Providence Church

So often, we can become so focused on the final product, that we fail to pay attention to how we get there. All that really matters is whether or not we get what we’re looking for. For many of us, this is how we approach the Christian faith. Doesn’t matter how we get to the end result, so long as it “looks” like Christianity is “supposed to look.” When Jesus teaches us the way Christianity is supposed to work, it’s the source of our obedience that is what’s essential. Our nature drives our obedience and when we get that backward, all kinds of things can go wrong.

Jesus is known for pushing buttons, wise sayings, and challenging teachings. There may be no single instruction he gives us that tests our hearts and our faith more than this: Love your enemies. It goes against every inclination we have- from vengence to self-protection. Yet this teaching isn’t just an ethical consideration, it’s at the heart of our faith. Indeed, it’s our only basis for hope in this life and the next. For we are never more like God, than when we love our enemies.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. A phrase built on an oxymoron but perfectly describes the spiritual home of so many. As Jesus teaches about the nature of the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Plain, what becomes painfully clear to even the most devout follower is this: Everybody wants the kingdom of God, but nobody really wants to live in it. Why? Because the values of the kingdom are painfully different than the values of our earthly kingdoms.

In order to build the best organization, you need the best personnel. Recruit well and win big. Great people make for great success. These are all wise maxims that we would do well to remember. Yet when Jesus selected his twelve apostles, they could not have been more ordinary. There was nothing special about them. Uneducated, untrained, mismatched, and without any real skill set that would lend itself to the establishment of a new kingdom. Yet this is who Jesus didn’t just welcome, but went and appointed to his team. What do we make of that? What does it say about us and the lives we are called to live today?

Walk the walk. That’s what a good Christian does. The failure of Christians to “walk the walk” has long been cited as a reason (maybe THE reason) that many won’t darken the doors of a church. But what if that’s not really the essence of our faith? What if that’s not really the reason that people have avoided church? What if there is something deeper and more pervasive? What if “walking the walk” really misses the point of Christianity altogether?

How would you describe the ministry of Jesus? What exactly did Jesus come to do? What were his methods for his ministry during his time on earth? We might fill in the blanks to that question in multiple ways, but I wonder how many of us would describe Jesus’s ministry in the way that Jesus did. In his own words, Jesus came “eating and drinking.” When pressed on why he did so much “eating and drinking,” Jesus said it’s the only that makes sense for him to do. Why? Because feasting is what you do when the bridegroom is here and it’s what we’re all destined to.

Friend or Foe? That was the question the Pharisees and religious gatekeepers were asking when Jesus’s popularity began to grow. Was he on their side or a threat to be eliminated? What should they do with this rabbi that was doing things they had never seen? We know from the gospels that the Pharisees would play the role of chief antagonist, but it didn’t always have to be that way. What if they had chosen to see Jesus differently? What if they had listened to his message?

LoveJeffCo is an initiative of Providence Church to love our community and support local ministries that are changing lives in Jefferson County and beyond. The ministry of Heard and Held is born from a time of deep grief and pain. In 2020, Sarah and Brendan Dunn were surprised to learn that they were expecting their first child. However, their joy would be replaced by sadness as they learned that Sarah had miscarried. In processing their grief, they began to hear from so many others that had also experienced that pain. As they heard other’s stories, they realized there was a need to help others that were enduring the same grief. From that, the ministry of “Heard and Held” was created. Listen as they discuss their story and the future of this new, needed ministry.

One of the unexpected benefits of being a part of a church isn’t what you get from it, but how essential you can become to making sure others get something from it. In God’s economy, sometimes the most essential aspect of our own faith is the power and persistence of the faith of others. When a paralyzed man had physical limitations that kept him from Jesus, it was his friend’s faith that brought him to Jesus’s feet. That lesson has a powerful lesson for all of us about the way faith, hope, and love work in the kingdom of God.

What do you want? Simple enough question, but often a complex answer. It is that question, though, that gets to the heart of discipleship. More than knowledge, discipleship is about desire. When a man “full of leprosy” approached Jesus, his request revealed his heart. What he wanted, even more than to be healed was to be made clean.