Getting At the Heart of Our Fights

“What causes fights among us?” asks James in 4:1.

 

“That’s easy, James,” we reply.  “Uhhh, difficult and abrasive individuals.  Demanding, needy spouses and children.  Miscommunication and poor listening skills.  Contentious issues.  Basically, the answer lies somewhere among specific people or situations.”

 

James answers, “No.  Wrong.”

 

The cause of our conflicts is in our hearts, our unmet desires.  These unmet desires progress from stage to stage.  And so, “I want … ” becomes “I demand …” which becomes “I judge …” which becomes “I punish …”  eventually causing conflicts in our relationships.

These unmet desires become idolatrous desires that eventually ruin us and our relationships with others.  Ultimately, these desires damage the greatest relationship of all, our relationship with our God.

Only when we come before God and allow Him to satisfy our unmet needs are we able to find peace in our hearts with Him, with ourselves, and with others. 

Remember Those in Prison

Dr. Tom White, director of Voice of the Martyrs, gave an incredible presentation this past Sunday about the persecuted church worldwide. He reminded us from 1 Corinthians 4:9, that it’s our persecution and suffering where God most powerfully uses us as a “spectacle” to this world. In context, Paul in 1 Cor 4:9 was talking about himself and the other apostles, and how they were being paraded around as fools. They were despised and harassed, beaten and tortured, under the threat of death–and yet in their constant weakness, God was revealing his glory to entire Roman empire.

So it is today that the gospel moves most aggressively and dramatically where Christians are willing to suffer for His name. And we saw that in the rain forest of Laos, and the forest clearings of Russia, and the darkened cellars in North Korea—where huddled secretly in groups of 5, 10 and 20 are some of the most beautiful and vibrant churches of all the world

Over lunch with Dr. White, he posed a really interesting question. He quoted Hebrews 13:3 “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” And here’s what he asked: “Dihan, did you ever think that the remembering was also for our sake–not just for theirs? Have you considered how the persecuted church leads the free church into greater boldness and fervency for the Lord?”  He let me ponder this for a bit before he added: “It’s not simply they need us, but we desperately need them.”

I never thought of it that way before. You figure that the author of Hebrew is exhorting the free church to remember the persecuted so we could advocate on their behalf, provide material assistance, and at the very least–pray. And surely this reading is true. But what Dr. White was implying was also true. We’re called to remember for our own sake, so that vicariously we would be on the front lines. We could see through our persecuted brothers’ and sisters’ eyes how the gospel is advancing on enemy territory. Remembering and praying for the persecuted church naturally emboldens us to take the gospel to our cubicles and office suites. Knowing that there are brothers and sisters who find Jesus so precious that they would shed possessions and blood powerfully impresses upon how the all surpassing worth of Jesus Christ.

So remember the saints in chains. Remember our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. Go to www.persecution.com and sign up for a free monthly newsletter. Remember not just for their sake–but for our own.

Dihan

Sermon Redux

So the apostle Paul proclaims in Galatians 5:13 that we’re called to be FREE.  But it is not freedom for our own self indulgence; rather, we are set free so that we can become servants–or if you take the actual greek, slaves.  

Set free to be slaves. This jarring juxtaposition of words, freedom and slavery, was the focus of this past Sunday’s sermon. How can freedom be associated with servanthood and selflessness and sacrifice? These words seem to violate our self autonomy. 

Here’s a quote from Sunday’s message: “If God were to declare to a fish– ‘Do not use your freedom to climb onto shore where you cannot breathe and you will surely die. Instead, go and swim the seas and eat shrimp’ — would the fish say ‘How restrictive! How oppressive !’  Of course not. God is simply releasing the fish to do what it was made to do. What if it’s really the case that we’re not made to indulge ourselves? What if it’s true that we are freest when we forget about ourselves and we stop worshipping our own needs and we serve one another in love? Could it be that God is actually setting us free when he gives us the call to be servants?”

So what do you think? In your experience, have you seen this to be true– where indulging yourself is actually a form of imprisonment, and loving and serving others a way of liberation?  

Feel free to comment on this, or on anything else on this past Sunday’s message. 

God bless

PD

In the beginning…

Ok. So the fun begins.

The staff was debating whether to start this blog or not. Who knows what will pour in when the floodgates open. But in the end, we figured an open dialogue on our sermons as well as other topics would be a great thing for ODPC. Sundays are busy. It’s hard to approach us with questions because we’re busy running around to our next meeting. So here’s your chance church.

Each week, one of us will revisit the sermon, elaborate on a theme or a point and then open it up for dicussion.

Feel free to post a question or a comment. But let’s save the rants for a more private forum–like a personal email or a phone call. That will save us from public humiliation

Excited to enter the blogosphere.

Pastor Dihan

Welcome to the Foyer!

Welcome to the Foyer, a site of Open Door Presbyterian Church!  Here at the Foyer, we meet (virtually) to dig deeper into the message that was shared this past Sunday, and feed our souls and minds through edifying discussion.  To learn more about the Foyer, please click the above navigation buttons.