The Debt of Love and “Spiritual Carne Asada”
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“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another…” Romans 13:8 teaches us. It has been a powerful two weeks of mutual devotion to the fellowship for Portland, Eugene, and Corvallis. This past two Wednesday nights we had Matt & Helen Sullivan and all the men & women from their house church drive down from Portland to preach and fellowship at our midweek services in Eugene. Their presence was something that echoed the heart of the new testament, “But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.” I Thessalonians 3:6
Matt preached a powerful lesson about being dead spiritually - in the bad sense (not doing anything to love God) and the good sense (c.f. “The Kernel Principle”). Matt preached with clarity and conviction about the power of perseverance and dying to self - and how “worth it” it is to live the life of a true disciple because we are God’s “treasured possession.” (You can hear Matt’s message for yourself here - “Are You Dead?”). The fellowship was electric and lasted until well after 10:00PM. God strengthened the bonds of brotherhood between the churches.
In addition to the visits from Matt & Helen Sullivan and the brothers & sisters of their house church - we also had the honor of Victor and Sonia Gonzalez preaching and teaching this past Saturday at our Parenting & Marriage workshop. God has used Victor and Sonia to build an incredible Spanish ministry in Portland. It is hard to believe that since the first Spanish service in April of 2004, with less than 20 in attendance, there now is a vibrant ministry with an attendance approaching 100! Truly, God is amazing. The sincere and mutual love was felt at our Parenting & Marriage workshop. Victor Sr.’s lesson on parenting and Sonia’s sharing were a higher call to all of us. It was made clear from the scriptures that we are to treat our children just as we would treat anyone else. And that if we say one thing but do another, we are in fact the “…bad company” that “corrupts good character” (I Corinthians 15:33) for our own children! Victor and Sonia shared vulnerably about their own personal challenges and victories in raising their 10 children (yes, 10 children), and how God has worked their lives. We learned that what our children will embrace as important will be what they see us embrace as important. If they see us walking with God, making and baptizing disciples, and seeking first God’s Kingdom, then they will be inspired to have that same heart. And of course, as always in “The Shire”, there was a great meal afterwards to facilitate the deep and heartfelt fellowship. And, as if this meaty lesson on parenting and marriage was not enough “Spiritual Carne Asada” - this past Sunday the Eugene and Corvallis Bible Talk leaders heard another inspiring lesson from Victor Gonzalez Sr. at the Portland Bible Talk Leaders meeting. The last Sunday of each month the Eugene and Corvallis leaders journey up to Portland to join them for their leadership meeting. It has been very encouraging to see the Portland leadership group grow from 30~40 souls to over 200 in the past three years. The scriptures teach that where there is no vision, the people perish - and it is clear that there is increasing vision in the hearts of the disciples in Portland. At the same time, God has moved here among us in Eugene and Corvallis - and more and more brothers and sisters are heeding God’s call - raising up to serve as leaders in His Kingdom. Victor’s lesson was entitled, “What is the problem? What is the solution?” and it’s key theme was from Galatians 4:21-26:“Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.” The first point was “Your Choice!” - meaning will you chose to be the son of the slave woman or the son of the free woman? The question is, are we doing things because we have to do them (sons of the slave woman) or because we want to do them (sons of the free woman)? Because when we feel like we have to do things, then it is legalistic, painful, difficult, and certainly not a joy. In this state of mind, everything becomes a problem! This is the heart condition which makes us sons of the slave woman. Victor gave a great illustration about two boys on a football team. The first boy is taken by his father to practice, because his father has to make him go. This boy hates going to practice because he does not like football. Every time the boy gets hit/tackled on the field he just gets more and more bitter at his father. All because he does not want to be there! The second boy does not have anyone to take him to practice. This boy lives a long way from the practice field. But since he loves football, he rides his bike several miles (”so what if it is raining”) and is early - the first one on the field. All because he really wants to be there! At this point, brother Victor began to ask the men some revealing and pointed questions to get us thinking about our hearts. “Which boy are you? Are you coming to church and to leaders meeting and to bible talk and so on because you have to?” Victor asked us.
“Are you showing up right before 10 or at 10 or are you the early one to church?” We were then reminded that the church should be full of people who want to be there! The church should be packed with people at 9:45AM because they are fired-up about God! Fired-up to be on His team! “Why do you do what you do?” Victor continued, and then shared a story about a brother he saw mouthing the songs and not really singing in church, and he asked him, “why are you not singing?” The brother responded, “I don’t know the words…” However, the challenge is to ask ourselves - do we know all the songs on the radio or our favorite CDs from memory? If you are not singing in church, it is a heart problem - “Why do you do what you do?” “Why are you late - to leaders meeting? To anything for the Kingdom?” we were asked. Then some common sentiments that we can feel Victor brought up - “…gosh bro, I have to give up another block of time on my Sunday, I have to give up my Sunday afternoon, I already gave up my Sunday morning…” And, “Why do we complain? Some of us complain about everything and we are very critical, and persecute our own brothers in this way!” Victor preached. (See Galatians 4:38-31) We act like this when we feel like we have to do what we do! Victor’s challenge to the leaders was simple, “If you don’t want to be here - then go! If you do not want to lead, then go!” The second point was Open Your Eyes! from Genesis 21:8-16 about Hagar (the slave woman) being sent away against her will. Because she had to do it, she gave up (Genesis 21:16) hope and just quit. God’s plan was that her son Ishmael was to become a great nation as well - because he was Abraham’s offspring. But Hagar quit. She had to do what she was told. She certainly did not want to go. It is the same with us - when we do the things of God because we have to do them - we will quit. We will give up. Common things we can feel we were challenged to rethink:
- “My bible talk, these people are so hard to lead…” - and we want to quit.
- “We are not growing…” - and we want to quit.
- “This persons is in sin and they won’t repent… - and we are tempted to quit.
- “I just can’t make it happen…I just can’t repent of my own sin…” - and we feel the temptation to sit down and give up.
Quitting is what we do when we do what we do because we have to do it, not because we want to do it. But God opened Hagar’s eyes and showed her the well that was there all along! Genesis 21:17-19
God did not make the well, or bring water out of a rock or what-have-you, because the solution was right there in front of her eyes. She simply did not see it - because she was so focused on the problem and being in the desert. She had to do what she was doing, and so was overwhelmed! We must look for a solution instead of being overwhelmed by the problem! If we focus on that, and doing what we do because we want to do it, then God will show us the solution!
- Your Choice - you make the decision why you do what you do!
- Open Your Eyes - you make the decision to look for the solution!
- Unique Freedom - you make the decision…
Because the problem and the solution is Y.O.U.
Not a bad way to end an incredible week of inspiration, fellowship and encouragement! Realizing we have the power to make the choice, to open our eyes, and stand firm in our unique freedom together. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts brothers and sisters of the Portland Church for your life and doctrine being an upward call and an example worthy of imitation! “For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus…” 1 Thessalonians 2:14 Jeremy Ciaramella
