Peaceful Amid the Pieces

“[R]emember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

When you look around at our current cultural moment, it may well feel that life is in pieces. Life is fragmented through political divisions, racial divisions, family divisions, divisions over to wear a mask or not, to congregate with others or not…the divisions are all too pressing and real.

Our impulse amid these circumstances can range from checking out at one extreme or further drive a wedge at the other. We are overwhelmed by the inundation of opinions and commentary, each seeking to pull us into this tribe or that, to reduce us to a set of ideas or positions.

However, in Ephesians 2.10 Paul lays out for us as the church who we are as a people. We are God’s masterpiece, a workmanship crafted to spread the beauty of God’s good news through our good confession and works.

Further, Paul reminds us that this fragmented life, this place broken in pieces due to sin and the power struggles that resulted was once our place too.

But we are no longer defined by this reality.

We belong to a greater reality.

While we once were far off, Christ has brought us near through the blood He poured out on the cross for our victory. (Ephesians 2.13)

Further, He demolished the walls that divide us, built brick by brick from the material of legalism as we were shackled to the flesh. (Ephesians 2.14-17)

We are a new people…a new humanity…not one built on the splintered and fighting line inherited from Adam. Rather, we are a humanity built on the liberation and freedom embodied in the person and work of Jesus.

So we stand, watching the pieces shattered around us, lying on the floor of this reality. But we witness and point the way to a greater reality, one not enmeshed in the divisions of our day, but integrated into the wholeness that comes with abiding in Jesus.

This wholeness gives us the gift of seeing everyone we encounter as a sacred being reflecting the image of God. This wholeness helps us to put the divisions aside so we may love genuinely and well…so we can stand hand in hand with our sisters and brothers of every tribe, language, and nation as one new humanity. This wholeness helps us to recognize that Christ has already won the war.

He has tore down the walls that divide us. Therefore we can know the abiding presence of His peace.

We can lift others out of the pieces and welcome them into the peaceful life that is ours when we walk with Jesus.

Grace and Peace in Christ,

Matthew S. Miller

(Matthew is the preaching and discipleship minister at Highland Hills Church of Christ in Tullahoma, TN)

God Said "Yes"

What does it mean to be the church in our time of dramatic political and social shifts happening daily?

As always, we must take care that we avoid letting broader culture define our identity.

Contemplating this question of identity, we must let the wisdom of Scripture draw us back to the authentic nature of who we are as a people.

In Ephesians 1:3-6 we read:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 

5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (ESV)

Scripture describes us as a people chosen to live lives that are set apart and pure, lives that exemplify His love to those we encounter. We have been adopted into God’s family. We have a home, a people, a King, and a Kingdom of inheritance. Theologian Karl Barth puts it this way:

“In Jesus Christ He has chosen man from all eternity as His own, for life in His kingdom, to be a member of His people, His possession.” — Karl Barth

We are the people God said “yes” to…through His birth, His teachings, His Way, His death, and His resurrection. But as the people of God, we too are the ones (as Randy Harris puts it) who have said yes back to His yes.

And each person has the opportunity to respond to God’s yes and become His chosen as well.

And I can think of nothing more beautiful than being a part of God’s chosen family.

May we exemplify the beauty of our King through our lives as chosen citizens of His Kingdom.

May we live a common life that displays His holiness, goodness, and truth to a world in deep need.

May we be the people who share God’s “yes” with the world.

Grace and Peace in Christ,

Matthew S. Miller

New Blog Series: The Church in the Book of Ephesians

Over the next few weeks, we are going to do a series of blog posts on what it means to be the church. In our current moment when normalcy and routine are upset due to the COVID-19 crisis, it is important as the church to take an honest look at who we are and what we are called to be and do in this age.

Beginning with the book of Ephesians, we will examine what exactly Christ is calling us to.

Today, we start in Ephesians 1:1 which reads:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus….

The letter to the Ephesians was originally a circulated letter (meaning it was intended to be sent to many churches, not just the church at Ephesus).

Paul, in this letter, is identifying the churches as “saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus”. The word “saint” comes from the Latin for “sacred” and to be “sacred” is to be set apart for divine work and worship.

In other words, the church is the set apart people.

Set apart from what? We are set apart from the power struggles inherent in this world, from a world of idols and false identities, brokenness and sinful ambition.

But what is it that sets the church apart?

Our set apart nature is due to our faithfulness to the way, truth, and life of Christ.

Paul does not view the church as escapists or uninvolved in this life, rather, we are planted here in this place in the world to be set apart for the glory of God through faithfulness to the path of Jesus.

So how do we live this out practically?

What are some ways the church embodies the way of faithful Jesus love amid our COVID-19 world?

We would love to hear what you think!

Grace and Peace in Christ,

Matthew S Miller

Prayer Is Spiritual Food

Why do we pray?

Think about that question for a moment…

Our world is constructed on convenience…prayer is not convenient.

Our world never stops…prayer requires stopping.

Our world markets us life change through momentous occasions, commercial transactions, and ambition…prayer is often unremarkable, subtle, free, and requires giving up ambition.

Our world drives on success…prayer doesn’t often seem successful in our estimation.

Our world thrives on efficiency…prayer isn’t efficient.

With these points in mind, it is a fair question to ask “Why do we pray?”

The ancient writer John Chrysostom answers that question this way:

Prayer and communion with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. Just as the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, our spirit is lit up by his infinite light when it is intent on God. I do not mean rote prayers said without thinking, but prayer from the heart, not confined to a schedule, but continous throughout the day and night…

Prayer casts light on our spirit, gives true knowledge of God, and mediates between God and people. Prayer raises the spirit up to heaven, where it tenderly clings to God and cries for the milk that only God can provide. Prayer turns to God for its satisfaction and receives better gifts than anything the world can offer. (From Awakening Faith by James Stuart Bell and Patrick Kelly)

So why do we pray?

We pray because it is our doorway into reality with God.

We pray because it is spiritual food for our destitute souls.

We pray because it provides a filling nothing in this world can offer.

We pray because it is inconvenient, slow, inefficient, and requires giving up the self.

We pray because it brings us the joy, consolation, and transformation we need.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12.12 (ESV)

May you find filling from the spiritual food of prayer today.

Grace and Peace in Christ,

Matthew Miller

Trust Amid Suffering

Recently, I have been hearing online lectures from Lipscomb staff, and one phrase stuck out to me, "Ask not why am I suffering?” Rather ask “What am I suffering for?" We cannot possibly see the end of the tunnel or fathom what God has planned, but we can trust in him and try to grow towards his perfect image in the midst of our hardship.

Trace Baxter

“Ask not “Why am I suffering?” Rather ask “What am I suffering for?””

Love God/Love Neighbor

You and I are here…in this place…this blue vaporous sphere coursing through space to learn the way of love.

Love is the ground of Being, the nature of the Eternal, the all-encompassing Reality of God.

As we continually near the way of love, we realize the Presence of God.

As I was contemplating these thoughts, I came across some reflections from Augustine that are helpful in understanding God’s call to love.

He writes:

The Lord, the teacher of love, full of love, came in person with summary judgment on the world, as had been foretold of him, and showed that the law and the prophets are summed up in two commandments of love. Call to mind, brothers, what these two commandments are. They ought to be very familiar to you; they should not only spring to mind when I mention them, but ought never to be absent from your hearts. Keep always in mind that we must love God and our neighbor: Love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind, and your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments must be always in your thoughts and in your hearts, treasured, acted on, fulfilled. Love of God is the first to be commanded, but love of neighbor is the first to be put into practice. In giving two commandments of love Christ would not commend to you first your neighbor and then God but first God and then your neighbor. Since you do not yet see God, you merit the vision of God by loving your neighbor. By loving your neighbor you prepare your eye to see God. John says clearly: If you do not love your brother whom you see, how will you love God whom you do not see! Consider what is said to you: Love God.

If you say to me: Show me whom I am to love, what shall I say if not what John says: No one has ever seen God! But in case you should think that you are completely cut off from the sight of God, he says: God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God.

Love your neighbor, then, and see within yourself the power by which you love your neighbor; there you will see God, as far as you are able.

Begin, then, to love your neighbor. Break your bread to feed the hungry, and bring into your home the homeless poor; if you see someone naked, clothe him, and do not look down on your own flesh and blood. What will you gain by doing this? Your light will then burst forth like the dawn.

Your light is your God; he is your dawn, for he will come to you when the night of time is over.

He does not rise or set but remains for ever. In loving your neighbor and caring for him you are on a journey. Where are you traveling if not to the Lord God, to him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind? We have not yet reached his presence, but we have our neighbor at our side. Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain for ever.

May you seek to live the way of love, not as some abstraction or idealism, but as a living reality met in the tangible actions of today. Know that as you see love in action toward your neighbor, you see God moving.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NIV)

Grace and Peace in Christ,

Matthew Miller

A Prayer for the Moment

Prayer.

It is the fundamental means God has given us to communicate with Him. Yet all too often prayer can become an area of great difficulty or neglect…especially in a moment of crisis.

Moments of crises tend to distort our vision, beckoning for an immediacy that seldom allows for deep reflection and thoughtful decision making.

Life makes its demands within the tyranny of the urgent.

A limping prayer life amid crisis can create the conditions for spiritual desolation and crippling doubts.

And yet, prayer can be your greatest resource to navigate the choppy waters of crisis and grow through the storm more intimately connected with God.

If you are struggling through the time we are facing, if you feel the weight of the world’s ache…I want to invite you to pray this prayer. It is called A Prayer for Major Life Transition. It goes…

Lord, help me now to unclutter my life, to organize myself in the direction of simplicity. Lord, teach me to listen to my heart; teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it. Lord, I give you these stirrings inside me. I give you my discontent. I give you my restlessness. I give you my doubt. I give you my despair. I give you all the longings I hold inside. Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth; help me to listen seriously and follow where they lead through the breathtaking empty space of an open door. (From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, 560)

As you engage with this prayer, think about the areas in which you need God’s grace of simplicity. Let the words you say not only be a prayer said, rather, let this prayer be the words you reflect on as a prayer lived.

Understand that if you are going through a season of spiritual aridity, you must check in with your prayer life first. Know that God wants to abide with you…but He also wants you to draw near to abide with him as well.

Let your prayer today be one of seeking renewal and refreshment for the soul and may you know the intimacy of your loving Father through the inhabitation of prayer.

Grace and Peace in Christ,

Matthew Miller

The Church Has Left The Building

COVID-19 (also known as the novel Corona Virus) has disrupted normalcy and stability for many of our routines and social structures. More severely, it has threatened the health and well-being of our most vulnerable community members, those we as the church are tasked with honoring and serving. What does it look like to show compassionate neighbor-love and offer collective worship of God when the core of our life together may put others at risk? Does this mean that the church, too, has her foundations shaken with her life teetering in the balance?

By no means!

The church has a long history of service and growth when facing some of the worst ailments, opposition, and plagues in history.

This moment should be no different.

However, the way we structure our common life, the means by which we communicate and walk together may require resourceful innovation. It may force us to revisit Scripture afresh, dig deeper into its pages, and intently focus on the dispersion of God’s people throughout her history to understand how to thrive in this crucial moment. One thing is certain:

It requires the church to leave the building.

Perhaps the call to leave the building is a call to understand the church as the Temple. Leaving the building challenges us to realize that the church is the gathered people’s hearts (not a public facility) making space for communing with the indwelling Spirit. While our gathering is in separate spaces in the moment (and we all yearn for this temporary separation to end soon), when we are open to the LORD with one mind and one heart, when we engage in worship with a spirit of togetherness, when we push back against the weight of the world’s anxiety, fears, and despair, we are displaying to the cosmic powers and the watching world God’s beautiful Kingdom.

So while it is okay to mourn the absence of our gathered togetherness bodily (we should miss this terribly!), let us not lose heart. May we realize that the core of our mission as the people of God never consisted solely in what we do in the building. What we do at the building should equip and empower our weekly ministries as we disperse and sow Kingdom seeds among the world’s fields. It should equip us to live life together in the grit and tension of the old nature’s looming shadow.

All our prior togetherness has equipped you for a moment such as this. In your dispersion, know that your mission has only changed in approach, but the soul of it still beats wildly. While it may be better neighbor-love in the moment to share life from afar, know steadfastly that we are walking with one another in this night with Christ lighting the darkened path before us.

May you see that our common with-God and for-God life has always thrived in intentional community lived in the rhythms of the every day.

This common life can thrive for us through intentional communication and acts of love. These very well may prove to be the lighthouse to keep someone else from wrecking on the rocky shores of the moment.

The church may not be gathered at the building in this moment. But let it not be said that we caved to fear or threat. Rather, we are seeking a better way to march forth with our light and mission blazing more brightly than ever.

And never forget, you are the keeper of that sacred light.

Shine it today without reserve. For the life of the world needs your bravery.

May God's Grace and Peace Be With You All,

Matthew Miller

Why We Need Sabbath: A Vision of Rest for a Weary World

Our world is tired. As a society, we run ourselves to the edge of burnout in the name of “success” and “progress” and “industry”. But have we ever stepped back for one moment and asked “What is all this for?” Why are we running ourselves to death? Why are we putting ourselves through this? Is all of this busyness, stress, anxiety, and rushing around really bringing progress and if so, is this so called “progress” benefiting our relationships, communities, and world?

It seems that God has woven deep within the cycles of creation the need for rest.  As each season changes we are reminded of this reality.  Yes there is spring and summer which bring an active productivity but there is also autumn and winter.  These seasons bring dormancy … Sabbath.  It is actually these seasons of rest that bring productivity in the warmer months.

Creation works from its rest.

Which begs the question:

 “Do we work from our rest?”

God understands humanity’s ability to consume resources at a rapid pace … He understands that if not given instruction to rest, we will continue to wear ourselves past the healthy point.  And we are now seeing the fruits of that in our nation.  We are fortunate if we have opportunities for a weekend off, or maternity leave, or vacation time, or even sick time.  And yet without these times of rest and renewal …

We will break.

Our families, our health, our safety, our relationships, and our spirituality all suffer when we lack time for renewal.

Deep within the story of creation in Genesis, we see that God worked.  He performed His creative action during the spatial and chronological time of that first week.  But when that week ended, what did He do?

God rested…

Not because He had to or because He was so exhausted He could no longer work.  No.  He demonstrates that renewal is interwoven into creation itself and it is essential for life.

In Exodus 20, God gives Moses the commandments.  Within these commandments, there is this resurfacing of Sabbath… not as a legalistic observance or one more thing on the spiritual “to do” list.  No…

Sabbath is living in tune with our place in God’s created community.  It is living as an image bearer of God.

There has arisen this idea within American Christianity that Sabbath is obsolete, that it was done away with.  Maybe there are certain elements of the laws which governed the observance that are no longer to be upheld.  And yes, Jesus confronted abuses to the teaching of Sabbath (ex. Matthew 12.1-14).  But to think that Sabbath is no longer relevant or important to disciples of Christ is absurd.  One theologian and author put it this way:

If you don’t take a Sabbath, something is wrong. You’re doing too much, you’re being too much in charge. You’ve got to quit, one day a week, and just watch what God is doing when you’re not doing anything.

Eugene H. Peterson

It seems that Sabbath has fallen out of favor, less because of some Scriptural interpretation, and more because it does not fit into our busy schedules. Put simply…

Sabbath is inconvenient.

Maybe that is why one author suggests that Sabbath is a new form of “cultural resistance”.  It is difficult to carve out time in our workaholic culture for rest, renewal, and worship.

And yet, this is exactly what we need … for our relationship with God, for our families, for the creation.

We need to reclaim this time of renewal.

The Bible also takes the idea of Sabbath further than just one day a week.  It talks about rest for animals and land … rest for those in debt to others.

If we reclaimed Sabbath as an intentional time of restoration for focus and responsibility to our neighbor and to creation, what kind of cultural revolution might we see?

So how can we begin to reimagine this in our own lives?

These are just a few suggestions to begin this process of reclaiming Sabbath:

• As individuals: Schedule your week around a day of renewal and worship

• As individuals: Work from your rest

• As individuals: Make time once a quarter for a family retreat

• In business: Make intentional seasons to slow down

• In business: Apply Sabbath to create ethical and sustainable agricultural practices

• In business: Rethink management practices and personal time for employees

My prayer is that we can find liberation from our shallow, overworked, and burned out culture through the transformative power of God’s precepts.  May you find peace, rest, and renewal as you seek to find Sabbath in your own life.