One Way

This article was originally written for the Oakland Independent July 12, 2017.

I like to explore and one of the ways that I do that is by finding different ways to drive from here to there. I often drive back roads when coming home from some meeting in Wayne, Norfolk, Omaha, or Fremont. Eventually with the help of Google maps and my compass, I do make it home, but it often involves lots of twists and turn and sometimes even backtracking. One thing is clear though, I have to keep on roads that lead in the direction Oakland. If I am leaving Norfolk, I cannot start heading west and keep heading west and ever expect to get home. When looking at a map there may be several ways to get from here to there, but anyone who has ridden with a directionally challenged driver knows you cannot just go where ever you want and expect to get to your destination.

Jesus makes the extraordinary claim about spiritual direction, that he is "the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him" (John 14:6). He is claiming that there is only one way to get to God and that is through himself. This exclusive claim sounds harsh in the light of our modern and tolerant society, but I am convinced that Jesus is who he claimed to be and that his work provides the only way to get to God. Like the belief in a Trinitarian God who created everything else, the belief in the uniqueness of Jesus set Christians apart from those who don't believe in him.

Now when I say that Christians believe these things, I don't mean that we simply have a faith that they are true in spite of the facts or even though we don't have evidence. This is not the type of faith that is described in the Bible. We believe these things because we believe the best evidence points us in this direction.

I frequently tell our church that Jesus was a real man, who really lived, really died, and really rose again. The Bible is not just a book of fairy tales like a Disney movie, but rather a record of real historical events. Jesus is the best man who ever lived and in fact the best man who is still living! Furthermore, besides being just a man, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is also God. So we, Christians believe that Jesus is both fully God and fully man.

He came and lived a perfect life, a life unlike any other before or since, and he came to live as a man for the expressed purpose of reconciling the relationship between God and man. All worldviews recognize the imperfections in the world, and the solution in most of them, religious and secular, is to somehow work yourself toward heaven and perfection. Jesus is unique in that he represents God coming to us and bridging the gap because we can never earn our way to heaven. What he offers is a free gift of salvation and life with him forever. His resurrection is also unique in history and proves that we can trust what he says about salvation.

Who Jesus is and what he has done, makes him the one way to get to God. Maybe though you think I am wrong and you do not believe any of these "wild" claims about Jesus that traditional Christians believe. Well, I cannot make you believe anything, but I would love to have a dialogue about it. Call me, write me, or write the paper. Start a conversation and tell me why you believe what you believe, and I will show you why I believe in Jesus. Let's talk and learn about each other.

Who is God?

This article was written for the Oakland Independent July 5, 2017 addition.

Last week I wrote that we should be fine with expressing our unique ideas and listening to the ideas of other people. This week and next I wanted to share some of the ideas that make traditional Christianity unique compared to other worldviews. What I mean by traditional or "orthodox" Christians are those who hold to foundational beliefs that have historically set us apart from other religions and other sects who claim to be Christian. The core Christians beliefs would be held by Protestants like Evangelical Free, Baptists, Covenant, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and most Pentecostal churches like the Assembly of God. Furthermore, older churches like the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, and Episcopalians / Anglicans would also official hold these ideas. For all our divisions, Christian churches still hold many core beliefs in common.

The first area of agreement is in answer to the question, "Who is God?"

We believe in one God who is creator of all other things (Genesis 1, Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 45:5,6). Now to many of us in the Midwest, who only know a one God religion, this might seem obvious, but our society is becoming more pluralistic. We live next to and around many people who perhaps believe in multiple gods or lesser gods associated with the natural world. Furthermore, many people are secular and do not believe in anything outside of the physical world, whether it be one God or other spiritual forces.

Christianity is even distinct from the other two "one God" religions, Judaism and Islam, because we believe in one God, who eternally exists in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons. This concept called "the Trinity" is unique to Christianity and is very often misunderstood by those inside and outside the church. One common misunderstanding claims that we believe in three gods, when in fact we believe that members of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, are eternally unified because they share the very nature or being of God. We claim then that God is one in essence and purpose, but still exists as three persons.  

Another misconception of the Trinity, denies that God is really three persons. Some people claim that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are simply different manifestations of the same person, like the same water existing as ice, liquid or steam. Others deny the divine nature of Jesus and / or the Holy Spirit. For us, if someone denies the Trinity in one of these ways, they do not believe in the same God and that separates you from true Christianity.

The plainest teaching of the Bible makes the truth of the Trinity clear, and the early church leaders wrestled against many of the same misunderstandings we still see today. They declared non-Trinitarian ideas about God to be wrong, and therefore those who believed them were not true Christians. In fact, these truths about God's nature are really just a restatement of the early Christian creeds, which were written to respond to some of the early misconceptions of God (called heresies).

To restate, Christians believe in one Trinitarian God who is apart from and created everything else, and those who believe something else about God are not real Christians because they believe in a different God. Next week, I will present the idea that Christians believe there is only one way to God, namely through the person and work of Jesus. If you disagree with me, I invite you to write a letter to the editor to start, not an argument, but a conversation. As a Christian, I would love to hear what you believe about reality and have a continued discussion about these important ideas.

Mike Sechler Sermon Archive 2017

Here are the links to the my sermon audios for the last year. Some of them you can play on the website while some of them will have to download to hear.

I am preaching through Luke this year, so most of my sermons are directly from that series. I may have few holiday sermons interspersed. Also sometimes the recordings don't work and so I may miss a Sunday or two. Finally, several other leaders also preach for me and if you are interested in hearing their sermons, go to this link for all the sermons from Oakland EFC.

1/8/17 “Who Should You Love?” (Luke 10:25-37)

1/15/17 "One Thing is Necessary” (Luke 10:38-42)

1/22/17 “Teach Us to Pray” (Luke 11:1-13)

1/29/17 “The Strongest Man” (Luke 11:14-26)

2/5/17 “Signs of a Dark Heart” (Luke 11:27-54)

2/12/17 Live Fearlessly! (Luke 12:1-12)

2/19/17 Biblical Investment Strategies (Luke 12:13-34)

3/5/17 Follow Jesus Now (Luke 12:49-59)

3/12/17 Turn Around and Be Fruity (Luke 13:1-9)

3/19/17 The Law of Love (Luke 13:1-17; 14:1-6)

3/26/17 Kingdom Big and Narrow (Luke 13:18-28)

4/2/17 Jesus Loves His People (Luke 13:31-35)

4/9/17 Focus on the Finish (Luke 9:51 and 19:28-40) Audio starts at about 17 Minutes.

4/16/17 Do You Recognize Jesus? (Easter Sunday, various passages)

4/30/17 Are You Coming to the Party? (Luke 14:7-24)

5/7/17 What is the Cost of Following Jesus? Luke 14:25-35

5/14/17 Jesus Loves the Lost (Luke 15)

6/4/17 Investing in Heaven 

6/11/17 Should You Follow the King or the Law? Luke 16:14-17

17-06-25 What does the Bible say about Divorce and Remarriage

17-07-02 Live Your life as if it has Eternal Consequences because it does. 

17-07-09 Sin Hurts, so seek forgiveness (Luke 17:1-4)

17-07-23 Where and When is the Kingdom of God? (Luke 17:20-37)

17-08-06 The Humble Can Come to Jesus (Luke 18:9-30)

17-08-13 The Faith of a Blind Man (Luke 18:31-43)

17-08-20 Why Did Jesus Come? (Luke 19:1-10)

17-08-27 Preparing for the Return of the King (Luke 19:11-27)

17-09-03 Do You Want Jesus to Clean You? (Luke 19:41-48)

17-09-10 Don’t Get Crushed (Luke 20:1-19)

17-09-17 Don’t Argue with Jesus (Luke 20:20-44)

17-09-24 Show Religion vs. True Religion (Luke 20:45-21:4)

17-10-01 Preparing for Jesus’ Coming (Luke 21:5-38)

You are Wrong!

This was originally written for the Oakland Independent on June 28, 2017.

I think you're wrong. I don't know what everyone who reads this article believes but I am sure that on some issues we disagree and I think you're wrong. If I did not think I was right, I would stop believing it.

Furthermore, we cannot both be right when we believe things that contradict one another. We all know this in the physical world. If you step in front of a moving bus, one of you is going to win, you or the bus! Likewise, in areas of politics and religion, everyone cannot be right because we are often believe contradictory things. For instance, believing that the government should fund a single payer healthcare system cannot be reconciled with the idea that everyone should pay for their own healthcare individually. Likewise, you cannot logically believe both that Jesus was just a good human teacher and also believe that he is the Son of God and one of the three persons in the Trinity.

In polite society we sometimes simply refuse to talk about these issues or gloss over real differences to keep the peace. Often I think we do this because we are not sure about what we believe and why we believe it, so talking about it makes us uncomfortable.

I want to challenge you to be willing think and talk about what you believe about what might be called spiritual questions, such as: Does God exist? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Is any religion true and if so why? The Apostle Peter tells Christians that we need to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have within us (1 Peter 3:15), so we should be thinking about these questions anyway.

When we begin to study and talk about these ideas, we should be prepared to be challenged by those who disagree. If what you believe is true then it should hold up to the challenges, but you will have to study more to discover why it is true. You may find that in some things you were wrong, while in other areas your beliefs are strengthened.

I am currently in long conversations with two religious people who are not traditional Christians and one secular person. I have not lost my faith in Jesus, but I have been challenged to study and understand it more. I am more convinced of the truth of Christianity, but I have learned that I was often wrong about what they believed. In the process my life has been enriched getting to know them, and I have had the opportunity to share what I believe is true.

Christians can tolerate people who believe different things, because no matter what they believe God created them in His image, so they are valuable. We can love them even we think their ideas are wrong. In fact, as Christians we are commanded to go into the world to share about Jesus. In practice this will mean both showing people that we love in concrete physical ways, and showing them we love them by telling them about Jesus, even if they do not believe us.

As ambassadors for Jesus we can be both humble and knowledgeable, loving and clear. In this way, we can seek to tell people what we think is the truth while still respecting them enough to listen to them tell us we are wrong.

Of course, maybe you think I am wrong about my approach. You should write a letter to the editor and tell me why so I can hear about it!

Be a blessing

This was first written for the Oakland Independent June 21, 2017. 

When writing an article for local paper, one of my goals is to help Christians understand how we should interact with our local community.

The second great commandment, "love your neighbor as yourself", helps us understand what our attitude should be regarding those in the community. If we can love our neighbors as ourselves we will end up being a blessing to all of those around us, and in the process make our community a better place to live.

Here are some biblical suggestions about how to live out the second great commandment:

First, be a hospitable neighbor. In 1 Timothy 3, we see that one of the characteristics of the Christian leader is hospitality. This should not just be true of leaders, but we should all aspire to be hospitable. A hospitable person is someone who is welcoming and generous to your neighbors. In practice this might mean having a neighbor over for a cookout, letting them borrow your mower when theirs breaks, or bringing them a meal when someone in their household is sick. On a more basic level it might mean just saying hi when you see them going out in the morning. Jesus was a hospitable person who cared enough about the people around him to notice them and help them when he could.

A second way that we can love our neighbors is by living a righteous life around them. In our business dealings we should be known to be fair and honest. We should not gossip, lie about, or speak harmfully about anyone else in the community. We should be careful about what commitments we make and then be careful about keeping the commitments we do make. A righteous person becomes a safe person who can be trusted, and who is seen as an asset to the community.

Finally, the Bible tells us in many places that we are to look after those who cannot help themselves, such as widows, orphans, and foreigners. Often people who are needy are nearly invisible in our society, such as an older shut-in or single mom struggling to provide for her children. To help these people we have to ask God to open our eyes to needs that we would otherwise not see, and then give us the courage to overcome the social barriers and go to them and offer help, because many times they will not have the courage to ask for our help.

Learning to love our neighbors well is one of the ways we learn to be more like Jesus. In this way, we will be a blessing to those close to us and Christians, but is exactly what we should do as we follow Jesus.

Who is a leader?

Last month, I wrote on the reason to become a church member, and now I want to encourage you to see yourself as a Christian leader in the church and in the community.

All Christians begin and continue as followers of Jesus (Matt. 4:18). This is the definition of what it means to be a Christian, namely someone who follows Christ, but in following Christ, we are all also called to be on the mission of making more Christ followers (Matt 28:19-20). This is not just my job as the pastor, but rather is the responsibility of everyone who decides to follow Jesus. Therefore, we are all in positions where we are or should be leaders of one type or another, and this article will focus on the various ways in which we, as Christians, can be leaders.

First, all of us should see ourselves as leaders to those non-Christians around us. Through our love and our witness about Jesus, we should be encouraging friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family to also follow Jesus. Our attitude should be, come follow Jesus with me, and our lives should reflect this as well.

Second, almost all of us have or will and can fill roles where we are responsible for leading others. Here are some leadership examples from everyday life: young ladies leading VBS singing; life guards at the pool; parents; bigger siblings; starters and upper classmen on a sports team; managers / bosses / owners in a business; teachers at school or church; older kids in a neighborhood; older / more mature friends in a group. There are many and varied opportunities for us to be in positions of leadership in life and they come to us almost everyday. 

Third, every Christian is given gifts (Ephesians 4:7-16) to be used for building up the body. Some of those gifts are defined as leadership gifts, but all the gifts are meant to serve one another. As we become proficient in using our gifts, we help others use their gifts and we can also teach those with similar gifts to become more effective in using their gifts. For instance, the gift of helps or service (Romans 12:7), may not seem like a leadership gift, but it is essential for those people who need help and to help free up other leaders to do that which they are called to do as is shown in Acts 6:1-7. 

Fourth, in relationship to the church we have some specific leadership roles defined by scripture and some that are defined by the structure and needs of our congregation. Next month, I will spend time talking about those roles and who can and should fill them. If everyone begins to see themselves as leaders we will have many more people ready and willing to fill specific positions for the church when they become available.

Here are some ideas to help you prepare yourself for leadership. First, every Christian needs to be sold out and submitted to their leader, Christ. Spend time daily in His Word and in prayer. If you don’t know how to start, contact me and I will help get you a plan for reading and studying and some simple ways to begin to pray. Next, begin serving somewhere. Go where you see a need, go where you hear about a need in the church, and go where God puts a need in front of you. In the process you will begin to see where you are effective and learn what gifts God has given you. Along the way, examine your heart and actions and pray that you will be continually transformed into the image of Christ. If you see yourself as a leader then you will understand the need to have the character of a Christian leader. It is not just the Pastor and elders that the world is seeing as an example of what a Christian should be. While never perfected in this life, every Christian should be changing for the better as the Holy Spirit works in and through us. 

As we grow in Christ, we will together help lead many others closer to Him, both those in the church and those who do not yet know Him. 

Why should you be a church member?

This is an article that I wrote for the May 2017 newletter for our church Oakland Evangelical Free Church to encourage attenders to place their official membership.

First, membership in the local church is the assumed natural position of all believers in Jesus in the New Testament church. Paul tells us that when we believe in Jesus we are baptized by the Spirit into His body, meaning the church in the universal sense of the collection of all Christians through time, but in reality it also meant you became part of the local gathering of Christians. A lone ranger Christian is apart from a local church is simply not seen or envisioned in the New Testament, and as the following reasons will make clear, Christians are not made to grow and mature in their relationship with the Lord without a local church.

Second then, Christians need a commitment to and from a local church for church discipline and personal accountability to function properly. Matthew 18:15-20 and 1 Corinthians 5 lay out some principles for how we can challenge sin in the lives of other Christians and how we should expect the local church to challenge sin in our lives. As a member of a local church we should love and trust one another enough to allow ourselves to be challenged and to be challenged in areas where we are sinning or where we see sin in the lives of other people. Sin hurts and having loving people who can challenge and walk with us through the process of repentance and restoration is a key component in becoming more like Christ.

Third, God gives people the gift of leadership, but for godly leadership to operate, we need to submit to it and if we are gifted in leadership we need to make ourselves available to use our gifts. Christ is the head of the church (Col. 1:18), but he established under shepherds to whom we are supposed to submit (Hebrews 13:17, 1 These. 5:12-13, 1 Tim. 5:17). One of the ways we submit to Jesus then is to submit to the leadership he has established. Leaders are giving the role to shepherd and guard the flock (Acts 20:28-29), but to do this they have to know who the flock is, and that requires that they have committed to a defined group of people and that those people have committed to that body as well. 

The Holy Spirit gives certain people leadership gifts (1 Tim. 3:1, Ephesians 4:11-12), and to use those gifts fully you have to be in a position of trust in the lives of others. If you are given leadership gifts, then your gifts and character need to be affirmed by the body so that they can trust that you are indeed gifted and submitted to Christ yourself. Even if you do not have leadership gifts or calling, you are still called to help affirm, support leaders and to hold them accountable.

The fourth reason you need to be a member is for your own personal growth and for the growth of the church. The three major passages on spiritual gifts (Ephesians 4:13-16, Romans 12:3-8, 1 Cor. 12:12-29) all speak about using our gifts in the context of the church and for the good of the church. When we use minister together we learn to lead, submit, create, and help others while getting the benefits of their gifts in our lives. Together we love each other better and also multiply our efforts to reach out to the world.

Finally, Jesus tells His disciples that their love for one another is a way of showing the world what He is like (John 13:35). In a local body of believers we learn to live sacrificial and loving lives. The church is first and for most a family and not just a social organization. In fact, Paul reminds us that if we say we love Jesus then we should love those in the church. The fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 are expressed primarily with people who are close to you, and in the church we commit to caring for other imperfect people and in the process we learn to love like Jesus loves us. 

So come and join us and help us show the world what Jesus' love really looks like.