Strengthening our Spirtuality

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This Sunday we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy 4:1-10 where Paul gives warnings and guidance regarding false teachers. Today, we find no shortage of people pointing to different church leaders and different doctrines as false, and honestly it can be overwhelming to sift through it all. How can we be confident that the teachings we follow are in line with what we learn about Jesus in the gospel?

Based on the way Paul describes these actions, we see that this is something he takes quite seriously. He points out that people have been adding extra rules and regulations that do not come from Christ. Some could argue that these restrictions are not life threatening, but Paul says that people who enforce this type of behavior are led by deceptive spirits and their consciences are dead. Why does this seem to be something Paul is so passionate about? Why do actions like this have grave consequences from his perspective?

V6-10 provides a few positive directions for us to follow in searching for a healthy spiritual worldview.  What is the basis for a good spiritual worldview according to v6?  

What we believe matters.  While we never want to join the bashing tactics of the loud voices that overwhelm the news and social media, we do need to recognize the need for a clear, Scriptural framework from which we make the choices of life. 

We hope you can join us this Sunday as we dive into this scripture together.

Matters of the Church

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I’m always curious about the different expectations that people have when they come to church. I wonder about when people step through the doors of Eastgate, whether it’s the first time or the hundredth time, what are they expecting to find?

Those who have been to Eastgate many times might expect to be greeted with friendly faces. They might expect to grab a refill of coffee during the five minute break. They might expect to sign up for a new event or ministry. They might expect it to feel like winter on the inside while it is boiling lava hot in the rest of Florida. 

Sometimes, we have found Eastgate to disappoint people’s expectations of what church should be. We have had some leave the church because they expected us to put more effort into how the church is marketed in the local community. Some have left because they expected us to spend more time weighing in on political matters or whatever things are dominating the 24 hour news cycles.

What are some non-negotiable expectations that you have for Eastgate, or all church communities that you participate in? For me, I expect to spend time studying scripture. I expect to spend time worshipping through music. I expect to support, and be supported, by the people in the church community.

This week, as we read 1 Timothy 3:14-16, we will see Paul continue to reinforce his expectations for the church community. This book is a letter to a church in Ephesus, a place we are many miles and many years removed from. Yet, there is wisdom in this text that is meant to shape and cultivate every church community that is centered on Christ. It is through studying this word we are able to learn Paul’s expectations for a healthy church, and consider how well we line up with that at Eastgate.

We invite you to join us this Sunday as we study the word together at 10:00AM.

Quality Control for Leaders

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Any group of people that seek to unite and accomplish a common goal are going to, by necessity, have leaders within the group.  Even on game shows like Survivor, we see how people naturally fall into roles and leaders eventually emerge among the tribes.  An old axiom says, “If everyone is in charge, then no one is.” .  We had to learn those lessons early on in trying to re-imagine our approach to church in Eastgate.  Leaders are part of the deal.

We’re going to continue our study in 1 Timothy this Sunday, reading 1 Tim 3:1-13. Paul provides lists of character traits that the leadership of the church should embody.  Why do you think it’s important for those who lead the church community to embody these moral characteristics?  Is it a double standard…that is, should these traits only characterize the leadership, or is there something else to this?

The word Paul uses for church leader is episkope, and it means someone who watches over things and investigates them…it is commonly called “an overseer”.  Many denominations have created an office hierarchy out of this word…but the text doesn’t seem to support that.  Words like “pastor/shepherd”, “elder” and “bishop/overseer” are more than likely describing the different functions of those who lead the local church.  Read 1 Peter 5:1-2 …do you notice anything about those terms in this verse? We’re going to get into the gender-specific language the translators used for this passage – James Pruch has a really good article on the problem of most translations of this passage.

The other designation for leadership is “deacon”, which in the Greek is diakonos, and it literally means “servant”.  I suppose this is any function in the church community that serves the specific needs a community has…including what the cultural developments require.  Things like teaching the children, music ministry, making coffee, doing media stuff….these would be included, in my thinking, as we make the generational and cultural leap to the 21st century.

Traditional formations of the church have created an elaborate hierarchy from passages like these…do you get any sense of an elevated class of people from what Paul says here?  What is the overall sense of Paul’s instructions….and how would you apply it to church as you know it?

Ross Clemons, from the Panama City Rescue Mission will join us this Sunday for a brief update on what’s happening in that ministry. I hope you can join us, Sunday at 10 AM.

God’s Kingdom in a Fallen Culture

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Sunday we’ll be continuing our exploration of the 1st letter to Timothy – reading chapter 2:8-15.

This passage continues Paul’s encouragement from the first part of the chapter – challenging both men and women to carry themselves differently from what the cultural expectations are. Paul does this a lot in his writing – and he cleverly subverts the norms of this broken world to show how the values of the Kingdom can operate even within the fallen culture.

This passage also contains a very difficult passage – one that’s stirred much controversy over the years. As we said at the outset of our teaching, we have to be good tourists when we come to these letters. We have to factor in the culture and historic setting and all of the influences that would prompt Paul to write the things he does to this ancient church. Our challenge will be to piece together a picture that can help us understand his words without forcing him to be contradictory to other parts of his writing.

It’s not an easy task – and I’ll warn you that we’ll spend a good amount of time exploring a handful of verses – but my hope is, it will be worth it and that we’ll all find it encouraging and freeing. Hope you can join us this Sunday at 10 am!

How Can We Make a Difference?

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This Sunday we’ll be reading 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Paul started off his letter with instructions about keeping the Gospel streamlined…not adding sensational stories or heavy-handed rules. From doctrine, he moves to practical instructions about the church’s place in this world, and our primary means of making a difference.

In v1-2, Paul gives specific instructions about how we are to deal with our fellow human beings…from our neighbors to our president.  What is his instruction?  Why does he make that such a priority?

Paul’s call to pray for the leaders is interesting considering who was in charge when he was writing this. At the time that this was written, it was established in Rome that whoever was in charge should be worshipped as a deity. The fact that Paul says to pray FOR and not TO the leader is an act of rebellion. Why do you think Paul doesn’t continue the rebellion by telling the Christian’s to fight back against such a tyrant?

In v3-7 Paul describes the ultimate way we as the church make a difference in this world.  In light of the prevalent call to political activism, these last verses seem to temper our understanding about what the church is called to do and represent.  What does that mean about our primary mission in the world?

We invite you to join us this Sunday at 10 as we study the word together and learn how these words from so long ago can apply to our own lives today.

God’s Messy Children

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We’re going to continue our series in 1 Timothy this Sunday, reading 1 Timothy 1:12-20. 

In our text last week, Paul launched his war on error, describing how the leaders in Ephesus had lost their way and were corrupting the message of the gospel.  The things that he highlighted gave us clues about what was happening with these leaders.  They were reading into genealogies to create some sense of elevation for themselves…a claim to a higher calling and closer position to God.

Since they were making themselves out to be special…Paul bares his own past, and shows what kind of person he had been, and how suitable he considered himself to be a minister of the gospel.  What does he say about his own background in light of his present calling, in v12-17?

In light of leaders trying to elevate themselves, what do you think Paul is trying to get across here?  V15 gives one of the most brilliantly succinct summaries of the gospel and it’s message to the world.  A person could spend a lifetime contemplating that verse, and all of it’s implications. 

Timothy, the one the letter is written to, was a young man Paul had been mentoring.  He’s very likely only in his early 20’s at the writing of this letter. This tells us something about how GOD goes about making someone qualified for the work of His kingdom…and it’s a far cry from the expectations we normally like to place on people.

Paul finishes off the chapter by calling out two guys by name, Hymenaeus and Alexander.  We don’t know anything about them.  Hymenaeus is mentioned again in 2 Timothy 2:17, and the “cancerous” teaching they endorse has to do with the claiming that the resurrection at the end of the age had already happened. The implications of that message could take believers down many different rabbit holes…even to the point of abandoning their hope in Christ. Paul “hands them over to Satan”…that is, he’s not going to try force them into truth…if they want to ally themselves with the enemy of God’s plan, let them go for it.  But he has a reason for letting them go…a goal he’s hoping to see accomplished.  What is that goal, in v20?  What does that tell us about our hopes, even for those who seem to have lost their faith?

The Church isn’t a haven for really good people to get together in and pat themselves on the back for how much better they are than everybody else.  The church is full of messy people who’ve been rescued by the unrelenting love of God through Jesus. 

I hope you can join us as we dig into this section on Sunday!

Paul’s War on Error

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This Sunday we’ll be continuing in our new study of 1&2 Timothy. We’ll be reading chapter 1, v 3-11.

After his quick greeting, Paul jumps right into correcting teachers in Ephesus (through Timothy whom he sent there in order to get them re-established), warning them that they’re veering off the path Paul originally pointed to.  What are some of the things he warns against in v4? 

So…we might start thinking: “what’s the big deal Paul?  Why is doctrine such a sticky issue with you?  What does it matter what some people believe?” We live in a day and age when doctrinal views and philosophies are fired at us as fast as water from a fire hydrant – so those kinds of questions seem appropriate. As we examine Paul’s words, how does v4 evaluate the results of what’s being taught in Ephesus?  What does that tell us about the importance of maintaining a healthy doctrinal understanding?

The issue seems to be a slide into mysticism, and another attempt to introduce the Old Testament law into New Testament living.  Who does Paul say the the law is for?  How do we understand this, in light of Paul’s message of salvation and life in Jesus Christ?

Should be an interesting foray into a very timely epistle, I hope you can join us this Sunday!

Introduction to 1 Timothy

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Back in 1979, David Macaulay wrote and illustrated Motel of the Mysteries, an imaginative picture book of an archeological find in the far flung future of 4022. In the ancient country of Usa, archeologist Howard Carson finds the remains of an ancient motel buried beneath many feet of earth and debris. It’s a fun exercise in acknowledging the challenges of making sense of artifacts from an ancient world. He sees the “do not disturb” sign hanging on a doorknob and assumes he has discovered a royal burial chamber. He decides the T.V. was an ancient worship device through which the primitives communicated with the gods. Stuff like that.

It really highlights the challenges we as Bible readers face in trying to grasp the meaning of some Scriptures. We are very far removed by time and culture from the original audience, and it requires diligent exploration of the time and culture of the ancient world in which the Scriptures emerged. That’s something we’re going to think about this Sunday as we begin a new series in the books of 1&2 Timothy

Both the letters to Timothy as well as Titus have become known as the “pastoral epistles”, because they written to specific church leaders with instructions about leading and church structure.  Some people assert that their only real purpose is to set up church policy and government, but I beg to differ.  It seems to me, that while the regulation of leaders and doctrine brackets the whole work, the real import of the message is staying on target with the Gospel which should effect our lives with REAL change.  That is, change that gets evidenced in the lives we live. 

This week as we introduce the book, we’ll be reading chapter 1 v 1-2, and we’ll introduce Paul and Timothy and talk about the ancient city of Ephesus, in hopes that we can lay the groundwork that provides a better understanding of some “difficult” aspects of these ancient letters.

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday at 10 AM as Janelle and I introduce these amazing letters.

The Conclusion of Matthew

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Well, after a year and some change, we have come to the final study in the Gospel of Matthew. We will be finishing up chapter 28, reading verses 16-20. This is Matthew’s abbreviated account of Jesus meeting up with his disciples after his resurrection. It’s a brief passage, but there is a lot of stuff to consider in these final words.

For one thing, v16-17 are fascinating and delightful to me. As his followers gather around their previously deceased Rabbi, they respond in a way that is telling about the nature of Christ. They worship him. Jesus allows them to worship him. What does that tell us?

In V17 it says that some doubted. It’s a very brief and unqualified statement which Matt just slips into the narrative. What did they doubt? That it was Jesus? Or did they doubt that he had really died? What doubts would you be wrestling with if you stood in their sandals? 

Jesus goes on to give several instructions in these final verses. Go to all nations, make disciples, baptize, teach, obey and trust. This is what will be going on until, as he puts it, the end of the age. Which of those imperatives are more challenging for you? How has our study of Jesus’ ministry helped to shape our understanding of what this will look like?

I hope you’ve gotten as much out of Matthew’s gospel as I have. I hope we all gain a clearer focus of God’s kingdom and heaven meeting earth to make all things new.

The New Creation

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I’ve said many times before how much I love the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. Critics will often point out all the discrepancies we find in them and declare the whole story as untrustworthy because of them. But it’s precisely because of those discrepancies that I find them so compelling! The narrative carries the tone of people who were shocked by something unexpected and impossible to believe, who stumble all over themselves trying to piece together the chain of events that led to their world being turned upside down.

We’re just a few studies out from completing our study in Matthew, and we’ll be reading Matthew 28:1-15 which describes the mind-imploding event of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Everything about this event carries the message of God’s intent for this world. Resurrection proclaims new creation. That’s what we’ll be focusing on this Sunday.

There’s an interesting pattern of reversal that we find that bridges ch 27:45-66 and ch 28:1-15. We start with darkness, then an earthquake, then Jesus dies and the religious leaders plot. Then in ch 28 we begin with light, and an earthquake, then Jesus lives, and the religious leaders plot. It’s a reversal of things…well, not all things, the religious leaders seem stuck in their repeated action – but for those outside of that, new life, new light, and new hope has dawned.

We’ll get into in more depth on Sunday. I hope you can join us as we explore the most important event that human history contains.