Monthly Archives: March 2015
Lament and Prayer: An Option to Dealing With Others….
Devotional Thought of The Day:
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me! 38 And so your Temple will be abandoned and empty. 39 From now on, I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, ‘God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord.’ “ Matthew 23:37-39 (TEV)
14 “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. 15 I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. 16 When that day comes,” says the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’ Hosea 2:14-16 (NLT)
In the last few days, I have seen behavior that causes me to mourn. That needs to be rephrased, I see behaviours hat cause me to mourn, and indeed, cause me to want to pray.
It starts with someone who writes or proposes something that is heretical, or so close to it that it does not matter. In a couple of these cases, (there isn’t just one) it has been pastors or professors who have denied Christ’s existence. Yet would stay “in the ministry” because it is not about Him. It is about the people, he claims. Not about God and His people.
The pain they cause is real. Even from a distance, those who value their relationship with Christ, the hope gained by knowing and trusting Him, feel immense pain. The reaction is to strike out. We find ourselves judging such men, mocking them, condemning them in our hearts and attempting to in the court of public opinion. We feel their betrayal of God as a betrayal of all we stand for, and we do not know how to respond. I’ve even read of some praying, no, cursing them in the name of God.
So we meet evil head on, by doing evil in return. Like in days of old we symbolically rip our clothes, and consdier them dead to us. We shun them. Okay, really we don’t – we try to get close enough to “kill” them with our words, to do battle with their viewpoint and crush it under our superious knowledge, and if that doesn’t work, by our castic wit.
I have an option for dealing with our pain, with the betrayal, with those who have thrown away and tried to crush our Spirit.
Rather than react to them, I suggest we weep and mourn for them. We cry out to God the Father, just as jesus did! We need to lament and pray and intercede, that they would know God’s love, that they would find healing as the Holy Spirit comforts and strengthens them. In order for a person to come to a heretical position or notion, something has broken. Something has deluded them, something is holding them in bondage. Something they are most likely blind too, caught up in the darkness. To mock and curse them is like putting tripping hazards before a blind man.
It is a sin.
Can we mourn for them, can we weep and intercede fo them in prayer? Can we desire their reconciliation to God? Can we like Hosea’s chasing after Gomer, as the Father’s sending the Son to die, can we go beyond our brokenness to engage them, to confront them directly, in love?
Can we encourage those who would judge, mock condemn and curse them to pray for them, to be prepared to even sacrifice time to pray, and if led to , to lovingly confront those who are erring?
Which reaction testifies to God’s glory and action in our lives? Which option tells others of our confidence in the mercy and love of Christ?
We need to learn to lament, to pray, to plead for their souls…. and to love them. It is for this that we’ve been called, that we would walk in the steps of Christ.
AMEN.
Where God Puts His Name
Where God Puts His Name
1 Kings 8:22-30; 41-43
† In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit! †
May your ministry as people and pastors, proclaim the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to all of the broken people you come in contact with, including each other
When God Put His Name
Ted my friend, today you are going to hear some very special words… then again, you have heard them before. Sometimes with your ears, and other times, they sunk right down into your soul.
The first time your soul heard these special words, was just three years after the end of World War II. You were only three months and seven days old, and before you could even play the organ (I think), those words forever changed you, and your life. God marked you with them, He put His name on you in Baptism.
I messaged you last week, and asked you to think about how many times you’ve heard them in your life, and I could hear you laughing. Just the number of times you heard them, while sitting over on that organ bench, is beyond count.
From that bench, you heard Dr. Hendry say them, and Pastor Jerry, you heard the Reverend Vicar Dustin say them, and watched Vicar Matthew say them, and heard Dr. Stoterau say them, when Matt became a pastor, your pastor.
Each time you heard them, it was a blessing. It was a moment to remember and re-call that God made you one of His children, and the blessings of that relationship, both in this life and for eternity.
Today, when Dr. Stoterau says them over you as you are ordained, it is not for your sake, it is not to bless you. Stand up, and look around, see your friends, your church family. The reason you will hear these words is for their blessing… even as it costs you.
Adter you hear the words “I ordain you”, these are those special words, “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. Those words are for them to hear, as God places His name here, for them! When you see the excitement in their eyes, because God has marked you again with His name, when they are as excited as Patriot fans in February, it is for their sake you will endure this. They may not realize it, but those words are for them.
The Parable of Solomon’s Temple
The Old Testament reading this afternoon is a parable, an illustration for everyone here to understand what ordination is.
As Solomon prays, he reveals why God puts His name places, why He will identify certain buildings and people to have an identity that is set apart from the norm. Maybe that is why pastors are not all that normal! Seriously, you know enough of us Ted to know it is not that the person who is ordained is anything special, it the reason that God ordains us that is special…
The same reason the Temple was built, for your parish to know that God hears their prayers, and responds to their prayers.
For Your “Identified” Parish!
When someone works as a chaplain, or a social worker in the medical field, you talk of your identified clients, and your unidentified clients. It is true about ministry as well You have your identified parish, and your real parish,
Your identified parish is the people here at Good Shepherd, the members, regular attendees, young and old, brand new Christians and those who have been Christians back into the middle of the last century.
When they come to you, whether it is here, or to your home, or at C&S coffee shop, pray with them, just like people went to the temple of Solomon. As you do, assure them, what was true in Solomon’s day, is still true. He prayed,
And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
By the way, this is the hardest part of your ministry, and sometimes the most frustrating. For in helping them to hear that God forgives them, you must remind them that they need to be forgiven.
That can happen in a coffee shop, as you preach, or hear their confession. It can happen as you counsel them.
Every one of us needs to know that God desires to forgive us, to heal our brokenness, to give us hope. Every one of us, including your peers in ministry, especially us. For if God can clean us up…
That is why God is marking you with His name. So that they can know that nothing will separate them from God, including their sin, and the sin of this world. As John writes in his first epistle, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous forgiving us of sin, and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.”
Still, they will not like to hear that they are sinners. Be patient and loving and you will get past that. They realize you are here, that God has put His name on you to assure them of that forgiveness, so they could audibly hear it, then, they will rejoice.
That is why you will preach, that is what you guarantee them in baptism, and part of what they receive as they the Body and Blood of Christ. It is what they hear when you say, as a called and ordained servant, I forgive you in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You will use His name, as He calls you to, and they will know they have been reconciled to God.
It is what they need, what God wants them to have.
It is why He marks you with His name today. To make sure they know His love and mercy!
For Your “Real” parish
Solomon’s prayer insisted that the temple was not built just for Israel. It is the same thing for you. Never think your people are only the people who find their way here on Sunday morning.
Your parish includes every person that comes to you! It includes the former students of La Contenta; the people you know about the town; anybody who knows you are a pastor. Your parish includes those who come up to and says, “Ted, can I have a few moments of your time, I need to talk.” It might be a former co-worker, it might even be one of these guys dressed funny. It might even be someone you do not know, who sees you in your collar.
God is putting His name on you for them that they too could pray, even if they do not know God by name yet! God knows their name, and He will have them contact you, so that you can encourage them to pray. Remember Solomon’s words here as well,
“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, 42 for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, 43 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name. 1 Kings 8:41-43 (NLT)
The same Name that will mark you as one of the shepherds that He has given to His people. Not to make you famous, or special.
He is putting His name on you again, so they can know Him.
I’ve said this day, this time is a blessing for all of the people you know, and will know.
God placing His name on you is going to cost you a lot, and I am not just talking about those college loans. You already know this, that you will spend time at people’s bedsides. You will miss dinners (and Barb will miss you cooking dinner!). You will hand someone those last couple of bills you have in your pocket. You will cry with them, rejoice with them… be crushed when they refuse to repent, dance (reverently) when the prodigal comes home.
You will be here. You will be the place where God has put His name. So the believer can pray and know that God hears… and forgives. So that the unbeliever can pray, and know God hears… and know and trust in Him.
Those two things will make it all worth it.
When God puts His name on you, and makes you one of those that gets to help people realize He makes them His… I cannot explain the joy of this ministry (I can explain the pain) …but you will know it.
Blessings to you my friend, for God has made you His child by placing His name on you, and is putting His name on you again, to bless them, and so many others,
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit! AMEN!
A Godly Paradox: The Blessing of a Angry, Jealous God
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 GOD, you smiled on your good earth! You brought good times back to Jacob! 2 You lifted the cloud of guilt from your people, you put their sins far out of sight. 3 You took back your sin-provoked threats, you cooled your hot, righteous anger. 4 Help us again, God of our help; don’t hold a grudge against us forever. 5 You aren’t going to keep this up, are you? Scowling and angry, year after year? 6 Why not help us make a fresh start—a resurrection life? Then your people will laugh and sing! 7 Show us how much you love us, GOD! Give us the salvation we need! 8 I can’t wait to hear what he’ll say. GOD’s about to pronounce his people well, The holy people he loves so much, so they’ll never again live like fools. Psalm 85:1-8 (MSG)
1 I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. 3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 (NLT)
We find in scripture many mysteries, many things that we can know, but never quite understand. There are also things that we label paradox, the things we can understand, yet seem, not quite right, perhaps a little unbelievable.
The concept of a jealous God fits that last category, and if we don’t work through it, we will never understand His anger, and why He threatens and pours out His wrath.
If we do understand why God is a jealous God, if we understand why He is angry, there is a wonderful blessing to be known. A simple blessing.
Here it is:
You don’t get jealous, you don’t get angry when a relationship is stepped all over, or worse, ignored, unless you care, and care deeply.
God’s anger, God’s jealousy is proof of how much He loves us, how much He cares, how he longs to show us His mercy and love.
But this seems paradoxical at first. So take a moment, stop, breath a few times and think it through,
We like the fact that God is patient with us, but does patience have a cost? Of course it does. It means that God is willing to wait until we remember He is there, until we come to our senses, until the Holy Spirit’s work is done.
We like the fact that God is willing to go to extremes to bring us back to Him. Searching for us, (even though He knows where we are), calling to us; sending us messengers prophets and evangelists, and shepherds to rescue us and guide us,
Foreknowledge doesn’t turn God into some kind of metaphysical robot, It doesn’t take away the pain of the times we rebel, of the times we walk away, the times we choose to sin rather then revel in His love and care. While He knows the outcome, that doesn’t relieve the sorrow He knows as we spend time away from Him, as we spend time like the prodigal, dirty and muddy and hungry for something that will sustain us.
God wants this intimate relationship with us, He wants to care for us, to be our God, we His beloved children.
When stuff gets in the way of this relationship, when we create other things that would take His place, that we trust in, that we place our hopes in, He would destroy them. And someday He will. Yet for those who trust in Him, the wrather and anger that we deserve, that we are owed. God dealt with that too, and poured out all His anger and wrath, because He desires this, and was jealous of how we spend our time and energy, by nailing Jesus to the cross.
In doing so, we can be restored, the jealousy fades and we become what He desires more than anything…. HIs family.
Rejoice that we are in the hands of an angry God….. and realize that His desire for us is a blessed thing!
Dare We Pray, THY Will Be Done?
Do we Dare Pray:
Thy Will Be Done On Earth?
May you be so aware of the grace and mercy of God our Father that you desire and to see His will revealed in your life!
A Picture of God’s Will, made Complete in heaven:
I want to re-read the Revelation passage, that describe what God’s will looks like, when revealed in Heaven:
9 When this was done I looked again, and before my eyes appeared a vast crowd beyond man’s power to number. They came from every nation and tribe and people and language, and they stood before the throne of the Lamb, dressed in white robes with palm-branches in their hands. With a great voice they shouted these words: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!”
11 Then all the angels stood encircling the throne, the elders and the four living creatures, and prostrated themselves with heads bowed before the throne and worshipped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength be given to our God for timeless ages!” Revelation 7:9-14 (Phillips NT)
It is the vision of the Nunc Dimitis, the incredible song Simeon spoke as he held Jesus. The song we will sing, having been given Christ’s body and blood…
29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. 30 I have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared for all people. 32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:29-32 (NLT)
When we pray for God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, we are asking Him to save the world, to bring us all into a relationship with God the father, through Christ. To see the love of God revealed, to and in the people we know, to see them join the name of those whose names are written in the book of life.
What a thing to celebrate.
For every time a sinner is welcome home, cleansed and made a child of God, the heavens rejoice, and so should we!
Every time they learn to pray and trust to lay everything in God’s hands, including their very lives, the joy of heaven is inexpressible. God’s will had been revealed in our midst. Every time we approach this altar and share in His feast…. His will is seen again, for we take His body and blood into us, even as we have been joined to His death, and the resurrection, and added to the number whose voices will thunder His praises!
But Why Would We Hesitate?
To see this happen, what needs to happen to us?
Do we dare pray this happen?
Do we realize what we are asking God to do? How He will change us?
What will it take, for Jesus to be that well known here by people here, in our little corner of Cerritos?
it is the same question that Chris asked a couple of weeks ago, when He asked what it meant for God’s name to be Holy in this place. We are going to have to let God, not Chris or Albert or I, meddle in our lives.
We will have to embrace being uncomfortable, as we have to make sure our traditions and practices work to draw people to Jesus, that what we do and say and think reveal that our lives have been changed by God, and that we are eternally grateful.
We will have to embrace change, as God cleans us up, ridding our lives of our desires, our words and actions that aren’t consistent with His will, strengthening us against the temptation, ridding our hearts of anything that isn’t loving towards anyone.
We are asking God to invade our lives, and rip out anything that isn’t loving, that isn’t reflecting His love and mercy.
Because if His will is to be seen in our midst, it has to be seen in our lives.
You resent others? That has to go.
You hold on to things people have done and said to you? Those feelings and thoughts have to go.
You are jealous and envious of others things or relationships or roles because you deserve better – that attitude has to go.
You would rather be safe and secure, rather than be willing to give up all, that some would know Jesus? Time for that to change as well.
Frustrations, Anxieties, Lust, unrighteous anger, desire for revenge?
They all go, because they will stop you from realizing the will of God, and seeing what God desires happening in your life, in our life together.
Do you still want to pray this prayer?
Are you ready to?
Why We Pray this may be done among us.
So why do we pray this?
Go back to the vision, of people from every place and time, from every culture, from every language coming together in the presence of God – all of gathered as His people, as His family.
To a place where tears no longer flow, where there are no enemies, no adversaries. Where we gather to celebrate His love, to see the miracle that we are, when we have been saved, and realize that God wanted to do this very thing.
To realize that when we pray this, that God’s will be done, it is being done in our lives, personally, and as a community. Right now! When see someone baptized, and united to Christ means they are united to us as well, they become part of that crowd that will be there in heaven, with each of us. This service is a foretaste of that To kneel at this altar with people, to be part of the great company of heaven singing His praises.
You and I, despite our selfishness, despite our sin, welcome into His kingdom, and not just welcome, but welcome as His children, His blessed children He wants to share His glory with. His greatest desire, His will is that we would be with Him.
May it happen in heaven… and may it happen here and now….
For the Lord is with us, and we know we need to know His will, will be done here in our lives. So let us spend the rest of this service talking in prayer with our Father…. Amen!
Who Can Pray?
11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)
41 “When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, 43 listen to his prayer. In heaven, where you live, hear him and do what he asks you to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know you and obey you, as your people Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where you are to be worshiped. 1 Kings 8:41-43 (TEV)
20 Some Greeks were among those who had gone to Jerusalem to worship during the festival. 21 They went to Philip (he was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” John 12:20-21 (TEV)
I really do believe that a serious danger of losing the way threatens those who launch out into action—activism—while neglecting prayer, self-denial, and those means without which it is impossible to achieve a solid piety: receiving the Sacraments frequently, meditation, examination of conscience, spiritual reading, and constant recourse to our Lady and the guardian angels … Besides, all these means contribute in a way that nothing else can, to making the Christian’s daily life a joyful one, for from their hidden riches flow out the sweetness and joy of God, like honey from the comb.
All who are outside the Christian church, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites, even though they believe in and worship only the one, true God, nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing. Therefore they remain in eternal wrath and damnation, for they do not have the Lord Christ, and, besides, they are not illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (2)
This post started out as a discussion point, based on a conversation yesterday. The question then was, can a unbeliever pray to God, and can a Christian pray with, instead of for, a unbeliever, or someone who believes in some other deity. (including themselves)
But even as I am writing this, and pulling out the quotes above, I am convinced the question is not whether they can pray. Rather, the question is why people do not, including those who should know the blessing of prayer. For many know the promises of spending intimate time, whether a few minutes or hours or a weekend in prayer.
Finding relief from burdens, finding confidence in God’s presence, even in the midst of adversity, hearing God’s voice and knowing the comfort His presence brings. Learning to understand what brings Him joy, and crying with Him over those who do not hear Him. Just spending time with Him.
Prayer is important enough that Solomon dedicated the temple where God put His name, in order that His people would know nothing, especially their own sin, could separate them from His love. He set aside an area for what is noted above – that those who heard of them but were not God’s people (yet) could pray, That they cold recognise the desire for eternity that was in their hearts, was placed there so they would seek Him! That even those, like the Gentiles (term for people not in a covenant relationship with God) could ask to see Him. That Samaritans and prostitutes and tax collecters and everyone would know HIs desire – that they would be drawn to them.
That they would be His people, that they would become the children of the Father, the brothers and sisters and friends of Jesus.
They would converse with God. That they would share His life, and He would share in theirs. No, that He would be theirs. This is what prayer is, the dialog of those in a special, intimate relationship. God and His people.
It may scare us at first, it usually does. Gideon was afraid, as was Isaiah. David was when he realized his desire gave way to sin, and that meant he would alienate the Holy Spirit. The idea of intimacy with God may be scary, but not if we realize that this is His idea, that this is the scope of His work.
Anyone can call out to God, even if all they know is what general revelation speaks of, as the heavens and earth declare His glory. That cry can be a simple save me, or Lord, I need to know you are out there. And we can pray that with them, for we know the difference it makes in our life.
And we should pray, dear fellow believers. Whether it is simply because we know God commands and encourages it or because we are coming to realize that mercy and love that He has for us. It may start out as an exercise, a discipline. It will turn into a life…. a life walked in/with Christ. A life we all need, desperately, a life of prayer that becomes a joy.
A life that sustains us….and causes us to weep for those who do not know it….yet.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 502-506). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 419). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
The Attitude of Endurance Part I
The Attitude of Endurance Pt 1
John 2:13-22
As You Journey through this life, may the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ convince you of the God’s passionate care for His people!
Nothing will stand in the way
Attitude is often the difference between victory, and failure.
For a student, it is necessary, in order to master the material. Determination makes the difference, far more often than intelligence does. For some things can only be learned through slow repetition. Attitude matters then because a determined attitude will see you through the boring times
For an athlete, an attitude of determination can be the difference between victory and defeat. When an inch matters, determination can stop your opponent.
What about a husband and wife? Do they need to have the correct attitude to see their marriage survive?
What about a believer? Does our attitude help us endure, trusting in God
Or an elder or a pastor? Does attitude have anything to do with how we minister to those around us?
What about our Savior?
If we are to endure this life, and the challenges to our faith, does Christ’s attitude matter?
As Jesus clears the temple courtyard, we see His dedication to seeing us endure. An attitude we need to imitate, that we all need to model for those who need to know His love.
Why was this wrong? Some background
As the Passover nears, people gathered from all over the Mediterranean Basin. They traveled from Rome, from Greece, from Alexandria Egypt and Babylon. Two parts of their journey that mattered were paying the temple tax, and offering pure; unblemished sacrifices, as important to them as our sacraments are to us
Without doing these things, they weren’t included in the people of God. Not by their choice, by God’s rules.
So people provided what they needed, the bulls, the sheep and pigeons, and others provided the special coins needed to pay the temple tax and offering. In the process, a business came up, and some people thrived on it, some even made quite a prophet, as people had to offer these sacrifices.
It wasn’t just the extraordinarily high-profit margins that bothered Jesus. Far more critical was the location for these religious businesses.
The Courtyard of the Gentiles, also known as the courtyard of prayer.
The place set aside, the holy place where the people who were not in Covenant could come and pray. The people Solomon prayed for at the dedication of the temple, centuries before:
41 And don’t forget the foreigner who is not a member of your people Israel but has come from a far country because of your reputation. 42 People are going to be attracted here by your great reputation, your wonder-working power, who come to pray at this Temple. 43 Listen from your home in heaven. Honor the prayers of the foreigner so that people all over the world will know who you are and what you’re like and will live in reverent obedience before you, just as your own people Israel do; so they’ll know that you personally make this Temple that I’ve built what it is. 1 Kings 8:41-43 (MSG)
Imagine the noise of the animals of those people running the coin exchange and the negotiations.
Imagine the noise of Walmart at Christmas time, going on here, as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper!
People, who’ve journeyed days and weeks are trying to cry out to God, and they so need to hear him. While bath’s and moo’s and the high-pitched cry of the birds and the all the talking is going on.
Don’t you see people trying to pray amid all the distractions?
They will be able to pray soon, for Jesus will make it peaceful, just as soon as He cleans house.
Bring it home
As I read this, I wonder how Jesus would clean up the church today. It is easy to answer that for the church throughout the world, but how would he clean house here?
What things do we do, that get in the way of people knowing they are forgiven children of God? What here at Concordia would make it difficult for someone who isn’t yet a believer, find it hard to hear His voice, and see His love revealed?
Maybe these aren’t things we do for money, but that we do for our comfort. Or things we don’t do, because they would make our lives uncomfortable?
If you think about the church in Luther’s time, it’s easy.
The church did everything in a language that people didn’t understand. And in order to find complete forgiveness, there was always something attached. You needed to purchase this indulgence, go on that pilgrimage, be blessed by this relic or that.
They blocked the people from having access to God’s love, to His comfort, to knowing they were forgiven. We do the same thing, perhaps without realizing it, as we cherish our practices, without realizing why they are precious. We want to keep them, but do we realize they might get in the way of someone searching for God?
The church at large could have a myriad of examples, and that is perhaps the biggest. We don’t speak with one voice about our World’s need for God, their only hope to deal with the brokenness of sin in their lives.
Some hide the brokenness, others simply condemn it, without sharing the hope God has given us, in our brokenness. We do the same thing, depending on the sin. Some we treat as unforgivable, without knowing the person sitting next to us is dealing with brokenness because of that sin. Other sins, we overlook, knowing that we are struggling with it, or someone else we love is.
And our house needs to be cleaned out. We need God to come through, and break down the barriers we set up. We need Him to help us realize that this place is a place of prayer, for Christians, and for those He is calling to, desire that they come to repentance!
Endurance – loving God, loving those around us
This is where attitude and endurance come into play. It is not our attitude and endurance rather it is our Lord’s.
He will do whatever it takes to bring people to the Father. He will humble the proud and lift up the weak. He will comfort those who need it, come alongside those who are mourning, confront the hard-hearted believers, who believe in God, yet need their hardened hearts broken and cleansed. He will forgive those who confess their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. He will also challenge those whose sin is so controlling them, that only He can free them from it.
He will hear our prayers! The Spirit will reveal God in all His glory, in all His mercy, in all His love.
As we are transformed into His image, this becomes our lives, as we struggle with those things that stop people from knowing His love, His grace, His peace. Those things will come to bug us, and we will struggle with them but realizing His grace and what it means, and that others know it,
We will endure, we will ask Him to cleanse our spiritual homes, we will ask Him to know His love. His attitude will become our attitude…
And it will happen. As we treasure His peace, they will come to know it, and know that He hears their prayers, even as He does ours!
AMEN!
Hillary Duff’s View on Marriage, and Church Shopping
Devotional Thought of the Day:
25 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. 26 Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, 27 dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. Ephesians 5:25-27 (MSG)
22 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. 23 Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. 24 Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, 25 not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching. Hebrews 10:22-25 (MSG)
In the interview she also admits that, when it comes to a relationship, happiness might be more important than the commitment, which is why her perspective on love isn’t all that straightforward. “I don’t want to sound bitter because I’m definitely not, but I don’t know if people are meant to be together forever,” she tells the magazine. “Things happen over a long relationship that you can’t always fight. A marriage of 20 years, the accomplishment of that must feel really great, but there are also huge sacrifices. I just always want to fight for happiness.” (1)
As I read the article with Hillary Duff, and the quotes above, I was grieved. She notes how great it must feel for a relationship to last 20 years, the comments that the sacrifices are huge, too much for her, for her marriage has now failed.
I don’t know what they did to see it through, if there were counselors that were at their side, or if there were people there to encourage, to coach them through. Not only did they fail, their family, their community, and The Church failed them as well.
Yes, I said The Church failed this young couple.
For in the church, there should be the example of endurance, the example of depending on Christ. We are to depend on Him, the Spirit’s comfort and strength and ability to bring us through life. We do this, understanding and looking to Christ, who Hebrews 12 tells us endured, for the joy set before Him.
As I thought about this, I also thought about the church, and the commitment we have to each other. While some will look and pray for Hillary Duff, others will be scandalized by these words, The lack of faithfulness to vows made will challenge us, (hopefully?) and the attitude that marriage may not be meant to last a lifetime will see inconceivable.
Yet do we not do that with our churches? We change things, or even change churches, or forgo church for the same reason that causes Hillary to see marriage as temporary. We put our enjoyment (whether we prefer traditional, liturgical, contemporary etc.) over what will cause us to draw closer to Christ. Those of us who lead and plan our services far too often try to make the service something our people will like,
If we don’t like it? Well, there is the church down the street, or across town. If we are a pastor or priest, instead we place a call to our district president’s office, (or bishop or whoever works with churches looking for new pastors. (please note, I am not talking about leaving a church because of continued teaching that is contrary to scripture)
End result, the death of a relationship, and a further division in the family of God, A division that will be healed in heaven, but nevertheless, the pains of severing that which we pledged to be part of, in times of happiness and time of sorrow.
With each separation, the next separation gets easier, the time between finding a home church becomes less a priority, we find our happiness in other things, in other places.
Until we can’t remember the last time that we were at church.
Hillary Duff is right, there is an incredible reward that is found in a relationship that last 20, 30, 50 years. There is the knowledge that the one who makes our marriages and our churches possible will sustain them both, through the times of richness and poverty, through times where we, and the relationship are healthy or sick, the times of grief and the times of joy.
Such is our God, the Lord of Life. Such is what happens when we hear the Holy Spirit, the gift of our baptism. Such is the promise of life, walking with God, both now and for eternity, in the presence of God.
So let us work, to sustain all of our relationships! To do that, may we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let us find His healing, His patience, His sacrifice and find in those things, the strength to desire to endure. May we find as well the strength to help others, to encourage them, whether they are struggling in marriages or in being part of their church.
Lord Have Mercy on us!
(1) http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a27092/hilary-duff-marriage-divorce/?src=spr_FBPAGE&spr_id=1448_153325098&linkId=12668200
Do We Dare Pray, “Thy Kingdom Come?”
Do you Dare Pray
Thy Kingdom Come?
Matthew 6:6-9
May the grace, the mercy and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, cause you to desire that when you pray His Kingdom Come, that you desire it more and more
Introduction –
It is one thing to pray a prayer, especially a prayer as well known as the prayer our Lord taught us.
It is another thing to desire that God would hear that prayer, and answer it, making what we pray for come into existence before our eyes.
During this Lenten journey, that is what we are looking at, do we have the faith to desire that these prayer requests. Do we really desire that what we pray for? Do we recognize what we are praying for? Do we even realize what we are praying for and that this request will mean changes in our lives?
As we heard on Ash Wednesday, do we desire that God be our Father? Last week, as Chris asked are we ready to see God’s name be holy and praised because of how we live in Him?
Tonight we face the question, do we have the faith to pray, “Thy Kingdom Come?” Knowing that we are praying that God’s kingdom come here, right now, that He is in charge, and that how it is in heaven will be here on earth.
What will God’s Kingdom Look Like
In order to pray this, we shall have to understand what it means for God’s kingdom to come, and for us to realize it is in existence here, right where we live.
We could talk of what God’s kingdom is, but to desire it we need to visualize it, to hear it described to us. Think about a child, having gone to the magic kingdom for the first time. You don’t hear him talk about the machinery, about the payroll and the challenges of parking and waiting in long lines. When they describe Disneyland, the wonder, the awe, the joy is what dominates the conversation.
We need to hear Kingdom of Heaven described, what leaves you in awe, the joy, and what makes it so.
While we can’t describe the appearance of heaven, we can describe the joy that is known. A joy that exists because of the Love that God has for His people.
You see, that is what makes the kingdom of God so incredible. It’s not the heavenly temple or the Throne of God; it is the God who loves us, who welcomes us home. The God who poured our His love on us at the cross, as the blood of Christ poured out on the ground.
It is that agape love, loyalty, mercy, faithfulness that brings us into His kingdom on the day of Christ, and it is that love that brings us into His kingdom now. That love that sustains us comforts us, lovingly ministers to us, forgiving us of all sin, and all unrighteousness.
The love of God that does all this now, even as our sins are forgiven, as we are welcomed to the feast where the Body and Blood of Christ confirm this Kingdom and that we do live in it now.
In God’s kingdom, that love joins us to each other, healing broken relationships. Helping us to see that other’s lives are more important than the details that can divide us. That is why the ten commandments become more than rules; they are the description of lives lived in the love of God.
In God’s Kingdom, we will not murder, commit adultery, steal, gossip and ruin the reputation of those we love. We would celebrate how God blesses each other, rather than letting jealousy ruin relationships. That love of God, in His kingdom, unites us all so that when one cries, we all do, when one laughs, we all join in the celebration. That is why we rejoice when the prodigal comes home, rather than talk about all the things they did, that the good people didn’t do.
We love, as He loves. And in praying “They Kingdom come”, that is what we pray. That kind of life we don’t want to wait until heaven to experience!
Do You Really Want to Pray this happens now?
Are we willing to pray it? Do we have the faith required, the trust that says, God, make my life the same as it will be in heaven. May you rule over it now, may I become more and more like you, may I love ever more deeply.
That is a heavy prayer.
Because God becoming the focus of our lives, because of hearing that He will provide for us because He is our Lord and Master, challenges us. For that to happen, we have to realize that if Christ is our Lord, He is in control, and His love will pour through us.
That is harder than it looks, as it means we have to let Him rid our lives of those things that aren’t of love. We have to let Him get rid of that which gets in the way of our knowing His love, that which stops us from loving others.
Things like guilt and shame, because we choose to do what we want, rather than know His love. Where we, like Adam and Eve hiding and covering their sin, try to pretend everything is perfect, or try to justify what we do, because we know better than God does. Where we get rid of our pride and realize, He is right.
That He is our master.
To see His kingdom come means that we have to give up hatred and resentment towards those who have hurt us, who have sinned us again. We not only give up our “right” to revenge, as we dwell in His kingdom, we come to desire that they know His mercy. We desire to share in their lives, to reach out to them, even sacrifice our desires, our own time, even those things we treasure. We sacrifice those things in order to help those who do not have what we have, the knowledge of God’s peace, the ability to walk through life, confident of His love.
Are we ready to really give that up?
The Way this happens – (gospel)
That is perhaps one of the neatest things about prayer. We know that God’s kingdom coming to exist in our lives would be a blessing.
If we are honest, it is a hard thing to pray, to desire. To allow ourselves to be stripped of all that is not love, that is not reflective of all His love, maybe painful, no, it will be painful.
But in doing so, what is left, is Christ.
What is left is the Kingdom of God.
What is left, is the love of God. The love that transforms us, as we dwell in a relationship deeper than any other. As we are invited to share in the very love of God, together, as His people.
A love that seems unnatural, even supernatural to us, but is the love that brings healing, that is so miraculous, that it can cause a martyr’s mother to pray that God would reveal Himself to the killers. A love that can heal wounds decades old, that washes away our guilt and shame.
It is a Kingdom life we need. It is a life we need to desire.
Paul says of such prayers,
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:26-28 (NLT)
So knowing this, this desire of God to bring us into His kingdom, NOW, let us pray, with confidence.. for we know His love. AMEN?
We need to remember, God is not only spoken of, but spoken to!
Devotional 
Thoght of the Day:
20 Some Greeks were among those who had gone to Jerusalem to worship during the festival. 21 They went to Philip (he was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” John 12:20-21 (TEV)
Cross-references
“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, 42 for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, 43 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.1Ki 8:41-43 —
They contain living doctrine and combine a theologian’s depth with the evangelical clarity of a good shepherd of souls. With Monsignor Escrivá, words turn into a colloquy with God—prayer—but without ceasing to be a heartfelt conversation completely in tune with the concerns and hopes of his listeners. The homilies are, therefore, a lesson in doctrine and in Christian life in which God is not only spoken of but spoken to. Perhaps it is in this that the secret of his great power of communication lies, because he always refers to the love of God as “looking at God without needing rest or feeling tired”
This is a unique year for me, very unique.
This year I will see a generation of pastor’s ordained. Eddie already has been, Ted will be in less then two weeks, Mark will follow him. Others are in the pipeline, Albert, Patrick and Jeff. I have another cohort of deacons within reach of being commissioned, growing a crowd of guys who I’ve been blessed to teach over the years. It is odd and blessed feeling, seeing guys who were once my students become pastors.
As they preach and teach, I pray that they realize the words above. The words from the gospel, where those who were not God’s people longed to not just hear about Jesus but to meet Him. The precious words of Solomon who prayed and prophesied about that, noting that it was not only okay for those outside of Judaism to pray to God, but that was part of the purpose of the temple. To pray and know God, to be in awe of Him, to dwell in His glory.
That is their job, to help people not just hear of Jesus, but to hear Him. To do this, these pastors and deacons need not just speak about Jesus, but they need to model speaking to Him and leading others in that conversation.
The Christian religion is full of wonderful wisdom, great advice about how to live, to know peace, to care for those around you. As those tasked with preaching and teaching the people of God, we have an incredible amount of doctrine. The stuff is amazing and awe-inspiriting. The wisdom is beyond comprehension.
But even the demons know it…..
What needs to be know is the attitude of God towards man, something that comes from not just hearing sermons and Bible class material as if it is a biology course or a lecture in Philosophy. This requires that we have to preach differently, to share the awe of knowing we are loved, deeply, as a dear friend, as a beloved child. To say something that many find uncomfortable, we must help them know that they are known and loved, intimately, by God.
The ministry will demand much of these men, as it does the other pastors, priests and deacons I know. It will tire you, cause stress in every part of your life. To remember that God is not only spoken of, but spoken to regularly. Spoken to individually, and corporately, as we lead the people of God.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 150-154). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Do We Teach Them What They Need to Know About Jesus?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:36-39 (NLT)
3 After all, the chief purpose of all ceremonies is to teach the people what they need to know about Christ. (1)
“Biblical worship is rooted in an event that is to be lived, not proven. The purpose of worship is not to prove the Christ it celebrates, but to bring the worshipper so tune with God’s reconciliation through Christ that His death and resurrection becomes a lived experience.” (2)
““As long as I have strength to breathe, I will continue to preach that it is vitally necessary that we be souls of prayer at all times, at every opportunity, and in the most varied of circumstances, because God never abandons us” (no. 247). That was his one and only concern: to pray and to encourage others to do likewise. That was why he brought about in the midst of the world a wonderful “mobilization of people,” as he liked to call it, “who are ready to commit themselves to live Christian lives,” by developing their filial relationship with God our Father. We are many who have learned, from this thoroughly priestly priest, “the great secret of God’s mercy, that we are children of God.” (3)
The quote in blue, from the 24th Article of the Augsburg Confession, is among my favorite quotes from all religious writing. When I teach Worship/Liturgy, Caregiving, or even Preaching, it becomes the 1 statement that MUST be understood, the foundational statement of the course.
As I look at what is being taught and written about; as I consider my own education for the ministry; how I was taught to preach, teach and lead worship, I realize I have to ask the question,
Are we teaching them what they really need to know about Jesus?
I think one of the ways we can measure that is found in the scripture verse above in red.
Are they learning to love God with all they are, and to love their neighbor? (without asking, “are they really my neighbor?
I have to ask, is that the result every aspect of our church services, from the sacraments, the sermons, the singing, the liturgy, and prayers? Is it what results from our Bible studies, the counseling sessions and even the meetings of boards and teams? Do our people love God more, grow in their adoration of Him? Will they share in the lives of those around them? Will they weep with them, laugh with them, share food and life with both those who know Christ, and those who need to know Him?
Can we hold that up as the standard? Does how our people love reflect on whether we’ve told them what they need to know about Jesus?
Webber makes another point worth considering, that reveals a sobering answer to this,
“Liberals turned worship into a time for ethical reflection on the love of God, while conservatives concentrated on an intellection defense of the Gospel. In both cases church leaders gave into to secularism and allowed it to define worship.” (4)
Far too often, we forget what changes people, what creates the love of both God and neighbor. It isn’t just found in nurturing the intellect, or making logical appeals for what is good, ethical and beneficial. This only provides a narrow stimulation, that of the mind. Our teaching, our preaching our worship, has to go deeper. It has to cause, as Webber says, ou words must guide them in living through the death and resurrection of Christ.
It is there, in the presence of God, dwelling in Christ, abiding in Him, that we discover what true love is. That we, the very children of God, live our lives intimately communicating with God. A relationship that goes beyond anything we know, for this relationship reveals the transcendent life of a Christ, what Paul talks about in Colossians.
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)
This is what it means to give them what they need to know about Christ, to know His presence, His love, His mercy! To see Him so clearly that the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts of stone into hearts that beat with the love of God, and then can love others.
Whether our people grow in love of God, and their neighbors is how we judge whether our preaching, our administration of the sacraments, our worship, and our very ministry give people what they need to know about Christ.
Lord Have Mercy on Us, even this mercy of revealing to us what we need to know of Christ. AMEN!.
(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 59). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
(2) Webber, Robert: Worship is a Verb Peabody Mass, Hendrickson Publishing
(3) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 136-140). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(4)Webber, Robert: Worship is a Verb Peabody Mass, Hendrickson Publishing
