2 Corinthians chapter 5 gives us an anchor for the motivation and purpose of the Christian life is-and it centers on our reconciliation with God. We are motivated by the God of the universe who sought relationship with us, to the point of the cross. And we are given purpose in our Christian life as we seek for others to have that kind of relationship. Our goals and our inspiration are eternity-driven, not circumstance-driven. While this sometimes results in behavior that may not make sense to a worried and anxious world, it also sprouts within us the kind of hope that very world needs right now. We ask ourselves if we are being made into a new self that is able to be a wellspring of hope for this new kind of world we find ourselves in.
Trusting in Turbulent Times Series - Perspective Is Everything
Each Mother’s Day, a topic that is often at the forefront is the personal sacrifice that each mother makes to see their children flourish. This sacrifice is something that ultimately reflects God’s heart for us as He exercises His tenderness and care towards us in giving Himself over to death for the sake of our eternal life. And in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, we hear that this same self-sacrifice is what Paul feels towards the Christians in the early church. Even when death is at work temporarily, life is at work eternally as God’s good news goes forth. When we have our perspective focused on this eternal life, the afflictions, no matter their size by the world’s standards, are “light and momentary”. So then, moms, Paul, and God alike make their sacrifices knowing that their pain is ultimately for gain.
Trusting In Turbulent Times Series - The Source of Our Confidence
Even though Paul has made it his life’s mission and work to love and serve people, the relationships that are such a gift to him also bring grief. He faces criticism to come his way about his leadership, and the fact that he doesn’t come with the same kind of credentials as others. Paul uses these criticisms to emphasize some of the greatest truths of the gospel in 2 Corinthians chapters 3 and 4: We are not sufficient in and of ourselves, but we are sufficient because Jesus’ work on our behalf was sufficient. We can have confidence in ourselves because of Jesus’ competence. God made a way for us not only to see His glory in spite of our sinfulness, but allows us to reflect this same glory. Paul emphasizes that there is a freedom in the Lord because of salvation in Christ- in many ways, and for him in particular there is freedom from the criticisms (and the compliments) that people may give him. He understands that anything that he has comes from the mercy of the God who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Trusting in Turbulent Times Series - God of Profit or Life?
The series through 2 Corinthians continues with chapters 2:12-17. Pastor Travis led us through some main themes of the letter: that there is victory even through the suffering, that believers are entrusted with the message of the gospel to others, and that the message of the gospel is to be presented with sincerity and not for profit. Even though the Corinthian church has seen its share of setbacks and suffering, there is a hope that cannot be shaken through Jesus’ ultimate victory that He invites us to share in.
Trusting In Turbulent Times Series - What Do We Believe?
This week, Pastor Travis continues through 2 Corinthians 1 - Highlighting the hope derived from God’s promises — Promises that have been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Trusting in Turbulent Times Series - Our Comforter
This Easter is almost certainly unlike any in our lifetimes. We are more physically scattered than any before, but as we discuss in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, there is a hope and comfort that extends beyond the physical and anchors itself in the fact that God can, has, and will raise the dead. Echoes of the empty tomb fill this passage, as Paul encourages a people who are facing sufferings and afflictions. When we contemplate the resurrection, our primary source of comfort, and leave behind the secondary sources of comfort, we can see meaning in the grief. When we tap into this source of comfort, we are empowered to connect with others by coming alongside them in support to strengthen them. As we come to understand how Christ endured the heaviest grief for all of us and rose victorious, we are now empowered to labor alongside others to bear the griefs of this world.
For The Valley Series - Palm Sunday: Celebrating Christ
This week, we look at Palm Sunday and see the celebrating that is going on as Jesus enters Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-16). The people really are celebrating for the wrong reason- they think that political salvation is coming to them in the form of Jesus. Little do they know that their celebrating is for something far greater- their eternal salvation from the punishment of sin. It is a profound moment as Jesus enters into suffering willingly, as the joy that God has in making a way for us to know Him outweighs the pain that must come to pave that way. On this side of the cross, we can now celebrate for the right reason- that when Jesus comes into Jerusalem, we have a person to anchor our hope in and to lay our burdens on. We can celebrate that Jesus came for us, and we can celebrate others as we see that Jesus came for them too. As we contemplate the value that Jesus sees in each person, we can better care for the needs, desires, and eternities of those around us.
For The Valley Series - Christ's Ambassadors
In our second week of 2 Corinthians 5: 14-21, we focus move our focus from our motivation for the Christian life to the realities of what that Christian life is (verses 17-21). It is a life that has been reconciled with the God of the universe, and therefore seeks to bring that reconciliation to all people and all things. A life that has gone from being led by the old to being led by the new. It’s a life lived as an ambassador of Christ- one representing His priorities, desires, and intentions. These things flow out of a life that is clothed in the righteousness of Christ, a garment we are able to wear because of how he exchanged it for our covering of sin.
For The Valley Series - Led By Love
As we continue to meet virtually and things around the world come to a halt, we are reminded of the motivation for Christian ministry for those who believe in and follow Christ in 2 Corinthians 5 (verses 14-16). While we may feel a natural fear for our earthly lives in these times, the gospel reminds us that Jesus died the spiritual death we should have died, so that we wouldn’t have to. This act of love urges us, compels us, to reach out to a world with the offer of one who is strong enough to conquer our fears, even of death, and loves us enough to free us from the debt we owe because of sin. Christian ministry involves seeing people in light of the eternity that is written on all of our hearts.
For The Valley Series - Praying For The Valley
This Sunday we continue through our series, "For The Valley" by looking the importance of praying for the Valley. We Christ urging to Ask, Seek, and Knock within Luke 11.
For The Valley Series - Living Biblically
This week, we explored how we can be For the Valley by being a people who operate out of a place of rest- that in doing so, we are less distracted, less concerned about our own status and appearance, and more fully able to invest in those around us. We saw how the book of Hebrews, in chapters 3 and 4, compares Christ-followers to those who followed Moses in the Old Testament. Although the people alongside Moses saw what amazing things God had done, they eventually “hardened their hearts”- they stopped believing that, no matter what they were up against, God was strong enough and that He was for them. This turned them against one another and cost them their God-promised rest. Jesus, as a better and more perfect Moses, has made a way for us to enter a more lasting rest that God offers us. But the same thing threatens that rest- disbelieving or being distracted from the fact that God hasn’t abandoned us with our problems, our shame and our sin. We can “strive to enter” His rest as a part of the fight of the Christian life- both with individual practices of spiritual nourishment but also in encouraging others against sin’s deceit.
For The Valley Series - Christ's Witnesses
March 1st, 2020 - Pastor Travis teaches through Acts 1:6-11 and the necessity of allowing the Holy Spirit to inform not only a “vertical” relationship with God, but also to seek out “horizontal” relationships with others in response to Christ’s love for us.
For The Valley Series - Prayer For Unity
Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” in John 17 is known as such because Jesus stands before God the Father and prays earnestly on behalf of the church, similar to what a High Priest would do for the Jewish people. Jesus’ prayer is filled with longing to see the church be unified, to be “one” in the same mysterious, unbreakable way that God is one between Father, Son and Spirit. He even goes so far as to say that when the church is “one” in this way, there will be no greater proof for Jesus being who He says He is- God in the flesh. Remembering this prayer may be great to motivate us for a time, but can be gut-wrenching when we look around and see how the church falls short of that kind of unity. That is because the enemy seeks to thwart our attempts at this unity by discouraging, distracting, discrediting, and dividing us (or using us to discourage, distract, discredit, or divide others within the church). The good news is that as Christians, we have One inside of us that is greater than these attempts. At the cross, Jesus is strong enough to carry the weight of our disunity-causing-sin, freeing us for the oneness that reflects the glory of God. We cannot be For the Valley if we are not for one another.
For The Valley Series - Seeking Peace and Prosperity
This week we had former Riverbend elder Matt Kay visiting us from the church they have planted in NYC: Hope East Village. We looked at Jeremiah 29, the context of which is God addressing an Israelite people who just found out that they weren’t to be in exile in Babylon just 2 years (as a false prophet was previously saying), but actually it was going to be 70 years. An entire lifetime. The way God addresses them in chapter 29 gives us a vision for the way we live our lives wherever it is we find ourselves. Be present. Invest in people in that place. Seek the well-being and shalom for the community around you. It can be easy to always think of, and be wrapped up in, the “next step”, and when we do that, we miss out on the fullness of what God is doing in our present situation- both through us and to us.
For The Valley Series - Captivating Through Compassion
This week we started a series called “For the Valley”. Often, Christians are characterized more by what they are against rather than what they are for. Looking at Jesus in Matthew 9:35-38, we see that he is moved deeply when he sees people that are spiritually needy. He is the shepherd that was foretold in the Old Testament, but not just to those who are “in” with God, but to those who are far from Him. We are to be like him in this way, proclaiming the invitation to the family that a lost world was always created for. With nearly 1 million people of the Lehigh Valley, there are hundreds of thousands of our neighbors who look to things other than Jesus as their shepherd. Rather than look down on these people or ignore them, the Church is to be like Jesus and have compassion on them, pray for them, and be laborers in the harvest of bringing them to an awaiting Savior.
In God We Trust Series - Lives of Generosity
Throughout the New Testament, the early Christian church was marked by followers with lives steeped in generosity. Many of these people were in extreme poverty, like the Macedonian people Paul uses as an example in 2 Corinthians 8-9. These people, though they had little resources, gave relief to other Christians and funded Paul’s mission trips to much wealthier areas and churches. It is in this context that Paul encourages the (much wealthier) Corinthian church to be generous in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. The heart of Paul’s message is not to shame them for their greed, but to paint a picture of what they are missing out on when they do not give generously. When we give cheerfully, we share in the love of God for others- who for our sake gave up the riches of the entire universe to become poor in the form of Jesus (2 Cor 8:9). There will always be questions of “how much” or “in what situations” when it comes to giving, and instead of having firm answers here, these are better answered by further examination of our heart and motives. Does our giving create a burden on the lifestyle we would want for ourselves? Does our giving bring us joy as we see how God uses it to further His gospel message? Does our giving cause us to be reminded of the fact that nothing is ours?
In God We Trust Series - Feast or Famine
Pastor Joe looks at the story of Joseph, and his foresight in saving during a season of plenty, to save many lives during a season of famine.
In God We Trust Series - Dealing with Debt
The Roman government often exploited its citizens in cruel ways. Rather than instructing the church in Rome to rebel or leave, Paul tells them to give to this government what is owed (taxes, respect, honor). However, Paul warns them not to owe anything, a warning against voluntarily going into debt. While so commonly accepted in our culture, debt is still something Christians ought to view as counter to the freedom that God desires in our lives and should seek to get out from debt- with wisdom in borrowing and wisdom in repayment. Paul also reminds the church that because of Jesus’ costly act of purchasing the church with his blood, we have an unpayable debt to love one another.
In God We Trust Series - Standard of Living
Continuing the series “In God we trust – the heart of money”, we see Paul’s warnings to the church about the ever-present temptation of greed in 1 Timothy 6. Greed is an affront to God, because what God desires for us is a contentment that says “I have more than enough”, but greed says “I will never have enough”. We constantly strive to live financially as our friends, family or culture say we should. We end up walking down an uncertain, ever-shifting, never-ending path and missing out on “that which is truly life” that comes through acknowledging that all that we have is from God, for God, and ultimately to God.
In God We Trust Series - Strive Less, Surrender More
The new sermon series that kicked off is called “In God We Trust – the heart of money”. While many think very secularly about their finances and their resources, the Bible actually talks about these more than almost anything else. This is because how we think about and use our money reveals much about our heart. Money promises a fleeting, worldly freedom, but really ensnares us with worries and anxieties. God intends us to have a life of stewarding and mastering these resources that he’s given to us, experiencing a life with the freedom of knowing that all is from Him and to Him and for Him.