Marriage

Matthew 19:3-6   Some Pharisees came to [Jesus] to test him.  They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”  “Haven’t your read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one.  Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (NIV).

   In this passage from Matthew, Jesus quotes from the book of Genesis.  Marriage was God’s plan in the beginning!  Marriage has been carried out in most cultures throughout history.  Jesus ordained marriage!

   But marriage has been frequently degraded at various times throughout history, and marriage is being rapidly degraded in my country, the United States, now.  Just in my lifetime, marriage is less common and more frequently ignored.  And tragically, in some Christian communities in my country, ministers are teaching it is fine to engage in sexual intercourse outside of marriage.  They reject the teaching of Jesus as recorded here in Matthew 19.

   In my opinion, the disagreement between various Christian communities regarding whether sexual intercourse is moral only within marriage, or not, has been the most divisive issue since the fiery dispute regarding the immorality or morality of slavery, which resulted in the Civil War.

   Yet marriage between a man and a woman is good!  Now marriage is not a requirement.  Singleness being chaste is an option.  Personally I have accomplished much ministry work which probably would not have been possible or best had I been married.  Yet I still have the dream of being married.  And marriage is an opportunity for many.

   Yet for continued happiness, a marriage needs both partners to live by the love of Jesus.  Why?  Because Jesus’ true love is needed by everyone, single or married.  His true love was manifested in that Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life with Him.  And you will be changed throughout your life to be more and more loving.  Enabled by Jesus, you can even be more and more loving to a spouse, if you gain one.

Hunter

Love

   Sometimes I struggle.  Recently I celebrated my birthday.  Every year in the past I have cherished birthdays.  Even as I get older, I continue with thanksgiving for how God has blessed me during another year.  But this past year, I have been so unsuccessful in gaining employment there have been rare feelings of diminished hope.  Also marriage has been a dream ever since my youth, but it has not happened after a half century.
   Working to stay encouraged by God, invitations were sent to a few friends for a birthday event.  The people who came: my dear friend who is like my sister and her children, of whom I am like an uncle.  Had they not been available, I would have been lonely on my birthday.  With such pathetic circumstances recently, I would have been crushed.  Instead, because of their expression of love, I had one of the best birthday parties I have ever had!
   Over the past 27 years of following Jesus there have been some occasions when I needed, truly needed, an expression of His love in some personal way.  This past birthday is an example where God gave me needed hope through the love of my three genuine friends.  Jesus Christ commanded we love God and love people.  My friends love Jesus, and they loved me on my birthday, and I am immensely thankful.
   So today, simply a statement from a teary eyed follower of Jesus saying if you love someone even this week, you may influence their life more than you can imagine.
Hunter

Why is Good Friday good?

   Yesterday afternoon I was driving to a park to go for a walk.  Turning on the radio to a Christian station, the D.J. was talking with a woman.  She said she had worked a job for fifteen years, but then in 2014, she was laid off.  Then she went to a temp company, and they placed her in a job.  It turned out to be her favorite job ever.  She woke up at 5:00am every weekday morning looking forward to her job.  But yesterday morning the temp company informed her the job was ending.  In one week it will be over.  Speaking to the D.J., she sobbed.  Then the D.J. started praying for her.  His prayer touched me.  And I prayed for her on my walk.
   Walking in the park my thoughts were flowing.  Like that woman, I have been in a job which I loved which came to an abrupt halt, actually several times and for various reasons, and each time it was extremely hurtful.  After working so hard and being so devoted to Jesus through it all, it hurts, and it can seem unreasonable.  If a job is enjoyed so much, why does God allow it to come to a premature or abrupt end?  If a child of God is working hard at a position, should not God reward that person by allowing her or him to continue in that employment?  And as I have mentioned previously, I have been unemployed for a long time, and that has been hard.  God keeps encouraging me, but no door has yet opened.
   After all of that thinking in the park while I walked around and around, the whole subject was rather overwhelming.  Yet I was blessed to acknowledge after my time thinking that because of sin, this world is full of daily tragedy, yet God will bring goodness from tragedy for those who turn to Him.

   Regarding tragedy, God allows people to make their own choices, day after day.  When those choices are not within the will of God, people get hurt in some manner.  Yet praise be God, if you turn to God in the wake of being hurt in a tragedy, He can bring goodness for you.  This is revealed in the Bible: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
   This does not mean that all things are good.  The Bible teaches sin is bad and hurts people.  However, for those who love God, and thus are willing to do His will, He will work in their lives to bring goodness.
   Today is “Good Friday,” when Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus.  Why was it good Jesus was murdered?  It is the ultimate event where God brought the ultimate goodness out of the ultimate tragedy.  The ultimate tragedy is that Jesus, who was Immanuel which means God with us, was murdered.  Yet His plan was to die and be the substitute for the consequences of sins, which is spiritual death in h-ll.  When Jesus was murdered, He became the atonement for sins, which is available for anyone.  Shedding His blood for the salvation of people was the ultimate goodness.
   Jesus could have chosen not to suffer death.  He did so because He loves us.  Many of us have gone through tragedies we could not avoid.  There are times when I have suffered or when I have seen someone else suffering when I have considered God does not love us.  I think, “How can God love us if He allows us to experience such extreme tragedy and suffering?”  Suffering all started because of the disobedience of people against God.  Yet Jesus suffered the atoning death on a cross to make it possible for us to one day suffer no more, since believers in Jesus will be with Him for eternity in heaven.  If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you can believe in Him right now and be saved!
   I hope you can say with me this “Good Friday,” “Thank You Jesus!”

Hunter

Scripture Love Blog

The voice of the Good Shepherd

   Back in the early nineties, I worked in Washington D.C. for three and a half years commuting on the subway from northern Virginia.  My dad commuted to Washington D.C. on that same subway line from Virginia, though he lived in a different town than myself once I was an adult.  We rarely saw each other on the subway.  One point about the D.C. subway is there are certain lines which overlap for a certain length, and then split.  Thus before you get on a train you need to look to see if it is the correct line you want.
   Once I was at a subway station which is a junction for two different lines, the orange line and the blue line.  I was waiting for an orange line.  A long blue line train came to the station and slowed to a halt.  Suddenly I saw my dad in a seat in the car just to the right of me.  He was sitting reading a book.  The doors opened and people immediately departed the train.  Then I jumped in the doorway and said, “Dad!”
   My dad, who was bent over reading, after a moment, raised his head.
   “You’re on a blue line,” I stated as he looked at me.
   He grabbed his briefcase and walked off the train.  As the train pulled away, we were both glad and amused I happened to be just at the right spot on a rare time when dad happened to be on the wrong train.
   And though there may have been a number of fathers on that train, my immediate reaction was to call him what I always call him.  And my dad said in the midst of reading, when he heard someone loudly say “Dad,” he recognized my voice.  Before he looked up, he thought, “That’s Hunter.”
   In a sermon in a church where I worshiped this past Sunday the pastor was teaching on John 10 and made the statement that all followers of Jesus are in one flock.  He said there is only one flock and there is only one Shepherd.  Sounds obvious, but sometimes we Christians are so enamored by our human institutions we do not act like there is one flock.  Jesus does not divide the sheep based on denomination membership or ethnicity.  There are no sub-flocks.  The flock of God started out with Jewish believers within the Mosaic Covenant, and in the time of Christ was expanded to consist of people from all ethnic groups of all nations who believe in Jesus.  Jesus has one flock, children of God who have been adopted into the forever family of God.  Those of us who truly believe in Jesus have God as our Father in heaven.  People are not in the flock if Jesus is not their Savior and Lord, however active they are with a church institution.  Membership in the flock is not based on human merit or family history.
   Jesus stated, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10: 27-28 NIV).
   Have you heard the voice of the Good Shepherd?  The Bible records teachings, discourses, and discussions by Jesus.  In my Bible, His words are even in red letters.  Though words on a page, the longer I follow Jesus, the more I hear the “voice” of Jesus as I read what He stated.
   I started with an old subway story, and I conclude with one.  When I was a rather new Christian, I got that job in Washington D.C.  Every day after work, I read the Bible on the way home.  Having only read a small amount of the Bible from the Old Testament in high school, I started by reading the entire New Testament for the first time.  Months in the future I shifted my Bible reading to the morning subway ride so I would read when more rested.  As my learning journey continued, Bible reading became more of a “study.”  Then came the ultimate; Bible time on the subway involved personal reflection and meditation.  All this happened on a subway over the course of six years.  And all along I grew in my understanding that when reading the Bible, Jesus was talking to everyone, including me.
   Soon after those six years of Bible learning and much other education at my special church, I became a youth pastor.  Though I had only been a Christian for seven years, time listening to and learning from the Good Shepherd predominantly on a subway train of all places, resulted in me being able to discern His voice.  And throughout all these years, I have been able to follow Jesus because I have listened to His voice in Scripture.
   To hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, you simply need to read the Bible trusting God that you will hear from Him, the One who loves you.
Hunter Irvine

Teach

   What is the name of a teacher who had a large impact in your life?

   My dad had a life changing teacher in junior high school.  Over forty years later, standing in an airport my dad heard two people talking behind him.  Without seeing either person, my dad recognized the one voice as that influential teacher.  The man was working as a volunteer at the airport information desk.  My dad went to him, introduced himself, and then told his former teacher what a great influence he had been in his life.  That story is one of my favorites because I think it is incredible my dad recognized the voice of a teacher he had not heard in over forty years.

   I have had some great teachers over many years of schooling, and two professors at Virginia Tech, Professor Ed Falco and Dr. J.W. Tubbs, had a life long influence.  Yet the personal story I will share here is from my freshman year at Virginia Tech.  The university was still on the quarter system, and the general education requirement for all students, besides engineering and math students who had even more advanced freshman math classes, included a quarter of Algebra, a quarter of Trigonometry, and a quarter of Calculus.  Not being a math person, they were hard for me.  (General education requirements are different at Tech these days.)  For those three classes, and a required entry level English class, Tech used graduate students as teachers.  My teacher for Calculus for the spring quarter was a graduate student from Tennessee.  That man turned out to be one of the best teachers I have ever had.  A Calculus expert, he would go through an equation problem on the chalk board at a nice pace for our sake.  Each step was explained!  Then he would ask if everyone in the class understood how he carried out the equation.  If only one person in the class did not understand, he would do it over again.  A few times he even went over a tricky step three times.  His patience was epic.

   One day around noon I was in the dining hall as usual.  Normally I sat with friends, but none of my friends were around that day.  Sitting alone at a large round table, I saw the Calculus teacher.  After he got a milk, he came over to my table and asked if he could sit with me.  I was honored to have my teacher sit with me and I enjoyed talking with him during lunch.  No other teacher had done that before, and none has done it since.

   We all have different gifts, and each of us prefer some subjects to others.  Whatever the subject, if your teacher was great, I speculate he or she has a passion for that subject.  And if your teacher was life changing, I speculate he or she cared about you.

   The last point Jesus instructed in the “Great Commission” is for followers of Jesus to teach everything He commanded.  Just as most of us have been aided by others in our Bible education, Jesus wants us disciples to be a part of the teaching process and assist in the education of others.  First we must learn from Him.  Preaching, teaching, and healing were grand aspects of the ministry of Jesus, and now His teachings are recorded in Scripture.  I personally am always learning from daily Bible study.  Second we must truly teach.  I love teaching, and promoting discussions by asking questions and being open to questions are one mode of teaching I employ to keep folks engaged.  Yet the call to teach is not only for those of us with a teaching gift.  You parents teach your children simply by how you live your life.  And if teaching is not your thing you can still foster Bible education by buying someone a Bible, treating your Sunday school teacher to lunch, or aiding the tuition of someone engaged in ministry studies.

   For twenty-two years of my life, though I had some prime education experience, I did not know the Gospel, I could not have named the first five books of the Old or New Testament, I had only read a small bit of the Bible, and I had never taken a theology class.  Boy has my life been radically different the past twenty-six years!  May that encourage us both when I say that right now education is more widespread and accessible than ever in history due to technology, however Bible unfamiliarity is common.  As education accessibility increases, Bible expertise seems to be diminishing.  Possible reasons might include the fact information overload is common, and our culture is more complicated.  Our duty remains, thus followers of Jesus need to keep learning from the Bible, and then share our knowledge in appropriate manners.

   For those of you who are not followers of Jesus, I invite you to take the opportunity to learn what Jesus taught.  His teaching can have even more than a “life time” influence; His teaching can have an eternal result.  Jesus, God the Son, gave teachings which reveal the Way to eternal life.

Hunter Irvine

Why does God let people die?

   I am compelled to write about a difficult topic: death.  This is a hard piece to write.  A few weeks ago as I was looking forward to Easter, I learned Easter is on April 16, 2017, which will coincide with the ten year commemoration of the 32 people murdered at my Alma mater Virginia Tech.  It will be a day where Christians need to proclaim the life available from Jesus, the One who rose from the grave.

   Having grown up in a TV generation, early on there was exposure to the reality of death, but it was not personal.  Gradually through my early years, death became a reality to face.  My first close confrontation with death was when I was a sophomore in high school.  There was a student in my Algebra class my freshman year who was a truly nice guy, and we were casual friends.  One day after school our sophomore year, he went to his friend’s house and smoked much pot.  Then he told his friend he was going to borrow his mini-bike.  The friend told him “no,” stating he was in no condition to ride it.  But he insisted, wrestled the motorized vehicle away, and went riding.  Going down a street perpendicular to my house, he ran into a poll at top speed.  I was doing homework, and I heard an ambulance.  When I went out, paramedics were frantically doing things huddled over his body.  He died on the way to the hospital within the hour.  Weeks of mourning followed at Falls Church High School.

   Also at my high school, there was a teacher I liked who died of cancer.  Yet during my four extremely active years at Virginia Tech, death seemed distant.  Yet even at Tech, a haven for me in sense, death did not disappear into history books.  For example, a fellow Resident Advisor’s dad died.  That same year a freshman died in a caving accident two days before I was scheduled to give a talk on caving safety.

   I will not get into my testimony here, however I want to state it was less than one year after graduating from Virginia Tech when I received Jesus, truly believing He had been resurrected from the dead, and that He was the way to everlasting life.

   Since becoming a follower of Jesus, having been far more involved in the lives of people, I have been exposed to many friends and church family members physically dying.  In my first church, Kathy was a person everyone loved.  She was in our church singles group.  She and I once attended a baseball game, and I had such a fun time.  In April of 1996, only in her late twenties, she died in a plane crash overseas.  I had so much trouble doing work the next day.
   I could continue on regarding the death of friends and family members.

   Why does God allow people to die?  Why does God allow such tragedy?  From the start, death is not what God wanted for people.  The first two people God created had the opportunity to choose the “tree of life.”  God gave them a complete invitation to eat the fruit of that tree (Genesis 2:16).  However they disobeyed God.  They indulged in the fruit of the one tree which they were unable to handle, the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” which God had forbid them from eating from.  Know that the sin of Adam and Even had nothing to do with apples or sex.  The Bible does not say what kind of fruit was on the trees, and there was a spiritual nature to those trees whatever fruit was on there.  And the tree was not a metaphor for sex.  God had given a general blessing after His creation of human beings to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28).  Multiplying involves you know what.  The sin was the disobedience to God by Adam and Eve.  Disobeying God, they brought about the separation between God and people, and the result of being separated from the Creator of all things is not only physical death, but also spiritual death.  Death is not what God wants for people, yet God granted Adam and Eve free will to obey or disobey Him.  Their disobedience brought about a state of hardship, pain, and physical death for the history of human beings to the present.  Yet God started working immediately to save people from spiritual death.

   Thus we all have the opportunity to make a choice today regarding having spiritual life.  All people still physically die, with few exceptions such as Elijah.  Yet eternal life is offered by Jesus, and any person can receive or not.  Jesus made eternal life possible by dying on a cross.  Seems odd a death would bring an opportunity for life.  Brace yourself for this: Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us.  Trinity is the term we use frequently today, a term which identifies Jesus for who He is, God the Son.  Being divine, God the Son allowed Himself to be crucified!  Death was experienced by Jesus, who never had to die.  Jesus willingly suffered death to be the substitute for people.  The consequence of sin is death, yet Jesus willingly took our place, because He loves all people.  Jesus died physically and spiritually, and it is the Sacrifice of all history for the spiritual salvation of people.

   Even when a follower of Jesus dies, we can still mourn.  For example, after the Virginia Tech murders, I cried and wailed.  God never desired death; it goes against the creation of God.  And even if the person is in heaven, we will miss them for a short period of time.  Yet when someone has been saved by Jesus, we can have the assurance the person is not dead, rather in heaven with God.  In 1996 was the only time I was with someone who died, and it was my dear friend, Grandma.  I had done much to help Grandma in the last five years of her life.  My grandma went much of her life not opening up to Jesus, yet in her 70’s, in the wake of my grandpa’s death, Grandma believed in Jesus.  I have never seen Jesus change someone so much in a short period of time.  When she passed away, I was the only other person with her besides God.  During her final minutes here, I held her hand and sang a song to her about how we would meet in heaven.  Once she was physically dead, I cried hard.  I even mourned in my heart for several months.  Yet deep in my heart I had the peace she is in heaven.

   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins.  God the Son, Creator of the universe and the entire spiritual realm, died, yet there was a purpose in His death.  He was the substitutionary atonement for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  And then He was resurrected and is alive in heaven today.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life.  You will still physically die, if Jesus does not return first, yet your soul will be immediately ushered into the kingdom of God, and you will be with our loving God for all eternity.  Jesus Christ is Risen!  He wants you to join Him for all eternity.  You need to believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

Hunter Irvine

A pastor

   Searching for a pastor position this past fall and winter I had interviews with three churches, (one in person and two on the phone), but I did not get the position in any of the three.  Questions asked of me were drastically different in all three interviews.  I started to ponder, “What questions would I ask if I were interviewing a pastor candidate?”

   First, in seeking a pastor, a suitable doctrinal fit is crucial in my view.  I would request a “faith statement” be included with the resume packet.  This does not mean every single interpretation of the Bible needs to be a match.  That is never going to happen even among long time members of a non-cultish church.  Yet “primary” doctrine needs to be determined, and the candidate needs to be in agreement, and even passionate about his or her doctrine.  Keep in mind there is the need for all of us to keep learning from the Bible.

   Second, there needs to be a vision.  For me vision includes what is termed “The Greatest Commandment,” based on the teaching of Jesus recorded in Matthew 22:34-40, and “The Great Commission,” based on Jesus’ statement recorded in Matthew 28:18-20.  All followers of Jesus should be carrying out both, and pastors should be in the lead.  I have always considered my primary duty as a youth minister to love God and to love people.  Loving people can be expressed in countless ways, yet it should be rooted in obedience to Jesus, who commanded us to tell the Gospel, baptize, and teach everything He commanded.

   Character is of upmost importance, since someone struggling with sin is hampered in loving people.  Stipulations for a pastor are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4.  For starters, a pastor is to be an example and to live a life of holiness!  Truthfully, we are all called to a life of holiness as is stated in 1 Peter 1:15-16.  We are all called to be like Jesus.  Pastors must be examples, yet realize even pastors sometimes make mistakes, at least I do anyway.  Some of the prohibitions are a pastor is not to be power hungry, not to be devoted to money, and not to be recently born again.  But for a successful interview, I think the character of the candidate should be learned ahead of time.  References are the best source for learning about the character of a potential pastor, and they should be questioned before an interview.

   Also, in addition to getting a doctrinal statement up front and talking with references, the candidate’s ministry education should be investigated ahead of time, and finally, whether in search of a head pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, or deacon, everyone on the committee should have carefully read his or her conversion testimony.  Then members of a committee are prepared to interview.

   In an interview, I would want to know a key question: “What are your gifts?”

   Some churches come up with a big list of things they want the pastor to do.  The problem is, if by slim chance they are able to find a person who can do that long list, they are probably hiring a poor leader.  A big lesson I learned in Scouting was that no person can do everything, rather success comes when a group works as a team.  A great leader is someone who is capable of delegating roles to the proper people.  Ministry work should be team work, and a pastor needs to be a leader.

   Thus if I interviewed someone, I would want to know what his or her gifts are!  I would look for someone whose gifts fit the major duties of the pastor which would not be delegated.  And I would be searching for someone who can work successfully with brothers and sisters of the congregation.

   Also in an interview, I would want to know if the person is going to be able to make himself or herself at home in the church and community.  If a move is involved, there needs to be consideration about whether it will be a culture shock, and whether the candidate, and their family, if they have a family, will thrive in the new place.

   After such pondering, I developed seven questions I would ask a potential pastor candidate in an interview after a character inquiry was completed.  Granted if the search committee was large, each committee member would probably only get to ask several questions, yet my questions then would be ones which I felt had not been addressed by other members of the committee.

1.   When was a recent occasion you told someone the Gospel?

2.   If you could only do one thing as a pastor, what would it be?

3.   A follow-up: What are some other gifts you have?

4.   If you were able to preach a sermon in one week, what passage of Scripture might you preach about?

5.   If you could change one aspect of your current worship service, what would it be?

6.   What is your favorite thing about our city/town/area?

7.   When was a recent time you laughed with someone doing ministry work?

   I hope this pondering might be of benefit if a reader happens to be on a pastor search committee one time in the future, and I hope I get asked some of these questions in an interview real soon.  After doing ministry work for many years in ministry positions and as a “volunteer,” I have learned the only way I can be a good pastor is to keep relying on the Chief Shepherd.  May you and I rely on Him even today.

Hunter Irvine