Matthew 6:31–34 (ESV)
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Query 7
Do you try to observe simplicity in your manner of living?
Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts?
Are you careful to live within your income and avoid involving yourselves in business beyond your ability to manage?
Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
August 2, 2026
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For the Sake of my Brothers
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:1–5 (ESV)
This week I looked at this passage with dread. I looked at it with dread because there is so much packed within the words. So much history, theology, misunderstanding, and division.
You might not notice it at first, but one could make an argument that Paul in this section is being anti-Semitic. I know that you might scoff at this because he is saying he would rather be cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his own people. How can that be considered anti-Semitic?
This has been the largest struggle of the past few generations. Since the second world war we have had to deal with a very serious problem, a problem that has multiple faces and understandings. What do we do with, or how do we regard Israel?
Paul begins by saying, “I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”
To begin we need to look at the context. When speaking of context it is important to look at all things involved. In literature, we learned that context involves looking at the words prior and after the section we are considering. But context involves more. Context includes culture, history, the weather, social status and much more. Every year we are gaining more information, and all of this adds to the contextual understanding of a passage. One of the things that annoys me most when discussing scripture is when people say, “the plain reading of the passage.” It annoys me because the plain reading is not as plain as we might think it is. The plain reading leaves out the context, and when we leave out the context we are allowing our context today, to dictate what we read.
We cannot get out of this trap. We accuse some denominations of doing this as we consider aspect of what has been called the culture war, but we do not see that we do it ourselves. We do it to such a degree that often we no longer know what scripture actually says because we have filtered it through our cultural lenses. And when ever someone attempts to teach us something using a different contextual perspective, we label them as being woke or liberal.
Paul says, “I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying.” The context. Paul is writing this letter to a population of believers that has never set foot in Roman Palestine, or Judea. He is writing this letter to a people that only knows the gospel through a philosophical perspective. They are aware of the Old Testament writings, but to them those writings hold just a little more power than the writings of Homer. They are stories of a far off people in an almost alien culture.
Yet they regard these writings with respect. And it is right that they do. Paul would later write to one of his apprentices, that all scripture is God breathed. When he wrote those words he is not considering his own writings as being the inspired word of God, but he is speaking of the writings found within the law and the prophets. The writings within the Old Testament are important. They are the historic testimony of God’s interaction with humanity from the beginning of time until this day. We should hold them with great respect.
The problem though is that we are just as naive about those scriptures as the ancient Romans were. We do not understand the context, because their culture is different from our own. We look at the law as rules we should not break because we approach scripture from a western worldview. This is not completely wrong, but it is not completely correct either. There are aspects of the western ideals within the teachings of scripture, but that is what it is, teaching not legislation. They are words to prompt reflection and interaction. Or from a Friendly persuasion a Query.
Paul is aware of both the eastern and western takes on things. He will make statements that resemble the teachings of Greek philosophers alongside of the teachings of Moses. He does, not because the writings of Plato are scripture, but because that is the mental structures the people he writes to are looking at their world from.
He states, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)
This is the literary context. Nothing will separate us from God, Paul says. He says this, and he goes on to say I am speaking the truth – I am not lying. But then he says that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish. He wishes that he were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers.
Who is the elect?
Theology, division, misunderstanding meet. If we look at the teachings of the Old Testament, we would believe that Israel is elect. Rightfully so, because God says in Deuteronomy that Israel is his inheritance as he divides the nations of the earth among the Sons of God. But what does that mean? Does the election of Israel mean that only Israel is saved? That only those bound genetically to the line of Abraham have any hope to salvation? Paul goes on to quote from Malachi 1:2-3, “’I have loved you.’ says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Is not Esau, Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated.’” Jacob the younger son, gained the blessing and inheritance from his father Isaac, and Esau the land of Edom became a wasteland, yet both were children of Abraham. Both should have been children of the promise.
One is elect and the other is not. The people of Judah, the decedents of the tribe that brought us David, should be among the most elect. Yet Paul says he would give everything up, that he would be accursed and cutoff from Christ if only that would be true. He wished that it would be true. His greatest desire is that Israel would be saved.
Israel were selected out of every nation of the earth to be the people of God. They were the ones who received the promise and the teachings or law of God. They were given the priesthood, and the proper liturgy of worship. They knew how to worship God. It was to and through them that Christ came. Yet Paul does not include his own people among the elect, and it breaks his heart.
They had the knowledge. They have the scriptures. They have the promise, the history, the traditions. Yet, their heritage does not save them. Nor will ours.
Who is the elect?
This goes deeply into the theological debates raging within the church since its formation. The debate separates us into different camps, largely among Protestants we have the Calvinists and Arminianism. For those that hold to the Calvinist perspective God has chosen, and predestined the elect from the dawn of creation, who will be saved and who will be damned to the lake of fire. We have no say, we have no option. You are in or out, and nothing you do can change it. Those within this camp will quote the words of Paul, using Romans 8 as their proof text that nothing can separate the elect from the love of God. It seems pretty clear, why would anyone oppose this? Well some are not elect, that means that God chose from the dawn of creation some to be saved, but he also chose some to be cursed.
This has led us to some very problematic actions. It has allowed injustice to be accepted as fate. Those born into slavery were destined to be slaves. Those born poor were destined to be poor. Those that have wealth and power it was by divine right that they have that power. It is God’s ultimate plan.
Where are you in that plan? Nothing you do, nothing you say, nothing you possess changes anything. You are either elect or cursed. Should we have supported the abolition of slavery? Should we have opposed Jim Crow? Should we have gotten involved in World War 2? Should we care about Ukraine, or the conflicts within Africa?
Then there is the other side. Arminianism. This is the theological idea focuses on human free will, or conditional election. This theological idea emerged around the same time as when the Religious Society of Friends emerged, and greatly influences our understanding of salvation. We tend to like this theological ideology a bit more because it does give us freedom because we get to participate with God. It is this theological idea that promoted social justice as well as the rise of Evangelicalism. We have a part to play. The problem is what do we do with the discussion of election within scripture?
The theological arguments are all lacking to some degree, because for every verse we use to prove our position, we can find one or two that support the other position. Which brings us back to what election means?
What if election has nothing at all to do with salvation, but instead honor? If we consider this humanity as a whole is elect because we became the most honored of creation as we were the beings created in the image of God. Personally this makes a great deal of sense to me. Because we have the honor of being the image bearers of God, we have the opportunity and privilege to reflect the image of God to creation.
This aspect of election, I feel, is often neglected. It almost negates the whole message of the Gospel if we do not recognize how we were created. It completely nullifies the entirety of scripture as a whole. If humanity were not elect or honored over all creation, why would God need to choose Israel? Why would Israel need a land of promise? Why would they require David to become king, and the messiah to be born of the linage of David? What is the necessity of Jesus?
I have come to this conclusion because the promise given to Abraham was that his descendants would become a light to the nations. God always intended to bring fallen humanity back to him. God’s greatest desire was to restore humanity back to Eden.
Unfortunately this restoration takes time. I want us to consider for a moment the temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness. The first was to turn a stone into bread. Jesus had the power to do this. He had the power to feed over five thousand people through a simple prayer over a small boy’s lunch. Yet Jesus told the accuser, “man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.” We do not often look deeply at these temptations. But these three temptations truly encapsulate every temptation we face.
The first is fulfilling our immediate needs. What are you willing to do to get what you need to survive? The adage is everyone who is hungry is a thief. The accuser then takes Jesus to the pinnacle of temple and urges him to jump, because scripture says that God will send angels to protect him from harm. Jesus responds to this by saying that we should not test God. Yet we do test God. It is almost our very nature to push the limits of those in authority over us. Children almost have a hereditary knowledge of just how far they can push their parents before punishment. And this is the annoyance that is the wrath of God. We test we push, we try to see just how far we can go before something bad will happen.
The third temptation we may not fully understand. Jesus is shown all the kingdoms of the world. This temptation is the fulfillment of our ultimate dream. God’s greatest desire was to bring all the nations back to Him, and the accuser said I will give you your greatest dream if you only worship me. What will you do to gain the entire world?
Each of us face these temptations every single day we live. We want the promotion, so we pad the books to our favor. I once worked with an extremely devout man. He was one of the people that was at the church every time the church doors were unlocked. He could quote scripture for any situation, and he was of the piety that believed the best and only version of scripture was the authorized version. This man annoyed me, but at the time I could not say anything against him. We both worked in the rental car business, and he was always better than me in sales. It does not make sense because when I looked at him doing the work it did not seem like he did any better than me. But we were both up for a promotion. They were opening a new branch and needed a branch manager, the two final candidates were me and him. As far as I knew he had the job, because his numbers were better. But they began to look at the numbers close. This righteous man, this devout man, wanted the promotion so much that he offered to enter the paper written contracts for others and took personal credit for their sales. He committed fraud to get what he wanted.
This is what the temptations represent. We as humanity left the garden because we wanted to determine good and evil for ourselves. But how do we determine what is good and what is evil? We base it on ourselves. What is best for me. All cultures are built on this concept, every kingdom and every nation. What is best for me or my kind? How has this worked?
Even the elect Israel, fell into this worldly trap. Even Israel the chosen people, who received the teachings directly from God, turned their backs on those teachings and decided to determine good and evil based on their own understanding. Yet this was never how God wanted things to work.
We were elect, honored, and we turned away. But God so loved the world that he gave his one unique son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have life. The election and the honor has always been based on God, whose image we bear. Jesus is the most honored because he embodies every form of election, every promise God made to humanity. And he is God with us. Nothing can separate us from that love. God did all of that while we were still at odds with him. God did it while we were still making every attempt at making our own way. Humanity cannot be separated from that love.
And yet Paul says that he is grieved. That he would rather be cursed and completely separated from God for the sake of his brothers. God has love for humanity, but Jesus did not think equality with God was something that could be grasped. Usually we think of that verse as meaning something that can be understood. That of course, is not completely incorrect, but it is not full either. To grasp something also means to take. And in reference to that verse in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, the term grasp means to steal. Again this is the third temptation. Paul is grieved because he wants his own brothers to understand, to be included among the elect because it was to them God gave the honor of the patriarchs, the law, and the promise. But Jesus, the incarnate man, is the elect, not a nation.
Each person, no matter who they are or where they come from must come to Jesus. It cannot be forced, it cannot be taken. Instead, it must be a willful submission, like the relationship between a husband and a wife. A mutual existence where each one dies to themselves so that they can become a blessing to the other.
This is God’s plan, that each of us will recognize the honor we have to bear his image to the world. That we would willingly join with him in the life and lifestyle he established at the very beginning of time. He wants us to fulfill the teaching he gave to our first parents, to go into all the world and to be fruitful and multiply. This does not mean that we are commanded to have a bunch of children, but instead we are to plant seeds of the garden, His garden everywhere we go.
We are called to bear his image to creation. And this begins with submission to him, and to each other. Which is at the root of this month’s query.
Do you try to observe simplicity in your manner of living?
Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts?
Are you careful to live within your income and avoid involving yourselves in business beyond your ability to manage?
Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?
On the surface it appears that this query speaks to our financial affairs. But there is more to it than that. Are we living among those within our community well? Are we dealing honestly with them or are we giving them a reason to grumble and oppose the kingdom? Are we bearing the light? Are we being image bears?
The reality is that God so loved the world that he became his own promise to us. He loves us and nothing can separate us from that love, it is available to us all at any moment. Yet I, along with Paul, grieve for my brothers, for my countrymen, because we so often do not see the love God has for us so we reject and turn away. We chase after our own concepts of good and evil, and end up causing harm instead of bearing the light of God. We know what is right because the Spirit of God is always present wooing us to turn, and yet we want our way, by our terms. Will we listen? Will we respond? Will we become the people God has called us to be?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 23, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 12:1–8 (ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 16, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 11:1–2a, 29–32 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 08, 2026 Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Last week we spoke about how from the beginning God counted humanity as the elect over creation. This might have caused some of you to think I had…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 19, 2026
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Romans 8:12–25 (ESV)
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
We are Debtors, Paul tells us. We are all debtors. This is not the best way to start a message, but I think it is important. We live in a culture of success. If you think about the people we look up to culturally there is a common theme. Patrick Mahomes, Elon Musk, The President, or Messi what is something they have in common? Some are great athletes. Some are brilliant. But all of them are what we would call wealthy.
We live in a culture where success equals wealth. Those that have success are measured based on how much wealth they create. There were some great football quarterbacks that never went to the Super Bowl. There were some great quarterbacks that probably never made it to a division 1 NCAA school. Some of them might have been as good as Patrick Mahomes, yet we have never heard of them. What was the difference between the local high school star and Patrick? What is the difference between Messi and the soccer players in our own community? Is it their skill? Sure, skill has something to do with it, and I am not saying that Mahomes or Messi are not skilled players in their sports. I can only wish I had their skill, but there is something more than skill. Someone saw these men play the sport. Someone gave them an opportunity to go to the next level. Someone gave them a chance.
What about Elon and Trump? Their status is a bit different from that of the sports star. Their success is measured differently, but it is very similar. They had an idea. And someone backed their idea. For Elon, the idea was something he and some of his friends came up with. That idea was that there was a new economy emerging, one where the traditional methods of payment were insecure or not available. So they came up with PayPal. This allowed each of us to be able to purchase things online with extra layers of security, so our account numbers were not just out there for everyone to see.
We see these innovations, and we automatically assume that these people were brilliant. And they are brilliant, but I know many brilliant people. I know a man that has invented a windshield wiper blade that will not allow ice to collect on it in the winter. I want that windshield wiper blade, but it is not available. It is a brilliant idea, but his idea is not available to us, where most of us have a PayPal account. The difference is who Elon knew, and who my friend knew.
We have this idea that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps in our culture. That we are self-made individuals. If we simply work hard we will end up like the soccer star, the football MVP, or the tech giant. What is the reality of this? Have you ever tried to pull yourself up by your bootstraps? It is impossible. And that was what the origin of that saying originally implied. We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps because we are in the boots. We are physically unable to lift ourselves up in that manner because we are standing in our own boots. If we could do this we could literally fly, or we would have some superhuman ability to defy the laws of gravity. What I am getting at is everyone needs community. We all need others to see in us something of value to invest. Someone needs to see our ability, our brilliance, our worth. They need to see us, and they need to promote our value to others, convincing them that we are worth the chance.
We are all debtors.
How did I become your pastor? I was not the only option available. Several names were considered. Yet my name rose to the top. Is it my greater ability than everyone else? No, it is because someone along the way knew me, and they spoke up. I am here not because I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, I am here because the community wanted me. I do not know what criteria they considered, but I have my position not because of me, but because of everyone else.
This is something we often forget in our society. We like the idea of the self-made individual. And there are some things to that concept that I have not spoken of, but the reality is that none of us are self-made. The store owner might have come up with a great idea, but they would not have a store without their customers. An inventor might create a remarkable device but the only way that device ends up in a store is if that inventor convinces a bank, a manufacture, or investors to join the cause. We would not have iPhones or personal computers if a small computer store did not take a chance on a bunch of nerds working out of their garage to sell their machine in his store.
Paul reminds us, we are debtors. We owe something to someone. We were allowed an opportunity to try, and our current position in life would not have happened without it. We owe someone or many people everything.
We are debtors, Paul says, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. What Paul means by this is that this debt we owe is beyond what we experience within this physical existence. It is a debt that we cannot pay because we do not have the ability to even fathom it. Our bodies are bound to our own perception. We are bound by time and space. Those four dimensions are the only things we have ready access to: time, length, width, and height. We are bound or limited by these things. Yet Paul says that we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. This means that there is something else that we have not been fully aware of that is also working within our lives.
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” This previously unknown dimension of existence working within our lives is what Paul calls the Spirit. We are debtors, not to the four dimensions, but to the Spirit.
I know this sounds ridiculous. We do not like these terms, just as we do not like coming to terms with the concept that we cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. These dimensional philosophies seem like they have nothing to do with our lives. And yet they do. When scientists are working with the math surrounding various concepts of physics they cannot make it work without introducing dimensions. No matter how hard they try to explain gravity, which has been part of classical physics from the dawn of physics, when they look at the universe in its magnitude or at the microscopic subatomic level, their theories break down. The only way they can explain these breakdowns is to introduce a new dimensional theory that influences what we are able to observe. Theoretically they have these dimensions, yet we are not capable of observing them directly. At best, we can only observe their influence upon the four dimensions we can observe.
There is something beyond us that influences life, and without this we will die, but if we have it we live.
I have been asked on multiple occasions to prove the existence of God. I have tried to study this most of my adult life. There is an entire field of study dedicated to this, it is theology. If you break that word down it literally means the study of God, or the science of God. Just like biology is the study of life, or the science of life. When the first universities began in Europe theology was the highest of the sciences, but this has changed. It has changed because we do not have the right tools to study God as we would physics or biology. When we interact with God we cannot apply the same methods, because God does not respond in clear systematic measurable ways. God is unpredictable, those that believe can see places where God has influenced things, but it is like the effects of gravity on time, the math does not always work.
I cannot prescribe certain number of prayers to obtain healing or some other desired result and with absolute certainty know that it will happen. This has been tried, and many have stopped believing because they did not receive what they fervently prayed for. They are debtors to the flesh. They are bound to the flesh. They are looking only to time and space for their assurance. But we are not debtors to the flesh, but the spirit. When we come to God in relationship with Christ, we enter into a different plain of existence, one where time and space are no longer the limits. We live differently.
We live differently. We live in space and time, but we belong with God. We explain this as being a citizen of heaven. And we do not always know what that means. For some it means that we will have a place in heaven when we no longer live. But that is not the fullness of the term. Jesus did not come preaching that the Kingdom of God is there at the end of you life, he taught that the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That means it is right here all around us. We will not only live in that different plain later, we live in it now. And we have that existence because someone looked at us and thought we had value. Someone looked at us and thought sure they may not be much now, but they have potential.
God so loved the world, the Gospel of John says, that God gave his one unique son. The only being in the universe like it, to save the world. That whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Some might say that this is open to everyone, because it says whoever believes. Some others say that it was predestined from the beginning of time who would be saved. We argue about these things because we cannot directly observe that plain of existence. All we have is scripture, our experiences, and the church. That is theology. We look at those things, we study them, we develop theories, and we come out with traditions of faith. There is something interesting about these traditions, what do they do with the one unique son, Jesus?
Jesus is central to our faith. It is Jesus who made himself a little lower than the angels to be made into the likeness of man. It is Jesus, God wrapped in human flesh. It is Jesus, and only Jesus, that can bridge that gap between God and humanity. Why we might ask. Because only God can make that path.
When God created heaven and earth, and placed our first parents into the garden, he created us in his image. We lived in the plains of temporal and spiritual existence. We have tried to understand what this might mean. Some have said that we have intelligence, but if intelligence was the only factor involved are children full image bears? Our thoughts on this challenge our social beliefs, because how we answer these questions determine how we live our lives. What does it mean to live be created in the image of God? I cannot give you a definitive answer, but from observing scripture, experience, and the church I believe that image is the capacity to exist in a temporal and spiritual plains.
But that capacity became fractured. We have these spiritual experiences but they seem disconnected. They happen in an instant and for the rest of our lives we seek them out only to find ourselves grasping at wind. Yet we have that capacity. A longing to be fulfilled. We seek to fill it with education and knowledge. We seek to fill it with substances that seem to provide spiritual experiences, and as we seek these things out we find that they trap us addiction. We even seek out the spiritual through experiences. This thrill seeking behavior leads us to climb mountains, dive off cliffs into the water, or even seek out adulterous and lustful activities. We do this because we want to feel alive.
That is an interesting phrase, feel alive. We have a longing to feel alive, and yet when we engage the feeling is fleeting at best, and usually we feel less alive after. This is what Paul is speaking of when he says, “we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” The ways of the flesh, give a false spiritual experience, and it costs us.
We can get all the degrees a university offers, but it only helps us if we use that degree properly. We can have all the money in the world and still feel empty. We can enjoy the occasional drink but when we use that substance to provide the strength for us to cope with life we will find ourselves addicted. If we seek to find our worth in the arms of a lover we often find that things will change over time. There needs to be more. We need a different dimension to make sense of it all.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”.
Many look at this term, abba, and liken it to Daddy. This idea originated because it is one of the first words a child is able to say in that language. So a toddler will cry out Abba, just as our children cry out daddy. But this idea tends to fall short because adults will continue to say abba, where in our language we tend to look down on adults calling their father’s daddy. What scholars have concluded is that it is a form of intimacy but more likely refers to my father, or my dad. It is personal, formal, as well as endearing. It is respectful as well as intimate. In English, we do not have an adequate word, nor did Greek which is why Paul used the Aramaic form. I do not know if this is the same in Swahili or not. What Paul is getting at is we are no longer dead and disconnected from the spiritual life, instead we so connected that we can speak about it in intimate familial terms.
“We are children of God, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Paul says, “Provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” This is the debt we have. We do not enter into the realm of God on our own, or by our own terms. Our entry into the kingdom of heaven is provided to us by someone else. That being hold the terms and conditions of our debt. We might be able to negotiate to some degree, but ultimately we must submit to their authority.
If we do not submit we do not have a relationship. If you need a loan for business you do not have the authority to change the terms. You might be able to slide something by some, but usually they have teams of lawyers that are looking over every word. If you want the loan you comply with their terms. And when you comply you are in debt to them. You are bound by a legal contract to repay that debt. The same is with Christ. We do not get to make the terms, Christ set the terms and those terms are belief.
This belief is not merely an acknowledgment that God exists, but it is the entrusting our complete lives to Christ. It is devoting yourself, not to rules, but to the relationship.
When we are in a relationship, the thoughts are no longer self-centered, instead we look for the mutual good. We cook what our children will eat, because we need to eat. We often go where our spouse wants to go because we want them to be happy. And hopefully they do the same. Our thoughts, our actions will change not because they must, but we want the other people within our relationship to succeed as much or more than ourselves.
Albert wants to help the family by starting a lawn mowing business. What do I do? I help him. Does it benefit me, maybe or maybe not. But what I do know is that it provides an opportunity for us to extend our relationship. I can teach him differently. He takes on more responsibilities. And in the process we both grow. This change in relationship comes with its own challenges. Albert wants to mow, but his potential clients live farther from us than we can drive the mower. We need a trailer. My dad, also in a relationship wants to help so he offered a trailer, but the trailer was old. We hooked it up to the pickup and immediately alarms began going off. The trailer had bad wires. We spent our entire vacation fixing something that we did not realize would be necessary. We did this not because it was a benefit to us personally, but because we want to encourage someone else. This extends more and more. And soon we have troubles and blessings from all sides. And we begin to wonder is it worth it?
The answer is yes. In Christ, it is worth it. In Christ, we are not bound by what we can sense in the dimensions of time and space. In Christ, we are spliced back into the fullness of the Spiritual life. We suffer because we are all wired differently, but once we are connected to the same source things begin to change. Our minds change, our emotions become tuned, our desires become directed. And our suffering with Christ becomes a joy instead of something we avoid. We change because there is something more. We have hope beyond what the world can sense.
We groan today because we only get a glimpse, only a taste, but we know there is more. All creation knows there is more. That is why we seek the thrill, the education, and the various other things we seek to fill the voids. We groan because creation is cut off from the source, and only in Christ can we bring it back. And we bring it back by living within that relationship Christ has with us. We love God with all that we have available, and then we love our neighbor. We live with and in Christ, and as the spirit saturates us, it splashes out as we interact with those around us. And they begin to wonder what we have. Why we can be content, and joyful even though we do not have the things this world thinks successful people have.
We are all debtors. Not one of us is self-made. Not one of us is complete in ourselves. We need each other, and we need the source of all life, through whom all things were and are created. We need people to see us and encourage us. We need someone to give us a chance, and we need someone to challenge our understanding. We need, but what we need the most is life. Not merely feeling alive, we need life, and purpose. We need to become the beings that God created us to be. Image bearers, living in time and space as well as with God on his plain of existence.
Jesus came to us, reconnecting God to man, and he lifts us back to God, connecting man to God. May that connection define our lives now and forever.
Matthew 6:31–34 (ESV) 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church July 19, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 8:12–25 (ESV) So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church July 5, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Hebrews 12:1–3, 12-17 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 5, 2026
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Hebrews 12:1–3, 12-17 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Query 6
From the Faith and Practice of Evangelical Friends Church Mid America Yearly Meeting.
Do you consistently practice Jesus’ spirit and teaching of love and goodwill to all people?
Do you support every Christian movement to do away with war and preparation for war?
Do you endeavor to make clear to all whom you can influence and especially our own youth, that war is utterly un-Christian and cannot be reconciled with the spirit of Christ?
Romans 7:15–25 (ESV)
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
War Within
We have been speaking of righteousness, the law, sin, justification, and sanctification over the past few weeks. I do not know if you have learned anything worthwhile, but for me this has been a period of examine in my personal spiritual life. As I have read through the writings found in Paul’s letters to the churches, I have also revisited the Sermon Jesus gave while on the mount and on the plain. I have revisited what the commandments, words of wisdom, or teachings God gave to Moses when Israel was encamped at Sinai. And while I considered these things against my current experience, I have come to a great conclusion. Life is difficult.
I do not want to sound cliché or simple with those words. We as a church gained a sense of purpose or mission together when I first came to Willow Creek. I would love to say that it emerged out of good leadership, but no. It came because I as a new pastor, and us as a meeting needed to know who we are and what we needed to do to move our meeting into the future. We sat on that topic for months. We shared, considered, prayed, argued, and laughed together as we devised a simple statement that we felt explained who we are and what we want to do. That statement is: Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with others.
I love that purpose statement. I love the depth of its simplicity. I love that it captures the teachings of Christ and the wisdom of God as taught throughout scripture from the beginning to the end. I love it because I have seen those words in the very rhythm of life that Jesus lived. I see those words in the heart-wrenching pleas that Paul writes to his friends across the Mediterranean world. It is a call to worship, prayer, and ministry.
I have contemplated those words over the past few months. And I wonder, is this still our calling, our mission? Is our point of existence as a community of faith still driven by those words, or have those words been replaced with something else?
This is one of the reasons I love the discipline of considering the Queries within our Faith and Practice. When I was younger I did not even know what these were, I learned about them when I began exploring the possibility of becoming a pastor and actually read the Faith and Practice. And when I saw that the Faith and Practice said we needed to read them every year and answer them, I thought it was one of the most ridiculous things I had heard. Why should we read a bunch of weirdly worded questions that have yes or no answers. But then I eventually became a pastor. It did not take long before I recognized that the core of our faith depends on the questions we ask, the questions we allow ourselves to ask, and the honesty we give when we try to provide an answer.
Twenty-three years ago as I became a pastor I began to fall in love with the queries. They are not God breathed scripture because they are written by people like you or I, but they facilitate contemplation. The ones we have in our faith and practice were first written shortly after the civil war in America, during a time of expansion, healing, and hope. We as a culture had just endured one of the largest struggles we had ever had to endure, a struggle that defined who we as a nation would be in the future. And when our spiritual ancestors gathered in Richmond, Indiana they too were struggling to determine who or what the Religious Society of Friends would be. Friends from around the world came to gather, and we made our Declaration of Faith. The majority of Yearly Meetings accepted this Unifying document, some opposed because they said it sounded too much like a creed and as Friends we do not make creeds.
Those that started our Yearly Meeting, held to that Unified Discipline of what was once called the Five Years Meeting, and would eventually be renamed Friends United Meeting. And one of the things that they included in that first unify document was the queries. Queries have been used since the time of Fox, and each yearly meeting has their own queries. Some have several and some have very few. The queries in our Faith and Practice have come to us from that first Unified Discipline with very few changes. I mention this is because these are the same questions that were being asked of Friends since the 19th century. They were questions asked of Friends that had participated in the Underground Railroad and of Friends that had aligned themselves with the other side of the debate. It was asked of Friends that had fled to the West to avoid conflict and those that had endured the hardships of war along the boarders of the North and South.
Do you consistently practice Jesus’ spirit and teaching of love and goodwill to all people?
Do you support every Christian movement to do away with war and preparation for war?
Do you endeavor to make clear to all whom you can influence and especially our own youth, that war is utterly un-Christian and cannot be reconciled with the spirit of Christ?
I include this query today, because I do think we need to re-examine things of faith. We need to ask ourselves if the faith we claim is the faith we live. But I think it speaks to something deeper. It speaks about the war within each of us.
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So no it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”
Paul looks at himself, he sees within himself that there is a war waging. He yearns to be righteous, he longs to do right in the eyes of God or to be justified in his own efforts. But he finds himself failing every time he turns around. This passage although it is one of the most difficult to read for me because it is almost a tongue twister, is one that I often find myself thinking about. And it has been one that has been on repeat for several weeks.
I want to do this. I want to do that. I want, but why do I want? Are my desires being driven by faith? Are my desires filled with ideologies? Do I want this because of some selfish desire? Am I just wanting to justify my own sin?
Paul says, “Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.” This is one of those places where it seems like Paul cannot decide if he like the law or not. This is why I have made such an effort to explain that the commandments of God are not merely the do’s and don’ts of faith, but they are the teachings, or the wisdom of God. They are lessons and conversation starters. Paul has noticed that he wants to do one thing, but seems to do the thing that he does not want to do instead. The teachings of God in scripture do not necessarily provide all the answers to every problem we will ever face, but it does give us a framework of how to think, and directs us to asking better questions.
I want to please my wife, I want to give her everything her heart desires. But somewhere in the course of our conversations I thought I heard that she did not care what we ate, so I purchased McDonald’s. Then I purchased it again because in my mind I know where McDonald’s is located in this city I do not know. Then I do it again. She keeps saying she does not care yet each meal it seems like she does. I know I am not pleasing her and now after twenty-three years, she still thinks the only thing I want to eat is McDonald’s when the truth is I did not know where any other restaurants were in Winnipeg. Scripture does not tell us exactly what to do in this situation, yet it does tell us other things, things like “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Was I being vain, or conceited? No, but I was not taking into account that my desires and those of my spouse might be different. I grew up on a dirt farm in the middle of nowhere, you ate what you ate and you were grateful, where she grew up in Kansas City where there are options available. We came from different cultures, different experiences, different understandings. And the first few days of our marriage, we were caught in a dilemma.
This early marital spat may not seem similar to the geopolitical crises we face, but every relationship is similar. What do we do when resolving a conflict with a spouse, and how do we resolve a conflict with someone outside? If we treat those closest to us with violence, eventually when pushed too far we will respond to others with violence. Our families and the local meeting or church is a training ground for geopolitics.
Paul tells us when we begin to pursue our desires, but the results of this are not what we imagined we need to take a step back and re-examine what we are doing, and why. We need to ask different questions, see where we might have made an erroneous assumption. Go back to the teachings of God, study the scriptures and let them speak to you.
Paul continues to say after this, “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” This is the picture of a person that is in that process of sanctification, or theosis. The desire is to do good, yet there are aspects within us that have not been fully entrusted to God. So often we as disciples and friends of Christ seek to follow him, but we have spiritual boarder-line disorder. We want to do something great, but we sabotage ourselves.
Some might say that Paul is excusing sin in this statement. That he is proposing a dualistic philosophy like the teachings of Plato. This is not what he is saying. There is a dualistic aspect, sure, but he does not excuse our actions. We are responsible for what we do in our flesh, because that is who we. We are flesh as well as spirit, they are not separate, but they are a combined whole. Just as Jesus is fully God and fully man, we are spirit and flesh, but our spirit is disconnected from God our life giver. We have no spiritual nourishment because our sin dams the flow, leaving our souls stagnate toxic swamps.
We have a desire to do good, to be righteous, yet without the flowing waters of the Spirit we are stuck in the mud. Paul says, “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” I am stuck. I can only go so far. I am throwing my weight forward and back but instead of proceeding, I am sinking deeper. I get off balance and fall. My shoes are pulled off and now I am covered from head to toe in the muck. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
I want to stop here for a moment. Some will say that Paul is saying that you cannot be moral without Christ. This is not the case. We can be good people socially and culturally. I can be faithful to my spouse, not kill anyone, and pay for everything I want and need just fine with or without Christ. We can be seen as good. But our self morality will only go so far. Remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler that came to Jesus asking what he must do to enter the kingdom. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, and the man responded that he had done this since childhood. Jesus then told him that there was one more thing, he must sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. That man walked away.
He was moral. He was good. He had done everything right in the eyes of his society. But he was missing one thing. He was doing all of those things for himself. He was working for his justification, but we do not hold the power to declare righteousness. Only those outside of ourselves have that power, the one with whom we have a relationship.
I can stand here and say I am a good father, and a good husband. I can claim to be a good pastor, or a good employee. But who can actually declare those things? My sons are the only ones that can declare me a good parent. My wife is the only one that can declare me a good husband. My supervisor is the one that declares my effectiveness on the job. And the church is the one that can declare my value as a minister. I cannot do this on my own, I cannot do this because I only see my own self. If I am doing everything according to my self-interest I will somewhere along the line cause harm to someone. I will cause harm because I am incapable to consider every aspect.
Our nation celebrated its 250th anniversary this year. Many of us look at those founding patriots as giants, they were the mighty men of old, that stood against tyranny. These men of old forged a new nation claiming these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and have certain unalienable rights endowed by our creator to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I love my country. I read those words and when I hear those words it still fans the flame of patriotism in my heart. We look at those men we see them as great, but they were not perfect. The men that held the self-evident truths of equality, enslaved others they denied the unalienable rights of fellow humans by denying them their own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. These men were moral in their historical context, but the context has changed.
They failed just as we fail. They, like Paul, and like us cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” We cry out, because we want to do good, but evil emerges. We want to live at peace with our families, our friends, our communities yet somewhere along the way we will do something that is focused on our own self-interest that will cause harm in some manner to someone else.
We cannot live a completely moral life, because our flesh gets in the way. We can justify our actions and remain in good standing socially, yet we know or someone knows, we have the capacity to be wretched.
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
I want to do good. I want to be righteous. I want to be someone consistently practicing Jesus’ spirit and teaching of love and goodwill to all people. Yet, sometimes people are really annoying. I want to support every Christian movement to do away with war and the preparation for war, yet there are people that do not agree with me. I want to tell everyone that the use of violence is un-Christian and cannot be reconciled, yet there is part of me that knows that I am very capable of justifying violence because I cannot think of a way around it. But my human justifications do not change the truth.
Every human life is sacred, because every human life is created in the image of God. And God so loved every human within the world that he gave his one unique son to die for us, that who soever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. We are loved. We are loved by God the creator of all things visible and invisible. We were created in the Image of God, meaning we have the capacity of physical and spiritual life. But do we recognize it. Do we recognize it in ourselves and do we recognize it in the person we currently see as an enemy?
There is much more that I want to say. Things I feel like I need to say. But I want us to again consider our query. And look at the things we are doing. Examine them in prayer, and in humility. Are we as a community recognizing the sin we have caused against others that might cause them to act in violence against us? Are we seeing the life situations that people around us are living in that might lead them to believe that there is no other way except violence? Are we actively pursuing the things that will alleviate tension, or are we throwing fuel on a fire? “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Let us renew our purpose and vision as a community to become a people Loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and Living the love of Christ with others.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church June 28,2026 Click to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 6:12–23 (ESV) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church June 14, 2026 Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:1–8 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church June 07, 2026 Click here to join our meeting for worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 4:13–25 (ESV) 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through…
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