Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Women and girls of BCC: thank you for dressing modestly
It’s finally beginning to look like summer, and temperatures are rising. This is going to be good for the tomatoes and strawberries in my garden. But it is also going to present challenges as hot weather tempts females to wear less clothing.
This is a problem for a number of reasons, but for the women and girls of Bear Creek Church, I’m mostly concerned about two things. Let me share them with you here. Before I do, let me say that I hope you will trust me when I say that this comes from a loving shepherd’s heart for the protection of the flock, and not from a frustrated spoilsport’s zeal to make sure no one has any fun.
First, I am thankful that you women dress modestly because it helps to preserve your real beauty, which comes from a godly, gentle and quiet spirit and not the exposure of much flesh (modesty starts in the heart, not with skirt length - I Peter 3:4). As with the women of my own family, I want others to see and know and appreciate you for the very precious and feminine disciples that you are, and not to think something else because of the manner in which you are attired. Similarly, if you younger or single gals are wanting to marry (and I hope you are), remember that dressing immodestly will more likely attract a guy who will be interested in you for reasons that are not typically the foundation of a lasting, loving marriage.
Second, because I myself am a man and a sinner and because I have raised sons and because I have had the privilege of spending my entire professional life with other men who are also sinners though great guys, I know what a huge help it is to us when you dress modestly. If you really love Jesus, you’ll love his people, and that includes us guys and so you’ll dress modestly so as not to present a stumbling block to your brothers who are trying mightily to think about whatsoever things are pure and not lustful (Philippians 4:8), and to other unsaved men who don’t need any more temptation either. So I’ll keep exhorting us guys to mind our hearts, and we’ll be grateful if you’ll help us out.
If you need help defining modesty, there are a number of great Christian resources on the web. I’ve noted a couple at the bottom of this page. But here’s another tip: if you younger gals aren’t sure what qualifies as modest or immodest and your own Mom is not available or on another wavelength or just exceedingly naive, talk to a mature Christian mom of sons. The more sons she has raised beyond 8 or 10 or 12 years of age, the better qualified she’ll be to help you discern what is helpful to others (Hebrews 10:24). And since she’s a woman herself, she’ll be sympathetic to the challenge and able to gently encourage you along.
Again, thank you for dressing modestly. I don’t write because I’ve noticed any particular problem at BCC; to the contrary you gals are quite conscientious. It just seems like the right time of year for a gentle and respectful reminder of what you can do to reflect a heart for the Lord in your manner of dress.
-Pastor Dale
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Isn't there one person in Eugene who will help me with my orphans?"
“Isn’t there one person in Eugene who will help me with my orphans?”
The farmer and lumberman from Creswell listened to the speaker plead. He had arrived late to the meeting and was forced to sit, with his large family, way in the front in the only seats left in the high school auditorium. They watched as the guest speaker showed several films detailing the plight of persecuted Christians and thousands of illegitimate “GI babies,” turned out into the streets, in post-war Korea. The farmer’s wife fought back tears as the movies depicted the slaughter of Korean pastors by a brutal regime. The couple sat, tense and motionless, as they watched footage of desperate children. The farmer’s wife knew that every scene had cut her husband “like a knife.” Of that evening, she wrote years later:
There is so much we had never known. We had never thought of such suffering and heartbreak. We had never heard of such poverty and despair. We had never seen such emaciated arms and legs, such bloated starvation-stomachs and such wistful little faces searching for someone to care.
The farmer and his wife were Harry and Bertha Holt, from Oregon’s central valley. They went on to found what would become Holt International, an organization that would be responsible for the care and adoption of thousands of poor children. In her story, “The Seed From the East,” Bertha Holt recalls,
After we retired [from farming], Harry and I continued to talk of the shocking things we had seen..”You know, Bertha…when Dr. Pierce asked for someone to help, I felt like going up and saying ‘Here am I!’ I could hardly keep from doing it. But I knew he wouldn’t want an old wreck like me with a big scar on my heart. And… I have so many ties to keep me here…my family…my farm. I know I can’t type, or so dome of those other things he mentioned, but I could carry out ashes. I could help take care of those poor miserable babies. Every picture I saw made me want to help.” “I know,” I said. “I had exactly the same feeling myself.
Who was that speaker? Who was the Dr. Pierce whose speech, and whose movies, so motivated the Holts that the productive balance of the rest of their lives would be given to the care of “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40)?
It was the same Dr. Pierce who I described at the beginning of last week’s sermon. The Bob Pierce who was used of God to found international relief organizations like World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse, even as his life – and that of his family – was destroyed. Dr. Pierce’s vision for ministry clouded his priorities so that his marriage and children took a back seat to his work – never God’s plan – and the result was a dysfunctional family, a broken marriage, a daughter’s suicide, and more.
Nonetheless, God works. That’s the way He is. Graciously, patiently, He accomplishes what He wills, through people like us. In spite of people like us!
This Sunday, as I continue the series on Endurance aimed at Dads and grads - but useful for everyone who walks by faith – we’ll look at what is perhaps the Bible’s second-best example of how God works in spite of our stumbling, and is always faithful.
Remember, it doesn’t matter what your start was like. It doesn’t matter how you’ve run thus far.
What matters is how you finish. Let’s finish well.
See you this Sunday, d.v.
Pastor Dale
Why we don't say we're "proud" of Bear Creek Church's grads
A NOTE OF CONGRATULATIONS TO BCC'S GRADS
We have quite a lot of graduates at Bear Creek Church this year. Some of you are high school grads completing your “compulsory” education, while others are older scholars completing advanced degrees as you have juggled jobs and family in a way that leaves us weary just watching. On behalf of BCC’s Elders, I am writing to say that we are very thankful to the Lord for you and for the hard work and discipline that you have displayed in completing your course work. Your attention to deadlines, your study of fact, your scrutiny of theory, and your perseverance in your long academic program are all admirable displays of qualities that are essential in every thinking disciple of Jesus, and encouraging models to those of us not similarly taking a degree or diploma. Looking ahead, our hope is that you “Commit your work to the Lord,” as it says in Proverbs 16:3, and then see “..your plans be established.”
We do not say that we are proud of you, because we believe that would be sinful, and reduce the goodness of your hard work to something vain and conceited or petty, when instead our aim is to honor the value of your work to the great glory of God and not a man. And that is why we say, rather, that we are so very thankful to the Lord for outstanding students such as the crop with which our church has been blessed in 2011.
Here is our prayer for all of Bear Creek Church’s graduates:
Lord of heaven and earth, we thank you for the wonders of your creation, and for the minds with which you have blessed us for its examination, to the end that you be seen by all men and women to be as magnificent and fierce and gracious as you are. We thank you for these graduates, who have applied themselves to a course of study to that great, life-redeeming end, and pray that the fruit of their labor will indeed result in the heightening of their delight in you for the application of their academic labor to your praise and honor. If this achievement is a stepping stone to the next credential, we ask that you would bless their future endeavor, and that as intensely as they humbly give themselves to new studies that these would serve always to elevate their understanding of you and trust in Christ Jesus, and never to relegate their relationship with you to a status subservient to any other discipline or field or pursuit or fancy or whim because of pride or arrogance. Give great wisdom to the graduates of Bear Creek Church, that they prove to be capable and eager witnesses to you and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the area of their endeavor, that you be honored above all people or things. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Congratulations to all of you!
Pastor Dale, for Bear Creek Church’s Elders
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Glory of God in a Joyfully Serving Church
This last Sunday Pastor Dale encouraged us to use the gifts God has graciously given to meet a particular need at BCC. We might view this simply as a request for practical help, or thoughtful planning for our readiness to love family members with special needs, or even as a kindness to the current teachers and buddies who so often miss the preaching of God’s Word. All of these are worthy and good purposes for our greater involvement, but there is still an even better reason to serve.
When it comes to growing in the Christian faith, our tendency is to think individually. We have our personal devotions where we read the Bible and pray, and we can even come to church without joining in with the rest of the body as we passively listen, and then leave. Our culture gravitates to personal freedoms, privacy, and an appreciation for those who simply mind their own business. We have a problem. Though this may be our tendency, and even preference, it is not God’s will for us. We are not only saved as individuals; we are saved into a body with other members, and this salvation does not view our mutual love and unity as an add-on, a bonus, or icing on the cake. No, our actions as a corporate body are really a matter of our sanctification, and God’s glory. We are called to love one another. This is our glory as the body of Christ, even as Jesus prayer for us:
“[Father], as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. [I ask] that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” – John 17:18-22
It is God’s desire to show His glory to the world. The mutual love and unity that exists between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is communicated to the world through the love and unity of Christ’s body, the church. This glory has been given to us! We exist for His glory, and so as God is three-in-one, so we are many who make up one body. We are saved into a body for the purpose of displaying what exists within the Godhead, and so this is the greatest reason for our service within the church. In light of this, shouldn’t we think of Pastor Dale’s appeal last Sunday as a matter of our sanctification, our spiritual growth, and the glory given to us for the sake of God’s glory? His appeal is a lot bigger than any old organization asking for help at the concession stand. This is really a significant part of our Christian growth. This is the glory given to us by God, for the sake of His glory!
So, don’t miss the spiritual significance of last Sunday’s message, or the purpose in my writing. It was not family business lacking spiritual nourishment, and I don’t write to simply gather more volunteers. Pastor Dale’s message was ultimately a call to our sanctification and God’s glory, and I write this to help us think differently about church and service. Why do we serve? If it’s for the display of God’s glory then there’s no room for guilt, arrogance, pride, jealousy, resentment, offense, or a grumbling heart. Service alone is not what glorifies God. What glorifies God is service that displays His love and unity, and He intends for this to be encouraged and practiced and visible within the body of Christ. After all, it is possible for us to give everything we have to the poor and sacrifice our very lives, and still not serve in a way that glorifies God. This is what we read in the love chapter (1 Cor 13). Our acts of service are important, but they are not beneficial or glorifying to God if they do not originate from the fountainhead of His love. We can serve for many good reasons, and some bad, but we ought to always think of our serving within the church as God’s will for His glory and our good.
So if we find ourselves so busy with life that we’re disconnected from Christ’s body, we ought to reconsider our priorities; not as a matter of guilt, but as a matter of our joy in glorifying God. Let’s resist a contemporary Christianity that settles for a life of individual, disconnected peace that only awaits Heaven. And if we find ourselves grumbling and unable to serve with joy, the answer is not to back away, but to repent, pray for God’s work on our hearts, and serve with a renewed expectation for joy. Don’t be discouraged if the joy isn’t there. Instead, thank Him for revealing, and sanctifying, and working His glory in you as you work toward love and unity in His body, the church.
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