Monthly Archives: July 2013
The God Who Comforts….
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 The Sovereign LORD has filled me with his Spirit. He has chosen me and sent me To bring good news to the poor, To heal the broken-hearted, To announce release to captives And freedom to those in prison. 2 He has sent me to proclaim That the time has come When the LORD will save his people And defeat their enemies. He has sent me to comfort all who mourn, Isaiah 61:1-2 (TEV)
“You shall have no other gods.” 1 That is, you shall regard me alone as your God. What does this mean, and how is it to be understood? What is to have a god? What is God? 2 Answer: A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart. As I have often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. 3 If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God. (1)
It is for most men, one of the hardest images of God to grasp onto, because our pride gets so in the way. We want to be the ones who endure, the ones whom secure the victory, the ones who at the end of the day, soaked in sweat and blood, can rejoice that we are alive. The last thing we want to admit – we need this God, because He does the exact thing we don’t want to admit that we need.
Comfort.
The God who comforts, the God who consoles. The God who is so adept at comforting us, that the prophets don’t describe Him just as a father-figure, but use the illustration of a mother comforting her infant. But throughout the Old Testament, and especially in the major prophets, this is a strong picture of God – the one who comforts and strengthens (a number of times strengthens replaces the same word for comfort..and the word picture is a great sigh of relief)
It’s knowing we can’t go on anymore, we can’t take another step, or we feel like we can breathe. Then, we realize His presence, and the breathe is one of relaxation, as we realize we can rest in His presence. All is well.. or so our hearts know, even as our minds still anxiously struggle with the implications of something. We breathe deeply of the Spirit, we know we’ve found, as Luther says – refuge, sanctuary.
Our God has once again proven Himself to be God. He shows us we can trust in Him, even when we can’t believe the wars that surround us. Even though we struggle with what seems to be the world, or our nation, or our church, going to pieces.
A God of comfort – one who brings us to a place of peace, a place of nourishment, a place of blessing, as He comforts us, as He consoles us… as He reminds us that He is God.
Lord have mercy on us all, and help us to find comfort in that mercy… even us guys…
HOLY SPIRIT – FOIX (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
(1) The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 1959 (T. G. Tappert, Ed.) (365). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
The Core of Pastoral Preparation: The Cross (Evangelical Catholic XVI)
Devotional thought of the Day:
15 I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. 17 This, then, is what I command you: love one another. John 15:15-17 (TEV)
For unless a man is a radically converted Christian disciple— one who, in gazing upon the Cross, knows himself to be looking at the great truth at the center of human history— he will not be able to bring to the world, through his ministry, the truth that “God so loved the world that he gave his Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [John 3.16].
As I continue reading through Weigel’s Book, Evangelcial Catholicism< I am once again both pleased and disturbed by what I read. ( I am disturbed because one again, I find him so in agreement with Luther – and yet we are still divided )
English: Christ on the Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The quote above comes from the section on the priesthood – how the movement that started to reform the church and resulted in Vatican II and is still trying to come to its fullest fruit. Weigel shows the idea that the priesthood is not some kind of clerical caste, some kind of special profession – but it is above all, focused on the cross – and therefore missional. (I’ve written about this elsewhere – numerous times – we are not, pastors and priests – professionals…. we serve alongside our Lord.)
Everything changes because of the cross – everything in history focuses on that point.
And its that which is the center then of our ministry – as we bring people to Christ’s cross – so that the sin in us can be killed off, so that we can be brought to life in Him (again – see Ezekeil 26:25ff and 37, Romans 6 and Colossian 2-3) That is the core of our ministry, whether we pastor a church of 10,000 with a television ministry, or we pastor a church that is simply a few families. The only thing we can offer people is simple – it is the love and mercy of Christ that meets them where they are at, and transforms us. Anything else but that at the center of our ministry is simply unacceptable. It is not the calling that has been placed n our lives – the calling we have is to reveal Christ, to make Him known, to show the cross as the way in which He brings us to share in His glory.
As we prepare to preach and to hear our pastors and priests preach this weekend… may we remember why we do what we do… that all would come to know God, and be transformed by His love! Amen
Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (p. 140). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Being in Ministry: a Profession or a Vocational Life? (Review of Evangelical Catholic pt. XV) (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Who should lead our churches? Evangelical Catholic Review #12 (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Are pastors professional leaders, or servants? ( Evangelical Catholic XIV – plus some Luther) (justifiedandsinner.com)
Would you like a better life?
Scenes from the Passion of Christ: Christ on the Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness. John 10:10 (TEV)
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. Philippians 4:11-14 (NLT)
Live in the presence of God and you will have supernatural life. (1)
If historians centuries in the future judge our culture based on FB entries, I wonder how they will judge us? Will they see us as a content and happy lot, or will they find us a bunch of unsatisfied whiners who complain about everything from our government to our church to our shopping experiences to of course our freeway speeds?
Would we take a different life, if we thought the option was better?
The odd thing is, our life could be better, more abundant, more incredible.
If we only took the time to realize what is given to us in our baptism, in the Lord’s supper,
If we could only realize that we actually live in the presence of God, it is His promise, and it changes everything.
.
That’s how Paul could be content in everything even in jail, That’s how martyrs can find joy, as the 2nd martyr, Stephen did. (the first martyr, in my thinking was Christ – who testified to the Father’s love with His death) That’s how St. Francis could find joy working with people with leprosy, or Bonhoeffer could write such incredible works while training men and doing time in jail. Indeed that’s how Jesus could endure the shame of the cross – looking to the joy that walking with us would be.
I will admit – it is a challenge – to leave our burdens to God, to simply walk in His presence.
But oh! When we do… when we realize He desires to carry our burdens, as we walk with Him through this life.
It is a different life, it is a better life… this walking with Jesus.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 738-739). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- The Limits of Pleasure and Happiness (justifiedandsinner.com)
- What Do We Choose to Invite into our Lives? (justifiedandsinner.com)
The Chief Purpose of all Preaching…
Jesus christ(coptic) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
1 When I came to you, my friends, to preach God’s secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. 2 For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (TEV)
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me. Colossians 1:27-29 (TEV)
“Homileticians from a wide variety of Christian traditions advocate the preaching of Christ. For example, the Roman Catholic author Domenico Grasso states, “The object and content of preaching is Christ, the Word in which the Father expresses Himself and communicates His will to man.” The Eastern Orthodox Georges Florovsky asserts, “Ministers are commissioned and ordained in the church precisely to preach the Word of God. They are given some fixed terms of reference – namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ – and they are committed to this sole and perennial message.” The Lutheran homiletician M. Reu contends, “It is necessary that the sermon be Christocentric, have no one and nothing else for its centre and content than Christ Jesus.” The Reformed homiletician T. Hoekstra maintains, “In expositing Scripture for the congregation, the preacher … must show that there is a way to the center even from the farthest point on the periphery. For a sermon without Christ is no sermon.” And the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon says, “Preach Christ, always and everywhere. He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme.”5 Authors from a broad spectrum of traditions, therefore, testify to the necessity of preaching Christ.” (1)
Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ]. (2)
Just shy of 30 years ago, I met a very humble and unique man, my first professor of preaching, Doug Dickey. As I tried to learn to write sermons, Doug instilling in me a mantra, “Dustin, if it’s not about Christ, it’s not a sermon!” I would try to preach about saving the world, about being a better person, about all sort of good things I saw in the text. But Doug kept on coming back to the basic concept – it had to be about Jesus and His work to bring us to the Father. I would love to say I learned quickly from Doug, who also ran the college’s ministry to the huge Cal State across the street, but… well.. I was a typical sophomore… a very wise fool. Two of the passages that convinced me are there above.
Yesterday, in starting my doctoral work, I am well aware of the wise fool in my, and my ability to go off on tangents that are stimulating and enjoyable and lack any mention of God’s desire to save us, or His work in setting us apart for His purposes of fellowship and loving service of those we encounter. It was in my first book to read, that I ran across the quote above, noting that this idea of revealing to people God’s love and His desire for them to share in His glory is not just a Restoration Movement ideal, or that of Luther, but it crosses the lines of the church that divide us. If there is a point where the church can, no must unite, it is here, in Christ to who we are united in both His death and His resurrection. In the end, litle else will matter, and in truth, in this life nothing else matters as much.
We can talk about all the sins of the world (but not our own), we can point to the glorious worship (which ever is our style) we can talk of leadership or marriage, of finding fulfilment, of motivating people to save the world. We can call ourselves missional, or confessional, liberal or conservative, traditional or contemporary. It doesn’t matter.
Unless we reveal the love of God, unless we share His desire to see all brought to repentance/transformation, unless we show how that is what He is doing in us because of the cross….
Our work is in vain…
Thanks Doug – for helping me realize that Jesus Christ is not just the core of our message – He is our message.
(1)Sidney Greidanus. Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Kindle Locations 118-126). Kindle Edition.
(2) — Augsberg Confession, Article XXIV, Wordsearch Electronic Edition
Doesn’t God Care I am Tired?
My devotional thoughts for today…
27 Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “GOD has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? 28 Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? GOD doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. 29 He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. 30 For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. 31 But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. Isaiah 40:27-31 (MSG)
You ask me, “Why that wooden cross?” And I quote from a letter: “As I raise my eyes from the microscope, my sight comes to rest on the cross—black and empty. That cross without a corpus is a symbol; it has a meaning others won’t see. And I, tired out and on the point of abandoning my work, once again bring my eyes close to the lens and continue. For that lonely cross is calling for a pair of shoulders to bear it.” (1)
It’s going to be another long day, I will probably be “working” late into the evening. The emotional roller coaster that hit top speed last Wednesday continues, and the work is piling up.
I know some of the people I am working with are far more challenged, far more weary, far more exhausted, and their burdens I struggle to turn over to God, (even though I know He has them already… I feel a need to help)
But there are days where I echo thoughts I know are said by those around me, as they question God. There are times where even as we pray, we wonder if He is listening. We leave Him, as He has asked – our burdens, but we anxiously wonder if they will be picked up. How are we to leave those burdens, those anxieties behind? How are we to keep moving, when it seems like we have no energy left? How are we to stop our complaining, our critiquing, our whining? They are the outbursts of people that are tired and weary>
As I read Escriva’s simple words, they simplify the problem, and identify what I know. Our work is our cross, our times of toil and tears is ours to bear. Even as I desire to abandon it, even as I desire to call ir a day, I know that I can keep going, I know that God’s work isn’t as heavy as I complain about, as I whine about. When I do, I am missing out on something, and I admit I miss out to often. The challenge isn’t the work after all, it is realizing what Isaiah says.
Do I know God is with me?
Do I realize His promises to sustain me?
Do I realize I do not bear this cross alone, but it is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who is strengthening me? Do I know His compassion?
The Holy Family with God the Father and the Holy Spirit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We need to realize that in those burdens, in these crosses we take up, we find fellowship, we find communion with God. We find out He is here, that we aren’t alone. The burden doesn’t weigh as much. When we realize this the burden does fade, the sweat and tears are replaced with peace, and His strength – always there, becomes known, and we begin to rejoice.
In truth, it has nothing to do with our age, our strength, the size of the burden, what causes us to take it up, is knowing Him, being with Him.
Does God care I am tired? Yes.. which is why He is here….lifting me up with His presence.
We need to listen when we cry, “Lord have mercy!” For then we can hear the answer!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 735-738). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Some Feedback Please
Blogging is a strange world. Especially now when I’ve posted some 400 entries, been read in 80 plus countries, and am overwhelmed by over 100 followers) Over this weekend, I’ve met a few people who said they’ve read my blog – and liked it. (Hmmm … that could be a song) They could even remember some of the things they liked reading! Which for me is really encouraging.
But I don’t mind constructive criticism, or even desconstructive criticism – there is usually a seed of truth there that I can learn from. I also don’t mind the – wow, I never thought about it that way…
So – please leave me some comments about what you like or don’t like about my blog – where you think I can improve, even what you hate about it….
What I really want is some ideas of how I can improve my writing for you – so the best way… ask.
(If you want to write privately – you can send it to my email address – cerritos.pastor@gmail.com
At any rate – thanks!
Do we understand the depth of forgiveness?
Lord’s Prayer in greek in the Pater Noster Chapel in Jerusalem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
devotional thought of the day…..
8 The LORD is merciful and loving, slow to become angry and full of constant love. 9 He does not keep on rebuking; he is not angry forever. 10 He does not punish us as we deserve or repay us according to our sins and wrongs. 11 As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who honor him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins from us. 13 As a father is kind to his children, so the LORD is kind to those who honor him. 14 He knows what we are made of; he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:8-14 (TEV)
Don’t think any more about your fall. Besides overwhelming and crushing you under its weight, that recollection may easily be an occasion of future temptation. Christ has forgiven you! Forget the “old man”—your former self. (1)
It has been said that those that don’t learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
While not scriptural, there are many areas that it is true, though sometimes you have to spin it.. just a little.
Dealing with sin, we find that it needs a bit more spinning. For what we are to remember is not the sin, nor the shame. God remembers none, once He has cleansed us of it. Those actions, words, thoughts, or lack of action and words have no power over us. It is broken. God’s love shatters that link between our hearts and the sin – and they are separated as far as the east as is from the West. The prodigal is no longer away… you and I have come home. The Father has welcomed us, as our elder brother has come and brought us home. There is no reason for grieving over the past – as the psalmist rejoiced – God remembers how He made us, and that He knew we would need to be cleansed and healed..
And that is what we must remember – the “welcome home” feast. The Father’s hug! The celebration!
That is the lesson we need to learn from the past – the forgiveness, the mercy, the joy of our Father – the work of God in our lives.
Don’t dwell on your past sins – but rather rejoice in the reconciliation that has come to be our reality, on the work of God that enables us to be welcomed into His presence, on the joy on His face, as we stand before Him.
So learn from your past…. learn the power of His love and mercy… and when the time comes… show that Godly mercy and love to those that sin against you.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 693-695). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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