Prepare for life

Matthew 8:21-22   Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (NIV).

   Father’s Day was one week ago, and this sure seems like the opposite of a caring Father’s Day message or a caring any other day message.  However, carefully examining this passage we can learn the message of Jesus is a life giving and caring message.  One important context point here: I read years ago from a scholar or minister that the expression “bury my father” probably meant the man’s father was elderly, thus the request was to go and be with his father for a number of months or years in preparation for the man’s death.

   So the message of Jesus: Death is not to be our focus.  Life is to be our focus.

   Thus, Jesus needs to be our core devotion!

   Death is not to be what we are preparing for in this world!  Waiting for the inevitable, physical death, is not to be the mode of a Christian.  I personally committed to ministering to my Grandma in her last five years in this world.  Quite the unique “ministry” for a single man in my thirties, yet it was simply the “ministry” I accepted and gave my all to.  Grandma was not very mobile, yet for us, those years were not a time of waiting or preparing for death.  Instead we lived.  Since she did not drive, and since she could not walk far, I would take her out to eat at her favorite restaurant and a huge variety of other restaurants.  I would take her on drives, and she would be able to see places she had not seen in many years.  I would watch sports with her, frankly over doing it on that activity.  And for a period of time when I was not working as a youth pastor, I took her to church.  We had the privilege of learning from my favorite preacher of all time, Dr. David Beckman.  They were years of living!

   Had I been married and thus unable to make that huge commitment for so many years, I could have still expressed love to her, such as taking her out to eat and for a drive on special occasions.  Your expression of love to family and friends, including any assistance, is between you and God.  Yet we can always care, and we can always be witnessing Christ in our own personal way.

   I add Jesus was not instructing the man to skip his dad’s memorial service.  The man’s dad was probably not going to die any second, or the man would not have even been there in the first place.  When family and friends pass away, God wants us to mourn.  In fact, that is the only healthy response.

   Yet key to this passage is the statement by Jesus: “Follow me.”  Why?  Because we can only engage in life in this world full of frustrations and hurts by relying on Jesus.  Jesus is the One who has given believers in Him eternal life.  In following Jesus day by day, we will continue to be a light for Christ to those who are spiritually lost and perishing.  And only Jesus enables us to have genuine joy and peace.  It is imperative that Jesus is your core devotion in order for you to engage in healthy ministry work.  A person whose heart is completely devoted to Jesus can encourage elderly people to flourish in a relationship with Christ.

   I could not have helped grandma as I did without help from Jesus.  Honestly there were times when circumstances seemed hopeless, yet Jesus carried me through.  And when things were going smooth, Jesus enabled me to have fun with grandma, someone who had little fun over many previous years.  We followers of Jesus can engage in life now, and look forward to heaven to come.

Hunter Irvine

The home of Jesus

Matthew 8:19-20   Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (NIV).

Jesus was not at home in this world!  Being holy and being one with the Father, He was not at home.

The kingdom of heaven is the home of Jesus!

Jesus went home when He ascended into heaven.

And when Jesus comes to reign on earth, and then renews both heaven and earth, both heaven and earth will be His home, and the home of all of His children.

And the Lord God Almighty; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will reign forever!

Hunter Irvine

Decision for Jesus

   God has offered all people an opportunity for eternal life in Christ, and each person is allowed to make his or her own decision.  In Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39, we learn of the event where Jesus entered the region of the Gadarenes (or Gerasenes).  In that region, there were two men who were possessed by demons.  Luke focuses specifically on the one man who was possessed by numerous demons.  These men lived in tombs and were violent.  The result of the encounter with these two men possessed by demons was that Jesus ordered the demons to leave the men and go into a herd of pigs.  The possessed pigs then ran down a steep bank into the lake and they all died.

   This event seems rather bizarre, yet this event exposes the sins of the people in that region.  First, the region of Gadarenes was in the territory of what use to be Israel.  A combination of people who were Jewish and people who were not Jewish probably lived there.  Yet one thing is for sure: Jewish people were not supposed to be eating bacon, ham, or pork chops.  The law given by God through Moses prohibited eating pig meat as is stated in Leviticus 11:7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8.  Those pig herders were probably not raising pigs for pets.  They were going to sell the meat.  I am convinced this is why Jesus allowed the demons to go into the pigs.

   The end result was the two men were rescued from the demons.  Luke details how the one demon possessed man was healed.  “…When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind…” (Luke 8:35).  But the people were not grateful.  Instead, the end of that verse reveals their response: “…they were afraid” (Luke 8:35).  Their response resulted in them asking Jesus to leave.  “Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region” (Matthew 8:34).  And from Luke: “Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear… (Luke 8:37).

   What did Jesus do?  “…So he got into the boat and left” (Luke 8:37).  Tragically, those people put their cash crop or other sins over being with Jesus.  And Jesus honored their decision to reject Him.

   We people have a choice today still.  Jesus does not force Himself upon anyone in a spiritual manner just as He did not force Himself upon the people in the region of the Gerasenes.  You can be with Jesus or you can reject Him.  Receiving Jesus through faith results in eternal life, and rejection of Jesus results in spiritual death.  Why?  Because we all need God our creator for everlasting life.  And Jesus is God the Son who came into the world to save people.

   Rejection of Jesus in this world continued to the extent of Jesus being murdered on a cross.  Yet it fulfilled the mission of Jesus who died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  Jesus was the sacrificial atonement for the consequence of sins which is spiritual death.  Then Jesus was resurrected.  If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will have eternal life in Christ.  Thanks to Jesus, you have the opportunity to be saved from your sins.  What you need to do to be saved is believe in Jesus.

Hunter Irvine

+ Thank You Jesus for giving us all the opportunity to believe in You and thus be saved from our sins, and thus be with You forever.  Personally, may I be grateful daily that I have been saved.

It is through Your loving name Jesus I pray.  Amen.

Reasons to improve sermons

   Why should sermons be retained as a part of a worship service?

   First, Jesus instructed: “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations” (Mark 13:10).  Preaching is needed!  Peter preached; one example is recorded in Acts 2:14-40.  Paul preached; one example is recorded in Acts 13:16-41.  Carried out by many Christians for nearly two thousand years, preaching has even crossed denominational borders, though with countless styles.

   Second, preaching is a spiritual gift.  Paul stated to Timothy, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.  Do not neglect your gift…” (I Timothy 4:13-14).

   I do sympathize with people who are discouraged by the preaching in their church.  For example, I am an interactive learner.  A college professor who talked on and on usually did not engage me personally.  Still I would take notes in class, and then carefully study the notes before the test so I would get a good grade.  However, I was not learning much for the long haul.  Whereas when learning from a professor who asked questions, often termed the Socratic method, I would be more actively engaged since I could participate in discussion.  Thus I was far more likely to remember the material.  I need engagement!

   Regarding the improvement of preaching during worship, I offer two suggestions.

   First, make sermons shorter!  It is easy to say, but hard to do.  This is my personal goal as a preacher.  When I prepare a sermon, I immerse myself in that passage for one week.  Thus I become capable of giving a long sermon.  But the listeners have not been pondering the passage all week.  And if too much information is given, they may retain little.  Thus the best I can give listeners is a single message.  And the more I prepare, the more capable I become for giving a smoother and shorter sermon.

   Second, provide other opportunities for interaction.  In my next position, I want to implement a short time during the worship where people get into discussion groups of three or so, and give some insight between one another regarding the Scripture passage.  This is a radical idea, which I have never seen carried out in a worship service.  But I read this suggestion from a woman in a short article on the Internet, and I want to try it.  I think it has the potential of making worship more interesting or fun for many people.

   Even though I advocate shorter sermons and more interaction during a service, the bottom line is preaching is needed!  If you preach, give it your all!

Hunter Irvine

Be yourself when doing ministry work!

    I learned a critical lesson about church in my first youth minister position: Be yourself!

After I resigned that position, I wrote that statement on a sheet of paper, and here over twenty years later I still have that sheet of paper.

   You are a person created by God who is unique from any other person ever created, physically and spiritually.  God wants you to be the person He created you to be!  God abhors sin, since sin only interferes with you being the person He created you to be.  And God does not want church leaders or people in the congregation stifling your unique personality, your God given gifts, or your calling from God.

   I love preaching!  When I preach, it is totally personal, because I am conveying messages from God from Scripture, and those messages are coming from my heart.  Thus in pouring out my heart, I must be “me.”

   Once I tried to be someone different.  My first day of high school, I was a new kid in school since I had gone to a different junior high school in the district where my family use to live.  Taking the suggestion of a friend in junior high, I decided to try and create a new image.  I was going to be cool.  I did not have a plan ahead of time for being cool, but that is what I was aiming for.  Coming up with a last minute plan which I probably could not even have articulated, I started trying to be the strong silent type, since that was my perception of cool, from TV probably.  I was miserable.  Slowly, I went back to being “me,” which is to be joyful and loud.  Trying to be someone different, not only was I miserable, but my attempted image did not help me in a single relationship.  My relationships with other students only were good when I was “myself.”  Great relationships are genuine.

   Likewise, a preacher needs to be totally himself or herself with listeners, so they may know who you really are in order to accept the sincerity of your message.  Be yourself when you preach, and people will have the opportunity to recognize the sincerity of your preaching from your heart.

   God works so we may keep personally improving, and as with any spiritual gift, God works to improve our preaching.  Yet in being yourself, you will be a genuine preacher.

Hunter

The Heart of a Sermon

   For you preachers out there, along with you sermon enthusiasts: A sermon is a delicate arrangement as an art and a science.  With “art” being one key component, any given sermon will appeal to some but not others, just as certain types of music appeal to some but not others.  All people are unique, and all people have different tastes.  And each preacher has a unique personality and unique interests, presenting information and giving illustrations in a personal way.

   “Personal” is key here.  Why?  Jesus was personal.  Jesus, being fully God, became fully human in order to minister to us people on our level.  When you, as a man or woman saved by Jesus and gifted to preach, carry out the craft of creating a sermon to be presented to willing listeners, be personable as Christ was personable.  As a human saved by Jesus, you are a new creation in Christ, but you were once in the darkness as many are now.  Remember that point in humility, and you will get the attention of folks who are not Christians.  We are saved because Christ bore our sins because He loves everyone!  That is a message a person may only hear from you.  Regarding your fellow followers of Jesus who listen to your preaching, your faith in Jesus in the midst of the countless challenges and struggles in this fallen messed up world will shine through.

   The “science” is the fact a sermon needs to give a message from the Bible.  Jesus preached personally, yet He also preached with authority as the Messiah.  A person giving a hermeneutical message of the Bible is a person is giving a message from God.  Failure to do so results in a person giving his or her own message, which is done every day in countless venues outside of Christian preaching.  Jesus said, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations” (Mark 13:10).  That gospel comes from the revelations of God given in the inspired Scripture.

   You are a creative herald, and relying on the help of the Holy Spirit to be personable, and relying on the authority of Scripture to offer God’s messages, you will bear fruit as a person who is talking to people as one of them.

   And what is at the root of both the art and the science of preaching: the heart.  As a successful preacher, D. Stuart Brisco wrote: “Thankfully, I learned a big lesson early.  A preacher’s motives matter more than a preacher’s methods.” (1)

   I encourage you fellow preachers to allow God to keep improving your heart for great preaching.  And my next piece will address another point for successful preaching, so your loving heart will be heard.

Hunter Irvine

(1)  D. Stuart Briscoe, Fresh Air in the Pulpit

(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 72.

Why does God allow so much suffering?

   As a student at Virginia Tech in the 1980’s, I served as a Resident Advisor.  At the end of my junior year after students had vacated their dorm rooms, I had to do room inspection to make sure each room was in good order.  In one room, a former resident had left a small wooden plaque on the wall.  Pictured was a small country church nestled in a low rolling mountain valley.  The church was bright, whereas the landscape was dark, and the sky was filled with dark clouds.  A rainbow, obviously imposed, arched from the sky right down on the church.  And a statement was written to the side, speaking of the light in the darkness.

   As someone who was not a Christian, yet who in a gentle way was seeking God, I was touched by the plaque.  I felt it was God speaking to me in some soft way.

   About a year after graduating from Virginia Tech, I gave my heart to Jesus.  And jumping ahead all these years, every year on this day there is some pain in my spiritual heart.  Today is the 14th memorial of when 32 students were murdered at Virginia Tech.  I prayed for the families this morning before I even got out of bed.  Fourteen years later, families and friends surely still have some pain in their hearts.

   So my question, “Why does God allow so much suffering?”  I do not know.  What I do know is the Bible reveals why there is suffering, which is because of the separation between God and people, a separation which is due to the disobedience of the first two people.  And not only did it result in suffering, but it resulted in eventual physical and spiritual death for all people.

   Yet the Bible also reveals there can be a uniting with God which results in everlasting life.  That is because Jesus, God the Son, came into this world to be the atoning sacrifice for the penalty of sins.  The consequence of sins is physical and spiritual death.  Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute.  And then Jesus was resurrected.  If any person believes in Jesus as her or his Savior and Lord, she or he has eternal life.

   Having followed Jesus for 31 years, I recognize more and more the “darkness” which results from going against the will of God.  I also have learned the hard way a random church is not a light in the darkness.  The light in the darkness is Jesus.  “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).  And people who are genuine followers of Jesus, though we still have our flaws, are enabled to be little lights in this world with the joy and peace which we have gained from Jesus.

   If you are not a follower of Jesus, I invite you to believe in Jesus.  Believing is how you receive His love and are united with Him.  You will still suffer in this world.  Yet you will have eternal life with Jesus!

   Jesus loves you!

Hunter Irvine