Bart Bryant

September 2, 2018  by

Update from Redeemer Ann Arbor – September 2018

Building

Although the work has lagged significantly behind schedule, we will have our first worship service in our new building this Sunday, September 2!  We are excited about what God has given us, and we are anxious to use it as a base of operations to reach our community.

We are not having a single grand opening service because our worship area is so small, but we would love to have you come visit us at a worship service and see how God has richly blessed us.

 

Growth

We continue to see God graciously working in many different ways.  We see visitors most Sundays; some stay and continue to attend.  Summers can be slow times in Ann Arbor with much of the student population gone.  However, we have seen an increase of the average attendance of 40 last summer to 50 this summer.  With students starting to move in, we have already seen a big increase in attendance.  We had 75 this past Sunday.

 

Outreach

Our Ladies’ Book Study continues to reach out to unbelievers as well as Christians, and we have had ongoing conversations and relationships with several women.  We pray for growth and fruitfulness in this important outreach.

This fall some of our students and recent graduates are in the middle of more extensive welcome week activities to engage with new students arriving on campus.  Over the past week we have given special focus to the many International students arriving on campus.  We had a table in the Diag (the center of UM’s campus) and were able to engage with many students.  At our welcome picnic this week, we had students from China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Our small group in Ann Arbor has morphed into the campus study.  We continue with the small group north of town in Salem, and we are going to experiment with a new small group south of town this fall.

Our campus study has grown a good bit from last year.  Jim has just finished leading the group through a study of the book of Romans.  In this coming year, we will expand our campus ministry from our Bible study on Thursday nights to a campus worship night with singing and teaching as well as small groups of students who will meet throughout the week.  These small groups will seek to create an enviroment where non-Christians can ask questions on a more personal level.  Daniel Miller, one of our members with some experience in campus ministry at UM, will be leading this effort.

 

Ecuador

We are partnering with La Iglesia Filadelfia in Ambato, Ecuador.  After sending a team from Redeemer Ann Arbor over spring break to Ecuador to begin building relationships and to help with various projects, we are now praying for each other and planning to host a joint quarterly prayer meeting via teleconference.  Steve Youngren from Ecuador will be preaching for us at the end of September, and Jim is planning to participate in a training session for pastors in Ecuador later this year.   Also, work has begun on our next team mission trip to Ecuador during UM’s Spring Break in March of 2019.

 

Overall, we are very encouraged by God’s work here in Ann Arbor.  Please pray for us.  Pray that the “Word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored (2 Thessalonians 3:5).”  May Jesus Christ be praised!

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January 5, 2018  by

Update – January 2018

Please join with us in giving thanks to our God who has led us and provided for us during these past several months.  Let us share with you what we have experienced and where we are going at Redeemer Ann Arbor.

Morning Worship Services – After initiating morning worship services on July 16 at the Michigan League, we are now switching location for our morning service to the Lord of Light Church at 801 S. Forest until we move into our new building, hopefully in April 2018.  We have averaged 51 in attendance at our morning services.

Equip Service – We have held a 5 pm service which we call “Equip” followed by a dinner together at Angelo’s Restaurant this fall. In these services, we worked through “Christianity Explored,” and now we are going through the Lord’s Prayer with a time of teaching, followed by discussion and prayer in small groups.

Formation as a Church – Redeemer Ann Arbor members covenanted together as a church on October 22, 2017.  Pastor Aaron Carr from First Presbyterian Church in Trenton, our primary sending church, preached for us.  We currently have 30 members.

Ecuador Missions Trip – Later this winter, Jim will lead a team of 8 on a trip to Ecuador to work with Acts 29 missionaries Steve and Sandi Youngren.  Steve and Sandi oversee a training center in Lasso, Ecuador where they are working with a number of different Ecuadorian pastors.  The Redeemer mission team will primarily work with a church in Ambato, Ecuador with the goal of forming a long-term relationship with this church.  Another exciting part of the trip will be visiting Shell Mera and “Palm Beach” where Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and three other men were martyred in attempting to bring the good news of Jesus to the Aucan or Huaorani Indians in the 1950’s.  The team will also have the opportunity to visit the Huaorani village where Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s widow, and Rachel Saint, Nate’s sister, ministered for a number of years.

Men’s,  Women’s and Campus Studies – Women have been meeting on Tuesday mornings to study, share and pray together.  This fall they have worked through Ecclesiastes using Better by Tim Chaddick.  Next week they will begin The Scars that Shaped Me by Vaneetha Rendall Risner.  These meetings have provided wonderful opportunities to build some relationships with women from the community who are not yet ready to come to formal church services.  Jim has led students in a study of the book of Romans in our Monday night campus studies.  The men have met on Friday mornings to work through Men of God by Trevor Archer.

Building – Construction continues on 611½ East William Street.  The basement has been fully excavated (by hand), underground plumbing is in place, and a number of other projects have been completed.  The permitting process with both the city and this Historic District Commission took longer than anticipated, but the pace of construction is picking up now.  We hope to occupy the building in April 2018.

We thank all of those who have prayed and supported Redeemer in many ways. To God be the glory!

in Redeemer Ann Arbor / Timeline 0 comments
November 4, 2017  by

Falling… but the Lord helped me

I was pushed hard,

So that I was falling,

But the Lord helped me.

Ps. 118:13

 

Who pushed him so violently?  Though not specifically named, they were his enemies.  Doubtless the reference is left indistinct, so we will all be able to identify with the songwriter.  Do you and I have those who threaten or oppose or intimidate us?

 

The songwriter was overwhelmed.  Four times it says he was surrounded (v. 10, 11, 12).  He was outnumbered, outmanned, outgunned, facing overwhelming odds.  Whatever way he turned, there were more enemies.  It was intense – like bees, buzzing all around, stinging relentlessly – like a fire among thorns, a blazing hot fire burning dried thornbushes, snapping and crackling loudly.

 

The songwriter fought back in faith.  He did not just fold or collapse.  Three times it says when he was surrounded, he didn’t give in or give up, but he cut them off (v. 10, 11, 12).  And each time he fought in the power of God, by faith in God – “in the name of the Lord.”

 

But the songwriter went down.  They hit him hard.  They got the best of him.  Their numbers were overwhelming.  Their intensity was ferocious.  He lost his footing and was falling.  Quickly they would move in to finish him off.  Expect no mercy when he goes down.  Now to end the fight…

 

But the Lord helped me.  I did not expect this! In my time of greatest need, my greatest weakness, my greatest hopelessness, the Lord steps in to rescue me. He has become my salvation (v. 14). The Lord answered me and set me free (v. 5).  This is the Lord’s doing (v. 23).

 

Who has become your enemy?  Are  you overwhelmed? Have you been pushed hard?  Are you falling?

 

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?

The Lord is on my side as my helper.  Ps. 118:6-7a

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August 12, 2017  by

Meditations Toward Purity – #5 – 1 Peter 2:11

Helping you meditate on Scriptures as you pursue purity

1 Peter 2:11 – Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Passions of the flesh

What is the focal point of this verse?  The passions of the flesh (fleshly lusts, NASB).  These are desires, strong desires that originate from my body and call me to pursue eagerly the satisfaction of my desire, often paying scant attention to what boundaries I may be crossing and whose property I may be trespassing on as I run like a baying hound chasing a coon.  What comes to mind most readily is sexual desire, though Peter undoubtedly has other desires in mind as well.

Let’s go into a little more detail about these passions of the flesh.  They are:

  • Rooted in the body

They are called passions of the flesh, for bodily needs and wants are at the root of these desires. The presence and pull of these desires are inescapable, for as long as I am in my body, I will have these desires. They spring from what I am as human, and they are inextricably linked with my existence in my body.  Simply put, I cannot eliminate all desire by training myself to think differently.

  • Internally sourced, not originating externally

My desires may burst into flame in response to an external stimulus, but my desires were alight, smoldering away within me all along.  My desire does not originate in the tempting person, image or object that I encounter.  My desires are my desires, proceeding from deep within me.  Consider James 4:1, “your passions…at war within you”, or Matthew 15:19, “out of the heart come evil thoughts…” My desires leap into action when I encounter what I have been wanting, but the desire comes from within me.

  • Opposed to the Spirit

“For the desires of the flesh are against the desires of the Spirit…”  Galatians 5:17 These passions sourced in the flesh are by nature in conflict with, in opposition to, the Spirit and the desires He engenders in us.  A cessation of these hostilities between flesh and Spirit is not possible because flesh and Spirit are intrinsically opposed to each other.  A Christian feels acutely this internal conflict.

  • Dominant in unbelievers

Paul speaks of “the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind…” (Ephesians 2:3)  Unbelievers routinely follow or indulge their fleshly passions.  And these desires do not magically disappear when a sinner is converted. The transformed believer still faces old habits and a lifestyle that used to dominate his life; change is not a piece of cake.

Abstain

Now that he has identified this enemy which wages war against the soul, Peter urges his beloved brothers and sisters to take the appropriate action against this enemy, to abstain from the passions of the flesh.  To abstain means to refrain from, to keep away, or to avoid contact with or the use of something.

There is another option, of course. Peter speaks in 2 Peter 2:10 of those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion.   I face a choice. The passions are real, strong, magnetically attractive, with the pull constantly, undeniably, sometimes overwhelmingly being exerted on me.  How do I respond?  Do I keep away or give in?  Do I say “no” decisively or do I let myself be swept away?  Do I abstain or indulge?

Peter urges us to abstain, not just from fulfilling the desire (doing it) but also from indulging or giving in to experiencing the desire (delighting in it) even when we may not give in and actually commit what we want to do.  We may refuse to do what we are being tempted to do, yet we can get a certain high or pleasure just from entertaining the attraction instead of immediately turning away or shutting it down.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you  abstain from sexual immorality.  Fundamental to God’s will for His people on an individual scale is holiness, and if ever there was an area that calls for holiness, it is sexual immorality.

Which wage war against your soul

What is the big deal?  Why all the urgency and uproar over lust, something that everyone in the world just accepts as pretty normal?

Many reasons, but one is highlighted here. The passions of the flesh wage war against my soul.  In other words, my lusts actively clash with and attack my true self, my fundamental identity, the part of me that will one day give account to God and that will live forever. Why?  How?

War against my soul, because the rush of my passions dulls my desire for God, for purity, and for the unseen reality of heaven.  The taste and zing and quick high of cotton candy makes steamed broccoli seem a bit drab.

War against my soul, because the guilty after taste from my lust indulged contaminates my conscience, making me instinctively run from God rather than to God. I become reluctant to draw near to God. This is not in the best interest of my soul.

War against my soul, because my passion indulged floods my heart with shame, turning me away from God’s people instead of engaging with and rejoicing in them.

War against my soul, because in the aftermath of my lust I can’t pray, yearn for holiness or a clean heart, find delight in the Word of God, or love others with humility and purity.  I find my heart distracted, debased and derailed from faith in God.

War against my soul, because the passions of the flesh are against whatever is good for my soul.

As sojourners and exiles

My home is in heaven, where God dwells in light, perfection and purity.  I belong there.  As I travel there through this present world, I can never feel at home here.  Here the surrounding culture exalts and idealizes giving in to fleshly passions; to restrain yourself is to miss out foolishly on the fun. I am not part of this society; its customs and morals are foreign to me.  I must remember my alien status and not let myself get assimilated into the surrounding culture. Visiting foreigners are careful to retain their identity;  they do not regard themselves as a part of the host society.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Lord, I feel keenly the tug of my fleshly passions.  Help me to abstain, not to indulge or give in.  I know that as pleasurable as these desires are, they are the deadly enemy of my soul. May your Spirit work in me to choose and to do your good pleasure.

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July 17, 2017  by

An Update on Redeemer Ann Arbor

The Timeline

August 2015 – God.  4 people.  Prayer.

April 2016 – We began meeting for public worship on Sunday evenings at Lord of Light Lutheran Church at Forest and Hill, on the edge of campus.  God blessed us in so many ways, and bit by bit we have seen progress:  people added, ongoing conversations and relationships with unbelievers, students reached, a growing sense of identity, purpose and community for our core group and more.

January 2017 – Having concluding that it is much slower to grow without a morning service, we began to look diligently for an opportunity to meet within easy walking distance of central campus in order to continue what we have begun.  This was not an easy find.

March 2017 – God provided! Marvelously! We purchased 611 ½ East William, a small historic structure built in 1878 for DKE, a fraternity on campus. The building is located where campus meets downtown, a hub of activity and foot traffic.  Considerable renovations will be performed over the next several months.  We hope to begin worship in this facility by the end of the year, if God wills.

July 16, 2017 – We begin morning services, which we are labelling Worship!  We will meet on campus at the Michigan League on the second floor at 10:30 am.   “God’s Truth for Kids with Pastor Jim,” classes for children,  will begin at 9:45.  We also will meet at Angelo’s Restaurant, 1100 Catherine, at 5 pm for a service we are labelling Equip!  The Equip! service will be followed by a meal together at 6 pm.  Taking the Great Commission seriously, we want to reach unbelievers with the gospel, but we also want to disciple many Christians that we have the opportunity to reach.  People come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and we want to equip these believers to serve God in their lives, their vocations, and their churches wherever they may go when they leave Ann Arbor.  The Equip! service will be aimed at achieving this objective.

Late 2017 – We plan to move into our newly renovated building at 611 ½ East William Street.  We look forward to the opportunities to serve Jesus and to reach people that greater accessibility and visibility will bring.

Today

This year we have been averaging 40 in attendance at our Sunday evening services.  This was our first year to reach out to students, and a number of students have come regularly this past year.  Some of them will now serve as leaders of various endeavors that we will begin in the coming school year.

Our weekly Mornings Together sessions provide opportunity for women to study, discuss and pray together.  These have been fruitful and hopeful as we have developed relationships with several unbelievers who attend regularly.  Men meet early Friday mornings; they are currently studying the book of Titus. A weekly campus study has been ongoing through the school year. Evangelistic opportunities have emerged as various relationships have developed with unbelievers.

Tomorrow

We are now in the last few sermons of a series preparing us to organize as a church as we commit ourselves to God and to each other.  We will take these steps in the next few months and move forward into a new phase of our existence.

We look forward to another school year and the opportunities that we believe God will bring for us to serve more students.

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February 8, 2017  by

Are You a Victim of Injustice?

Are you a victim of injustice?  Have you been abused? Forgotten? Betrayed by those who should have loved and protected you? Falsely accused of things, even of crimes, that you have not done?

You are not alone.

The Bible tells the stories of other victims of tragic injustice:  Hagar, the Israelites in Egypt, and many others.  But perhaps the rawest example of all is Joseph, the man whom history judges as blameless yet who undergoes wave after wave of injustice that threaten to pull him under their sweeping power and drown him.  So how does Joseph respond to such blatant injustices?  And how does it all end for him?

Sold into Slavery by His Own Brothers – Genesis 37

Joseph came from a big family with 11 brothers and sisters.  In big families, you may fight with your brothers, but you stand together against the world.  But there was no such bond of loyalty in Joseph’s family.  His brothers were jealous of him (v. 11).  In fact, they hated him (v. 4, 8) so intensely that they couldn’t even speak civilly to him (v. 4).  Constantly harboring this hostility, when they ended up in a remote and lonely moment with Joseph, they conspired to kill him (v. 18-20).  Reuben, his oldest brother, talked them out of murder, but the brothers ended up selling Joseph as a slave to a band of Midianite traders passing by on their way to Egypt.

From favored son to anonymous slave in a foreign country, target of the malevolent jealousy of his own flesh and blood brothers, Joseph is the victim of injustice.

Falsely Accused and Imprisoned by His Boss – Genesis 39

Upon arrival in Egypt, Joseph is promptly sold to Potiphar, a ranking member of the palace guard under Pharaoh.  Joseph had been a very privileged young man while growing up, but we see nothing of narcissistic entitlement in Joseph when he loses his pampered position in the family.  Joseph does not retreat into self-pity or become bitter at God and the world for how they have treated him.  Rather, it appears that Joseph is energetic, entirely trustworthy and committed to the success of his new master more than to his own personal prestige or advantage.  Through hard work, integrity and wise choices, Joseph earns increasingly more responsibility and authority in Potiphar’s household until he reaches the post of overseer of the entire household.

At this point, Potiphar’s wife notices the handsome and successful young Joseph and repeatedly attempts to seduce him.  But Joseph consistently resists her advances and maintains his integrity and purity.  Spurned, she lies about Joseph to her husband, falsely accusing him of attempting to rape her.  Potiphar angrily has him thrown into prison.

Unjustly accused of the very thing that he had steadfastly refused doing, he is stripped of all his privileges and is chained and imprisoned (Psalm 105:17-18). Once again he is alone in a foreign country, now in prison, yet the Lord is with him, and this makes all the difference.

Broken Promises and Forgotten in Prison – Genesis 40

Does Joseph bury himself in bitterness, resentment and anger?  Does he give up on God, on the system , and on ever trying again?  Far from it. He fully engages himself in his new life in prison, exhibiting the same kind of wise, trustworthy, selfless service that he had in Potiphar’s household, and God is with him (39:21).  The chief prison warden notices the new prisoner and gives him increasingly more responsibility until Joseph is in charge of the entire prison (39:22) with complete executive authority over the entire place (39:23).

Sometime later, two members of Pharaoh’s court are confined to prison and have dreams that foreshadow their fates.  Joseph interprets their dreams, correctly predicting that the chief cupbearer will be restored to his favored position before Pharaoh and that the chief baker will be executed, all within the next three days.  Joseph asks the cupbearer not to forget him when he is restored to Pharaoh’s service and to intercede for Joseph.  Yet when the cupbearer is released from prison and restored to the court, he completely forgets Joseph (40:23). So, Joseph’s hope fades and he languishes for two more years in prison.

How does Joseph process all this injustice?  How does it influence and shape his outlook?  The answer is clearly seen when Joseph is the chief executive of Egypt and his brothers stand before him (45:4-15).  He is not a prisoner of his past; he has no thoughts of revenge.  Why and how?  The key is Joseph’s faith.  Joseph looked behind and beyond the people who trashed him and the injustice of it all to the God arranging these events.  And for just this reason he was freed from fixation both on himself and on the pain and injustice that was forced upon him.  Joseph knew, and he would not let go of his belief, that God was in charge of his life events and destiny (“it was not you, but God” – 45:5,7,8). Joseph was fully aware of their motives (“you meant evil against me”), but he lifts his eyes to God who overrules all their treacherous designs with His good purposes (50:19-21). Joseph believed that all he had experienced was the best path, wisely chosen by a gracious God for good.   Joseph maintained his faith that God is God, that God is good, and that God was Lord of his personal history.  Victim of injustice?  Or precious child of God, for whom God worked it all together for good?

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December 24, 2016  by

The Christmas Story

Galatians 4:4, 5 – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law…

The story starts with God.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Everything is perfect, beautiful, and right.  Man and woman are naked and not ashamed, fully in tune with the beautiful world around them, with each other, and with God.  Everything is good, very good.

And then sin enters.  Satan comes, armed only with lies, flattery, and questions about God, His love and truthfulness.  Man takes the bait and quits on God, going for the gusto instead, and falls farther than anyone ever could have imagined.  For this one sin, there is a stupendous price to pay.  Man, woman, the serpent and the world pass into the dark shadow of the curse. Man is expelled from God’s garden, God’s presence, and his close, harmonious relationship with God plunges into distance and dissonance.

You might think this is the end of the story.  It is not.  The Bible does not only have 3 chapters.

God doesn’t let it rest here.  He does not leave man trashed and trapped in the consequences of his lust, pride, and foolish naiveté.  God begins a cosmic rescue operation.  It will be a long story, because it is a big and complicated problem.

Man did not take God seriously, so God demonstrates that He is righteous and holy, that He means what He says.

Man thinks he can fix it, so God gives a Law that makes it clear that we simply can’t be good enough ourselves.

And then, at just the right time, when all the preparations are completed and the stage is set, when the fruit is ripened and ready to be picked, when the bride is ready to walk down the aisle, God sends His Son.  He sends His Son to rescue men from their sin and all its tragic and terminal consequences.  “…You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21).

To save men, the rescuer must be a man, so he is “born of a woman.”  The rescuer will save by substituting himself for the men slated to die an eternal death.  Only as a man could he be a viable substitute for other men.

Yet to save men, the rescuer must be God, for only infinite God could step up to absorb the infinite wrath of God incurred because of human sin.  So it is God’s Son, very  God, who is born of a woman to become the God-man.

And this Rescuer, this Substitute, must keep the law perfectly throughout his human existence or else when He comes to die, He would have to die for his own sin, rather than for the sins of those whom he came to save.  So as man he is born under the law (rather than over the law, as God himself is).  The law has requirements upon him (Thou shalt, Thou shalt not), but Jesus keeps the commandments, every one, in every way, all the time.

So Jesus, the Rescuer, comes to redeem men who are guilty, hopeless and helpless.

This is the Christmas Story.

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November 8, 2016  by

God Calls Abraham to Faith

Genesis 12:1-4

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

 

Abraham is the father of us all (Romans 4:16), the model for all who will live by faith (Galatians 3:7). But what does it mean to live by faith?  Sometimes faith seems so vague and ethereal, but the life and actions of Abraham give us some clarity and definition.  The first of those faith-defining actions is our very first encounter with Abraham, when God called him to leave Ur and his father’s house in order to follow God and to inherit the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.  We hear God beginning the conversation in Genesis 12:1.

“Go from…”

God’s call to Abram was a call to depart, to leave behind.  What did God call Abram to abandon?

  • Your country. Your native soil, people who speak your native tongue, and all the familiar people and places you have grown up with and ever known. People choose to die to defend their homes and their homelands.  But God calls Abram to leave behind his country.
  • Your kindred. Extended family.  The traditions and rhythms that give you a settled sense of identity and familiarity. God calls Abram to leave them all behind.
  • Your father’s house. What is so dear to people as home?  How many movies, songs and sentimental stories have been written about going home?  Going home for Christmas.  Going home after traveling abroad.  Going home after serving in the armed forces.  And God calls Abram to leave his father’s house behind him.

“Go to…”

God’s call to Abram was a call to go to a land that God would show him.  In other words, Abram is called to leave all that is fondly familiar to go to an unnamed and unknown destination.  God says He is not even going to reveal to Abram where he is headed before he must leave everything behind. This is truly a leap into the unknown, a step of faith.

Why go? Not because Abram can do a rational, cost-benefit analysis on the outcome of the choice.  He knows what it will cost him, but he doesn’t know what the potential reward is; he simply doesn’t know where he is being asked to go. Why go?  Just because it is God who is calling him.

“And I will bless you…”

Four times God says He will bless Abram.  God promises to make his posterity develop into an entire nation.  God promises to bless Abram personally and to give him a lasting reputation.  God promises that His blessing on Abram will not only have personal, local and national implications, but it will be global in its reach.  Blessings indeed!

God calls Abram to obey Him.

What is God calling Abram to do, as He calls him to go from and to go to?  God calls Abram to obey him.  The call is clear and specific.  There is nothing indistinct or fuzzy in God’s word.  Abram faces a simple choice of whether to obey God or to disobey.  Will he go or will he stay?  Will he go and obey?

God calls Abram to trust Him.

God’s call to Abram is not only a call to obedience, but it is also a call to faith.  Abram, you can’t see your destination; you can’t see where you are going.  In fact, Abram, you can’t even know your destination.  God isn’t going to tell you where you’re headed. You must go in faith, trusting God when you cannot see your way.  This won’t be easy, either the leaving or the going.

Now, Abram what will you do?

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…”

And the rest is history.  Millennia later, we find that God’s promises to Abraham are all true.  Abram is the father of several nations that still exist and prosper today. His name is claimed and revered, even to this present day. His spiritual legacy is honored by millions.  And through him and his posterity came a Savior who would rescue humanity and reconcile men and women to God.

God is still calling today, calling you and I to faith in Him.  What is He calling you to leave behind?  Where is He calling you to go?  How is He calling you to obey Him?  Where is He calling you to trust Him, going where you cannot see?  And how is He promising to bless you, if you will just trust and obey Him?

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August 12, 2016  by

Meditations toward Purity – #4 – Job 31:1

Job 31:1 – I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

 

In Job 31, Job is defending his integrity against the accusations of his friends in the nitty gritty of specific areas of moral weakness that commonly plague all us humans:  sexual sin (31:1, 9-12), integrity in business (31:5-8), fairness toward his slaves (31;13-15), compassion towards the poor (31:13-23), and so on.

 

The Eyes

 

Job begins with what is perhaps the most widespread sin that takes men down, sexual sin, and he starts with the launching pad for this sin, our eyes.  What our eyes see fuels our thoughts, and what we think upon fuels our desires. As Job says in verse 7, “if…my heart has gone after my eyes.”  The heart, like a dog chasing a rabbit, tends to follow where the eyes lead the way.

 

The truth Job knows, that what he sees may instantly have an effect upon his heart, is not confined to this Scripture text.

  • Sin’s first entrance into God’s perfect creation was through the eyes of Eve.  “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, …she took of its fruit and ate…” Genesis 3:6
  • David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba began with what he looked at.  “…he saw a woman…and he lay with her”  2 Samuel 11:2, 4
  • Jesus emphasized that the see-desire-heart sin continuum was a matter of instant eye-to-heart transmission, and guilt was incurred as if the deed was already done.  “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Matthew 5:28

 

So Job is acutely conscious that what he allows himself to see is not a matter of indifference, an event that has no effect beyond the moment. The risk of igniting his passions is so great that he decisively makes a solemn commitment not to gaze upon a virgin, a young woman.

 

The Gaze

 

Not all seeing is the same. There is a difference between a glance and a gaze.  A glance is brief; a gaze is prolonged. In a glance, my eyes (and therefore, my mind) are fleetingly exposed to the young woman.  In a gaze, my eyes (and again, my mind) drink in every detail of what I am staring at.   A glance may be an accidental event; a gaze most certainly is not, for even if it begins with the eye accidentally falling upon a beautiful woman, I may then choose to redirect my eyes.  A glance may appreciate the beauty of a woman; a gaze risks inciting my unlawful desires and imaginations.

 

This use of “gaze” in the Hebrew means “to consider diligently” or “to look at closely.” Note Isaiah 14:16 (“stare”), Psalm 37:10 (“look carefully”), and 1 Kings 3:21 (“look closely”). Job is not saying he will not see a woman or glance at a woman, but that he will not gaze upon a woman. Back to the contingency of verse 7, “if…my heart has gone after my eyes;” you may see and not have your heart run towards what you saw.

 

Job, now old enough to have 10 children, at least some of whom were adults (Job 1:2,4), well understands the risks inherent in the prolonged gaze at a young, beautiful woman.  Because Job is committed to purity, he has made a personal commitment, a solemn covenant with his eyes, not to let them gaze upon beautiful young women.  He is not here preaching his personal practices to others, but he has drawn his own personal line in the sand at precisely this point – no prolonged gazes.

 

Now, some may (truly) assert that a young woman as an object of beauty is one of God’s good gifts.  Appreciating her beauty is tantamount to admiring God’s creativity and goodness.  Job is not concerning himself with these issues; his concern is for the risk that a prolonged gaze may present to his own soul.  Job places greater value on his quest for purity than upon liberties and pleasures that may even be legitimate.

 

The Covenant

 

Job does not just say it, he swears it. Job knows his vulnerability; words alone are pitifully weak. So he makes a solemn and binding commitment. Does Job think an oath in itself will keep him from lust?  I don’t think so, but Job will do what he can, everything he can, to keep himself pure (Matthew 5:29-30).

 

This is a voluntary oath; no one is forcing it upon him.  But Job wants to be pure in his heart, pure before God, so he chooses to do what he can to take steps towards the goal of purity. Harnessing his desires is very tough, so he chooses to control what he best can, his eyes, which feed directly into his thoughts and desires.  The fire will not rage so fiercely if it has less fuel to burn.

 

The Reason

 

Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?  (Job 31:4) What I do with my eyes is neither a purely personal nor private matter.  God cares intensely about the activities of my eyes and heart, and Job well knows it (v. 2-4).  God intervenes in human history and punishes sin (v. 2-3). God sees what I see (v. 4), and He takes careful note of what I do in life. Remembering that God sees is a major motivation to fight against sexual temptation (Proverbs 5:21).

 

My struggle to control my eyes in the battle for sexual purity is nothing new to the 21st  century (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Before our culture of undress, influenced by the ubiquitous media and obsessed with sensuality, Job had well defined the issues and staked out his position.

 

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

 

Oh God Who Sees Me!  How often I have sinned with my eyes against You.  How often my heart has followed my eyes. But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. Help me to define the issues like Job did.  Help me to commit to keep my eyes like Job did.  May your Spirit help me. For the glory of Jesus, Amen.

 

Friend, do you feel defeated in your battle for purity?  Covenants and commitments alone do not deliver us, but Christ can and does give true deliverance.  God’s word and promises remain absolutely true.  We’d be happy to talk further; just email or call us.

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June 9, 2016  by

Redeemer Ann Arbor – Where Are We?

Now that we are 10 months into the process of church planting Redeemer Ann Arbor:  Where are we? Where are we headed?

God has been so good.

We started with 4 people in August 2015, though we had expected to start with more.  But God had laid out our path.  We began meeting in a home in Salem Township, just outside Ann Arbor, to pray, share together and study the Scriptures.  Jim began a Bible study on the UM campus shortly after that.  Step by step, God has gathered a few of us together to form Redeemer Ann Arbor. Also, we are thankful that throughout the beginning stages of church planting, we have had a number of opportunities to engage with people in Ann Arbor.

God was so kind to us! He provided a perfect place for us to meet, and on April 10, we began evening worship services at 5 pm at the Lord of Light Lutheran Church on the edge of the UM campus.  We have had an average of 20-30 people in attendance at these services.

This summer for 10 weeks on Thursday mornings we will host Summer Mornings Together  – Women with Women Around the Bible.  In the fall, Jim will resume the campus Bible Studies.

This summer we look forward to Matt and Tiffany Price joining us after a two year internship at Grace Church in Manchester, England.  Matt will focus on outreach, especially to the international community in Ann Arbor.

We are eager to add a morning worship service, but we wait on God to make it clear when we should do this.

We invite you to pray for us and to join us as we seek to reach and to influence Ann Arbor for Jesus Christ.

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