Remembering to Forget about Me

Spirituality Column #225
March 1, 2011
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Remembering to Forget about Me
By Bob Walters

How often we sit in church during a worship service – I know I have – imploring God for a way out of, through or around life’s cataclysms.

God’s glad we’re there talking to Him, and we’re glad He’s there to talk to. God’s available anywhere, yet sitting in church is where most of us feel closest to God’s ear.

But worship isn’t supposed to be about us or our present situation, good or bad. Worship is about God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not about “me.” We lose the best part of worship if we focus on our problems and desires rather than immersing ourselves in the true, powerful heart of worship, the heart of Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is about loving God and loving others. Jesus Christ is our example of what a Godly human life looks like. His love, peace, mercy, forgiveness, service, grace and more are outwardly directed manifestations of a life dedicated to God and humanity. For us those virtues can become vices if they are instead directed inwardly, selfishly … truly impeding our ability to worship God.

We don’t put a lamp “under a bowl,” says Matthew 5:15 (also Mark 4:21 and Luke 11:33). A “lamp on its stand” – Christ’s light in a Christian believer’s life – “gives light to everyone in the house.”

Christ’s life, death and resurrection are His light shining on us and bringing mankind back into communion with the Creator God. Our worship should reflect that light, remembering Christ’s unparalleled Kingdom gifts of defeating death, erasing sin, and restoring us to heavenly relationship. That’s bigger than anything I’d be praying for.

The bread and the cup of communion represent the closeness and reality of our covenant relationship with God through Christ, and with the community of believers with whom we share it. It’s a meal of love, a meal of remembrance, a meal in the here and now that attaches us to the eternity of God’s love, and to the eternal gift of Christ’s obedience, sacrifice and fellowship.

The fastest way to richer worship is spending more time outside of church praying. St. Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Amen. We should praise, pray, ask, thank, confess and witness in all that we do, all the time.

And when it’s time to worship, forget yourself and free yourself.

It’s all about Thee, not me.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that if one’s approach to worship is “What’s in it for me?”, by all means, go and find out.

God and Man: Who's Seeking Whom?

Spirituality Column #220
January 25, 2011
Current in Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

God and Man: Who’s Seeking Whom?
By Bob Walters

Do we seek God, or is God seeking us?

Often lost in “seeker-sensitive” worship is the truth of what Jesus Christ’s earthly mission actually was. He was sent by God to seek us and bring us back to His flock like the shepherd who looks for the lost sheep in the New Testament parable.

Too often it’s marketed in churches that Jesus is entirely about “paying for” our sin and that our guilt should make us love Jesus. I can’t think of a worse way to describe God’s love, the work of Jesus Christ, or the reason for the Holy Spirit.

Folks, we’re sinners and we have to understand that. But fear and guilt will never help us find God; they only create focus on ourselves. Read the Bible and know that God already dealt with our sin by loving us and courageously giving His son.

When we immerse our “faith” in guilt and shame, we reject God’s love and free gift of salvation. We make God’s divine love a transaction or a payment plan instead of letting him just give it to us on His terms … on faith.

What does John 3:16 say? "For God was so mad at the world that He killed His only begotten Son so believers would be guilt-ridden forever?" No. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Then comes the clincher in John 3:17: Jesus was sent into the world “not to condemn the world” but so “the world through Him might be saved.”

It’s easy to become so focused on “seeking” or “finding” God that we forget that the greatest revelation of God’s grace and love was the fact that He already sent His Son humbly – without sin, into a fallen world, to seek us – to restore us to the perfect communion with the Godhead in the Kingdom of God, “not to condemn us.”

So don’t obsess over seeking God; He’s already seeking us. The biggest part of trusting God is trusting that He is looking for – and looking out for – each of his sheep.

Take some terrific Old Testament advice from Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Over and over Jesus says that with faith in Him, we’ll be saved.

He’s telling us the truth.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com), noting that Jesus Christ came to find the sinners not the righteous, is thankful to have been found.

Paul: Grace, Peace, Preeminence

Spirituality Column #183
May 11, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Paul: Grace, Peace, Preeminence
By Bob Walters

St. Paul – who we meet in St. Luke’s Book of Acts as “Saul of Tarsus” – wrote 13 of the New Testament’s 27 books.

Really they were letters, or in church language, “Epistles,” that Paul wrote to various towns and people describing the proper doctrine of Jesus Christ: how to worship, how to obey, how to identify heresy, how to defend the faith, and how to interact and function with fellow Christians and non-Christians.

Paul (c. 5 – 67 A.D.) had been a Pharisee, a high-ranking Jew, who disdained Christians and routinely, harshly persecuted them. Within a couple of years after the Crucifixion, Christ appeared to Christian-hating Paul on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9, 22, 26) and converted him from an enemy to an Apostle.

Just this bit of preceding information could start enough arguments among modern theologians to make Paul shake his head in bewilderment. Such as:

          - Paul really wrote 14 of the 27 New Testament books, because “Hebrews” was the unsigned work of Paul;

          - Paul really only wrote six epistles, the rest were either co-written or forgeries;

          - Paul’s writings inspired great legalism (codified, enforced obedience) among some Christians;

          - Paul’s writings – especially Romans and Galatians – are Christendom’s greatest arguments against legalism.

Authorship, in my view, is secondary to message. Scripture is scripture. If you want to argue tangent issues, then Paul’s important central point is being missed.

And that point is the preeminence of Christ.

You can’t add to Christ, and you can’t take away from Christ. He’s already the complete, main attraction in our salvation saga. If we add rules, we will worship the rules instead of Christ. If we make Christ – the fully human, fully divine Son of God – less than His promise, we won’t truly know Him and unleash in our lives the awesome spiritual power of faith, hope and love – the core of the Gospel.

Paul’s greeting in each Epistle contains the phrase, “grace and peace.” That’s grace, as in forgiveness of our sins and eternal communion in heaven with God; and peace, as in “Christ is our peace.” God’s grace. God’s peace. Only through Christ.

It was an entirely new way to see and relate to God. We make a huge mistake worshipping anything other than Christ, and waste our time arguing what to add to or take away from His completeness. That was Paul’s message.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) paraphrases Vince Lombardi: “Christ isn’t everything, He is the only thing.”

The Face of a Christian

Spirituality Column #179
April 13, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

The Face of a Christian
By Bob Walters

Do you know anyone at church, or elsewhere, who is just a real sourpuss?

I heard a good sermon on Easter about the ongoing joy Christians should experience. Easter teaches us that Jesus knows our human frailties, carries us in our troubles, forgives us of our sins, and that his resurrection – Easter’s main point – should transform our grief, guilt and fear into perpetual courage, hope and joy.

Christ did all that for love, for freedom, and for communion.

So … I thought about all the times I’m not joyful; when I’m impatient or scared or nervous: i.e., when I’m a sourpuss.

I also thought of a lovely funeral service I attended in Anderson a few weeks ago for a sweet Christian lady who died at age 97.

She had lived well, had failed physically in her last few years, but had her mental capacity to the end. What her preacher said at the funeral was glowing and gracious, but one particular comment stuck out.

Through her decades of marriage, raising children and generations (through great-great grandchildren), being an energetic and generous servant-saint in the church and community, and in those last, difficult months in a nursing home as her mortal body shut down, “she never complained,” he said.

We know someone has lived well and died well when we attend a funeral like that. We Christians are a funny bunch when it comes to death … we cry like everyone else, but know that the eternal point of our faith is meeting Jesus on the other side.

So not every death is heartbreaking, although some are. Neither is every life uplifting, although each one can be. Christ forgave each one of us, saved each one of us, and asks faith of each one of us. The ball of salvation is in our court.

As we think deeply about how faith and fear cannot be compatible, and about how our faith and love are acts of will, not accidents of fate, we should also contemplate our response to this amazing gift of forgiveness. We can’t repay it, nor should we try.

Whether one believes faith is preordained or not, one’s actions are definitely not. Accepting God’s love means managing – for His Glory – pure freedom.

So a Christian’s face should reflect grace and courage, not impatience or fear.

Don’t be a sourpuss. Choose, always, to let your face show God’s love.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) thanks Derek Duncan at E91 for the sermon, and Doris Edgecomb (1913-2010) for the example.

Life, Lights and Truth

Spirituality Column #110
December 16, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Life, Lights and Truth
By Bob Walters

And the Word became flesh … John 1:14

The flesh and blood arrival of Jesus Christ on earth as a human being – the Incarnation of Christ which we celebrate with Christmas – brought something brand new to the human experience: divine light and divine truth.

And something else: communion with God.

It’s a great example of the Bible’s consistency.

Think back for a moment to Genesis 1. Consider that God, with his Spirit hovering over the darkness of the deep, both created light and separated light from darkness on the first day. He didn’t get around to creating the sun and stars – the sources of physical light – until Day 4.

Now jump forward to John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The “Word” of course is Christ who became flesh, that part of the Holy Trinity which animates Creation, gives us life, breath, and freedom, and enables faith, hope and love.

What Genesis and John are saying is that Christ and the Holy Spirit are, from the beginning, with God. John 1:4-9 goes into some detail about light, and – read it again – is defining Christ as the Light of God we learn about in Genesis.

The light of goodness, the truth of knowing and our very lives are a great start to the infinite and eternal list of things God gives us in Christ.

Regarding our holiday season, I love Christmas lights. I think they are cheerful and poignant and sentimental and a wonderful expression of love. I could do without the fake deer and blow-up Santa’s, but the Christmas lights we put on our trees and houses are a bright reminder of the light and truth Christ brings into the world.

Sure, the date of Christmas is keyed to pagan festivals that celebrated the lengthening of the days after the winter solstice Dec. 21, not to the (likely) October or springtime birth of Christ.

But think … Who created the days? Who gave us life? And Who is the source of light and truth? The date doesn’t matter, because the gift is eternal.

Christ’s arrival showed us that God would come for us and show us a way to be in communion, despite our sins, with a God who is good, righteous and unchanging.

That is a truth that deserves to be put up in lights.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) rolls his eyes when he hears anyone suggest there is a more important symbolism of Light at Christmas than Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Nutrition

Spirituality Column #83
June 10, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Spiritual Nutrition
By Bob Walters

The great banquet of the Holy Spirit, the source of our spiritual nutrition, exists in our very real and palpable relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Things that enhance that relationship – the Bible, church, humility, service, prayer (the list is long) – feed our faith and both deepen and strengthen our commitment to walking the joyous but often hard steps of the true Christian life.

What steps?

Just take the examples of Christ in the Bible. That’s the most accurate picture of what a walk with God is supposed to look like. We all want the reception with palm leaves; but it’s that walk to the Cross that ultimately defines our faith. We need nutrition for that walk.

I’m not sure we’re going to need nutrition in Heaven, or in Hell, for that matter. Nutrition seems to be the stuff of this life, not the next. The Bible does not reveal a precisely recognizable nature of how the perfection of our eternal relationship with God works (“No eye has seen …” etc., 1 Corinthians 2:9), but there is no hint that it continues to be, on either our part or God’s, a work in progress.

At that point it’s a done deal.

Between the Bible, Christian traditions and my faith, I have no lingering doubts God has the eternity thing all figured out. My hunch is that he saves that part of the mystery for the end because … duh … it’s the best part.

But here and now is when developing that relationship provides the spiritual nutrition for our walk, both through the imperfections of our own lives in this fallen world, and for the hope we find in the glimmers of our potential for goodness in a beautiful world God created for us.

If we are having difficulty being certain of our relationship with God, we should look at the elemental components of how we build relationships with each other:
- we nourish relationships with love and grace and trust,
- we choke relationships with sin and fear and guilt.

It seems obvious which is the more nourishing three-course communion meal.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), who has been putting on weight lately, neither ignores sin nor makes it the center of his spiritual life.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him ..."
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)