Fellow Travelers

The church is made up, not of salty saints who have got it all together, but rather of fellow travelers who have been set apart for the glory of God. We have been chosen to this task not because of who we are or what we have accomplished, but rather because of who Christ is and what He has accomplished. The church is not perfect.  It is not an exact image of Christ Jesus, True, we are called to bear His image, but in this broken and fallen world we bear it imperfectly. The church is made up of broken men and women who have found healing in the grace of God. We are sinners who have discovered grace at God’s table. being shocked that there is a place for each of us. Or as Desmond Miles once quipped, “we are beggars who have found the bread, and our task is to show other beggars where the bread is.”

One can easily become disillusioned with the church when one expects it to be perfect. If we believe that the church is made up of perfect people who perfectly embody the grace, love, and holiness of God, we will be most disappointed. The truth is that the church has experienced the grace and love of God most splendidly and has come to grips with the holiness of God. However, in our human nature we still reflect more of our selves than of our God. We, the church, need to realize also that we are fellow travelers.  All of us stumble. All of us fall.  We are broken, crippled, and at times shattered. God has called us to love Him with all of our heart, all of our strength, all of our soul, and all of our might; and then to love our neighbor as our selves.  We know the love of God from first hand experience, now we must demonstrate that love to one another. Perhaps the world has a skewed view of the church, because the church has a skewed view of itself. We often act like we have it all together, when the truth is we can’t even remember where we left it.

It’s time for the church to be the church. We must serve one another in love. God has called us to demonstrate His holiness, His love, and His grace to one another and to a fallen world. When we become one as, “fellow travelers” with one heart and one mind, taking on the mind of Christ, we will put others before ourselves and lose ourselves in serving one another. . .  then the world will see the church and get a glimpse of Jesus!

Bearing the Image of Christ

Bearing the Image of Christ.

The Church in Parables

We often read the parables of Jesus with religious blinders on.  We assume that we are the one who Jesus is praising in each parable when if the truth be told more times than not we are the ones He is targeting for their improper attitudes and actions.  For example, in the parable of the prodigal son, we see ourselves as the son who squandered his inheritance then came to his senses and was received by his loving father.  I think all too often we miss the point of the parable for today’s church.  Sadly, we are more often like the elder brother who stayed at home and worked with his father, but then became insolent and angry when his prodigal brother was welcomed home with a party. Take a good look at the elder brother, look closer, doesn’t he look familiar?  He is that one returning your gaze in the mirror. The one who is upset because the pastor spends so much time reaching out to those who have strayed and pays little attention to you.  We are all like the elder brother at times.  We feel like we deserve attention for our good behavior, when the reality is, outside of God’s grace, we are all prodigals . . .  some of us run off and some of us grace the pews with our prodigal spirits.  Reread the parables and just see if the Pharisee, the Levite, the workers in the vineyard don’t seem vaguely familiar.

Preaching as never sure to preach again…as a dying man to dying men

The preacher must never grow too comfortable in his task but must always approach the pulpit with fear and trembling as he presumes to speak the truth of God’s Word to a people in desperate need of a fresh Word from God.

A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

On the office of a preacher…

“The preacher must be a serious man; he must never give the impression that preaching is something light or superficial or trivial….What is happening [in the act of preaching] is that he is speaking to them from God, he is speaking to them about God, he is speaking about their condition, the state of their souls. He is telling them that they are, by nature, under the wrath of God…that the character of the life they’re living is offensive to God and under the judgment of God, and warning them of the dreaded eternal possibility that lies ahead of them. In any case the preacher, of all men, should realize the fleeting nature of life in this world. The men of the world are so immersed in its business and affairs, its pleasures and all its vain show, that the one thing they never…

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