developing their gifts, and that is something that will benefit anyone. In the end, I believe those who complete the training will have a great sense of God calling them to the job, a confidence for doing the job, and that they will be equipped to serve this church well. 

One of my favorite things when preaching is when people lift their eyes up to the cross that stands behind our pulpit. This is one of the best pictures of Christian leadership, where the leader has disappeared, and people are encountering Jesus. Church leadership is paradoxical in that sense; you are putting yourself in a role where you will ultimately disappear and perhaps be forgotten. Your job is to decrease so that Jesus can increase in the hearts of the people. That’s why we are taking this training process so seriously–we want men who will pour out their lives so that Jesus will have a bigger place in the hearts of the people at Jordan Valley Church. 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Eternally the Father

There were advantages to the naivete Lisa and I had when our first child was born. We had no idea how exhausted we would be. You can’t really prepare for stuff like that; you can only dread it. But now that we’ve had a fourth child, we know that, overall, it gets easier each time because you learn from the mistakes you made the first time around.

I just finished reading Michael Reeves’ book Delighting in the Trinity. Too often we either worry about getting something wrong, or we don’t really understand why it matters; rarely do we see the beauty and delight in worshiping a triune God.  Reeves’ book is one of the best I’ve read on seeing the wonderful implications of the Trinity. I’d recommend you read it and would be happy to lend you my copy. 

One these implications is that God is eternally a father. In other words, God did not become the Father. Many first-time fathers struggle with things like getting the diaper on correctly. (Unfortunately you don’t realize that mistake until it’s too late, and you need to change a whole outfit!) We struggle to help our children with disappointments and hurts. In each stage of life, we make so many mistakes. We mean well, but we just don’t know any better. Experience helps, but we never do it perfectly. 

Part of the reason for this is because we become a father or mother. It’s not natural to who we are. You must have a child to be a father (or mother). Now this is where the Trinity comes in. A classic trinitarian statement is “one God in three persons.” These three persons existed eternally together in a loving and perfect relationship. And the relationship between the first and second persons in God is described as a father/son relationship. In John 17:4, Jesus prayed to his father who loved him from before the creation of the world. Or Colossians 1:17 says, “the Son was before all things.” Or in Mark 1:11, God the Father says, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Because of the Trinity, God has always been a father. It’s part of who he is. Being a father is as natural to God as breathing is to us. For those of us who are parents, all of our life is spent learning what it means to be a father or mother. But it’s different for God; everything about being a father, God is. There is no becoming.

This should be a comfort to us, because one of the primary ways we relate to God is as a father. We’ve all had different experiences with fathers–good and bad. And yet, what a comfort it is to know that all of us can know the perfect father. Unlike earthly parents, who mess up as they learn, God never messes up. He doesn’t make mistakes in our life that we have to pay for. The paths he has placed us on are good ones. Even when those paths don’t seem good, we shouldn’t forget God is our Father, a good father. And just as a young child doesn't understand why Mom and Dad do certain things, we don’t understand all that our Father makes us do. But it’s comforting to know he’s not learning to be a father with us; he is already the perfect Father doing this for our good. What a delight it is to follow a God who is both a king and a loving and perfect father to his children. 

In Christ,
Pastor Jon