Let Brotherly Love Continue

This time last year, I was in Thessaloniki, Greece, serving alongside a local church as they welcomed refugees from Iraq and Syria. Most Greeks in Thessaloniki wanted nothing to do with these people. They were unfamiliar, foreign, filthy, needy, and viewed as a burden. 

But the church where we worshipped took a distinctly different approach from the city they called home. 

These followers of Jesus built relationships with the refugees. They welcomed them into their homes for meals and into the church building for showers and rest. They showed them love.

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:1-4)

Because our Greek brothers and sisters took Scripture like James 2 seriously, scores of refugees came to know the God of the Bible. They experienced the love of Jesus, and they couldn’t get enough of it. 

Today, many of the refugees who walked through the doors of that church are now extending selfless love and care to their Muslim countrymen in the name of Jesus, often risking violent responses in order to do so.

These are the subversive, life-giving acts of love to which we’re called. This is the upside down way in which God redeems the world. 

We may not be in Greece, but there are certainly people among us who feel like outcasts. Who are the “others” in your life? Who are the unfamiliar, the foreign, the filthy, the needy? Who are you viewing as burdensome? What would it look like for you to embrace them with the love of Jesus this week? Not to just tolerate them…but to love them?

Or perhaps you feel like the other. You feel like an outcast. A burden. Friend, YOU are loved so deeply that God sacrificed His Son to redeem you. You have a Father who is there, ready to embrace you in your loneliness. Just call out His name. If you have more questions, please reply to this email, and we'll talk. 

Father, may we be people who love others as ourselves. May we be known for the radical nature of our love, rather than for our exclusion. May we love the least of these in a way that draws them to Jesus, which is only possible through Your Spirit and Your grace. Amen.

“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:1-2)

Hope to see you tomorrow night at our monthly prayer gathering!

Erika

Slow to Anger

Know this, my beloved brothers; let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. - James 1:19-20

From cable news networks to Facebook to our personal relationships, we often practice this in reverse, don’t we?

Our culture says: be quick to anger, quick to speak, and painfully slow to hear.

The thing is, our hearts are naturally – sinfully – interested in self-preservation. When we’re chasing dreams and idols apart from our Creator’s plans for us, and especially when our worth and identity is tied up in these dreams and idols, anything that interferes with them becomes a personal attack. This need to self-preserve often causes us to respond quickly in anger.

And while James says that our anger does not produce the righteousness of God (and we read elsewhere that our anger gives the devil a foothold, that anger resides in the lap of fools, that it leads to evil…the list goes on and on.), he does offer an alternative to our self-destructive anger:

“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

God offers us a way out. He throws us a life raft. He gives us an opening for His healing and restoration!

When we turn from the sin that occupies our hearts – the idols, the affirmation we crave that isn’t rooted in Him, the dreams we’ve planned apart from Him – we need only to have teachable hearts that humbly receive truth that has already been printed on our soul and be ready to submit to it. God Himself does the heavy lifting! His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Not only do we have the Word, full of grace of truth, but we have Jesus, the Word in the flesh, dwelling with us. We don’t have to self-preserve! We don’t have to defend ourselves! He did everything that needed to be done on the cross. Just receive.

Father, may we people who rest in the finished work of the cross and allow the implanted Word to grow and flourish within us. May we drop our idols and our need for affirmation from people around us and instead look to You to define us. May we seek to self-surrender instead of self-preserve. May we be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, as our hearts continue to be transformed by Your grace. And in our graciousness and patience, may we be salt and light in our city and world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

"Course He isn't safe. But He's good."

From the moment Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden, one question has remained for humans throughout the centuries: is God actually good?

For Adam and Eve, they chose to believe that the one tree forbidden to them – even though they had the rest of the world to enjoy – was evidence that God was withholding something good from them. Though God had warned them of the dire consequences that would come from eating from that tree (“you must not touch it, or you will die”), they ate anyway. Without pause. And their decision brought spiritual death – pain, brokenness, misery, and separation from God – for all of humanity. 

Later, James echoes this same cautionary warning – that “sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” He pleads with us! “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”

But let’s not miss his next message. This is where the hope is, friends. This is where we see the answer to the question asked above.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

James 1:17-18

Let’s take this in for a moment.

After the fall, God didn’t leave Adam and Eve and the rest of humanity in our pain and devastation. He could have, but He didn’t! He began to draw people back to Himself. He began the great story of rescue and redemption that you and I continue to be a part of today. In His goodness and in His grace, He has continued to give us good and perfect gifts from above – namely, Jesus.

Just as was His desire with Adam and Eve, God – who never changes and is always faithful – wants to give you and me the most precious, miraculous, joy-bringing, life-giving gift there is: Himself. He creates beauty from ashes, and causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him. We just have to follow Him. We have to choose life.

May we be men and women who so grasp the depth, the height, and the width of God’s goodness and love for us that we choose life over death.

And remember, in the glorious words of Mr. Beaver in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”