A few people have asked me this recently.  I believe there are some non-biblical religious groups that teach there is something wrong with cremation, but I have never come across any teaching in the Bible that says this.  However,  I do believe that the universal but unwritten ethic of showing respect for a lifeless human body is a God-given ethic.  We should recognize the sacredness of mankind being made in God’s likeness and show due respect. 

Some may be concerned whether the biblical truth of resurrection is in any way affected by a choice to be cremated and the answer is no.  If you think about it, bodies that are buried still decompose anyway and there have been many occasions of burial site desecrations and involuntary cremations (i.e. martyrs for Christ burned for their faith), all of which mean nothing for the soul that has already departed the body. 

We learn that there is a separation of the soul from the physical body at the time of death and that to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8.)  Our body is left behind as a reminder that life is fragile and finite, but our soul moves on immediately to heaven or to hell.  There is no purgatory taught in Scripture, because that would mean that human effort has something to do with our salvation.  Our eternal life is utterly dependent on the work of redemption done entirely by Jesus Christ on our behalf.  The Bible does teach a resurrection of the body at the end of time when Christ will return.  However, those who belong to Him through faith in him will be resurrected with a brand new body (1 Corinthians 15:50-54).

On Sunday I didn’t have time to get into a point of the text in Luke 9 that I was excited about.  We talked about how Jesus took/received the 12 disciples for the purpose of training/Sabbath.  We talked about how Jesus took/received the crowd that forced themselves on him for the purpose of preaching the Gospel to them.  We talked about John 1:12 which says that we have the option to take/receive Jesus and thus become a part of his family.

We didn’t talk about Luke 9:16 where Jesus is now feeding the crowd after preaching to them and performing healings.  It was told to Jesus that he now was responsible for a crowd of around 10,000 men, women and children who had ventured away from their homes and had nothing to eat.  This crowd was probably 4 times larger than the nearest town and there was no such thing as fast food or grocery stores, so there was no natural solution to the hunger problem.  This also was Gentile territory and so hospitality would have been harder to come by. 

Jesus had his disciples organize the crowd and gather any food available.  All that was given to him was 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread (these would have been small size fish and mini loaves).  The important point is that Jesus received (lambanō ) this paltry food.  When Jesus receives our best, no matter how paltry and insufficient, he multiplies it and makes it enough.  I’m aware of many difficult issues that people in our church are constantly facing and I often find myself feeling utterly helpless to do anything to help people.  My words of advice, my counseling sessions, my prayers, my sermons all seem so utterly tiny compared to the problems I know people are dealing with.

However, this passage encourages me because I know that if I just keep preaching and leading (what I’m called to do) God can take that little bit and use it to do much more than I could imagine.  Can you relate to me?  Do you wish you could do more to help others in your family, your community, or your world?  Don’t become discouraged, just give the little bit you have and believe Jesus will multiply it!  

Many churches rely on a particular program that they implement to prove that they “do discipleship” in their church.  Discipleship programs and Bible Studies are helpful tools for discipleship, but they don’t define discipleship.  True discipleship starts and ends with the person who is the leader.  It also requires learners who are teachable.  When I see people at MVCC who don’t show any sign of spiritual growth over the past year(s), I know it’s either that they don’t have someone leading them or that they are simply un-teachable.

When there is a mature leader who is accessible and open who is meeting regularly with teachable learners, then 90% of the discipleship challenge is solved.  Figuring out a program or study or course to guide discussions is the easy part.  However, without leaders who know and live out the Bible and who have a vision for and commitment to moving others forward spiritually, true discipleship won’t happen no matter how many Bible studies a person attends.  Bible knowledge without accurate interpretation and correct application is actually dangerous! 

Disciple making starts with a spiritually mature person setting an example and being accessible to others who can watch them and ask them questions about real issues and the Bible.  Discipleship goes to the next level when the learners open up about their weaknesses and invite the leader to help them.  I watch our other Elders and their wives doing this all the time at MVCC and am always excited to see the fruit those relationships bear. 

Here are some of the ways that I personally try to “make disciples:”

• Preaching & teaching for Godly life change
• Meeting w/ men and church leaders for training and mentoring
• Guiding people through ministry projects and goals, coaching them through the inevitable difficulties of doing ministry and trying to lead people
• Counseling sessions & confronting sinful patterns
• Care and support through life’s big events (wedding, funerals, hospital stays)
• Baptisms, Lord’s Suppers, classes
• Sermon study blogs and equipping emails

Tammy also, in spite of her crazy schedule, prioritizes time to meet with our leadership women for training and to counsel with women and young moms at the church.  I would strongly encourage any of our ladies to seek her out for whatever time she can give you for discipleship.  As a believer for over 30 years, a Bible college degree, and 20+ years experience in local church leadership, she has a lot to offer (not to mention all the wisdom motherhood provides.)  The others I can readily recommend to you for spiritual mentoring are our Pastors & their wives:  Andrew/Larissa; Miguel/Dianna, and our Elders & wives: Erick & Weeseetsa; Kenny & Caryn.     

Maybe God is calling you to help disciple others at our church by leading one person or a group of people spiritually.  Discipleship is one of five core spiritual values of our church, so if the idea of helping others grow spiritually is exciting to you, Tammy and I are committed to help equip you to know how to start.  You don’t have to be a spiritual giant to begin.  If you trust Jesus alone for your salvation, have been baptized as a believer and are a teachable person, and if you are genuinely devoted to your family, God can use you to make disciples!

When someone in the Bible does something evil against someone else (like the Babylonians decimating Judah and Jerusalem), and it is serving the purposes of God, does God hold it against them (the Babylonians)?  Actually, this question was asked by a teenager to which I immediately said, “good question!”  

The Bible records many instances when God uses Godless unbelievers who are immoral to be used to get the attention of his people.  What we see in these instances is Godless people doing what is natural for Godless people to do and God choosing not to intervene or protect his people from their evil.  So, the short answer is “yes,” in spite of the fact that God uses their “evil” for His purposes (chastening leading to repentance), they (the Babylonians) still will be held accountable for their actions when they stand before God.

This is all part of the reality of the sovereignty of God.  Somehow, he takes the actions of all people, weather good or evil and is able to include all human decisions to accomplish his divine will/plan for humankind.  Nothing happens that surprises God and nothing can derail or even slightly impair God’s plans for the world.  Everything fits perfectly into his design…that’s amazing!

Some Context - In the beginning of Acts we see the church in Jerusalem growing and then in chapter eight the church suddenly loses most of its congregation.  Ultimately the persecution that scattered the church led to the Gospel being taken throughout the Roman Empire which was God’s plan, but I wonder what it felt like to be left behind in Jerusalem.  I have seen a scattering from Buckeye over the past couple of years including a number from MVCC, so I feel a tiny bit of the grief these early Christians must have felt.  Fortunately, our challenge is merely economic and we don’t face significant persecution.  Also, fortunately there are new people still moving into our area so the opportunity to do ministry and the need to share the Gospel are as viable as the day we started the church. 

My Answer - The answer to this question is in two parts. 

1. First of all, we need to be growing in our faith/spiritual maturity regardless of whether the numbers in the church are growing.  I see evidence that God is using the sermons, the home groups, Bible studies, counseling sessions, discipline situations, hospitality, leadership training, mission projects, and friendships within our church to produce spiritual growth in the people of MVCC.  Praise God! 
2. We do need to seek to grow numerically.  Now, let me qualify this.  Growth can happen through means other than by the hand of God.  For instance if we stopped teaching the unpopular parts of the Bible and started giving away $100 to every person who attends our church every Sunday, I guarantee that we would grow.  So, growth that comes at the expense of compromising our biblical values and our calling to share the Gospel would not be right. 

On the other hand, some people have mistakenly bought into the idea that church growth isn’t a spiritual matter and they are wrong.  Examining the early church in Acts we see that church growth is a sign of:

1. The working of the Holy Spirit in and through the church.
2. A church’s commitment to sharing the Gospel and burden for people.
3. A church’s faith in God as they take risks for Him and choose to invest their time and money to meet needs.
4. Unity within the church.
5. A church’s effectiveness at equipping leaders and giving away ministry responsibilities to people with specific giftedness

Unlike a place like Detroit, our local population isn’t shrinking, it’s just changing over.  We have a choice of whether we will continue to reach out to the new people moving here or be distracted by the disappointment of saying goodbye to friends and neighbors.  My guess is that the early Jerusalem church learned to continue reaching out in spite of the mass exodus of Christians and the persecution they were being threatened with.  Our challenge is keeping our focus outward on those who continue to move here realizing that some of these newcomers are non-believers who would welcome an invitation to church while the others are believers who are searching for a church to belong to.  As long as people still need to hear the good news of Christ’s love and sacrifice we will reach out.  As long as there are Christians in the west valley who don’t have a church home we will invite them.