Monthly Archives: October 2016
The Never-ending Bible Chapter: A Meditation for All-Hallowed’s Evening
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. 2 The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
Hebrews 11:1-2 (MSG)
We can explain what faith really means for an individual only by pointing to the lives of those who have lived it in its fullness: Francis of Assisi, Francis Xavier, Ignatius Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux, Vincent de Paul, John XXIII; in such persons, and basically only in them, can we come to know what kind of decision faith is. As we can see in the lives of such individuals, faith is a kind of passion, or, more correctly, a love that seizes an individual and shows him the direction he must go, however fatiguing it may be—the spiritual equivalent, perhaps, of a mountain to climb, which to the ordinary Christian would seem foolish indeed but to one who has committed himself to the venture is clearly the only direction to take—a direction he would not exchange for any conceivably more comfortable one.
426 In Christ we have every ideal: for he is King, he is Love, he is God.
Hebrews 11, where the quote in red comes from this morning, like the Acts of the Apostles, are chapters without ending.
That is, as Pope Ratzinger does above, the list of people sent by God, the list of those who were seized by the love of God, and shown a way to go, never ends. They are added to the great cloud of witnesses, the people who are passionate about the passion of the Lord, and seem to overcome things that should exhaust them.
For such people, and yes, that includes you and I, there is only the life God planned for us (Eph. 2:8-10) that is the direction we would take, and the longer we wearily tread these paths, the more assured we are that there is no other path worth taking.
The strength, the confidence isn’t ours, otherwise we would go another way (as we too often try to do!) It is part of the love that seizes us, the ideal of Christ as we are called to imitate God, to imitate the Christ who has drawn us to himself. And in doing so, He has made us His holy people.
Paul talks of being united to Him, in our baptism, as we die with Him at the cross, and are raised to new life with him. He talks about the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead being at work in us. This is the love(agape/cHesed,charity ) and mercy that is our gift, the grace that saves us, the charity that transforms us.
For us, it is often hard to see this in our lives. To understand this faith, this trust, this dependence on the love of God, that power which transforms us. And this is why Hebrews shares with us the faith of a few, and describes the faith of those to come. Their faith, their confidence, even in the midst of their brokenness gives us something to observe, a picture of what is going on in us.
Looking at them, seeing their sin and their transformation, we begin to understand what they counted on, the promises of scripture that they knew were fulfilled in their lives, and is being fulfilled in ours.
So this day, take one person of faith, who trusted in God’s work, in His love taking action, and consider that this is happening in your life as well!
And then cry out, confident in the answer, “LORD have mercy on me, a sinner,”
AMEN!
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Location 1054). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
499 Years Later How is YOUR Re-formation Going?
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
499 Years Later
How is YOUR Re-formation Going?
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May the mercy of God our Father, poured out on us as we were untied to Jesus in Baptism, be as real, as reforming our lives and God’s church.
Does History Guarantee our Reformation?
There was once a group of people who thought themselves good, who counted their spiritual heritage back across the generations, for they knew God had worked across those generations, and had often preserved His people. They did what they were told would make them holy, they regularly met and celebrated the promises of God. They ignored their sin, often while condemning the sins of others.
It sounds like the descendants of Abraham, doesn’t it?
Could it be said of Lutherans, even Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Lutherans, Even the people that gather here at Concordia Lutheran Church, even those here right now?
I think Jesus’ answer to us would be the same to those Jews who needed to be freed from sin, as He calls us all to be disciples, to remain in the truth He instills in us, to celebrate the truth that indeed sets us free!
To put it in another way, to be able to answer the question,
“499 years later, how is your re-formation going?”
Or do we know that the Holy Spirit is at work, reforming us!
Are we still enslaved to sin?
Jesus told them and told us, that if we are sin, we are enslaved to it, in bondage to it, that it set a trap and caught us in it, a trap we cannot easily escape. That’s why you can’t escape it at times, or the guilt and shame it can cause.
Ever lay awake at night, wondering why you said or did something, or have it come back to haunt you? Ever feel the suffocation of shame, as you think, if they only knew how bad I was, they would never forgive?
One article I read said that Luther had an over-active sense of guilt, a by-product of depression, and a burdened soul that created the Reformation to find comfort for his broken soul.
Would we all have souls so hungry to be found righteous, and haunted by our own unrighteousness! Would we all seek out the comfort God offers to those who are broken, and would we all point others, in need of us, to the comfort the cross offers!
For we need relief of being ensnared by sin, we need to hear that we’ve been freed from it, we need to know, in the midst of broken lives and a broken world, that there is peace!
That’s why Jesus points out that in their slavery, they may seem to be part of Abraham’s family, but they are slaves, people without rights, who aren’t part of the family. They lived in the illusion of it, while still in bondage. But if they would follow Jesus, if they would walk with Him, learn of Him, and find their place in Him, they would be free. They would be transformed.
We need to be transformed, which was the hope both the Reformation and the Restoration movements offered.
We need to see our reformation and restoration both personal, and permanent. To declared us free from the power of sin, freed to become the children of God!
We are part of that family
That was the freedom, the comfort, the relief Luther, and so many before and after found. In being a disciple, not just someone who learns by sitting in a classroom, but one who walks with Jesus in every aspect of life. Where we let God form us, even disciplining us as the Holy Spirit works to reform and transform us.
This is what happens at the Cross when we are united to Christ’s death and His resurrection, that is where our personal reformation begins, ever as Paul wrote to Titus.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—
That is us, back when before this happened>0
“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace, he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” 8 This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone. Titus 3:3-8 (NLT)
This is the teaching a disciple of Jesus remains in, the fact that He saved us, baptizing us in water and the Spirit, cleansing us from all sin.
That is where our confidence in being part of God’s family comes from! Not from anywhere else! That is where our reformation happened, even as it is revealed throughout the rest of our lives, and completed on the day of Christ.
And knowing that leaves us in a place of peace, A peace that is found as we remain in Christ Jesus. In that peace, we find the stillness needed to know He is God, and we have not only been freed, but we’ve become part of the family. AMEN!
Spiritual Formation, Gossip and Presidential Campaigns
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
16 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:16 (NLT)
263 The third aspect of this commandment concerns us all. It forbids all sins of the tongue by which we may injure or offend our neighbor. False witness is clearly a work of the tongue. Whatever is done with the tongue against a neighbor, then, is forbidden by God. This applies to false preachers with their corrupt teaching and blasphemy, to false judges and witnesses with their corrupt behavior in court and their lying and malicious talk outside of court.
264 It applies particularly to the detestable, shameful vice of back-biting or slander by which the devil rides us. Of this much could be said. It is a common vice of human nature that everyone would rather hear evil than good about his neighbor. Evil though we are, we cannot tolerate having evil spoken of us; we want the golden compliments of the whole world. Yet we cannot bear to hear the best spoken of others.
265 To avoid this vice, therefore, we should note that nobody has the right to judge and reprove his neighbor publicly, even when he has seen a sin committed, unless he has been authorized to judge and reprove
444 Never speak badly of your brother, not even when you have plenty of reasons for doing so. Go first to the tabernacle, and then go to the priest, your father, and also tell him what is bothering you. And to no one else.
As I have been considering God’s discipline recently, and the way in which God forms us, I realize we are in a season where our faith is either tried significantly. It is a time where we can depend on God, or we can rebel, being disobedient children ruled by fear and anxiety.
For the temptation is great during this presidential campaign to gossip, to speak ill of people, from the candidates themselves to those who back them.
Please hear me, there are issues that we need to discuss, issues that themselves lead to sin, advocate and approve of it.
There is more to the debate, both in this world and in the cyber portion of it. There are rumors, which we are ready to believe and exaggerate as we spread them throughout our spheres of influence. There is character assassination done, and we rejoice as we have the chance to “speak the truth.”
If we took St. Josemaria’s advice, how better off would we be? If we took those anxieties and laid them at the altar from which we receive the Body and Blood of Christ? If we still struggled, going to our pastor, our priest, those who assist them in guiding us, and let them reassure us of God’s promises, his presence, and His benevolent, loving merciful reign over all of His creation including our hearts and mind.
What we happen if we didn’t try to destroy the people running for office, but instead prayer for their salvation, and that they would know, without any doubt, the love of God or them?
What I am saying takes a lot of faith, it requires us to depend on God in a way similar to the children of Israel were supposed to trust during the Exodus a the Exile.
This is spiritual formation, this is spiritual growth, this is living the life of a disciple.
It is my prayer that this election season that we all may grow in the awareness of God’s grace and love, so that this faith would be revealed to all.
AMEN!
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 1090-1092). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Discipleship, Spiritual Formation and the Mark of the Beast
TDevotional/Discussion Thought of the Week
17 so that no one could buy or sell except one who had the stamped image of the beast’s name or the number that stood for its name. 18 Wisdom is needed here; one who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. His number is six hundred and sixty-six. (14) 1 Then I looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion,* and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. NAB-RE REV. 13:17-14:1
75 I know, O LORD, that your regulations are fair; you disciplined me because I needed it. 76 Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant. 77 Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live, for your instructions are my delight. NLT Psalm 119:75-78
431 Don’t fear God’s justice. It is no less admirable and no less lovable than his mercy. Both are proofs of his love. (1)
Looking at the three quotes above, it will at first seem like the first is not like the other two.
It is that passage that has people afraid of everything from Social Security Numbers, to Bar Codes, to Smart Chips and credit card smart chips. Some preachers use that passage to cause a form a paranoia about the government, as if it can do what Romans 8 says cannot be done. There in Romans it says that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Nothing.
Not even the mark of the beast! For as we see when we dispense with man-made chapter headings, we see two marks, not one. The mark of the beast – and the mark of the Lamb and our Heavenly Father.
But this fear of the mark gets to the heart of Christian discipleship, to what they call spiritual formation. That is how the passage from Revelation and the quote from Psalms and a blip from Escriva tie together.
For when we understand that God’s discipline, that spiritual formation at the hands of God is about His love, that the differing marks make sense.
David’s words are simple and precise, “we need it.”
First, so that we correct our ways, that we get rid of the idols in our life, that we are freed from those things that would enslave us, as we trust in them, as we turn to them, rather than depending on God. Forming us means that God is putting in place the barriers that protect us from falling. It is not punitive as much as protective.
We don’t always see God’s discipline as protective, but that is indeed what it is, because it originates in the same place as His mercy – the incredible longsuffering, sacrificial love He has for us; it comes from the desire He has to see us transformed rather than perish. Formation isn’t always comfortable, for we can’t simply go where we want – and trying to may mean running into a wall. And that can hurt!
David experienced, and therefore knew that God’s discipline, (some translations use affliction ) is followed by comfort, by an outpouring of mercy, by healing and restoration. It is this pattern, this characteristic; that reveals His love, his devoted benevolent care for us.
We are His people; We bear His name, given to us, marking us in our baptism.
The more we explore that love, its height, its depth, its breadth and width (and we can’t, in this life know it completely) the more convinced we are that God loves us. The more we entrust ourselves to it, even to reveling in it. Recipients of this love, this Godly intimate affection we can, with complete abandon praise and glorify Him, with our voices, and with our lives.
Even as He lovingly corrects us, even as we struggle with our brokenness, even as we question how God will make this work out for good.
Such is a disciplined life; such is one who’s been marked, not with some counterfeit mark, but with the name of Christ, and of the Father.
666? Not afraid of that, for I know the love of God, a love that is willing to suffer, and Will even form me though I may perceive it as suffering.
Lord, have mercy! (even when it means disciplining us!)
(1) Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 1059-1060). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Has the Church become a pathetic loser?
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors.* 3 Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first! NAB-RE Rev. 2:2-4
414 How pathetic: a “man of God” who has fallen away! But how much more pathetic: a “man of God” who is lukewarm and worldly!
A lot of conversations I’ve been in recently have been about the church in decline.
One talked about how we need to start lots of new churches because old churches can’t grow.
With another friend we talked about how three churches, healthy two decades ago, may share in the services of one pastor, rather than simply have someone come in every Sunday to preach.
A third conversation was about one of the largest of mega-churches, and how it, and its worship, are but a shadow of what they once were.
We look at the extremes of the church, and it is no less grievous. One side wants to embrace society’s ills, setting aside the scripture that tells us to shine the light in the darkness. They do such by just agreeing to live there. The other extreme also avoids shining light in the darkness, by shining light where there is the brightness of day. Like in the passage from the Revelation, they do all the good things, they detest the false teaching, they suffer abuse and endure.
What you don’t often hear anymore, is how in love the church is with God!
How head over heals we are, how much we are in awe and wonder, and how we adore God. How amazed we are to find ourselves counted as His loved ones.
The result of loving our love for God? Lukewarmness, busyness, being focused more on what is going on around us, than being aware of His glorious presence in our life. A church that focuses itself on outreach, or on maintaining a level of purity.
We need to remember this – we need to rekindle that love! But how does that happen?
We need to spend time, resting in God’s presence, meditating on His love, hearing His voice which calls out to us. We need to hear of His love for us, His desire for us to be in His presence. As we meditate on such things our love for Him grows, depending on Him, having faith in Him becomes easier, as does sharing that love with others.
Pastor – you want you church to come alive, for people to grow in faith (and in a pure faith?) Then fall in love with God, rejoice in His love for you.
The rest will fall in place.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 1033-1034). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
My thoughts on the election…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
“God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 17 In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.i 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” NAB-RE 1 John 4:16-21
As i worked through my social media accounts last night I grew quite depressed. Friends of mine, including pastors and priests, were commenting about the upcoming presidential elections.
Let me make it clear, I don’t mind people discussing the issues, or the candidates. I think that is beneficial. When the things discussed are not based in fear and anxiety, when they don’t spew hatred towards the candidates and those who support them.
I may never again talk to Mr. Trump, or ever talk to Mrs. Clinton. Yet they still are neighbors, those we, who claim to love and follow Jesus, are called to love and not hate. We are also called to love those who support them, and not insult them, or belittle them. (see Matthew 5:22)
I am not saying this will be easy, we need to be on guard, whether we support or the other. There are many fears, there is much in the lives of those running for office that we cannot approve of, that may even cause us to recoil in disgust, or horror. Yet their sin is no worse than ours, we have no right to stand before God and thank Him for our not being wretched sinners like them, apart from the grace of Christ.
We have to overcome our fears and anxieties, we have to get past the hatred, and there is only one way to do that. To remain in Christ, to dwell in the love of God,. We need to be focused on that which is revealed, the presence of God in which we dwell, safe there, welcome there because of the Cross of Jesus. Because he died, we have been freed us from sin, and Satan, and even the fear of death. Because we are united to that death, we are also united to Him in the resurrection, and nothing can separate us from His love.
Even having to vote.
So look to God, continually think about your Creator, who hasn’t abandoned you, and will not. Rejoice in His presence, and from that place of unsurpassed peace, pray for those running for office, not just president – but all those we elect. Pray for them a lot, and even for yourself, that if you do get the chance to talk to them, you would show them love, the love of God reflected through your very being.
Lord Have Mercy on us, sinners all! AMEN!
Why We Aren’t A Post Christian Society
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
9 *But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.10 Once you were “no people” but now you are God’s people; you “had not received mercy” but now you have received mercy! 1 Peter 2:9-10
A single hour of quiet listening to the word of God would often be more effective than whole days of sessions and discussions, and a moment of prayer would be more effective than whole stacks of paper, for it is not only what we do that makes us effective. Sometimes the impression arises that behind our hectic hyperactivity there lurks a paralysis of faith, since in the last analysis we have more confidence in what we ourselves contrive and accomplish.
47 For this reason, too, Paul asks, Since we are called according to the purpose of God, “who will separate us from the love of God in Christ?” (Rom. 8:35).
48 This doctrine will also give us the glorious comfort, in times of trial and affliction, that in his counsel before the foundation of the world God has determined and decreed that he will assist us in all our necessities, grant us patience, give us comfort, create hope, and bring everything to such an issue that we shall be saved
For a decade or more, I have the phrase post-modernism adapted and used to describe a weak church, and so developed phrases like “a post-Christian society” or living in a “post-church society.”
I will agree that the church seems to be less “effective” from a business perspective, at least in areas where it was thought to be very “effective” for decades. Among those of European descent, among those who were upwardly mobile and driven to live life better than their parents did.
But calling us post-church or post-Christian is wrong, for it presumes that the society we are discussing knew the riches they had in Christ, that they were recipients of the grace and mercy, the peace and love of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
And then walked away… not just from the church, but from the love of Christ the church was there to help them explore, to be at their side as they in awe, encountered God revealed to them.
To call this society “post-Christian” means they walked away from what St Peter describes as leaving the darkness for a wonderful light, that they abandoned being God’s people, and recipients of the mercy that would bring healing and hope to shattered souls. I don’t see people doing that; I see them walking away from meetings and discussions, from stacks of paper describing programs, and from a church that ministered only to their sense of logic, and couldn’t continually keep them in awe.
That which they may have walked away from, did it give them comfort in the midst of suffering, did it bring them a sense of God’s peace that goes beyond explanation and understand? If so, why would they have walked away from it?
So what is the answer? Perhaps it is to evangelize the church first, what is called the New Evangelization in some circles. To teach people that God does answer a cry for mercy, that He hears their prayers, that he will offer them comfort and peace. As this is taught, as it is revealed through His word, and through His sacraments, then the church will naturally evangelize again.
Teach them about Christ,God incarnate, God crucified and raised, God who comes near, and stays. God who listens and comforts, who guides and gives meaning to life. Who walks beside them in this lonely life.
It may sound too simple, but simple doesn’t mean wrong, nor does it mean ineffective. It means that we communicate and reveal the love of God to those who need it, in the church and presently outside it.
It is time to give people the hope of sharing in the glory of Christ, in the presence of Jesus.
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.
Raising Cain! A sermon on Genesis 4
Raising Cain
Gen 4:1-16
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be heard in every part of you and transform your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength.
Raising Cain – What if….
As you look at this title and think back on the words from Genesis we heard read a few moments ago, I wonder what you are thinking.
I mean if I gave your “permission” to think about raising Cain, would you think I was encouraging you to do something evil? To cause great trouble, to be rebellious, to behave ( as one person said) like loud protestors at some protest rally?
Or is there another option to raising Cain?
And what you do you think about Cain? Is he another like Judas that is beyond redemption, that is condemned because of the evil he committed? Do we write him off like Pharaoh, or like King Saul or Ahaz and that rotten women Jezebel?
Aren’t we glad that we certainly aren’t a sinner like that Cain…?
Or like that tax collector,
Are we more like that Pharisee than we want to admit, thanking God that we aren’t sinners like everyone else, picking our sins we are proud we didn’t commit and proud of the things we do that “prove we are righteous?”
Could it be that instead of encouraging riotous living, the idea of Raising Cain is about trying to see how God called Cain to repentance and offered him hope, and life?
When we can see God working in Cain’s life, it will give us hope, as we struggle in our brokenness, in the midst of this broken world?
Look at the chances!
One of the things I see in this passage is that God doesn’t easily give up on Cain. Nor will he give up easily on us, and we need to know that.
But consider a few of these things.
As Cain is upset about the offerings, God comes to him and says,
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
And like Cain, God comes to us, as we are struggling and says similar things. He tells us we are His, which we are accepted. But Jesus also warned Peter about potential sin, and then Peter would describe Satan this way…
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.. 1 Peter 5:6-9 (NLT)
Does that sound familiar?
God knows his heart, knows that Cain is being eaten up by the sin, by the jealousy, by the nature he inherited from his folks and made his own.
And as God prophesied – sin caught him, his anger and jealousy and attempted to devour him,
He killed his brother. He did something only God has the right to do, to take a life.
What happened next, he could never have foreseen.
Instead of God taking his life, he comes back to Cain, and calls him to repentance,
9 Afterward, the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
As I read this, I had to ask, why does God ask where Abel is? God is omniscient, isn’t He? God asked the same question of Adam and Eve, where are you? What have you done?
And of Peter on the beach, as Peter couldn’t get over denying Jesus three times, and three times Jesus asked, Simon Peter, “do you love me?”
We have to realize this; God didn’t give up on Cain. He didn’t just take his life, as He should have. If God were only merciful and not just, he would have just taken Cain’s life.
But God cares for him, and for you and I when we fall into sin when we are trapped and in bondage.
Even when we realize we deserve to be punished for our sin and utter those words Cain did…
13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
If we didn’t have a pharisaical bias towards Cain, would we hear this any differently? Would we notice that Cain added in something God didn’t say?
14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence;
God didn’t – he is still with Cain. God is talking to Him. God is with him, there, and Cain is in the very presence of God.
Whether we hear those words of Cain as complaining, or fear, or pleading for mercy, they are said to a God who is there, who is listening, who is both just and merciful…
Just as He heard us a few moments ago, when we confessed our sin, when we pleaded for God to show us grace…
Even as He did to Cain.
Look at the grace – and what it pictures
We don’t see it if we just skim the passage, but it is there,
15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.
I think we usually see that mark as one of punishment – a stay away from this evil person.
But it is there to protect Cain, to let people know that he was under God’s protection, that (gulp) God was with him. That no one had the right to condemn him, no one had the right to punish him. Just like the woman caught in adultery.
Just like the mark of our baptism,
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Titus 3:3-6 (NLT)
You and I, we were no different than Cain, we were rebellious and sinned, despite God’s warning it devoured us. God came to us again, and called on us it, showed us what we deserved, and then reminded us we are marked….. in our baptism, and no one has the ability to condemn us. Nor will we ever be banished from His presence.
You are forgiven, just like the tax collector, and Peter, Paul, David, and me.
So go, and live in God’s peace, for Christ will guard your heart and mind in that incredible peace. AMEN!
“Do I have to pray, read the Bible, go to church, etc?”
devotional/discussion thought of the day?
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. 17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. Philippians 3:10-17 (NLT)
33 We should concern ourselves with this revealed will of God, follow it, and be diligent about it because the Holy Spirit gives grace, power, and ability through the Word by which he has called us. We should not explore the abyss of the hidden foreknowledge of God, even as Christ answered the question, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” by saying, “Strive to enter by the narrow door” (Luke 13:23, 24)
325 Fight against the softness that makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of tepidity … and, in the words of the Scripture, God will vomit out the lukewarm.
Sometimes the question is phrased as you see above, “Do I have to pray, read the Bible, go to church, etc. ?”. Other times it is more a defensive statement, “I have a great relationship with God and therefore I don’t have to…” Or perhaps the most dangerous version, “God will understand that I have other priorities….”
As a pastor such questions and statements are the horrific omens, they are the symptoms of life that will be soon going through a kind of spiritual cardiac arrest. One that will be haunted by guilt and shame that will be easily tempted to some form of idolatry, to put faith in something else. That idol will fail eventually, that dream and desire will not satisfy, and the comfort of a lukewarm faith will cause us to fall asleep.
I don’t say this simply as a diagnostician, or simple as a pastor who is tired of observing it and picking up the pieces. I say it as one who struggles with it, as well. I who wants to pass on my morning devotions and get to “work.” I so want to bypass my examination of my life and praying that God would help me not just repeatedly come to being sorry and apologetic, but to move from contrition to the transformation that is true repentance. I want to grow in overcoming the sin that so easily ensnares me, and I want to help you do the same.
All three quotes above talk about this – from the Lutheran Confessions which tell us to stop trying to probe the hidden mysteries of God, the things scripture doesn’t mention and theologians argue and write about. We must instead focus on the love and mercy that God does reveal. What a wondrous thing it is to know how deeply God loves you and me! What an incredible thing to think of the cross, and how that love was revealed, in an act so merciful that it staggers the mind. He died for us, and we live with Him! There is our focus!
St. Josemaria echoes it in his plea that we all don’t get lazy and careless in our spiritual life, that with Paul we forget what is behind us, what is history, and try to possess, to understand, to hold onto the fact that Christ has united us to himself. To begin to understand how much we are loved, and what it means to be united to God in Christ’s death and resurrection, to be the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The answer to an apathetic faith, to a personal or parish/congregational malaise, is quite simple. We need to understand the wide, how long, how high and how deep His love is for us, experiencing the love of Christ which is too great to completely understand with our hearts and souls and mind. Even so, as we begin to explore that love, we come alive, and the power of God is revealed in us.
So you and I, yes we need to pray, and to spend time contemplating what scripture reveals, we need to gather together to hear of this love, to receive the sacraments which are tangible gifts showing that love.
Not because it is law, not because if we don’t, we shall be punished, but because these things are what nourishes our spiritual life, and what makes us aware that God is with us!
AMEN!
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 838-839). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Where Do We Invest Ourselves?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
4 But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, 5 not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy Spirit, 6 whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, 7 so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. 8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these points, that those who have believed in God be careful to devote themselves to good works; these are excellent and beneficial to others. Titus 3:4-8 (NAB)
317 What zeal men put into their earthly affairs! Dreaming of honors, striving for riches, bent on sensuality! Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged and young and even children: all of them alike. When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, then we’ll have a living and working faith. And there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic works.
As we get closer to November, I am receiving more and more programs geared to what people call “stewardship,” each with a promise to increase the giving of my congregation. Some might even market themselves as being “different.” That is, they aren’t just about money, but also about encouraging people to use their time and talents to benefit the church.
Some even talk about coming out and doing the program for you or sending audio and video. One recently indicated that since it was the focus of the worship services, you didn’t have to ask people to come to any other meetings. I usually don’t use “canned” studies or sermons, so these go pretty much unopened, unperused. The other reason is that I don’t agree with the goal, of increasing giving.as a primary focus of worship.
As I read the quote from St. Josemaria, I thought about this a little more, that we invest our zeal in so many things. It might be “our” football team. It might be a hobby, such as hiking or fishing or sewing and quilting. We relish the time we spend doing those things, and the people that do them with them are among those who we count as our closest friends. We might even zealously invest ourselves in those friends, apart from the things that bring us together – even church.
But what if we were as zealous about our relationship with God? What if we had that kind of attitude about spending time with Him? What if we pursued the means of grace – the scriptures, the sacraments, including prayer, because we treasured the precious peace, that reminder of His ever present love?
What if we understood these things Paul told Titus to be insistent about teaching the people of God entrusted to Him?
Paul indicated that this would result in Titus’s people (and therefore our people) devoting themselves to good works as well, works that are excellent and beneficial for others!
I think this is exactly what St. Josemaria was talking about as well – be zealous about the affairs of our souls, about trusting and depending on God in our lives, and then everything else ends up taking care of itself. And nothing will hinder apostolic/missional efforts, the needs of the ministry will be met, and more will follow.
This is, living by faith, by dependence on God. It takes a while to get used to, and a determination to preachChristt crucified, whether on the pulpits or in the streets. As it seems like crisis hit, there will be a temptation to go back to hyper-focusing on giving, but there will come a time where you realize God is at work, that He will provide, as the idols we fashion fall to the side – and our focus becomes the kind and generous love of God.
Deliver to them the message of Christ, give them the hope of sharing in His glory, and the rest… will care for itself. AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 820-823). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
