Presbyterian Devotions: Latest Trends

Acts 17:21       All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.

One major issue that has always faced the Church is how to successfully present a First Century message in whatever century that is current. For example, the initial Christian scriptures were not written in Galilean Hebrew or Roman Latin, they were composed in common mercantile Greek, which practically every Mediterranean community spoke. Throughout the next couple of centuries, the church took on the structure and bureaucracy of the Roman Empire to institutionalize its message and ministries.

Later on, during the Dark Ages, churches specialized in reading and writing in order to maintain civilization. Stories of local people were Christianized and pagan festivals were churchified,  in order to make the Gospel message relevant. As the Church grew, artisans and masons were employed to design and build magnificent cathedrals with stained glass windows, which were used as holy cartoons to tell Biblical stories to the masses of illiterate people.

When the printing press was invented, Christianity underwent the Reformation producing thousands of pamphlets, leaflets, hymn books and bibles to spread its message and educate the people. And in the time of the industrial revolution and colonial expansion, the Church became an advocate of social justice and mission with a message for all classes of people, all over the world.

Today, we have the internet and once again the church is faced with a glorious opportunity of presenting the Gospel message using the latest technology and communication tools. Email, websites, blogs, podcasts, videocasts, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and Apps are all being employed by many churches to market their congregation and get Christ’s Good News out to the world. We live in remarkable times and instead of rejecting the latest trends, we should be finding ways to embrace and Christianize them. More than a decade ago, the Church began the Emergent movement which was an offshoot of contemporary communicative culture. Now we’re beyond emergent and heading into a time that’s called Resurgent Church, where the message of old is being broadcast, spread, and experienced in 21^st century ways.

I’m excited about the future of the Church and totally hopeful of what lies ahead, so long as we remain faithful to the original message and don’t let the culture change Christ’s teaching. The ways in which we express and share the Gospel may constantly change, but as Jesus Himself once said, “Heaven and Earth may pass away, but My Word will remain forever.” (Matthew 24 v35)

Prayer:            Lord Jesus, we live in truly remarkable times and we thank You for the many wonderful ways in which Your Gospel can be broadcast and shared to the entire world. Help us to use and employ these new ways to expand Your Kingdom, so that many others throughout this planet may know of God’s love. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Crossless Christians

Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

We live in a cross-less society, where people are not willing to carry their own burdens or endure any trouble. Even some Christians want their faith to be light, worry-free, and non-challenging to their life-style choices. It’s as if we’re saying to Christ and His first disciples, “that cross carrying stuff is old-fashioned. We want to emerge as new Christians, who are free to reject what we don’t like of the old ways and re-invent our faith. We want it all to be light and fluffy, likeable and popular. We don’t want to carry nasty crosses anymore.”

The trouble is this: when we do that, we’ve become a New Age religion and no longer cross-carrying Christians. We want our faith to be convenient instead of persistent. We want it to be experienced on our terms instead of Christ’s. Rather than place Christ at the center of all things, we want Him to be focused on us. We want Jesus to like us and love us, laugh with us and live with us, instead of confronting and challenging us, or converting and changing us.

Sometimes I wish that Jesus had never said things like ‘anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.’ I wish that He had uttered something like ‘disregard your crosses, have fun with Me, and you can be My friends.’ But He didn’t. Christ knew that life was hard and that in every generation Christians will be faced with two choices: to throw off their crosses and go their own way, or to wearily pick up their heavy burden and plod on, following Jesus all through life.

Having faith in Jesus is never going to be easy, but one day we will get to lay our crosses at His feet and enjoy His peace forever. But if we want it all now, we will never experience that everlasting joy and peace.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes we want to give up being Christians and just fall into line with the rest of the world. It would be a whole lot easier just to ignore Your words and to go our own way. Instead of feeling guilty, we would be unburdened and could live our lives free from any commitment, challenge, or change. But You have called us to carry our crosses, to endure the world’s dislike, and to experience the cost of faith. It isn’t an easy path to follow, but we pray that You will enable and empower us to keep on going, so that we may emerge as real Christians and not phony disciples. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s’ message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Wisdom and Understanding

Jeremiah 51:15 He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

These days, when we talk about a person of power, we usually mean someone who has strong leadership skills, popularity, and has amassed a fortune. They are usually hard working, focused people who have amassed wealth and credibility. Political leaders, company executives, and even very successful movie stars are usually thought be powerful people. The press, media, as well as society in general, listen to what they have to say and value their opinions. Because of their success, we are drawn to what they say and do.

Power in the Bible takes on some different characteristics. Instead of wealth and success, power emerges out of wisdom and understanding. Elderly people were accredited more standing and respect in Biblical communities because of the years of experiences that they had accrued. Their understanding of the times, the seasons, and the forces of nature were crucial to the well-being and sustenance of their people.

Sadly, we’ve lost some of that in our world today. Old people are set aside as being old-fashioned and out of touch. We’re more into what’s happening now and who’s doing what amongst our peers, instead of listening to the garnered wisdom and collective understanding of our seniors.

Even the church has foolishly disregarded what our senior folks have to say about faith. We’re more into ‘emergent’ and trendy ways of doing worship and being church. In our frantic effort to be relevant, we’ve unwisely ditched the best of our faith for the worst of our wants.

If we honestly seek to be powerful and make an impact in our communities, then we have to take time to give credence to the collective wisdom and understanding of those who have been faithful for decades, instead of constantly deferring to those whose faith is just beginning. Change for changes sake leads to chaos and division, and we end up being influenced by the world. Choices made through wisdom and understanding, give us the power to be influential and make a real impact for Christ.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank You for the seniors in our faith communities whose wisdom and understanding have helped to sustain our faith. Help us to be more open to their ways that have kept them loyal to You for decades. Teach us through what they have learned about the world and the church. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.