Spiritual carbo-loading

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I’m sure you’ve heard of carbo-loading. The term typically refers to a strategy used by athletes to minimize fatigue when competing in events (like marathons) that require great endurance. The strategy involves eating large amounts of carbohydrates prior to the event. Through digestion, the carbs consumed are converted into glycogen (a form of sugar), which enters the cells of the body through the bloodstream. Excess glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles for future use.

In reading about carbo-loading, it occurred to me that, spiritually speaking, Jesus, “the bread of life,” is our “cosmic carbohydrate.” As we “feed” on him, we are delivered from the spiritual fatigue so often encountered in the race of life. Jesus imparts this grace by sharing with us his own glorified humanity. Because he never leaves or forsakes us, he is always there to meet our deepest need.

Starchy-foods. — Carbohydrates
(public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Though Jesus fed the multitudes with physical food (loaves and fishes), his greatest desire is to feed us spiritually. Jesus wants us to know him not only as the source of physical food, but also (and most importantly) as the source of our spiritual sustenance. Jesus put it this way: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 ESV).

Just as physical bread nourishes our bodies, Jesus, the bread of life, nourishes our souls by imparting to us the spiritual energy needed for right relationships with God and each other. Jesus feeds those who are needy and helpless then invites them to join him in feeding others, pointing them to the true bread of life. As Sri Lankan missionary, D. T. Niles, famously said, “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

Following his resurrection, Jesus met with Peter and commanded him to “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). Peter obeyed that command, and understanding that Jesus himself is the nourishment the sheep need, he wrote this to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor:

Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV, italics added)

In writing this, Peter likely had in mind the words of the psalmist: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).

Of course, we all need physical food—we’d die without it. But our dependency on physical food should remind us of our even greater need for spiritual food—for Jesus, the true bread of life. The Son of God who created us and became incarnate in Jesus, now, through the Spirit, sustains us. And so we depend on Jesus—by the Spirit we feed on him. We do so through spiritual practices such as worship, prayer and Bible Study. In these and other ways, Jesus feeds us from the inside out, blessing us and enabling us to bless others by passing on what we have received—things like love, forgiveness, hope, encouragement, appreciation, faithfulness in relationships, and our material possessions.

Just as a gourmet chef provides the best physical food to nourish our bodies, so Jesus, our Creator and Sustainer, provides the best spiritual food to nourish our souls. Because Jesus knows and loves us as individuals, the way he feeds you may be a bit different than the way he feeds me and others. He feeds us with his life and love in ways that are best for each of us. That’s how much Jesus loves us all.

Speaking of Jesus’ love, I’m sure we’ve all heard the children’s song, “Jesus Loves Me (This I Know)” (it may be a children’s song, but I find that adults love it too!). Here’s an equally comforting phrase someone should put to song: “Jesus Knows Me This I Love.” Jesus knows you intimately. He knows who you are, and knows your deepest needs. This is so because, by the Spirit, he lives within us, and as we feed on him, he becomes for us life-giving “cosmic carbohydrate.” Now there’s a good reason to practice carbo-loading, don’t you think?

Feeding with you on the bread of life,
Joseph Tkach

PS: I greatly enjoyed my recent visit to the GCI congregation in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where I joined in celebrating their 50th anniversary. Pastor Alan Redmond and his wife Carolyn were perfect hosts to us and about 190 others in attendance, including Canadian national ministry leader Gary Moore and his wife Wendy who updated us on Canadian church missions. The worship and fellowship (pictured left and right, below) were wonderful and the food (at center) was fantastic! It was a personal treat to eat the delicious homemade peroghis for lunch (talk about carbo-loading!).

Back to school outreach

Several of GCI’s U.S. congregations recently held special outreach worship services and other events to bless children and their families as the children returned to school. Here are a couple of examples.

Trinity, Alabama

New Life in Christ Fellowship, GCI’s congregation in Trinity, Alabama, held a “Blessing of the Children Service.” Here is a picture of some of the children and their parents and teachers:

Of the 31 people attending the service, 19 were visitors (including five visiting for the first time). NLICF Lead Pastor Brad Campbell commented:

I think there is a real chance that God may be opening a door for eventual sustained growth from within our community. We’re seeing the return of visitors who are then telling their friends and families about our church. One thing that is clear from this event, is the importance and effectiveness of our children’s church. The kids love coming and being a part of that little class. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback both personally and via social media from adults concerning our services and the overall ministry of our church.

Olympia, Washington

New Horizons Fellowship, GCI’s congregation in Olympia, Washington, participated in a city-wide “Back to School–Backpack Giveaway.” As seen in the video below, hundreds attended the giveaway held in downtown Olympia. According to NHF Lead Pastor Chuck Downey, “It’s amazing what we can do when we work together.”

On YouTube at https://youtu.be/XeikFXjSlaU.

Spiritual renewal retreat in Denver

Several members of Living Grace Church (one of GCI’s congregations in the Denver, Colorado, area) participated recently in a spiritual renewal retreat titled “Experiencing the Trinity.” Participants spent time in spiritual exercises designed to help them encounter the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in intimate and personal ways. Those exercises included times of silence, guided meditation, various forms of prayer, and communion. The retreat was led by Odyssey in Christ staff members Larry Hinkle (OIC director), Lorilee Immel, Gracie Johnson, and Bill and Donna Rae Wells.

Linda Buffalow commented on her experience at the retreat: “It was a great blessing, giving us opportunity to get away from the daily cares, stresses, duties, etc. that weigh us down. The emphasis on God’s love and what it is in our lives, made the Triune God much more real to us.” Linda’s husband Harold commented: “It was brought out that Jesus is our refuge or safe place. And we need a safe place where we can go in our prayers to God.”

A lesson on leadership

Below is a video of a TED Talk titled How Great Leaders Inspire Action. Addressing the fundamental question of Why?, it would be a helpful start to a church leadership team discussion concerning helping others embrace the congregation’s vision and mission.

On YouTube at https://youtu.be/a6kbcERdmCw.

Union & ministry with Christ, part 2

Here is part 2 of an 8-part essay by Dr. Gary Deddo titled “The Christian life and our participation in Christ’s continuing ministry.” To read other parts, click on a number: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. For all 8 parts combined in one article, click here.

Without Purse or Script by Liz Lemon Swindle, used with permission — *Without Purse or Script* by Liz Lemon Swindle (used with permission)

Recap of part 1

In part 1 of this 7-part essay we noted that in responding to the ethical challenges in our contemporary world, some churches have adopted an activism that, unfortunately, tends to misrepresent God and the Christian life. As a corrective, we noted the Torrance brothers’ emphasis on an approach that remains focused on the central question of Christian theology: Who are you Lord? With that focus, all we think about and do as churches remains centered on Christ, enabling us to enter more fully into what our Lord actually is calling us to do. At their core, Christian living and ministry are about living in union and communion with Christ. Now in part 2 of this series we’ll explore the biblical foundations and theological synthesis for understanding that union and communion.

Scriptural teaching on union with Christ

What do the Scriptures teach? What did the early church and the Reformers understand? And what legacy have the Torrance brothers left us regarding our union with Christ? Let me first summarize what that union is not:

It’s not essentially a moral union with the result that I agree and am committed to doing what God regards as right and righteous. That may be a moral fruit of our union, but that is not what it is.
It’s not essentially a psychological union where Jesus has positive regard for me and I feel warmly connected and desirous of his approval and presence. Again that may be a fruit, but not the source.
It’s not essentially a volitional union where I am willing to do the practical work of God, accomplishing all that he sets out for me to do, so that my will is a mirror image of God’s will.
It’s not essentially a union of purposes (a “telic union”), where my goals, aspirations, dreams, ideals and hopes match God’s.

Union with Christ is much deeper, more enduring and far more effective in our lives than any of these aspects of the Christian life. The New Testament message is that we are so united to Christ that the core of our very being is changed because it has become spiritually joined to the perfected humanity of Jesus. The apostle Paul writes that we are one in Spirit with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17). In his letter to the Ephesians he writes that we are presently—right now—seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6). We are so joined that what happened to Christ 2,000 years ago has actually included us. So in Paul’s letter to the Colossians we read that we have co-died with Christ and have been co-raised with Christ (Colossians 2:12-3; 3:1). Paul announces this fact as a completed action that is true of all the members of the body of Christ.

Jesus himself indicated his purpose to unite himself with us. He teaches that our oneness with him is comparable to his oneness with the Father. He declares, “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20, ESV unless noted). He prays, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one…. that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:23, 26). Jesus teaches that eternal life, salvation, involves a close communion: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56).

In 1 Corinthians, Paul announces that everything that Jesus has is also ours. He declares that Jesus himself is our wisdom, our righteousness and our sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30). The New Testament is filled with language that points to a profound reality: we belong in an astounding way to Jesus Christ. We can be said to indwell him and he us. We are often depicted as being in Christ, not just with or alongside him. The book of Ephesians is full of this kind of description that frankly blows our minds and fries our rational mental circuits. We have become new creatures “in” Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), because he has made us his own (Philippians 3:12) in such a way that there is what Calvin called a “wonderful exchange” at the deepest level of who we are. At that level Christ takes our fallen and broken natures and gives us a share in his sanctified and perfected human nature. Who we are is no longer who we are alone, for we are not alone. We are who we are by virtue of being united to Christ. As James Torrance tirelessly reminded us, by his grace we are given the gift of sharing in the Son’s union and communion with the Father in the power of the Spirit. As the early church expressed it: He who was the Son of God by nature, became a son of man so that we who are the sons of men by nature might, by grace, become the sons and daughters of God.

When Calvin and Luther commented on Ephesians 5:21-32, following the early church teachings, they did not exposit on the nature of human marriage, but marveled that we are far more united to Christ than a man and woman are in matrimony! Marriage is a dim and distant reflection of the deeper truth about our real communion with Christ. The ultimate companion we are made for is Jesus Christ who is truly bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and to whom we are united by the Holy Spirit.

In the New Testament, especially in the book of Hebrews, we see that such a union had its beginning in the Incarnation, in Christ’s assuming a complete humanity, from conception to his death. What qualifies Jesus to accomplish this exchange with us is his assumption of our humanity along with its fallen condition. The early church recognized the depths of the incarnation when it declared not only that Jesus was “one in being” (homoousios in Greek) with the Father, but also “one in being” (homoousios) with humanity. His divinity by virtue of his union with the Father is no more true of him than is his humanity by virtue of his union with us. The apostle Paul laid the ground for this doctrinal explication of the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) when he identified Jesus with the new Adam (Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:45). Jesus Christ is united to us even more than we are united to the Adam of the Garden in Genesis. Thus our relationship with Christ puts our very existence on a whole new basis.

Our redemption does not just depend on what Christ did, but on who he is in the depths of his being—one with God and one with us. Our salvation, our life in Christ, was not only accomplished by means of Christ but “in Christ,” as Calvin used to say and James Torrance used to regularly remind us. Our new life is not external to us and layered on over us, but is worked out first in the humanity of Jesus and then given to us through his Spirit.

Luther, Calvin and Stewart on union with Christ

One older book that James Torrance often referred to was James Stewart’s A Man in Christ. Stewart concluded after his careful study of the New Testament that our union with Christ was the central element in the message of the gospel. That is, without union with Christ, there would be no gospel. God’s grace reaches that deep into who we are. We are no longer ourselves alone—we are who we are only in and through our union with Christ. We belong to God in Christ., body and soul.

Calvin used to warn that we ought never consider Christ at a distance. We are, to the root of our being, who we are in relationship to him who made himself one with us. This is why Luther and Calvin recognized that our whole salvation was complete in Christ: not just our justification, but our sanctification and glorification as well. To have Christ was to have the whole Christ. Christ could not be divided up into pieces, so neither could our salvation. What is complete and actual in Christ is truly ours even if it does not yet appear to be so. Our lives are hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3). Our life in him is being worked out in us by the Spirit. This new being wrought in us comes through the sheer gift of our union with Christ. It is not us working out a potential that might be true if we properly apply ourselves. Rather, the Christian life is living out and manifesting the present reality of our union with Christ.

Death of Max Devereaux

We were saddened to learn of the recent death of Max Devereaux from a massive heart attack at age 90. A long-time elder, Max served as associate pastor in GCI’s Euless, Texas, congregation.

Max was born to William and Minnie Devereaux in 1925. He grew up in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas, the youngest of nine children. Max joined the Marine Corps in 1943 and served in the Pacific theater during World War II. He was a survivor of the battles on Iwo Jima and served in the Navy for three years.

Following his military service, Max worked for 35 years as a machinist in the aerospace industry. He married Oleta Mullens in Kansas in 1954. The couple moved to Texas in 1956, where they had one son, Paul.

Max is survived by Oleta, Paul, two married granddaughters, and two great-grandsons. Max was buried in the Dallas, Texas, VA Cemetery.

Cards may be sent to:
Oleta Devereaux
125 Wanda Way Apt 120
Hurst, TX 76053-6929

Ed Graham

Ed Graham, former WCG Television Department employee, has been diagnosed with colon cancer and the cancer has metastasized into his liver and spine.

Prayers for both Ed and his wife, Sheila, are much appreciated.

Cards may be sent to:
Ed and Sheila Graham
111 Pueblo Drive
Lake Kiowa, TX 76240.

Passing the baton in Wichita

August 30 was a significant milestone for GCI’s congregation in Wichita, Kansas, as the baton of pastoral leadership was passed from lead pastor Don Engle to a newly commissioned pastoral team. As part of the celebration, Don Engle and his wife Alix were honored on the occasion of Don’s retirement after 43 years of WCG/GCI employment. Regional Pastor Mike Rasmussen honored the Engles by recounting Don’s years of pastoral service and presenting him with a gift from GCI president Joseph Tkach (below, left). The congregation honored the couple with a special cake (right).

Don graduated from Ambassador College in Bricket Wood, England in 1972, and was ordained an elder in 1974. During his years of GCI/WCG employment (with Alix at his side most of those years) Don served 15 congregations, including four in New Zealand, and ones in Louisiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas. Don plans to continue his service in ministry as a chaplain with the Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice in Wichita.

As part of the celebration, Mike and Don, with the support of the congregation (see pictures below), commissioned a pastoral team to assume the responsibilities formerly fulfilled by Don as lead pastor. The team members are Kirk Hayden, Laura Hayden, Ross Hays and Rhonda Hays.

Also during the August 30 celebration, Kirk Hayden, a member of the newly commissioned pastoral team, was ordained an elder by Don and Mike (see picture below).

Our sincere thanks to the Engles and congratulations to the new pastoral team.