a drop of water

March 1, 2009 – Coast Vineyard – Michelle Wilson

The Kingdom of God is Now.

• The Kingdom of God has already come. – “the kingdom God is upon you”
• The Kingdom of God has yet to come in full. – We live in a tension where we hope and take part in the realization of the kingdom.
• The Kingdom of God is coming right now. – We are in the middle of the greatest event ever happening.

The Kingdom of God is New.
To enter into it, we need to:

• Take off what we think we know.
• Put on what God is doing now.

The Kingdom of God cannot be contained by our old selves.
To become carriers of it, we must:

• Ask to be made new.
• Ask for the kingdom to come within us.
• Expect turbulence (don’t confuse this with the actual presence of God).
• Expect to be used by God (bring healing and freedom).

For me, this message challenged me to consider tangible ways on how to bring the Kingdom of God into the lives and places that I come in contact with.  Three questions helped me visualize this idea.

1. Write down names of people or places that I want to see the Kingdom of God come into.  Draw a box around those words.
2. Write down truths, promises, experiences of the Kingdom of God that you have heard of or believe outside the box.
3. Connect the words that are outside the box with words that are inside the box as you see fit.  On those lines write ideas and actions about how to make them a reality.

This illustration can continue to grow as we learn and experience more of the Kingdom of God and how it works.  If I keep my drawing in my head it helps me be more consciously prayerful throughout the day.

This was the last message in the annual Tough Questions series at Coast Vineyard this past Sunday. Pastor Michelle gave the message and here are the sermon notes:

Bible often uses the metaphor of blindness when referring to sin; when you can’t see, you are a hazard to yourself and those around you.

When should Christians Take a hard stand against sin? (Luke 6:39-42)
1. First and foremost, when we find it in our own lives. (We can not help anyone without dealing with ourselves first)
2. Second and only second, when we find it in the church. (Must be saturated with humility, compassion and patience. – Gal 6:1) The message is not to never look at others and only at yourself, but instead to look at yourself very hard so that you can be available and able to help others around you. It is a responsibility to each other, for us to get ourselves in shape.

Is that It? What About Everyone Else? (Matt 5:15-16)
Our good works and not our rebukes are our witness to the world.

What About Politics
Pitfall #1: Confusing our faith with politics.
Pitfall #2: Removing our faith from politics.
Solid Ground: Acting like Jesus in our politics.

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
We must be a light in our community and show the world God’s invitation into relationship through grace.
Separation of church and state was intended to keep government from enforcing a particular form of religion, and not prohibiting religions influence on the state.

I like the idea for us to take a hard stand against sin “when we find it in our own lives,” but I’d like to explicity add that it is important for us to take a hard stand against the sin in our own lives.  Its there, so its not a matter of when we see it, its a matter of when we decide to see it. I like the idea that its importance is rooted in supporting and helping those around you.  We aren’t taking a hard stand against sin in our own lives just to make ourselves ‘better’ or make those around us ‘better’,  instead we are taking a hard stand against sin to glorify God, together.  It is a communical process and commitment in relationship, to stand firm against sin together.

I think that it is helpful to break up this question further into a few ideas.  1. Whether we should and how we should take a hard stand against sin are two completely different questions.  2. Does it matter what type of sin it is and the scope that it has, i.e. personal or global (social injustice)  – though admittedly all sin is far reaching in its effect no matter how personal it may seem.  I believe we should always take a hard stand against sin, but how realizes into action is a lot more fuzzy.  I’m torn between the idea that we should wait for an opportunity to share our hard stance against a specific sin or if we should openly and readily share it, regardless of who is listening.  I’m torn because it seems like taking an uncompromising stance on sin is of so much more value when someone is seeking guidance, or encouragement to not compromise, or to hold fast to a prior commitment versus someone who doesn’t see, believe, or entertain the idea that they are in error.  But at the same time, what if that opportunity never comes?

How to take a hard stance against sin – this to me is the tough question.  Maybe the how lies somewhere in the gray area of how much it affects me?  Does the sin’s scope directly affect me and should that dictate how active I am in expressing my hard stance agains it?  Sin has the ability to make everything around it rotten, imperceptibly until its too late.  Soemthing I’m realizing is that sin often begets sin, i.e. the extreme example of someone killing someone starts the vicious cycle of killing.  So I believe that one key aspect of taking a hard stance against sin is making sure that you aren’t sinning in the process (more emphasis on examining yourself first).  Sometimes taking a hard stance against sin is passive, sometimes its active.  Jesus takes a hard stance against sin and in a world where sin is very present, each of us has the free will to choose to sin or not to sin.  So I guess that comes back to the closing point of the sermon, to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

This past Sunday at Coast Vineyard, Michelle Wilson gave a message from Ephesians 4 about valuing the unity in Christ that we have with our brothers and sisters.  Here is an excerpt from the handout:

Be completely humble.

Assume the best of people
Consider that you may be wrong.
Find a way to apologize.

Be completely gentle.

Be quick to listen.
Be slow to speak / become angry.
Ask yourself, “Will this build up or will this tear down?”

Be patient.

Put up with each other.
Forgive.
Make every effort to love each other.

I was very encouraged by these reminders and humbled by their simplicity and saturation of love for God and love our fellow man/woman.

-Be completely humble-

Pride easily takes over, when being better and best is often our cultural goal. We size up people against what we are capable of and often feel vulnerable when their ability exceeds our own, so we critique another aspect of their lives where we are better (or feel that we are better) than them.  But humility, empowers us to think the best of someone, despite their tendency and history.  Sometimes all it takes is someone’s expectation to propel someone above their tendencies.

When we pour ourselves into our creations, admitting that we made a mistake turns our work into a waste, and so we stubbornly ignore the possibility that we could be wrong.  But humility empowers us to realize that in a world with wide diversity of perspective and method, our way can be complimented and improved, and that it is the process of pouring our lives into our creations where value is found, and not so much in the creation itself.

Apology is empowering because it states boldly, “I value our relationship too much to put it in jeopardy over something (anything) I did to damage it.”  We typically want to wait till the other person apologizes and then we will apologize, and only then.  But if we assume the best of people (think that maybe they did not intend to do what they did) and if we consider that we may be wrong (think that maybe we were wrong in our reaction), we can find a way to apologize.

-Be completely gentle-

Listening is a discipline.  I find myself interrupting and cutting people off because 1. I’m impatient and can’t wait for them to finish.  2. I want to give them an answer or solution.  3. I want to convince and defend my point because theirs is inaccurate.  But what those reasons really are saying are 1. What you have to say is not worth my time.  2. Your issue is so simple, just do this.  3. You are wrong, and this is why.  It’s hard to have a relationship with someone who is saying those kind of things in between the lines.  Listening says 1. What you have to say is worth my time and I will honor you by listening completely and fully.  2.  I do not take your problem lightly and the solution is probably even harder, but I will listen to your story for as long as you will share it, and I will stand with you to find a solution.  3. Your perspective and unique identity has shaped you to have this perspective and draw these conclusions and I will spend the time to try and better understand where you are coming from.

On anger, Dallas Willard noted that everything that can be done in anger, can be done better without anger.

-Be completely patient-

Michelle shared a story about how she met with a friend to resolve a disagreement.  They met and the friend began the conversation by saying “If you want me to say that it is my fault and apologize, then I will, because this friendship is worth it to me.”  Friendships and relationships are shattered over disagreements and arguments.  I’m not lessening the importance and magnitude of the disagreements, but elevating the value of relationship and friendship.  I am guilty of this, I think, distancing myself from people who I do not agree with on matters of importance (in my mind), and I am lesser for it.

On forgiveness, Michelle pointed out that forgiveness is not conditional mutually, its not because they deserve it, or because they will reach our expectations, but because God forgave us.  It is from that context that we forgive.  Forgiving someone is not necessarily forgetting what they have done, but showing them the mercy and grace that God has shown us.  Mercy–letting go of any intent of retribution and Grace–giving the opposite of what you feel they deserve.

Sermon @ Coast Vineyard by Michelle Wilson on September 21st, 2008

Let Me In! Learning to Cry Out to God When We Need Help — A message from Revelation 3:14-22

Laodicea was famous for its wealth (banks with great capital and the ability to lend and be generously charitable with neighboring cities.)  When the city was completely leveled by an earthquake, they refused the Roman government’s aid because they didn’t need outside help to rebuild.  They were famous for fashion, specifically a finely woven black wool that was desired across the ancient world.  They were also famous for medicine, specifically their eye doctors and their medical school.  It seems apparent, that most Laodiceans had very few felt needs, were completely self sufficient and relatively lukewarm as far as Christianity goes.  They had so much that they were out of touch with what they truly needed.

These three aspects of the city of Laodicea plays into human condition where we are poor (ultimately material wealth is worthless), we are blind (we can have the best optometrists in the world but still not see God), and we can be in fashion but still covered in sin).  The three aspects were further lined up with what God offers us through Jesus death on the cross, namely spiritual wealth as heirs to God, cleansing from sin and new sinless coverings, and restored relationship with the triune God.

Michelle ended the sermon with the phrase “I stand at the door and knock…”, positioning Jesus outside our heart’s door willing to step into our messyness and transform our lives, redeeming and healing along the way.  She suggested that we’ve found a place to hide from God despite his knocking and that God’s provision and presence comes with us opening the door in admission that we need help.