Voyage to Eternity
Tacking Against the Wind
New Years Day we looked at the church as the vessel that God designed and created to move us from the rock we live on to a better place.
Paul Kissling shared about TCMI’s ministry two weeks ago and we shared in a memorable experience at the Lord’s table.
Last week we talked about a new course focused on one purpose – living with respect for God.
Today I want to challenge you to take on a difficult challenge…
It’s important. It’s simple. And it is hard.
Valuable Insights… from an article in “Nation’s Business” magazine. It was a list of informal guidelines from an Army colonel to new military officers.
"If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid.”
“If your attack is going extremely well, it’s an ambush.”
“Anything you do can get you shot, including doing nothing.”
“If the enemy is in range, so are you.”
The colonel also said, “The important things are always simple; the simple things are always hard…”
This morning Peter is going to tell us about an important and simple thing God has called us to do.
What makes this important, simple thing hard is that to do it you have to face against the prevailing forces.
Wind is an interesting and powerful phenomenon. You can’t see it but you definitely deal with the force of it in your life. I could tell you a little about the power of wind but I thought that perhaps Rob Dale from
Storm Tracker 6 would do a better job. Rob Dale (a local weatherman), tell us about the power of wind…
Love One Another
22 Now that you have made your souls pure by obeying the truth, you can have true love for your Christian brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply with all your heart.
1 Peter 1:22-25
You are commanded to love one another with all your heart
Love One Another
Important!
Because it is the result of purity
Simple!
Because it comes by obeying the truth
Hard!
Because the prevailing wind is against us
Most of us willingly let the wind determine the direction of our lives. Calling it fate, or circumstance we let the swirling society around us direct our travels through life, where we go and when we go there. To simply go with the wind is far easier that working against the constant pressure.
The winds of desire and personal pleasure are blow in our face when ever the television is on, the radio plays, and we pick up the catalogs, flyers, and offers from the mail box.
The winds of conformity are difficult to struggle against when surrounded by people who want you to go along to get along. It’s just easier to keep quiet.
The winds of fear swirl around us when the news is about the falling stock market, the ailing economy, the latest cost of fuel, and the monthly bills keep getting bigger and bigger.
Trusting God and loving one another in the face of these winds is important, simple, and hard – AND it can be done! We can do it together!
To work your way forward against the wind you must live by some important disciplines
Tacking against the wind is a matter of running at an angle against the wind so that you go sideways in order to make forward progress. It’s simply a matter of physics and it takes some work and skill.
Here’s how… Last week I challenged you in four areas of your life you can give to God.
Each of the areas involves fundamental issues of discipleship… Each is a way you tack against the wind.
1st Tack: Worship
Last week I encouraged you to give an hour in worship every week because when we worship it helps us to refocus our lives and center them on God and his word. Worship helps us become pure. In a word… obeying the command of God to worship purifies the soul… There is something about worship that changes us.
Let’s talk about worship for just a minute or two… The Bible doesn’t give a formal definition of worship. But perhaps we can start by seeing what various words for worship mean.
The English word "worship" comes from two Old English words: weorth, which means "worth," and scipe or ship, which means something like shape or "quality." We can see the Old English word -ship in modern words like friendship and sportsmanship – that’s the quality of being a friend, or the quality of being a good sport.
So worth-ship is the quality of having worth or of being worthy. When we worship, we are saying that God has worth, that he is worthy. Worship means to declare worth, to attribute worth. Or to put it in biblical terms, we praise God. We speak, or sing, about how good and powerful God is.
Gary Chapman has identified five love languages. The first one is identified as “words of affirmation.”
The Bible describes worship as a sweet savor to God. Have you ever been hungry and then catch a whiff of BBQ – mmm mmm. That’s goooooood. When we worship God; when you sing songs praising his name, thanking him for his mercy, extolling him for his grace – God likes that because he is receiving with the words of affirmation our heartfelt love!
I enjoy my children so much when they come home. I love it when my grandchildren come home. It’s just fun to be with them. God loves it when you come and spend time with him.
Even so, I am convinced that worship is mostly for us! Worship centers us – balancing us in a world that’s off balance. It helps us to break the focus and get out of the wind so we can remember who we are and what we’ve been called to.
We need to worship! You need to worship! It’s not optional. The hunger to worship is hardwired into your very soul.
Worship teaches us God’s word in the preaching; in the singing; in the fellowship; in the testimonies; in the video’s and drama’s, we are learning and encouraging one another.
And that is the whole point of worship. In 1 Corinthians 14:31 there is an interesting passage. The whole of the chapter is correction. The church had been meeting with an attitude of self. Entertainment and “look at me” was the rule of the day and Paul had had enough of it. He said that all should be done to strengthen and encourage the body.
Worship teaches us God’s word. You say I don’t have to go to church to worship. I say, you’re right – and you’re wrong – because worship is not a private affair. It is vertical – between us and God certainly – but it is also horizontal – it is between you and I as well.
There are times that it’s hard to get out of bed and come to worship. There was a guy who got up one Sunday morning and said to his wife, “That’s it! I’m not going to church this morning... I’m sick and tired of the people there. They don’t like me and I’m not going – period that’s it. Give me one good reason that I should go to church.” His wife, looked up from her coffee and said, “Oh yes I can. You’re the minister!”
The enemy wants to keep you away from worship. The wind that blows is him whispering messages of despair and weariness. He is flinging things at you in the wind. We have to fight the wind that pushes you down into the soft mattress on Sunday morning. I know we can do it! It happened this morning – right!
I came to church and Donna only had to remind me that I’m the minister once!
2nd Tack: Sincere Love
True Love
Peter also speaks at some length about the importance of loving one another. He speaks of true love.
Is it possible to say “ true love” without going, “Wuv, twoo Wuv…” Ever since the movie “Princess Bride” that phrase has been ruined forever for me – especially when I’m ministering at a wedding – I can’t say that phrase at all for the fear it will come out “Wuv, Twoo Wuv…”
The word “true” here means “sincere” and the love word that is use is “Philadelphia” – brotherly love – a kinship love.
We are family and we are to take care of one another.
Another of the languages of love is identified as “acts of service… Listen, folks the language of sincere love is service or ministry.
Last week I challenged you to give an hour in ministry. This is not only an act of sincere love it is an act of worship… When the worship team arrives here on Sunday morning at 8:30 they are worshiping God in their actions and serving the family of God.
When the childrens’ workers give up their hour in the celebration service they are worshiping and ministering at the same time – children’s workers are really doubling up – worshiping and ministering at the same time! Pretty cool, huh?
When people come early to help setup and stay later to tear down they are serving the family.
When the greeters stand outside in the cold, help you find a cup of coffee, or help you find the children’s ministry… you are sincerely, and truly, loving the family of God.
Will you give an hour in ministry each week? Let me tell you where the family needs people to minister… Set up and tear down, Children’s, sound and lights, there are lots of little things that need to be done – every Sunday to sincerely love the family here at MCC
Will you push against the wind and determine to do what you can minister to the family of God. This is a big boat and every hand counts. We’re all part of the family.
Don’t say, “no one has asked me. I’ll just sit and soak.” That’s the wind blowing.
Don’t say, “I can’t do anything or I’m not worthy.” That’s just a storm sent by the enemy who wants to send you downstream.
Don’t say, “I don’t know what to do…” Can you hear the wind blowing? Pitch in and start loving the family of God!
3rd Tack: Deep Love
Love each other deeply with all your heart
Loving others is not always easy. Some people just aren’t all that lovable. And even the loveable folks have bad hair days.
But love is not a feeling. It’s a decision to obey the truth of God and it is this commitment to obedience that enables you to have a deep love for your brothers and sisters.
Philadelphia was used first but the second time in the verse Peter uses the word agape – selfless love. That’s the kind of love that invests in others. That’s a commitment to one another beyond service. It is sacrificial love.
When I discovered the power of home groups it changed my view of ministry.
I’d like to challenge you to invest at least one hour a week in a Home Group or a small group where it is possible to build agape love relationships – where you live life together.
Rob Nedds, one of our Home Group leaders put it this way when I asked him about his home group. He said, “When I joined a home group I just figured that these people were my new best friends”
This is where we are learning, growing, struggling and maturing together in our walk with Jesus. This is deep love – with all our heart. It isn’t easy but it is rewarding.
I’ll never forget the time I drove home and got the call about one of the families in our church whose baby was in Children’s hospital in Dayton, OH. I drove up to the hospital, walked down the long hallways, rode the elevator to the correct floor and turned into the family waiting room to find the whole home group gathered there. They asked why I had come. I told them that I was here to pray with the family. They said ok – but we just finished.
That’s not Casper milk toast love. That’s not romantic Valentines day love. That’s not “beat on your chest and shout it from the roof top love”.
That’s the language of love identified as “quality time.” That – my friends – that is deep love.
But you have to go against the wind. Will you start to invest your life with others? The wind is blowing. It’s pushing you sideways into the busy streets of commerce and shopping. You are going to have to carve out the time and make it a priority if you will push against the wind.
I’m looking for a core cadre of men and women of God who will help to build MCC into the kind of church where this is the normal everyday operation of life. This coming Saturday Steve Higgs and I will be hosting a MCC Home Group Seminar. It’s for everyone who wants to learn about leading and ministering in a Home Group.
4th Tack: Love the One Who Gives Life
1 Peter 1:23
Are you ready… This is tough stuff. I don’t mean to preach at you but this is important, simple and hard… Everyone OK?? Here we go…
The fourth tack against the winds of life it to use the fourth of the love languages… the giving of gifts.
God expressed his love to us with the gift of new and wonderful life – yet all too often we accept this gift with a kind of expectation of entitlement.
That’s why the last challenge I gave you was to commit to returning the tenth of your increase to honor God with a gift of love.
Believe me when I say this is not about money – it is about a heart of appreciation.
Folks you simply cannot do that be returning to God a token gift that has no value to you. When you return the tenth of your increase to God it changes your focus
Recently, I received a testimony from one of our newer participants here at MCC about tithing. I’m not going to say who it was. I’ll just let you hear what they said,
"I am a fairly new member and my first Sunday at Meridian Christian Church I expected to find about 60 chairs set up in a school cafeteria. I have to say I was very surprised to find this was an active church with as many attending members as the church I had to leave when I moved to Lansing. I was amazed at how friendly everyone was and how much everyone enjoyed the service so when I was sure you followed the Bible I wanted to be part of your church family.
Having volunteered in all different areas and seeing what goes on early before most people arrive and after services when most people have left I have felt for some time a building is really needed.
Also there is the inconvenience of having offices a distance from the building where we worship. A building is needed to be a consistent reminder that we exist and a headquarters to enable us to spread the word and be a light in the community. That is how it works in the USA. All the energy that is spent in setting up and taking down could be spent in making current programs better or starting new and needed ones.
How do we maintain good staff people and proceed with a building project, TITHE. …….Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. Malachi 3: 7-8
I personally know a couple of people who make a lot less than most of us and tithe. I could tell you story after story of how after setting aside the tithe they would find themselves short of money for a bill or not enough money to buy groceries, and then something would happen and they would have the money needed and quite often in just a matter of days. In all these cases they never reduced or touched their tithe
I was the financial secretary, for several years for the church I just moved from, and I knew who tithed and who did not. Also I was very close with a lot of people in that congregation and I watched the people/families that tithed be continually blessed.
Not just financially but in a lot of other ways as well.
The hardest part of being a financial secretary was not having to keep a secret what people gave, but seeing the differences in the lives of people who tithed and who didn’t and not being able to say something to them.
We should not tithe to get back or to be blessed but because we want to return a portion of what God has given us to use and we must do it with joy and not grudgingly.
When you write that check you thank God your able to do it and for his bounty. The blessings are a promise and they do arrive!!!!!!!!" end quote
I want to encourage you today to give – as an act of love and worship because of what God has done for you – in spite of the cold wind that blow. It’s not about money it’s about our love for God.
Everyone ok? Good. Do you hear the wind blowing?
The Language of Love: Touch
24 The Scripture says, “All people are like the grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass dies and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord will live forever.”
1 Peter 1:24-25
The important, simple, and hard fact of life is that we were just like the grass and the flowers of the field until we were touched by the hand of God.
By his word we were created.
By his word we were redeemed when we were lost.
By his word we will live forever – his word is forever and He is forever.
His word touches us and we are changed. It is the word of faith and love. The last language of love is that of “physical touch.”
If you and I will come close to God and stay close to him then no matter what winds blow in our lives we will overcome…
