Desktop Article for the Mt. Pleasant Newsletter April 6, 2014

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

(2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV)

            I was in a meeting the other day when the subject of mission and vision statements came up.  In that context, I had the occasion to reflect on our own vision statement that is printed every week at the top left hand side of our bulletins: “Changing Lives Through the Power of Jesus Christ”.  One of the threads of conversation that went around the room was how many of the people in any given church can recite their vision statement, or tell someone what it means.  One of the keys to be able to do that is for that statement to be concise enough for it to be remembered, and kept in front of those that are guided by it.

            When held to that standard, I believe our vision statement works well.  I do wonder, though, if we are familiar with this reappearing line in our bulletin, and if it truly guides anything, let alone everything that we do as a congregation.  I was not here as pastor when the statement was developed, but I can imagine that perhaps this verse from 2 Corinthians 3 may have been part of the inspiration for it, or another passage like it, but the statement has strong biblical support.

            I would be interested in talking with anyone who was involved in the process of developing that statement as to what Scriptures prompted this statement, and what conversations went into producing the final product.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the statement, and do not wish to change it, but I want to help us as a congregation live in to this powerful goal. 

            Truly, the evidence of a person’s relationship with Christ is a changed life.  Paul also wrote in a later chapter in 2 Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  In Romans, Paul writes about our very nature being changed so that we are no longer slaves to sin, but become bondservants of Jesus Christ, so transformation is at the heart of what needs to be taking place in all of us here at Mt. Pleasant, as none of us are finished products as of yet.

            I would invite you to join me in prayerfully asking God to help us see how He is calling us to be a part of His work, to be “Changing Lives Through the Power of Jesus Christ”.  If our best days are still ahead of us, and I believe that they very well may be, how will we live into this statement?

                           

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

Pastor's Desktop Article for March 2014

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

(Romans 8:22-25)

            When will this winter be over??!!  It seems to just keep coming, and coming.  And even what we are expecting this week-end seems like it will be another wintery blast.  But, take heart!  Spring is coming.  We’re into the month of March, and while we shouldn’t expect too much in the way of temperatures in the 60’s or 70’s, it will be a great deal warmer than it has been recently.  Hope is on the way.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  We can be assured that God will keep the patterns of the seasons coming as they have in the past.

            Our lives can get to the place where we can have some of that same sense.  The older I get, and I’m only 51, but the older I get, the more I see myself aging, more things aching, more things I can’t do anymore, or at least not as easy as I once did.  You can think about yourself, how you are feeling, what you are going through etc.  Things can seem overwhelming, especially if it’s been that way for long.

            But you know what?  Hope is on the way.  In fact, we have hope, a certain hope right now.  As our passage reminds us, it’s not hope if we can see it, if it’s here right now.  So our hope is for what has been promised to us in Christ.  We “wait eagerly” for what we know to be ours in Christ, “the redemption of our bodies”. 

How long will we need to wait?  I don’t have the answer to that question, but I know that God does.  Likely, it will be different for everyone, unless Christ returns first.  But we don’t wait as those who have no hope, who have nothing to look forward to after this life here on earth.  We wait and hope for the salvation of our souls, the gates of glory, and being in the presence of the one who both created and redeemed us.  What a glorious thing that will be!

As far as spring goes, trust me, it won’t be long until the flowers are blooming.

                           

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

Pastor's Desktop Article for November 2013

O That Will Be Glory

“When all my labors and trials are o’re, and I am safe on that beautiful shore,

Just to be near the dear Lord I adore will through the ages be glory for me.

When by the gift of His infinite grace, I am accorded in heaven a place,

Just to be there and to look on His face, will through the ages be glory for me.

Friends will be there I have loved long ago; joy like a river around me will flow;

Yet, just a smile from my Savior I know will through the ages be glory for me.

O that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me;

When by His grace I shall look on His face, that will be glory, be glory for me.

Charles H. Gabriel

           

            What is it we are really longing for?  For many of us, thinking about the life after this life is scary and uncomfortable, but should it be that way for us?  If our faith in Christ means anything, it means that we are looking forward to a place much more grand than any of our days in this world could ever be.  If we have trusted in Christ alone for our salvation, to quote another hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand”.  We need not fear what lies beyond the sunset of our days, but instead we can sing with confidence the hymn referenced above.

            Perhaps the reason that our praise and worship has lost some of its luster is because we’ve become so focused on this world and its woes, and there is no shortage of this world’s woes.  Yes, we do have responsibilities and obligations to see to in this world, but we shouldn’t let the cares and concerns of this life get us down when we have such a glorious future awaiting us.

            When was the last time you came to church thinking about what you would give in terms of praise and worship to God, instead of what you would get?  We may get recharged to some extent by being together with the body of believers and hearing the Word, but if our goal is to get recharged, we may leave without all we hoped for more often than not.  If we come into His house, excited to be together with the body of believers, offering the very best of our praise and worship to Him, because we love Him, and because He is worthy of it, we will never leave disappointed.

                           

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

Pastor's Desktop Article for October 2013

                “My food, “said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  Do you not say, ‘For months more and then the harvest’?  I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.”   (John 4:34-35 NIV)

           

             This passage from John 4 was the theme for our Fall Revival this past week with Pastor Bill Schaefer, a series of messages centered on gardening/farming.  We were reminded of how various aspects of the process of growing apply very closely to our spiritual lives; from planting, to pulling the weeds, to harvesting.  Even if you’ve never planted a garden, it’s easy to see how these concepts apply to our lives.

            In the passage above, in saying that the fields were ripe for the harvest, Jesus may well have been referring to what follows in verses 39-41.  “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’  So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.  And because of his words many more became believers.”

            Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Galilee, and took this detour through Samaria, a land and a people that they typically avoided if at all possible.  Much is made of Jesus talking to this Samaritan woman, and asking her for water, but imagine how taboo it was for Him to stay in their town for two days.  It was not culturally acceptable to do so, and it was not part of their original plans, at least as far as the disciples knew.  But Jesus saw a harvest ripe for the picking, and so He allowed Himself to be detoured to see them become believers in Him.

            How often do we allow ourselves to be delayed or detoured so that we can plant seeds, or help in the harvest?  We are all too often in too much of a hurry, or too focused on what we had planned to allow God to change our plans along the way.  I know I have to force myself to slow down at times and look for the opportunities that God is putting before me to be a blessing, to plant a seed, or to see a seed begin to blossom and bear fruit.  I walk past or maybe sometimes run past way too many of those opportunities.

            If we really stop and think about it, is what we’re hurrying off to nearly as important as being a catalyst or some factor in the change in someone’s life for eternity?  The things that fill our lives, at least a good bit of the time, are valuable things to be sure, but are they as important as someone’s eternal soul?  I encourage you to work at being aware of the opportunities that come your way and see if God just might use you to be a part of the work He is doing around you, maybe even right next to you.  Take the time.  It will be worth it.

                                       

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

Pastor's Desktop Article for August 2013

                “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  (John 15:4  NIV)

           

             If you think about the truth of this statement by Jesus in John 15:4, in a purely physical sense—that of a literal vine growing in a vineyard or even a tomato vine, it seems too simple to even give much consideration.  Duh!  Of course the branch needs to stay attached to the vine to grow and bear fruit.  Everybody knows that!  Cut a branch from a vine and it will shrivel up and die.  Why is it then that we seem to have such a hard time applying this Scriptural truth to our lives?

            Perhaps some people think that if they are in close proximity to the church that this will be enough for them.  Try that in your garden.  Cut a branch off, but leave it near the plant and see what happens.  Obviously, we don’t even need to try this.  We know what will happen—it will quickly lose all signs of life and die.  We have to be more than near the church, and still more than being in the church.  We have to be “in Christ”, which is to make Him both Savior and Lord.  He is our source of life and strength.  He is the Vine!

            The King James Version uses the word “abide”, which might be more helpful than “remain”.  To abide somewhere is to take up residence, to not depart, to continue to be present.  A verse later in John 15:5, Jesus says, “apart from me you can do nothing.”  Not only can we not do anything apart from Him, but reading down a bit further in this passage, we find that branches that do not remain in Him are picked up and cast into the fire.  This does not just mean that we remain useless, as bad as that would be; this means that a judgment is coming and once we are picked up and thrown into the fire, there is no coming back from that.  Once we leave this life, our connection to the Vine or lack thereof determines our eternal fate.  The difference with a branch that is picked up and thrown into the fire and a person who is judged to be apart from Christ is that the branch will eventually be burned up and no longer exist.  The fate of those who remain apart from Christ will suffer eternally.

            So what does it look like to “remain” or “abide” in Christ?  Verse 7 answers that question.  “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”  Sometimes we’re apt to hear the latter part of that verse and ignore the first part.  Don’t make that mistake.  We need to remain completely trusting in Him and have His words remaining in us in order to come to Him and make our requests.  The difference is that our “asking” will be dramatically different by our remaining in Him.

           

                                       

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen