by Cathy Baker | Faith |
by Cathy Baker
“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself. . .'” -C.S. Lewis, The Four Love
Today’s celebration is the “Sharing Your Treasure” Tea.
I hosted this tea for my life group ladies. It’s been several years now, but the memories from our time together still linger.
“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
―
A.A. Milne,
Winnie-the-Pooh
And our most faithful Friend, Jesus:
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
Our focus on Summit’s core values continued yesterday. Below are snippets from Kyle’s compelling sermon on the value of biblical community. I encourage you to visit Summit’s site to hear the sermon in its entirety.
Matthew 22:34-40
His religious audience knew from Deuteronomy 6:4 that they were to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind—but others? Jesus ushers in a radical change when He commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
- We have little to do with who moves in next door, works in the cubicle close by, or beats us to the Target cash register after a long day at work — but that’s Jesus’ point. We’re not only to love those who look like us, smell like us, or talk like us — but everyone. God has placed us where we are for divine possibilities.
- “Jesus makes it very clear that spiritual formation is about relationships. Relationships with God and with others.” – Scott McKnight, The Jesus Creed
- Jesus would pay the price on our behalf so that selfishness could be put to death. We are empowered by God’s Spirit to live a new life with wholehearted devotion, freeing us to follow hard after God. By God’s grace, we can know Him, love Him, and love others in a way that He desires. Awaken these desires within us!
In response:
1. We need to actually live connected.
“We
think we’ve chosen our friends, and in reality, a few years of
difference and dates of our birth, a few more miles, the choice of one
school rather than another, any of these chances might have kept friends
apart. But for Christians, there’s strictly no speaking of chances. A
secret master of ceremonies has been at work in your life. Christ who
said to his disciples, “You have not chosen me but I have chosen you,”
can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “You have not chosen
one another, but I have chosen you for one another.” At this feast, it
is he who has spread the board, and it is he who has chosen the guest
list. It is he who sometimes does and always should preside. Let us not
forget our host as we eat.”
-C.S. Lewis
2. Resist isolation. Does our commitment to biblical community reflect God’s commitment to community? We’re not talking about church attendance but living connected to those who God will use to shape us into being more like Christ.
3. Live for one another.
“In many cases, we may, by the rules of the gospel, be
obliged to give to others when we cannot do it without suffering
ourselves…If our neighbor’s difficulties and necessities be much greater
than our own, and we see that he is not like to be otherwise relieved,
we should be willing to suffer with him, and to take part of his burden
on ourselves; else how is that rule of bearing one another’s burdens
fulfilled? If we are never obliged to relieve others’ burdens, but when we can
do it without burdening ourselves, then how do we bear our neighbor’s
burdens, when we bear no burden at all?” [Jonathan Edwards, Christian Charity, The Works of Jonathan Edwards]
Because people matter to God, they matter to us.
What “neighbor” will God place on our paths this week to love as Christ loves us? Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we might put the Gospel on display.
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
Welcome to Sunday Snippets!
Jason Malone brought a timely message from Galatians 5:1-15 this morning. As with all Snippets, I try to jot down everything
verbatim, but it’s not always possible.To listen to the sermon in its
entirety, I invite you to visit Summit’s site.
As we know, Galatians was written to Christ followers, reminding them that anything added to the Gospel of Jesus Christ results in slavery.
- Some confuse the Gospel for spiritual milk, believing it to be a necessity for new Christ followers only, but we never outgrow the Gospel. It’s just as critical for new followers as those who’ve walked with Christ for many years. We never “move on” from the Gospel.
- Only one leads to true freedom: Gospel transformation (motivated by love) and moral reformation (behavior modification).
- The “why” of our obedience is everything, as is seen in Charles Spurgeon’s The Tale of the King, the Carrot, and the Horse:
Once
upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot. He took
it to his king and said, “My lord, this is the greatest carrot I’ve ever
grown or ever will grow; therefore, I want to present it to you as a
token of my love and respect for you.” The king was touched and
discerned the man’s heart, so as he turned to go, the king said, “Wait!
You are clearly a good steward of the earth. I own a plot of land right
next to yours. I want to give it to you freely as a gift, so you can
garden it all.” The gardener was amazed and delighted and went home
rejoicing.
But
there was a nobleman at the king’s court who overheard all this, and he
said, “My! If that is what you get for a carrot, what if you gave the
king something better?” The next day the nobleman came before the king,
and he was leading a handsome black stallion. He bowed low and said, “My
lord, I breed horses, and this is the greatest horse I’ve ever bred or
ever will; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love
and respect for you.” But the king discerned his heart and said, “Thank
you,” and took the horse and simply dismissed him. The nobleman was
perplexed, so the king said, “Let me explain. That gardener was giving
me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse.
- If we are clothing the poor, feeding the hungry, attending church, or anything else to gain more love, favor, or blessings from the Lord, then we are doing these things for ourselves, not Christ.
- Anytime we catch ourselves doing something good, pause for a moment and ask: Did I do that so Christ will love me or because He loves me?
Today’s snippets don’t begin to do Jason’s sermon justice. It was superb teaching on true freedom in Christ—so much so that I often found myself listening more and writing less. I encourage you to visit the link above and listen to it in its entirety.
Additional reference: Mere C.S. Lewis
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
Favorite quotes included in Writing Tides, a recent read by Kent Ira Groff :
Writing is a way of paying attention to things twice, savoring their layers, their essence. -Groff
The world is charged with the grandeur of God…And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things. -Gerald Manley Hopkins, God’s Grandeur
No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader. -Robert Frost
Worriers have active imaginations. So use your creative gift to create optional endings to the same predicament. That’s the stuff novels are made of. That’s why they’re called novels—they give you a novel slant on the peculiar dynamics of life. -Groff
Many of the best insights come unbidden in a moment of not thinking directly about a subject. -Groff
There are years of our lives that ask questions and years that answer. -Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Swimming lessons are better than a lifeline to the shore. -C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Healthy disciplines embody oscillating tides of solitude and solidarity, contemplation and communication, resting and risking, silence and speech. -Groff
