Unchanging Values

     Last month I wrote on the necessity and the goodness of change. A friend pointed out to me that there are some things that don’t change. This is true. There are some things in our church that will not change, or at least should not change. The first has to do with the nature of the church. 

      Our Book of Order states the following: “The Church is the body of Christ. Christ gives to the Church all the gifts necessary to be his body. The Church strives to demonstrate these gifts in its life as a community in the world (1 Cor. 12:27–28): 

-The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life. 

-The Church is to be a community of hope, rejoicing in the sure and certain knowledge that, in Christ, God is making a new creation. This new creation is a new beginning for human life and for all things. The Church lives in the present on the strength of that promised new creation. 

-The Church is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down. 

-The Church is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord.

These underlying principles of the church as community do not change, though how we live out these principles may change and develop over time. My prayer is that we will always be a community of love where all people: young and old, rich and poor, men and women, Presbyterian and non-presbyterian, experience God’s love in our community lived out by each of us.

      So as the nature of the church does not change, neither does the authority of Scripture. Holy Scripture does not change, nor its authority in the lives of those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord. Our Westminster Confession of Faith states the following regarding Scripture: “The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.” I will seek to preach, teach, and exercise my pastoral gifts according to Holy Scripture as guided by the Holy Spirit. That will never change. I encourage all of us to seek to be faithful to Scripture in how we live and how we interact one with another inside and outside the walls of the church.  The Bible must be the authority under which we seek to be God’s people here in our community. To that end, I hope you will join with me as we seek to grow in our knowledge of God’s Word. We have a Women’s Bible Study that meets on Wednesday nights at 7:00 (except for the 4^th Wednesday). I am also offering a 4-week Bible Study on Philippians on Tuesday nights starting on April 30 at 6:30. We will start at my house (205 Walnut St.) and if we get too big we will move to the church. I also encourage you to take advantage of a great resource for Bible Study on line with Right Now Media. Here is the website address: https://app.rightnowmedia.org/join/fpbattlecreek. 

     While there are some necessary changes going on with the church, the essentials of who we are as the “body of Christ” and a community of faith, hope, love, and witness with Holy Scripture as our standard will not change. Not on my watch. 

                                                               Blessings,

                                                             Pastor Jim