Becoming a Reflection of the Kingdom of God

Pastor Brad began the service by reminding us of the mission statement for New Life Covenant: Connect, Grow and Become. Connecting to Jesus Christ and to one another is a starting point, but God's design is for us to grow. Today's theme would be about becoming. Jesus talked repeatedly about the kingdom of God. It is not small matter. It is God's desire that we reflect the kingdom of God in this world.

Before entering into worship Brad shared that each year our congregation adopts a needy family to help make Christmas special for them. Next week there will be a sign-up sheet for ways you can help the family we have selected.

Thursday this week is Thanksgiving. This is a reminder that people who don't have a place to go and would like some friendly company on this holiday can join us at the church. Leonard will be cooking a special Thanksgiving dinner, to be served at 2:00 p.m. If you know someone who needs transportation, give us a call. The meal is free. Donations will help replenish the benevolence fund.

Last Wednesday evening was devoted to packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child. This morning the children brought these gift boxes to the front of the church, 68 in all.

After Darlene's introit, Brad and Darlene proceeded to lead us into worship, beginning with Lenny LeBlanc's beautiful song, Above All.

An offering, Scripture reading and prayer followed and then Brad presented the message.

Becoming a Reflection of the Kingdom of God

If we are to reflect who God is in this world, our community and how we connect really matters. Life is more than just meeting minimum requirements and treading water till we die.

What is the Gospel that Jesus preached? How would you respond?

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” ~Mark 1:14-15

Brad then read an overview of verses about this theme that so permeates the New Testament. THIS is the Good News, that we can live in the realm of God's power and reign.

The message of the Gospel is not about knowing the "correct answer" to get into heaven.

When Jesus said, "Repent" He wasn't just talking about changing your behavior, but was aiming at the idea that we must change our thinking. Jesus' Gospel is not only about the promise of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life by grace, but it's so much more than that. Jesus lived a life designed to manifest the reality of the kingdom. He wasn't just putting in time until His death on the cross.

The change in thinking that is integral to kingdom living permeates every aspect of life. In Matthew 6 Jesus explains how far this goes.

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Brad pointed out that in order to understand the kingdom of God we need to understand the meaning of kingdom. Essentially, it is the range of our control where our will has power or, in other words, our sphere of influence or rule. We may not sit on thrones or feel like we have a lot of power over the world, but the region where we do have power is the scope of our kingdom. It is you who decides what flowers to plant in your garden or where to build the hutch. Unfortunately, our kingdoms are junked up by sin.

There are bigger kingdoms than our personal ones. Families, towns, cities, nations are all a part of what is called the kingdom of earth.

The kingdom of God is wholly other. It is not geographic, but a realm where all that takes place meets with God's approval.

Jesus said that this kingdom, God's realm, is available to all who want it. In one place He stated that "whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This statement is not fully understood until we realize that a child was essentially the lowest rung in society, a non-person in the larger scheme of things. The kingdom of God is for people who give up on their notion of status. It is a community where everyone is beautiful and sensitive to others' hurts and needs and loneliness. It is a community where there is no hurtful gossip, no anxiety, and joy reigns. All of this is overseen by the Father of Jesus, who Himself is the origin of self-giving love.

When Jesus taught us how to pray it included the phrase "Your kingdom come." In other words, that God's kingdom of love and service up there would be manifest down here.

In contrast to God's kingdom we see a broken world where 80 countries practice state-sponsored torture, 8 countries cut off hands and feet as punishment, and millions of children die of starvation.

Jesus said that the kingdom is not intended to just be "up there" but also manifest down here, is intended to invade this earth, and it is through us, the church, through our community of faith that God aims to achieve this, reflecting the kingdom of God here in our time. Let's be this and do this.

Good Soil

Pastor Shannon often begins the service with some kind of anecdote or story that ties in to the message, but with hunting season underway Brad went a different direction and shared an amusing story that took place earlier today. There was a deer outside the Shannon home and Brad grabbed his rifle. Details included Brooke doing the SWAT Team hand gestures to give him directions once outside, but there was nothing to shoot by the time he was equipped and ready. "When I hunt, the deer have never been safer," he said.

Brad swerved to a more serious topic, the importance of connection, especially as it related to connecting people to the Good News of the kingdom and to purposeful living for God.

Conversion is not the same thing as growth. You make a decision to follow Christ, but you do not automatically morph into change or maturity. While it is true that only God can give growth, it is our job to remove the barriers to growth. This is part of what today's message would deal with.

The primary announcements this week include the following:
1) Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. we will be assembling shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
2) Elsa announced that Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. will be a movie night... all kids invited.

Chuck, Ken and Darlene led worship this a.m. with some traditional Gaither songs beginning with "It Took a Miracle." After several worship choruses. an offering was taken followed by a time of prayer.

Good Soil

Brad began with an Albert Einstein anecdote, following it with the point that Jesus was undoubtedly the smartest man that ever live. Yet, he did not spend any of his energy letting people know how smart He was.

His teaching style was to tell stories. Parables.

This parable, found in Matthew 13, as well as in Mark and Luke, is about a sower who went out sowing seed. It's a simple story, but designed to get deep into your hearts. Here's the passage from Matthew:

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

There is something amazing about growth. Parents love watching their kids grow, from their first steps to so many new thresholds. Growth is a sign of health, of life. When we stop growing, we start dying.

Brad talked about a condition known as Failure To Thrive (FTT). Thriving and growth are normal processes in life. So, too, in spiritual life. Growth is normal and expected. God wants us to thrive.

Ways we recognize spiritual growth are many. Sin becomes less attractive to us. Sharing our faith becomes easier. Speaking truthfully is increases in importance.

In the passage we see that Jesus sat down to teach. This was, and is to this day, a common way for rabbis to teach.

There are three elements in this story: the seed, the sower and the soil. Notice how the seed and the sower are constants. The seed is the same in all four situations, and the sower is lavish in his distribution of the seed. The sower, like God, is extravagant in sharing grace. The lesson is in the soil, the one variable in this parable.

Brad said it was time for each of us to do soil analysis.

The Hard Soil
A footpath is packed down and hard. Many of us have a heart that is hardened. Often it is because we have been hurt. There is a protective barrier around the heart to shield against additional pain. Bitterness, too, can lead to a hardened heart.

"Some of you have a hard spot in your heart," Brad said. We need to ask God, "Will you make my heart tender?"

Cynicism, or lack of gratitude may be the cause of the hard soil. This is soil that needs to be softened somehow, or plowed. It may take tears of repentance to soften the soil. There is a pain that is worse than the plow however. It is the sterility that comes from a hardened heart.

The Shallow Soil
In order for seed to thrive, the soil needs to be both soft and deep. In much of Israel there was bedrock below the surface. Roots can't go down into that kind of land.

Richard Foster wrote that superficiality is the curse of our age. Our lives are lived on the surface and we do not invest time to go deeper in our relationship with God or with others. People all too often bail out when things get hard. Roots require time. Relationship with God requires time, unhurried time.

The Cluttered Soil
Jesus said the third kind of soil is covered with thorns, thorns that crowd out the good seed.

Clutter is dangerous, and a deadly enemy to growth. When the "cares of this world" clutter our minds, we need to do some weeding. The clutter can take many forms. Workaholics are crushed by one form of clutter. Becoming financially burdened can also clutter our lives with a low-grade anxiety that is distracting. Failure to weed out the thorns will lead to a failure to thrive.

Unfathomable Fruitfulness
Jesus says the seed sown on the good soil produces astounding fruitfulness, 100-fold, 60-fold or 30-fold.

But in a twist on the parable, Brad notes that we ourselves are not only the soil in the parable, we are to be seed sowers as well. In this regard we are to continue sowing and not lose heart.

In Mark 4:26 Jesus said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground..."

God gives the growth, but our responsibility is to keep sowing. Good seed can find its way into the smallest of cracks.

How Do You Read It?

Despite a chill north wind, the pews were packed again for worship this Sunday. Pastor Brad welcomed us with comments about how we are created for God’s pleasure, and that worship is not just something that happens on Sunday morning. Rather, all we do can be an act of worship.

He also noted that when we are here for worship, it is not as an observer, but as a participant in an act of worship. In the midst of all, here with us, is the God who created the universe.

The story of the good Samaritan is today’s theme, and many portions of the service dovetailed with this theme, especially the blessing of our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes which were prepared last Wednesday evening.

A whole raft of announcements should be cited as the Advent season approaches and many activities are taking place. Here are a few that were noted.

1. CHIC Fundraising Pastie Sale… Contact Eric Borndal for details.
2. Jim Fretheim, Superintendent of the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church will be a guest preacher next Sunday. He can be counted on for an insightful, wise message. Lunch will be served afterwards.
3. A special Thanksgiving Service will be held 7:00 p.m., November 23rd at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Brookston.
4. A special ADVENTure Sunday School will be held Dec. 7, 14 and 21 leading into Christmas, 9 a.m. downstairs for all ages.
5. The Shannons will share their home in an Open House, Sunday December 7 during the coffee hour. (5637 Bergstrom Jct. Road)
6. The Christmas Program and Dinner will be on December 14 at 4:00 p.m. Kids’ practice is scheduled for the 13th, 10 a.m. till noon.

The quartet ushered us into worship with Fanny Crosby’s “I Love to Tell the Story.” After leading us in song and praise, the children carried the Operation Christmas Child boxes to the front where they were dedicated. Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, intended to bring joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world. Since 1993 more than 61 million shoe boxes have been packed and given.

The Scripture reading was from Psalm 78:1-7. After a time of prayer, Pastor Brad presented the message.

How Do You Read It?

It’s a familiar passage, the story of the Good Samaritan. We’ve all heard it many times throughout our Christian lives. The passage is found in Luke 10:25-37.

Does gaining eternal life really boil down to being a good neighbor? Or bringing a dinner to a hungry person? Is Jesus right to say this? Is it really this simple?

Pastor Brad was striving to engage our minds because all too often we hear passages like this and it’s the same old same old. We tune it out because we already know that. The challenge is to see something fresh, and the pastor succeeded in achieving this aim.

Brad noted that doctors do not give the same prescription to all patients. Each has different ailments which must be first diagnosed, and the remedy prescribed accordingly. There is not one answer for all. For this reason, the Lord spoke with Nicodemus about the need to be born again. To the woman at the well He offered living water, and said, “Go call your husband,” knowing her real circumstances. To the rich young ruler He said, “Sell all, give it to the poor and follow Me.”

In this story, Jesus happens to be talking with a lawyer. This lawyer knew all the right answers. The lawyer had asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered with a question. “What is written in the Law?” In other words, what does God’s Word say on the matter.

But Jesus went further. He also asked, “How do you read it?”

This lawyer knew all the right answers and answered correctly here. He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Jesus affirmed his correct answer, but added, “Do this and you will live.” In other words, like the great physician he is, the prescription for this lawyer was to put the knowledge you have into practice. Do this and you will have life. Act on what you have heard and profess, not as a way of gaining eternal life, but as a sign that eternal life has already begun in your heart.

It’s a hard pill to swallow. And for this reason, the lawyer asked another question, for the purpose of clarification. “Who is my neighbor?”

This is the context for the story of the good Samaritan. It is a brilliant setup in answer to the wrong question. The question implies that some people are neighbors and some are not.

The lawyer, who knew Jewish law, knew that there were some who were acceptable and some not. Gentiles were considered dogs. Samaritans were also among the excluded.

What happens when a neighbor is not my kind? How about illegal aliens? Or gays? We set up boundaries. But love transcends human barriers such as race, nationality, creed, sexual orientation, gender, circumstances, etc. All people who need help are my neighbors.

Love costs us. There is risk involved in helping the man in the ditch. Love doesn’t stop at convenience. To practice love stretches our capacity to love to its outermost limits.

In point of fact, you can’t do this in your own strength. Human love will fall short. The power of positive thinking is not enough. It is only the enabling Word that commands us which also empowers us to love like this. The enabling Word is Christ Himself. That kind of love has no limits.

Pastor Brad shared how he worked at an orphanage in Mexico once. He saw how the experience broke down barriers, sharing a story that setup a concept presented by Juan Carlos Ortiz called “Mashed Potato Love.” A sack of potatoes is a bunch of isolated individual spuds, but when we’re peeled and sliced and mashed the boundaries and barriers which ordinarily separate us disappear.

We can know God’s “plan of salvation” and the Four Spiritual Laws, but knowing these things is not liberating until we are changed. Christ can change us from our old ways of thinking, helping us to see with His eyes until we learn to live with His love. This is the Good News. Christ can break down the walls that separate us and make us new people where His Spirit becomes our spirit, His vision becomes our vision and His compassion becomes our compassion… and His life becomes our eternal life. This is the Gospel of the Lord.