Hillside Foursquare Church

FLIPPED: The heart of the matter

One of the many challenging declarations Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount comes from Matthew 5:43-48. It’s the passage where He tells His disciples & the crowds, “You’ve heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor & hate your enemy. But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies, & pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven.”

Love your enemies? Pray for people who persecute you? How?

Something that has helped me to understand & try to live this out was discovering the Greek word for love that Jesus used in this passage was “agape” – roughly translated, it would be “to welcome, to love dearly, & unconditionally.” Doesn’t necessarily make it easier to DO, but it sure gives a picture of what it looks like: extending love & care to all people, without strings.

When we do this, we exhibit a primary Christ-like trait that comes from being in the family of God. Loving like this reflects God’s own love, & points to Him as our own source of love & life. 

Plus, like Jesus said, if we only love our friends, people that love us &/or those that are lovable, how Godly is that? Even people who don’t know God & don’t have a clue about His ways do that. (Matthew 5:46,47). 

This command wasn’t just talk for Jesus either – He lived it out His whole life, culminating on the cross when He looked at the crowds around Him, yelling, cursing, & spitting at Him. Calling Him names. Blaspheming His Father. And Jesus’ response to this hatred & persecution, as He hung dying on the cross? A prayer: “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

That is loving your enemies, Jesus-style.

 

Blessings, grace, & peace to you

FLIPPED #4 - The Heart of the Matter

When I was younger, I equated much of Christianity & my relationship with God to “the Rules:” things I was supposed to do, & things I was NOT supposed to do. If I followed “the Rules,” I was doing good with God, & if I didn’t, well, I was doing bad.  Over time, I got pretty good at keeping “the Rules” & if I would admit it, I was pretty proud of myself. Why? I’m glad you asked.
 
Because I was good at keeping the Rules I measured myself against other peoples’ abilities at Rule keeping… & , to me, it seemed like most people weren’t as good at me at keeping the Rules. Which made me a ‘better’ Christian. Just about every aspect of my life reflected the fact that I was religious. Went to church & youth group (rarely missed.) I was known for my good behavior.
 
Except I was mean to people. Judgmental. Arrogant. Unfriendly. I could go on…
 
My life didn’t reflect Christlikeness – the “God-family traits” that show up in His kids were glaringly absent from most of my interpersonal interactions. I was well on my way to becoming a Pharisee: great at keeping ‘the Rules” while at the same time completely missing the heart of the matter.
 
The point of following Christ is to become LIKE Christ in how we think, how we act, & how we interact with each other & the rest of the world. It means digging deep into Scripture to allow it to be planted deep in our hearts so that the Holy Spirit can work to apply it & transform our hearts & minds from being selfish, self-focused, self-righteous people to being people who reflect Christ’s love, mercy, compassion, & justice.

FLIPPED #3 - A City On A Hill

Several times in the Gospels, Jesus declared Himself to be the light of the world… He usually made this declaration as He was interacting with the Pharisees/other religious leaders, or to the curious crowds that followed Him around, wondering what He was going to do next.
 
But to His disciples, those pledged to follow Him, learn, & become like Him, He said the following:  YOU are the light of the world – a city set on a hill cannot be hidden…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works & give glory to your Father who is in heaven…
 
With those words, Christ declared one of the core identifiers that would mark His followers – we are LIGHT in a dark world. Meaning, we’re here on earth, created in His image, to do good in His Name. As a result, people notice, & give glory to God our Father.
 
When we first came to Reno, these verses were at the forefront of what we believed our mission (& the mission of our church) was supposed to be. These verses are the inspiration of the name of our church, Hillside.
 
Our church community is dedicated to being LIGHT, & to living as a city on a hill overlooking Reno/Sparks, doing what Jesus would be doing if He were walking in our shoes every day.
 
Let's let our lights shine today. 

FLIPPED #2 - Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount

You know those spiritual gift ‘tests’ that you can take to find out what gifts you ‘have’ & what gifts of the Holy Spirit you are exempt from displaying? (Here’s an example of one: http://bit.ly/1xDYRBo ). Well, I used to love taking those tests & discovering at the end that I had ‘scored’ high in certain areas like discernment, teaching, & pastor … & that I had scored ‘low’ (read: not on the charts at all) in mercy. Because, hey, I’m a firstborn & I am a ‘consequences’ person. You get what you put in, & don’t expect me to make it easier on you. Mercy was for the Mother Teresa’s of the world – I was more concerned with ‘justice.’ As long as it didn’t apply to me. When it came to me, I wanted mercy. For others? Justice. As I saw justice appropriately meted out.

Looking back, I feel silly because I was almost SMUG about my results being low in mercy… as though mercy was something that weak people displayed, while people like me (The Firstborn Justice Mafia) served to keep life in balance & compensate for the Mercy People.

One day, I was reading through Matthew 5, & the verse at the top of the page hit me in the heart like a ton of bricks.

The merciful receive a blessing, & receive mercy from God.

Because God is merciful. And He wants mercy above good works. (Matthew 9:13)

And my petty, fleshy-human nature is exposed for what it is. Self-serving. Egotistical. Proud.

I am cut to the heart – I do a word study in Scripture on mercy. Bad idea, if I want to keep my worldview as is. God is merciful. Compassionate. Slow to anger. Rich in love. And His people have His tendencies. And I have not embraced mercy. And I’ve used stupid tests to validate my own twisted sense of justice. And I am unmade.

Mercy extended. Brings mercy to me. Lord, help my unbelief. Transform this heart.

FLIPPED #1 - Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount

God’s people awaited their Messiah (the Anointed One) for thousands of years. Prophecies declared that He would be of the Israelite tribe of Judah, a direct descendent of King David the giant-killer. Among His titles would be King of kings & Lord of lords, the Sun of Righteousness, Wonderful, Counselor, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The Old/First Testament prophets declared that the government would “rest upon His shoulders.”
 
Its no wonder that Israel was looking for a conquering king who would come with great military & political might to overthrow the Roman Empire & take His rightful spot on the throne in Jerusalem.  Except…  When Jesus arrived on the scene, it was with great humility. He was (seemingly) a nobody from a nowhere town. He wasn’t interested in challenging Rome or seeking power or personal glory. The Jewish religious leaders didn’t know what to make of Him… but crowds of people swarmed after Him to hear Him speaking with great authority, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven, healing the sick, & bringing deliverance to the oppressed. Jesus & His message flew in the face of everything that the people of the world expected from a king…
 
This Sunday, we’re starting a series called “FLIPPED: Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount.” We’ll be exploring Christ’s messages in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7, & we’ll be looking at how the message of the good news is flipped  in comparison to the prevailing culture, values, & pursuits of our world, & also how we can actively & intentionally be disciples (fully devoted followers) of Christ.

Psalms of Lament... for when life hurts.

We’ve heard it said, “God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.”
 
Is He?
 
What about when our life experiences collide with our faith in a way that is seemingly contradictory to that declaration?
 
Disappointment. Disaster. Loss. Pain. Rejection. Suffering. Death.
 
What happens then? How do we process through those things, when it seems our faith in God & belief in Him is confronted with the tough stuff?
 
For thousands of years, God’s people have been using the book of Psalms as a ‘songbook’ for life – meaning, they actually sang & declared the Psalms in both obedience to God, and as a way of working through life circumstances beyond their understanding.
 
The book of Psalms in the Bible is made up of 150 chapters written by King David, Solomon, a poet named Asaph, & a musical group called, “The Sons of Korah.” In bible days, Psalms was a was 5 songbooks included in one volume. Here are some examples of the themes of the Psalms:

• Psalms of Thanksgiving – acknowledging God’s character, goodness, & provision
• Psalms of Lament – 68 Psalms dedicated to crying out to God in times of great suffering, loss, abandonment & death
• Psalms of Ascent 120-134 (to be sung as Jewish pilgrims returned to Jerusalem during the 3 main annual feasts)
• Psalms for public worship (tied to specific festivals & celebrations)
• Psalms for celebrating wisdom/God’s law

 
The Psalms of Lament provided an avenue for processing through “life’s DOWNs” – the language in them is often negative, questioning God, wondering where He is & why He’s (seemingly) not acting on the behalf of His people.
 
Personally, I have found that praying the Psalms has been very helpful to me in working through life’s junk –  & they have been a springboard to prayer: real, honest, yelling at the heavens prayer. And the great thing is, God can take anything we dish out - & still be RIGHT there with us, supporting, sustaining, & carrying us through the “valley of the shadow of death” to the other side. 

Entering God's Rest(oration): SABBATH REST

It’s easy for us to get caught up in the 24/7 “busyness routine” that is the ‘normal’ for the world we live in, where our schedules are jam-packed, & where our identities are defined by DOING (our work, education, activities, recreation, etc.) … And even when we’re not actively busy, our version of ‘rest’ is done at a hectic pace.

As I’ve been studying for our “Entering God’s Rest” series, I keep going back to the first time “REST” is mentioned in the Bible. It’s in Genesis 2:1-3, & it happens right after God has finished with the creation of the earth & everything living in it. It says:

The heavens & the earth were finished, & all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, & He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day & made it holy…

Makes me wonder: WHY did God rest?

I don’t think that it was because He was tired… rather, I believe God intentionally included REST as a part  of the creation process because of His desire to establish REST as an integral part of the rhythm of life. Later, in the Ten Commandments, God declared that His people would celebrate the Sabbath, a.k.a. “holy time,” as a reminder of what He did & of our need for ceasing from our labors (see Exodus 20:8-11).

Today we’re going to explore Sabbath Rest & learn more of the WHY’s & HOW’s of entering the rest that God intends for His people.

Blessings, grace, peace & REST to you - 

Entering God's Rest(oration): COME TO ME

As you read through the Gospels, you’ll see that Jesus’ interactions with others are very interesting. His dealings with those of bad reputation (sinners & tax-collectors) wasn’t focused on His pointing out their failures or centered on the things they needed to do to become acceptable to Him & God. Rather, the message He communicated was repentance (turning from sin & a wrong way of thinking, & turning to God & His way of thinking.) And rather than wait for them to get their act together, He emphasized relationship, living out the fact that He truly is Immanu’El, God with us, by entering their homes, eating meals, & spending time with them.  It would be really difficult (& wrong) to portray Jesus (& God the Father) as cold & distant, only concerned with whether people were carefully keeping the list of “don’t do’s.”
 
Contrast that with Christ’s interactions with the religious leaders (Pharisees) & the teachers of the law (those who helped explain Torah to people.) His harshest rebukes were aimed at these 2 groups, precisely because, instead of accurately portraying God’s heart for people & His mercy & grace, they made it tremendously MORE difficult for people to come to God, leaving them weighed down with countless rules & regulations (Check out Luke 11:37-53 for one example.)

Jesus’ heart for people is illustrated in this invitation: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary & carry heavy burdens, & I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble & gentle at heart, & you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, & the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NLT)
 
Coming to Christ isn’t a burden – it’s the LIFTING of our burdens. Coming to Him, & walking with Him brings rest to the deepest part of our hearts & souls, & allows us to live in freedom & to be becoming the very best version of ourselves.
 
My hope for this week is that we will continue to discover the rest that comes from being with Jesus, & the soul-filling joy that comes from living our lives with Him.
 

Grace, peace, & God’s blessings to you today -

Entering God's Rest(oration): EXPECTATION

Turning 13 for a Hebrew boy was a big deal – it was the official recognition that the boy was now a man – they even had a special ceremony to commemorate it: the Bar-Mitzvah, which means, “the son of the commandments”. (Girls had a similar ceremony at age 12 - the Bat-Mitzvah, which means, "the daughter of the commandments.") This reminds me of passage in Ephesians 4 where Paul shares the expectation that every Christ-follower is to GROW from spiritual infancy (beginning our relationship with God) to full spiritual maturity using the life of Jesus Christ as our example & our aim for our own lives. (See Ephesians 4:11-16)

Jesus came in the flesh & grew from a baby to maturity, both physical & spiritual. He did this not by playing the proverbial “God Card,” but in the same way we are challenged to do it:  through meditating on & obeying God’s Word; through putting it into practice; & through developing endurance as a result of it.  (NOTE: the Greek word used for maturity is usually translated “perfect” or “perfection” in English;  using the Biblical context as our source, it would be better understood to say “to come to full maturity/completion”).
 
The expectation is that each Christ-follower will do the same – come to know Christ as Savior & Lord, grow in wisdom, understanding, & Christ-likeness, & develop to full-maturity. Like Christ.
 
In Hebrews 5, the writers correct their readers – confronting them, in love, because, though they should be growing toward maturity in Christ, instead they were still living as babies, surviving on milk alone, not solid food, frozen in an unchanging state of development. The writers encourage, challenge, & communicate their expectation that they will GROW – starting with the basics, & then moving toward adding to their application of God’s Word & their depth of relationship with Him.
 
I feel challenged by this – to ask the Holy Spirit to point out where I’ve gotten stuck in my development, where I’m functioning in veritable spiritual infancy - & to lead me towards the goal: being like Christ in every way.

NOTE: Lisa Rivera tells her story at approx. Minute 32:45 of this podcast.

Entering God's Rest(oration)

Today's passage explores Hebrews 3 & 4.