Rethinking Lent

If you knew your life could save someone’s life, would you give it up for them? What does this quote from Jim Elliot mean? “She is no fool who gives what she cannot keep, to gain what she cannot lose.” These questions could be relevant in this time of the year as we go through this season of Lent. During these Forty days beginning on Ash Wednesday, we take time to re-think our nature and vulnerability in light of who Jesus is. Ash in the tradition of the Jews and the church is a sign of mourning, grief, humility, sorrow, sin, prayer and fasting. “You are dust and you shall return to dust” is the statement the church now uses when applying ashes on people’s foreheads.

However, this is not all about a ritual but about a life style. In Matthew 16: 24-25; Mark 8: 34-35 and Luke 9: 23-24, Jesus shares things that are related to our opening questions. Here is what he says: “If anyone wants to follow me, let him disown himself and pick up his cross and continually follow me.” He adds: “whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for the sake of me and the good news will save it.” Here are four things I would like us to keep in mind as we go through lent:

· Lent is a time to stop and think on how we have been living out our faith.

· Lent is a time to stop and take off what is not God’s.

· Lent is a time to humble once more time under the hand of God so that God take the lead in our lives.

· Lent is a time to remember that our Christian faith is a sacrificial life, and we should be ready to lay down our lives for the sake of God’s kingdom.

Be blessed as you go through Lent looking forward to Easter!

Rev. Emmanuel T Naweji

You shall not do as they do

I now have a daughter who is going to be 1 year old this March. When she was about 7 months old, I was moving my head side by side following the music of one of her toys. She was just watching. A week later, as I picked her up from her crib, she looked at me, and with a smile, she did what I had done for her some time ago. It is amazing to see how kids can watch and imitate what we do and even what we say. Better watch you say or do in front of a kid!

Imitation is a very natural thing. That's how we all learned to do what we're doing. However, the way life is perceived today is that you cannot just be yourself. You have to assimilate or be like everybody else. This is our culture and has unfortunately come into the church. Do you remember the story in 1 Samuel 8 when Israel demanded a king? Here are the words the Israelites shared with Samuel, the last judge in Israel: "Appoint for us a king to govern us, like other nations."

Aren't we not in the same situation? Are we not trying our best to be like our neighbors or like other churches? Worse even, do we not want to govern and lead ourselves and our churches as they (Institutions in our secular world) do? non church based Institutions do things following principles and rules that humans establish. The church follows guidelines that God, the Creator has established. Most organizations seek their own interests even when they seem to be serving the people around them. And that is not what we expect to see in Christians and churches.

How bad it is now that we want to govern our lives as they do. This does not only affect our spirituality, but reduces the level of our dependence in God. It makes us, humans, be the leaders of ourselves and our churches, and thus prevents our Maker from getting involved into our lives. It is more about we rather than God.

I would like you to ponder the following questions. How do you live your life? Is God's word the guiding book for your everyday life? In time of trouble or challenge, who do you go to first: God or People? Who leads your life?

Be blessed and always of good courage!

Emmanuel

Give God the best of your self

When you have a visitor at your home, do you give them leftovers for lunch? No, instead that is the day we make some casseroles. It is when we even try something new and very special just for our guest. Then here is the question: "Does Jesus not have to be treated even better than our human guests?"

Why do you give leftovers of your time, money and talents to the One who made you? Why give what we do not need to our Savior?

Here are a few things to help us understand that we should give to God the best. Israel built the ark and sanctuary with the most precious metal, gold. In Leviticus 1, God is asking the Israelites to offer a sacrifice without blemish. why then give God what's not perfect?

The other thing is: what do you value the most in your life? If you can give time to your work and some of your hobbies, why not give the best of your time to the Lord?

The reasons why we should give the best to the Lord are as follows:
1. It is a command from God Himself. This is what God asks from all of us.
2. This is for our well being. There is a blessing and joy in giving than in receiving. (Acts 20: 35)
3. Christian life should always be sacrificial. Everything about God and our faith should come first in our life.
4. We would like to worship and honor the One who has everything in His Hand. We serve the Creator rather than the creation.


Be always Strong and of a good Courage!

Emmanuel

Make Me a Sanctuary

Do you know any beautiful church? Well, online I came across Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe chapel (Le Puy-en-Velay, France), which is considered to be one of the most beautiful churches in the world. It is 269 feet (82m) high, 187 feet (57m) wide, and has a base circumference of 560 feet (170m. Amazing, isn't it? It was built around the 10th century and enlarged about 200 years later.

People who built it, did it for the Lord, I would say. They just did like what God asked Moses in Exodus 25: 8 saying: "Have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them." Congregations around the world, today, are doing their best to do this, but what is it that God is really asking of us? Is God expecting us to have fancy buildings for Him to dwell among us? How about those congregations that cannot afford a great sanctuary?

The New Testament gives another meaning of Exodus 25: 8. Beginning with Jesus who tells the Samaritan woman that worship will not only take place in Jerusalem or Samaria, but any where where people worship in spirit and truth(John 4:21-24). Then, Paul tells the Corinthians: "do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Corinthians 6: 19)"

What matters the most to God is how you make yourself to be God's sanctuary. Is God dwelling in you, or is it someone else? It is perhaps time for you to reconsider your priorities as to know what should come first in your life and who you really worship.

As a church, before even thinking of investing in a fancy building, you should first assess how much has been invested in the spiritual life of your congregation. A fancy church with people among which God does not dwell is like a museum. People come in and leave the same. Their lives are not transformed and as a result they cannot impact the world around them. They are not made disciples of Christ, which is the call for all churches.

I pray that you and I may continue to be God's sanctuary so that through us the entire world gets a chance to meet with their Maker!

Emmanuel

Leaving a legacy

How do you want to be remembered for when you leave a place, a community or a town? How would you be remembered when you pass on? Have you ever asked yourself the above questions? Well if you were to write your own obituary, what are the memories people would celebrate for about you?

For my sermon, I delivered this weekend (February 6 & 7) on the topic of "Leave Boldly," I talked about leaving a legacy, something that people will always remember about us. I like the way the Psalmist says it in Psalms 22: 30 that "Posterity will serve Him; future generations will be told about the Lord." When future generations are told and talk about something, that is called a legacy, something generations to come will remember.

How do we leave a legacy? Well there are three ways I would to share with you today.
1. Make Jesus be the foundation and center of your life
In 1 Corinthians 3: 12-14, Paul urges the church that Jesus is the foundation and what matters the most is what type of materials to use to build upon this foundation. Temporary materials (temporary legacy) do not last. It is just for a season and then time will wash them away. People will remember only for a while. However, an eternal legacy will not just be for a give period of time. It is eternal. Generations will hear and will talk about it.

2. Position yourself in the word of God
A person who mediated on the word of God day and night is like a tree planted by the river. It bears fruit in its season and produces seeds every year. There is nothing or nobody that can prevent this tree from growing. When you position yourself in God's word; when you make it a priority to do in the morning before you do anything else and the last thing you read before going to bed, you will be like that tree. You will be rooted in God, and nothing or nothing can take away anything you get from God. Then, you will be able to leave a legacy.

3. It not about you, but all about God
The last thing to know is that all is about God. In Psalms 145: 4, the bible tells us: "one generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts." If you would like to be remembered for ever, make sure that everything you do, say and think may be all because and for God alone. That will let one generation tell the other about what God had done through you when you would be gone.

When Jesus is the center and foundation of your life; when you position yourself in God's word and make it a manual and reference to use for everything you do; when you do all because and for God alone, then, my friend, you will surely leave a legacy behind. People will always remember the mighty acts God did through you, and will tell future generations about them.

Be blessed and of good courage!

Emmanuel

Worship, a daily thing to do

What comes to your mind when you hear the word worship? Of course, most of us will think of a Sunday service, which is a compilation of music, the word and other things we do at church. All this is correct. You can worship alone during your personal devotion or do it in a group with other people. According to me, any gathering, which includes prayer, singing, (reading or hearing)the word and communion is what I would call worship. However, I would like to take you back to second of book of the bible in the Old Testament, which is Exodus.

That may be helpful in the process as we wonder what worship would mean for all of us today. Here are the things you may come across if you carefully read Exodus.

1. People of Israel had to be set free to go and worship God. In other words, worship sets us free. It is in God's presence that you find freedom because all anxieties, fears and burdens will be gone. In worship, we exchange what we have to what Jesus has for us. We hand over to the Lord all the chains and bondage of our lives, and receive freedom, peace, joy and hope from Jesus.

2. Worship does not require a specific place to happen. You can do it anywhere. In Exodus, there is a request that the Israelites would go to worship at the mountain. However, in John, Jesus explains to the Samaritan woman that worship does only have to happen in Jerusalem or Samaria, but anywhere (John 4: 23). What is expected is to worship God in Spirit and Truth.

3. Worship is about your whole Self, not part of who you are.You will also notice that in the book of Exodus, Pharaoh did not want to let all the people go. He asked Moses to only take the men. Then later, he asked to take everyone, but not the flock and their possessions. This is real life, isn't it? You feel that you cannot give hundred percent of who you are to God, don't you? Or you tend to give everything to God, except your money. Or you do the other way round. Worship means giving who we are and what we have to the Lord. It means to surrender our whole Selves to the One who created us.

Worship is a good thing to do everyday on your own and with other people. Make sure you belong to a group and a church for your personal and spiritual growth. Be blessed and of good courage always!

Emmanuel