cityview

learn wisdom from the stories of Scripture

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Here is our Big Idea this past Sunday at Cityvew:  Seek to honour Jesus today by learning wisdom from the stories of Scripture.  We were camped out in Daniel 5 building on what it means to Live Like Strangers in our culture but not of it.   Belshazzar knew the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation and exaltation, but he failed to grasp the wisdom to be found in the story; Daniel had to re-tell the story for Belshazzar now that B. had seen the writing on the wall.

Unfortunately, like Belshazzar we can be the same way about history–we don’t learn from our mistakes or the mistakes of others.  The Christian worldview presses us to learn from other people–particularly their stories in the Scripture–without having to learn solely from experiences.  There is great benefit in godliness, holiness, righteousness, in living an undivided life from relationship with Jesus; and that benefit can be ours if we learn wisdom from the stories of Scripture.  We don’t have to go out and experience ALL THIS WORLD HAS TO OFFER in order to be a whole person.  Belshazzar was literally living the last day of the Babylonian Empire in a party of bravado and drunkenness.  Devastation was at his doorstep, yet to the end he never humbled himself and declared himself dependent on God as Nebuchadnezzar had done.  So… how can we avoid the same mistakes.  We can learn wisdom from the stories of Scripture.

1.  Listen to the stories of Scripture to enlarge your view of God.  Daniel tells a story that Belshazzar knew but had been unable to access the wisdom in it.  Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

2.  Put the story in its context.  This was easy for Daniel to do and sometimes more difficult for us.  But the context is often where the story begins to show us the HOPE we can have for today and tomorrow.  The Apostle Paul highlights gift of Scripture in Romans 15:4;  “For everything that was written in the past was written to encourage us, so that through the endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

3.  Pay attention to the warnings that illustrate the consequence of being consumed by your culture’s independence from God.  Every culture has aspects of it that seek to move us toward independence from Jesus Christ.  Nebuchadnezzar’s personally testimony in Daniel 4 was a proclamation of God’s sovereignty and grace:  “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.  And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”  Belshazzar missed the warning.  In one of his letters to the church in Corinth, Paul seeks to help them grasp God’s purpose for the stories of Israel for them:  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”  1 Corinthians 10:11

4.  Adjust your belief and behaviour accordingly.  A genuine change of heart and is reflected in a change of behaviour.  When we change our allegiance from self to Jesus our beliefs and behaviours should reflect His exclusive claim to our lives.  The stories of Scripture are used by the Holy Spirit to heal us and to move us into the way and mission of God.  Paul reminds his mentee, Timothy, that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17

Learn wisdom from the stories of Scripture.  Hey try it yourself as we get ready for this coming Sunday’s message, by reading and reflecting on Daniel 6.

stepping into culture

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Our series at Cityview through the first six chapters of Danial has called us to think about how we engage culture:  to Live Like Strangers, in the world but not of it.  I want to encourage you to listen to this 18 minute talk by Andy Crouch at Q.  His talk stepping into culture reviews “postures” and “gestures” toward culture.  He ends with 3 good questions:  What are you cultivating?  What are you creating?  And Who are your co-creators?  I find Andy’s descriptions of different postures and gestures useful for helping me differentiate between the kinds of responses faith in Christ requires in daily living.

LIFE is our Cityview vision

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I recently had a conversation about vision and organizations.  My friend made the statement that people give their lives to vision.  I think that is true.  Unfortunately I think many of us can live a subsistence life when it comes to vision.  One of the great opportunities that I get week in and week out is to call people to connect their lives to what matters most.  I get to help them shape a God-formed vision of their life.  As well I get to remind them of the God-formed vision we have of our life together at Cityview.

LIFE is our vision.  We envision LIFE-transformed followers of Jesus Christ.  We see people who:

Love God with their all; they joyfully live the Great Commandment and elevate Jesus as Lord in a community of worship and prayer.

Include people in the grace of Jesus; they build healthy and loving relationships for koinonia and evangelism.

Find freedom in the Truth; they apply God’s Word in their actions and attitudes for a new and freeing perspective on life and relationships.

Engage the world as a servant; they infiltrate their circles of influence in the fullness of the Holy Spirit for gift-oriented, sacrificial service.

Now we have had a longstanding statement of our mission that says we seek to create communities of devoted followers of Jesus Christ in Vancouver and around the world.  Out of that we know that we have three wins at Cityview.  We are winning when people who are far from God receive Jesus and begin the process of becoming LIFE-transformed followers of Jesus Christ.  We are winning when community groups are reproducing through the development of new leaders and dynamic caring relationships.  And we are winning when new churches are being started in Vancouver and around the world.

Our strategy has three parts under-girded by leadership, prayer, and faithfulness. 

Spaces:  Worship Gatherings, Small Groups, and 3rd Space settings

Stances:  Spiritual Disciplines and Servanthood

Domains:  Oikos, Neighbourhoods, the “building blocks” of a city

5 reasons i want water for Africa this Christmas

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water-for-christmas

This Christmas Cityview is partnering with World Vision to build a well in Africa.  I want water for Africa this Christmas and here are 5 reasons:

1.  Every 15 seconds a child dies because of water related illness or disease.
2.  1.1 billion people live without access to clean water.
3.  I know that God sees and cares.  I love the story of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 16 and 21.
4.  I am overwhelmed by immensity of the North American bill for Christmas:  450 billion dollars.
5.  When we give wate we give life.

You can help us.  We are water rich.  Most of us take water for granted and don’t give a second thought to how our lives would change if we did not have easy access to water–and to clean water.  (World Vision in the UK has a video that challenges our water comfort.)  Partner with Cityview by giving and by getting the word out.  God sees and cares.

i am thankful for celebrate recovery

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Last night Cityview had its first public meeting of Celebrate Recovery.  CR is a recovery program based on the 8 Beatitudes of Jesus and the 12 Steps.  Our commitment to a LIFE vision of the follower of Jesus means that we believe every person can Find freedom in The Truth.  CR is part of that journey at Cityview now.  I am thankful for the ministry team that has stepped up for this new season at Cityview. 

One of my favorate authors on the process of knowing God and becoming like Jesus is Brennan Manning.  He writes and speaks often of the recovery that Jesus has given him.  In A Glimpse of Jesus:  The Stranger to Self-Hatred, Manning writes of the challenge of being free.

Two millennia later I find myself threatened, challenged, and exhilarated by Christ’s freedom from human respect, by his extraordinary independence, indomitable courage, and unparalleled authenticity.  In preaching the gospel I have been graced to speak fearless in the knowledge and conviction that the Word of God must not be fettered, compromised, or watered down; but in my personal life, my fears and insecurities continue to lead me voraciously to seek the approval of others, to assume a defensive posture when I’m unjustly accused, to feel guilty over refusing any request, to doggedly live up to others’ expectations, to be all things to all people in a way that would make St. Paul shudder.

I cannot free myself.  I must be set free.  Yes, the untrammeled freedom of Jesus disturbs me, his utter indifference to human respect makes me uncomfortable; but he invites me to make friends with my insecurities, smile at them, outgrow them in patient endurance, live with the serene confidence that he never abandons his friends even when we disappoint him….

It can be unequivocally stated that the central, most important theme in the personal life of Jesus–the theme that lies at the very heart of the revelation that he is–is his growing turst, intimacy, and love of he Abba, his heavenly Father.  The interior life of Christ was completely Father-centered.  The master clue for interpreting the gospel narrative, the foundation of Jesus’ compelling demands, the source of his towering zeal–was her personal experience of God as Abba.

The pearl of great price in my life, the most treasured gift I’ve ever received from Jesus is to come to know the Father.  “No one knows the the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those tho whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).  Biblical scholar Joachim Jeremias did not hesitate to call this the central revelation of the New Testament.

Jesus brought a revolution in the understanding of God.

–select passages from p. 43-45, A Glimpse of Jesus:  The Stranger to Self-Hatred

My ultimate prayer for all those participating in Celebrate Recovery is that they would be set free by the grace and truth of Jesus to fully enjoy knowing their Heavenly Father.

Celebrate Recovery meets at Cityview on Wednesday Nights at 7 PM.