Grace – Page 7 – { Andrew Mills }

Confessions of a Pastor: Limitations

I have a confession. I’m an imperfect person. I have faults and flaws. I’m not sufficiently good, wise, or amazing to make things work everywhere. I know I have limitations, I know I have temptations, I know I make mistakes, and I have regrets. You might be like me too.

We live in a world though that sees confessions such as these as weakness. Imperfections and limitations are things to be covered up, avoided, or denied. But this is not the way in God’s Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom limitations are not to be avoided but actually embraced because they are where God works best. As Paul says, it is in our weakness, our limitations, our imperfections, that God is strong and does his best work.

Sometimes I come to a situation, a crisis, or even a Sunday with a feeling like I don’t know what to do. I don’t have the experience, the skill, or the knowledge to draw upon. I have no idea how to make things work. I reach the end of myself and see my limitations. These, though, are precisely the times when God seems to act most. When I say to him I have no idea what I am to do – so this one is up to you. When I say to him – God, this is bigger than me, so it needs you. When I embrace the fact that God I am small and broken – but accept the fact that even in my weakness God wants to use me. And he wants to use you even with your weaknesses and limitations.

This isn’t about excusing sin and failures of that sort. This is about realizing that we are not God, that we are not perfect, that we do not know everything, or know how to act in every situation. This isn’t to be lamented but embraced because when we embrace the fact we have limits we embrace the fact that God doesn’t.

It is only when we acknowledge our limitations that we also acknowledge our need and dependency on God. As I said I am not sufficiently amazing, wise, or skilled to succeed without God. I need God each and everyday in my life, work, and in his church if I am to be faithful. I cannot rely on myself, my limits remind me of my desperate need for God.

So for you – when you come up to your limits – what do you do? Do you embrace them as a moment for God to work? Do you embrace them as a reminder of our dependency on the Spirit that lives and moves in us? Or do you avoid it, deny it, or try to compensate for it?

My suggestion is this – the next time you come to the end of yourself, embrace that fact because it is often the beginning of the work of God.

September 11, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Outburst of Love and Encouragement

Want to know why I love our church? Because of this:

Quite a few weeks ago, I was trying to think of how I could show my care for a family in our church. They had an important doctors meeting, so I thought I’d go leave flowers with a note of my prayer while they were away at the meeting, to get when they got home. I thought it would be a good way to surprise and encourage.

And as I’m placing the flowers, I saw a car drive into the driveway and I thought my little surprise might be ruined. Except it wasn’t them. It was someone else from our church with the same idea. They had brought homemade muffins, and food (which made me wish I’d thought of that).We both smiled as we both placed our little gifts and left.

Here is the thing – I hear of stories like this all the time. Of people dropping by with groceries for people who are in difficulty, I see people bring flowers to bless a friend on Sunday, I hear stories of people showing up to fix things, to give away money, time, and love.

I love our church because they seek to creatively care. Because they take Galatians 5:6 seriously, “What is important is faith expressing itself in love”. What is important is our faith moving us to loving actions. What is improtant is us showing our care for others.

Our church is far from perfect, I am far from perfect. We mess up and miss things. But we continue to try to put that verse into practice. To have our faith express itself in love, and this is why I so love this place.

So this week why not try to express your faith in love? Why not try to come up with a creative way to show you care? Hebrews talks about us encouraging one another in outbursts of love and encouragement (Heb 10:24). So why not do that today – leave a note, drop off a meal, send a card, offer to babysit, bring by a coffee to a friend at work. Today let your faith express itself in love and let the stories of life and love spread.

August 21, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Wandering Lost and Finally Finding Home

On Sunday we explored the first of three sermons on the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). In this sermon we looked at the prodigal son and how we are often so much like him. How we too have left home, and left God in so many countless ways. What is remarkable is that it is God’s love that allows us to leave.

Henri Nouwen puts it this way: “The Father couldn’t’ compel his son to stay home. He couldn’t force his love on the Beloved. He had to let him go in freedom, even though he knew the pain it would cause both his son and himself. It was love itself that prevented him from keeping his son home at all cost. It was love itself that allowed him to let his son find his own life, even with the risk of losing it….Here the mystery of my life is unveiled. I am loved so much that I am left free to leave home.”

We are loved so much that we are free to leave. Sometimes the leaving is harsh and sudden, like in the story. Sometimes it’s slow and subtle. But it happens nonetheless.

Again Nouwen writes: “Anger, resentment, jealousy, desire for revenge, lust, greed, antagonisms, and rivalries are the obvious signs that I have left home”. This is true. These are all signs that we’ve left the home of the Father full of grace, acceptance, and love. We’ve left home for a distant land where we become used, abused, and neglected. This is what the prodigal son experiences and he comes to his senses. And decides to return home. This decision though is often so difficult because when we leave the Father’s side we walk into darkness and confusion. Nouwen again wisely writes: “The farther I run away from the place where God dwells the less I am able to hear the voice that calls me the Beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in manipulative power games of the world.” This is true, the further we run from God the more difficult it is to hear his voice in a world of competing voices.

Yet the son does hear the Father’s voice. He remembers what it was like at home, whereas now he is left alone, struggling, and abused. He decides to walk home and seek to earn back his position not as a son but as a slave. A hired hand. Yet the Father sees the son while he was a long way off…because he was looking. The Father didn’t move on because he didn’t want to move on. He isn’t content till all those who have wandered find their way back home. So he runs to his son not caring that it isn’t dignified. He doesn’t care what other people think, he cares about his lost son. The son shares a speech but the father doesn’t care. Because the father isn’t about what can be earned, but what he can give, which is acceptance, hope, love, and assurance.

So on Sunday we ended by reflecting on how at so many times and places we have been like the prodigal son. That we drift, slide, and move away. On Sunday we ended asking a simple but profound question: will you let the Father accept you? We often say yes quickly but it’s not that easy. Because we need to give up all our speeches, our ways of fixing things (i.e. being a hired hand), our ways of earning love and instead to simply accept the gift before us.

So today I want to ask you the same thing. Will you accept the gift of God’s grace before you? Remember the Father’s focus isn’t on your past or what you’ve done, the Father’s focus is on you.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Love and acceptance are found at “home”

Take Aways…

The son leaving is a sign of dying
You are loved so much you are free to leave home
The Father divides up his life for his sons
Away from home people use, abuse, and neglect you
“Anger, resentment, jealousy, desire for revenge, lust, greed, antagonisms, and rivalries are the obvious signs that I have left home”. Henri Nouwen
“The farther I run away from the place where God dwells the less I am able to heave the voice that calls me the Beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in manipulative power games of the world” Henri Nouwen
The Father saw the son because he was looking
The Father hasn’t moved on, because he doesn’t want to move on.
The Father doesn’t care what other people think, he cares about his son
God isn’t about earning, gaining, or achieving. God is about giving.

Adult / Group Discussion Questions: What surprised you? What made you think? What did you take away? When have you “left home”? Is there any places where you have bee leaving home, slowly and subtly? How can having God’s assurance of love change who you are? How does it feel to be accepted by God? How might you share your thanks with him today?

Discussion Questions for Young Families: Take a moment and sit down with your kids and talk to them about today’s message. Share with them the story of the Father and the Son. If you can promise them the same type of love, that is modeled in this passage. Talk with them about how you love your kids in the same way with acceptance, forgiveness, and a willingness to reach out.

Challenge for this Week:

Receive the Father’s acceptance

May 6, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Prodigals and Finding God

Over the next few weeks we are going to be moving into a new series looking at the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. This is a story that is very well known in general. But what is often true is that the most familiar stories are sometimes the least well known. Meaning that some of the most familiar stories are so familiar that they have lost their initial impact, shock, and experience.

This is what I hope to explore over the next few weeks. Because this story is shocking in what it reveals.

It shows a God willing to divide up his life for people to make the wrong choices.
It shows a God willing to accept and offer forgiveness before it’s asked for.
It shows how we can break the rules, and obey all the rules and still miss God.
It shows how our own righteousness and obedience to the law can distance ourselves from God just as much as running away.
And most of all, it shows a radical picture of God that differs from the unchanging, cold, distant entity in heaven; instead it shows a God radically open, relational, and filled with reckless love.

So that is where we are going for the next few weeks; looking each week at one of the characters in the story and how our lives might line up with theirs. But before we do that, why not spend sometime and slowly read and digest this story. Listen to it as if for the first time and discover not only who God is, but also who we are.

Luke 15: 11- 32.

“A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

May 3, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Dads, Dedications, and Decisions that Last a Lifetime

On Sunday it’s a pretty special day for me as a parent. We are dedicating our little boy Asher. You only get to do that once…well actually we dedicated Hudson twice but that’s a story for another day.

As a pastor this is a really cool moment because you get to preach at your own little man’s dedication. But it also raises the question of what do you preach on at a dedication?

For Hudson, I preached on why I follow Jesus so that when he grows up he can listen to it and understand why mom and dad make the decisions we do. But on Sunday I want to share about something different because my boys are different.

On Sunday I want to explore a simple question: how can we live in such a way to leave a legacy? For me specifically it will be about how, as a parent, I can leave a legacy of love and grace in Asher’s life. But it applies much more broadly. How can you live in such a way to shape generations? To change people’s futures? That your lives echo into the future changing them?

That’s what we are exploring because my guess is that when we come to the end of our lives we won’t care about more money, better promotions, cleaner houses, or better vacations. We will care about what type of legacy we have left, whether we will be remembered and whether our lives mattered.

On Sunday we are going to figure out how to do just that. How to leave a legacy that lasts and lingers.

But before we get there maybe think back in your own life. Who has left a legacy there? How did they do it? What was it about their life that caused such an affect?

For me that was my dad. Even though he passed almost 3 years ago, he is far from gone. His life continues to leave a mark in mine. Even though he won’t hold Asher until heaven, his legacy will shape and change Asher just as it’s changed me. So the question is how do we live lives like that? And come Sunday we’ll find out.

April 19, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Power, Dominance, Submission, and Jesus-Style Love in a Marriage

On Sunday we explored the potentially difficult passage of Ephesians 5 where Paul writes, “Wives submit to your husbands…Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church”.

What we came away with was an understanding that no healthy relationship is based on power and dominance. We realized that we are all called to submit to each other out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21), and that the way Jesus related to others was through submission, humbleness, and sacrifice. The same things are too part of our marriages: submission, humbleness, and sacrifice.

We explored how Paul elevates woman, with the expectation that they are partners in marriage making a choice to be like Christ. Then Paul expects the same thing of husbands reminding them of their obligation to love like Jesus. This means buying flowers once in a while isn’t enough. This means husbands remembering the anniversary every other year isn’t enough. It is not until we have loved our wives with such a depth of self-sacrifice and giving, that all their flaws vanish because of the depth of our love that we haven’t done our job. Paul raises the bar pretty high actually.

We ended up landing on this truth that relationships based in power and dominance lead to division and difficulty. But relationships based in the type of love shown by Jesus Christ lead to life. Marriages based on self-sacrificial and submissive love last.

So we ended off asking ourselves a tough question. Are we sacrificing in our marriages, friendships, and relationships? Are we caring and putting the other person first? Is our love self-centred or sacrificial? Because I believe it’s when we love like Jesus that relationships last and give life.

We ended off by quoting Wendell Berry who I believe is worth quoting again. He writes this: “The proper question, perhaps, is not why we have so much divorce, but why we are so unforgiving. The answer, perhaps is that, though we still recognize the feeling of love, we have forgotten how to practice love when we don’t feel it”.

And I think that’s the challenge for all of us married or not. To learn to practice love when we don’t feel it. I think it’s a practice worth learning.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Marriage based on self-sacrificial love leads to life

Take Aways…

Our experience with marriage shapes our view on marriage
We have a romantic individualistic view of marriage
Jesus gives grace to a messy marriage life in John 4
Christ is his relationship with us took on a posture of submission and sacrifice not one of dominance and power
Striving for power and dominance in relationships wrecks relationships
Women in that day and age weren’t a partner but property
Paul elevates wives to a position of a partner with a choice to love like Jesus
Paul asks the same of husbands to love like Jesus
To be the head means source or origin
Marriage isn’t about perfection, but an opportunity of reflection – of loving like Jesus
Marriage is based on self-sacrificial and submissive love
“The proper question, perhaps, is not why we have so much divorce, but why we are so unforgiving. The answer, perhaps is that, though we still recognize the feeling of love, we have forgotten how to practice love when we don’t feel it” Wendell Berry

Adult / Group Discussion Questions: What surprised you? What made you think? What made you laugh? What did you take away? Was this take on this passage new? Where have you seen relationships based on power and dominance struggle? When have you seen relationships based on love and submission succeed? In your relationships are you loving with self-sacrificial love? Are you learning to practice love when you don’t feel it? What next steps can you take this week to pour love into your significant relationships’?

Discussion Questions for Young Families: Take a moment and talk with your kids what you think marriage is based on. Share with them what matters in it. Share with them why it matters. And then share with them some important things to practice and learn before they get married like loving when you don’t fee like it, forgiving if you don’t want to, and taking the first step even if its hard.

Challenge for this Week:

Love even if you don’t feel like it

April 15, 2013 by Andrew Mills

What is a Biblical View of Marriage?

All this month we are talking about developing deep roots in our families and friendships. Tomorrow we are hosting our first annual marriage seminar. Our desire is that healthy marriages would turn into healthy families and healthier communities.

Following the seminar, on Sunday I’m going to be sharing on marriage. This is potentially one of the most hotly contested topics because of the wide variety of experiences people have had with marriage. Some are for it, some against it, some want to find one, some want out of one, some are healthy and some are struggling. Through our family, friendships, and the world around us we all have ideas and opinions on marriage.

On Sunday though my hope isn’t to explore our opinions but instead to discover God’s plan for marriage. We are going to be tackling potentially the most misunderstood, and potentially damaging text in the Bible related to marriage. We are going to be exploring Ephesians 5 where Paul discusses marriage in relation to submission, sacrifice, and love.

The point we want to come away with for all of us in marriages, hoping to find a marriage, or even for those happy and single – what is the basis of a strong covenantal relationship? How do you have a healthy marriage? What is it based on?

So before we get there what do you think? What makes a marriage healthy? What makes one last? Which marriages make you think…I want that? What is it about some marriages that make you say, “they are missing the point?”

And while I give you my answer on Sunday…I’ll start with this. Healthy marriages are never based on power and dominance. They are based on something else entirely. And to discover what that “something” is we are going to explore Ephesians 5 in context and culture and realize that one decision can move your marriage from struggling to life giving.

April 12, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Heaven is Here Now…

On Sunday we talked about the end of the story. We explored the last two chapters of Revelation. These chapters are full of images of life and hope. We read of living waters flowing, bringing healing to every person. We read of a place where chaos no longer reigns. We read of God restoring everything. We read of a place where the sun continually shines bathing people in life, light, and love. We read of how the presence of God is fully there unmediated, and fully available.

And we asked the question that is most obvious: when will these things happen?

The difficult, astounding, and Biblical answer is that in some way they already have. That with Jesus’ resurrection God’s presence is available for all us. Healing of our spirits and souls can now be found. Chaos is beaten, and light begins to stream from the tomb. The hard to grasp beautiful truth is that the future of hope is coming towards us, but it began at Easter with resurrection. So we do not need to wait till the end of time to experience, we can experience heaven now. Because the truth is wherever Jesus is fully present so too is heaven. Heaven is his presence.

We closed with reading a promise, a prayer, and an invitation to all of us today:

“The Spirit and the bride say ‘Come’. Let each one who hear them say, ‘Come’. Let the thirsty ones come – anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge”. Revelation 22:17

This promise isn’t about the future but the present. This promise isn’t about what will happen, but what can happen today. Today if you need life, love, grace, hope, and healing. Answer the invitation to come, answer the call and drink the water of life, letting it give you life.

This is what we explored on Sunday and what we will explore for the rest of our lives…how to live in light of God’s presence that is with us today because of Easter.

Sermon Notes

Big Idea: The end of the story is beautiful but it begins today…

Take Aways…

What does Jesus death and resurrection mean?
God doesn’t cancel our current creation but restores it
In Jewish thought the sea can be a metaphor for chaos
We can experience living water today
You experience heaven now by finding Jesus today

Adult / Group Discussion Questions: What surprised you? What made you think? What made you laugh? What did you take away? What would your life be like if you lived without guilt, shame, or brokenness? What do you need to experience today (life, freedom, hope, etc)? How can you Easter become a reality? How can you welcome Jesus into your life today?

Discussion Questions for Young Families: Talk to your kids about how following Jesus isn’t about just going to heaven, but experiencing heaven here. Ask them what they think heaven is like. Talk to them about how heaven is full of joy, grace, love, fun, and hope. Talk to them about how Jesus wants them to experience that now. Ask them when they’ve felt those things and if Jesus has felt close when they feel loved. Take a moment and pray with them to experience “heaven” in their lives today.

Challenge for this Week

Come to Jesus today…

April 1, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Lenten Reflections: Stations of the Cross, Station 11

Station 11: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Written Reflection:

Spikes are nailed into Jesus hands and feet. Flesh is torn, blood is seen, and pain is felt. With each nail waves of pain come over Jesus. This is a God who feels. This is a God who suffers. This is not a God removed from the world, but one that enters into it for you and for me. Can there be any pain and agony our Jesus would not understand? Spend time with Jesus today sharing your hurts, your wounds, your struggles because our God knows what it is like to go through pain. Share you struggles and let Jesus uplift you today

March 17, 2013 by Andrew Mills

Struggling with Speaking of Sin

Through the past few weeks I’ve started to notice something about myself. There are certain Sundays where I come away from speaking and don’t feel that I’ve done my best. I feel like I’ve missed the mark and messed up. And then I started to notice a pattern. The Sundays where I felt like I struggled, and where I lost confidence were all sermons related to conviction and challenge. The sermons where I lost confidence and left feeling a bit shaken were all related to sin, sacrifice, and conviction. Through some reflection I realized that I find it easy to preach a sermon on grace and gift, and difficult to preach a sermon on sin and challenge.

The struggle I face is maybe one you face in your own relationships. I know it is important to talk about sin. I know it is important to challenge people and let the Spirit do his work of convicting. I know this is important because I need it personally. I need to be challenged to give up greed, hate, unforgiveness, lust, and all sorts of sinful things. The struggle I have is in how to do it. How to share in a way that is convicting but not condemning, that is challenging but not judging.

What is even more disturbing to me is a growing realization that I may not feel confident in this type of sharing because of a lack of practice. What I mean by that is perhaps I struggle because I am unaccustomed to sharing about sin. This is concerning to me because Jesus talks about sin, the Bible talks about sin, and sin, we are told, leads to death. Therefore, sin isn’t something I should avoid or struggle speaking about. I should share honestly with the dangers of consumerism, violence, greed, and lust. I should share openly with the temptations and struggles I face. And I shouldn’t ever shy away reminding people that sin leads to death while following Jesus leads to life. And this is something we know deep down. We know that hate kills relationships. We know that lust destroys marriages. We know that unforgiveness wrecks families. So we need to learn to speak about sin in such a way that it leads to life not death.

So I’ve made a personal decision. I will grow and learn in how to share about sin in such as way that conviction without condemnation happens. To share about it in such a way that challenges someone, but doesn’t lead to damnation. To share in such a way that, like Jesus, people who are broken and struggling feel freed; and people who are haughty, prideful, and oppressive to others sees their need.

In essence, I’m going to work on struggling to speak of sin a little less…

February 26, 2013 by Andrew Mills