To God’s Beloved At Cloverdale Baptist Church:
How do we respond to a culture that seems to be moving further and further away from God’s love and revealed best life for us now?
How can we live in the world, but not of the world?
This month is known in our world as pride month. That means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so hard to address in one small blog…so rather than respond to the worlds view of this month, I want to claim it back for the Christian.
I would love for us to celebrate HUMBLE month. A month where we celebrate the goodness of the Gospel to sinners like us, and in humility and courage offer this chance of forgiveness and hope to others who need it.
We know God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6-7), and we know that we need to be those who are marked among the humble, so how do we do this in a world gone mad? How can we celebrate HUMBLE MONTH in a way that glorifies God?
- Be Humble: This is the starting place, and the attribute we grow in as followers of Jesus. We want to be like Him (Philippians 2), and draw near to Him (James 4:6-7), and receive forgiveness, restoration, and hope. The starting place for interacting with the world has to be our own, “poor in spirit” recognition, and from that characteristic, a willingness to weep for sinners and sin, and call people to humility before God. It is a preferring of others, seeking to, out honour them (Romans 12:10) and to live our lives as servants of others for God’s glory. Humility is one of the greatest attributes of the follower of Jesus, and can only be produced in the Spirit. It will cause us not to look down on others, and to look up for the strength that only God can provide (2 Corinthians 12:10).
- Be Word Saturated: We talk about this a lot and rightly so. When Jesus prayed for us that we would be in the world, but not of the world, this prayer included our sanctification, and it is by the Word of God (John 17:17). If we are not Word saturated it will be easy to be punching, pontificating or panicking, and this will not glorify God. God’s Word shows us what we should be passionate about in terms of who He is, what He has done, and where He has called us to stand. Almost all mistakes made in the name of God are from those who have added to the Bible, taken away from the Bible, or ignored it in apathy or anger (Isaiah 66:2).
- Be Engaged In Disciple-Making: This is what Jesus left His church to do (Matthew 28:18-20), and this means an offering of the Gospel to all who will hear, and a passion to obey all of God’s Word with His followers. The best way we offer hope to the world is to be like Jesus, and He did not engage in culture wars, He called the people of God to live obedient grace filled lives. We must be committed to the local church, and the mission of the local church, and help one another live holy and loving lives, worthy of the Gospel (Ephesians 4:1-2).
- Be good citizens of heaven, and of earth: We are called to live in a way that impacts those around us, but not by our volume, rather by our holiness and love (1 Thessalonians 4:10-12). It is easier to make noise, but God wants more from us. We are to live among those who don’t know Jesus with love and light (1 Peter 2:11-12). Constantly growing in conformity to the image of Jesus (Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 5:1-2) and walking in faith. As we live like this in the world, people will as us for the reason of the hope we have in us, and we will answer with the GOSPEL (1 Peter 3:15) and GREATNESS of our God.
- Be Salt & Light: There is an influence that we are called to have, and this includes protecting the vulnerable. I am not always sure how best we can do this when it comes to our elderly and children (especially those in the womb) but do know we have been called to protect those in need. I was saddened by the cultural engagement of some over masks, and mandates, who have ignored the plight of the unborn for years, seeming to place convenience and cultural opinions over life. As you know I was not a fan of some of the response to COVID of the culture, left and right, but let us choose the things most important to God, as revealed in His Word as we respond to the world around us. It is far to easy to fight the world as the world, and when we do that we become like the world and this is not a good or safe place to be (1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4).
How can we influence our world to not kill the unborn, to value children enough to not let them harm themselves in what is known as the gender revolution? I am not always sure of the best way to do these things as we trust and obey our God, but I do know protection of the most vulnerable in grace and love is a part of true religion (James 1:27).
- Stay Hopeful: This has been the message of Revelation and 1 Peter. Choose to live in light of the greatness and glory of God, and to be holy, loving, prayer filled, and missional in a lost and hurting world. I think if we are obeying 1 Peter 4 well, the rest of our influence on the world will be a lot easier, so let us focus where God has called us to focus so that we don’t disobey Him in our angst to influence the culture (THE END IS NEAR).
- Accept that we will be different than the world, and they may not like God’s love on display through us (2 Timothy 3:12). This after all is the message of 1 Peter, and Jesus promised that we would be treated like Him if we followed Him. We should not expect this world to be our home, but we should expect God to care for us in the midst of the storms because we are His treasured children (Psalm 46).
- Remember we are in a spiritual battle, and fight the way God has shown us (Ephesians 6:10-19; 2 Corinthians 10:5). We don’t have to fear or struggle against men and women who disagree with us, we do get to love them. We do have to fight the demonic, and that is only done in the power of the LORD. We must fight in His power, not our strength (Zechariah 4:6), and PRAY PRAY PRAY (Luke 18:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
We might be tempted to be Pharisees and withdraw and condemn as we build legalistic rules and add to the Word of God to protect ourselves from the world.
We might be tempted to compromise like the Tax Collectors and Sadducees, by taking away from the Word of God and finding success in that compromise with the world.
We might be tempted to fight the world and take up arms like the zealots and stand up for our rights sword in hand.
Perhaps the greatest temptation is not to numb ourselves with tv, games, or other entertainment...
But my prayer is that we would fight those temptations and be true disciples of Jesus who take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Who will not add to His Word, or take away from it. Who will share the Gospel with any and all who will listen. Who will live lives of holiness and love in the world, while keeping ourselves from its stain. Who will love one another so richly that people will know we belong to God. Who will protect the vulnerable, and live with hope when around us there is fear and anxiety. Who will display in our peace that we know God, experience His love, and live on mission for Him.
This will not be easy, but it will be rewarding, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, WORTH IT!
June is HUMBLE MONTH. Let us live for the glory of our God, in the world, but not of the world.
Sunday Is Coming:
This summer we are going to look at the Parables of Jesus and hear from Him what He shared to reveal and conceal His will.
- Why do you think that Jesus told parables?
- What is your favourite parable?
- How do the parables help us to get to know Jesus more effectively?
Privileged to trust God, and serve His church,
Pastor Rob
Bulletin
Father’s Day Food Bank Can Drive
On Father’s Day (June 18th) our church is collecting food for the Langley Food Bank (a Christian food bank). They are in need of canned soup, canned veggies and canned fruit. Please drop them off on Sunday June 18th. If you have any questions, please contact Pastor Thomas.
Baptism Sunday
Sun. June 18th / During the service We will be witnessing a few people going through the waters of baptism. If you have put your faith in Christ and would like to be baptized, see one of our pastors today or contact our church office.
Summer Camps 2023
Register Today!
Soccer Camp / July 10–14 / Grade 1–6: Become a total athlete! Our coaches and club soccer players will help your child develop fundamental dribbling, shooting, passing, and ball control skills.
Day Camp / July 24–28 / Preschool–Grade 6: Five fun-filled days with stories, songs, teaching, crafts, and games! Kids will journey with Emerson, Nebraska, and their friends as they search to figure out the Mystery in Cedar Valley.
