Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! Don’t forget that our annual meeting is this Sunday following the 10 am worship service. During worship, you will also have the opportunity to hear from our Executive Presbytery Rev. Dr. John Odom, who began working for our Presbytery in July 2024.

Are you reading along with our Lenten devotional Lent for Everyone by NT Wright? Today’s reading focuses on Matthew 7:15-23, in which Jesus says, “Good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit.” Wright reflects on this passage and says:

One of the great lies of our time is to suppose that because Jesus brings forgiveness, and urges us to be forgiving people, meek and gentle, there is no sharp edge to his message. To hear some people, you’d think the whole of the Christian message was simply a call to accept one another, never to judge another person.

Jesus’ point about discerning the authenticity of a person’s faith by the evidence of their life is directed to those in religious leadership. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian leader or who claims to speak the truth of God is true. How do we know if a Christian leader is true or false? Wright answers this question by pointing to the rubric used by the early Christians. He says that supposed Christian leaders who teach and promote a message rooted in personal gain, especially related to money, power, or sex, are not true Christian leaders. I think he understands Jesus correctly.

As a pastor, I feel the weight of the high standard for those in Christian leadership. I often find myself meditating on these words from James 3:1, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

Who are the people you consider to be Christian leaders? Do they exemplify the kind of leadership Jesus talks about in Matthew 7? Hold us accountable. The purity and vitality of the church depends on it.

Peace,
Aaron