A Summer of Hope

- but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 

(2 Peter 3:18)

The Goal of “A Summer of Hope”

To provide and promote a mid-week time of fellowship at the church for the adults, encouraging involvement and engagement in worship; in praise to the Lord, in the discussion of God’s Word, and in prayer with and for one another. It will be hosted at the Church on Thursday nights!

The Time Frame of “A Summer of Hope”

“A Summer of Hope” will begin the first Thursday of June, June 3 and run through September 23.  It will be hosted at the church.

The Structure of “A Summer of Hope”

Everyone is encouraged to arrive at the church about 6:45 pm.  The time of fellowship will begin promptly at 7:00 pm.  The general structure of the service will be as follows:

1.  Worship in song and testimony - 7:00-7:25 pm

(children will be involved in this time)

2.  Worship in the Word - 7:25-8:00 pm

(sermon discussion questions – the children will have a separate time of Bible and play time)

3.  Worship in Prayer - 8:00-8:25 pm

(encouraging prayer for the church and for one another)

The Children of “A Summer of Hope”

In order to provide the adults an opportunity for engaging Bible study and prayer, we will be expecting each of the parents with young children as well as asking any other adults to rotate through leading the children in a provided, short (15 minute) Bible lesson followed by some kind of play time.  Being summer, the kids could be supervised outside playing. 

The goal is to have several adults take a week so as to minister to the other adults, allowing them to enjoy the time of Bible study and prayer.  The more adults that participate, the more time each adult gets to spend in the fellowship (i.e. if there are eight pairs of adults then they would only need to serve with the children once every eight weeks.  Since there are only 14 weeks from June to September (not including Family Unity Nights), some would only need to serve once.  Please see the sign up sheet for “A Summer of Hope” Children’s Ministry schedule.

 

Walking in a Manner Worthy - Humility

Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Yesterday I focused in on the phrase found at the end of verse 2 “showing tolerance for one another in love.”  Nothing like jumping right into the middle of a verse, but then, as I noted, that is what stood out to me – yesterday.

Upon continued reflection and study of these verses, I found several other things intriguing as well and thought I would comment on them one at a time.  Generally speaking, what we find in these three verses is the call “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” followed by some expressions of what this “walk” – this behavior of consistent gospel living - looks like.  This picture of a worthy walk begins in verse 2 with the word “humility”.

What comes to your mind when you read the word “humility”?  A dictionary definition of “humility” is – “the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc…”   We consider “humility” a virtue and essentially as the opposite of arrogance or self-pride.  But what is interesting about this word as

Paul used it is that in Paul’s day, there was NO word for humility.  The idea of having a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance was considered so odious to the Greek and Roman cultures that there was no word given to describe such a quality; as least as we know it. 

So how did Paul come up with the word translated humility in our text?  Most scholars believe that the early Christians coined this word and some even believe that Paul himself put two Greek words to communicate the Christian virtue of humility.  The two Greek words are tapeinos – which speaks of a state of being; being in low degree or without means.  We might say of a beggar that he is in a “humble estate”.  Paul combined this word with phren – which speaks of the mind or the understanding.  So the combination of these two words yielded – tapeinophrosune – which means to be of lowly mind, or lowly minded.

When left to ourselves and unchecked by self or by others, we will tend to have inflated views of ourselves and of our rights.  We will begin to expect and demand more from others than we are perhaps willing to give of ourselves.  To be humble is not to demand such “rights” so that you are ministered to; but rather to give up your own rights in order to minister to and meet the needs of others.  Jesus Himself was “humble in spirit” – not demanding His deserved rights as God in the flesh, as the royal and lofty Son of the Most High God, but rather coming to serve.  And He served well. 

I read a story that illustrated the idea of humility.  The story is of a very educated and respected pastor who had earned his doctorate in theology.  He had a lofty manner of expressing himself and expected others to honor his station of life.  As he was visiting the people in his parish, he called upon the cottage of an elderly woman, who, in disregard of the times and customs in which she lived, spoke to the pastor in the most familiar of terms saying, “Come in by and sit doun.”  The stately pastor, who had expected a more respectful greeting, spoke to her in firmness in order to quell any further familiar speech by the women saying, “Woman, I am a servant of the Lord God come to speak with you on the concerns of your soul.”  The woman looked at the pastor and admirably said, “Then, ye’ll be humble like ye Maister.”  Upon hear these words, the pastor felt the reproof deeply and never again sought to magnify himself at the expense of his office.

If we are to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” then we must be humble, never seeking to magnify ourselves at the expense of our position.  When we put expectations on others because of our position, be it a businessman or a housewife, a CEO or a father or mother, a church leader or pastor, we are not being humble.  We are not thinking in terms of how to best minister to others, but rather how we think others should best minister to us.  Let us learn to be humble like our Master; considering the needs of others before we consider even our own needs, to the glory of God  and to the building up of the body of Christ.

I  close once again with the words of Paul in Titus 3:14 and prayerfully ask you to make this your ambition:

Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. 

SDG,

Pastor Ed

Walking in a Manner Worthy of Our Calling - Showing Tolerance for One Another in Love

The apostle Paul penned these words to the believers at Ephesus:

Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

What stands out to me is the phrase "showing tolerance for one another in love." The meaning of this statement is that it takes work to be a part of a church family. There is to be a constant extension of mercy; a putting up with one another even when we feel we are being abused or neglected in the process. There are so many different backgrounds, different expectations; different abilities; and different interests. And yet we ALL have the same commonality - OUR UNION WITH CHRIST. He has brought all this diversity together, in unity here at Hope CBC, order to accomplish something far greater than we can readily imagine.

What breaks up unity of diversity is any combination of the world, the flesh and devil. We may not be able to control the world and the devil, but we can and are to exercise control over the flesh (our feelings, our wills, our emotions, our wants, etc. - Galatians 5:22-23). Sometimes in church life we have to exercise "tolerance" - forbearance; but not just neutrally, but to show it, reveal it, LIVE IT, for one another "in love." This statement, "showing tolerance for one another in love" is like a blanket that is thrown over the sins and irritants of others, not in order to justify or excuse them, but to keep such things from becoming bigger in our own eyes as we seek to minister to one another. Such a tolerance has the idea of even taking abuse from others while continuing to love them.

And what of this love? This is agape love - that is a seeking of the highest good of one another regardless of personal cost and all to the glory of God. This is what we are called to. This is a "walking in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). This is keeping Christ as central and primary in our lives. The world will know that Jesus Christ has been sent by God as we demonstrate love, tolerant love, to one another.

EACH ONE OF US has a role, a part, an important gift of grace to contribute to the well-being of the the Body of Christ (1 Peter 4:10), to the exaltation of Christ and all to the glory of God. Let us pray for and learn our roles here at Hope CBC. Our flesh will come up with excuses not to serve, not to participate, not to be engaged; because of circumstances or people or whatever. At these times we must show tolerance to one another in love. So, when considering your plans and activities will you keep the following in mind?

We can so easily fall into the trap of doing what is right in our own eyes, which is really another way of saying, "doing what seems best for me." The real questions are;

1) Is this best for the glory of Christ (Colossians 1:18);

2) Is this best for the body of Christ (the fellowship - Hebrews 10:24-25); and

3) Is this best for the witness of Christ (evangelism - Matthew 5:16). (taken from the Hope CBC discussion board on Facebook. To read the entire discussion, please click here).

ONLY after I have prayerfully answered those questions can I rightly consider myself.

My heart aches for all of you with all the affection of Christ. Let us press on together for the cause of Christ, encouraging one another in the faith and evangelizing the lost to the glory of God.

For the glory of the Father and the exaltation of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit,

Pastor Ed

Psalm 103:1 - One downcast believer makes twenty souls sad. CHS

Our Master does not think so lightly of our unbelief as we do. Read Joshua 1:7.