Tag Archives: Humility

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 27, 2015
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Mutual UpBuilding — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 27, 2015

“Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve.” Romans 14:19, 22

“Suppose a man have peace of conscience, what must he do to keep and maintain it. I answer:

First, we must labor to prevent troubles of conscience by taking heed that we do nothing contrary to conscience.
Secondly, if we will maintain our peace, we must labor to have our hearts grounded in the assurance of the love of G*d…
 Thirdly, we must use the assurance of faith in applying the blood of Christ. If we find that we have sinned, we must run presently to the blood of Christ to wash away our sin.” William Fenner (1600 – 1640) A Quest for Godliness – “For All The Saints”, volume IV (p. 344)

Peace and mutual upbuilding. These are good attributes to have in our faith lives, and in our personal lives. How do we find peace? Well, peace is the opposite of conflict. How do we avoid conflict? We can’t always avoid conflict, but we can seek to live lives of peace, formed in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors, to forgive unlimited amounts of times, to serve others, and to make sure we put others first, among other lessons he taught. That will go a long way in finding peace and avoiding conflict. Mutual upbuilding, at least in my mind, is closely related to serving others. When we serve the other, we are working to make the lives of others better. In all the ways that we seek peace and mutual upbuilding, we look to the Holy Spirit to be our source of strength and our guide.

How can you be a source of peace and/or a source of upbuilding in someone’s life today?

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 25, 2015
Tags: Humility, ,   

It Takes All Sorts — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 25, 2015

“Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Romans 14:5 – 10

“It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. This may be even truer of a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which G*d intended when He made them, and Heaven will display far more variety than Hell. What pleased me most about a Greek Orthodox mass I once attended was that there seemed to be no prescribed behavior for the congregation. Some stood, some knelt, some sat, some walked; one crawled about the floor like a caterpillar. And the beauty of it was that nobody took the slightest notice of what anyone else was doing. I wish the Anglicans would follow their example.” C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer – “For All The Saints” volume IV, (p. 340-341)

When you have been in the church long enough, and in many different settings, you begin to realize the truth of Lewis’ statement. It does take all sorts to make a church — and thank the Lord that it does. Who would want to go to church and only see people like themself? The answer, unfortunately, is all of us. Most studies completed on the Christian Church reveal that people attend a church and/or come back to a church they have visited because they see people who are mostly like themselves. The richness of the church comes in the variety of people, who have a variety of opinions, and where no one judges the other because they are different. Utopian? I would say more like “dystopian” — but not in the traditional understanding of “dystopia”. Instead of diversity looking frightening to us, it should enhance our worship experience — diversity in worship styles, worship settings, worship music, and worship liturgies. It does take all sorts to make a church — all sorts of people and all sorts of worship experiences and opportunities.

Pastor Dave