Monthly Archives: August 2015
The Simple Mission of the Church…Help Heal the Broken…
Devotional Thought of the Day
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Mk 2:17 New Living Translation ).
10 Nothing is so effectual against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil thoughts as to occupy oneself with the Word of God, talk about it, and meditate on it. Psalm 1 calls those blessed who “meditate on God’s law day and night.” (1)
820 Don’t judge by the smallness of the beginnings. My attention was once drawn to the fact that there is no difference in size between seeds that produce annual plants and those that will grow into ageless trees.(2)
If I am writing about as a simple Christian, a simple pastor who seeks to guide people to Christ, the mission as well is a simple one. Not my mission rather it is His. Because it is His, it is ours.
Jesus didn’t come for the good people, the holy people who sit in church, righteous and perfect. He came for the people struggling with health, spiritual health, physical health, financial health, mental health. He came for those who relationships aren’t healthy, those with broken marriages, broken families, whose work relationships suffer.
The people in church hopefully realize this! They are there because they recognize the brokenness, and the hope that comes from knowing Jesus, the One who can do something about the cause of the brokenness. We call it sin, or disobeying God, failing to love Him, and failing to love those around us. That is the source of brokenness, this inability to love, that becomes a vicious circle, breaking us down more and more.
Bringing people to Him, is like bringing a friend who has been badly hurt to the emergency room. We aren’t always sure of what to do, but if there is to be hope, it is found as God ministers to them. We don’t do such because we have to, but because there is no other hope for their brokenness. It is what Love causes to happen in our lives, as we respond to those who suffer the brokenness we are healing of ourselves.
Simple – bring broken people help, bring them Jesus to them so that they can know His love for them. So He can enable them to love again, as deeply and fully as He does.
Luther, as He introduces the faith, notes the need to contemplate the word of God, because there we hear of His love, we learn to know it, to count on that love as the people of God have, calling out to Him. The more we hear the promises, the more realize that HIs love is beyond and scope we could ever measure, the more we hunger for it, St. Josemaria notes that this work, this mission of bringing people to know the healing power of Christ’s love starts out small, with the simple things. The cup of water, the sharing of a meal, the kind word, or the offer of a prayer. The kind of things that people who are healing of their own brokenness can do.
This is what the church does…working alongside the God, who came to us, as He calls all sinners to be healed.
May this work bring us great joy, even as we see our own healing assured as we see others heal.
(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 359–360). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press. Luther’s Preface to the Large Catechism
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1883-1884). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Horrific Response by Pastors…
Devotional Thought of a New Day
4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” “What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” Matthew 27:4 (NLT)
805 Listen, where you are … mightn’t there be one … or two, who could understand us well? (1)
Some point to the man and claim he was the most evil man that has ever lived.
Some say his sin was one that could never be forgiven, that he was so sold out to the demons that possessed him, that there was no hope.
He would hear the words from those who were supposed to be his shepherds, those who were spiritually responsible for him, who were to call him to repentance, to nurture him back to spiritual health.
Their words, without mercy, without hope, left him no other option.
He went out and hung himself.
And until reading this today, I never wondered if anyone ever cried for him, if anyone did anything but respond with “he got what he deserved.” Or, “Good riddance.”
Judas Iscariot, another man, another sinner, another man who cried out, looking for mercy, confessing his sin, and the answer of the ages has not told him there was mercy.
The mercy Peter would know, and Paul would encounter, after killing a servant of God. David knew it though he too thought he had lost any chance of knowing it. So did Jacob/Israel, and even the people of Nineveh.
But not Judas.
When he turned to the shepherds of Israel, looking for absolution, looking for mercy, looking for some peace to alleviate the pain of guilt and shame he found none. It’s no our business, Your sin, your problem. You don’t belong to our denomination, you certainly are guilty, live with it. You are a sinner. (even though they were his PARTNERS in the sin!)
Hours later, the answer Judas needed wold be provided, as the sun darkened at noon, and that which separated people from the glory of God was torn apart. The Answer that every prophet, ever priest, every king, had pointed to, the love and mercy of God.
I know pastors today, me included, may have seemed as heartless at times. Or we dismissed the pain you felt Churches too have failed to call people to dare to draw near to Jesus, to see Him on the cross. Forgive us, call us to hear the sweet words of forgiveness as well.
For no one, no matter their ethnicity, their political party, their age, should ever go without hearing that God has forgiven their sins. Indeed, that He commanded the church to forgive them. Look around you, they are there… even those you would never expect to repent. For know this, God doesn’t want any of them to perish. God doesn’t rejoice in the death of any wicked person. Even Judas, ever us.
We cry out, “Lord have mercy!”
We find peace in hearing His voice, “I have!”
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 1856). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Back to the Beginning – A Simple Christian is Reclaimed
Devotional Thought of the Day
16 This is what the LORD says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’ Jeremiah 6:16 (NLT)
20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NLT)
782 How can you dare use that spark of the divine intelligence—your mind—in any way other than in giving glory to your Lord?
Tonight I found out I was able to claim the title to my first sermon blog.
The company that hosted it that allowed to freely put my sermons out into the world, gave up rights to it. Therefore, I was able to find it, and “A Simple Christian” was reborn. It’s a good reminder for me as well, to see the old title there. To remember why I started blogging sermons. After all, there are millions of sermons nd many more devotions out there, many written better than mine, almost all edited better than mine.
I have heard that these writings have helped a few people, given a different perspective on walking with God. Of struggling to live in an intimate relationship with God and all His children. Some who aren’t well acquainted read it, people from different denominations, some who aren’t sure about this religion thing, this relationship we have together, with the God, who would come to us.
When I was 8, I told a family friend I wanted to be a priest. He asked why, and I answered I wanted to teach people about God’s love, and I wanted to feed them with His sacrament. A simple, profound desire that still is at the heart of what I want to do today. I can tell when I do it well, there is something different about how people sing, about how they love each other, about how they face the difficult parts of life. Difficult things like dealing with jobs or marriages, to dealing with internal struggles, to even dealing with cancer and the threat of death.
That is what being part of the intimate relationship that is church, God and His people, is all about.
It is the ancient path, as old as Adam and Eve. It is in that relationship that we find peace that is beyond anything else. It is why will plead with people to come back to God. To plead with them to see God bring them back..
There is nothing better I can use a blog for… to show how simple (which doesn’t mean shallow) Christianity is…. and what a blessing.
Come along, let me point you along the way – He is here… waiting.. and the truth that transforms you is simple.
God is with You!
Thanks for reading, and if you are in Southern California – come join us at Concordia Lutheran Church in Cerritos. (concordia.org) and meet some really incredible people who are simply Christian as well.
PS – the justifiedandsinner link will still work for a year or more.
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Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1807-1808). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Imitating Christ Not as Hard as you think
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day
34 And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34 (TEV)
“All this he does out of his pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on my part. For all of this I am bound to thank, praise, serve, and obey him. This is most certainly true.[1]
“Thy kingdom come.” What does this mean?
Answer: To be sure, the kingdom of God comes of itself, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may also come to us.
How is this done?
Answer: When the heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that by his grace we may believe his holy Word and live a godly life, both here in time and hereafter forever.[2]
824 Have you noticed how human love consists of little things? Well, divine love also consists of little things. (3)
Over the course of history, theologians have wasted a lot of time on the arguments about whether the scripture is applicable today. Some say the Old Testament law is no longer binding. Some say you only preach the law to those who are not believers. Others say that a lack of holiness, a lack of strict obedience to scripture (or at least certain parts of it) shows a lack of faith, and may result in the same judgment as an unbeliever.
What a colossal waste of time!
What a shameful waste of time and effort from those who are supposed to be our teachers, those who are to shepherd us.
The above quotes in green are from Luther’s small catechism. They were written to help a dad teach his children about God, about the precious relationship we have with them. They describe a relationship where God’s love and mercy transform us into His children. As His children, we respond to that love instinctually, we do what St Josemaria calls the “little things”. We think about Him (and His people) we take on the mundane, we sacrifice, all without thinking about it, because God loves us, and we adore Him.
This is the Godly life Luther mentions, caused by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We lose our desire to please ourselves, and we find pleasure in the presence of God and His people. We find ourselves devoted to the one who is devoted to us.
This isn’t Ph.D. level theology. It is a life of faith….
it is the response to crying out, “have mercy…” and realize He has….
Love Him, love those He loves…..you don’t need a Ph.D. for that… just the ability to do the little things.
AMEN
[1] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 345). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
[2] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 346). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
(3) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1892-1893). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
