Monthly Archives: September 2015
Church – your consultants faith? Is it in statistics and probabilities, or in God?
Devotional Thought of the Day
Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to GOD, your God. GOD, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure. GOD wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. GOD stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know this: GOD, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. Deuteronomy 7:6-9a (MSG)
Something similar has happened to us. With little effort we could find among our family, friends, and acquaintances—not to mention the crowds of the world—so many worthier persons that Christ could have called. Yes, persons who are simpler and wiser, more influential and important, more grateful and generous. In thinking along these lines, I feel embarrassed. But I also realize that human logic cannot possibly explain the world of grace. God usually seeks out deficient instruments so that the work can more clearly be seen to be his.
I have had it with the church statistics “experts”. The well intention men and women who tell churches that they have only a 25 year life cycle, that they are going to die and close their doors, and that this can be a good thing.
Or the men who say that the fastest growing churches, and the best return of investment is to plant new churches (even if they are only 2 miles from a healthy church. Who play around with statistics and charts and give advice and sell their coaching services. Whose advice becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as people believe them, and forget that ministry is not about statistics and what gives us the biggest bang for our buck. The new thought is that a church while it still has value should close, before it loses what value it has, in order that God would do something new somewhere else. (That line I have a problem with, because doing something new in scripture was about the cross and resurrection – the death of Christ – not his church)
We don’t “do” church in ways because of what makes sense in a business model. Statistics don’t governthe church, God does. Brooklyn Tabernacle was once a dead, tiny church, the American Baptist hcurches in Northern Calfiornia were once empty. My first church was under 20 in attendance. We do church because God calls us to minister to those who are broken, to reconcile people to them, to see their souls healed. We are there to pray for comfort and healing of the cancer patient, to remind the imprisoned that God hasn’t given up on them, to help people broken by divorce, or challenged by changes in their lives, or the past that haunts them.
Wo are the church to “do” grace, to be “grace”, to be the place where God incarnates, where he is revealed.
The church is something that can’t be reduced to statistics, or to methodologies. Because it isn’t about numbers, it is about life. It is about the supernatural invading and transforming the natural. It is about the power of God made clear as it transforms the lives of people who thought there was no hope.
What does beating the statistical models take? How can we avoid being another church which closes its doors?
It’s so simple that the experts can’t see it.
Know Christ! revel in His presence! Help people give to God the burdens and anxieties they carry. Plead with them to let God reconcile them! Teach them to treasure God’s time and presence. Fall in love with Him to the point where your heart beats in harmony with His.
It works, because God promised not to abandon us… but to work through us.
Abide in Him. And watch what He does … it is amazing!
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Christ is Passing By (Kindle Locations 424-429). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Embracing the Cross – A Devotion for Holy Cross Day
Devotional Thought fo the Day
27 The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. Acts 13:27–28 NLT
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NLT)
In the third place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached first and then the Law; sanctification first and then justification; faith first and then repentance; good works first and then grace.
For the early Christians, the Cross was primarily a sign of hope—not so much a turning back to the past as a turning forward to the coming of the Lord
Today is called in church calendars “Holy Cross Day” or Feast of the Holy Cross.
It is a day to think about the cross, and what was secured by the cross. The redemption of the world. My favorite sermon I’ve ever crafted is “The Parable of the Coke Can” – where life is pictured draining us, and sin crushing us, tossing us aside. But then Christ comes along, and finds us, and seeing a value marred and hidden by sin, creates us to be something new. He repurposes us, He redeems us, He restores us. And what was torn aside, a broken container, is now a living chalice that God fills with His Spirit.
It is there in the cross that we are redeemed, where we are separated from the sin that had trapped us. It was there at the cross that we also are united to Christ, to not just his death but His resurrection.
These are things the prophets foretold when they spoke about Jesus being condemned on every page, for the condemnation is the promise of the Old Covenant, the old promises that God made to man. We have to see that painful, ugly horrid cross, and know that is our cross as well. A cross where sin will be removed, probably painfully, as we struggle with it. A cross that is brutal, it leaves no sin covered, it strips them from us, even as the flesh was stripped from Christ’s back.
The Law crushes us to that cross, even as the gospel there gives us the promise of life. No, not even as the gospel gives. It crushes us there so that the Gospel can give us life.
The last thought, the one in green from Pope Benedict XVI is that which I want to leave you with this morning. That the cross was not seen as something to look back upon constantly for the early church. It was what caused them to be able to look forward, to look at each day as something the Lord created, to look forward to the day when He will return for those He rescued there at the cross. The cross in the past is what gives us the hope, the expectation of glory (Col. 1) and that God has prepared something greater than anything we’ve experienced or dreamed about. (1 Cor 2.9)
There is a saying in the church, an old call and response so appropriate to end this post with,
Call – “We praise You, O Christ.”
Response – “For by Your cross You have redeemed the world!”
AMEN!
Walther, C. F. W., Dau, W. H. T., & Eckhardt, E. (2000). The proper distinction between law and gospel: 39 evening lectures (electronic ed., p. 2). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 294). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
I love the LORD because He Listened to Me. A Sermon on Psalm 116:1–9
I love the Lord,
Because He Hears Me!
Psalm 116:1–9
† In Jesus Name †
May you always respond with love and adoration to the God revealing His grace and mercy, and the love of God shown you in Christ Jesus!
Why Do We Love?
It is the topic of thousands upon thousands of songs, of poems and novels, artists in every form have tried to paint it.
The greatest philosophers tried to explain it, the greatest psychologists have no explanation for it, and no one comes near being able to explain it, it is a mystery. Even languages can struggle to define it.
Yet, a child can express it in ways that brings tears and joy to your heart.
This word. Love
cHesed in Hebrew
agape
eros
storge
And phileo in Greek
It includes within it the words devotion, mercy, loyalty, adoration, honor and so many more in English. It is physical and spiritual, emotional and psychological.
And the psalmist dares to say…
I love the Lord….. and with the word because, explains what we need to hear today.
We love the Lord, for He hears our voice and our prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen……
The Despairs of Life
These words, sweetly said by a 2 year old their mother, or said during a wedding or whispered between two people in their 90’s as they look in their lives, seem more powerful than any words said by any president or king.
The truth in that second is clear, blunt, disarming, and said with everything aspect of our beings.
It doesn’t matter if the 2-year-old just opened a present, or just finished a tantrum and is near exhaustion. The same goes for a psalmist, the cries of love for God in scripture come from the times where God has blessed, but also when the blessing is harder to see.
That is the context for the Psalmist, the writer of these words,
He knows God hears, that God reaches down to him, even when life is as broken.
3 Death wrapped its ropes around me;
the terrors of the grave overtook me.
I saw only trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Please, Lord, save me!”
In the midst of the cries of love, are these pleas for mercy. It is as in the gospel story, as the father cries out in adoration and faith, there is also the desperate begging to heal, and even to given our broken faith the strength to believe, to trust, even to depend on God.
I love those words of the father,
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Been there, done that, Even as recently as yesterday.
We can know every instance of people crying out in Scripture, we can know all the prayers, but what I needed to hear, and I know we all need to hear, is that God will.
He won’t write us off because we don’t have the perfect life or enough faith.
He won’t write us off because we struggle to see His plan…
He won’t abandon us to our own wisdom, our own brokenness, We don’t have to remain condemned by our own sin,
No one is beyond hope, no one beyond God’s hearing range.
This is the testimony of the psalms, read them, over and over, as life tries to crush the writers, they find God’s peace, even if their problems aren’t alleviated the way they think is best.
They find as the psalmist describes so vividly here….something amazing.
He Leans Down.. and Hears
Hear it again…
1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.
2 Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
Last week, when my friends Jon was here, his wife commented about something we take for granted perhaps. She noted that when people come over and greet Debbie, many bend down, so as to greet her at the same level. (For reader’s, she is in a wheel chair) She, a lady whose husband has played and pastored in huge churches, said the love we show each other in this church is incredible and beautiful. I’ve seen the same thing done as people get on one knee to greet a child here.
It is that action that the psalmist pictures God doing, bending down, not in condescension, nor in anger, but with a heart full of love, a love which causes Him to listen intently, to listen carefully, to hear each one of us.
God listening to each of us, not like a potentate or world leader listening to us, but listening to us, hearing us.
God bending over to talk to you, to me, his eyes making contact with us, and we have His attention. He hears us…. And we love Him for it
No wonder the psalmist responds,
Yahweh is merciful and upright, our God is tenderness. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. My heart, be at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously. He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh, in the land of the living. Psalm 116:5-9 (NJB)
I used a different translation here for a couple reasons, but none as good as this.
You see that word Yahweh?
A lot of translations use the term LORD there, in all capitals. LORD is a title.
But the Psalmist uses the personal name of God, the name God gave Moses to give to Israel to use when they talk or pray to them, We aren’t talking about some God distant across a galaxy. We aren’t talking about a god made of brass or wood. We’re not talking about a God is weak and tolerates evil, but Yahweh, who is patient, not willing that any person should perish, but that all have the ability to return to Him.
As Luther reminds us, it is not enough not to use God’s name in vain, but we need to
He doesn’t just tolerate our prayers; He wants us to call out to Him. God wants to hear us, listen to us, care for us.
And assure us that we will dwell forever in His presence.
And so we can say with the psalmist
My heart, is at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously.
For He is our loving God, who bends down to hear us, who comes to us to care for us, to reconcile us, to heal us, to send us to others to send us to the world, to let them know He will listen to them as well, and love them even as He loves us, cleanses us from sin, and makes us hole, and holy.
This is why we adore Him, why we are devoted to Him, why we trust and depend on Him, why we honor and praise Him!
Why we love Him… Because He hears us…
And promises to give our hearts the peace and rest that comes from knowing the love of God. A love in which Christ keeps us forever. AMEN?
God, please turns their hearts.. not to me, but to You!
Devotional Thought of the Day
1 John 4:11-12 (NLT) Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
But after the Holy Spirit has performed and accomplished this and the will of man has been changed and renewed solely by God’s power and activity, man’s new will becomes an instrument and means of God the Holy Spirit, so that man not only lays hold on grace but also cooperates with the Holy Spirit in the works that follow.
But the real heart of Christianity is, and will always be, love of neighbor. For, in very fact, each individual is infinitely loved by God and is of infinite value. Christ says to each of us the words so feelingly formulated by Pascal: “In my mortal agony, I thought of you. I shed these drops of blood for you.
We all have people that seem to cause pain in our lives. Often we label the pains in the neck, or compare them unfavorably to hemorrhoids. Some of us have people that cause a more negative response, people who threaten us, who we label adversaries, or perhaps even enemies.
We may not even know them, they may be politicians of the opposing view, or someone who has their 15 minutes of fame for something that causes anger to well up in us. We may even label them names – either in discussion on FB or over lunch. Maybe we even can keep those names in our minds, But we still think of them as jerks, the personification of evil or simply call them assholes. You might, having read the last word of the prior sentence be shocked I use it, or you might be saying, “But pastor, they really are!”
Or you may feel guilt, worrying about why you can’t get over the feelings of frustration, anger, pain, hurt, and resentment.
Read the passage again that is in red above. Can we do this? Can we love each other, knowing that “other” has the same definition the lawyer received when he heard the parable of the Good Samaritan.
This ability to love them is the work that the Lutheran Confessions (in green) speak of, where the Holy Spirit makes our lives and instrument, and a means of the Holy Spirit’s work. It is the heart of Christianity that then Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of, to realize that for each one of us, every human being on earth, Jesus died, willing let his blood be spilled for you, and for them.
In an old hymnal (TLH), as part of the prayer of God’s people we found a very proper and timely prayer. It said something like this. “Father, turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries to you.”
This is where our heart begins to change, as we see their need, (and ours) to be reconciled to God. For that is the answer to everything. Without the blood of Christ, spilled to heal us all from the damage of sin, there is no hope to come together in peace. In Christ, the peace is not just compromise, but it becomes community, it becomes love deeper than any other.
It is in Christ, seeing Christ’s love for them, which we begin to be able to love them as well. That love may end up pleading with them, not to deal favorably with us, but that which is more important – their reconciliation with God. That becomes our goal; it becomes what we pray for, what we begin to do, to live for, even as God does…
And as we see the glory of God, as we worship Him, the glory of the Holy Spirit works through us… and they know they are loved.
As do we.
”Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 472). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 290). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Why “They” Are Wrong About Sin….
devotional thought of the day
8 And when he comes, he will prove to the people of the world that they are wrong about sin and about what is right and about God’s judgment. 9 They are wrong about sin, because they do not believe in me; John 16:8-9 (TEV)
Prayer does not fall into a void; neither is it just a kind of psychotherapy that helps us to assemble our spiritual forces and bring them once more into balance; nor is it merely a kind of pious fiction to exercise our souls and calm them. Prayer is directed to reality. It is both heard and heeded. God, then, is someone who has the power, the ability, the will, and the patience to listen to us men. He is so great that he can be present even for those who are small.
If I bring you to this point, I have also brought you to confession. Those who really want to be good Christians, free from their sins, and happy in their conscience, already have the true hunger and thirst. They snatch at the bread just like a hunted hart, burning with heat and thirst,
33 as Ps. 42:2 says, “As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God.” That is, as a hart trembles with eagerness for a fresh spring, so I yearn and tremble for God’s Word, absolution, the sacrament, etc.
34 In this way, you see, confession would be rightly taught, and such a desire and love for it would be aroused that people would come running after us to get it, more than we would like.
I am curious about who you thought “they” would be, when you read the title of this blog.
Maybe you were hoping I would lay into those rejoicing over the jailing of the court clerk in Kentucky. Maybe you were hoping I would chastise those who complained about her being arrested, sure that she is the bravest person under persecution in the world today.
What if both groups of people are those that are wrong about sin? What if, when they are describing sin, when they are pointing out sin in others are proving Jesus correct. They don’t understand sin because they don’t get that it isn’t about breaking this rule or that rule.
It is because they don’t trust in God, they don’t know Him. They don’t understand about sin because they don’t have the relationship where they depend upon Him.
Take away hat intimate relationship with God away from someone’s understanding, and sin can only be defined as breaking all the rules. But that can’t be what defines sin, because to do so would result in condemnation, and there would be no hope.
For hope, for relief and comfort comes within a relationship. Forgiveness, mercy, love are all words that exist withing the nature of a relationship.
And sin is ultimately, denying that relationship is the ultimate sin.
You see that clearly in the quote from Pope Benedict XVI where he talks about prayer, about what it is and what it isn’t. It is that greatness of God that He can relate to us, not in a condescending manner, but He comes to us. He listens to us, not as a king listens without empathy or interest to his serfs, (or a CEO to one of his p/t employees) but as a friend, as a Father, as one who loves us. He listens, He cares, He knows us.
Which brings us to the quote from Martin Luther, about confession and absolution. Sometimes we treat a sin, or a tendency to sin as if it is the worst thing that can happen. In the Kentucky case, she is either the greatest sinner since Hitler, or those that deny her the office she was elected to.are the equivalent of those who crucified Jesus. In either case, I will not say there is no sin, my instinct is that both groups of observers need to be called to repentance, and to reconciliation. As do the actual people involved in the case
In fact, if there is a need to be reconciled to another person, you can be pretty sure that there is a need to be drawn closer to God. Not for Him to punish, but for Him to heal. For God to be so manifested in their life that His call on their life is understood, not just a law to obey, but as the loving guidance of a parent, We need to realize His law is not punitive, bt based in wisdom. Wisdom beyond us.
That is why reconciliation, why confession and absolution are so critical. We desperately need to hear that our sin is not going to wreck our relationship with God, that He will still hear and answer our prayers, that He will comfort us as anxiety threatens, That is what absolution does. It reconciles us to Him; it assures us of His presence. It helps us to trust, to wait in His presence.
That’s why Luther says if we understand what Absolution gifts us with, we won’t hesitate to confess our sins. We wouldn’t hide in denial of them, we wouldn’t play the game of “their” sins are worse than ours. We would rejoice in the word of God, rejoice in our forgiveness, and we would plead with others to be reconciled, rather than condemn others without the intent of showing them the love of God.
May we spend our days rejoicing in God’s answers to our plea – “Lord have mercy on us sinners!”. Amen.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 286). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 460–461). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Matt 7 – THe Love of a Mother, the Love of THE Father
The love of a mother,
& the Love of The Father
Mark 7:24–30
† I.H.S †
As you go through life, may you be assured of the love God has for you, love that will go to extreme measure to free you from all that oppresses
What this isn’t about/What it is
As I preach about the gospel lesson this morning, I need to make something clear.
Yes, I know there are demons, and I am sure this lady’s story is exact and true. It isn’t some parable. Her daughter had a demon.
Okay, now onto what the story is really about, the love of a parent for their child.
The love of a mother,
and the love of the Father.
Understanding the depth of that love will reveal the cross, and the reason that Jesus took a side trip from his home into a spiritual no man’s land.
It will also make the difference in your life, for you are His beloved child.
You see, the demons in this passage – they aren’t relevant, they are a side note. Although in a way it would be easier to preach about fighting them.
It is the love that matters, the love that we so desperately need to know.
The Love of a Mother
I don’t even think Jesus had unpacked at the home he was staying at when she showed up. A desperate mom, looking for something to help her very young daughter.
I don’t have to have you imagine the pain, the desperation that leads her into Jesus presence the moment people realization it is a Jewish Rabbi – maybe even Messiah that has come into their presence.
But I will remind you that she is so desperate that she breaks every cultural norm, every piece of etiquette, and risks his very anger. For to be in the presence of a woman in such situation would render Jesus unfit to teach as a rabbi. As a man of God, being that close to someone outside the people of God would also render him unclean and able to serve, and to do a miracle for her?
Unthinkable.
She throws all decorum aside – she wants her daughter to be healed, to be delivered to, to be right. When I first read that she fell at Jesus’ feet, I thought the word there would be the root word for worship – to bow and lay prostrate before someone, a position of worship, adoration, honor.
It’s not, is the word we get Pepto in Pepto-Bismol from, she collapses in front on him, a withering wreck. And her only hope? A hyped up prophet from a country that hasn’t produced anything of value in 400 years….
She tosses everything aside, all pride, all loyalty to her people, everything if only there were hope.
She is so desperate she pleads, she begs, with everything she has. Heck, she even argues for table scraps from this prophet from that oddball place with the oddball religion.
Such is the love for her daughter.
Even a daughter who, obviously, wasn’t easy to care for, wasn’t easy to love.
A daughter who was more trouble than any can imagine, a daughter who would be un-lovable, even one most people would be afraid of, except for a parent. No one else would care, no one else would endure, but somehow she did.
As she collapses before Jesus, as she needed to depend on someone becomes more and more apparent, her responses grow stronger as if she intuitively knows that Jesus can help.
How could she know the love of God the Father, a God she was unfamiliar with, a love that would be revealed in Jesus coming near?
The Desperate Love of the Father
We have the benefit of hearing these stories, of knowing, even if we sometimes forget, a little bit about the depth of God’s love. Usually, I ask Chris to say the word in Hebrew, (cHesed) but I think I want to keep our guest musician dry this morning.
cHesed – the love that would go to any length for the one who is loved. That would go to any length to restore that which is broken,
it would drive a woman to the feet of a crazy prophet…
The same love that would drive a Father to send His only Son to her.
I want you to hear something in this passage again. I want you to see it, think about it.
He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret
He couldn’t keep it a secret. He wasn’t able to another translation says, The Greek uses the word from where we get dynamic, dynamo, dynamite. He was without any power in this instance. The One through whom the universe was spoken into being, the one whose words sent demons scurrying, who calmed seas, whose words brought the dead to life, who spoke forgiveness and taught with authority.
He couldn’t keep where he went on vacation secret from anyone.
It’s as if someone was letting people know – here’s the prophet, here is your hope!
Because immediately, she found him. And right after that, Jesus leaves the area and goes back to Galilee. It is as if this wasn’t really a vacation, a chance to get away, but simply a trip to her, a divine appointment.
Think about this what stopped him, what took away his power to remain incognito? What could make Jesus the Messiah incapable, powerless, vulnerable?
Jesus couldn’t keep his presence secret because God sent Him to be there, for this lady, for this daughter who would collapse at Jesus’ feet.
Because God loved her even as He loves us. He didn’t send him just to deliver the child from the demon. Jesus obediently went where the Father sent them, to deliver them from everything that oppresses them.
Even as He delivers us.
Even as Jesus was sent to us. Even as He was sent to die on the cross for us.
Even though we weren’t clean and holy. Even though Jesus would have to dwell in our sinfulness, even as He would take on every sin we committed. Even if we acted like we were demon possessed. Even if our battle with sin is beyond belief.
Isaiah prophesied that the Father would lay every sin we’ve committed on Jesus. His suffering and death would cleanse us, make us righteous, heal us.
That is what we have to understand – God doesn’t will that any would perish, God won’t let anything separate us from His love,
God gave us this ministry as well, this ministry of reconciling everything to Him, even as we plead with people to be reconciled to God.
As we enter this new school year, as we swing into fall, we are going to see this over and over, that God wants us to be in communion with Him. That He loves us, that He will deliver us from evil. And that He sends us out, with His Spirit, to bring other broken people home to Him. To free others that are oppressed, by sharing with them His love.
It’s not about getting the scraps from the table. It isn’t about our being “not good enough”
It is about even if we are there, completely collapsed, knowing God will restore us and care for us, and comfort us. That He will heal those we bring to Him.
The Father’s love is that deep. And that love is revealed to us in the cross of Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, in the promises of our baptism, and the feast that is but a small sample of the feast to come.
May you dwell in God’s peace, the peace beyond anyone’s understanding, assured that you will be kept in that peace by Jesus. For He has come to us, to deliver us from all evil. AMEN.
Are You Burdened As You Follow Jesus? Here is Where I Find Help and Rest
Devotional Thought of the Day
16 The cup we use in the Lord’s Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ. 17 Because there is the one loaf of bread, all of us, though many, are one body, for we all share the same loaf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (TEV)
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain again. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence! Exodus 24:9-11 (NLT)
72 If you are heavy-laden and feel your weakness, go joyfully to the sacrament and receive refreshment, comfort, and strength.73 If you wait until you are rid of your burden in order to come to the sacrament purely and worthily, you must stay away from it forever.
Open your own hearts to Jesus and tell him your story. I don’t want to generalize. But one day perhaps an ordinary Christian, just like you, opened your eyes to horizons both deep and new, yet as old as the gospel. He suggested to you the prospect of following Christ earnestly, seriously, of becoming an apostle of apostles. Perhaps you lost your balance then and didn’t recover it. Your complacency wasn’t quite replaced by true peace until you freely said “yes” to God, because you wanted to, which is the most supernatural of reasons. And in its wake came a strong, constant joy, which disappears only when you abandon him.
In the last week, I have had to deal with a lot of people whose lives are in turmoil. Some are dealing with health issues, some are dealing with financial issues, a lot are dealing with the impact of sin, either others sins, their own, or both.
I’ve tried to be there when I can, or at least send a note or someone who can be there for them. Not that I am any greater than anyone else, but I am, by call, a pastor. I want to be there, as do many who have closer relationships. Somewhere in the middle I plan worship, write sermons and Bible studies, and am married.
Just like every other person I know who has a relationship with God, there are times the burdens seem overwhelming. Let me drop the pride, they are overwhelming. Every pastor, every priest, every chaplain, youth worker, Christian educator (whether a professional teacher or just a Bible Study leader) I know gets weary; the burdens mount up. They get overwhelmed.
Usually when I start to show wear, my elders remind me to take a vacation. Take a few days off, play golf, (and I sometimes do!) Go get your mind off of things. To be honest, that doesn’t work that well, either my mind doesn’t leave the “office” (because the office is the life of people I care for) , or I end up finding someone else that needs help, and I struggle to remember I need it too.
So where do I find rest? I’ll tell you – Sunday mornings, about 1045 to 1100. As people come and kneel, as eventually I will kneel with them. On every Wednesday evening during Advent and Lent, when we are in that same place. When pastors gather together once a month, and recently, as some other servants of God, gather on Monday evening. Guys who are as weary, as broken, as under pressure as I am. Some work 1 or 2 jobs, some of us have relaxing careers as pastors ( please note sarcasm)
We gather in His present, and as the elders did with Moses on Sinai, or as the apostles did in churches (even house churches) the sacrament is shared.
Martin Luther in the blue quote above talks about receiving refreshment, comfort, and strength as we do. St Josemaria Escriva notes that as we say “yes” and walk with Him, we gain a level of peace beyond comparison. St Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians, echoes this, talking about sharing the blood and body of Christ as ONE people, of finding in that feast a level of unity and therefore peace beyond comprehension.
This is where the burdens are lifted, where they are removed. Where we find God working in our lives and even celebrating His work. There is a sense of peace, a sense that all is right in the world. This is where again God tells you of His love, of the promises He makes to all those He brings into a relationship (that is what a covenant is) with Him. It is there we are assured that our sins are forgiven, that they can’t separate us from God’s love.
As a pastor, from my perspective, this isn’t just theory. I wish I should show you the changes in people’s posture as the anxiety leaves them, as the guilt drains from them, leavening refreshment. As joy replaces tiredness, weariness in people. For God is doing what He has promised, what He has done for others.
He has visited His people, demonstrated His love, and the fact that they will never be alone. He has given us a glimpse into the amazing height, the glorious depth, the abundant breadth and measureless width of His love.
We know it and celebrate that together.
I wouldn’t trade it for a month in Hawaii – or in New Hampshire.
For it in sharing His presence that we are refreshed, strengthened, lifted up and where we find healing for our hearts and souls.
Come join me tomorrow – come feast with God, come revel in His presence. And then let us go out and bring this hope to others. AMEN.
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 455). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Christ is Passing By (Kindle Locations 374-378). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Why I Gave Up Exegetical Preaching for Apocalyptic Preaching
Devotional Thought of the Day
27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. Colossians 1:27-29 (NLT)
“The key is not to offer commentary but to help the people in the pews understand what is happening in the text so that they can understand what is happening now and respond in faith,” (1)
Just as steel must be warmed before it can be molded or bent, the human heart must be warmed by the love of God in order to overcome fear and be molded by the truth of Gospel, the archbishop said. Without encountering the love of Christ, “the faith simply looks like rules and regulations.” Ultimately, priests and deacons foster an encounter with God when they preach Christ crucified, he said. (2)
When I was a Bible College Student, the method of preaching that everyone was being trained in was called expository or exegetical preaching. You went through a book of the scriptures, chapter by chapter, sometimes verse by verse, explaining the background, the language, the details so that people would have a deep knowledge of the passage. This was the method of greatly admired preachers like Chuck Swindoll, John MacArthur, Haddon Robinson, and within my brother at the time, pastors like Ben Merold and Max Lucado. Denominations like Calvary Chapel still make the claim that this is the only way to preach.
It was such a popular method that 3 of my four undergraduate courses in preaching were based in it, as were most of the 40 units I had in Bible. I have a good friend who has his MDiv and another graduate degree in it. I was trained in that way, and I still teach some Bible studies that way.
But I don’t preach that way anymore. Haven’t in a while.
And as I am teaching a course in preaching (called Homiletics) at the present moment, I’ve been thinking about it. How do you describe the style of preaching? I was reading the article the blue quotes come from, and I realized the word I was looking for to describe the style of preaching.
APOCALYPTIC
Now, before you get the idea that I am talking about end times scary stuff, that is not what apocalyptic means, nor for that matter what the apocalypse is about.
Apocalyptic preaching is revelatory! It reveals! It is about teaching what was hidden, what was concealed. Apocalyptic preaching is about that which was hidden behind the curtain (not the Wizard of Oz’s curtain, but the one in the Tabernacle/Temple.) It is what Paul is talking about to the church in Colossae – our hope is found in the secret being revealed. The secret of Christ being in us, being united to us, and us to His cross and resurrection. That united to Him, we will share in His glory, we will live eternally in the presence and love of God the Father.
Revealing that secret to people who are broken by this world, by its sin, just as the people ere in the days of Jesus, and all the days since Adam and Eve were broken. That God desires to bring healing to them, not just understanding. That God wants to reconcile them, not just demand from them. The sermon is to reveal Him to them, the relationship He desires to have with them, it should strengthen that relationship, help they trust Him, depend on them.
That isn’t always done if you are worried about defining the minutiae. What needs to be done, – show them their need for God, and show them, God, not just wanting to meet that need, but desiring to, no matter what it costs. Or what it costed. This is what gets us through the tough days, this is what gives us hope as we try to cope without our brokenness and the worlds. It is what gives us hope, even as we deal with death.
One last quote from the article.
“Sobering recent statistics reveal many Catholics (I would say Christians of many stripes) don’t even think it’s possible to have a friendship with God, so they certainly don’t know, with every fiber of their being, that they are loved, infinitely and passionately, by the One who has made it all,” he said (3)
Helping then know that, this is the nature of apocalyptic preaching. It is giving them the reason we have hope. To know that are cry, “Lord have mercy” is heard.
May everyone who preaches this weekend do that, and may people see revealed the love they need… and have. God’s.
(1) http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/archbishop-to-priests-heres-how-to-not-give-bad-homilies-17455/
(2) Ibid
(3) Ibid
I’m Tired, Exhausted, Wiped out.. and Enduring!
Devotional Thought of the Day
4 “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. . Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NLT)
999 And what is the secret of perseverance? Love. Fall in Love, and you will not leave Him!
it is the last thought listed in the book, “The Way”
It is one I needed to hear, especially given the last few weeks. Full of things that I am praising God for, and things that challenge my faith. Other things which are simply irritating, like that rock in your shoe that keeps rubbing and rubbing.
How we survive, how we endure, how we persevere is to keep our eyes on God.
To trust in Him to get us through, whether it is to a green pasture, or through the valley of the shadow of death, or just a meeting we didn’t anticipate going the way it did.
That is what this is all about. He is our God, we are His.
Know He loves you and love Him… and He will ensure you endure.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 2320). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
