“I feel like I’ll never be good enough.”

I heard that very honest comment after Sunday’s teaching, and have been thinking about it all week. Where, one might ask, is the good news in knowing that the righteousness God requires is something we can never attain? That my best efforts will never be good enough? Where is the grace in that??? These are good questions, and Matthew 5 is a hard teaching. We are tempted, like Jesus’ original hearers, to ask, “How will I ever measure up if even the religious superstars don’t?” (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out the podcast)

Short answer: we don’t measure up, which is why grace is really good news.

Longer answer: for me there are at least four reasons why the news is so good.

One – For me, the good news begins with the hardness of the teaching – that the obedience God requires is more than outward, surface-level conformity. It’s hard news, but exceptionally good, that God is not interested in me simply looking good and going through the motions while the whole time my heart is corrupt. I’ve been outwardly good, and it’s lame. There is nothing good about pretending to be something you really aren’t and really don’t want to be. I am exceedingly glad that God wants something better than that for his children. I need a deeper goodness in my life, and am grateful God wants it for me too.

Two – The really great news is that Jesus has offered us the only righteousness that is righteous enough. Only he can live up to a standard of pure, unadulterated goodness. And in his love for us, Jesus dies for us. Our sins are attributed to him, and his perfect righteousness is attributed to us. It is an amazing, undeserved exchange. Our sins are washed away and we are now, in fact, righteous.

Three – The good news gets better! Not only is Jesus’ righteousness credited to our account, but God is in the process of making us like Jesus. Not only are we declared righteous because of Jesus, but God has made us new creations, with new hearts. And as we lean into Jesus, we find that our desires, thoughts, values, etc., change, and our lives line up increasingly with the new heart and less with the old. We become what we now are.

Four – Finally, and we must keep this in mind, God’s love and acceptance of you and I is not conditioned on how well we perform. God’s love is wholly without strings, and was there for us before we were able to do anything good or bad. And his acceptance of us is based wholly on the work of Jesus, not on our win/loss record. As Paul put it, “It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

Love doing life with you. Lord bless you friends -

Tim
Mt 6:33

So this Thursday we begin this year’s Theology Lounge. If you haven’t been part of this before, here’s how it works:

Every summer our small groups take a break and instead we do one large-ish group that is focused on more in depth biblical teaching. It’s our own “seminary lite,” and is a great opportunity to learn and interact at a pretty significant level (file this under “loving God with all your mind”). Classes are a good blend of lecture and interaction.

This summer’s topic is Theology 101: Finding Our Place in God's Story. Dave Beck will be teaching the class (which works out as his doctorate is in systematic theology) Thursdays from 7-9pm beginning this Thursday July 8th. See attached for more details, and to join email Dave at tdbeck@verizon.net.

In other news, next week we begin a teaching series on living a Jesus-like life. As believers in Christ, our ultimate goal is to apprentice ourselves to Jesus, and in the process become like him. For the rest of summer we’ll be exploring what that means and how we can live it well.

And for those who are around tonight, we’ll be looking at some of the biblical themes illustrated in the spirituality of LOST. Whether or not you are a fan of the show, I think you’ll appreciate learning through it.

Lord bless you friends!

Tim
Mt 6:33

First off: let me give a big thank you to everyone for your attentiveness and your response to the Stop the Traffik presentation on the 13th (you can hear it on our podcast if you missed it). We had 25-ish people sign up to be part of this team and/or check out the informational meeting next month. One of my favorite things about Life Cov is that you aren’t pew potatoes – this church is always eager to have God invite them to be part of his work in the world! Thank you for that. You understand that church is not a place we go, it’s who we are.

The following upcoming items are also some very good stuff - get them on your radar screen:

• The taco lady – This Sunday the 27th we will be having dinner together immediately after worship, and yes, it will be catered by our infamous friend the taco lady. Great night to bring friends. Want to bring a dessert to share? Email Deanne at deannefunk@gmail.com.

• July 4th and LOST – July 4th falls on a Sunday this year, and we will indeed be having our worship gathering for all who are around that day (there’s a couple hours for grilling between church and fireworks at 9pm). We will be in between teaching series, and the teaching that night will be on what we can learn from the spirituality of LOST. (Whether you were a diehard fan like myself or were not into the show at all, it will make sense).

• Theology Lounge – Every summer we give our small group leaders a break and do one large-small group that is focused on in depth biblical teaching and stretching us to better love God with our minds (think of it as “seminary lite”). This summer’s topic: Theology 101: Finding Our Place in God's Story. Dave Beck will be putting his theologizing résumé to work for us and leading this class. Thursdays from 7-9pm beginning July 8th.

• Beach – The evening of July 31 we will be doing an event at the beach involving food, music, bonfires, hanging out – all spiritual things, I might add . . . more info to come.

It’s good to do life together. Lord bless you my friends, and we’ll see you this weekend -

Tim
Mt 6:33

This is hard to read:

• After drug dealing, human trafficking is the largest illegal industry in the world.
• There are an estimated 27 million people being held in slavery in the world today – more than at any time in history.
• Approximately 80% of these are women and girls, and 50% are minors. Most are forced into the sex trade.
• Human trafficking is happening in the South Bay.

This Sunday we will have a guest speaker from Oasis/Stop the Traffik, an organization that works to free and restore victims of trafficking. As a church we are prayerfully exploring what it would look like for us (in partnership with several other churches) to make the South Bay a traffic-free community.

Will you be praying for this? What a reminder that what we do matters – that nothing could be more important than knowing Jesus and being part of what he is doing in the world.

Lord use us as agents of healing, ministers of justice and righteousness, use us to make a difference, and to make the South Bay look more like your kingdom . . .

Lord bless you my friends, and see you on Sunday -

Tim
Mt 6:33

These days as I’m praying for Life, I find myself praying through the shorthand vision/values statement we’ve been using: Up, In, Out, Together. (You might try it – they make good categories for praying for our church.)

More thoughts on the other values later, but as the month comes to an end I want to throw out a thought on the “together” value.

We believe that when God calls us to salvation that he also calls us to his mission in the world, and that authentic, loving community is the context for that mission.

This summer we are going to Mozambique. Six of us will be on the plane, but it’s not hyperbole to say that WE are going - this is a together thing. God has called us to serve this under-served nation, and we have had the privilege for over four years of being part of God’s work there, and we plan to invest at least 20 years of our lives there. Think about that: in four years we’ve been able to participate with God and others to see a couple thousand desperately poor families gain a means to support themselves, the start up of a seminary for church planters, and the founding of an orphanage. Seriously, what will Mozambique look like after another sixteen years of this?

Even Life’s kids are getting in on the action, as each month they are hearing the story of a different orphan we support there, are praying for them, and are raising money to buy chickens and ducks for the orphanage. (At bed time the other night I asked Abby if she wanted to pray for anything in particular, and she said, “I want to pray for Veronica, our orphan friend in Africa.” Awesome.)

Lifers have always excelled at being generous in their giving, and I want to ask you to consider giving specifically to this trip. Those going are fund raising like crazy, and have committed to paying nearly half the trip from their own pockets (on top of their regular giving). During the month of May we’ve been asking the same of everyone at Life: in addition to your normal giving, would you prayerfully consider giving to this trip?

Thank you friends for being the church, not just talking about church. Truly, it’s a joy and a privilege to do life with you -

Tim
Mt 6:33

Big thanks to all of you who have or are planning to give toward our Mozambique team this summer. As you know, the team is doing a big yard sale this Saturday morning, and I want to invite you to donate your previously enjoyed stuff (contact Dallas at dmtaft@gmail.com) and/or if you are a yard saler, to come out and enjoy other people’s previously enjoyed stuff. The big event will take place in the Morey driveway, 23208 Walnut St in Torrance.

Lord bless you guys, and we’ll look forward to being with you this weekend -

Tim
Mt 6:33

The mystery of the incarnation – of God the Son taking on human flesh – is not so much how God did it, but why.

The apostle John:
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”
(John 1:14 MSG)

The apostle Paul:
“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:5-11)

“The Son of God became man that men might become sons of God.”
St. Athanasius (4th c.)

Lord bless you guys, and we’ll look forward to being with you this weekend -

Tim
Mt 6:33

So how, you might ask, does a church end up getting an associate pastor at no cost? There’s a wonderful God story here . . .

A few years ago I met Dave Beck, who was serving as a staff pastor with our friends at King’s Harbor Church. He and I share a lot of the same ideas about ministry and became friends (read here: we both are obsessive about community, mission, spiritual formation and grace. Also, it didn’t hurt that both of us are overeducated theology nerds). Meanwhile, God was developing a longing in Dave’s heart to move toward a lead pastor role. Also meanwhile, I was talking about how great the Covenant denomination is, and Dave was realizing that the Cov might be the spiritual/theological home God was calling him to. (I do this a lot - the Cov should give me a finder’s fee. No seriously, they should.)

At the same time my friend Chris Canon at King’s had a wildly generous idea: what if we were to loan Dave out to Life Covenant? Life would be blessed and strengthened by having Dave on staff, and we could give him some great experience in a different type of congregation and do what we could to help him get placed in a Covenant church.

What a gift! I was telling Chris I’ve been given a loaner car, loaner bicycle, but never a loaner pastor. Good times . . .

In other news: Mozambique giving is underway! As you heard on Sunday night, one of the unique things about Life’s approach to missions is that those on the trip are contributing $2500 each from their own pockets (above their regular giving), before any other money is raised. Now that’s commitment! Will you pray about similarly sacrificing and going above your regular giving to see this happen? God has blessed us with a disproportionate impact overseas, and it’s one we want to continue. Thanks friends for making it happen, and for truly being the church.

Love you guys, and love doing life with you -

Tim
Mt 6:33

Thanks to Dave and Jeremy for tracking down and fixing our technical difficulties!!!!

Everything is larger than life in Texas, so they say. I often feel that way about Life too – it seems there is rarely a dull moment. And isn’t this the way it should be? When you read the Scriptures and see all that God desires for this world, and that he has chosen to do these things through his people, it stands to reason that if we are living in faith and seeking God that the Christian life should be an adventure! And as we sometimes say (and I fully believe), if your life in Christ is not an adventure, you’re doing it wrong….

So here is the latest:

Life is going to Mozambique this summer! For five years now Life has invested herself in this country through micro-business-loans to the poorest of the poor, helping Brazilian missionaries launch a seminary for Mozambican church planters, and most recently, partnering with Mozambicans in the start up of a much-needed orphanage.

But our desire is not just to have an anonymous ministry from a distance, but to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in Africa as friends and partners. We want our relationship with them to be more than writing a check – we want to know them and be known by them.

So this summer we are blessed to send (for a second time) a team to represent Life Cov on the ground and in the action in Mozambique. Six of our own are making a substantial personal investment of money and time for the privilege of going there in person, and we have the privilege of sending them.

The cost of such a trip is significant, and each team member has committed to funding nearly half the trip out of their own personal finances (this is in addition to their regular giving). I really applaud them for this, and I’m asking those who call Life their home to make a similar sacrifice. Will you prayerfully consider giving above and beyond your normal giving to support this trip?

This Sunday we will be hearing from the team about the ministry they will be doing on our behalf, and we will have an opportunity to give to this ministry as well. If you haven’t done so already, please take some time in prayer and ask God what he would have you give.

As the Scriptures say, it truly is a grace to be able to give to what God is doing.

And this is to say nothing of Sharefest this weekend (8:30am to 5pm at the San Pedro Math and Science Center), and of Life getting the gift of a new staff member at no cost to us! An amazing story which I’m eager to tell, but this post is getting long . . .

Lord bless you friends – it’s a joy doing life with you!

Tim
Mt 6:33