Illuminate Community Church

9/20/2020 - Homesick For Heaven - Psalm 90

"Where did the time go?" When I was young I thought a lot about the future, but as I get older I think a lot about the past. Jill and I often say to each other, "Remember when..." Psalm 90 tells us that our lives are ever so brief and it also tells us why. It is the result of God’s just judgment on us. Moses reminds us that we do in fact incur the anger of a just God. But we have the good work of Jesus as our advocate. Additionally we are reminded that life is full of toil and trouble. Should these things not make us long for heaven?

In light of these realities we are instructed, somewhat paradoxically, both to “number our days” and “be glad all our days.” How is this possible? Ultimately Psalm 90 points us to the God who out of his “steadfast love” has done something for his people that reverses the judgment and enables us to live with an abiding, in fact an eternal, joy.

Moses concludes the Psalm with this request: "establish the work of our hands." He's asking God to help us as we partner with him in that which has eternal consequence. There are no meaningless tasks for the Christian. Every act of kindness, every moment of care, every blessing given away is the preparation for what awaits us!

9/13/2020 - Seeing The Eternal - Psalm 73

Psalm 73 contains the heartfelt and raw emotion of a Godly person who has carefully observed life. It comes from a man named Asaph and he's tormented because the world is influencing him. He is jealous of what other people have. What's worse is that these people don't walk with God and yet they seem so blessed. They're healthy and wealthy, and they don't seem to be struggling with the same problems that God's people do. So he's thinking out loud...

"Is it worth it to walk with God?"

He's questioning. Can't we all relate to this? I know I've been there. He continues his observation until it comes full circle. It may look like these other people who despise God have it all, but they don't. They really have nothing, and what they seem to have won't last. By worldly standards Asaph doesn't have a lot but he realizes he's the one with everything because he has God. He can confidently say, "Nothing in this life is as good as that taste of belonging to the Lord."

There was a change in his heart because there was a change in his head as he looked at God. He moved his focus off of them and onto Him. If we get our eyes off ourselves, our problems, our wants and lacks, and off of what everyone else seems to have, we realize how blessed we really are just for having Him.

The Psalm ends with a view toward eternity and that makes all the difference.

"For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works." vs. 27-28

9/6/2020 - The Best Kind of Broken - Psalm 51

When we hear the word "broken" we don't immediately think of something positive. The word implies that something is not right, needs fixed or is not working. When applied to our hearts it refers to the deepest kind of pain - brokenhearted. Our painful emotions are stirred for reasons that at times seem to have no clear meaning. Have you ever thought that God could be the reason for this? What if our brokenness is meant to bring about change? Is it possible that brokenness could actually be a gift?

I believe so.

David was a broken man more than once yet he became a better leader, a stronger man, and more passionate for God. The secret is repentance. Most of us think we know how to repent so we don't need to learn anything. You know how it goes. We say a quick prayer asking for forgiveness and try to do better. 

Repeat. 

But let me ask you - does your repentance lead you to sing songs of joy? It did for David. So maybe there's something we're missing. Join us this Sunday to discover the best kind of broken from David's example in Psalm 51.

8/30/2020 - Out of Depression - Psalm 42

Spiritual dryness is a common problem in the church today. Over the last five months many Christians have experienced a disconnect from God. For many this disconnect has not come as a result of personal sin but instead the circumstances of pandemic, social unrest, and politics have formed the perfect storm. 

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" Psalm 42:5a

The psalmist is right there with you. He's honest with his feelings as he talks to himself. Yes, he's talking to himself. You see there's a big difference between listening to yourself and talking to yourself. If we listen to our hearts in times of discouragement we will always be anxious. So instead we talk to our hearts. To put it another way - we preach to ourselves. There is no better voice to end the pity party than your own. Spiritual dryness is overcome by telling your heart what is true. Notice what immediately follows the question - why?

"Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." Psalm 42:5b

The focus is now on God's grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, acceptance...and the glorious future that awaits. It's as if the Psalmist says, "My soul is cast down therefore I will remember my God." Additionally he recalls a time when his soul was alive.

"These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival." Psalm 42:4

He's remembering a time when he was celebrating and worshiping with God's people. But no more. He's in a distant land far from the Temple. He misses the community because it gave him life. Can you relate? Individual study, individual prayer and individual worship cannot replace the corporate gathering where the church (meaning "assembly") gathers. The family of God is what waters our dry souls.

8/23/2020 - Failure Is Not The End - Psalm 34:1-10

We all experience failure in one way or another. When put in a spiritual context, it can be very debilitating. But the Bible is clear, failure is not the end, it is the thing that reveals our deep need for God's rescue.

Recently I read this from a young person in the church.

"I am a terrible Christian.

I sin on a daily basis in many more ways than I even realize, failing often. I don’t always give to the homeless when they ask and I have money. As a teacher in a poor inner-city environment, I’ll make dark jokes about the school system that I probably shouldn’t. I gossip about the latest person that offended me or angered me, or whose ideas I don’t deem “woke” enough, all the time.

I curse all the time without even thinking about it. I don’t listen enough. I care too much about money and reputation. I’ve been losing it more and more in my impatience with people who I think are wrong about the world and wrong about my family. I don’t pray nearly as much as I should.

And I say I do all these things in acceptance that I am a terrible person, a Christian that is by no means holy, someone who constantly falls short of the standard of Jesus Christ. In so many things I do, I put success, money, approval, and accomplishments over God.

The truth is I’m a hypocrite, and I fall short so often, and the labor that comes with falling short and failing is much more of an emotional toll than being successful.

But it is the story of Peter that gives us a lesson on how to proceed as Christians, even when we fail to be saints. Peter told Jesus at one point “though [everyone else will] fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Peter thought he was the perfect disciple. Peter thought he could never fail as a follower.

And then he did, when he denied Jesus three times in the Garden of Gethsemane when he failed to ever to acknowledge he knew Jesus at all to save his own behind. If the story ended there, Peter would have won the award for least valuable player in the Bible.

But the story didn’t end there."

This young man is correct. Jesus restored Peter and established him as a pillar of the church. It's not just the story of Peter but of many others including Israel's greatest leader - David. Psalm 34 is the confession of David's embarrassing failure. The worst kind. However, it is turned into triumph when it is given to God. In the end we learn that our failures reveal our need for God's help.

8/16/2020 - The Solution To Your Problems - Psalm 32

I have a confession. I like to watch those shows about missing persons, unsolved murders and crime stuff in general. Not sure why this is but I think it has something to do with the satisfaction of having a mystery solved. So I've seen plenty of courtroom appearances by those who are on trial for their lives. I've tried to imagine what's going through the mind of someone who has just been declared guilty and then given a death sentence. And here's where the story takes a plot twist...that person is me...and it's also you. Our sin causes a lot more than physical deterioration and mental anguish. It creates spiritual death as we are separated from God. Psalm 32 outlines this problematic episode in our lives but it also gives a surprise ending.

Our courtroom appearance has us declared guilty and what follows is the final sentence. But then another turn...we are set free. We walk out because Jesus walks in and the judge has declared that our death sentence has been fulfilled by another. How can this be? 1 John 1:9 explains.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Notice that God is faithful and he is JUST and this is the basis for our forgiveness. A just God cannot try us twice when the crime's punishment has already been fulfilled. This is too good to be true. But it is. It is grace. It is mercy. So let's live in this truth and be people of grace and mercy to those around us.

8/9/2020 - Who Is Leading You? - Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is one of the most recognizable chapters in the entire Bible. You've probably heard it at least a dozen times if you attended Sunday school. It's a go-to for funeral programs and Hobby Lobby has made money selling its' lines on faded pieces of wood. Even those who do not attend church have likely heard this psalm before.

When verses and chapters become familiar, we tend to not pay close attention to them. When we see it in our Bibles, it can be tempting to think, Oh, I know what this says already. Why read it again? My challenge to you is to read it and then ask yourself these questions...

Who or what is leading me?

Am I setting up my tent in the valley?

Have I lost sight of God's overwhelming provisions for me?

Like sheep, we are all being driven by something or someone - even if that someone is us. The psalmist King David vividly puts things in perspective when he describes God's ability to lead us to the place we really want to be. It's not that our lives are free from enemies, it's that God's power protects us from those enemies. It's not like we will ever be free from dark valleys, it's that God's wisdom guides us through the darkness. Truly he is the good shepherd. Why would we follow another?

8/2/2020 - You Can Be Happy! - Psalms 1

Over the past four months, the entire world has experienced a happiness drain. One headline after another steals our joy. Many wonder if it's even possible to find lasting happiness anymore. And what does the Bible have to say about this? It says a lot. Jesus gives an entire sermon about being happy. It's called the "Sermon on the Mount." You know the one that says,"Blessed are the..." over and over. Did you know the word for blessed literally means happy? So often we focus on Christian holiness and we forget that when we live lives of obedience and service and when we live out the uniqueness of who God has made us to be…there is joy. There is happiness.

 

We see this again in the very first word of the very first Psalm. It too begins with the word "blessed" and in the Hebrew language, this word also means happy. Although the Psalmist uses the word happy, the things he tells us will make us happy are not traditionally thought of as happy things. In fact, there is a contradiction. Many of the things we think bring us happiness actually rob us of holiness. This is important to recognize because when we are holy we will be truly happy. Isn't that the way of the cross…and the way of Jesus…yes, and I think that is the key to understanding happiness as a Christian.

07/26/20 - Philemon - Reconciliation and Forgiveness

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Our current time reminds me of this opening line to Dicken's classic work. Admittedly, it feels more like the worst of times as we look into the future. But we must not forget that the God of history, the present and the future sits on the throne. The question has been asked - What will the future of the church look like? Church online is a blessing for many during this season and yet I wonder if it isn't adding to what many have already viewed as a convenience rather than a necessity. What will be the trajectory of relationships if the body does not habitually come together? The results are predictable because the fact is, we were not created to do life this way. (Remember the first "not good" of creation was that man was alone.) We cannot lose our dependance on one another because this will lead to a loss of relationship. I have seen lifelong friendships come to an end over one social media post. The devil horns we see above each other's heads tend to grow when we lose face to face interaction.

Tucked away in the New Testament is a short and intensely personal letter. It's not packed with theology and you won't find it at the top of most preaching lists. It is however, one of my favorites - Philemon. It reminds us that life is about relationships. First and foremost there is your relationship with God. If you get this right then all other relationships can be made right. Made right doesn't mean made easy but when Jesus enters our lives everything about us is radically changed. Philemon's story tells us how to restore and maintain what we were created for - relationship.

07/19/2020 - Do The Math