The Real Story of Christmas

Black Friday is generally the biggest one-day shopping day of the year, and the “beginning” of the Christmas shopping season. With the rise of online shopping has come the advent (excuse the pun) of Cyber-Monday, which offers a whole new way to get great shopping deals leading up to Christmas. By all accounts, both Black Friday and Cyber-Monday were outstanding successes this year.

It is not just about Christmas shopping, though. This year I saw news pieces about people finding great shopping deals to buy for themselves. It seems that the season is not just about giving. It is about getting the best deal that you can on something you want.

While America is shopping, the world, it seems, is sinking into deeper and deeper trouble. Our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is currently in Myanmar (Burma), one of the world’s greatest abusers of human rights and a country suspected of cooperating with North Korea on ballistic missiles. In addition, world-wide economic woes continue, with general concern around the world about the impending collapse of economies in Europe.

While pondering these national and international issues and with Christmas approaching, I have been pondering two passages of Scripture that ought to give us hope. It seems that Jesus came into a world where personal selfishness and international turmoil reign. Behind it all is the ongoing battle between good and evil. In the midst of that battle, Jesus brings us hope and ultimate victory.

Micah 5:1-4 predicted the birth of a new ruler would take place in Bethlehem at a time when a siege was laid against Israel that would strike their ruler with a rod. Although Bethlehem was an insignificant place in Israel, this coming ruler was tied to the nation’s heritage — his “origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Micah prophesied that “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God” and “his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.” The baby born in Bethlehem would bring stability to a world of selfishness and turmoil.

The great victory that Christ’s birth brings into the world is underscored in Revelation 12 when the scenes from the birth of Jesus that we read about in the Gospels are set in cosmic terms. One commentator says that the Gospels tells us the story of Jesus’ birth from an earthly viewpoint, while Revelation 12 tells us the story of Jesus’ birth from a heavenly viewpoint.

In Revelation 12 the story pictures “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head” who cries out as she is about to give birth. Then an enormous dragon attacks with the purpose of devouring her child as soon as he is born. The child is protected, resulting in a war breaking out in heaven. But the dragon is defeated, and a loud voice from heaven announces the salvation and power and the Kingdom of God that have come as a result.

Both Micah and Revelation show us the great battle we are engaged in that is, in part, a product of the selfishness and turmoil of our world. In the midst of the battle a child is born. He is born in the humblest of circumstances, but he is the greatest child, the greatest king of all who will yet rescue the world for God. That is the story of Bethlehem.

Fred Craddock – A “Preaching Genius”

One of the preachers who has influenced my own preaching through his sermons and books is Fred Craddock. He is a master storyteller-preacher who has taught and influenced dozens of preachers. This week CNN’s Belief Blog has an excellent profile of Craddock, who is now 83, that discusses his preaching as well as his personal journey of faith. You can find the profile here. I highly recommend reading it.

International Day of Prayer For the Persecuted Church

November 13, is The International Day of Prayer For the Persecuted Church. While our constitution establishes religious freedom in the United States, there is growing evidence of that right being seriously eroded. Yet, such freedom does not exist at all in many countries of the world. In many of those countries, Christians face persecution resulting in imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom.

On November 6, my sermon theme will be “Hazardous” as we examine Acts 5, one of the times in the book of Acts when the early church faced persecution. From those early days until now, living for Christ has always been hazardous. Today, however, persecution has risen around the world to new levels. So we need to be aware of the plight of many of our brothers and sisters in other nations and pray for them.

Certainly we can expect persecution to come to those who follow Christ. Jesus told us that “Everyone will hate you because of me” (Luke 21:17). In John 15:18 & 20, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” and “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” In Acts 14:22, Paul would say, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

Sunday our bulletin will include an insert with stories of people who are experiencing these very things today:

• Gao Zhisheng is a Christian and prominent human rights attorney in China who was seized from his home in 2009 and imprisoned without a trial.
• Asia Bibi, a mother of five in Pakistan, was accused of blaspheming Muhammad and sentenced to death.
• Youcef Nadarkhani was arrested in Iran for opposing the practice of forcing Christians to read the Quran in school and has been held in solitary confinement.
• Puih H’bat was arrested in her home in Vietnam while leading a group of Christians in prayer.

These are the conditions many Christians around the world face. So we must pray for them.

You can learn more by visiting the web site of Voice of the Martyrs: www.persecution.com.

Jesus’ Claim On Your Life

In a Thursday morning Bible study that I have been teaching since June, we are currently studying the Gospel of John. Among the unique things about John’s Gospel are the claims that Jesus makes about himself. Among the four Gospels, we read these claims only in John. He did not so much write a narrative of Jesus’ life as he wrote a reflection on who Jesus is.

Consider, for instance, the uniqueness of Jesus’ “I am” statements that John presents:

• “I am the bread of life” — John 6:35.
• “I am the light of the world” — John 8:12.
• “I am the good shepherd” — John 10:11.
• “I am the resurrection and the life” — John 11:25.
• “I am the way and the truth and the life — John 14:6.
• “I am the true vine” — John 15:1.

Those are just the most familiar of the claims that Jesus makes. Each of them is filled with meaning, but let’s examine just one for a moment: Jesus’ claim to be “the light of the world.”

When Jesus makes that claim, he continues by saying, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Then he demonstrates what he means by the claim through the continuing dialog and events of the text.

• When the Pharisees challenged the validity of the claim, he went on to claim, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” — John 8:19.
• He then claimed that he is going away — referring, of course, to heaven — and said, “Where I go, you cannot come” — John 8:21. We cannot go there, he said, because “You are of this world; I am not of this world” — John 8:23. We can only go where he is when he takes us there because we put our faith in him.
• When we hold to his teaching, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” — John 8:31-32.
• Finally, when the Jewish leaders claimed Abraham as their father, Jesus made the remarkable claim, “Before Abraham was born, I am” — John 8:58.

These claims only scratch the surface of Jesus’ claim to be “the light of the world.” Jesus then demonstrated the effect this claim can have on us by healing a blind man in John 9. The man who is healed saw Jesus far better than the leaders of the Jews who were teaching the people about God, but they did not know God.

When this man who was blind believed in Jesus, Jesus made a claim on his life, and he makes a claim on our lives. We need to believe Jesus’ claims, and then we need to let him claim our lives as we walk with him, trust him, and learn from him to know the Father.

IS YOUR CHURCH INNUMERABLE?

There are some things that are innumerable – too numerous to count: grains of sand on the seashore, stars in the sky, and drops of water in the ocean. On a recent drive through Rocky Mountain National Park while in Colorado, I added another one to the list: rocks in the Rocky Mountains. Some actions are innumerable: the tears a mother will shed for her children, and the times a four-year-old will ask “Why…?”

The population of the world is innumerable today. World population remained steady at about one billion people from the time of Christ until about 1600. Then it began to increase until it reached about two billion people during the last century. During the lifetime of most of you who are reading this, world population has grown from two billion to nearly seven billion. That is innumerable (This analysis can be found in Unleashed by Dudley Rutherford, et al from Standard Publishing in the chapter “Innumerable.”). As of July 1, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the world’s population to be 6.96 billion.

In the book of Acts, the growth of the number of Jesus’ followers could be described as innumerable:

• Acts 1:15 begins with 120 followers of Jesus before Pentecost.
• In Acts 2:41, the number multiplied to more than 3,000.
• In Acts 2:47, the Lord was adding to their number daily.
• Acts 4:4 records that about 5,000 men were now Christians.
• Acts 5:14 tells us that “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”
• Acts 6:1 says that “the number of disciples was increasing.”
• Acts 9:31 records this about the church: “Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”

By AD 350 there were thirty-one million Christians, more than half the population of the Roman Empire! The church was growing so rapidly that it became virtually impossible to count. Today there are some two billion Christians in the world.

I review those numbers for you in order to ask a question: How does the church once again become innumerable? How does your church become innumerable?

I realize that the number of people in most churches can be counted. As Christians, however, we are part of the world-wide church, so every church should be seeking out as many lost people as they can, so that together we become innumerable. Here are three emphases that I find in Acts that together enable the church to reach innumerable people.

(1) Emphasize the centrality of Christ. If you read through the messages preached by Peter and others that are recorded in Acts, you will find that every one emphasizes Christ above all else. Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 sets the stage by telling us that Jesus’ miracles prove that he is from God, that he was crucified and rose again, as foretold by the prophets and witnessed by the apostles, that he was exalted to the right hand of God, and that he poured out his Spirit on those who witnessed his resurrection. Messages recorded in each of Acts chapters 3, 4, and 5 all repeat that emphasis on Christ. Christ must be emphasized above all by the church.

(2) Emphasize the need for salvation. When Peter concluded his message in Acts 2, he was asked, “What shall we do?” He responded, “Repent and be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ” and you will receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. This emphasis on salvation continued throughout the messages in Acts, with Peter even announcing in Acts 4:12 that “salvation is found in no one else” except Jesus. This is not just the message of the church. It is the message of every individual Christian. Most people come to Christ because a friend or family member has reached out to them in the name of Christ. Make this the emphasis of your life and your church.

(3) Emphasize the practice of love. In the snapshots in the book of Acts into the life of the early church, we have various pictures of the church loving and caring for each other and for those in the community around them. The church in fact became known in the world around them as a community of people who loved each other and those around them.

Your church can be innumerable. Begin to ask how you can build these three emphases into every aspect of your life and the church. Make your church not just about your church, but about the church around the world reaching innumerable people.

The Gospel–Available to All

Among the stories in the Book of Acts of people who chose to follow Jesus was an Ethiopian man whose story is told in Acts 8:26-39. We do not know his name. He is only known to us as an Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the Ethiopian queen’s treasury.

He had gone to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home when the Holy Spirit instructed Philip to go to the desert road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. This was the lesser of two roads that went from Jerusalem to Gaza. It was the least traveled road because it stayed out of the populated areas. As he did with Philip, sometimes God sends us to the most unexpected people in the most unexpected places to share the Gospel or to minister to people in Jesus’ name.

When Philip came upon this man on the road, the Spirit instructed him to approach the chariot. When Philip did so, he heard the man reading from Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament, and had the opportunity to explain Isaiah’s prophesy about Jesus to the eunuch and to baptize him.

The Ethiopian, although he was a worshiper of God, was not a Jew nor a Samaritan. He was from an important country as the Ethiopia of that day was a much larger region than today’s country of Ethiopia. At that time, Ethiopia was the whole region of the upper Nile River. As the first non-Judean or non-Samaritan to come to Christ that we know of, this man would become important in the expansion of the Gospel outside Judea. God was beginning to direct the church to take the Gospel to everyone, even the unexpected.

One of the early leaders of the Christian church movement in the U.S., demonstrated that kind of out-of-the-box thinking to lead others to Christ. Barton W. Stone preached for a small church at Cane Ridge in Northern Kentucky beginning in 1791. Stone had a conviction for diversity during a time of slavery, and led the Cane Ridge church in becoming an abolitionist church.

The Cane Ridge Meeting House, as it is still known, had a second level. In the early yeas of Stone’s ministry, the church still had some racial separation and black people had to sit in that second level. As a result of a great 1801 revival at Cane Ridge, many of the white men who were slave owners were convicted by the Holy Spirit and Barton Stones’ preaching to set their slaves free. A few years after that, there were black elders and leaders in the Cane Ridge church, and the entire separation between the races was gone. White and black people worshiped alongside each other on both levels of the church.

God used Barton Stone at Cane Ridge in much the same way that he used Philip in Acts 8 — to make the Gospel equally available to all who believe, regardless of skin color, nationality, position, or any of the other distinctions that we make between people. God is still in the business of using the Holy Spirit to unleash the church to turn the world upside down by reaching all people. Won’t you join him in that effort? Let the Spirit unleash you.

In July, I attended the North American Christian Convention (NACC). The NACC is an annual gathering of Christians (primarily from the movement of independent Christian churches/churches of Christ of which Westwood is a part) from all across North America and the world. It is a gathering for preaching, teaching, retooling for ministers and leaders, connecting with old and new friends, and challenging the church to live out its mission.

Christine and I both attended our first NACC in 1973, just a few months before we were married. Our daughter grew up going to the NACC, and still attends on occasion, especially when it meets in a location within driving distance of her home, as happened this summer and last summer. This summer it met in Cincinnati where she lives, so she attended several sessions with me.

The NACC has been a rich blessing to our family and to me personally. Each convention offers new blessings. This fall, I hope to bring some of the blessings from this year’s NACC to our congregation through a series of messages based on this year’s theme.

The theme this year was “Unleashed — The Church Turning the World Upside Down.” This theme was developed through a series of messages to the adult convention based on the book of Acts. The theme comes from the promise by Jesus in Acts 1 that his followers would have the Holy Spirit poured out on them — that the church would be immersed in the Holy Spirit. That promise was fulfilled in Acts 2. How does the church live when the Spirit is unleashed? Through these messages, we will find how we can emulate the powerful ministry of the church in the book of Acts. Here are the themes we will examine:

• We become a kaleidoscope that attracts the whole world to the church’s welcoming beauty and diversity (Acts 1:8; 10:1-48).
• We see innumerable souls won for the kingdom of God (Acts 2:41-47; 4:4).
• We see pandemonium ensue as others take notice of the excitement and commotion of God’s church working in their midst (Acts 4:13-22).
• We are shaken by the power of God’s Spirit and preach fearlessly and without restraint (Acts 4:23-31).
• We demonstrate lavishness when we see the needs of those around us and give sacrificially (Acts 4:32-37).
• We display a hazardous faith (Acts 5:17-42).
• We are open to the kinetic power of the gospel (Acts 13:41-52).
• We take hold of the unequivocal calling to go into the whole world (Acts 20:22-24).

I am praying that these messages will challenge my life and our congregation to let the Spirit be unleashed in our lives.

How Would Someone Sum Up Your Life?

If someone who knows you well were to write a summary of your life in just a few sentences, what would they say? Would the things he or she says mention the things you are most passionate about? Would those few sentences reflect your walk with God? Would it be positive or negative?

As I have studied David’s life this summer and shared messages with you from what the Bible tells us about him, I have found some remarkable sentences in the account of his life in 1 and 2 Samuel that summarize his life. These sentences sum up the various events of David’s life and point to Godly characteristics that we can learn from. These sentences reveal to us the life of “a man after God’s own heart” and show us how to live with a heart for God.

Here is a sampling organized around some of the main events of David’s life:

David’s anointing to be king of Israel:

• Man looks at the outward appearance (literally ‘the face’), but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). From the time that he was anointed, the Lord knew that David had a heart for God, and God chose him to be king because of his heart. What does God see when he looks at your heart?
• “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David” (1 Samuel 16:13). David did not live by his own power, but by the power of God. Just as the Spirit came upon David at his anointing, so he comes into our lives we accept Christ and are baptized. Do you choose to live by the power of God’s Spirit within you?

David’s slaying of Goliath:

• “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied (1 Samuel 17:45). David could slay Goliath because he was more than a boy with a slingshot; he was a warrior fighting in the name of the Lord Almighty. People today may choose to defy the Lord as Goliath did, but my question for you is: Do you live in the name of the Lord Almighty?

David’s moving the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem:

• When David danced before the Lord, only to be criticized by his wife, he said, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (2 Samuel 6:21, 22). David worshiped the Lord freely and extravagantly, without inhibitions. Do you celebrate freely before the Lord when you come to worship?

David’s desiring to build a Temple:

• David desired a Temple, but when God told him “no,” he “went in and sat before the Lord.” (2 Samuel 7:18). After receiving what had to be one of the great disappointments of his life, David went in and sat and talked with the Lord. In his prayer, David asks the Lord, “Who am I...that you have brought me this far?” He goes on to acknowledge the greatness of God. When you have a heart for God, you acknowledge his greatness even when he does not give you the things you desire. Do you recognize that God always knows best?

David’s kindness to Jonathan’s son

• After David settled in Jerusalem as king, he asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can shown God’s kindness?” (2 Samuel 9:3). Saul had made himself David’s enemy, but David had a great friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan, so he sought to demonstrate kindness (the word is actually “grace”) to anyone left from Saul’s family — and he did so with Jonathan’s son. Do you extend God’s kindness, his grace, to others, even those with whom you disagree?

David’s repentance for adultery and murder:

• When confronted for his sins, David responded to Nathan, the prophet, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13). He was the king, but he acknowledged his sin. We all sin, and we know we do. Do you acknowledge your sin to God and receive his mercy?
• When David’s infant son died, he said, “Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23), In some way, David had come to understand that, through our faith and the mercy of God, we live beyond the grave. He lived for the day that he would see his child again. Do you live for eternity?

These are just some of the lessons David can teach us. The New Testament tells us that “God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’” (Acts 13:22). We too can live with hearts for God. I hope you are learning these lessons from the life of David.

Worship With a Heart For God

The central piece to the life of the church today is the weekly worship service. More people come into church by first attending worship than through any other means. We put a lot of time and energy into our worship – as well we should – but do we really lead people in worshiping with a heart for God?

A study of the life of David, the second king of Israel, led me to consider this question this summer. It is a question well worth pondering.

David had faced this question, because he became king at a time in Israel’s history in which they had neglected the proper worship of God for over twenty years. We know this because the Ark of the Covenant, the place where God’s glory rested and therefore the centerpiece of their worship, had been left in the home of a priest named Abinadab for all those years (you can read that story in 1 Samuel 4-6 and 7:1-2).

When David became king he realized that this centerpiece of their worship was missing, so he determined to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem where he had established his capital. In the account of his bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, as told in 2 Samuel 6, I find three ways in which we can worship God. Each has relevance for today’s worship practices.

(1) We can worship God with complacence. This is the worship largely promoted by the church. I know; I know. You say, our church does not worship complacently, but observe the experience of David.

David took 30,000 people with him to the home of Abinadab, 10 miles from Jerusalem, to retrieve the Ark. They put the Ark on a new ox cart to transport it. Everyone was celebrating and singing and playing instruments and worshiping. David knew that in order to worship God properly, they needed the Ark of the Covenant in their midst, but Abinadab must have been aghast at the complacency of the celebration. They were taking it all too lightly. This was the Ark of God, after all.

Do we forget who the God is that we worship? Do we become too casual and too complacent in our worship, forgetting that we worship a holy God in all of his glory? Do we simply worship God so that he will improve us a little bit, and design our worship services to make people feel better instead of to pour ourselves out before the Most Holy God?

(2) We can worship God with anger. This is the worship most common in our culture. Nearly one-third of people in our culture believe God is an authoritarian, angry God.

The worship mood of the celebrating crowd moving the Ark to Jerusalem suddenly changed. As they marched along with the Ark of the Covenant on the ox cart something happened. Perhaps the wheel of the cart hit a rock and was jolted. The Ark became unsteady and began to fall. Uzzah, walking alongside the cart, reached out and steadied the Ark. That’s all he did. He probably reacted without even thinking about it but he Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah and struck him dead because he touched the Ark. They named the place, “Outbreak against Uzzah.” They had failed to follow God’s instructions for moving the Ark, and, even though his intentions were right, Uzzah lost his life, and David got angry. The celebration ended. The plans were scrapped. They left the Ark at the home they were passing by.

Many people in our culture have become angry at God for all the evil that is present in our world, but they will not turn to him. How do we explain a loving God to people who are angry at him? Like Israel, when we neglect the proper worship of a Most Holy God, we will only know anger. As Eugene Peterson says, ““Sometimes I think that all religious sites should be posted with signs reading, "’Beware the God.’"

(3) We can worship God with extravagance. This is worship as God intended.

Three months later David returned to retrieve the Ark. In the interim, he had learned how to properly move the Ark, and he observed those regulations. They made sacrifices as they moved toward Jerusalem. When Michal, David’s wife, criticized him for his display of exuberance, he said he would celebrate before the Lord, becoming even more undignified than he had in order to honor the Lord.

That is the kind of celebration we need to bring before the Lord. Call for people to worship by giving all of themselves to the Lord. Remember that we worship the Most Holy God, and pour yourself out before him.

(This post is based on a sermon preached on July 17. To listen to the sermon, go to this page and choose the sermon for July 17.)

Saul’s Death and Christ’s Death

When my brother-in-law, Jerry, died last month, he was buried in the veterans’ cemetery in Johnson City, TN, the same place where my mother was buried a little less than four years ago. My sister, Karen, her daughter, Amy, her daughter-in-law, Kristen, our daughter, Nancy, and I returned to the cemetery later in the day after the burial had been completed. All of the markers in the cemetery are identical crosses, but the cemetery allows the crosses to be personalized with something about the person, besides the facts of name and dates. We walked through the cemetery and noticed some of the things written on some of the grave markers. My sister recognized some of those who had died more recently because she works at the VA Hospital and they had been patients in her department, but all the rest of us were reading things about people we had not known.

Words on grave markers give only a very slight glimpse into a person’s life, but may well sum up the essence of that person’s life.

During the course of David being pursued by King Saul, Saul died by his own hand after battling the Philistines. His grave marker could well have contained words that he himself spoke to David after David spared his life for the second time. 1 Samuel 26:21 records those words for us as part of a promise to David to not harm him. He said, “I have played the fool and have committed a serious error.”

Sometime later, the Philistines defeated Saul’s army in battle. His three sons, including Jonathan, were killed, and Saul would take his own life by falling on his sword (1 Samuel 31:1-6). He had long before that stopped following the Lord, and played the fool to the very end. The heads of Saul and his sons were cut off by the Philistines and carried throughout the land to announce the Philistine victory, and their bodies were publicly displayed hanging on the walls of a city. Israel had been conquered by the Philistines. Saul’s tragic death had drastic consequences for his nation.

Chuck Swindoll compares Saul’s death with the death of Christ — the great Son of David:

• Saul’s death seemed to destroy hope for his nation, while Christ’s death offers hope to all.
• Saul’s death brought victory to his enemies, while Christ’s death brings defeat to even death itself.
• Saul’s death opened the way for David to become king, while Christ’s death opened the way to salvation for everyone who accepts him.

All of us know that we will one day die. Many choose a death like Saul’s — one without hope. They choose to die the fool.

This week our congregation and Lisa McCullum’s family mourn Lisa’s death, but we also rejoice because she had chosen to accept the redeeming death of the great Son of David. Her joy at knowing Christ touched us all. May we choose to face life and death as she did, with the hope of Christ.

How Is Your Church’s Heart?

In the late 1930s, Carl Sandburg finished a four-volume masterpiece, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years. As Sandberg sought for an appropriate title of the seventy-fifth chapter, covering the events immediately following Lincoln’s assassination, he settled on a quaint line from an old woodsman’s proverb, “A tree is best measured when it’s down.” Sandberg felt that you cannot adequately measure the significance of a person’s life until he is “down.”

I have found that old woodsman’s proverb also describes with some precision the life of King David of Israel. As such his life teaches us many valuable lessons on how to live and how we should lead the church.

David is the only person in all of scripture to be called “a man after God’s own heart.” He demonstrated great strength of character by depending on God, but he also demonstrated great weakness when he fell to temptation and sinned against God. He wrote about it all in the Psalms. He could write about both because he always found his way back to God; he got his heart back in the right place.

David was born and raised in a world in which, as one writer put it, “the people were on a long drift from God.” That is certainly true today, so perhaps there are some things we can learn from David about keeping our hearts and the heart of our churches right with God.

Samuel had been the prophet and judge for a long time when the people of Israel asked God for a king. Saul was chosen as the first king, but he would disobey God, so Samuel told him that God would replace him as king with “a man after his own heart.” 1 Samuel 16:1-13 tells the story of the selection and anointing of David as the king who would replace Saul. That story gives us three reasons, as stated by Charles Swindoll, why we need to let the Lord look at our hearts and at the heart of our churches.

(1) Man Panics; God Provides. After God rejected Saul as king, he sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint a new king. He asked God, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” Have you or your church ever felt panic like that? Perhaps you have lost your job or faced a serious illness. Perhaps your church has lost a significant leader or is facing a pastoral change at a critical time in the church’s life.

God sent Samuel to Bethlehem and showed him that he had already selected the next king. He has nothing to fear. God provides the next job, the food and support we need to survive, the strength to make it through our health struggles, the next pastor or leader for our churches. We need a heart for God because he provides.

(2) – Man Looks; God Sees. Samuel began his consideration of the next king by examining Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab. Eliab looked like a man you would choose to be king. On that day, Samuel looked at seven of Jesse’s eight sons, but none of them were God’s choice, because God sees something we do not see: God looks into our hearts. Literally the text says, “Man looks at the face, but the Lord looks at the heart.” We still need to learn this lesson. If there is one thing we should learn about how to look at people it is to look at them not by face or stature or any feature of their outward appearance, but to look at their heart. Only God can really do that, so we have to learn to listen to God to give us that kind of discernment.

(3) – Man Forgets; God Remembers. While Samuel was looking at Jesse’s seven other sons, Jesse had forgotten about his eighth son, the youngest. Samuel had to ask Jesse if he had any other sons. Can’t you hear Jesse’s response: He is just the youngest. He is only a boy. He is only a shepherd. What could you want with him? Forgotten, shoved aside. Worthless. How often do we do that with people? God, though, remembered that David was out watching the sheep. He was chosen and anointed as king because of his character. I have often been surprised at the people God can use, because he remembers when we forget.

So, how is your heart? How is the heart of your church? Do you work at letting God develop within you and your church a heart that trusts in him?

When You Are Hiding In a Cave….

 

David had perhaps the most difficult path to becoming king of Israel of any king in history. He did not seek the throne; rather the throne sought him. Samuel anointed him to replace Saul as king, and David remained true to his anointing, but it could not have been easy.

We have already seen in 1 Samuel 18-21 that David lost his position in Saul’s army, his wife, his mentor, Samuel, his friend, Jonathan, and his dignity and self respect. When 1 Samuel 22 opens, David is fleeing from Saul and he “escaped to the cave of Adullam.” He had no security, he had no food, he had no one to talk to, he had no promise to cling to, and he had no hope that anything would ever change. He was in a dark cave, away from everything and everybody he loved. Everybody except God. The only people with him were 400 people who themselves were “in distress or in debt or discontent.”

That would not be the last cave in which he would hide from Saul. We get a glimpse at how he felt about these experiences in Psalm 142, which is a record of David crying out to God while in the cave.

I cry aloud to the LORD;
I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
I pour out my complaint before him;
before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who know my way.
In the path where I walk
men have hidden a snare for me.
Look to my right and see;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living."
Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of your goodness to me.

What does David do while he hides in the cave? He cries out to God; he pours out his complaint to the Lord. He recognizes that God is his refuge. He would continue for quite some time to flee from Saul, but in the cave he renewed his commitment to trust in God no matter how difficult his circumstances.

None of us are hiding in a cave with 400 distraught people, but at some time, we have all felt we were alone, with no one to help us, no promise to cling to, and no hope for the future. If you have faced such circumstances in the past, you will likely face them again in the future. There is only one person who can really help at such times. We should learn from David to cry out to the Lord, make our complaint to him. As he was for David, the Lord will always be there for us.

Unbroken

In her bestselling book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand tells the amazing story of Louis Zamperini, 1936 Olympic distance runner and bombardier in the military during World War II and prisoner-of-war. His is a story of endurance and redemption that both reinforces and informs the mission God has given to the church as a body and to individual believers.

Zamperini was a prankster as a boy and through his teen years. Some of his pranks were harmful or illegal, yet he continually survived them. Then in high school he became a track athlete and became one of the best 5,000 meter runners in history and then one of the best mile-runners in history. He went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. When he returned home, he trained for the 1940 Olympics, only to have them cancelled due to war.

From the story of those early years of Zamperini’s life, we learn our first lesson for the church: Young people who appear to be growing up to be a nuisance can develop into worthwhile individuals. We always need to realize this in the church because we are called to help people make the most out of their lives.

With his Olympic dream gone, Zamperini ended up in the army, serving as a bombardier in the Pacific. On May 27, 1943, Zamperini's bomber left Oahu in search of survivors from a downed plane. About 800 miles from the base, one of the engines cut out and the bomber plunged into the ocean. Zamperini and another soldier would stay afloat on a tiny life raft for 47 days—a world record for survival at sea. After confronting sharks, starvation, and dementia, their real battle would begin. Zamperini spent the next two years as a Japanese POW in the notorious Sugamo Prison. In particular, a guard named Watanabe (nicknamed "the Bird") ensured that Louis endured constant physical torture and verbal humiliation—all in an attempt to shatter the spirit of the American soldiers.

Zamperini would survive his prisoner-of-war ordeal, and leave us another lesson: Survival is possible even in the most extreme circumstances. Of all people, those of us who follow Christ should understand that people can overcome. It is, in fact, our responsibility in the church to nurture people through their difficulties in order to help them survive. At the same time, we need always to remember to trust God in our own difficulties.

In 1944, after Louis had been declared dead, he returned to America to a rush of publicity. Unfortunately, his life quickly descended into a new self-made prison of alcoholism and bitterness. In particular, Louis now endured constant nightmares about his past and an obsessive drive to murder "the Bird." But the walls of addiction and hatred started to crumble in 1949 when Louis attended a Billy Graham crusade and heard the gospel and trusted Christ.

After receiving Christ, in the words of Laura Hildenbrand:

When [Louie] thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him. He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird had striven to make him. In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away. That morning, he believed, he was a new creation.

Zamperini’s conversion leaves us another lesson: No matter how much suffering a person has endured, he or she still needs Christ. Zamperini’s suffering, as it does for many people, led him into his own destructive cycle until rescued by Christ. We need to watch for the suffering in people’s lives that shouts to us of their need for Christ, and share Christ with them.

Then there is one more lesson that we can learn from Louis Zamperini’s story. It grows out of the consequences of his conversion. Up until his conversion, he became obsessed with finding a way to return to Japan and murder his nemesis, “The Bird.’ After his conversion, Christ took away the bitterness and desire for revenge. Louis Zamperini not only received forgiveness, he was able to forgive his greatest tormentor. The lesson? If Christ forgave us, we need to forgive like that. The church should be in the business of teaching people to forgive others.

Zamperini has followed Christ in the long years since his conversion. He survived all the people who were part of his story, many of whom also followed Christ, people with whom he will share eternity. I recommend Unbroken. I especially recommend the lessons it teaches us about following Christ and serving in the church.

Contrasting King Saul and King David

King David, whose life we are learning from this summer, was a remarkable man who kept his heart right with God, despite his imperfections. His predecessor as king, Saul, began with the same opportunities that David had, but failed to trust in God. Much of what they each experienced in life is in fact a direct contrast to what the other experienced.

· Saul disobeyed God while David obeyed God. Both had physical qualities that opened doors for them. Saul was tall and described as an “impressive young man,” while David had “a fine appearance and handsome features.” Twice Saul disobeyed direct commands of God and then tried to make excuses and get around what he had done. David’s reign includes account after account of how he obeyed God. When he did sin, and he had some enormous public sins, he confessed his sin and walked the hard road back to God.

· Saul had the Spirit of God depart from his life while David possessed the Spirit of God in power. The middle of 1 Samuel 16 presents a direct contrast for the reader in this regard. In verse 13, we read about David’s anointing as king and are told that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” In the verse next verse, we read that “the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul.”

· Saul trusted himself and his army, while David trusted the Lord. On two occasions, Saul was given direct instructions from the Lord through Samuel how to conduct a battle, but on both occasions he disobeyed God when things did not go the way he expected. Those two acts of disobedience led directly to his removal as king. David, even before he was king trusted God. In the most famous story from his life, David killed Goliath with one stone from his slingshot. When asked how he could fight a giant as a mere boy with no armor, he responded that “the Lord will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

· Saul developed a great jealousy of David and tried to kill him, while David spared Saul’s life. Saul spent a great deal of time and energy pursuing David because he saw him as a threat to his throne. David, though, demonstrated remarkable composure in the light of these threats. On multiple occasions, David had an opportunity to kill Saul, but refused to do so, stating that it was not his right to slay the Lord’s anointed.

These are just four examples of how these two men’s lives contrasted with one another. Their stories, when compared with each other, offer us the choice of how we are going to live. We can disobey God, live without the Spirit of God, trust in ourselves, and respond to others out of jealousy. Or, we can learn to trust God, even in the midst of our sin and imperfection, and let his Spirit dwell within us, so that he can use us in mighty ways.

These are some of the lessons  from David this summer that I will be sharing with our congregation this summer as we continue learning from him to live with a heart for God.

Living With a Heart For God–The Life of David

“David.

“Jesse’s youngest son. Youthful shepherd of Bethlehem. Giant-slayer. Teenaged king-elect. Composer of psalms. Saul’s personal musician. Jonathan’s closest friend.

“He rose from hunted fugitive to Israel’s king. And he fell from champion in battle to aged and troubled monarch.

“David — a man of glorious triumph, yet great tragedy. Uniquely gifted, but human to the core; strong in battle, but weak at home. Why are we drawn to study his life? Because David isn’t a polished-marble personality. He is blood and bone and breath, sharing our struggles of spirit and soul.”

Chuck Swindoll begins one of his studies of David’s life with those words. David is one of the most remarkable men to have ever lived. He is the only one in Scripture to be called “a man after God’s own heart.” He is mentioned more than any other Old Testament character in the New Testament. One of his psalms is among a small handful of the most well-known passages of Scripture. He was a great poet and musician, a courageous warrior, and a national statesman.

Yet he was a man of great vulnerability, and so very much like us. He was anything but perfect, falling from the pinnacle of his kingdom into the depths of sin.

Among the events of his life that we shall examine are the following:

· His anointing: As a teenager he was anointed to be king of Israel after the failure of Saul, Israel’s first king, to remain true to God.

· His music: Chosen as the future king, he served as an attendant to Saul, offering up music to calm the soul and soften the heart. He would go on to write music that still touches hearts through the words of his psalms.

· His triumphs: Among his greatest triumphs was his victorious confrontation with the giant Goliath. He saved his nation for the first time, but it would not be his last. He shows us how to walk with God in the battles of life.

· His failures and repentance: His adultery was one of the great personal failures of history, yet he repented and found his way back to God. He shows us how to respond to our sin.

That is just a taste of his remarkable life. He also battled jealousy, revenge, conflict, sorrow, and triumph. There is something for everyone to learn from in his life.

If you want to live with a heart for God, you really need to meet this man. We need to do more than just read the stories of his life in the Old Testament. We need to see his successes and failures and ask how his experiences can help us have a heart for God like he did. So, we will examine his life this summer and learn from him how we can have hearts that remain true to God and that are on fire for God.

King David Is Coming to Westwood This Summer

 

King David will visit Westwood this summer through a new sermon series: “Living With a Heart For God.” Perhaps as much as anyone else in the Bible David teaches us how to live with a heart for God.

Chuck Swindoll says about him: “Few men in history have been so gifted and respected as the sweet singer of Israel, David, the youngest son of Jesse. His personality was a strange combination of simplicity and complexity.”

J. Oswald Sanders summed up David’s life this way: “He swung between extremes, but paradoxically evidenced an abiding stability. The oscillating needle always returned to its pole – God Himself.”

His story begins before we even meet him. When the prophet Samuel rebukes King Saul, David’s predecessor, for not obeying God, Samuel said to him, “Your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people.” David was that man, and so became known as “the man after God’s own heart.”

David always longed to serve God well, from the time he was an obscure shepherd boy in the hills of Judea to his reign as king. Yet woven in his life were moments of sin and the normal struggles with life that demonstrated flaws in his character and failure in his reign. He had great victories, such as his defeat of the giant Goliath, but also struggled with great sin, such as his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. Yet he wrote some of the greatest songs of praise ever written, words in the Psalms that still move our hearts.

We can learn much from him about having a heart for God. Let’s share the adventure of his life together this summer.

BUILDING ON THE RIGHT FOUNDATION

Early in May, I officiated at the funeral service for Wendell Smith. He was 90 years old and had been an active member of our congregation in Madison for all but a brief time since the congregation started in 1958. His life speaks to what it means for a Christian to faithfully serve the Lord.

The funeral was held in our church building, which Wendell had a large part in building in 1958. He also played a part in the decision to start the congregation. It was the first time I conducted a funeral in a building constructed by the person being remembered. Among the stories he told over the years about that construction project was how he laid the brick for the building. He had never laid brick before, but did so expertly, taking to the task with his usual attentiveness to detail, making sure the job was done right.

That is the kind of building that God wants us to do with our lives and that Wendell demonstrated consistently with his life. Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 to be careful how we build “for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” We are to build our lives on Jesus Christ. He alone is the foundation we should build on.

From the time that Wendell walked down the aisle of his home church in Jamestown, Indiana, as a young man and gave his life to Christ, he faithfully followed Christ for nearly 80 years. The foundation of his life was Jesus Christ, and Wendell worked to honor Christ.

Wendell was a woodworker. He made many things with his hands and demonstrated through them how to build our lives with Jesus Christ as the foundation, Among them were various items that he made for our church building and for people. Here is a sampling:

One of Wendell’s district managers for the insurance company he worked for before retiring in 1984 told us at the funeral about a grandfather clock that Wendell built for he and his wife. A few years ago, he made a small clock for my wife and I that sits on the desk in my office. He made many of those clocks for people. Wendell did things like that to bless people, doing what Paul commands: “make the most of every opportunity.” Now the clock has run out on his life on this earth, but his influence remains, and he reminds me that we should leave things behind that will be a lasting influence on others.

We have a directory board that Wendell made in our church building with pictures of the people in our congregation. Wendell and his wife, Helen, have been committed to the people of our congregation for all these years. The people of our congregation have been their family. They demonstrated faithfulness to the church over the years, staying active in the congregation through good times and bad, because you stay with family.

We have two candelabras in our building that Wendell made and that we use for Christmas Eve and Good Friday services, weddings, and on other occasions. He also made candelabras for other churches and has them scattered in churches across Wisconsin. Candles are important to those of us who follow Christ, because they are a visual representation of the light of Christ. Jesus is described in Scripture as the “light of the world” who came into the darkness to save us. When we light candles in our churches, they can remind us to live our lives by the light of Christ.

Wendell made our pulpit a few years ago. I generally do not preach from a pulpit, but it is still a reminder of the importance of preaching and teaching the Word of God. Through the preaching of the Word of God, we learn the truth of God and receive encouragement to live by it. We should work at making sure our churches are Bible believing and Bible preaching churches.

The cross at the front of our worship center and our communion table were both made by Wendell. The cross, of course, is the very essence of Christianity. Jesus came into our world to go to the cross and redeem us from our sins. We remember Jesus’ death every time that we take communion, so our communion table has been central to the worship of our congregation from the time that Wendell built it.

You may not be able to build a church building or furnishings for a church building, but you need to build your life on Jesus, and we need to help others build their lives on Jesus Christ. I hope that is what your legacy will be.

Church Plant in Menomonee Falls, WI

WCMA, a church planting organization that I work with, is working with some other organizations and churches to plant a new church in Greater Milwaukee this coming Fall. The target community is Menomonee Falls. If you would like to follow the plant’s progress and pray for it, you can find the latest update from our church planter, Jerod Walker, at this link: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=301031f422f4725bc1e2f0750&id=54897f1b45&e=154a360ad2.

Westwood Message–April 14, 2011

Food Pantry Donations

The Lord continues to bless the ministry of our Food Pantry, including two recent donations.

We received a donation of a $60.67 credit at Second Harvest from this year’s Million Pound Challenge. The Million Pound Challenge is sponsored by the Princeton Club. Several of our people have taken up the challenge to lose weight or exercise as a way of developing donations to food pantries throughout the area. Our Food Pantry purchases food from Second Harvest that supplements our other food donations. The Million Pound Challenge continues through May.

We also received a donation of 2,872 pounds of food and $500.00 toward purchasing perishable food from Roundy’s Foundation. That donation was presented to our Food Pantry and others in the area on April 11 at the Copps Food Center on University Ave. Gloria Jean Ehlers, our Food Pantry director, received Westwood’s donation. Thanks to Gloria Jean and all of our Food Pantry volunteers who make this ministry possible.

Easter Offering For the New Church in Menomonee Falls Continues Through April

We continue through the rest of April to receive designated gifts for our Easter Offering. That offering will go toward the new church to be launched in Menomonee Falls in the Fall.

Good Friday Service on April 22 at 6:00 PM

Join us for our Good Friday Service at 6:00 PM on April 22. This service is a special service of music, scripture, and readings, as we explore the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Sermon Series for April and May

Upcoming Dates at Westwood

April 22 Good Friday Service at 6:00 PM
April 24 Easter Service at 9:30 AM

A Westwood Message–April 7, 2011

Easter Offering to Go to New Church in Menomonee Falls

Plans are well underway for a church plant in Menomonee Falls which will launch in the Fall. WCMA, a ministry supported by Westwood, is partnering to help fund the plant. Jerod Walker is the lead church planter.

Our Missions Team is asking the congregation to give to an Easter offering toward the church plant. Offerings designated for this special offering can be given throughout the month of April.

Seder Potluck Supper at Mandrake Road Church of Christ

Mandrake Road Church of Christ, 4301 Mandrake Rd., Madison, is hosting a Seder Potluck Supper on April 18 at 6:00 PM and has invited Westwood people to attend. April 18 is the first night of Passover when Jews and Jewish Christians across the world will be celebrating as well.

They request that you keep with the Passover tradition of making food that contains no flour or leavening agents. (Though, since we are under the New Covenant, if someone brings, say, a chocolate cake, they are quite sure the blood of the Passover Lamb will cover such "sins" and many will happily enjoy it anyway!)

There will be ceremonial parts of the meal, following the haggadah (a booklet with readings that everyone will have a copy of), and eating the regular meal will happen midway through that. Children are welcome; there are even some parts of the seder meal that purposely involve children. They expect it will be over by 8pm.

If you would like to attend, please contact the Westwood office and let Chardel know by April 14 so that we can give Mandrake Road a head count.

Compassion International Giving Update

Thank you to everyone that has given over the past couple of months towards Compassion International. We just received some coins collected that totaled $42.88! In addition, someone else gave to bring the balance due to $0.00 right now. So we are current on our giving for Diocaris and Samuel through the month of April. (As a reminder, it's $38/month to sponsor each child, $76/month to sponsor both of them). Everyone's help is much appreciated to share God's love with these two children in the Dominican Republic.

God's Great Blessings to YOU!

Sandy Polcyn
c/o Compassion International

Sermon Series for April and May

Upcoming Dates at Westwood

April 10 Small Group Potluck at 5:00 PM
April 22 Good Friday Service at 6:00 PM
April 24 Easter Service at 9:30 AM

MAKING THE CROSS CENTRAL TO YOUR LIFE AND CHURCH

Imagine a stranger visiting your church some Sunday. The visitor knows next to nothing about Christianity, but is interested and wants to learn. As he drives up to your building, he notices the cross on the outside. As he enters the building, he sees crosses as part of the design on the main entry doors. Moving into the worship auditorium, he notices a cross prominently displayed at the front, one in the design of the pulpit and in the design of the table in the front. He sits down next to a couple and notices that the man has a cross pin on his label and the woman has a cross on her necklace. The opening song refers to the cross. When the part of the service where you have communion begins, the minister refers to communion being a remembrance of the death of Jesus on the cross, and the congregation sings “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

Such a visitor might go away impressed but puzzled by the frequent mention of the cross. It is notable how often the cross is referred to, but it also raises questions: Do Christians really give up everything for the cross? Can Christianity be accurately summed up as a faith of the cross?

The cross is difficult to grasp. We know it is central to Christianity, but even we sometimes are not aware of how often we mention the cross. We become accustomed to our references to it. Further, we must ask ourselves how we are to put the cross at the center of our lives and of our churches. The questions are appropriate as we near our annual focus on the death of Jesus on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter.

This is the issue that comes forward in the Gospel Matthew the first time Jesus introduces the idea of the cross to his disciples. Matthew 16 is a turning point in Matthew’s Gospel. The chapter contains Peter’s confession of faith, immediately after which Matthew writes, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” From that time on, Jesus makes teaching about and preparing for his death and resurrection central to his ministry.

When he introduces the topic in Matthew 16, we find that we have a choice to make regarding the centrality of the cross in our lives and in the church.

(1) We can stand in the way of the cross. The disciples could not understand the idea of the cross when Jesus introduced it, because they believed him to be a king who would deliver them from Rome. A king could die, but had to be protected, but Jesus explains to them that he must die. Peter, just after his confession of faith, says to Jesus, “Never, Lord. This shall never happen to you.” Peter responded to the first mention of the cross by standing in the way.

Have you ever stood in the way of the cross? Does your church stand in the way of the cross? Are we too often comfortable taking the easy path in following Christ? Do we do things our way instead of God’s way? Does Jesus need to say to us as he did to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”?

(2) We can take up the cross. Jesus puts a hard teaching in front of us: If you are going to follow Jesus, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him wherever he leads. We are in the middle of the practice of Lent. Perhaps some of you have given up something for Lent. Such a practice reminds us that we are to give up ourselves to follow Christ, but we must be careful to remember that living by the cross is an ongoing commitment, not just a seasonal one. Indeed we must take up the cross, as Jesus told his disciples, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

Are you practicing that kind of commitment in your life? Are you asking people in your church to practice that kind of commitment? As we go through this Good Friday and Easter, make the cross not just about words, but make the cross central to your life and the life of your church.

Thinking About Heaven

If you would like a perspective on heaven in light of the current evangelical discussion taking place about heaven and hell -- in light of Rob Bell's new book -- give Gordon MacDonald's new piece a read. I have read MacDonald for quite a few years in Leadership Journal where he is editor-at-large, after a long career in ministry: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/leadershipweekly/leavingpeace.html.

Westwood Message–March 31, 2011

Easter Offering to Go to New Church in Menomonee Falls

WCMA, a ministry supported by our Missions Ministry, is partnering on a church plant that will launch this Fall in Menomonee Falls. Jerod Walker will lead the plant.

Our Missions Team is asking the congregation to give to an Easter offering toward the church plant. Offerings designated for this special offering can be given throughout the month of April.

New Small Groups To Begin

Part of our church mission statement says that we exist “to exalt God…by building people to maturity in Christ, connecting people into the body of Christ…” Part of growing to maturity and connecting to others can take place within a small group where you study and fellowship with other believers. In an informal setting such as a home, people can discuss, ask questions, and grow through interaction.

Such experiences are important to our development and growth as Christians. Small groups provide significant experiences toward such growth. Some of you are already in a small group, such as our Tuesday evening Bible study that meets at the church office and our morning women’s groups. We are once again going to begin some new groups, and we would like for you to consider becoming part of one.

In order to facilitate and discuss the formation of new groups, Mike Notaro and Dawn Zimmerman arranged a meeting of interested people. The meeting will be a potluck dinner on April 10 at 5:00 PM at our building. Each family should bring a meal item to pass or dessert to pass. There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the back of our worship center.

Worshipping and Waiting Together Community-wide Prayer Service

Join together with other Christians in the greater Madison area to worship and pray this Friday evening, April 1, at 7:00 PM at High Point Church, 7702 Old Sauk Road, Madison. This is the second of six such events planned for this year in the Madison area.

Sermon Series for April and May

The Experience of a Lifetime

Three experiences have marked Christianity from the very first days of the church: experiencing the cross, the resurrection, and life in the church. If you experience all three, you cannot help but have the experience of a lifetime. We will set out to realize such an experience through our April and May worship services.

First, we will experience the cross as we move toward Easter where the church focuses on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Then we will experience first the resurrection and then life in the church as we move from the resurrection toward Pentecost, the beginning of the church through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection.

The small coastal town of Arroyo Grande, California, has recently been disturbed by events surrounding the theft of a cross that weeks later was discovered set aflame outside the bedroom window of a 19-year-old woman of mixed race.

The 11-foot wooden cross was stolen from Saint John's Lutheran Church in Arroyo Grande, California. The cross was later found burning after being erected in a neighbor's large front yard adjacent to the house rented by the woman and her mother. Now authorities are investigating the case as a theft, arson and hate crime.

The cross has created controversy since Jesus first announced to his followers that he would go to Jerusalem to die. In fact, in one of the passages we shall study about the cross, Paul says that the “message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,” and he calls “Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentile.”

The cross was even controversial before Jesus died. Each time during his ministry that he predicted his own death, someone tried to talk him out of it. There must be some other way, they were saying, and they tried to urge Jesus to find it.

Yet God has chosen the cross as the symbol of Christianity and as the cruel means by which his only Son would die. John Stott writes in his book The Cross of Christ that Christians could have chosen any of seven symbols that he names as a suitable pointer to some aspect of Jesus’ ministry. “But instead the chosen symbol came to be a simple cross.”

Why would God choose something so brutal, so terrible, so controversial as the means of his Son’s death and the symbol of his followers? The answer is both simple and complex: a sacrificial death by the perfect Son of God is the only possible path to salvation and eternal life for imperfect, sinful people.

So, we will once again look at the cross during the first three Sundays of April and then we will share in its power during our Good Friday service before turning our attention to the Resurrection. We will find that both provide us with the experience of a lifetime.

Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man

When I was growing up, we would often sing this little song about Zacchaeus in Sunday School:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he.
He climbed way up in a sycamore tree,
For the Lord he wanted to see...

The story of Zacchaeus is one of the fun stories that comes out of Jesus’ ministry. The idea of a wee man perched like a bird in a tree (and being found out) is the stuff of humor.

Charles Spurgeon, the famed London preacher, also established a Pastor's College that exists to this day. A famous feature of the college experience was "the question oak," a large tree on Spurgeon's estate where, in good weather, students would gather on Friday afternoons to ask questions of Mr. Spurgeon and then deliver extemporaneous sermons. On one memorable occasion, Spurgeon called on a student to give a message on Zacchaeus. The student rose and said: "Zacchaeus was of little stature, so am I. Zacchaeus was up a tree, so am I. Zacchaeus came down, so will I." And the student sat down as the students, led by Spurgeon, applauded.

We can have fun with the story of Zacchaeus, but we must remember that the story teaches us some important truths. So Jerod Walker will preach this Sunday on Zacchaeus’ encounter with Christ. Jesus’ encounter with him is Jesus' last personal encounter before his arrival in Jerusalem and the events leading to his death.

Significantly, the final line in the Zacchaeus story contains the summary line of the purpose of Jesus' ministry: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). Saving the lost is what Jesus is all about. Saving the lost is also primary in the mission of the church.

When Jesus went to eat dinner at Zacchaeus’ house, there was some muttering about him being the guest of a sinner. There has often since then been muttering in the church about people who become friends of “sinners,” but they are the very people Jesus calls us to. After all, we must always remember that we are all sinners.

It is appropriate that a planter of a new church will preach on this passage for us Sunday, because new churches are all about reaching those who do not yet know Christ, who have not yet found forgiveness of their sins from Christ. Join me in letting the story of Zacchaeus capture you, not just the fun story for children and the story that brings us a cute little song. Let it capture you to the extent that you make a concerted effort to reach out to those in our world who are “sinners” like Zacchaeus.

Westwood Message–March 10, 2011

Be sure to turn your clocks ahead one hour on Saturday night as we resume Daylight Savings Time this coming Sunday, March 13.

Jerod Walker to Preach at Westwood on March 20

If you have followed the announcements we have published about this year’s WCMA church plant (in partnership with other organizations), you may recognize Jerod Walker’s name. He will be the lead planter for the new church, and we have him coming to Westwood on March 20. He will preach that Sunday and discuss plans for the church plant during the adult class in our 11:00 AM class time.

Jerod began working fulltime on the plant on January 1. Prior to that he served as Family Life Minister at Central Christian Church in Beloit. Previous to that he served as senior minister of a church in New Mexico.

Children’s Workers to Meet on March 20

Our children’s workers will hold their next meeting on March 20 at noon. We will order pizza for lunch. We will order pizza for all family members who will be waiting unti the end of the meeting. If you are interested in working with our children or are a parent, you also are welcome to attend.

The main discussion topic for the meeting will be planning and scheduling our special children’s activities for the year.

Potluck Dinner for Small Groups Coming on April 10

Mike Notaro and Dawn Zimmerman are organizing a meeting for anyone interested in being part of a small group. More details will be coming, but if being in a small group is of interest, put April 10 at 5:00 PM on your calendar.

The Question of Authority Prompts an Encounter With Jesus

People today are not comfortable with authority. I experienced it in my teen, college, and young adult years. It was the era of the Viet Nam War, and massive demonstrations took place against the war and the political leaders (authorities) of that time. Hippies were everywhere it seemed and were a very visible indication of cultural rebellion against authority.

Today we see this discomfort with authority all through our culture. As children grow older, they sometimes rebel against the authority of their parents. Employees often dislike rules that have been established in the workplace. Many of the legal conflicts of our day are conflicts over authority. Much of the reaction to the posting of the Ten Commandments in public places is argued on constitutional grounds, but it is really a matter of authority. People do not want to live under the authority of moral guidelines.

This issue with authority is not new to our day. Much of the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leaders was over authority, and that prompted an interesting encounter with Jesus in Matthew 21:23-27. The people came to Jesus because he taught them as “one who had authority,” so some of the Jewish leaders came to Jesus one day and questioned his authority. They asked, “By what authority do you do these things?”

Jesus asked them a question about whether John the Baptist’s baptism came from heaven or from men. They would not commit themselves to an answer. They reasoned that if they said his authority was from heaven, Jesus would ask them why they did not then believer John. If, on the other hand, they said his authority was from men, they would lose the respect of the people who held that John was a prophet. Jesus, then, would not answer their question about his authority because he knew they did not want to live under the authority of God anyway.

When we reject the authority of God, in our lives, we reject what is best for us. Jesus came to earth and showed us how to live under the authority of God because living by his authority is best for us. We see authority in a negative way and when that authority comes from other people it often is. When it comes from God, though, it gives us the best chance, the only chance, of living holy lives.

You may not like authority, but God’s authority is one you can trust, one that will benefit your life. Determine to let God rule your life.