June 2012 - You Are What You Think

Psst … hey, I have a confession to make. While I wouldn’t say that I have been secretly doing this, I haven’t necessarily been telling anyone either. From the moment that I came on as Lead Pastor, I have been working to affect your minds. I am keenly interested in the way you think and in influencing it.

This may surprise some of you, but God is also interested in this. Our minds are important to God. He didn’t create our brains so that He could simply circumvent it. He wants us to think His thoughts. He wants us to perceive from His perspective.

The reason this is so important is that we act as we think. You can see this in the student protests in Quebec. If you read news articles you will see that people for and against the protests see them from completely different perspectives. Those against the protests see the actions of the students as wrong. The student protesters are acting based on their beliefs, even to the point of civil disobedience. How we act in relation to God, society, church, family and self is informed by our beliefs.

I suppose I have a tendency to this because I have a bent for teaching. However, Jesus, the Master Teacher, would also say, “Do not think …” (Mt. 5:17) or “Why do you think …” (Mt. 9:4) or “What do you think …” (Mt. 17:25), just as examples. Paul, a teacher, would write, “… to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly …” (Rom. 12:3) or “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus …” (Phil. 2:5).

What we perceive the church to be and how we think it is supposed to function affects how we act, react and respond. I’m not suggesting that everyone is off their rocker in how they think, but we can have, as was said in a Pixar cartoon, a “kink in our think.” The Word will continue to challenge our thinking as we move forward into the purposes and plans He has for His church. He does renew our spirits but our minds must also be renewed (Rom. 12:2).

So, what do you think?

Journeying with you,

Pastor Merril

May 2012 - Completion

Have you ever had any of the following bother or frustrate you?

·       A car that’s missing a bumper

·       A lighted sign with letters not working

·       A strip of grass on a lawn that didn’t get mowed

I’m sure you can come up with other examples. There’s something about incompleteness that seems wrong. It’s intrinsically incorrect to have something that’s only partially done. Often, however, we only notice such things when we first notice it and then it soon becomes part of the landscape. We accept it as the way things are, the way things have always been or as something that will never change.

Jesus was not someone who started something without finishing it. Hebrews 12:2 states that we are to keep “our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Jesus even declares of Himself: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” (Rev. 22:13) As God’s beloved children who are to grow up on all ways into the image, stature and fullness of Christ, we should be co-labouring with God on completion of things in our lives and in the life of this church.

You might not be aware of this, but our heavenly Father also does not like things left incomplete. It bothers him to see such things. Jesus sent such a message to one of the churches in the Book of Revelation:

“Write to the angel of the church in Sardis:

“The One who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: I know your works; you have a reputation[lit. have a name] for being alive, but you are dead. Be alert and strengthen[other mss read guard] what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. (Rev. 3:1-3, HCSB)

James writes that the areas of faith that we engage and grow in come into completion by our good works.

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? (James 2:20-22, NKJV)

The Greek word “telos” and its derivatives occurs in all of these Scripture passages. We have read it as “perfect,” “end,” and “complete.” Taken together is speaks of fullness, completion, and maturity.

I believe God is at work in this hour to bring many things to fullness, maturity and completion. There are areas of prayer and intercession that the elders are co-labouring with Christ to see come to completion. There are aspects of our vision, mission and values as a church that have not been clear enough that God is currently perfecting. There are parts of our building and ministries that have been incomplete that can no longer remain so. And, I believe I am not the only one with whom our Father is saying now is the time to come into full maturity in areas of our lives.

This is both convicting and encouraging. I am challenged and excited. It is in the completion of these aspects of our church and our lives that we will find the release to move forward into the new things God has in store for us. I encourage you to join with Jesus in doing the works or completing the works that God is revealing in this season.

Journeying with you,

Pastor Merril