Monthly Archives: June 2012
How to Deal with Enemies, Adversaries, and Antagonists
We all have them – the people that drive us bonkers, or cause anxiety in our lives, or simply rob us of Christ’s peace.
It may be the politician in the town who wants to restrict what you can do in your own backyard, or the policies of state and federal folk that endanger your livelihood, or even want to encourage immorality (as if it needed it)
Our enemies may be a neighbor or a relative, or one we counted as a friend. It might be even someone in your church body, or even closer, a member of your congregation. Someone who you aren’t sure whether it was intentional or not, but someone who betrayed you, or hurt you, the pain of which makes you want to cry out for revenge.
Been their done, that, bear the scars, or at least I think I do.
The writers of the scripture, especially David and the other psalmists knew pain well, they were threatened. They knew enemies and adversaries well – not just the kind we deal with in America today – but those who would kill the body as well as try to kill the soul. Their answer to such people was simple – turn them over to God – let Him deal out justice.
Such is Psalm 140, where the psalmist cries for the LORD (All capitals means it is His name – not His title) to rescue Him from them – to keep him from the hands of the wicked. He calls out for justice for those who are wicked – but if you look at it – that which is called out for is that they don’t succeed in their desires, that they plans are foiled, but for what purpose?
Consider Ezekiel’s take on the wicked (by definition – our enemies and adversaries are… aren’t they?)
3:18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Ezekiel 3:18 (ESV)
and
23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? Ezekiel 18:22-23 (ESV)
If God puts blocks in the way of their schemes, their actions, if He, as promised saves us from the snares of the evil one ( and his minions) then isn’t it possible, even probable, knowing the heart of God, that in their frustration they might determine that they plans for evil, God will redeem and use for good? If they grasp that, then they too will be granted repentance, even as we were. They they will come ot know God’s peace?
In praying that God rescue us, could that rescue be accomplished by making these people His children? To trust in God for this – yeah – that’s a level of faith we need to cry out that in His mercy – we find ourselves able to trust in Him.
Lord, may we learn to pray, as our forefathers did, that You turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries toward you…
And then may we, having seen your mercy.. your heart, your love.. rejoice.
Golf and the Art of Discipleship
Devotion/Discussion thought of the day…
It’s after 2 o’clock and I am finally writing this entry, because I went golfing with a good friend and his son – both of who are much better golfers than I ( I also had some visits to make… please keep my friend Brenda in your prayers – she’s awaiting some reduction in swelling so they can remove her gallbladder..) I had planned to be back here around 10- – but life happens.
A s I was playing golf, it caused me to contemplate on our lives as disciples of Jesus, as those who try to walk with Him, imitate him (or imitate those who serve Him imitating Him). Far too often, my concentration isn’t enough – and though I hit off the tee well, and onto the green, I end up three putting. Or maybe my weight issues cause some imbalance in my swing – and off goes the ball into the trees. And sometimes, on the hole that appears to be the hardest, we relax knowing we can’t make it – and instead hit it perfectly, and find ourselves wondering why we can’t do this – every swing, every time.
It’s that Romans 7-8 thing – the things I want to do – I can’t manage to – the things that I don’t want to do – dang it that’s just going to happen (like on the 7th and 9th hole – where I hit the ball into the same spot in the same exact sand trap!!!!) So often in my Christian life – oh does that happen – I sin and can’t avoid it, I get frustrated because I can’t play like Tiger or Phil, I can’t seem to overcome the sins and anxieties caused by not trusting in God.
As the round ends, as you enjoy a diet coke (or a beer – but we were playing to early for that) , the game fades away, as you remember the laughs, the companionship, and realize what a great time you had – kicking back in the sun, enjoying the trees and the silly squirrel that wanted to attack the ball. That’s what makes the day – not the frustration of averaging a double eagle. So to – at the end of the day, as we realize that our bad “putts” and hooks have been forgotten, as we enjoy the day in the presence of our Father in heaven… as we realize that He just enjoys the walk with us – and He’s the One who judges whether the day was a success, or not – that’s life.
Don’t take the game seriously – enjoy the companionship, the fellowship… with the One who for joy endured the cross, and for laughs let us invent golf…..
The Heart of Worship
In preparing for Sunday’s sermon, I have a great computer program that searches my electronic library. In regards tot he passage from 1 Corinthians 6, this was one of the citations:
“11. But in order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects, it is necessary that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds should be attuned to their voices, and that they should cooperate with divine grace lest they receive it in vain28. Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.[i]
It was never meant to be a spectator sport, where the people of God just get to observe the movements, and listen to the music and sermon. It is far more like a wedding dance, where God leads, we follow, and our eyes are glued to Jesus, even as a bride cannot take her eyes off her husbands. Where we are amazed at the grace, the incredible fluid nature of the blessings He pours out on us, on the way He enjoys the life He has given us, the life He shares with us.
If you are a pastor – help people to realize what they have – help them, guide them in their participation. The same advice I would give choirs and praise teams, Ministers of Worship and Cantors, ushers and greeters, and all who serve.
If you are a visitor or a long time member – don’t hesitate to ask what this part of the service is, why we do this or that. The answer make day a bit – but you will be encouraging others to know what we do, why we do it, as well.
And in all things – may we encourage, may we lift people up, that they may never receive the grace of God in vain.
For the Lord is with you!
Convenient Christianity
Devotional/Discussion thought of the Day:
“ Another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home.’ 62 Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ “
Luke 9:61-62 (NJB)
As a pastor, I struggle a lot with those who have the attitude told in this passage. Who say, “Pastor my faith means everything, but I am going to have to miss church (or Bible Study, or even their own devotional prayer time) because I must go and …(insert favorite hobby, activity, vacation, etc)
Of course, if I am honest, I am not much better, for I will allow things to crash my personal time with God, and there are days… if I didn’t have to go to church, I wouldn’t. Partially because I wonder if what I do is effective enough, or whether it is worth the sacrifice that it costs – sacrifices to me, to my wife and son, to my parents and other relatives.
And then I come across this passage, and others like it, and I feel guilt, or sometimes I want to use this passage and the hundreds like it to provoke guilt in those whose commitment is divided, whose life shows the brokenness that comes from not spending it with God.
It’s not how it works though – for if we only do religious things because we have to, because we have an obligation to, because if we don’t, we feel guilty, then we’ve missed the point.
Religion isn’t about obligations, Christianity isn’t about obeying the commandments for the commandments sake,
It’s about walking (following is a word that denotes going on the same journey with the one we follow) with Christ – sharing our lives even as He has shared His life with us.
The reason my Christianity tends to be “convenient”, the reason Conventient Christianity is the fastest spreading form of it in our area… is because we don’t grasp the treasure of those simple words, “The Lord is with you”.
Lord, help us to know, to intimately get this truth, help us to encourage others to grasp it as well. Help us to follow – and to realize nothing is as precious as our time spent with You and yours…
Our Aim is to Please Him!
We Make it Our Aim to Please Him
2 Corinthians 5:1-17
† In Jesus Name †
May you revel in the grace, mercy and peace – that in which your Father in heaven has provided for you through Jesus. And as you revel in it – may you know you bring Him the greatest pleasure!
The juxtaposition of life… and death
we hear Paul’s words about life, in view of life, and death– to know that this earthly tent that will be stripped away, in view of something not crafted with human hands, but prepared for us by God Himself. To realize that we have confidence as we live this life, trusting in Him, and not focusing on that which we can see, that which surrounds us, that which would distract us from realizing God’s presence now…
Here..
with us.
I used to think of eternity as that which began, as Paul would say, when this earthly tent is stripped from us and we finally experience the our eternal home, the life God has prepared for us – that is when eternity begins.
Yet, looking at our lives from God’s perspective, we already dwell in that kingdom, He has already claimed us, and though we cannot see it, we already live in His presence, for the Holy Spirit has been given to us, until that day when our sight finally matches that promise of God, in which we trust. If we have His perspective, then how we live our lives, what we do, and how we survive the times when we are overwhelmed with life.. and death.
But having an eternal outlook – so well described in Paul’s words,
5:6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
2 Corinthians 5:6-9 (NIV)
The challenge is keeping that focus… or perhaps… the key is realizing that the focus isn’t a focus – but in grasping that He is our Father.
The Challenges to an Eternal Outlook
Given the world we live in, living life with a heavenly focus, setting priorities based on what matters eternally is going to be challenging. There are so many distractions from birth to death, from things external to ourselves and even our own thoughts, our own battles with our earthly nature which focuses in our wants, our desires, our own sense of what brings us pleasure and/or peace.
As I get older – it is less being distracted by pleasure and fun; rather, I find myself distracted by aches and pains, and longing for freedom from them. Paul’s words are so… accurate…
5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:1-4 (NIV)
While the groans are now more physical, in our youth the groans were those of frustration. Either we didn’t get what we wanted, and groaned as we compared reality to our dreams; or we groaned because we achieved those dreams, and found them empty, But the groans were there as well, and I am sure that those a little older than me find some days as full of groans as well. Those groans of course, are but a reaction to those things that draw us away from the promises given to us, the relationship that we struggle to walk in – as we have to ask why things happen to us.
The struggle to live life with an eternal outlook, and make decisions and act based on that with eternal significance is our relationships with sinners. Not just the sinners out there- but the sinners here. The sinners around you. Paul notes the change that occurs, when we see things spiritually, eternally, in the last paragraph.
5:16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 (NIV)
It is easy to look at someone, and based on either generalizations, or indeed, on past actions, and consider them from a worldly point of view – that is, they are jerks or idiots or other names you have created to avoid cursing. Yet, an eternal perspective looks at those people, and realizes that when Jesus says from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do, He was talking about them.
Oh and he was talking about you as well.
But these people are the kind that can distract us, as we look at them with human, earthly eyes, and they challenge our ability to look at things, knowing as we do, that God has cleansed them or would cleanse them in baptism, even as He cleanses himself! Gosh we want them to receive what they are due! That tells us that we also get distracted from this view, when we catch ourselves being distracted, and take our frustrations, either on ourselves, or… on them.
So where is our hope?
Overcoming that challenge…by pleasing God
There is a secret to life, and to death, to all of eternity. A secret which helps us maintain our proper outlook on life, a viewpoint from which our decisions get things right eternally.
It is really simple, at least in Paul’s words,
5:8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 2 Corinthians 5:8-9 (NIV)
It is a well known phrase – that Christianity is less a religion, that it is a relationship. (Of course Lutherans ask the question- why can’t it be both?) If we look at the commandments of scripture as duties, we reduce it only to solely a religion. We have to understand that pleasing God comes from being with Him, being His children as we walk besides Him during life.
On father’s day perhaps – we get this the most – those of us without Father’s – realize how much we miss them – it doesn’t matter if it is a week or a decade. Those of us who have children realize how much we miss them – whether they are five, or fifty. This is the day when were wonder if we’ve went wrong, and/or look for evidence of how good we have been as a father.
If a earthly father rejoices in time with His children, then how much more our heavenly father would? Isn’t that what heaven will be about, being home with the Lord? Feasting with Him, spending time with Him – this isn’t about commandments for commandments sake – its about being with our Father, about pleasing Him, about sharing our lives, and sharing His work. Yes, He knows about your sin, and about the doubts, and hurts that need to be healed. He gives you His Spirit to help you heal, to help you realize the promise, to remind you that you are His child – here or there. He brings you comfort…when all there is, is tears.
He is there.
Pleasing Him, seeing what He desires fulfilled – except our heavenly Father doesn’t want a cold beer while watching a baseball game… He wants to see all His children come home, to realize that even while we apart from Him, we are still His… and because we are, because the Spirit assures us of His promise….
We can live either place…. Walking with Him… pleasing Him… sharing our life, lived in His peace…
AMEN.
Contentment….and the Father’s Day
“We are full of confidence, then, and long instead to be exiled from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 And so whether at home or exiled, we make it our ambition to please him.
2 Corinthians 5:8-9 (NJB)
To please someone, to bring them contentment, to see them with the peace and joy that comes from seeing life in its completeness.
It’s reading an update from a deacon I serve with, who this weekend celebrates Father’s Day, by seeing his daughter graduate from High School, and his son from Junior High. They have accomplished the task, they have finished a stage of life, and all is good. For a moment – a weekend, a summer, it is all good.
I don’t think we get that this same kind of contentment joyous feeling of contentment, of pleasure is experienced by God – when His children are living in His grace, in His peace, as we go through those stages when we “get it” a little more…
When we are baptized (if an adult) and our body reacts to the weight of the sin removed from us, or the look on so many dad’s faces as their children are baptized… and they know the peace that God has poured out on their child, and on them.
When we realize that when we take and eat, and take and drink the Body and Blood of Christ – that it isn’t some act of our obedience that makes it special, but that it is the incredible love of God, spread before us, strengthening our trust in Him, rejoicing in the relationship He has brought us into….
When we love those around us, and show the imprint of the Holy Spirit on our lives. When we show the mercy and peace and love of God …. in a way that seems natural to us, we may not even realize we are reflecting the love of Christ. And in that moment, it is not natural – but supernatural. God working through us, in us… and like a child working at his toy tool bench while his dad is really building something, we too bring a smile to God’s face.. we please Him.
Or when we come crying, broken and beaten up by our sin, and then find the comfort and peace that comes as He cleans us up again… and we allow Him to be our Dad….
It’s not hosting the crusade with 10’s of 1000’s hearing about Christ that is what we can do, to please God, to bring Him contentment….
It’s letting Him be our Father, it’s sharing in His work, it’s in spending time with Him, enjoying His love…
Have a great Father’s Day tomorrow….with your Heavenly Father (today as well!)
Forgiveness or and Odd form of Revenge?
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day – and a hard one at that….
“You were very sorry to hear that most un-Christian comment, “Forgive your enemies: you can’t imagine how it angers them!” You could not keep quiet, and you replied calmly, “I don’t want to cheapen love by humiliating my neighbour. I forgive, because I love, and I am hungry to imitate the Master.” (Escriva, Josemaria )
I too have heard this line, more than a few times, and I hate to say. While I didn’t mean it crassly, reading it hear, makes it sound cold, harsh, and wrong. And it was,
While our intent in saying words is to encourage people to free themselves from the bondage that resentment and the pain of being sinned against brings…. what we actually do is simply give them a way of getting revenge. Instead of reconciling and seeing a relationship healed – we seek frustration and pain – that’s revenge – an odd twisted form of revenge, but still revenge.
Think about the cross – where Christ endured pain to bring forgiveness – pure forgiveness. Did He do it to cause us frustration, anger, pain? No, he did it to restore us to the Father – to heal the relationship. Did he fear being hurt again? For that is often a fear that forestalls forgiveness. A rational one at that – those who hurt us the most – having the opportunity to do so again – if we let them. (and we often suggest that forgiveness includes a sense of self preservation – that we will love enough not to let them sin against us again.) If we forgive to cause them grief – simply put – we haven’t. We simply have found a way to convince ourselves we have gotten our revenge. We haven’t worked to heal… which is what forgiveness is about.
Can we trust in the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit, to love as they love (see yesterday’s blog) to endure the fear, to risk the hurt, to go through what it takes to see a relationship healed? If we were the one that sinned, can we love as we love the Father, Son and Spirit to receive the forgiveness.
We can’t – not by our human strength or forgiveness.
We can – as we look to God – and see His will, His desire. His love – His healing….His peace and realize we are in that will.
Lord, have mercy…for we seriously need that mercy… and help us to heal, and work through us to heal others..
Learning to Forgive? Can I?
“That friend of ours with no false humility used to say, ‘I haven’t need to learn how to forgive, because He taught me how to love.” (Escriva)
We know we need to forgive people- yet some people are so difficult to forgive….we struggle to find the inner strength to overlook our pain, to ignore that inner call to get revenge, or to overcome the fear that we will again find ourselves betrayed, broken and in pain…..
Let’s face it -we don’t have such strength – and while we can learn of the need to forgive – and the benefit to both the one forgiven, and the one who forgives, there are still those times… sigh…where we cannot.
It is then we look to Christ- and perhaps with some guilt and shame – hear His words, “forgive our sins, as we forgive those…” and we wonder if we will ever be saved.
The secret sn’t to find the fortitude – it’s to be taught to love. The love of Christ, looking down on us, saying “Father forgive them…” If you find you can love them – you will forgive them….you will look for ways to heal the broken relationship, to find a way to reconcile – you will be the one desiring to take the first step -whether you are the one needing to forgive, or be forgiven.
And how are we taught to love… by looking to, by adoring, by seeing Christ with you…..
So even as you have trusted in God to forgive you, let Him truly teach you that is it because of love…that He sent Jesus..
Go in His peace…to love..today.
The Sacrament of….???? Prayer??? Really?
Discussion/Devotional Thought of the Day:
“16 Ultimately, if we should list as sacraments all the things that have God’s command and a promise added to them, then why not prayer, which can most truly be called a sacrament? It has both the command of God and many promises. If it were placed among the sacraments and thus given, so to speak, a more exalted position, this would move men to pray.” Apology of the Augsburg Confession Article XIII
Some pastors and people in my denomination, if asked about the sacraments, would probably indicate that there are two, or perhaps three. (In fact, I have heard and read arguments about whether the third (Confession and Absolution) is really a sacrament. As our area pastors gathered yesterday, we looked at this particular article – and how it describes and defines our trust in God. It was an enlightening discussion for both us more… chronologically mature types (4 of us middle age with 20 years in ministry plus) and the three “new guys” to ministry.
I think what we realized, perhaps more than that we need to be encourage each other and our people to look to more than a “new member’s course/catechism” is how much God pours into our lives, His comforting presence, and the promises that are made sure and are guaranteed. THe next day or two, a quick mention of a couple other sacraments – things commissioned by God, to which promises of His mercy and love are attached.
Today though – a quick look at prayer – whether it is reciting the Lord’s prayer, which simply contains everything of every prayer, whether praying through the psalms, or some litany, or whether we are simply pouring out our hearts – letting the Holy Spirit purge us of worries, anxieties, sins, guilt and shame, or just waiting in stillness for God’s promised comfort, this is a holy sacred time, a time set apart – by both God and us, for us to realize His grace, mercy, love, peace, kindness… that He shares with us, that He causes us to abide in…..
And therefore – yes – if calling it a sacrament – which is no stretch… encourages men to pray… to spend time in the sacred manner… walking with their Heavenly Father… then so let us call it a sacrament, encourage it, and teach people to treasure it….
The next to last paragraph of what we shared… is so relavent – and a thought to end with…as we try to live life, focused on Christ, yet assaulted by the anxieties and sins of a broken world…
” 22 Such use of the sacrament comforts devout and troubled minds.”
Comfort us Lord!
The Heart of an apostolic disciple
Discussion/devotional thought of the day:
“After twenty centuries, we have to proclaim with complete conviction that the spirit of Christ has not lost its redemptive force, which alone can satisfy the desires of the human heart. Begin by feeding the truth into your own heart, which will be perpetually restless, as Saint Augustine wrote, for as long as you don’t place it entirely in God.” (escriva)
My thoughts:
Over the years, in different denominations, I have that the proclaiming fo the gospel – the sharing of Christ’s mercy and love, is the responsibility of the pastor/priest/church planter/missionary. It is they who are supposed to have the zeal, the wisdom and the knowledge that will lead the billions of people on this planet to Christ, and their preaching will be used apostolically by the Holy Spirit to cut open hearts, to cleanse the sin and repressed anger (as others sin) to bring to life and faith those who would know the promises found in Christ.
Pragmatically I have struggled with this – as some of the greatest apostolic hearts I have seen in young children – for they simply love God, trust in what is promised and tell people about that. I’ve seen it in retirement homes, as eyes barely able to see the pages of scripture and voices confined to wheelchairs share their faith with those around them. I’ve seen it in the jails, where a man in his seventies – who had heard a sermon that reminded him of God’s love – asked permission of the chaplain to share what he heard – for he was under the impression that he wasn’t allowed to, he wasn’t good enough, that God couldn’t use one like him. Given permission to share the grace he knew – but struggled to accept – he filled the chapel the next night….
Anyone who walks with Christ, who trusts in Him in this life and for the next – has a treasure that grows as it is given out – it is the richest of treasures – for it gives that which we need.
We confess that the church is one, its holy, it is catholic (in other words it is more than us, or our congregation, or our brotherhood/denomination) and it is apostolic – but that doesn’t just mean it is founded on the teachings of the apostles, It also means that we are part of the apostolate – all of us, those sent by God to be salt and light in a world that needs something to save and preserve it, to reflect His light into the darkest, slimiest, most putrid of places – lives those who sin… – and then rejoice as they are cleansed….we all pastors/priests/laypeople…. children, the elderly, the intelligent, the average, the simple – we all are sent into this world…
Lord – help us this morning – to realize who You are sending us, and give us the wisdom to reflect Your love and mercy to them… that they may be sure that they are welcome in your presence…. AMEN.
