Omc: Family Chapel

While waiting can seem like passive resignation, it is actually active engagement. Through Abraham's example, we see that waiting upon the Lord means to joyfully surrender to God's will, faithfully live in alignment with God's way, and patiently hope in God's timing. And beyond Abraham's example, we see the perfect example in Jesus who joyfully surrendered to God's will done in God's way all in God's timing.

So often, waiting can feel so pointless and even very painful. And yet, God invites us into seasons of waiting. He does so because He wants to carry out His good purposes in our waiting, namely: repentance, maturity, fruitfulness, and renewed affections. Waiting exposes our hidden idols, grows us to become more like Jesus, brings forth fruit from our faithfulness, and grows our longing for home. We can wait with joyful surrender because God is carrying out His good purposes.

The picture of the marriage feast calls us to look ahead with active anticipation and response. Therefore, we must not be indifferent, opposed, or unchanged as ones invited to his kingdom. So seeking first his Kingdom means active preparation now even as we are called to wait with patience and faith.

To be in God's Kingdom involves being a good neighbor. And to be a good neighbor means to move in compassion towards those in need. As such, compassion involves seeing people in need, taking on inconvenient action, and refusing to draw artificial boundaries. By entering into the world, Jesus proves Himself to be the ultimate Good Neighbor.

Through this parable, Jesus teaches his disciples how they are to live as they wait for His return. As we wait for King Jesus to return, we should be faithful stewards of His resources for His Kingdom purposes. Those who truly belong to the Kingdom will faithfully live for the King.

With this parable, Jesus teaches that in the Kingdom of God, we ought to extend forgiveness to others because we have received forgiveness from God. At the heart of forgiveness is paying the debt of the wrongdoer yourself rather than making them pay for it. Forgiveness is the way of the Kingdom because forgiveness is the way of our King.

Parables were teaching methods used by Jesus where an earthly story was used to illustrate a heavenly or kingdom truth. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus teaches the crowds that a person's heart must be in the right condition and posture for the reception of God's Word, which in turn will determine the fruit he or she bears. The Spirit is at work and the seed is there. But we must be willing, diligent, and focused for it to bear fruit.

The practice of serving is humbly seeing the needs of others and ministering to those needs. When we engage in the practice of serving, we are formed to become truly great in God's Kingdom. We grow to become like our humble King. We can engage in the practice of serving by carrying out ordinary acts of kindness, by getting involved with ministry at church, and by faithfully engaging with our vocations.

The practice of generosity is faithfully stewarding God's resources for God's purposes. Generosity is so important because it frees us from the love of money, which actually enslaves us and keeps us from truly loving God or loving our neighbors. We can practice generosity as we give thanks to God, wisely budget our finances, and joyfully contribute to the work that God does through the local church.

The practice of community is sharing life together as brothers and sisters in the family of God. As a practice, community is never just found, but it is always built. As such, the practice of community forms us to become people of commitment. We can aim to build community together especially through exercising hospitality and pursuing reconciliation.

The spiritual formation of Scripture is to know God and to obey his word. It is relationship building but one that is focused on trust and surrender. In committing to his word, we are like the house built on a solid foundation able to withstand the harshness of life. But one who is not formed by Scripture is one who is set up to fall.

Solitude is intentionally setting aside time and space to be alone with God. We encounter God in our practice of solitude. But that’s not the only thing we encounter. In solitude, we also encounter ourselves as well as our enemies (the world, the flesh, and the devil). But it is our encounter with God that is deeply formative and allows us to honestly encounter ourselves and to victoriously encounter our enemies.

Fasting is voluntarily abstaining from food for a set period of time in order to more intentionally focus on God. In our day and culture, we tend to see fasting as something only "serious" Christians do (at best) or as a legalistic asceticism (at worst) - and so, by in large, we tend to ignore this practice altogether. And yet, Jesus assumed that his disciples would fast. The practice of fasting has many formative effects on us, but two major ones are the formation of holiness through self-control and the formation of a deeper hunger for the things of God. As embodied humans, when we actively deny the impulses of our stomach's appetites, we grow in our ability to say 'no' to sinful desires and to say 'yes' to the things of God.

At the heart of prayer is enjoying communion with God as our heavenly Father. More than focusing on the "how to" of prayer, we need to focus on the "who to" of prayer because what we most need in prayer is never what we are praying for, but it is always who we are praying to. Thankfully, what God most delights to give us in prayer is Himself! As such, prayer is deeply formative for us as we enter into that space of being fully known and fully loved by God because of the finished work of Christ. We grow as confident children of God.

Excited to start a new series called "Formation" where we will go over several different means of grace and disciplines that God has given to us for spiritual growth and formation. This Sunday, I will kick off the series with Sabbath. This is essential for all of our restless souls, especially with our tendencies to overwork or underwork in many ways. In essence, Sabbath is more than just "rest". It is a means of reinforcing trust, surrender, celebration, and remembrance. But the main goal of a regular sabbath rest is to establish the true inner rest that we all need and that is only found in the person of Jesus Christ. And lastly, we will look at some practical ways that we may practice sabbath rest and establish healthy rhythms.

In seeking assurance for God's ongoing presence with Israel, Moses makes his most audacious request yet: he asks to behold God's glory. While an unfiltered view of God's glory would prove to be too overwhelming, God makes arrangements for Moses to get a real but partial view of His glory. When the day comes for God's glory to be revealed, Moses gets a surprising revelation. Instead of displaying power or wealth, God reveals His glory through displaying His goodness. And ultimately, we see the clearest revelation of God's glorious goodness in Jesus Christ. Keeping our eyes set on God's glorious goodness is so important because it grounds us and guides us as we make our way through the wilderness of life on our way home to our true Promised Land.

After the Israelites set up the golden cow and break covenant with God, they are in need of reconciliation with God. God threatens to not move ahead with them to the Promised Land, which would be disastrous for the people. Moses steps in as a mediator and offers himself as a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of the people. While God does not accept Moses' offer, God relents from bringing disaster upon the people for their idolatry. By sheer grace, God renews covenant with his people. In all this, we see a foreshadowing of Jesus, our Greater Mediator, who offered himself up as a substitutionary sacrifice to secure reconciliation between us and God.

While Moses is meeting with God on Mt. Sinai, the people get antsy waiting for Moses and decide to build an idol for themselves. They break their covenantal vows and set up a golden cow. Through this incident, we learn some important truths about idolatry. We see that the allure of idolatry is the offer of mastery over life. The anatomy of idolatry is a stubborn refusal to submit to God. And the aftermath of idolatry is broken relationship with God and with others. As such, we must see our idols, confess our idols, and replace our idols.