True Religion Is Refreshing
1 Corinthians 16:15-18
You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
March 15th to the 17th was an incredibly encouraging and refreshing time as Scotty Kendrick and I got to travel to Toronto, Canada and meet with our brothers and sisters in the Toronto International Christian Church! Amazingly, the day we left Phoenix it was 92 degrees and on arriving in Toronto it was about 20 degrees or so. The disciples there were fired up about their “warm front”? while Scotty and I were a bit frozen. That frozen feeling quickly melted away as we met the church at Tim Kernan’s house. What an amazing group! We were so welcomed and taken care it was flat out impressive! That first night we all stayed up eating, fellowshipping and inspiring each other with our life stories. The women left around midnight and the brothers kept on encouraging each other until 2 a.m. Every minute was worth it and although each of us only had about 2 hours of sleep, you would have never known it by the joyful hearts in everyone as we got up around 5 a.m.!
We all prayed and read our Bibles and then in a flurry got ready to drive several hours northeast to the site of the Winter Workshop on the north side of Lake Ontario. Arriving at the cabins, we quickly found out that the brothers would have to be without water since the pipes had burst. No one complained or whined- rather, each went about his way helping the sisters and each other until we were all settled. The fire wood was wet and so several brothers hit the woods until they found kindling or “proper bramble”? (as Phil would say in a very strong Irish accent). James 1:27 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. I saw this heart joyfully lived out as 10 disciples gave their hearts fully to make the whole weekend excellent. There is a tremendous heart of living out true religion in our brothers in Toronto.
In effort to encourage the church, I have put together some thoughts to consider as we lay down our lives to build a movement that will glorify God. I saw this pure and unselfish religion lived out in Toronto and want to challenge each of you to imitate their faith as well as commend the leadership in the Toronto church for refreshing our hearts-
Mark Twain said the mistake God made was in not forbidding Adam to eat the serpent. Are we following Jesus or making up religion? It seems to me that the more we forbid men to do, the more likely they are to try it out! Let’s instead- preach holiness and absolute purity and then help our brothers and sisters live free from guilt and condemnation. Understanding this tendency in our hearts will help us to not recreate faithless, powerless religion but to strive with all our hearts to follow Jesus rather than men. Our job is not to condemn or forbid, but to preach the encouraging message of Jesus Christ. Of course we have to organize and meet together consistently to keep each other strong and faithful, but we can avoid hypocritical hearts by keeping our love for God fresh and alive! Colossians 2:23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Are we going through the motions, building monuments to ourselves, imitating pagan religious practices or really following Jesus and the example of our brothers and sisters of the Bible?
As Alexander Campbell gave his life to the restoration of the “ancient order”? we find this research quote from one of his articles: Mosheim, vol. i. p. 73, Charlestown edition. “Another circumstance that irritated the Romans against the christians, was the simplicity of their worship, which resembled in nothing the sacred rites of any other people. The christians had neither sacrifices, nor temples, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal robes; and this was sufficient to bring upon them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who imagined that there could be no religion without these. Thus they were looked upon as a sort of Atheists; and by the Roman laws, those who were chargeable with Atheism, were declared the pest of human society. But this was not all. The sordid interests of a multitude of lazy and selfish priests were immediately connected with the ruin and oppression of the christian cause. The public worship of such an immense number of deities was a source of subsistence, and even of riches, to the whole rabble of priests and augurs, and also to a multitude of merchants and artists. And the progress of the gospel threatened the ruin of this religious traffic and the profits it produced. This raised up new enemies to the christians, and armed the rage of mercenary superstition against their lives and their cause.”
Encouragingly, Scotty and I saw the heart to simply worship God with sincere hearts in Toronto. There was no pomp or arrogance of the Pharisees and no fake religion. We met in homes and cabins and there was simplicity of faith. There were struggles and difficult times but unselfish hearts. They certainly have their weaknesses, but are humble and hungry to overcome anything that would stand in the way of preaching the word to their city and the world. I was won over by the love of our brothers and sisters in Toronto. It is clear that you could take each of the disciples there and put them in the middle of the fellowship of Portland, Chicago, Phoenix or one of our sister churches and they would have the same love, commitment and heart for God! You would not know the difference except for an occasional “eh”? at the end of a sentence!
As Tim and Leanne leave for Los Angeles and then London, let each of us be praying for our brothers and sisters in Toronto. Pray for their faith and their strength to continue the great work that has been started there. We love you guys! The “true religion”? you practice is refreshing and inspiring. Thank you-
Let’s each stoop down to make each other great, because certainly, He stoops down to make us great.
In Him,
Matt Sullivan
“Special Contribution- over $20,000 given Sunday April 1st!”. Phoenix International Christian Church Gives Special Contribution April 1st
By the power of God, $18,804.36 is given to meet the goal we prayerfully set back in January. In November, the leadership had discussed what kind of needs we would have for 2007 and although the congregation was very generous, it became obvious we would not be able to have Helen Sullivan on staff unless we took up an additional contribution. By faith, we settled on a “range�? goal of from $12,000 to $18,000. The smaller amount being just enough for us to get by and the higher amount being a miracle that would allow for 2-3 new staff members by the end of summer. These amounts would provide a ¾ time salary for Helen and move us forward to interns being hired as well. As he always does- God blew away our highest goal as he saw our faith and answered our prayers. God is awesome and to God be the glory as we move forward in 2007 with plans to begin Bible talks and House Churches in the entire Phoenix Valley and prayerfully to aid in sending out a church planting in 2008!
