The Power of Remembrance

Study Notes

The Power of Remembrance

From Psalm 77

     In my last sermon as your Sr. Pastor, I want to speak to you about the power of remembrance.  In both the Old and New Testaments, a spiritual discipline that is central to our individual walks with God is that we are to take times to remember.  We are to remember especially what God has said about himself in His Word, i.e., who He is, what He has done, how He has called us to live and what He has promised. 

     Throughout the Bible, we discover that we who follow Jesus are to remember God both in times of great difficulty as well as in times of celebration.  Today, I want us to see that it’s also in times of change and transition that we are also to remember -- remember that God is with us and that he will guide us.

     We are most certainly in a time of change, aren’t we?  In one of my first messages to you 12 years ago, I called these times “ecotonic moments”.  Do you remember that?  An ecotone  is a place at which two ecosystems come together, where they meet and blend into one another.  It is a place unstable, shifting, and fragile but also fertile, characterized by diversity and change and new kinds of life. A good example is when you travel from east to west across Nebraska and Colorado, you drive across many miles of flat prairie land and lakes until, almost suddenly, the flatlands are interrupted by the rise of the Rockies. That is an ecotone, where the plains meet the mountains. An ecotone is a place of change – of transition. 

     As Dr. Bill Iwan of LAC and Caltech said to me the first time I mentioned this concept, “When you come to an ecotonic space, one decision you have to make is about what you must carry from the earlier place into the new one and what you must leave behind.”  He was right.  If you are kayaking along a river in flat areas and come to a mountain you must climb, you won’t want to carry your kayak up the mountain with you -- but you will want food, water, shoes, etc.!

     With my leaving as your Sr. Pastor, Pastor Jeff stepping in as Acting Sr. Pastor, and the Sr. Pastor Search Committee at work, this truly is an “ecotonic moment” at Lake.  I am convinced that one of the most important things we can do right now is to remember what God has said to us.  What do we carry from this “ecotonic moment” in our church into the next as a church?  I am convinced that, in terms of what we believe, the word for what we carry is “gospel”.  That word means “good news” from God.  The gospel is what our LAC Statement of Faith is all about.  So, in these days, I want you to back to that again and again.  Here’s where you can find it:  https://www.lakeave.org/about/what-we-believe  Here’s the introduction to it:

Through the power of the gospel, God accomplishes His salvation plan: rescuing His people from sin, making each one complete in Christ, and making all things in His creation new. Our most basic theological convictions are aspects of the gospel.  Whatever else we are, we must always be a gospel-centered church.

     But, in addition to that, I’ve been seeking to remember what the Lord has said to us together over the past 12 years.  I’ve thought about many of them.  So today, let me bring back to your memory, three specific messages that have been central to our years together.

Unexpected Family -- I bow my knees before the Father, from whom the entire family in heaven and on earth is named… (Eph 3:14). I looked and beheld a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne…(Rev 7:9)!” 

     As a 13-year-old boy, one Saturday morning I was forced to stop and talk with a group of African American men in Bluefield, WV.  As I turned the corner that day and found myself face-to-face with them, I wanted to run out of fear.  I had never before had a conversation with a person of color.  We often fear what we do not know.  One of the men looked me in the eye and said, “Young fella, I have some advice for you: You should sit down with us now, have a nice cool bottle of pop, and talk for a while.  And, I think you’ll find out -- that we’re just folks.”  So, I did, i.e., I sat down and talked.  And I found out too -- not just that they were “folks” -- but they were my brothers in Christ.  My eyes were opened that day and a dream began to grow in my heart, i.e., to be in a church this side of heaven that is as diverse as our Father’s eternal family is and always will be in heaven.

     So, in one of my first series of messages, I brought you into that dream with me.  It was from the Book of Ephesians and I entitled it, “God’s Unexpected Family.”  That is not to say that the breadth of God’s family is unexpected to him.  No, in Ephesians, we learned that it has been God’s plan since eternity past to adopt children into his family from every people group.

     A church like ours should be unexpected because the world sees it and can hardly believe that we love one another, worship our God together and serve to his glory together. Back in Ephesus when the Bible was written, the people didn’t want to be in one family -- because there were both Jews and Gentiles who had surrendered their lives in faith to Jesus.  But, they wanted two churches -- one Jewish and one Gentile! However, God placed that church in Ephesus and called both Jew and Gentile to walk together in unity.  When that kind of thing happens, the world will see it and know that there must be a God who has done it.  That’s what the family of God is – people who once were divided from God and from one another, now one family in Christ. 

     Here’s the application to us: God has now placed us here in Pasadena, CA, one of the most diverse cities in our world and he has adopted us into his one family.  He unites here us in Christ to make known to the San Gabriel Valley that God can take what is broken and bring it together. 

     Never forget this: When God adopts us into his family, he leaves the breadth of diversity that he’s created us with: We are made up of different ethnicities, different physical appearances, different gifts, different generations, etc.  But, he unites us as members of one family in Christ. And, he plants us into this neighborhood and tells us to live, serve and worship in unity so that people might see that God is real and see what he is like. 

     So, when a “baby boomer” does not want to worship with a “millennial”, when the documented doesn’t want to worship and serve with undocumented, and when the wealthy person doesn’t want to worship with the family close to homelessness, you must remember.  Remember who we are.  We all bow our knees before the one Father in heaven and earth from whom we all derive our name (Eph 3:14).  We imperfect people are only in God’s unexpected family because of God’s grace.  And we will be in it together -- throughout eternity! 

Three Essential Connections -- We proclaim Christ, both warning each one and teaching each one with all wisdom, so that we may present each one complete in Christ (Col 1:28).

     I asked you the question, “When you breathe, which is more important -- inhaling or exhaling?”  You know the answer, i.e., they are equally important. With that in mind, remember that the church is not only called a family, it is also called a body.  And, as a spiritual body, it must both inhale and exhale to be healthy.

     The three essential connections focus on the inhaling part of your spiritual life.  One of the reasons God places us into a local church like this one is that each one of us needs to grow in our faith.  We come in to church to breathe in the truth of God.  That means learning the truth about God from the Word, learning how to use the gifts God has given you, etc.  But, it also means that, at church, you should begin to grow to live as God has created you to live.  This and more is what we mean by becoming “complete in Christ.”

     There are many ways that God enables you to grow and develop in your spiritual life.  We believe that there are three that are essential to each one of us.  I want you to remember them -- and make them a part of your life:

1. Worship -- By this, we urge each one of us regularly to worship in one of our 4 worship services, 3 in English and 1 in Spanish at Communidad. This means that we think it is essential for your growth and for our witness that you meet not just in your small groups, classes or youth gatherings.  The unity of our body is formed as we worship our one Father in unity. As Heb 10:25 commands: Do not give up meeting together. Some have gotten into the habit of doing this… Meet together even more as you see Christ’s return approaching.
2. Community -- By “community”, we mean our smaller group gatherings like we have from our students to senior adulthood here at Lake. The Bible calls us to teach one another, correct one another, pray for one another, etc.  That cannot all happen in a larger worship service.  I know that, with our growing number of people who worship with us online, we will need to see how this essential connection might be facilitated.  But, if we will fulfill our mission to have each one of us become complete in Christ, we believe that both worship and community are not optional extras but essential connections.
3. Service --In Eph 4:7-16, we are told that when we receive Jesus into our lives, he gives us His Spirit. The Spirit gives each of us gifts, spiritual gifts. Why?  So that “we will grow up in our faith (Eph 4:13).” So that “we will no longer be babies in the faith (Eph 4:14).”  This is all to say that, just as exercise is essential to the physical body’s growth, so service is essential to your growth in Christ.

     So, remember:  Three essential connections.  Many have told me that it’s too hard to do all three.  However, as one single Mom said, “I see that these three connections are all essential to my spiritual growth and to my children’s.  So, we have decided to commit to all three and discovered -- that, as hard as doing all three is, there are other things much harder that I do as a single Mom.  Doing them is changing our lives and drawing us together.  We have to be creative -- but we’ve learned it’s possible and it’s worth it.”

Divine Appointments -- You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem … and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)”

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (Js 1:27).

     If the three essential connections are central to us “breathing in” as a church body, I think of “divine appointments” as a perspective central to us “breathing out”.  What happens in your life at church is to breathe out into blessing in the world.  We gather here in church and then go as his ambassadors of reconciliation.

     The property we meet on here at LAC was given to us by one of Pasadena’s first mayors and one of our first church members, i.e., William Waterhouse.  In giving it, he said that he wanted to be sure that this church will always be involved in two things: 1) taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to our community and world and 2) reaching out to meet the needs of whatever people God beings into our city.  I think his call is consistent with the mandates of Scripture and the life of Jesus.

     When I was a freshman in college, my RA challenged me to read through the Gospel of Luke and make note of each time someone came across Jesus’s path.  He said to notice 1) how Jesus sees the people, 2) how Jesus treats the people, and 3) whether what Jesus did was different from what others did.  Then, he asked me to learn to notice those God brings across my own path.  He said, “As it was with Jesus, there will be some that you know you need to stop and enter into their lives.  When that happens, view it as a divine appointment.  Treat it as an opportunity to tell them about Jesus -- and to meet their needs as you are able in the name of Jesus.”

     11 years ago, we spent months considering how this looks in our lives in a series I did called Divine Appointments.  As a church family, God has located us here to give witness to Jesus and call people to have eternal life through him. And, God also calls us to reach out to the needs of those in our city with the love of Jesus.  We do this as a church family in many ways.  And, I encouraged us all to look at our individual lives that way too -- to see each encounter as a possible divine appointment and each appointment as an opportunity -- to reach out to others in the name of Jesus. Today, I simply say remember, remember to look for those divine appointments.  Remember to breathe in here when you worship so that you might breathe out into the world.

Some Final Words:  We remember the past that we might be guided now and into the future.

     Those are the three things that I want you to remember in this time of transition at LAC: Unexpected Family, 3 Essential Connections, and Divine Appointments.  But, let me remind you that, when people remembered in the Bible, it was so that they would know how to live now and live into the future.  I told you at the beginning of my sermon that an ecotonic space is fertile, characterized by diversity and change and new kinds of life.

     That is true of this time for us.  Have you ever noticed that in those uncertain, transitional times of your life, you often turn to God more fervently?  I have.  When I’m not quite sure what is next in my life, I turn to the Lord and renew my commitment to him.  My most precious times of spiritual growth have been in those times when I knew that I desperately needed the Lord to guide and sustain me.  I believe these next months will be like that for us as a church family, a time of “change and new kinds of life” -- if we will let them be.  Let’s pray as we have never prayed, serve as we have never served, give as we have never given before.

     God has a new work for us ahead.  Chris and I are excited that we still get to be a part of it.  How many pastors leave being Sr. Pastor and still get to be a part of the church they love?  Yes, we’re not leaving yet!  We’re just transitioning to a new way of serving God with you in this unexpected family.

     So, as this chapter comes to an end, may God bless us all:

*with His eyes to see people as He sees people,

*with His heart to care for people as He cares,

*with hands ready to reach out to people with love as He has reached to us,

*and with words ready to speak of His good news found in Jesus Christ --

That we together may live as his unexpected family in the San Gabriel Valley -- to His glory!

Chinese Study Notes

紀念的力量

詩篇77

      作為你們的主任牧師，我最後一篇講道想講紀念的力量。新舊約聖經都告訴我們，與神同行的一個重要操練是花時間紀念神。特別是紀念神藉著他的話講論他是誰，他做了什麼，他要我們如何生活以及他的應許。

      我們從聖經中得知，我們這些跟從耶穌的人不論在順境還是逆境都要紀念神。今天，我們在教會交接改變的時候也要這樣做，紀念神與我們同行，他必帶領我們到底。

      我們面對改變的時候是否有確定感呢？12年前，我開始在Lake服事時，在一篇講道中稱改變過度為“生態交錯時刻”，你們還記得嗎？生態交錯是兩種生態環境交織的地方，它們在那裡相遇、混雜；那裡充滿不穩定、變化、脆弱的因素，卻也充滿生機勃勃、多樣性和改變的生命形態。舉個例子，若你開車從東到西穿過那不勒斯卡和科羅拉多，先是經過平地湖泊，之後突然就會出現山岩，這就是生態交錯區，平原與山區交匯，所以這樣的交錯區就是過度和改變的地方。

      我們教會加州理工的教授比利伊萬在我第一次提及這個概念時曾對我說：“當你來到這樣的地方，必須做一個決定，就是面對下一個區域，你要從前一個區域帶進什麼或不帶什麼。”沒錯，如果你從平原划船進入山地，你不會扛著皮筏子登山，但你一定會帶著食物、水和鞋！”
          

我離開主任牧師一職後，傑夫牧師將成為代理主任牧師，同時尋找主任牧師 的委員會要啟動，這就是我們教會的“生態交錯時刻”。我相信此時最重要的一件事就是紀念神對我們說的話。我們要把教會以前的什麼好東西帶進下一個階段呢？照著我們的信仰，我們要繼續帶著的就是福音，即從神而來的好消息。福音就是我們信仰告白的一切。在這段時日，我盼望你們可以一次次重溫教會的信仰告白："https://www.lakeave.org/about/what-we-believe" 以下就是它的介紹：

      藉著福音的力量，神要實現他的救恩計畫：拯救他的百姓脫離罪，讓他們在基督裡完全，在他的新創造裡使萬物更新。我們最基本的神學信念來自福音的方方面面。

      不管我們在社會上是什麼人，我們教會必須是一個以福音為中心的教會。

     我一直回憶在過去12年中，神對我們所說的；我想到許許多多。今天，我就帶你們重溫。在過往的歲月中，有三個特別的要點是我們能夠在一起的基礎。

無可預期的家庭 -- 因此，我屈膝在父面前——天上地上的萬族都是從他得名的… (弗3:14). 我觀看，看哪，有一大群人，沒有人能夠數過來。他們來自各國家、各支派、各民族、各語言群體。他們身穿白袍，手裡拿著棕櫚枝，站在寶座和羔羊面前…(啟7：9)!” 

      我13歲的時候，一個週六的早晨，在我老家附近，一群非洲裔的男子把我逼到一個牆角，要我停下和他們交談。我當時怕得想跑，因為我從來沒有和有色人種談過話。我們常常為自己不知道的事情害怕。其中一人看著我說：“年輕人，我給你一些忠告：你現在應該和我們坐下，喝一瓶冰鎮飲料聊一聊。你會發現，我們也是一般人。” 我於是照做，喝他們聊天，結果不僅發現他們是“一般人”，還是主內弟兄。那天，我的眼打開了，心裡有一個夢想，就是在天堂這邊的地上教會也要像天父的永恆家庭一樣多元化，在地如在天。

      因此，我在Lake一開始講道，就把你們也帶入我的夢想---這也是以弗所書說的，我稱之為“神無可預期的家庭”，這並非說神的家庭之大出乎他的預料；相反，從以弗所書可以看到，神從創世以前就計畫著要把各族各方的人帶回他的家。

     我們教會應該就是這樣一種無可預期的家庭，就算世人也許不相信我們能彼此相愛、一起敬拜、共同服事榮耀神。在保羅寫以弗所書的時候，當時的人們不願意在一個家庭裡，因為有信耶穌的猶太人和外邦信徒，他們希望有兩個分別的教會！但神在以弗所要設立的教會，就是要猶太人和外邦人走到一起、合二為一。這樣，世界看到了就會知道，教會一定是獨一上帝的作為。這就是神的教會---曾經與神分離、彼此分離的人在基督裡成為一家人。 

     對我們的應用是：神把我們放在帕薩迪納---這個世界上最多元化的城市之一，神揀選我們進入一個家庭，使我們在基督裡合一，讓聖蓋博谷地區的人知道，神將曾經破碎的合到了一起。

     不要忘了，當神揀選我們進入他的家，他沒有區分造我們時的多樣性。儘管他把我們造成不同種族、長相，有不同恩賜的人，但他在基督裡聯合我們成為一家人，有合一的敬拜和服事，這樣人們看到就會知道神是真的，知道神是怎樣的神。

     當40後不願意和80後聚會、有身份的不願和無身份的事奉、富有的不願和貧窮的一起敬拜時，你們一定要記得我們是誰。我們一同在天父面前屈膝，我們都是從他那裡得名（弗3：14）；我們這些不完美的人只有因為神的恩典才能在神不可預期的家中。我們將在一起，直到永遠。

三個本質性聯接 -- 我們傳揚基督，用一切的智慧勸誡所有人，教導所有人，好讓我們使所有的人在基督裡成熟，能夠獻給神 (西 1:28)。
      我問你們：“當你們呼吸時，哪樣更重要，是呼還是吸？”你們一定說一樣重要，那麼請記住，教會不僅被稱為一個家庭，還是一個身體，是一個屬靈的身體，必須有健康的呼和吸。

     三個本質聯接都側重在屬靈生命的呼吸。神將我們放在一個地方教會的目的就是讓我們在信仰中成長。我們來到教會在神的真理中呼吸，即從神的話語中學習真理，學習如何使用神給我們的恩賜。這同時也意味著，你們在教會應該開始活出神造你們的樣子，即我們所說的“在基督裡成熟”。

     神用許多方法使你的屬靈生命成長成熟，以下三個對每一個人都是根本性的。我盼望你們可以記住，讓它們成為你生命的一部分。

• 敬拜--我們彼此鼓勵按時參加主日敬拜，三場英語、一場西班牙語。我們認為敬拜對我們屬靈成長和見證是至關重要的，而不只是需要參加自己的小組、主日學或團契聚會。當我們在合一中敬拜我們天父的時候，我們合一的身體就形成了。正如來10：25節說的：你們不要放棄自己的聚會，像某些人所習慣的那樣，而要彼此鼓勵；你們既然看見那日子臨近，就更應該這樣。
• 共同體 – 所謂共同體就是我們教會現在從學生到長者的小組。聖經要我們要彼此教導、彼此糾正、彼此代禱，而這些在一個大敬拜聚會中做不到。現在從網上和我們一起敬拜的人也多了，我們需要看這個本質性聯接如何做到。如果我們要實現每個人都在基督裡成熟，就要知道敬拜與共同體不是選項，而是本質性的聯接。
• 服事 --弗4：7-16說，當我們接受耶穌進入我們的生命時，他將他的靈賜給我們，聖靈賜給我們各樣屬靈恩賜。為什麼呢？因為要“我們在信仰上成熟（弗4：13）”， “不再是信仰上的小孩子(弗4：14)”。 這就像鍛煉對身體成長是至關重要的，服事對基督裡的成長也是至關重要的。

請記住這三個本質性聯接。有些人覺得都能做到太難了，但是請聽一個單親母親的話：“在我和我孩子們的屬靈成長中，這三個聯接都至關重要的，我們決定對此委身。我發現雖然不容易做到，但是比起一個單親母親其它更難的事不是不可能。這三個聯接改變了我們的生活，讓我們更加親密。當然，我們委身其中也需要創造性，但是我們知道做好是可能的，而且非常有價值。”

神聖的相約 – 你們要在耶路撒冷…直到地極作我的見證人 (徒1:8)；在父神看來，純潔而沒有玷污的虔誠是這樣的：照顧患難中的孤兒寡婦，並且保守自己不受世界的玷污 (雅1:27).

     如果說這三個本質性的聯接是我們教會身體“吸”的關鍵，那我想“神聖的相約”就是“呼”的關鍵。我們在教會屬靈的呼氣就是對世界的祝福。我們在此聚會，之後要去作基督的和好的大使。

     帕薩迪納的一個前市長，也是我們第一個會友，威廉姆沃特豪斯捐出了我們今天聚會的產業。他在捐的時候說，他希望教會總是參與這兩方面：1）把耶穌基督的福音傳給社區和世界 ；2）走出去接觸有需要的人，就是那些神帶給我們城市的人。我認為他的呼召與聖經的命令、與耶穌生平是一致的。

     當我上大一的時候，我的宗教老師挑戰我通讀路加福音，記下每一次耶穌與人的相遇，並注意 1）耶穌如何看人，2）耶穌如何對待人；3）耶穌做的與常人有何不同？然後，他要我注意那些神帶進我生命路上的人，他說：“效法耶穌，你就發現有人需要你停下腳步、進入他的生命；這時，你要當作是一個神聖相約，把它當作一個傳福音的機會—奉耶穌的命去滿足人的需要。”

      11年前，我講了“神聖相約”的系列，我們用幾個月的時間思考如何應用在我們生活。作為一個教會家庭，神把我們放在這裡為耶穌做見證，呼召人藉著他得永生；神也要我們以耶穌的愛接觸我們城市有需要的人，我們教會作為一個家庭以各種形式如此做了；但我鼓勵每一個人在我們個人生活中也如此行，將每一次與人相遇都看作是潛在的神聖相約，而每一個相約都是一個奉主名接觸他人的機會。今天，我只是請大家記住，記住去尋找那些神聖相約。當你在這裡敬拜時，記住屬靈的呼吸，好把這樣的呼吸帶進世界。

最後的話:  記住過去，可以引領今天、邁入未來。

     在教會此時的過度期，我盼望你們可以記住這三件事：不可預期的家庭、三個本質性聯接，神聖的相約。我要提醒你，聖經中屬靈偉人紀念以往，使他們知道當下該如何活，該如何面對未來。在我講道一開始就提到了生態交錯區，充滿生機勃勃、多樣性和改變的生命形態。

      我們現在就是如此。你是否注意到，在你生命中不穩定和變化的時候，你常常會更多轉向上帝？我就是這樣。當我對下一步不清楚時，我轉向主，向他重新委身。我最寶貴的屬靈成長時期就是這些時刻，因為我知道我極度需要主的指引和扶助。我相信接下來的幾個月，我們的教會家庭也是如此，對我們這是一個“生命改變和更新”的時刻。讓我們像從未禱告過那樣禱告，像從未服事過那樣服事，像從未給予過那樣給予。

     神在前面預備了我們的新工作。克莉絲和我期待著成為其中的一部分。有許多主任牧師離開崗位後仍然在他們熱愛的教會，我們也是，我們還沒有離開！我們只是換一種新方法在這個不可預期的家庭裡與你們一同事奉主。

            當這一章結束時，願神祝福我們每一個人:

*讓我們像主看待人那樣，用主的眼光看待人；

*讓我們像主關懷人那樣，以主的心關懷人；

*讓我們效法主接觸我們那樣，預備我們的手藉著愛接觸他人；

*讓我們隨時預備傳講在耶穌基督裡的好消息--

這樣，我們就得以在聖蓋博谷地區活出神不可預期的家庭—都是為著他的榮耀！

榮耀歸給神！

Greg Waybright 博士

主任牧師