Beginning Hebrews

In recent weeks, I have begun a new series of talks in which I am doing something that I am not used to doing.  Instead of finding a topic, and searching for scripture about that topic, I chose a book, and we are working our way through it, a chapter, section, verse at a time.

I got the idea from our pastor.  He does an incredible job of this.  Since I have been on staff at SCC, he has been working through 2 Corinthians, giving due diligence to the Word and not ignoring the minutest of details.  This is something I wish to do better.  So, to start, I decided to simply do it.

Personally, it has been rather incredible at how the word of God is clear and concise in its message.  Especially looking at Hebrews.  The author takes foundations of the Jewish faith, and displays how Christ is greater than those things.   First, Angels.  Second, Moses, Third, the High Priest.  Methodically displaying the superiority of our Savior above these things.  I always knew these things about Christ, but never read about them so plainly in Scripture.  It’s awesome.

But, I have been stuck on how Jesus is leading us (believers) like Moses lead the Israelites.  Out of captivity, in our case to Sin, and into God’s Rest, for the Israelite the Promised Land.  It made me think of how the Israelites have never once fully possessed all that God had promised them.  How maybe they missed the greater point.  I firmly believe that God is leading us to a much greater place than the Promised Land.  That God is leading us to a final Sabbath Day of rest.  When the great work that He is doing is finished, we will know what it means to rest.  To be fulfilled.  To know longer be pursuing anything.  Just being, in our God.

Hebrews, so far, has been full of this.  How Jesus was fully God and fully Man, and how he has made all believers “children of God” and therefore heirs to this promise of arriving at “rest”.  And how, like Moses, he is leading the journey to the “Promised Land”, that is, ushering in the Kingdom of God.

I am so looking forward to delving into more of Hebrews, and discovering more about Jesus Christ, who he is, and what he is up to!

 

New Kids On The Block and the Old Ladies Who Like Them…

Ok, so we all know my distaste in general for the TODAY show on NBC.  It’s 4 hours worth of garbage that consumes the airwaves from 8 to 12.  Even worse, is they gave KathyLee Gifford a job.  With Hoda Kotb (pronounced – Kot-Bee, no I’m not joking), Kathy Lee gets to make money and make awkward crude statements for an hour.  It’s not entertaining, its shocking.  And my wife, well she doesn’t for for the Kathy Lee and Hoda hour, but the three hours prior, she is all about.  So, this morning, at her sister’s house, I awoke to the Train Wreck coated in feces that is the TODAY show.

But, this day was different.  Because not only did I have to listen to Matt Lauer (who is an idiot) and Meredith Viera, I got to hear the silky pop tunes of the once iconic New Kids On The Block. Da Da Da Dirty Dancin’.  It’s Crazy, I’m like Swayze. No kidding, actual words from the song.

Now, they are terrible.  I have made it known that I am not in to mainstream pop music.  But, as a Youth Pastor, I take pride in knowing whats going on.  But, these “New” Kids, have nothing to do with the generation that I work with. This was evident by the near forty year olds that packed the outdoor area of the TODAY show.  Mouthing all the new songs as well as sceaming all the old ones.  It was the most awesomely futile thing I have ever seen.  Grown men acting like boys to stay “hip”, “young”, “successful” yet only being able to draw these ladies who nearly twenty years ago, held “I Love Joey”  posters.  These “New Kids” are now past 40, for sure.  I think the youngest is prolly 36.  It was hilarious.

So, I just wanted to say thank you to the TODAY show, for showing me what it looks like to not let go.  Its cool for a little while, but eventually, the comb-over has got to go.

P.S.  Donnie Wahlberg, I had mad respect for you because of Band of Brothers.  But, the fact that you are wearing a hat to cover the male patterned baldness we all struggle with due to age, hurts your street cred.  And your Man Cred.  Shame.

 

It has been far too long…

To the lone person who checks my blog on a regular basis, I am sorry.  To those of you that are seeing this for the first time, I say welcome.  To everyone else.  Um… hi.

So, last time I got on here I told you about this new amazing job that I was getting.  Well, I have that job, and it is awesome.

I basically, over the last three months, have been reacquainting myself with the life of ministry.  The fantastic thing, is that its all I do.  And, the even more fantastic thing, is that I have been blessed with the best youth leaders in all of North America.  They seriously are just real “go-getters”.  I say, “Do this” and they do.  I ask for ideas, I get seven.  If you don’t believe me.  Check this.

Ambassador Youth Ministries

First off, three months ago, we didn’t even have a legitimate webpage on the CHURCH website.  Now, we have our own place we call home.  I have been blessed ridiculously.  Which brings me to my point.

This time last year, I had been brooding, for a month, over the possibility of working in Youth Ministry.  I had a perfectly decent job, a 6-month old, a stay-at-home wife, and a load of discontent with my place in life.  My family didn’t have enough money to pay our bills.  We lived on our savings for a year.  I basically said to God,  “I will wait on You. I know you are good, and I know that this is the plan you have for me.”  So, I did.  I waited, almost a full year, on God to come through.  It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  I was putting everything in my life on the line. If God didn’t come through, it was all going to be over for us.  I don’t know what would have happened.  But it also doesn’t matter.  Because God, works all things for the good of those who love him, AND HAVE BEEN CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSES.(Romans 8:28)

There is no reason, no reason at all, to not believe that God has called you to a specific place, a specific job, and a specific purpose.  Why should God not reveal to us what he wants us to do?  He gives us desires, after His will, that will fulfill us far beyond anything that we could imagine.  I believe, wholeheartedly, that I have been called, to this place, this time, this function in life.  And I can think of no other place I would rather be.

 

Exciting news travels slowly for me…

So, fantastically, and God-is-amazingly, I am the unofficial youth pastor at Suburban Christian Church. Pending a congregational vote, which, from what I have been told and experienced, is usually a formality.

I can’t begin to describe how excited I am. This is the dream for me. Everything in my life starts and ends with being at this church. God is so good.

So, I am gaming up for the big move, the transition from civilian to whatever. I have really grown to appreciate my current job, with the CSB, but it left me yearning to be spreading the gospel as my vocation, and God has provided the opportunity to do just that.

I am most excited about developing, and reinvigorating, alot of the relationship that I have, not just with the Kids, but people in the church as well. Especially those that are in their 18-25ish range that have fallen into the category that lots of churches are missing. I am also, very much stoked, about giving back to the community down here. or there. Whatever.

So, I’m stoked. God is good. And I have not the foggiest idea what happens next. Here’s to God. May His be the Glory.

 

You know those State Farm Commercials….

You know, where you’ve spent the last 7 years acquiring two degrees.  Where ”who am I?”  meets “where am I?”  and “How did I get here?”  You know, where the guy looks at the camera and stands on a red dot and says “I’m there”.  Well, “I’m there”  with my two degrees, three years of experience, one wife, one child, and a handful of questions.  If only State Farm could answer my questions.

I have know idea how I got here.  Like, when you are in high school, and you are asked to envision your life for the next like 10-15 years, I never imagined this part of my life.  I never envisioned getting here.   I was always somewhere else, actually, no place in particular.  I don’t think I actually believed I would ever leave Virginia Beach.  I don’t really think I ever thought I would have a family, or a 9-5 (well actually 11-7) job.  I didn’t envision debt, financial problems, questions, or realities.  I just thought I would get “there” when I got “there” and know where I was.  Well, here I am, and I have no clue how or why I am here!

On another note,  the world is getting worse.  Economies are falling apart, and I think at one point we may see the Tribulation Force.  In Kirk Cameron we trust, right?!

 

Oh, the end is nigh!

I am like four or five weeks from ending my post-graduate career.  I am going to have, in my possession, a conferred Master’s Degree. 

I would, henceforth from being conferred, like and appreciate being called,

 

 

MASTER Matthew J. Bruns, the 1st.

 

On relationship and community

The Following is something I submitted for a class that I am in at LBTS.  Thought it was worth sharing:

 

There is, within the ideology of the Trinity, a pre-existing community. It is central to our understanding of the identity of God. We, as monotheistic believers, have a God who exists in three persons, yet one. The very make-up of our God is that He exists in community as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It would be, and is, consistent to believe and hold that mankind, made in His image would also exists in community.

Man was created in relationship. We read in Genesis of how God walked in the cool of the evening with Adam; How Adam and God were together as Adam named the animals. We see how God understood Adam’s lack of companionship and brings him a woman. God knows that we desire relationship. He created us that way. So it is only reasonable for us to understand and utilize in sharing His gospel that we are meant for, and God desires, community.

Foundational to sharing the Gospel is sharing the story of Christ and encouraging new believers to have a relationship with Him. The Book of James makes it clear that faith without works is not faith at all. The works being the evidence of relationship and growth with Christ. Yet, if we just step back, and logically think of what faith is without relationship, it really amounts to nothing at all. Maybe some words on a certain day where we say, “this is what I believe” and then nothing afterwards. 

It is most apparent, in the NT description of the early church, that community was near essential to the rapid spread of the Gospel. Acts 2:42-47 describes a church as a close knit group of misfits, from all backgrounds, united and flourishing in their cause due to the facts that they shared everything, meals, money, sleeping arrangements, etc. When one became a member of this new “Way”, you found identity not only with a Living Savior, but with every single one of his followers. You all had Christ in common, so now, you have everything in common. Look at Paul and his relationships with Timothy and Titus, almost an adoptive father to these two young leaders. Paul was brilliant at developing meaningful lasting relationships with people. Again, it cannot be denied that the early church leaders were impeccable at building and maintaining relationships and community.

We as the modern Church, should be working towards this kind of community again. A community where others are taken care of. Where the spread of the Gospel is attributed to the moving of the Holy Spirit and the Love of Christ within his Church. The Gospel is a message of love and love is best expressed and felt within the embrace of true lasting community.

 

The value of an apology.

This week I learned something of humility.  My job requires it.  Most of the time, I don’t bend to it.

I work with disadvantage children.  My focus, is teenagers, ranging from 13-18.  I am basically a state employed youth pastor minus the pastoring.  This is a very hard thing for me to do, being as my goal is to pastor.  With all that is in me, my deepest burning desire is to be a pastor.

Well, this week I made a mistake and potentially destroyed a relationship I had with a client.  In doing my job, I called into question the character and sexuality of one of our older clients as he persisted in horseplaying with a younger client.  The horseplay was mostly innocent, but the younger client was very uncomfortable with it as I heard him exclaim a few times, “Get the hell off me!”   Initially I laughed, because to here a 12 year old stand up to a larger, stronger, older kid is pretty funny, especially when he says, “Get the hell off me!”  

Well, in coming to the aid of the younger, I insulted the older.  After repeatedly asking the client not to touch the other any longer, and after receiving a barrage of f-bombs for intervening, which is the norm with this specific client, I made the comment, “Alright, dude.  You are the one that is touching a little kid.”  At this, my client, who I hope will look to my example and begin a new path different from the one he is on, lost all confidence in my ability to build him up and support him.  This was evident in the now numerous “Fat Fucker” remarks coming from his mouth.

Now, normally, this would not bother me.  Normally, I would just shrug this off as another incident between me and this client.  I am however, sick of these interactions being the norm.  The altercation haunted me for the remainder of the day, night, and following morning.  I had to salvage this kids dignity, his respect for me, and his respect for others.   How can be an agent of healing empowered by the Gospel of Christ if I am one of those causing the damage?

 Amputation is an effective method of medicine, but if all you do is amputate you will have nothing left.

I want people to rid themselves of all this sin and deceit and malcontent towards each other as much as the next guy.  But, you cannot just cut off hundreds of years of ingrown, self-afflicted, hate for others.  Many of the people and families in our communities suffer from this.  Whether it be the white mans fear of black people, black peoples loathing for white people, the affluents fear of the ghetto, or the poor man’s disgust with the affluent.  There are layers upon layers of problems with our current situation, be it of racial or economic influence.  We all understand this.  We all have grown up with certain amounts of these fears influenced by the years of conflict between each group.  So-called experts would have us just cut off the conflict, much like one would amputate a gangrenous foot.  Which is great, but you leave society crippled. Furthermore, you have only taken care of one piece of the problem.  Our diagnosis is much more than one of racial tension, economic disconnect, or the like.  Maybe we don’t have gangrene at all.  Maybe there is a much bigger disease at the core of our problems.   I don’t know why I keep saying maybe, when we all know the problem is a lack of love.

In the much forgotten words of dcTalk, “We all want to be loved.”  And we all deserve to be loved.  God has counted us all worthy of love.  We may not be able to love.  But by golly, my God has stated that He loves us and has made action upon that thought.  There is affection for all of us.  There is connection for all of us.  There is communion for all of us.  

Those that have accepted love, must then communicate love in all circumstances.  We are agents of the Gospel of Christ, which is the Gospel of Love.  Good news world, someone loves you and has done something huge for you and he wants me to communicate this to you.  How?  By doing huge things for you.  By redeeming people and societies and destroying them with Love.  

Social Injustice sucks, but we live in a world that lacks love.  We can try to remedy the problems that are in our world by changing programs and the focus of governments, but when we do not respond out of love, we are merely altering the focus of the pain.  

Major Payne once said, “You want me to take your mind off that leg. Give me your finger.”  

 

Chr1st….

I came up with it a couple months ago.  Though, I am sure someone has used it before me.

Chr1st = Christ First

It has kinda become a mantra for me.  When I need to remember what it is that I need to be about, I remember: Chr1st.

I encourage anyone who may read this blog, to remember that.  It is so hard in our day and age to put anything first other than ourselves.  We live in society where the glorification of self is the end all of existence.  It is necessary, by this logic, to remember this phrase when you forget priorities: Me First and the Gimme-Gimmies.  No, my friend, it is not just a punk rock cover band anymore.  It is the very way you are to live your life in order to get by.  Success is all there is to life, and success is only for you.

I am reminded of all the celebrities, and CEO’s and such that are successful, and how down right messed up they tend to be.  Britney Spears, God help her, has felt this the most.  I genuinely feel sick for her when I here of what she has been through in recent years.  All in the pursuit of success.  Now, she can’t have that which she really wants, and that is her family.  I could not imagine my job, my success, getting in the way of my Lily.  If that happened, I would straight quit.  It isn’t worthwhile to pursue success when it means we glorify ourselves.

Success is the edification and building of the Kingdom of God.  Success is the return of Christ for His Church.  Success is the end of the Age.   Christ is all that is successful, since He alone has conquered death.  Our only success comes through serving Him and others for the sake of the Gospel.  And that comes only by His Holy Spirit. 

 

The First Easter Egg Hunt

Yeah, there was a sort of Easter Egg Hunt on the First Easter, though, there were no eggs involved, only a dead guy and his body.

 So, The day after Saturday, amazing things happened.  The entire of Christianity hangs on this simple fact.  Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians. Basically, if there is no resurrection of the dead than Christ himself did not rise.

So simple, and huge, and hard to accept.  Because, lets face it, we have to simply go on the words of the Apostles and Disciples to build our faith in the Resurrection.  But, the Twelve saw another guy resurrected. 

Lazarus.  Jesus, raises Lazarus from the dead.  He is resurrected.  Granted, he died again, so Lazarus in and of himself has no power.  But, Christ, subject to death, also displays his power over death in the Resurrection of Lazarus.  Peter saw it, John, James, Thaddeus, Matthais (Judas Replacement), they all saw it.

I think this lends itself to why the Apostles would believe that Christ was really raised from the dead, aside from the whole talking to and touching him.

I mean, they saw this man raise another man from the dead.  He obviously has power over death.  It’s like why the Patriots would resign Randy Moss, he has showcased his power over other cornerbacks.  Why not put our faith in one who has displayed his divine nature as divine?

I mean, its not like Christ hid who He was when He was alive.  You raise someone from the dead and you are somebody.  You feed 5000 from a couple fish and some bread and you got it going on.  You have part in creating all that exists and you may be something special, something more than human.