Tag Archives: River Valley Families

Contentment or Complacency?

Posted on by

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines complacency as “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”  On the surface it is easy to confuse complacency with contentment in our spiritual lives.   We are encouraged in Philippians 4:12-13 to learn contentment, not based on our circumstances, but on Christ’s sufficiency.  Yet, Psalm 36:1-2 warns us that it is those out of fellowship with the Lord who never have concern about their spiritual growth or condition.

Even mighty men of faith struggle to distinguish contentment from complacency in their spiritual lives.  John Calvin comments regarding Abraham in Genesis 17:1.

“The want of offspring had previously excited him to constant prayers and sighings; for the promise of God was so fixed in his mind, that he was ardently carried forward to seek its fulfillment. And now, falsely supposing that he had obtained his wish, he is led away by the presence of his son according to the flesh, from the expectation of a spiritual seed.”

Had Abraham become content with what God had not promised and so become complacent in his faith?  How often is this a struggle for us?

Join us this Lord’s Day, September 3, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine Genesis 17 and consider God’s grace kindness toward us, even when our faith is languid and complacent.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Waiting

Posted on by

The Battle of Bunker Hill was a sobering moment in our history.   Though technically a British victory, it came at a high cost.  The untested Colonial militia held off the frontal onslaught of Howe’s British seasoned regulars and made them pay dearly before the defender’s lines splintered and broke.  Legend attributes the order, “don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes,” to one of the Colonial officers.  Painfully aware of their low ammunition and lack of bayonets, the colonists calmly awaited the shock of battle, drawing the British into to close combat before firing.  Can you imagine the intensity of that moment?  How hard it is to wait.  We prefer to engage our battles at a comfortable distance.

What is true in warfare is equally true in the combat of faith.   We like to exercise our faith at a safe distance, outside of conflict and trial and uncertainty.  But faith tested is faith strengthened.   In scripture, Abram’s faith is repeatedly tested.  Through famine, through prosperity, through barrenness and through birth, God tests and grows Abram’s faith.    Waiting is one of the ways God tested Abram.  Waiting can be a severe test of our faith.  Consider how many times the scripture instruct us to wait before the Lord.  Yet we often grow impatient.  Impatience with the means or timing of God’s promises tempts us to use accelerants of our own devising.   But accelerants are explosive and deadly.

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 27, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine the testing of Abraham’s faith from Genesis 16 and consider the temptations we face when God seems silent.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Warp and Woof

Posted on by

Mathematics has axioms – presuppositions, accepted without proof — which form the basis for all subsequent mathematical proofs.   Likewise, Christianity demands certain presuppositions.  As a revealed religion, Christianity’s presuppositions, its axioms, must be accepted on faith.   But this often seems to be an intellectual cop-out.

An appeal to faith in a recent conversation with a friend and skeptic brought charges of “philosophical laziness.”  “No so,” I answered, but I also had to admit that the exercise of faith is not binary. Faith is not either on or off, absolute or absent, and not black and white.   Faith has contours.  It has a warp and woof which creates contours in quality, character, and shading.  Faith has axioms, but it also demands proofs.  It has doubts but it asks questions.  It waxes and wanes, but does not fail.  It is a gift, but it must be exercised and grow directed by the Spirit through a process of sanctification.

Abraham is the paradigmatic man of faith in Scripture and Genesis 15:6 is the core profession of his faith.  But even in this passage we see the contours of Abraham’s faith as it is received and exercised.

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 20, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine the faith of Abraham from Genesis 15 and consider the contours of our own faith.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Rescue Operation

Posted on by

Jesus said that He “came to seek and to save that which is lost.”   He came to proclaim liberty to the captives.  He rescues for His Father, those of his own who have been enslaved by their rebellion against God and their own self-destructive identity and choices.   As Jesus’ followers, we are to go and do likewise. What are you doing to be used by Jesus to seek and to save those in your sphere of influence who are lost?  Beware, it is a messy calling.

Abram and Lot had a complicated relationship.  It was marked by disagreement and discord.  When Abram sought to bring harmony, Lot acted self-centeredly and disrespectfully.   It would have been easy for Abram to turn Lot over to all the consequences of his actions and attitudes, but that is not what we see.  Abram is characterized by interceding for Lot, for seeking his good and God’s grace in his life.    Like his Savior, Abram is a man committed to rescuing his own from the effects of his ungodly choices.

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 13, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine the account of Abraham and Lot from Genesis 14 and consider how we are to “seek and to save that which is lost.” For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Slippery Slope

Posted on by

Pragmatism is the slipperiest of slopes.  Machiavelli’s maxim, “the end justifies the means” is perhaps the quintessential expression of pragmatism.   When it comes to decision making, Christians often wrestle with call of faith to act from principle rather than pragmatism.  Pragmatism subtly mocks faith in God’s promises and precepts as either naïveté or presumption.  Or Pragmatism dismisses the promptings of the Holy Spirit as a lack of common sense or sheer imprudence.

When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, he conspired with his wife to follow a course of pragmatism.  Because of her great beauty and the immorality of the people they would encounter, they agreed to hazard their marriage covenant for the sake of physical safety.   But the Lord unmasked their plan and humbled Abraham before Pharaoh and the court of Egypt.  From this Abraham began to learn how to walk by faith and not by sight.  Lot, Abraham’s nephew, did not learn from observing his uncles mistake however.  By choosing the way of pragmatism, Lot led his family deeper and deeper into compromise and catastrophe and placed them firmly on a spiritually slippery slope.

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 6, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine the account of Abraham and Lot from Genesis 13 and consider how we are to “walk by faith and not by sight.”.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Ad Fontes

Posted on by

Ad Fontes, “to the fountains,” was the motto of the Christian Humanists, whose discovery of the preaching of the early church fathers sparked the Reformation with its emphasis on “sola fide” or salvation “by faith alone.”  The gospel was unshackled from legalistic tradition and extrabiblical rites as men went back to the fountains of God’s Word and gospel preaching to proclaim a salvation that was utterly gracious and a faith that was the free gift of God.

But as soon as we say salvation is by faith alone, some will ask,  where does this faith come from?   In the Bible, the Old Testament patriarch Abraham is held up as the paradigmatic man of faith.   From where did his faith spring?   Was it a moral code?  An inherent goodness?  Some intrinsic spark in his heart fanned into flame by piety?

We meet Abraham in Genesis 11, the youngest son in a family of moon worshipers.  God had not spoken to men for hundreds of years.  But suddenly God breaks his silence and speaks to Abraham, renewing His covenant with him.   God called upon Abraham, before Abraham called upon God.  God chose Abraham, not the other way around.  The Bible calls this “election”  — a precious doctrine which frightens many, but is inescapably pervasive in the Scriptures.

Join us this Lord’s Day, July 23, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine God’s call to Abraham from Genesis 11:26-12:9 and the doctrine of election that forms the spring from which faith flows.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Sidetracked

Posted on by

What does it take to get you sidetracked from your calling?  Roadblocks, distractions, sloth, competing desires, discouragement or even perhaps a rebellious attitude?  It can be difficult to avoid being sidetracked, especially in our spiritual lives.  In Christianity, the word discipleship is rooted in discipline, which is what is indispensable in following Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:7-8,

…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

No one has a more vested interested in seeing you sidetracked in your spiritual life than the enemy of your soul, the Devil.  He comes often with distraction after distraction, often presenting them in a way that makes them seem to be noble or praiseworthy activities.  You get so busy with these respectable activities that you forget the discipline of following Christ.   Such is the picture painted in the story of the Tower of Babel.   Portrayed as a symbol of unity, the Tower was really a monument to rebellion against God’s prescribed will.

Join us this Lord’s Day, July 16, for worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we examine the remarkable story of the Tower of Babel and consider the dangers of being sidetracked from our commission to fill the earth and replenish it with the message of the gospel.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Entropy

Posted on by

Sometimes a second chance just isn’t enough.  As children when a game devolved into chaos someone would cry out “do over!”  Yet it was only a matter of time until the “do over” led to further chaos.   The waters of a world-wide flood were insufficient to wash away the inhumanity that lurks in all humanity due to the consequences of Adam’s first sin.   Second chances are not enough where a Savior is needed.

The world is fresh and new after the flood but the greatness of man is once again measured by his rebellious spirit.   This would seem like a hopeless downward spiral except that God has promised someone who will break the cycle of sin, violence, tyranny and sorrow.

This week as we continue our conversations from the Book of Beginnings in Genesis 10, we see clearly that it takes more than water to wash away the stain and effects of man’s rebellion against his Creator.  Something more will be needed to redeem the world from the entropy of sin. Come and join us this week as we consider this together.

Join us this Lord’s Day, July 9 in worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we look at the unfolding of Noah’s family history. Worship begins at 10:45 am.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Entropy

Posted on by

Sometimes a second chance just isn’t enough.  As children when a game devolved into chaos someone would cry out “do over!”  Yet it was only a matter of time until the “do over” led to further chaos.   The waters of a world-wide flood were insufficient to wash away the inhumanity that lurks in all humanity due to the consequences of Adam’s first sin.   Second chances are not enough where a Savior is needed.

The world is fresh and new after the flood but the greatness of man is once again measured by his rebellious spirit.   This would seem like a hopeless downward spiral except that God has promised someone who will break the cycle of sin, violence, tyranny and sorrow.

This week as we continue our conversations from the Book of Beginnings in Genesis 10, we see clearly that it takes more than water to wash away the stain and effects of man’s rebellion against his Creator.  Something more will be needed to redeem the world from the entropy of sin. Come and join us this week as we consider this together.

Join us this week in worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we look at the unfolding of Noah’s family history. Worship begins at 10:45 am.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.

Memory Palace

Posted on by

A strong memory is more about strategy than capacity.   Information technologists recognize this in regard to data storage and retrieval.  The capacity of a database is not as significant as its indexing strategy.  Unless you can accurately and rapidly retrieve information it is immaterial how much you can store.   When it comes to human memory many experts advocate building a “memory palace” where you can categorize and store memories in a visual structure created within your mind.

This week as we continue our conversations from the Book of Beginnings in Genesis 9, we look at the powerful strategy God has given us to remember.  When fear, anxiety, and trial cause us to lose sight of God’s promises we are tempted to doubt and unbelief.  But God understands this and has given us a way to remember.   Come and join us this week as we consider this together.

Join us this week in worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as we conclude the story of Noah and the Ark. Worship begins at 10:45 am.  For directions click here. We look forward to seeing you.