R Y A N S T R A T T O N

What I Love & Appreciate About Christianity

Many people hear countless times how much they have to do in order to win affection from another person. Because this is how we live, it almost seems natural to apply this kind of thinking and “works mentality” to religion especially Christianity.

What I appreciate and love about Christianity is that is breaks all of the “rules” that humans have established. In order for God to love you, you do not need to do anything to earn his love and favor. God’s love was there from the beginning of time and loves you, even likes you, because you are his most valuable creation. This seems kind of strange because of what we have to go through and do just to earn a little respect from people around us.

Three verses in the Bible sum up Christianity for me. There are many but these three stand out: John 3:16 (God loves the world that he sent Jesus Christ), Ephesians 2:8 (we are saved by grace and nothing else), and Romans 8:38-39 (nothing can separate us from the love of God).

After we accept the fact that God loves us and we accept his love and forgiveness, we really experience the presence and life of God within us. We realize it is not us doing the work, but God through us. We have this incredible opportunity to work with the Creator of the universe and spread the message of his infinite love to all people.

This all still seems backwards. Why would a God who created everything want to be part of and involved with people he created? The answer is love. It was out of love that Jesus Christ came down to earth. It was out of love that he lived life, facing the same temptations we do. It was out of love that he died and rose from the dead breaking the curse of sin and death. It is out of love that he wants to be present with us.

We are saved by grace, meaning we did nothing to deserve it; except that God created you and me. We have eternal life with Christ, even though our lives reflect how we disregard and reject Christ. When we accept Christ and the love of God, we will know what it means to live in true freedom.

What I love and appreciate about Christianity is that there are only 2 basic rules: love God and love people. So, it is out of our love for God that we can love people (even the undesirable people because God loves and likes us); and we serve out of love for people so they can experience and learn about the good news of Jesus Christ. It is because God loves us, that we love. It is because we love God that we love and serve people.

Our lives are a constant battlefield for peace, patience, morality, justice, hope, joy, etc. that we need God to fight for us and with us.

What I love about Christianity is that it shows God, coming down to personally be with his creation and walk with each one of us.

Have you accepted the grace, love, forgiveness, hope, peace, joy of God through Jesus Christ? Your life will not be instantaneously better; BUT you will experience joy, peace, hope in the midst of trials and the valleys of life.

There is so much more; but what I love about Christianity is Jesus Christ.

Be Different and Stand Out

Romans 12:1-2 (Message translation): So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

What stands out to you as you read these verses?

The main thing that stands out to me is that we, as Christians, are to be different than those around us. This means we treat people differently. We do not get lost in the crowd. We positively impact people with the love of God through Jesus Christ. This passage says so many things we CAN do, that we shouldn’t miss the point of things we SHOULD NOT do.

For us to live in this world as followers of Jesus Christ, we should look at what he said.

Matthew 5:13-16 (CEB) “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how will it become salty again? It’s good for nothing except to be thrown away and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city on top of the hill can’t be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand, and it shines on all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus is basically saying that we are to bring out the best in people by how we act. If we allow people to suck the good out of us, we have nothing left to give. We are to be beacons of light (God’s never ending love) to everyone and should stand out from everyone else. When we try to blend in with the culture and be like everyone else, it is like we are putting our light “under a basket” so it is hidden.

Our good works also involve how we treat people. Many times we can easily engage in bullying and hurt another person’s spirit to make them think they have no value. Jesus summed up the Old Testament laws this way, showing us how we should act in this world: love God and love people.

To be the salt and light of the earth means that we are people who:

do everything for the GLORY of God
love each other unconditionally
treat everyone EXACTLY the way we would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12)
be forgivers
do not judge nor condemn (Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 2:1-11)
welcome anyone and everyone in the group
be people who respect and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ
not do things or go places simply because “everyone is doing it”
learn and have our own opinions and not be easily swayed
stand firm in your beliefs; but do not condemn opposing views (learn to listen)
and many, many, many more good things we can do in this world

We should keep our focus and attention on God. C.S. Lewis says, “Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” This means that when we seek for and focus on God, we are able to love people and will treat them better and not worry about the crowd. When we solely focus on things of this earth, we miss the mark and will end up compromising just to make people happy.

Our task and challenge is to bring people to Christ. We do not do this by acting as everyone else acts; but rather by showing how Christ makes us different and how he makes the difference. To be people that follow Christ means we are becoming more and more like Christ.

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.”

So, what do you think?

Paradigm Shift

I know many people have heard this story:

This man goes to his pastor one day and says, “Pastor, I’m at the end of my rope. I have lost everything!” The pastor listens as the man breaks down and tells the story of what happened and how he suffered financially. After awhile the pastor looks at the man and says, “I’m sorry you have lost your salvation.” “No,” said the man, “I haven’t lost my salvation.” “Oh,” the pastor says, “well, I’m sorry you have lost your hope in Christ.” The man said he hadn’t lost that either. The pastor goes on to say how sorry he is to hear the man lost his faith, God, the Spirit within him, his health, etc. The man hadn’t lost any of that. The pastor concludes and says, “Well, it seems to me you really haven’t lost anything.”

Isn’t this just like us though. When something does not work out the way we had intended or planned for it to work out, we begin to speak and think negatively. I am not saying here that positive thinking is the answer and will fix our “problems.” What I am saying here is there is another way to look at problems; firstly, by calling them “challenges.” This way we can begin looking for a solution to the “challenge,” rather than just complaining about the “problem.”

“Where are all the people? Why don’t we have more people here?”

We all have heard questions like this in any organization or group we are part of. The intent of the question is really asking and showing, or at least I hope it is, a genuine concern for the ones that are absent. But, what we do not realize is that we actually demean or devalue the people who are there. It’s almost as if a person might be saying, “You’re not good enough without the others here.”

Now, I know (or I hope) this is not what is meant; but this is how it can sound. If we take the time to look at who is there and see the giftedness they can bring, imagine the work that can be done. Instead of taking valuable time complaining and trying to think of what “other people” should be doing to bring in more people, we could simply look at who is there, thank God for each person and bless each person, then allow them to do what they know needs to be done.

This would require a drastic paradigm shift. We live in a culture that says higher numbers (money, people, projects completed, taller buildings, large stadiums, etc) are the answer and show success. I propose that we take some of the examples that come from the Bible and see what is really able to be accomplished with a “small” group of people:

Gideon (in the book of Judges) led an army of 300 Israelites (after an angel from God told him to) and defeated a larger Philistine army
David’s smaller group of soldiers was able to defeat larger armies than King Saul’s army was able to
We cannot forget the 12 apostles that went out into the world and turned the world upside down spreading the message of Christianity to everyone.
There are other examples in the Scriptures as well

The point is that we have much more going for us than we have going against us. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Just because the size of the group, bank account, task list, etc. is not where we would like it to be, doesn’t mean it has less value or is immobile.

I challenge each one of us (especially me) to look at what we do have and focus on that. This way we are not coveting or being jealous over another person, group, organization and we free ourselves to allow God to work through us (large number or small number) and see the great impact God, through us, will have in this world.

Last Saturday, I was able to preach a message called “Lasting Legacy.” We explored a few ideas from John Wesley’s life and final days to help us understand how his legacy is still revered the world over and how we can leave a legacy behind that outlives us and our family. I invite you to check it out.

May God continue to richly bless you in order to make an impact in this world for the Kingdom of God. We have all we need because we have the very presence of God with us and in us.

Rearrangement vs Total Rennovation

This week, I was watching construction workers rebuilding a bridge on a county road. I love observing things get built. As they were working, I noticed a couple of the workers seemed to just be moving the same materials back and forth. Since this seemed to catch my attention, the next thought I had was, “isn’t this what we do with our lives?”

We can look at our lives and know what is important to us. When something in our relationship gets “out of whack,” we tend to rearrange our priorities to either put that person “first” or include that person more often in what we’re doing. This got me thinking even more.

As I was pondering this, I remembered the verses of Scripture where Jesus says, “whoever wants to follow me must deny himself…” When we look at this, it doesn’t say, “whoever wants to follow me has to keep doing the things you’re doing just put me first.” This would make Jesus as a check-off item on our to-do list. Instead, it says to “deny yourself.” Woah. Deny ourselves? Jesus can’t mean that, can he?

Here’s how this has played out in my own life. Everything I do used to be done to give me the glory, honor, praise, recognition. As I grew in my faith, I still wanted to do the things I wanted to do. So, I just put the “Jesus stuff” at the first part of my day and went ahead doing what I had planned.

I always felt like I was not being fulfilled in my dreams and plans I was making until…it clicked. I was in my early twenties when I realized it’s not about simply putting Jesus first; it’s about having him be the central focus in my life. The ultimate goal is to deny myself the earthly pleasures and follow Christ. Not so I can show off my humility or so I can look like a ragged person; but so I can experience the true peace and true fulfillment that Christ gives.

Keeping Christ central in my life is not easy, nor does it mean I have or I will have an easy life. What it does mean is that now that I know who I am and Whose I am, my life has purpose. With this purpose, my desires have not gone away, they have been completely transformed and totally renovated to Christ’s desires.

Do I succeed daily? No. But with Christ working in my life and in your life, it is incredible what it really important.

Hardened Heart

As I was traveling to a meeting this afternoon, I passed several people on the side of the road asking for money or in need of some kind of help. To confess, I have to admit that I was thinking negative thoughts about them and tried not to look at them directly.

As a person who works in a church, I felt convicted, as I passed the people, that I should have stopped to help, or at the very least, acknowledge their presence.

That’s when I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me. It wasn’t an audible voice; but I clearly heard him say, “These are real people made in the image of God just like you. Why are you hesitant to even acknowledge their presence?” That convicted me and has given me something to keep in my heart.

I tell this not for any personal reason, except it seems like this is how most of us tend to go through our lives. While I was driving to my next destination, my single focus was where I was heading and what would be discussed. I believe if we are open to including more people from all over the human spectrum, we will be able to see God clearer in our day to day lives.

Even the writer of Hebrews, in the Bible, says “they entertained angels unaware.” Imagine what would happen and imagine how kinder the world would be if we noticed and showed hospitality to those people we feel are beneath us. So, as we go about the day ahead, the invitation is to look at people with non-judgmental eyes and see the person inside…the person that God created and loves. Just like you and I!

Lord, may our hearts become soft toward all you love.

Life’s Faithfulness

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*sermon preached Sunday, October 12, 2014

Some things we can talk about, teach about, preach about and come together to study each and every week. We hear the same messages or the same theme in the messages in worship; but we don’t change. We don’t always attend worship and think, “God is always with us; God is right here with us! God is coming down to transform us!” The hard truth is that we have become desensitized to the incredible power of God’s Word. We have become desensitized to the amazing transformation that God’s grace can bring us.

God is calling us to relive and rediscover the joy; to rediscover the excitement of his grace. Not just so we can learn something new; but so God himself is allowed in our lives to transform us into the people he created us to be.

The story of Ruth is really incredible. Here’s a brief synopsis of this story:

Although the book is named for Ruth, it begins and ends with Naomi, a woman from Bethlehem. The story opens with Naomi and her small family traveling to Moab to escape famine. The men die off, and Naomi is left without her family in the foreign land. When Naomi decides to return home, her daughter-in-law Ruth insists on coming along. Back in Bethlehem, Ruth works to get food for the two of them by collecting leftover grain in what turns out to be Boaz’s field. (Boaz was their relative). The two women think up a plan for their long term security. Boaz cooperates and marries Ruth. The story’s final scene shows their newborn son in Naomi’s arms. (1)

So this is a picture of grace. 2 concepts we’ll look at while thinking about grace are: faithfulness and redemption.

Ruth’s faithfulness to stay with Naomi. So what does this mean for us? First of all we are reminded that God’s faithfulness is steadfast and unchanging. (2)

God is with you, God is with me and he is steadfast and unchanging. We have to be patient in any circumstance that we’re in so we don’t lose hope.

God is being faithful to us in every aspect of our lives by never leaving us nor forsaking us. Our first concept here is faithfulness; God is faithful to you. Our question today is, and as we begin this stewardship series is “Are you faithful to God?”

That is a tough question and many of us really don’t even want to think about it because it seems like we will begin an argument or get very defensive; but this is a hard question we really need to seriously consider. Are we faithful to God?

Remember this good news: God’s faithfulness to us is not dependent on our faithfulness to him. Our faithfulness to God honestly depends on our mood, how much sleep we got, how our day goes, etc.

As we ponder that, we should think about our priorities that we have in this life. If we look in the story of Ruth, Naomi’s priority was to find food because there was a famine. The land was parched. Our souls are parched and we are searching to find the living bread and the living water; but God is so faithful that we already have nourishment within our reach.

Are we as faithful to God as God is faithful to us? NO. But God believes in you so much, God believes in us so much that he is willing to stand by us and walk with us through the years of famine so we don’t lose hope.

The other concept we see as we just briefly go through this story is “redemption.”

To redeem, in this sense, comes from the Hebrew word Ga’al. What this means is “to redeem, to ransom, to release, deliver, to fulfill the duties of a relationship. The main idea is the buying back of someone of something such as a field or a farm.” Basically something that is consecrated to God. (3)

We see Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s, is redeeming the land.

Redemption is the act of releasing another from captivity or bondage; it points to acts of reconciliation. (4)

God is faithful to us and God is working in us and through us to redeem the world. Part of redemption means to be reconciled. Not only to other people, but to God. When we are reconciled to God, our faithfulness to him increases. So we’re not only thinking of ourselves or sulking in our situations. We’ll look at the global picture and see what God wants us to do. We realize that we should be faithful stewards of this creation and all we’re given.

As we live in Christ, we get to see the amazing grace that God gives us in our lives. Think about that for a minute. God is faithful and God redeems us.

I like this story of a father and son who go fishing. The father and son are out all day long. They didn’t catch anything; they were out in the water and didn’t catch anything. Besides that is was a hot day. The father was getting frustrated so they go on home. The mother asks the father, “how was your day?” He said, “terrible, we did not catch anything; it was a terrible day fishing.” She goes off and talks to her son and asks, “how was your day?” The son, looks at her with a big smile on his face and says, “it was fantastic! I got to spend the whole day with dad!”

The truth of the matter is that we’re too much like…………………..the father in that story. We look at our circumstances, or lack thereof and we say it’s a terrible thing. But in this story God has the attitude of the son. God loves to spend quality time with us. God is excited to be in relationship with us. That’s what he’s calling us to do: to reclaim and rediscover our excitement for him!

So as they were traveling back to Bethlehem, Naomi and Ruth were searching for a redeemer. They were trying to find someone who would save them, and they found Boaz. He not only bought the land to save the family inheritance; but he took Ruth as his wife.

Today, we still search for a redeemer, for a savior. But we don’t need to search anymore because Jesus Christ has bought our past, our present and our future and he is faithful to stay with us forever.

Boaz broke the chains of famine holding Ruth and Naomi down to give them freedom and a known, secure future. Christ breaks us free from any chains or walls we have built: greed, lust, pride, envy (jealousy), personal comfort, selfishness, and on and on.

He’s just asking that we are as faithful to him as he IS faithful to us and trust that the redemption that he has bought for us can and does transform our lives so we truly live in this grace that God freely gives us. So we trust him and allow his amazing grace to change our lives, to change our future. Trusting him and seeing God in every person we encounter and everything we do.

Notes:

(1) CEB Study Bible Introduction to Ruth

(2) Wesley Study Bible NRSV

(3) NIV Keyword Study Bible

(4) Wesley Study Bible NRSV

Destroying Bridges to Build New Ones

Watching this bridge being destroyed so a stronger one would be build in place of it made me think about the bridges we have built in our lives that need to be destroyed. Think about that for a minute. What bridges have you or I built that we need gone, or to be redirected? Is there a bridge of lust? of greed? of pride? of despair? of insecurities?

When we can recognize these bridges only lead us toward the darkness of life, we are ready to search for the Light. Where is it we need to destroy these bridges? The crews to help us rebuild a stronger bridge toward the Light are those around us: our family, our friends, our pastors, our youth directors, etc.

We do not live this life on our own; we live life in community. Community strengthens and reminds us we are not alone. Our community is there to strengthen and to carry burdens and to help rebuild the right bridges in our life.

The call today is to recognize and see the paths we are on may not lead us to complete peace and complete joy. The Light, Jesus Christ, is calling us to work with him to rebuild the bridge on the right path toward life with freedom, life with hope, life with peace, joy and real love.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~Galatians 2:20

Open your ears, my God, and listen! Open your eyes and look at our devastation. Look at the city called by your name! We pray our prayers for help to you, not because of any righteous acts of ours but because of your great compassion. ~Daniel 9:18

For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. ~James 5:16

Full armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-20

Sabbath Rest

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus calls for those who are weary and burdened to come to him and he will give rest.

Rest. Our culture says that on our days off we should fill them with play and non-work activities. At the end of the weekend, it is no wonder we do not feel rested. We really need to take time off from our time off!

Jesus is proposing a different kind of rest. In the rest he gives, we do not just try to stay busy and fill the time with activities we do not have time for during the week. When we rest, we focus on him and allow his Spirit to fill us. We take the time to be quiet before him. We look at the world differenly: not as projects or tasks to accomplish, but as the incredible creation it is. We’ll be kinder toward other people who otherwise may annoy or frustrate us. We’ll instead see them as God’s masterpiecs who need to be reminded who and whose they are.

It is in this kind of rest, when we focus the attention off of ourselves that we can hear the “still small voice” of God who is calling out to us and desiring to be our guide.

May we rest and experience the true fullness of life that God through Jesus Christ givesto each person who is still and listens for the voice of Truth.

Journaling In Our Prayer Life

This prayer exercise is a great tool to use to remember to see how God is working in our lives, answering prayer, or guiding us through situations. This is not like a diary; but how God has been communicating to us.

INTENTION: To keep a record of communication with God.
THE EXERCISE:

Decide how you want to keep this journal. You may purchase a blank book or use loose-leaf paper held in a ringed notebook.
Decide how often you will make notations in your journal. You may want to record insights from other prayer practices or write your prayers in the journal or both. Some people even keep notes from their dreams in their journal. It’s a book that belongs to you and God. Do with it what feels best.
Begin by asking God to be present and alive in this journal-keeping experience.
To explore spiritual growth based on events in your life, write about a significant event or happening in your daily life.
- How do you feel about that event?
- Where was God at work in the event?
- Where is God leading me now as a result of this event?
- How do my feelings change as I view the event in the light of God’s love?
To notice how God is active in your life, review your journal at regular intervals.
- What patterns or common themes do you notice?
- How does God get your attention?
- How has God answered your prayers?
- Assess how your relationship with God is emerging.
Make notations about any common themes or patterns.
Close each journal session with a prayer of gratitude.

TIP: Even if you feel you are not a writer, give this exercise a try. This is a prayer exercise, not a writing exercise. No one but you has to see what you’ve written. Even if you share journal findings with a group, it matters little how you wrote what you discovered. Share it in your own words instead of reading it from the page.

~Taken from the book 50 Ways to Pray: Practices from Many Traditions and Times by Teresa A. Blythe

Simple Steps (Sharing Our Faith) Part 4 of 4

This blog series (parts 1-4) is the sermon teaching how to share our faith in Jesus Christ easily and naturally. Sermon given by Ryan Stratton on Sunday, September 21, 2014.

The Scripture reference for this sermon is Luke 15:1-7.

I have heard it said it takes a people an average of 10 times to hear the gospel (good news) message of Jesus Christ before they decide to make any life change. Our job is just to be faithful to the Spirit’s leading and go when he says “go.”

So let’s look at the parable again with the lense of learning how to witness and share our faith:

The shepherd know there is part of the flock that is missing.
1. This means we should be open to hearing from God to see what the situation is (this applies to unbelievers as well as those who have strayed away for whatever reason)
2. All this means is that we simply leave our place of comfort (being with those like us) and moving toward those God is leading us to.
The Shepherd “goes for a walk.”
1. We see the shepherd meets the sheep exactly where it is.
2. For us, it is simply listening to the other person so they feel valued (people will not come to love and follow Jesus if we do not show compassion and love toward them)
The shepherd does not judge or condemn.
1. He just carefully pick up the sheep (our case: speaking God’s love to the person) and guides it back to the flock.
2. The shepherd is constantly guiding and being the right example to point the sheep to the life that God can and does offer for ALL.

That is really how simple it is. In the midst of the conversations we have, at some point it may become spiritual. So I invite you to think about how you came to faith (your personal faith story). This is basically 3 things: How you came to faith, how you are different because of your faith, and why your faith continues to be important for you. The best part is, this can be done in 100 words or less (45 seconds to 1 minute). I would be happy to sit down and work with you on this.

An example testimony:

I was raised to think of and believe in God and Jesus Christ. In my teenage years, I drifted from the church but always felt a hole and a longing to return. My friends helped me see and experience God in studies, prayer, etc. When I look back, I see that God has pursued me and that I have sensed his presence throughout my life. Jesus Christ broke me out of the prisons of selfishness and pride so that I could experience this new life that only he can give.

After this we can share the good news (the gospel message).

Examples of what you might say:

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now I’m found;

was blind, but now I see.

John 3:16-17

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send the Son in the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

The important thing is that we speak of the Gospel in personal terms, however you might say it: God created everything. People strayed. Jesus Christ came, showed us how to live and rose from the dead so we would have eternal life and know God personally. It is by God’s grace we are saved.

God is actively seeking out those people who are far away from him. We have the opportunity to join with God in this endeavor.

There may be people thinking, “my faith story is not important enough or valid enough to share.”

Every story and person matters. I invite you to take a name tag. On it, I would like you to write your first name. Below your name write:

“I can share my faith story, it matters!”

Now, wear your name tag throughout worship and at least on your way home.

No one is too far from God. No story is invalid. Here is our challenge: this week, if we are open to is, God will place in our path someone we should talk to. I hope and pray we all take the time to see God working in us so that we can reach out to those people in need so they can enter the joy, rest and real life God through Jesus Christ offers to all people.

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