Pastor's Desktop Article for August 2014 Mt. Pleasant News

“A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  John 13:34-35  NIV

            It sounds like such a simple command, “Love one another.”  And if that was all that Jesus said there, it might have been an easier command to live into, but He didn’t stop there.  He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  He set the bar extremely high.  He has shown His love for us in so many ways, culminating in the cross—giving his very life for our salvation; all because He loves us.

            His love didn’t run out of patience when His disciples didn’t get what He was teaching them.  He knew the Holy Spirit would help them grasp it better later.  He didn’t bow out when the going got tough, but He entered into settings where He knew things would be difficult.  Whether it was going to His home town where folks couldn’t wrap their minds around Him being anything more than Mary and Joseph’s son, and His claims enraged them to the point of nearly hurling Him off of a cliff, or when it came to heading to Jerusalem that last time, knowing what was ahead, He stayed the course because of His great love for all those who would come to faith in Him.

            So, loving one another as Christ has loved us is an extremely high standard.  We have to keep in mind the compassion He felt for those who were keenly aware of their own short comings.  Whether it was the woman caught in adultery, the man born blind, or the woman who had the bleeding issue that touched the hem of His garment, His compassion was on display. 

            We have to keep in mind His humility, that even though He was the Son of God, He was willing to take the basin and the towel, get down on His knees and wash His disciple’s feet, showing them the model of the kind of leaders He was calling them to be.  His love for them, and for us for that matter, kept Him teaching those who would listen about His heavenly Father, so that they might understand and come to love Him more. 

            He finished His statement above with, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  If we are using His example of what it means to love one another, how are we doing?  How is the church doing?  Would the world even know that we are His disciples if all they had to go by was the measure of our love for each other?  Does the world know something about the love of Christ because they have seen it being worked out in our lives, and even directed toward those in the world?

            There is no doubt in my mind that I have a lot of room to grow in this area.  How about you?  I pray that we can help each other develop more of the love of Christ in us. 

               

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

Pastor's Desktop Article for Mt. Pleasant News, June 2014

From the Pastor's Desktop

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.  The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.  You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.  No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate.  But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.”   Isaiah 62:1-4 NIV

            The words of the song, Sweet Beulah Land, the men’s quartet is to sing for special music were rolling around in my head the last few weeks, and I decided to find out where the term “Beulah Land” came from.  The only place in all of Scripture that I can find a reference to it is in Isaiah 62:4.  If you were to look up the passage, you may have notes in your copy of the Scriptures that help you, but the definition is right there with the Scripture if we know how to find it.  The whole passage uses a pattern of two phrases that are similar and comparable.  We see it in verse 1.  The key words in that verse are “silent, and quiet” and also “dawn and blazing torch”.  The words help confirm the word picture contained in the sentence.

            The words Deserted and Desolate describe Israel after the time of exile and captivity.  The land lay basically deserted and desolate.  His plan was that upon their return to the land, that He would bless them, and no longer would their neighbors think of their land as deserted and desolate, but as a delight, and that they, in a sense, would be married to the land.  Verse 5 helps make that point.  “As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

            So when we sing, “Beulah Land, I’m longing for you, and some day, on thee I’ll stand, there my home shall be eternal, sweet Beulah Land,” we are singing of the land that God has promised us as an inheritance, our home in heaven, that we are longing for it, and that we will be married to it eternally as when a man takes a wife and that union is to be a lifelong union.

            Deserted and desolate describe for us our time before Christ, and maybe even some of our time while in Christ, but still on this earth.  We are, or at least should be, in some sense longing for that place God has prepared for us that we will rejoice in as when a couple who has been waiting and waiting finally get married, and are delighted in their new life together.     Thank you Squire Parsons for the rich words of this song.

               

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

Mt. Pleasant Pastor's Desktop article for May 2014

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

(Psalm 19:1-4a NIV)

            Spring has got to be my favorite time of the year, but I think that has something to do with the relief that spring brings after a cold hard winter.  The words to an old camp song come to mind as well: “What a wondrous time is spring when all the trees are budding, the birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming…”  The new life bursting forth all around us is so evident in spring especially after the landscape has been dull shades of gray and brown, or in the case of last winter, white for so long. 

            Nancy and I had the opportunity to walk through a park with my son and his family that I remember walking through nearly every Mother’s Day afternoon of my childhood with my grandparents, mom, and siblings.  The flood of memories was rich, but so was making new memories with my grandchildren.  Pointing out hollow trees, stopping to admire wildflowers, listening for woodpeckers, and other birds was a poignant reminder of those who had done the same with me so many years ago.

            All those memories cause me to reflect as well on the glory of God who has provided both the material for the memories, and the loved ones to make them with.  Helping others to know, appreciate and love the one who made all of this is both humbling and gratifying.  The psalmist closes this song with a similar thought.  “Who can discern His errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.  Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.  Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:12-14)

            Take time to stop and admire the wonders of spring, but remember then to worship the one who created it for His glory and our pleasure.  Then may that time of reflection on Him cause us to humble ourselves before Him and examine our own hearts and lives.

           

                           

By His Grace Alone,

Pastor Bruce Jacobsen

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