Mark’s gospel begins abruptly. With no backstory, John appears in the wilderness baptizing and proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sin. Here is a new thing in an old package. Something big is coming. Everything is changing. How can we prepare? Join us as we examine Mark 1 and consider the preparations God makes for us to begin a new and remarkable life.
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08/11/2024 | “Beginnings” | Mark 1:1
New beginnings offer opportunity, but also ask hard questions. Mark’s gospel begins with the word ‘beginning.’ And with that word, Mark immediately confronts us with questions about Jesus. Who is he? What did he come to do? And what is our response? Join us as we examine Mark 1:1 and consider the implications for us of “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
Moving Day
Inca Court was a utopian outpost on the frontier of a dystopian suburbia. The small suburban Atlanta street where I grew up had only ten houses. Until I left home for college, it was the only home I had ever known. None of the families on our street ever moved in or out. None of the parents in any of those homes ever moved in or out. We never knew the curiosity of new neighbors and never coped with the stress of leaving Inca Court behind. There were no Moving Days on Inca Court. In a mobile society marked by constant transition, Inca Court was sociological anomaly.
My first significant move was phenomenally stressful – filled with logistical angst and existential self-doubt. Was I crazy to leave the familiar, the comfortable, the settled, the influential, the known – even with its problems and challenges – for the uncomfortable, the unsettled, the uninfluential, the unknown?
Life transitions are fertile fields for lush and verdant anxiety, we are never as prepared as we hoped to be but often more prepared than we thought. As followers of Jesus, we have been chosen to live a pilgrim life. For those who like to put down roots, this can be disconcerting. Yet our God is always moving, always at work, even to this very day. To be a follower means to follow – to follow a God who never changes, but often calls us to change, a God who never leaves or forsakes, but often calls us to leave and forsake.
But when do we go, how do we know where to go? Or what will happen one the way? Or when we arrive? What will we leave behind and what will we find ahead? Following God and leaving the familiar is tough. Preparing for a move and a new beginning is complicated. What do we take, what do we leave? Will we have what we need? Will we find meaning, purpose, love, community ahead? Will we be able to hang on to what is behind? We make lists and plans. We close accounts and open new ones. We pack and repack. And we stress.
But the Lord does not simply push us out of the nest to find our own way. Nor does he send us unaccompanied. The Lord promises to go with us and provide us with direction, encouragement, and provision for the journey. Our active preparation is, in truth, a reaction to his gracious preparation. When the Lord calls us to start a new life, he has already provided for us. Before our first list is made or our first mile is traveled, he ordained all our days before one of them comes to be This is true of all our new starts whether vocational, geographic, situational, relational, or spiritual.
The call to faith is not a call to work harder to manufacture faith. Nor are we to root around to find faith somewhere inside ourselves. No! Faith is a gift the Lord gives us to prepare us for all the grace that faith unfolds. To be sure we must respond to God’s gracious initiative. But even the preparation to respond is God’s enabling work of grace.
Mark’s gospel does not begin with a genealogy or Jesus’ birth story. It begins with the sudden and dramatic appearance of John the Baptist. Without explanation or backstory, John appears in the wilderness to “prepare the way of the Lord.” He is baptizing and proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sin. Here is a new thing in an old medium. Something big is coming. Everything is changing. Not just then. But now, today. How do we get ready?
Our first instinct is to focus on where to begin, what we need to do. And anxiety begins to grow. But Mark shows us that God does all the hard work of preparation and provision. He calls us simply to respond. Join us as we examine Mark 1 and consider the preparations God makes for us to begin a new and remarkable life.
We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.
Beginnings
Parents long for it. Children are not so sure. And teachers sometimes dread it. The beginning of the academic year, like all beginnings, evokes a spectrum of emotion. Excitement and anxiety. Eagerness and dread of change. Ambition and self-doubt. Emotional energy and exhaustion. New beginnings place us everywhere on this spectrum. What was known and sure is now confronted by what is unknown and unsure.
At my high school the first day of each new academic year was imminently predictable. Every class would review two things; the school discipline handbook and the course syllabus. The syllabus was the touchstone of my anxiety. Confident that my future happiness was indexed immutably to my GPA, I was both an avid and anxious student. And the new course syllabus loomed as a threatening question mark to my future joy.
Would this class be my undoing? Unmask me as a hack, a fraud? In my anxious world, the first day of class was a credibility reset. Previous accomplishment was simply academic history. Only my present now mattered. Was I up to it? What would this new beginning mean for me? How would I respond? And how would this class affect my future? Beginnings are like that. They offer boundless opportunities, but they also ask hard questions. Who am I? What will I experience? And how will I respond?
These are the same questions that confront us when we encounter Jesus as he is revealed and offered to us in the gospel. The narratives of Jesus’ earthly ministry are often called ‘gospels.’ The word gospel comes from an Old English word that means “glad tidings” or “good news.” The story of Jesus is the good news promised throughout the Old Testament and unfolded throughout the New.
The New Testament begins with four books – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – that we call ‘The Gospels.’ They are not biographies, but stories of Jesus’ earthly life and work that answer important questions. The designation of these books as Gospels is probably drawn from the first verse of Mark which reads, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
But the very first word of Mark is the word, “beginning.” And like beginnings in our lives, the Gospel of Mark confronts us immediately with critical questions about Jesus and about ourselves. Who is he? What did he come to do? And what is our response? These are the questions Mark’s gospel answers.
Join us as we examine Mark 1:1 and consider the implications for us of “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.
08/04/2024 | “Last Words” | Leviticus 26
Leviticus brims with grace. It’s types & shadows “prefigure Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits.” And it concludes with the blessings of grace received, curses of grace rejected, and the abiding promise of grace extended. Join us as we examine Leviticus 26 and consider God’s gracious last words from the Mosaic covenant.
07/21/2024 | “Marking Time” | Leviticus 23:1-44
Is time your tyrant? Or joyful reminder of God’s grace? Does the fleeting of time and the acceleration of years make you anxious? Or expectant? Listen as we examine Leviticus 23 and consider how the OT Feasts teach us to live thankfully and expectantly.
07/14/2024 | “The Beauty of Holiness” | Leviticus 19:1-37
Holiness! What does the word evoke? Impossible demands? Hypocrisy? Nit-picking moralism? Or beauty, love, community, and grace? The Bible teaches that holiness is a gracious gift that teaches us to love God, love neighbors, and love strangers. Join us as we examine Leviticus 19 and consider the gift of holiness.
Last Words
Hardly prophetic and rarely profound! That is the best description of most “famous last words.” We tend to give “last words” more credence because of the finality of their utterance, but they are often clouded by pain or confusion. We expect them to be a benediction breathed out in the final moments of someone’s life, like dramatic portrayals in literature and film. Yet often “famous last words” are uninspiring.
A cursory review of the top Google results of the most memorable “famous last words” of notable notables is remarkably unnoteworthy. While some, like those of Reformer Hugh Latimer, burned at the stake with fellow reformer, Nicholas Ridley, are galvanizing. “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Others like those of Karl Marx, who said, “Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough,” breathe out contempt and cynicism.
“Famous last words” are so infamous that the phrase has become an English idiom meaning “to make a statement that is shown very soon, and often in an embarrassing way, to be wrong.” Yet we are ever optimistic that last words will be the last word, an apt conclusion and bring all the words that went before into focus.
And while this is occasionally true of men’s words, it is always true of God’s Word. God who was the first to speak always has the last word. And time and time again in the Scriptures when he speaks of sin, righteousness, and judgement His last word is always ‘grace.’ Even though God’s people provoke Him time and time again, God’s famous last words are always ‘grace.’
Leviticus, with all its law and ceremony, brims with the grace of God. Hardly a primer on empty, outward religion, it’s types and shadows “prefigure Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits.” It repeatedly answers the question, “how can unholy people dwell with a Holy God?”
And it ends by pronouncing the blessings for those who trust in God’s grace, the curses experienced by those who reject it, and the promise to all that God will be gracious to those who turn to Him. Far from espousing a meritocracy, Leviticus 26, points to the “grace upon grace” believers are offered in Christ (John 1:16)
What about you? Have you heard all the Bible’s words of sin, righteousness, and judgement, but failed to hear the famous last word of grace? Are you seeking God’s approval by relying on works of the law? This is not only impossible, but it is accursed as Paul noted.
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Galatians 3:10-13
When the Lord speaks the best, last word, the word of grace, will you let that be the last word? As God concludes the Mosaic administration of the Covenant of Grace with the people of Israel, he concludes it with the blessings of grace received, the curses for grace rejected, and the abiding promise of grace extended. Join us as we examine Leviticus 26 and consider God’s gracious last words from the Mosaic covenant. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.
The Sabbatical
Will I have enough to live? Will Social Security be secure? Where will I live? How do I remain active and useful? What’s next? Retirement, whatever it means, is an enigma. And most are not prepared for it. Yes, perhaps you have enrolled in a 401k or contributed to a Roth IRA. Or maybe you have lived frugally and guarded against debt. And if you are in your middle years, you may have researched how and when to begin social security benefits and Medicare.
For many, retirement is seen as the principal reward for decades of daily work. And then when that day arrives, suddenly the people, the purposes, and the routines of daily life disappear without a trace. Researchers tell us that retirement ranks one of the most stressful life events. And for those who do not embrace a new vocation, retirement is often one of the most deadly. Have you planned for the vocation of rest? Most have not.
Rest is no mere radical departure from productive work. It has its own productive, positive character. Every athlete understands that rest is as much a part of successful training as exertion. The principle of the Sabbath in scripture is meant to instruct us that rest is not merely “from” but “unto.” Productive rest is one of the most prominent features of the Old Testament calendar.
The weekly Sabbaths, the Feast cycle, the command for Sabbatical years, and the year of Jubilee are a radical statement of the “yearning in the heart of God toward this happy time” of rest with and for his people. It stands as a witness to a time will come when “there shall be no more curse.” When the work that causes sweat to trail from our brow will cease. And creation will no longer groan but will be delivered “into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
A calendar structured around rest was even more radical in the ancient world than it is today. But the rest commanded for Israel was meant to be purposeful not idle. To teach the people to lay aside the grip of the curse, embrace the rest of worship, fellowship, and growth, and trust in God to provide both in the years of labor as well as the year of rest.
We often use the word sabbatical to mean simply to take a break from something or someone. “I am going to take a sabbatical from social media for a while.” But the word, drawn from the instructions given in Leviticus 25 and elsewhere in the Old Testament, means much more than taking “a break.” It is to be a time of productive, intentional rest. A sabbatical is a time of laying down, taking up, and trusting more. It should be a time of active, fertile growth in worship, fellowship, and faith. It is a gracious time God built into the life of his ancient people bring the best, most restful kind of rest. And point to the ultimate rest he has purposed for us in Christ.
How are you resting? This is every counselor’s question. Are you resting? Really resting? Have you learned to lay aside the grip of the curse, embrace the rest of worship, fellowship, and growth, and trust God to provide both in labor as rest? Join us as we examine Leviticus 25 and consider God’s instruction for the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee. We meet on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.
Marking Time
Nothing disorients like a long, late afternoon nap. Wakening at twilight is unsettling. Is it nighttime or morning? What day is it? What did we miss? Where is everyone? When the normal markers of time are out of place, we are easily untethered. This is why every hospital room has a clock and a whiteboard with date, day of the week, and the names of current staff placed in front of the patient’s bed. Without this, life as a patient has no rhythm to distinguish one day from another.
We are made for eternity. But birthed in time. The Teacher of Ecclesiastes noted that God has “set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” In creation, God made not only the physical world, but in a sense, he created time. Though light is spoken into being on the first day of creation, it is on the fourth day the Lord said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…”
Throughout history time has been reckoned in celestial terms. The movement of the sun, moon, and stars and the seasons created by these movements have become the rhythm of life. Yet nothing governs this rhythm more than the one unit of time that has no celestial analog, the week. The concept of the week arises purely from the example and command of our God. And includes one day in seven set aside for rest, worship, and fellowship. Following that paradigm, we are reminded that all our times and seasons should point us to the goodness, mercy, and grace of our God, who though eternal is the only true Lord of Time.
The rhythm of weeks, days, months, years, and seasons are all indexed to God’s providence. And their repetition and, as we get older, their apparent acceleration, awakens in the believers heart an increasing longing for the eternal. Scripture commands us to, “redeem the times, because the days are evil” and to pray that the Lord would “teach us to number our days aright that we may get a heart of wisdom.” And yet it calls us to long for that “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance kept in heaven for those who are guarded by faith.”
Pastor Phillip Doddridge expressed this longing well.
Your earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love,
but there’s a nobler rest above;
to that our lab’ring souls aspire
with ardent hope and strong desire.In thy blest kingdom we shall be
from ev’ry mortal trouble free;
no sighs shall mingle with the songs
Resounding from immortal tongues;No rude alarms of raging foes;
no cares to break the long repose;
no midnight shade, no waning moon,
but sacred, high, eternal noon.O long-expected day, begin,
dawn on these realms of woe and sin!
Break, morn of God, upon our eyes;
and let the world’s true Sun arise!
Time is not our tyrant. It should be, for the believer, the great reminder of God’s abiding faithfulness and of all his gracious promises. This is why when the people of Israel are brought out of the “iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance,” God establishes a cycle of weekly, monthly, and yearly sacred feasts. He does this to imprint on every year reminders of his abiding faithfulness and point them through faith to the fulfillment of all his gracious promises in Christ.
In Leviticus 23 we encounter this calendar which includes the Sabbath, the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Firstfruits, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths. Feasts that both remember and anticipate God’s redemptive faithfulness and promises. Feasts which are to become the loom on which the fabric of daily life in Israel is to be woven. Feasts to be repeated as types and shadows, year by year, to instruct the people to have faith in the Christ who will come to fulfill them.
And so, while we have the realities of Christ’s finished work and no longer keep these feasts as types and shadows, the manner in which the people are told to celebrate is, as Paul notes, “written for our instruction” and is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness.” For indeed, if the people are called to joy and celebration in the Christ to come, how much more are we to rejoice and celebrate his finished work and promised return.
Is time a tyrant for you? Or a joyful reminder of the grace of God? Does the fleeting nature of time and the repetition of weeks, days, months, years and seasons make you anxious or expectant? This week we examine Leviticus 23 and consider how the Lord’s appointed Feasts call God’s people to remember God’s abiding faithfulness and live in expectation of all his gracious promises in Christ. We meet on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.
Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 