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Do words of phrases ever jump out at you when you are
reading? As you read it is as if certain words or phrases should be cut out
of the text and made into those little magnetized words currently so
popular. I had that experience with this portion
of scripture from
1 Timothy.
As those particular words were popping out from the page, I found
myself thinking about their relationship to our lives, both individually and
our life together as the Northminster family.
First Word – Contentment.
Just saying the word has a somewhat calming effect, doesn’t
it? The Greek word which was translated as contentment means:
“being independent of changing circumstances”.
Using this definition, it is easy to understand why there is
rampant dis-content in our world. Day in and day out we experience
change occurring at warp speed. As soon as you
purchase the latest technology, something else comes along that is faster
and has more features. I’m feeling a technology deficit with
my Blackberry Pearl now that the IPhone has
come out.
The reality is that from one moment to the next, we don’t
know what is going to happen that will literally “rock our world”.
Think 911. Think finding out you’ve just
won the mega-millions jackpot. Think you’ve just
lost your job. Think finding out you’re going to
have a baby. Whether negative or positive, life constantly throws changing
circumstances at us. The question isn’t whether the circumstances of life
will change, but rather, how we will handle those changing circumstances.
Psalm 91, which Brent read earlier, is an eloquent
affirmation to us in changing times that God can be trusted at all times,
even in the worst imaginable circumstances. The Psalmist said, “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge
and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” This, friends, is how we handle the changing
circumstances; how contentment, rather than chaos, can govern our lives
by
entrusting our lives to God… our individual lives, the lives of our families
and friends, and the life of our church.
We entrust our lives to God by constantly approaching God
- the God who has already come to us and
shown us in Jesus Christ a depth of love we really cannot even begin to
comprehend. Contentment:
Entrusting our lives to God.
Second – A series of words jumped off the page at me:
pursue – fight – take hold. All are action verbs. The author of the letter to Timothy
tells him that as a result of the confession Timothy has made,
the same confession we make when we declare our belief in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, God has called Timothy, and us, to be a people of action.
We here at Northminster are indeed just that: people of
action. We understand that the life of faithfulness is a forceful and
vigorous engagement with the world. A day doesn’t
go by that something isn’t going on here on this campus or elsewhere because
people in this congregation are seeking to live out their confession of
Christ’s sovereignty of their lives. Be it Bible
study or office volunteers or
Presbyterian Women or Habitat for
Humanity or Ebenezer Brazilian Presbyterian
Church or the Men’s Breakfast Group
or BUZZ or Sunday School
or grass cutting or Safe
Havens or youth retreats
or choirs or mission trips,
the amount of people hours invested each week in living out our
confession is awesome!
Friends, let me be blunt. If you are a member of this
congregation and are not living out your confession, you have no one to
blame but yourself. Opportunities for engagement and connection and service
abound. By engaging and connecting and serving we put flesh and blood on
our confession of God’s dominion of our lives. Our 2007 Stewardship Campaign will begin in
two weeks. It
centers on The G.I.F.T. of Giving – a celebration of who and Whose we are;
a celebration of how we here at Northminster Presbyterian Church live out
our confession day in and day out.
Third – A
phrase in today’s scripture from
1 Timothy struck me
and provided me with the sermon title: “The Right Time”.
The letter writer is telling Timothy to live out his
confession “until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ which he will
bring about at the right time”. Jesus Christ will return, at the right
time, and Timothy is to live out his belief of Jesus Christ’s rule of his
life in that assurance.
What is “the right time” for us? Has “the right time” already gone?
Does “the right time” lie in our past causing us to reflect
longingly on days already lived? Is “the right time” somewhere in the future?
Is “the right time” somewhere down the road we can’t yet see,
but we know we’ll get there eventually?
“The right time” is both past and future, but more
importantly,
“the right time” is now! Now is “the right time” to engage and connect and serve.
In living out our confession, we dare not see any moment past
or future as “the right time”. We must see this present moment, which
yesterday was the future and tomorrow will be the past, as “the right time” to engage and connect and serve, “the
right time” to live out our confession.
May we who dwell in the shelter of the Most High
say of the Lord, “Our God, in whom we trust.” Amen. |
