Mark

Gaining Momentum

July 19, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

For too long the Western church has rested on its laurels and has become fat and lazy. I am not speaking to those too few exceptions to the rule. I am speaking to the vast majority of American Christians who are content to go to church on Sunday and live the rest of their lives in pursuit of the American dream. We have bought into the lie that material success is proof of God’s blessing on our lives.

Bicycling down hill

God never promised wealth to those who loved Him. This teaching goes beyond the so-called “health and wealth” theology, and has in fact become embedded in the church at large.

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Visiting Those in Prison

May 1, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

All around the world, there are people who have been imprisoned for no other reason than the fact they placed their faith in Jesus Christ. While it can be hard to fathom for us in the West, it remains a certain and dangerous reality for millions of our brothers and sisters. Their faith and courage are inspiring to me, and I wonder if I would have the same resolve if faced with similar circumstances.

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I am very thankful that I live in a country that, to this point in my life, has allowed me to follow Christ without risk of imprisonment or torture. Still, we must remember those who daily endure hardships and persecution we can scarcely imagine.

An Army of Love

February 6, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

Every kingdom has an army, so I was thinking about what the army of the Kingdom of God would look like as we endeavor to bring that kingdom into reality here on earth. Certainly this army would not look like the traditional army. Jesus rebuked Peter when he lashed out with a sword to try and defend Him (John 18:10-11), so this would seem to dictate that superior firepower should not be a goal of our army. Christ taught that the meek would inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), so the tactic of aggression appears to be out as well. Similarly, we are taught that we should not “lord over others” (Mark 10:42-45), so domination and conquest are also out. What then, does the army of the Kingdom of God look like, and how is it that they will achieve victory?

One of the clues is found in the second half of the reference in Mark we looked at above (Mark 10:42-45). Here we find Jesus teaching that if we want to win, we have to lose in the eyes of the world, in the prevailing viewpoint of our society. He teaches that we must become the servant to those around us. Instead of conquering our enemies, we are instead to serve them. This is a counterintuitive battle strategy, but it should surprise no one accustomed to living in the upside down Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The King James Version of the Bible translates 1 Peter 2:9 to say we are called to be a peculiar people, and it doesn’t get much weirder than this. The way we prepare for battle as the army of the Kingdom is to voluntarily lay down our lives in order to serve the very ones who are warring against us. How peculiar indeed.

A typical army is financed and outfitted from the support of the nation through taxation. Supporting the army is not an option, it is rather the law. By contrast, financial support for the army of God is totally voluntary. Those engaging in battle rely on the generosity of their fellow soldiers to provide the means to furnish their supplies. In this way, we are more of a brotherhood than an army, a family that looks after one another. This is a good thing, because unlike the typical soldier who can count on the support of His family, God’s warriors are more often despised by their families for their participation in the war. Jesus told us that He came to bring division not only to the earth, but also within families (Luke 12:51-53), because not all would be willing to accept His mission. Without the support of our earthly families, we must rely on our spiritual brothers and sisters to encourage us on in the fight.

The one area where the army of God is very much like a traditional army is in the arena of battle. Make no mistake, there is a very real and very deadly war being waged in the spiritual realm, and you and I are in the thick of it. People are hurt, maimed and killed as a result of the wounds inflicted in the war in which we are engaged. Satan seriously wants to destroy you and Jesus has set in His heart to redeem you. This spiritual battle is often manifested in physical ways through oppression, possession and redemption. Do not make the mistake of believing that what happens in the spiritual realm does not affect your everyday life. You are being influenced by one side or the other in every moment, and it is up to you which way you will choose.

Though we may lack traditional firepower, we possess the greatest weapons of all: faith and love. The Bible tells us that faith can move mountains (Matthew 17:20) and can extinguish every attack of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16). Love is the ultimate weapon in that it can diffuse discord, counteract hate, and turn an enemy into an ally. Jesus said that the greatest expression of love was to lay your life down for another (John 15:13). As we seek to carry out the mission of Christ, we must daily be looking for opportunities to serve others to the point of giving our lives for them. We must invest ourselves authentically into everyone we meet. As we demonstrate the love of Christ to others, we win victory after victory for Christ. Every act of kindness and servitude brings His Kingdom on earth one step closer to fruition. Together our selfless acts of love combine to amass a movement of love that cannot be stopped. This is what the army of God looks like; this is how the war will be won. Not by acts of violence or through weapons of force. God will rule the day by beating back the darkness with His unstoppable light. As we join Him in the battle we will find victory through our acts of service and mercy. We are His army, an army of love.

God with Us

June 8, 2010 by Tim Sherfy

I just finished reading Greg Boyd’s latest book (“Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now“), and I cannot recommend it enough. The book deals with the spiritual discipline of “practicing the presence” of God. Essentially what this means is to keep God first and foremost in our thoughts at all times. I have read Brother Lawrence’s classic, “The Practice of the Presence of God”, and while I loved the concepts he spoke of, I was never able to personally apply them to my own life. Boyd’s work provides plenty of exercises to help you apply this discipline in your own life. I was slightly concerned that the exercises would be “hokey” or that I would feel silly engaging in them, but these fears proved to be unfounded. As I write this I am indeed learning to practice the presence of God in my own life.

Being consciously aware of God at all times is not easy, though the reasons why escape me. We devote our lives to Him, we forsake everything for Him, but we cannot keep our focus on Him? What are we missing, and how weak is our faith that we can’t regularly stay in His presence for an extended amount of time? It makes me sad to realize that had I been with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I too would have probably fallen asleep (Mark 14: 32-42). We have become self-absorbed and self-indulgent people. We give lip service to God, but turn immediately back to our own endeavors. We are distracted by the slightest interruption or diversion. It is frustrating to me how I can be absolutely devoted one minute and anything but the next.

Being mindful of God in every moment is both restricting and limiting. The restrictions, however, are both welcome and necessary. Being aware of God’s presence as you engage in conversation with someone else not only restricts the words you say, but also alters your attitude towards the one to whom you are speaking. Seeing that person as someone for whom Christ died, someone whom Jesus loves just as much as you, allows us to put aside our judgmentalism and see that person the way God sees them. People cease to be unwelcome distractions or uninvited interruptions; instead they become divine appointments. In case you were unaware, as representatives of God’s Kingdom, every encounter we have is, by definition, a divine appointment.

The choices we make and the thoughts we think are greatly impacted by being mindful of God’s presence. At last, I am truly learning how to take every thought captive. My initial, judgmental thoughts when seeing someone are immediately filtered as I bring to mind the fact the God is in our presence. When practicing the presence, being aware of God in your midst, you are able to stop a negative thought in midstream and redirect it to a God pleasing and affirming thought. Smiles come easier and stress becomes far less frequent or relevant. Temptations no longer seem so inviting. Imagining God in your midst (for indeed He is) makes it profoundly difficult to choose a sinful thought, word or deed. Once we become aware of God’s presence in our lives on a moment by moment basis, our thought patterns are radically altered. We no longer have the ability to slip into a sinful behavior; instead we must now purposefully choose the sinful path. Once we have slowed down the decision making process to a conscious choice, it becomes amazingly simple to reject sin and choose Christ. This is incredibly freeing and the true beauty of practicing the presence. Not only will our lives look more like Jesus, but we will be filled with the purity of walking in His light.

If you let it, this spiritual discipline will radically rock your life. You will find freedom from patterns and behaviors you had long given up on defeating. We have lost sight of the fact that one of the names given to Jesus was “Immanuel”, literally, “God with us”. By practicing the presence we are able to rediscover the truth that God is indeed with us in every moment of our lives. I encourage all of you to purchase a copy of this book. You can do so by clicking here or going to your favorite bookstore. Once you’ve read the book, I encourage you to come back and leave a comment about how it impacted you, and how you’re doing on “practicing the presence” in your own life. Remember God is with you no matter where you are, or what you’re doing. We need only be awakened to the reality of His presence.

Which Parts of the Bible Do You Ignore?

April 4, 2010 by Tim Sherfy

In my reading this week I was challenged by a question that, on its face, seemed ludicrous. Yet I could neither ignore it nor get it out of my head. The question was, “Which parts of the Bible are you choosing to ignore?” It was preposterous in both its implication that I would even think of picking and choosing parts of the Bible to ignore, and also by the insinuation that I indeed was ignoring parts of the Bible. I have been diligently striving to follow in the way of Jesus Christ, to do the things that He would do. That involves not allowing any compromise along the way. So how could I possibly be ignoring parts of the Bible, much less by conscious choice? This story, however, does not have a happy ending. Prayer and introspection revealed that indeed I have been ignoring parts of the Bible. In fact, I have been ignoring multiple parts of Scripture. This realization has been both sobering and challenging. Allow me to share a couple of areas I have been choosing to ignore.

The second greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-31). I do my best to show kindness to my neighbors. I always smile and wave whenever I see them outside. In the winter I even clear their driveways and sidewalks with my snow blower. Therefore, I must be demonstrating love to my neighbor. So apparently I can check this box with an affirmative. Or can I? I am ashamed to admit, I’ve never invited one of my current neighbors over for dinner; I’ve never stopped over just to see if I can help in any way. I’m a great neighbor as long as we happen to be outside at the same time. Otherwise it takes a little work, and apparently that’s been a bit too much for me. For those who are way ahead of me at this point and are still content that they can easily check off the “love my neighbor as myself” box, let me ask you a question. Have you, like a great number of Americans, purchased one of the new, large, flat screen televisions in the past couple of years? If you answered yes to that question, did you purchase one for your neighbor as well? If not, why not? Do you not love your neighbor at least as much as you love yourself? In the interest of full disclosure, I picked the flat screen television example because I don’t have one. I figured that was fair since I took my lumps in the first half of this paragraph. How about groceries? When you purchase food each week, do you purchase a bag for your neighbor as well? I hope you see my point.

Most of us do just enough to make us believe we are doing what Jesus commanded us to do. But when we look a little deeper, if we’re honest with ourselves, we will be forced to admit that we are indeed ignoring parts of the Bible. We ignore that which makes us uncomfortable or requires too great a sacrifice. We give money to those in need, but will we sell all we have and then turn around and give all the proceeds to the poor (Luke 18:18-22)? We’ll volunteer at the soup kitchen, but will we take a stranger in to live with us (Matthew 25:35)? We are ignoring the parts of the Bible that most reflect the mission of Jesus. How dare we call ourselves disciples? We are at best a weak and hypocritical people. The Church is supposed to be the unified body, the very hands and feet, of Jesus. We are to be ushering in His Kingdom by doing the things He commanded us to do while we are still on this earth. We are only half committed; we speak the language but we fail in the execution of the plan.

We must all repent of the parts of the Bible we have ignored out of our selfish sense of comfort. If we would indeed be a follower of Christ, we must look again at what He expects of us. We must look again at the way He lived and the things He did. We must repent of the words He spoke that we have ignored. It is time to rise up as the body of Christ and leave behind the half-hearted effort most of us have given to this point; it is time to work in unison to accomplish the mission of Jesus. As you prayerfully consider the way in which you will live for Him, give fresh consideration to the parts of the Bible you have been choosing to ignore.