Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Welcome, Purpose, and Links

Hello,

My name is Mike Sechler. I am currently the pastor at Oakland Evangelical Free Church, and this blog is a place for me to set down some of my thoughts about life, scripture, church life, discipleship and whatever else comes into my mind at the moment. A number of my posts are articles that I have written in the past or that I have just written for the local paper or for my church.

I hope you find them enjoyable and edifying.

Along with this blog, I also have a blog where I review and recommend various resources including books, movies, websites, podcasts, and all sorts of other media.

I am also keeping a record of all the sermon recordings, so if you are interested in listening to them here are the links.

2017

Monday, March 18, 2024

Bloody Holiday

 


In 1 Kings 8, Solomon is dedicating the new temple to the LORD and they have a two-week festival in Jerusalem during which they sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Having just helped my family process three cows in 2 ½ days, I can attest to the enormous amount of work that must have been. In fact, I think that would be a lot of work even for some of the modern processing plants near us. 


Now why did they have to sacrifice so many animals just to dedicate the temple? Likely, it was because so many people came to the festival and they all wanted to sacrifice to the Lord and because they used much of the meat for the festival itself. But if you read the Old Testament description of tabernacle and temple worship you have to admit that God required lots of sacrifices and the whole process of worship really was bloody. The temple was really a slaughterhouse filled daily with animals being killed. 


Then when we get to the New Testament we see that Jesus is called the Lamb of God and He endured a bloody awful death on a cross. Furthermore, He even established the practice of communion in which His followers were supposed to look back on this bloody sacrifice by “eating His flesh” and “drinking His blood.” This unusual practice was so misunderstood that early in church history, other people thought Christians were cannibals. At this time of year, we especially remember Christ’s sacrifice on a day we call Good Friday even though the most evil act in history took place. The perfect sinless Lamb of God was killed on that day! 


Is all this blood and death necessary, and if so why? Do you know? We find the answer in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned they were broken and the world was broken. Not only that, but we learn in Romans 3, that it is not just Adam and Eve’s fault, but that no one is righteous and that all (you and me) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sin causes death, and a holy and good God that made the world just, must balance the scales of justice. If sin causes death then for sin to be forgiven and individuals restored, Hebrews 9:22 says there must be shedding of blood. 

Sin is serious, destructive, and even deadly, and as the righteous judge of the world, God must respond and deliver punishment. We are responsible for our sins and deserve to face the judgment of death. We deserve to shed our own blood for our sins! But God is also loving and does not desire for anyone to perish, so He provides a sacrifice on our behalf. Jesus, God the Son, came down to be the better sacrifice than any ox or sheep. He shed His blood so that we do not have to face eternal death. The offer of forgiven is available for anyone who is willing to admit there own guilt and ask Jesus to take on the punishment for us.

Therefore, those who truly understand what Jesus did celebrate this bloody holiday because we know it is our blood that should be shed. He who did not sin and did not deserve death, died on our behalf. On Good Friday, I often end up contemplating my sin and the brokenness in my own life as I remember Jesus’s broken body and shed blood, but my focus eventually comes back to His love and goodness which shine bright on the darkest of days.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

My Favorite Holiday




I am looking forward to writing the next few pastor articles for the local paper, because I get to focus on Easter, my favorite holiday. It is my favorite because, it is filled with hope and joy. We start out with the bad news of Good Friday, but end with the best news of Easter morning: He is risen! He is risen indeed!! All the songs we sing on Easter Sunday are filled with joy and praise and hope because death has been defeated.

The first Easter is the center of history. I know that the Christian calendar starts at what was thought to be the year of Jesus’s birth, but in fact Easter, Christ’s rising from the dead, is the moment that makes our new birth into the family of God a reality. The work of redemption was accomplished on the cross, where Jesus died to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him, but it is only at the resurrection that His followers and the world can recognize the effectiveness of His work.


Easter is when we can answer the definitive question of history, “Who is Jesus?” In the modern world, we are uncertain about what we know and how we know it. Many people even struggle with knowing themselves let alone the many other questions about meaning and purpose for the whole world. One of the reasons we struggle is that we do not perceive a firm place on which to stand and from which we can make sound judgments. So many things from politics, to family, to personal identity, to even the very definition of truth seem up in the air. But Jesus claimed to the “THE way, THE truth, and THE life,” and if what He says about Himself is true, then He can and should be the starting point for the rest of our investigation of reality.

Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Yet not long after, when threatened, Peter denied even knowing Jesus. Why? Because while at one level he did believe in Jesus, he was not convinced enough to actually surrender His life. But the resurrection changed that for Peter because it verified Jesus’s claims to be the Messiah. 


By rising from the dead, Jesus proved He was the Messiah. He proved that the sacrifice for sins was acceptable and that our sins can be forgiven. He proved death was defeated, and that if we trust and follow Him, we can have eternal life with Him. Peter’s and all the disciples' lives were radically transformed when they saw the risen Jesus. So much so that even though they faced persecution and death soon after, they were more than willing to continue to proclaim the good news that Jesus was their Savior and Lord.


So the question remains for us, “Is Jesus who He says He is?” If He really raised from the dead on Easter morning, then yes. He is right now, the living and reigning Lord of the universe. He really is your Lord and your sins really are forgiven (or can be if you believe). You really can have assurance of eternal and abundant life with Him, because He is risen! He is risen indeed!!


Saturday, February 3, 2024

Should Christians Go To A Gay Wedding?




Here is my argument of why I would not recommend any Christian attend a "wedding" among those identifying as LGBTQ+.

1. Any formal or informal relationship involving sexual intimacy outside of a marriage of one man, one female, for a lifetime marriage is sin. Any gay or trans intimate relationship therefore involves sin and they cannot have a true marriage. 2. A wedding by definition is a public affirmation and support of a marriage.
3. Therefore, again by definition anyone voluntarily attending a wedding is giving affirmation and support to the "marriage" either implicitly or sometimes explicitly (I specifically charge the congregation with affirming and supporting the couple). 4. If a wedding is affirming sinful behaviors and relationships, then giving support and affirmation is also sinful and thus Christians should not attend. As an addendum, if going to a wedding ceremony is simply about showing love to an individual and not about supporting their sinful behaviors, why would they be upset if you lovingly declined based on your conscience? What are they upset about? Is not the intent of having a public wedding to get support for the relationship from those you love and who you want to love you? Of course that is exactly what the wedding is about and that is exactly what anyone having any kind of "wedding" is seeking. So expressing your disagreement verbally but actually attend the ceremony is communicating opposite things, and actions speak louder than words.

With this argument in mind, perhaps then someone can challenge one of my premises or perhaps bring to bear other biblical principles that might make a greater good or lesser two evils argument. But until you acknowledge the substance of the argument you should not simply make a call out to maintaining a relationship or loving the person. It is not loving to affirm sin.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

What Plans Does God Have for You?


This morning in my daily Bible reading, I came across a very that most Christians have seen hanging on someone's wall at some point. It is Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

My question for you is what does this verse mean for us? Can we /  should we take this verse as a promise for us? If so, what kind of promise is it. 

I raise this question as a way of challenging you to think about how you interpret and apply scripture to your life, because if you have in mind when you read that verse or see it on someone's wall that God is promising you a long life, good family, and lots of good things, then you are misapplying and misusing the verse.

So let me take you through the verse and the passage to see what if any promises we can glean from the passage. 

First, we need to understand that Jeremiah 29 is written to a specific group of people at a specific time. Jeremiah is a prophet of God writing at the end of the independent kingdom of Judah about 600 years before Christ. They have already been captured by the large kingdom of Babylon and some of the people have been exiled over to Babylon, while some of the people remain in Jerusalem and Judea. Jeremiah is given this prophecy to both sets of people. In the first part of chapter 29, he is writing to the people in captivity and telling them that God has not abandoned them, and that they have a future and hope. This is a specific prophecy of future blessing in this world when they will be brought back to the land. In the second part of the chapter God warns the people who remain in Judah that if they resist and rebel against Babylon that they will be destroyed, so they should obey him and not rebel. They did rebel and they were destroyed. Likewise, the Jews in Babylon were returned to the land after a 70 year exile. So we see in this passage a prophecy of blessing and destruction, and we find out from later historical writings that these prophecies were fulfilled.
So one of the clear lessons that we can take from this passage is that God keeps His promises, both for blessing for those to whom He promised blessing, but also for cursing to those He promised cursing.

But are there any specific promises in this passaged for anyone besides the Jews that we should count on? Well, not exactly in this passage, but if we continue to read the context in the next couple of chapters, we see some promises for Israel that were not fulfilled in the immediate context of the people returning from Babylon 70 years later.

For instance, Jeremiah 31:33-39 says,
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds 
and write it on their hearts. 
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. 
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night, 
who stirs up the sea 
so that its waves roar —
the LORD Almighty is his name: 
“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
declares the LORD,
“will Israel ever cease
being a nation before me.” 
This is what the LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured 
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,”
declares the LORD.

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah.

In context, this passage seems to be a continuation of the blessing talked about being promised in chapter 29. Since the eternal types of blessing did not seem to be fulfilled, we can and should look further out for what God has done and will do. 

Did God give a new covenant where His people wrote His law on the hearts of His people? Yes, we can say that in fact, that has happened through the work of Christ. His people are no longer just the physical descendants of Abraham, but all those who Christ has saved. Can we then claim some of the goodness of the promise in chapter 29 has already been fulfilled by what God does for those who trust Jesus? Yes if you are a Jesus follower.

Furthermore, we can also say that the promises of an everlasting kingdom of peace are promises that we can look forward to. We have repeated promises like this in the New Testament where the saints are to look forward to the eternal kingdom.

But I want to warn you about a couple of bad uses of this passage. One use would be to think that God is promising any current believers earthly blessing right now. The promised earthly blessings from Jeremiah 29:11 are not even fulfilled for the current generation of Jews living at that time. Yes, God does promise to bless them in Babylon if they submit to the leaders there and try to bless the kingdom, but they current generation not only did not have hope to be brought back to Judah, but were told to expect a delay of 70 years for fulfillment, so none of the original readers of the passage should have expected the kingdom to get fulfilled right then. And those physical fulfillments were for a specific group of faithful Jews who would get to come back to their homeland. That's not us.

In fact, what are we promised as far as physical blessing in this life? Well, if we look at various proverbs and consequences of living according to God's laws, then in general, we should be have better outcomes. Faithful, trustworthy, loving people generally have more stable families, better jobs, and make better neighbors. As we let the Holy Spirit write God's laws on our hearts, we should becoming more and more like Christ, so in some respects our lives and the lives of those around us should improve. 

But, what happened to Jesus in this world? He got killed. What does He promise will happen to us if we follow Him? 
Matthew 5:10-12 says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Many times in the New Testament, followers of Jesus are warned that they will face trouble and persecution simpy for following Him. Not only will our lives not necessarily be blessed, but in this life, we should expect trouble. Our hope, our blessing is not to be found in the things of this world. We were made and are being remade for the next world. 

So if you see Jeremiah 29:11 hanging on someone's wall. I want you to remember that the true fulfillment of those promises even for the Jews was not in some partially restored kingdom 70 years later or some blessing that you are hoping for next week, next year, or next decade. Rather the true plans God has for His children are much bigger and much longer than that.

A couple nights ago, Traci, Abigail and I watched a movie called, 
"I still believe," which is a story about Christian singer Jeremy Camp and his first wife Melissa. It tells the story of how Jeremy and Melissa met in college dated and even got engaged rather young. Very soon after they got engaged Melissa found out she had cancer, and they began to pray earnestly that she would be healed. Miraculously she was healed of all of her cancer right before going in for major surgery. They got married 6 months later, but on their honeymoon, Melissa found out the cancer had returned. Again they prayed for healing but the cancer was spread too far that they did not even go in for treatment. Right before she passed away, she declared the pain was gone and that God had healed her. Then she died.

She was right. God did heal her. In the most complete way. In a way that matched God's plan for her life. A plan that He has for all of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. A plan for good and not evil. A plan for hope and an eternal future.

That's what I think of when I read Jeremiah 29:11, and I hope you will too.






Friday, December 1, 2023

The Condescending God


Most of the time when we use the word "condescending" about someone, we think of it as a bad thing, especially here in America where we think of everyone as equal. Someone who is condescending is looking down on others as if they are better and the others need their help or want their attention. But there is a good sense of the word where someone in a position of authority like a King or the President stops and pays attention to someone in a lower station of life like their kitchen staff. In fact, most of us like to hear how a President condescends to spend a few minutes asking a staff member about their family. It shows us that they care enough about the little guy to spend some of their time and energy getting to know them. 

The incarnation is the ultimate condescension. God the Son steps down from eternal glory and enters the world so that we could commune with God. We could not on our own get to God, so God comes into the world to lift us us up to Him. We marvel at what Jesus did in coming as a baby. He condescends all the way to our level not because He needs it, but because we did and we still need it. In fact, we see throughout His earthly ministry that He recognized that His followers needed help in understanding who He was and what He was doing.

As I have been reading through the Gospel of John recently,  I've noticed a number of passages like this,

John 11:41-42 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Here Jesus prays a truth out loud not because He had any doubt about His relationship with the Father, but because His disciples needed to hear it. Further, it wad not just those disciples at the time that needed to here it, but all of the disciples throughout time that Jesus was trying to help.

Jesus entered our world and lived a perfect human life for the purpose of saving us through His death and resurrection, and his condescension goes all the way to the level of how He speaks to us. Like a good grade school teacher who gets on the level of her students, Jesus gets on our level, literally and figuratively, so that we can understand what He has done for us. Jesus in His perfection and glory is so far above us that in our limited state we could never get to Him, but His love is so great that He comes down to our level. He lives and speaks in such a way that we can see and understand the very nature of God. 

This Christmas season as you think of the baby in the manger, praise God for His condescension toward us because without His coming down we could never be raised up.


Monday, November 27, 2023

Take Up Your Cross Daily


The Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, and that quote came to me the other day as I was considering the day-to-day actions in my own life. How often do I consider why I am doing this or that thing? The majority of our lives are filled with routine actions that we do automatically because that's the way I've always done it, that's the way others do it, or that's the way it's always been done. Now in one sense, this is good for us because it would be impossible to consider deeply every choice we have to make. We would end up being paralyzed by trying to figure out which cereal to choose for breakfast. But in another sense, if we never stop to consider what our lives are about and why we do things, we might very well end up doing things that are meaningless or even outright harmful, just because we want to or just because others are doing it.

In Jeremiah 7, God admonishes the Jewish people for engaging in very sinful behavior such as oppressing the poor and even sacrificing their own children in pagan religious practices. They were doing it while still worshipping at the temple in Jerusalem which was supposed to be Yahweh their God who had explicitly commanded them not to do these things. So how did they, over and over again, end up doing the opposite of what God had told them to do? They almost certainly did not intend to end up evil. Rather it started with ignoring God's Word and not spending time examining their lives in comparison to it. Day by day they would have just gone along with whatever happened and slowly but surely started to take on the practices of other nations around them. Furthermore, humans are naturally inclined to be selfish and not to care for others, so the less they examined their own lives, the more their lives would trend toward loving themselves and not loving others.

This is not just a problem for the ancient Jews, this is the problem of being human in a fallen world. This problem of moral decay is widely seen in our society today. Why do marriages and families fall apart? Why do kids not respect authority? Why are drug use and other crime rampant in many areas of our country? No one intends to end up as an addict, criminal, abuser, neglectful parent, or simply a depressed person who has trouble managing their own life. We take little steps day by day giving in to our desires and going along with the flow of society. If we never consider what our life or society is really about, we will simply start to waste away morally. 

Our character is formed or misformed in the little choices we make day by day, and if we intend to have good character we are going to have to stop and consider what actions are the right actions. Then we need to regularly remind ourselves of our commitment to do these right things. Jesus commanded His followers to "deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23) As a follower of Jesus, I need to daily make a commitment to Him and choose to sacrifice my own desires so that I can love Him and love others well. I need to regularly look to Jesus for His example, guidance, and strength to become the man I am supposed to be. Unfortunately, I also regularly fail to live up to that standard, but because He took up His cross, I can keep coming back day after day, and He keeps helping me. Therefore, we do not have to just accept the decay of the world around us. Rather, with Jesus' help every day, you and I can be renewed and be part of the renewing of the world.