Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church

Pilate calls Jesus into his court, possibly to intimidate him with a “trial.” But he finds Jesus strangely silent, until forced by law to respond. Then he says things like: “The reason I came to earth was to reveal to all the Truth” and “If you don’t listen to me, you’re not on the side of Truth.” How do you deal with someone like Jesus? And not just Pilate; how do we understand and respond to Jes...

The theme of Jubilee runs through the Bible. It’s not a word we use much today; when we do, “jubilee” mostly depicts a joyful celebration, specifically a 50th anniversary. It might surprise you that “jubilee” means neither “joy” nor “50.” Rather, it’s a word borrowed from Hebrew which actually refers to a ram’s horn, but more specifically to a Jewish law dealing with freedom. Freedom is something...

We are at the beginning of a new year. A time like this is often an excuse, or perhaps a good reason, to make a fresh start. I’d like us to begin the new year with a reminder that the Christian life is an adventure. It’s not about how often you go to church or how much you put in the collection plate or how moral you are, all good things. The Christian life is, at its root, an adventure of living...

Many of us have the habit of coming up with New Year’s resolutions, liking losing weight, exercising, applying ourselves better at school or our job. We have good intentions, but they often don’t last very long. And if we’ve done it enough, we may even see a pattern of making (and breaking) the same resolutions every year, and we become aware of a cycle we can’t seem to break, even with the best o...

God is in control and works out everything for good for those who love him.

Ancient cultures had ways to remember; in Canaan/Israel they did this with standing stones. If one of their “gods” (or so they believed) caused an important event or provided a significant benefit, a stone was erected as a testimony to the action of the “god.” If a covenant or treaty was signed between cities or individuals, stones were erected to declare the agreement and call the “gods” to witne...

While Luke begins his Christmas story “in those days Caesar Augustus,” Matthew narrows the focus to “during the time of King Herod.” Last week we noted that all the characters in the Christmas story fell under Herod’s long shadow, and that includes the Magi. Why the Magi? Why did God include them as part of Jesus’ greeting party? Why did Matthew tell their story rather than the angels & shephe...

Matthew and Luke intentionally set Jesus’ birth in the context of world and local history. Caesar Augustus heads a Roman Empire known for peace and prosperity and a glorious culture. Herod, as client-king over Judea, is known for his power and propaganda of the Hellenistic culture, but also for his murderous paranoia and moral evil. So it is a great predicament for the Jews: do we succumb to the g...

We will focus our attention on numerous passages from the Old Testament that point ahead to and find their fulfillment in Jesus. This will be done in a “lessons and carols” format.

What kind of God goes camping with his people? As we continue to explore the Old Testament, even now during Advent, we find that the incarnation (usually defined as God becoming flesh in Jesus) is not just for Christmas.  For God, it's and ongoing process that takes us from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.  As we find ourselves in Advent (which means, fittingly, "coming, arrival") we wil...

While Luke set the Christmas story in the context of Caesar Augustus' reign (to show its cosmic, historic significance and fit his Greek audience), Matthew places it in Judea, under the reign of King Herod (a prophetic, divine significance understood by his Jewish audience).  Like Luke, who set up a contrast between the claims of Caesar Augustus (Savior of the world and a god) and that those...

Joshua God wants to bring the people of Israel into the land of Canaan, Promised to Abraham. 40 years later, they are still on the outskirts. The generation of Israelites who left Egypt had died in the desert because of their refusal to trust God. They couldn't believe he had the power to overcome the nations on the other side of Jordan. They didn't trust him to enable them to occupy the...

This Advent series, we will be looking at the characters of the Christmas story as they experience the first Christmas in the shadow of Herod. But in Luke's Christmas story, the first person we encounter is Caesar Augustus! Why? Luke, writing mainly to Gentiles, shows Jesus' birth as an event of cosmic significance by setting it within the framework of world history. What does it mean th...

The Forgotten Man of Christmas

Encouragement and Rebuke from 1st Peter

Scripture: Psalm 103:1-5 Meditation: A Grateful Soul

There’s a certain irony that our country celebrates Thanksgiving on one day, and the next many go Christmas shopping on “Black Friday.” Are there two days more opposite each other? One focuses on God, the other on goodies. You could make the case that one focuses on gratitude, the other on greed or materialism. What better time to  analyze our attitude toward possessions? Are we more characterized...

Imagine your Dad brings home a pet lamb, you name it and get to like it, and then a few days later it is slaughtered in your place for your sins and you eat it! Or that your New Year’s is marked not by a ball dropping in Times Square but a ram’s horn blown from Jerusalem, and you are told you have 10 days to repent! Or you live in a little hut for a week because your ancestors lived like that for...

The Lord’s Prayer mostly deals with our relationship to God, without much outside interference. But in this last petition, he deals with the force of evil, which can have a negative influence on our lives (from outside, but also within). This is a very important aspect of prayer which dovetails with the previous concept of accepting God’s kingdom rule over us. Scripture: Matthew 6:13; James 1:2-18

Deuteronomy is quoted more than 80 times in the New Testament (only Genesis, Isaiah, and Psalms are quoted more). So it is a very influential and powerful book that turns our heart to the Torah of God. In Deuteronomy, we discover that God sees his people, knows his people, and is committed to transform them into a nation that honors him & reflects his righteous heart in the world. That will ha...

The wisest people learn from the example of others; sometimes the path to life, other times the path to avoid. We are going to look at some lessons from the wilderness wanderings of Israel, as God invites us to wilderness school, to learn wisdom from those who have gone before us. The trip from Egypt to the Promised Land was a simple one: only 150 miles from Goshen by the simplest route: the Way o...

Sometimes we believe the worst about God, that he won’t forgive. But at other times, we are too cavalier with forgiveness: “to err is human, to forgive divine” — as if forgiveness is merely God’s job. This petition gives balance. We often bring our prayers of confession to God, asking for his forgiveness. But one of the most stunning parts of the Lord’s Prayer is that being forgiven is tied in wit...

“Give us this day our daily bread.” This may be most familiar petition in this familiar prayer. But overfamiliarity with a biblical passage can lead to misunderstanding, or can reduce it to a cliche’. What is this petition saying and does it still have meaning for us today? At first glance it sounds rather demanding. But what does this mean for us, who live in prosperity? Our kitchens hold food su...