Perfect Unison

Tonight I am posting the first of a series of articles written by a friend on the subject of unity. If you look back over past posts, you will see that this is something that the Lord has had me thinking a lot about lately. I suppose it is just where we are...at least in the body of believers that I am a part of. Anyway, I trust you will be encouraged by these articles by Ron Bergthold and I apologize that it has been so long since my last post. :)

~Jon


Perfect Unison
by Ron Bergthold

How do you get two piccolo players to play in perfect unison? (Answer: Shoot one.)

Unity can be difficult to achieve. Because unity often requires us to “give in” to another’s position, we will only submit when we truly honor the other person and expect that the end result will be worth our effort. Consider the difficulty of tuning two instruments – let alone an entire orchestra. Playing in and listening to middle school bands has taught me to understand that unity of pitch does not come naturally, but is only learned over time, and then only with help. How does this key learning take place?

Most musical groups tune everyone to one person. Whether this person has the right pitch is usually not questioned; the goal is unity. If the entire group plays sharp, at least they are together. Professional orchestras tune to the oboe, since it plays a consistent pitch. This works well unless you have an inconsistent or missing oboist. Then the task often defaults to the pianist or anyone who plays the best pitch. This “follow the best leader” process seems to work well enough for most organizations.

But today, technology has brought us the digital tuner! Science has eliminated one of the key purposes of the oboist and avoided the pain of coming to agreement with an on-site, but off-pitch, piano. However, the problem is still not totally solved. Musicians must still learn to match the perfect pitch presented. I personally like to believe that my own instrument was factory tuned and I can avoid this whole effort, but insisting that would only lead to the detriment of the music to follow.

The ideal must be to have players with perfect pitch – that internal sense and ability to play in tune no matter what. But players with this ability can be irritating and irritable; the former because their perfection points out our own imperfections and the latter because they have the ever-present burden of sensing all the off-pitch noises filling their imperfect world. And may two perfect-pitch players never disagree, for I am fearful that one may be compelled to shoot the other.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, the Apostle Paul definitely encourages us all to play in tune: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” As hard as it is to tune an orchestra, it is much more difficult to reach agreement within the walls of a church. Indeed, the very presence of Paul’s appeal points to a need at that time. So how do we accomplish this today?

We often take the “follow-the-leader” approach only to find out the leader is off-pitch. We may discover the “digital tuner” model, which brings us to realize that God provided His Word as the perfect guidance we need. However, this model still requires us to believe its truth to the degree that we are willing to make our will subservient to the stated will of our Father. Ideally, we would like to attain perfect pitch with the Father, and indeed, we do have this opportunity!

Jesus prayed for each believer in John 17:21 that, “…those who believe in me…would be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” Can this really be possible? Please remember who is praying! God provided the material answer to His Son’s prayer by placing within each believer the Holy Spirit to interpret and assist us in finding the right pitch. The very first note that affirms His presence in us is a humility that produces an honor for and obedience to His Word. The ideal church is one in which all members are not only listening to the Holy Spirit but adjusting their minds and actions to conform to His Word. The Bible provides much more meat to this direction, and Peter provides a great start in 1 Peter 3:8: “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” Are you in tune?

For the TRBC Orchestra on Aug 27, 2008

Two great quotes

I came across two quotes I wanted to share with you. There is no apparent connection except that we, humans, when we are living according to the flesh (even religious flesh), do not represent who God is. It is an amazing and convicting statement that Paul gave us in Romans 14:23b, "For Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (ESV). ~Jon

"Our anger at political shifts in our culture has robbed us of the fundamental compassion of Christianity, compassion for all the lost. We have become selectively interested in lost souls. If they are of 'our kind,' then let's win them. If they are from the other side of the political spectrum, then it's judgment that they deserve. When is the last time we heard people praying for the lost soul of the doctor who runs that abortion clinic or the executive director of the local gay rights alliance? How many of our churches have ministries to AIDS victims seeking to effect a last-minute rescue of a life for eternal gain? Given our political frenzy, it seems that the church today is much more interested in 'search and destroy' than 'seek and save.' We are prone to be too long on mad and too short on mercy." - Joseph M. Stowell, Shepherding The Church, pg 59-60


"In the Twin Cities Marathon a few weeks ago one of the wheel chair participants had a blowout near the end of the race. But he kept going on the rim of his wheel, until five blocks from the finish line the wheel buckled and the chair fell over. Some people from the sidelines ran to him and held the chair level, running along beside him while he finished the race. They sustained him. They held him up. They enabled him to do what he needed to do. That's what grace does for us.

But the comparison is not exact. In fact it is very misleading. Because while the friends holding up the chair is a good picture of grace, it was the man's tremendous upper-body strength that got him across the finish line after 26 miles, and his friends had nothing to do with that. That strength came from him not them. But grace is not like that. Grace sustains everything in the Christian life. It holds up the broken chair. It gives the upper-body strength. It prevents other obstacles. It keeps his heart beating. It keeps his eyes seeing. Grace sustains everything in the Christian life." - John Piper, Sustained By All His Grace (sermon), http://www.desiringgod.org/

Strength for today

Here's a great Piper quote for today. ~Jon

"Often we feel today like our reservoir of strength is not going to last for another day. The fact is, it won't. Today's resources are for today, and part of those resources is the confidence that new resources will be given tomorrow."—John Piper, A Godward Life, p. 25.

Keys To Lasting Change

I read an article this morning in Billy Graham's Decision Magazine that intrigued me. It's called "Keys To Lasting Change" by Chip Ingram. It is an article written to help individuals who know God and love God, but have not been able to gain ground in overcoming sinful patterns in their lives. It is a great article and very helpful for individuals. But as I read, I realized that it is not only applicable to individuals, but churches, too. I think many local churches realize that they are not fulfilling God's design for them, just like many believers know this about their personal lives. The thing that hit me here is that it is not a quick fix, but a process that God leads us through. Be encouraged that the Holy Spirit will lead us into Christlike obedience and that obedience will be accompanied by the power necessary to accomplish all that God has planned for us. Hallelujah!

Praying for healing in Christ's Church,
~Jon

Here's the article link:
http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=973

Romans 12

Romans 12 (The Message)

Place Your Life Before God

1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11-13 Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

To Obey

Tonight, I think I ignored God's voice.

On my way home from choir rehearsal, I had to wait at a stop light for two fire engines, an ambulance, and a few seconds later, two police cars to pass. They turned toward my house and I was wondering where they were headed. I very quickly knew. As I topped a hill, still a couple of miles from home, I saw the fire engines blocking the right lane of traffic and the access to a side street. Driving by, I saw the emergency workers all hovered around a person on the pavement. There was a car stopped in the middle of the intersection and a bicycle laying a little bit to the side. My assumption is that the car hit the bike. I immediately thanked the Lord that He kept me from being in the accident and began to pray for those involved. I turned toward home and as I prayed for the situation began to wonder if I should go back to the scene and attempt to minister in some way. It was late. I was tired. Suzanne and the boys were already at home getting ready for bed. I did the whole mental argument thing all the way home. "God, surely You don't want me to go back there...What could I do?...They probably wouldn't let me talk to anyone anyway...God, you know I need to get home..." and it just went on and on in my head. I think, deep down I knew God was speaking, but I just didn't obey. Why? Honestly, it just didn't make sense. It really felt a little crazy.

I don't know for sure what God wanted me to do at that accident scene tonight. But I know I want to obey Him next time. At choir tonight, I spoke about hearing and obeying The Good Shepherd's voice (John 10) and on the way home, I heard and disobeyed that very voice.

Lord, forgive my trusting my reason more than Your voice. Give me a sensitive heart to hear You and a willing heart to fully obey You. In Jesus Name, Amen.

~Jon

Love

I came across a great definition of love in a book called, "Family Driven Faith," by Voddie Baucham.

"Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object." (pg 57)

I love this definition because it flies in the face of the idea that we fall in and out of love, or that we can just choose to love and feel nothing, or that we can feel love and not act. Jesus said that the world would know that we follow Him because of our love. (John 13:35) When you use Voddie's definition for love, here, you realize how radical Jesus' command is and how we have not fulfilled this well in our day. The church tends to get off on so many tangents, but continually misses the point.

Mark Dever addresses this in his book, Twelve Challenges Churches Face, as well.

"As a church, we want to pray to have a culture of humble, self-giving, encouraging love. We want to have leaders who are pronounced in laying aside selfish considerations for the good of others. We want to follow Paul's example in inconveniencing ourselves to make the gospel known to others. We want to go to places we otherwise wouldn't go. We want to learn things we wouldn't learn, and meet people we otherwise might not meet. This is why we do small-group Bible studies with people, and get to know folks at restaurants, and strike up conversations on airplanes, and have talks at Starbucks.

Sunday mornings are not particularly the time to be seeker sensitive. Sundays are the time to gather as a family, a body, though visitors are certainly welcome. But our lives should be seeker sensitive, not wanting to give unnecessary offense, desiring to be winsome in our lives and witness and testimony....Brothers and sisters, arrange your life to share the gospel, and enjoy the freedom that comes to you as you watch others being freed from the penalty of their sins and reconciled to God." (pg 91-92)

As I read this, my prayer is let us BE the Church, not just DO church.

~Jon