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News That Will Knock Your Socks Off:
Sermon of the Day
News that Will Knock Your Socks Off
Isiah 52:7-10
† I.H.S. †
May the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ knock your socks off, and may people exclaim the beauty of your feet as you share with the the Gospel!
One of “those”moments
In 2 Kings 6, there is a great story that illustrates the lesson found in Isaiah’s words today.
A King and His army are determined to capture Elisha and his servant, and his entire army, the infantry and chariots to a place called Dothan. Elisha and the servant wake up, and the servant panics, as the place they are staying is completely surrounded by the bad king and all his minions.
The servant’s reaction, knowing the enemy is so large, so angry, so prepared is to cry out, “Master, we are doomed! What shall we do?”
Elisha’s response is simple, “don’t be afraid,” and then he prayed for the servant’s eyes to be opened and as God opened his eyes, he saw the Army of God surrounding the King and his forces, ready to pounce if need be. Interestingly enough, the prophet of God had mercy on the invasion force, and they would return home.
But can you imagine the servant, go from full-fledged panic to struggling with the change, knowing that God was with them? Can you imagine the joy? We don’t’ hear a response from him but maybe it was because he couldn’t speak….
For the beauty of the prophet’s words, this message that they weren’t alone, was overwhelming.
Such is the news Isaiah is describing when he says that those who bring the gospel have beautiful feet, In Hebrew it is not “hey – those are good looking feet….” It is a jaw-dropping exclamation, beauty that leaves you nearly speechless, a joy of realizing that everything has changed. It is that kind of message, so incredible, so beyond anything you could hope for, it could knock your socks off!
It’s only good news if…
There is a problem with receiving good news, to seeing those beautiful feet that we need to realize. We have to be ready for it.
In our reading from Isaiah, we see the watchmen, the city guards, standing on the wall. They are at war, the enemy is threatening, they are about to be plundered, ransacked and robbed again. The city itself is described in ruins in verse 9, as their Redeemer, their kinsman-redeemer arrives with all of His army.
The servant in Elisha’s story as well, he too was overwhelmed, thinking they were doomed, that there was no hope…
This is why good news is… well… good news.
The gospel is the greatest news of all, those who bring it have beautiful feet because the level of hopeless that we have without it is beyond words.
Think about the damage that sin does to people, as it divides people from each other. The damage that resentment and hatred does, as the unrighteousness of the world crushes is, as we become so defensive, so way of the pain that we isolate ourselves from those around us, fearing what they might do, or say or think.
But it is not only external sin and unrighteousness that affects us, our own sin eats us up from the inside, as it breeds guilt and shame. This too isolates us, it turns our lives into the spiritual equivalent of Pompeii or Jericho, Just a bunch of ruins and ash.
Heck, this can happen even to us, and we know how guilt and shame, resentment and hatred can affect us….we’ve seen it isolate us from others, convince us that everyone else in the world is against us.
Can you imagine how it would be if we didn’t have any hope?
The Lord Demonstrated His power…
Isaiah will then describe that hope we have, that hope which overcomes the loneliness, the hope that reminds us that we are not alone, that we can love again, that God will remove the guilt and shame and help us to know, we are loved, by Him.
Hear the words again.
8 The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the Lord returning to Jerusalem.
9 Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has demonstrated his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth will see the victory of our God.
This is what is amazing, no matter how bruised or battered by sin, no matter how isolated, God reaches into our lives. He comes to us, and even as we aren’t sure what will happen next, His very presence brings us comfort, it assures us we aren’t alone, that what we thought was a ruined life will be restored, made whole, made holy.
This is what the His holy power has done already, Isaiah looked forward to it, Mark and the apostles bore witness to it, they became the men with a message, because the power of God, the love and mercy of God was seen at the cross, and understood when Christ was revealed, and stood in their midst and comforted them with the words,
Be at peace!
That is what He is doing in our lives, in these moments, as we hear His promise of redeeming us, and the Holy Spirit brings us to the point where depending on the work of Christ is more important than justifying our sin, or defending ourselves from the sins of others. It is realizing the incredible presence of the God who redeems us, who repairs our ruins, who gives us life.
That is why, despite an army massing against him, determined to capture and enslave him, Elisha was able to tell his servant, “don’t’ fear!” and the apostles could live in a time of great persecution, knowing that the Lord who is with you is greater, far greater than anything we encounter in life.
This is the message that knocks our socks off as we hear it, which prepares us to go and bring the message to others, who will realize how beautiful our feet are, as we share God’s grace, His love and mercy, with them. AMEN!
Revival and the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalm 32:5 (NLT)
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NLT)
Since absolution or the power of the keys, which was instituted by Christ in the Gospel, is a consolation and help against sin and a bad conscience, confession and absolution should by no means be allowed to fall into disuse in the church, especially for the sake of timid consciences and for the sake of untrained young people who need to be examined and instructed in Christian doctrine
.126 You asked me to suggest a way for winning through in your daily struggles, and I replied: When you lay your soul open, say first of all what you wouldn’t like to be known. In this way the devil will always end up defeated. Lay your soul wide open, clearly and simply, so that the rays of God’s Love may reach and illuminate the last corner of it!
We used to refer to it as “Private Confession” in the Lutheran Church. Theologically we refer to it as COnfessiona and Absolution, with the emphasis on the Absolution part. The quote in green is from our confessions, where it is numbered among our sacraments, and in the minds of our forefathers, too great a treasure to forgo.
My brothers in the Roman Catholic church call this the Ministry of Reconciliation, and I have to admit I like that name as well. It reminds us what forgiveness does, it makes things right, it applies the blood of Christ to our brokenness, it brings healing, much-needed healing to souls damaged by guilt, shame and resentment which comes along with our sin and rebellion, It is the duty of the church, it is at the heart of its very mission, to pronounce this news of God’s mercy, of His care.
It is what brings life back, this far too overlooked sacrament, this anxious moment where we trust God enough to lay our soul wide open. It is then, as the Lord of Life, the Holy Spirit circumcises our heart with the power of God’s love, that all which hinders our life.
This is a ministry we all need, for we need the freedom that we find as Christ delivers us from sin and death, as He liberates us from the oppression that can so dominate our lives.
Luther makes it clear, that part of this ministry is too timid consciences, those that are unsure of God’s grace, those that are bruised and battered by their own lives, by their pasts, by the fear that they won’t be accepted by God, or by His people. That is no different today, as people will gradually talk to a pastor or priest, as if trying to see if the water is scalding or frigid, only to warm up and get to the heart of what troubles them.
They need our ministry, our time, out ears to hear their confessions, our mouths to say what they long to hear, our eyes and hearts to assure them that the forgiveness we speak, is not ours, but we speak it for Him.
Because this life-giving ministry was given to us.
To stand by their side, to encourage them to cry out to God, to cry out, “Lord, have mercy!”
And to know that He has had mercy… and will walk by their side in life.
(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 312). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 644-647). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Where Renewal Starts…..
Devotional Thought of the Day:
26 This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 It follows that if one of you eats the Lord’s bread or drinks from his cup in a way that dishonors him, you are guilty of sin against the Lord’s body and blood. 28 So then, you should each examine yourself first, and then eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For if you do not recognize the meaning of the Lord’s body when you eat the bread and drink from the cup, you bring judgment on yourself as you eat and drink. 30 That is why many of you are sick and weak, and several have died. 31 If we would examine ourselves first, we would not come under God’s judgment. 32 But we are judged and punished by the Lord, so that we shall not be condemned together with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:26-32 (TEV)
109 There is an enemy of the interior life which is both little and silly. Unfortunately, it can be very effective. It is the neglect of effort in one’s examination of conscience. (1)
For this reason private confession should be retained in the church, for in it consciences afflicted and crushed by the terrors of sin lay themselves bare and receive consolation which they could not acquire in public preaching. We want to open up confession as a port and refuge for those whose consciences the devil holds enmeshed in his snares and whom he completely bewitches and torments in such a way that they cannot free or extricate themselves and feel and see nothing else but that they must perish. For there is no other greater misery in this life than the pains and perplexities of a heart that is destitute of guidance and solace.
To such, then, an approach to confession should be opened up so that they may seek and find consolation among the ministers of the church. (2)
Growing up in the 1970’s there was a lot of talk of renewal, and movements which facilitated various renewals. There was a call for liturgical renewal, retreats that offered times of personal renewal, parish and congregational renewal, and the movement which was known as the Charismatic Renewal.
Each form of renewal brought promise, sometimes delivered, sometimes frustrated.
Then in the 90’s we replaced renewal with revival, and then revitalizatiom.
Now it seems that renewal, either personal, congregational, across a denomination, or across the entire church has been tossed aside. We’d rather close churches, and start something completely new. We’d rather give up on people whose faith has become dormant, and focus on new conversion. Or worse, offer hope to those churches and people, not through the renewal of their spirit, but through returning to the forms that left them dried, weary and with a withered faith.
How will these new lives survive when their new churches hit 20-25 years old (the age when some skeptics say churches begin to die) What will happen to the faith of these people who are guided toward the dry, repetitive faith that caused their churches to dwindle?
Or is there an option?
Could it be found in these words from Paul about the examination of our hearts and souls? Could it be in letting confession and the examination it offers fall into disuse we have hindered renewal/revival in the church, and if the church is not renewed, neither is the world?
What joy have we prevented people from knowing, what joy and peace could we offer them, simply by helping them realize their need for forgiveness while assuring them it is offered? What joy and peace have we neglected giving our people, what guilt and shame do they bear, not knowing they bear it without need?
We talk of wanting churches to grow, in number, faith and practice, yet we do not offer them the basic respite the psalmists craved, and rejoiced and rested as they received it.
What if we offered them a real chance to examine themselves, to consider their lives, to cry out for deliverance, to cry out in hope? What if our words assured them of God’s mercy, of the forgiveness He years to give, of the love He would assure them they have?
Our people need to examine themselves, knowing that they are doing so to find their freedom in Christ. To know that doing so will bring them life, as God sets aside all that would inhibit their life, and transform and make them Holy. For that is what absolution, that is our cleansing.
That is renewal, that is revival, that is life being restored to those who are weary and worn, broken and devastated.
May we, and our people cry out for the Lord’s mercy, knowing He who provides it is faithful.
AMEN!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 589-591). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 6: Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 31-37. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 6, pp. 297–298). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
Was She a Victim or a Hero, a Sinner or Saint; and her Overlooked Encounter with God
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 The angel of the LORD met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur 8 and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am running away from my mistress.” 9 He said, “Go back to her and be her slave.” 10 Then he said, “I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them. 11 You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your cry of distress. 12 But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives.” 13 Hagar asked herself, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So she called the LORD, who had spoken to her, “A God Who Sees.” 14 That is why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” 15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old at the time. Genesis 16:7-16 (TEV)
Her story struck me far different this morning that it ever had before. Usually, she is just an aside, we acknowledge she is there and quickly pass her by.
She slept with another man’s wife, (even if at the wife’s direction). She didn’t have a good attitude to either afterward, and they didn’t have a good attitude toward her either. She tried to escape her situation and that is where the story gets interesting.
God chased after her.
Even as I type that, I think, this is increible.
God chased after her.
He chased after her, blessed her, made her promises and restored her.
Despite all the drama in her life. Despite all the pain.
As she so perfectly puts it – He is the God who sees. God saw her, in the midst of her brokenness, in the midst of her trauma, in the midst of running away, trying to escape the drama. He saw her, and blessed her, and gave her the strength to go back, to return to the midst of the brokenness,
And we have this encounter, with the one who was not favored with the one who would struggle, with the one whose descendants would constantly battle God’s people, until one of the descendants of Issac would be born, and die, and become the ultimately blessing to all peoples.
Including Hagar’s descendants.
I asked in the title if she was a victim, or a hero, a sinner or a saint. I also wonder what the relationship between Sarah and her was like upon her return. The questions are interesting and I honestly don’t know.
But what is important. what I do know about Hagar is this. She was the lady whom God saw, and she lived.
May we as well, in our mixed up, broken lives, know the love of God who sees even those of us whom others overlook. For we too are a part of Christ’s story… for He saw us, and died, and rose again, for us. May we too, encounter Hagar’s along the road, and watch God minister to them, through us.
God’s peace my friend.
AMEN!
Struggling in Your Relationship with God: A Absolute Necessity
Devotional Thought of the Day:
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” 28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.” 29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” Genesis 32:24-30 (NLT)
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:21-25 (NLT)
158 You have become more keenly aware of the urgency, of the “preoccupation” of being a saint; and you have gone into battle daily with no hesitation, convinced that you have to root out bravely any symptom of being fond of comfort. Later, while talking to Our Lord in your prayer you understood that fighting is a synonym for Love, and you asked for a greater Love, with no fear of the struggle awaiting you, since you would be fighting for Him, with Him and in Him
It is one of the hardest things to accept as a Christian.
That I will continue to struggle with sin, especially the sin of idolatry, especially the concept of self-idolatry. Not that I worship and praise myself, but that I depend on myself more than I depend on Jesus. That I listen to my own reason more than I listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. An idol or a god isn’t just whom you worship with your voices, and maybe with an act to appease anger. It’s so much more than that, as we enter into a relationship with God, on His terms.
A relationship between God and man is not just about praise and worship a few hours a week. It is an intimate, dependent relationship. Where we turn to Him, rely on Him, in every situation in life. We rely on Him to rescue us from the sin that entraps us, from the despair of dealing with death and in dealing with Satan, and the temptations that would see us crushed.
As St. Josemaria says, the life of holiness, of being a “saint,” one separated from the world to have that relationship with God, is a nearly constant fight. Sometimes that fight is a battle against the spiritual powers in the world as He guides us in redeeming and reconciling the world to the Father. But as often, the fight is our human nature, battling for supremacy, rather than simply realizing that God is God. Such battles leave us tired, weary, even depressed seeing our lives not dominated by God as we would like, but by the sin that leaves us broken.
The hope is the hope that Jacob, the one re-named Israel finds in his dark night of the soul. Where he wrestles with God, trying to dominate, trying to show his mastery over God. When he can’t, the struggle changes – I won’t let go until you bless me, God, I won’t relax the struggle until I know your peace. It is one of those things that amazes me, that the name of God’s people was taken from the last of the Patriarchs. Not Abraham, or Issac, or even Jacob, his given name.
But Israel, the one who wrestles with God.. the people who would wrestle with God. They entire history is a similar fight, and in Christ, the blessing comes, through the fight on a cross, and through a grave until the morning comes and the grace is revealed.
So you like I, struggle in your faith. This is good. May you learn to, like Israel, struggle through the darkness of night, and refuse to give up, but hang on for dear life, and hang on until you knw the blessing of His peace. For that is what it means to not only fight for God, to not only fight with Him, but to fight in Him.
AMEN
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 865-869). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The K.I.S.S-S Principle for Jesus’ followers on Mondays.
Devotional thought for a Monday!
18 Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. 19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. . 1 Ti 1:18–20NLT
Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. 3 Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. 4 Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. 5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.
6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.1 Ti 6:2–8NLT
92 We shall not, can not, and should not permit any clever human opinions, no matter what appearance or prestige they may have, to lead us away from the simple, explicit, and clear understanding of Christ’s word and testament to a strange meaning different from the way the letters read, but, as stated above, we shall understand and believe them in the simple sense.
The Lord left behind a pledge of this hope and strength for life’s journey in that sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man are gloriously changed into His Body and Blood, providing a meal of brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.
I am too tired on Mondays to play games with semantics, to dive deeply into the great theological debates in history.
Some would look at the quote in blue, and fixate on the word “changed”, as opposed to simply saying is. The weight of the phrase is not on the how and why of the change, but on the blessing, as we are transformed by the feast into a solid brotherhood, a solid family. What was simple bread and wine, has become a meal of miraculous intent and purpose.
That is what the quote in green argue’s for, not some fancy opinion of the change, or arguments about the how and why and for how long the change is effective. But a simple understanding of the purpose of the Holy, Divine, Loving God, who gave Himself for us on a cross. Who gave His life, His body, and blood, that we could live.
That incredible blessing and promise we can be content knowing, rejoicing in, and adoring the God, who gave us Himself, to help us, to unite us, to restore us and reconcile us to himself.
That’s what Paul instruct Timothy to teach the very simple truths about Christ which we cling to with all we are, trusting He has us grasped in His hands, and He won’t let us go.
The K.I.S.S principle was explained to me once, Keep It Simple, Stupid. While I won’t make any claim to great knowledge, I prefer to hear it this way,
“Keep it Simple, Sinner-saints”
Keep looking to Jesus, keep hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Keep thinking about the blessings He has given, and how He ties those blessings to simple things, the water of Baptism, the bread, body and wine/blood, the confession and prayers to those to whom we confess that assure us we are forgiven, and the very words of God that reveal this to us.
That reveal it simple,
That reveal it to assure us
The reveal it to us to cling to, and teach to others>
All Because He loves us.
Simple. Trust and depend on the God, who gives us hope, and salvation.
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 586). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Catholic Church. (2011). Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium Et Spes. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Struggling in Life? Will You Let It Be A Blessing?
Devotional Thought of the Day
6 Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. 7 Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 You love him, although you have not seen him, and you believe in him, although you do not now see him. So you rejoice with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express, 9 because you are receiving the salvation of your souls, which is the purpose of your faith in him. 1 Peter 1:6-9 (TEV)
10 “Stop fighting,” he says, “and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the world.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalm 46:10-11 (TEV)
70 You asked me if I had a cross to bear. And I answered, “Yes, we always have to bear the Cross.” But it is a glorious Cross, a divine seal, the authentic guarantee of our being children of God. That is why we always walk along happily with the Cross. (1)
I have been “suffering” with a head cold for about a week. I loathe such things because I can not take medicines that would reverse the symptoms. It’s not really suffering persay, but it is discomforting, it wrecks my normal patterns, it destroys the idea I have control.
All suffering, minor like my cold, or the real suffering people go through have that effect. Suffering wrecks the normal nature of our world. Even when we embrace suffering and sacrifice out of love for someone else, it can become something that robs us of our joy.
It doesn’t have to.
For in or suffering, whether forced upon us or chosen, whether great or small, can reveal something to us. We aren’t alone. For we get through such times knowing the presence of God. We find out our faith is real, that it is not hollow words. Because we find out the Lord in whom we trust, in whom we depend, in whom we have faith, is real. And He is with us.
As we slow down, as we tire of the agitation and anxiety, we find ourselves kept in Christ, treasured by his love. We find ourselves in peace, one we can’t explain, one that is impossible, one that comes from God being our refuge, our sanctuary.
It is from that point we find our joy exploding, the love of God so overwhelming and transforming that it resonates within us, and causes others to know that joy as well.
The suffering isn’t the blessing, yet it is a source of the blessing, as it drives us to God.
Such is our life in Christ.
For we know His mercy, and His love, and His peace….
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 514-517). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Companions of the Cross – Lesson 2 Mark 9:38-50
Companions of the Cross – Lesson II
Don’t Cause others to Stumble
Mark 9:38-50
† In Jesus Name †
May You so grow to treasure the grace and mercy of God that you diligently strive to make it known, reminding yourself and those around you to depend upon it in all times.
Being Christ’s Companion is Like a Treasured Cup of Coffee
Dr. Anthony Campolo told a story about one of his aha moments, where his faith became real.
He was on his way to an important board meeting in Philadelphia. One of the ministries he headed up was being considered for an extremely generous grant, the kind that allows for incredible expansion of ministry.
With that in mind, he was walking from the parking garage to the office building when he spotted a man. A man with dirty hands and filthy clothes. A man whose torn old clothing could have barely protected him from the bitter cold of a Philadelphia winter. A man with a cup in his hand held out as if hoping for a coin or two to be dropped into the cup. He was coming right at Dr. Campolo.
The guilt and shame became proactive; Tony knew he should try to help the man – after all, helping others is what he trained college students to do. As the man came closer, the cup held out. The nerves rose – there would be no way to avoid the man, he would be late for his meeting, and this guy so looked like he needed the kind of help that Christ would judge Tony for not providing.
As the man approached, he said, “Mister, Mister, here, have this cup of coffee!” As Tony looked him in stunned disbelief, as this poor broken man tried to serve him, the professor and leader, the man continued, “No I don’t want anything, I just had a cup, and it is such an incredible thing on a day like this, I had to share one with someone else”
As Tony brought the cup to his lips, indeed, it was the best coffee he had ever had. An incredible gift from the least expected person in the world. And he would share with the businessmen that morning, not his prepared notes. But the story of a man who just had to share what he’d been given.
Such a lesson is the key to this morning, to these passages that seem confusing, until you realize they are about the same thing.
Being a companion of the cross with Jesus. A treasure so incredible, that you have to share it, that you have to help others know it, that it is worth more than life itself.
A Treasure too great to Insulate
We see that in the first few verses. Last week we heard the disciples getting chewed out because they all want to be the primary disciple, the one who would take over when Jesus died. Now content to serve each other, Jesus opens the gates a little wider.
The disciples get jealous; they want to protect the only man in history who had no need, and no desire to be protected. They wanted permission to shut this man down, Tony could have been happy with some security team member intercepting the man he perceived to be a beggar, but would actually offer a hot cup of coffee instead of a cup of water.
We don’t have to protect the gospel; we don’t need to play god and protect God. Yes, He will call people to trust in Him through the ministry here. And for others we will simply plant the seeds. Allowing others to plant the seeds.
We can’t insulate the gospel, we can’t protect it, it is bigger than us. As one pastor said this week,
“The Church, the holy People of God, treads the dust-laden paths of history, so often traversed by conflict, injustice and violence, in order to encounter her children, our brothers and sisters. The holy and faithful People of God are not afraid of losing their way; they are afraid of becoming self-enclosed, frozen into élites, clinging to their own security. They know that self-enclosure, in all the many forms it takes, is the cause of so much apathy.
So let us go out, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ. (Pope Francis)
Being a companion of Christ is too good not to share, and so why should we be concerned, when others try to share it? We can help them, together become more consistent with Jesus teachings, but to just stop them?
I am not talking about some required “you must tell your friends and family and force them here.” But a relationship with God is too incredible to stop us from sharing it, so why should we stop someone else?
A treasure too great to not help protect
The same kind of thing goes for Jesus next point, the one this sermon is titled about.
If we know the value of this relationship with God, then we aren’t going to intentionally case someone to stop trusting in God. It would be better for those 1000 pounds millstone to be chained to us, and Lal to drop us off on the way out on his next fishing trip.
The more we value God’s call, the more we will want others to know it, and the more we will want those who know it to treasure it, to value their relationship with Jesus more than any other. If that is true, how would we feel to cause them to be so scandalized that they fall out of the relationship?
As we grow in our understanding of the dimensions of God’s love, our attitude will change, and we will realize that the little children Jesus is talking about include the atheist, the adherent of Islam, the person’s who sins turn your stomach, and it includes you and I.
As we grow in knowing God’s love, it would cause us great distress to think we drove someone away from the relationship with God we treasure!
A Treasure too Great to Love Other – including ourselves.
The section about cutting off hands and feet, of gouging out eyes was always too much for me. Seriously first it seemed a bit over the top. Second, most of us would be crawling around here, for us all too quickly sin.
But the relationship with God is so incredible, that which He offers us is so overwhelming, that we would rather do those things rather than risk it. We would realize that the first commandment is right – as we know what God has done, it doesn’t make sense to have other gods, it doesn’t make sense to put our trust in idols, even in the idol of ourselves.
That is what this is all about – the love of a God who would come to u because He desires us to be His people. Who would rather than overlook our sins, decide to take on their burden and die so that we could be free of them. Who would rise, so that we have the hope of everlasting life, and who would send the gift of the Holy Spirit to us in baptism, so we could know that hope, so we could have a glimpse of it.
A treasure so incredible, so amazing, that we simply can’t help but want others to know it. We would encourage each other to rejoice in it, and guard against causing people to give up on God or His people, and we would rather lose ourselves than lose the relationship.
This is what God gives us… to all. The professor and the homeless guy, the businessman and the child, the pastor and the shut-in.
The hope we preach, that Christ is in you, and, therefore, you have the hope of sharing in His glory. And until that hope is seen, you dwell, guarded by Him, in His peace.
AMEN!
Coincidences? Or Do Demons Exist? If So, How Are We Freed From Them?
Devotional Thought of the Day
8 I was left there alone, watching this amazing vision. I had no strength left, and my face was so changed that no one could have recognized me. 9 When I heard his voice, I fell to the ground unconscious and lay there face downward. 10 Then a hand took hold of me and raised me to my hands and knees; I was still trembling. 11 The angel said to me, “Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.” When he had said this, I stood up, still trembling. 12 Then he said, “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia. Daniel 10:8-13 (TEV)
931 Saint Ignatius, with his military genius, gives us a picture of the devil calling up innumerable demons and scattering them through nations, states, cities, and villages after a “sermon” in which he exhorts them to fasten their chains and fetters on the world, leaving no one unbound. You’ve told me that you want to be a leader … and what good is a leader in chains? (1)
100 Let me tell you this. Even though you know the Word perfectly and have already mastered everything, still you are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon you unawares and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against all these commandments. Therefore you must continually keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears. For where the heart stands idle and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage before we realize it.(2)
As I looked at our gospel passage for this Sunday, I realized it touched on something pastors and priests don’t like to talk about.
Demons.
In it, a poor lady comes and asks for Jesus to free her daughter who has a demon. The passage is about God’s love, but it is demonstrated Jesus freeing the woman’s daughter.
He didn’t heal her from a mental illness, this wasn’t a medical or psychological problem. It wasn’t something that could be cured by becoing gluten free, or getting your sugar under control, or taking some supplements.
This was first class spiritual warfare.
Warfare that may be more common than we ever want to admit. More common than we eve want to face.
Heck we have enough trouble with those struggling through physical health issues or mental illness issues, dealing with cancer, dealing with being bereaved. Others whose marriages are challenges, those who are financially strapped, those whose families are damaged by criminal activity, people who are in bondage to alcohol or drugs. . It seems like the challenges to life grow and grow, peole are afficted, in ways that seem to frequent to be simply “coincidences”.
But how do you know which is a spiritual attack, and which is just “life” being a….pain. ( I so wanted to use a different word there!) I mean – there are attacks – really annoyances, just enough to distratct us from God’s presence. There are times of oppression – like the scene in daniel, and then there are the times more serious. The first two we might right off as coincidences, or just life being a pain. But the overwhelmi that darkness is looming, that God may have hidden his face from us, that isn’t just a coincidence. That is what Daniel experienced.
And we learn from his example how to deal with such times.
We pray and pray and then hear the voice of God,
“Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.” and “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer.”
The methodology for dealing with demonic attacks is and always must be to hear the voice of God. We must hear and know and depend on His promises to us. We have to realize that He loves us and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not illness, not jails, not losing it, not all the trials of life. He loves you – start there, hear it often (hence Luther’s comments about church) Remember your baptism, feast on God’s word, and at His table, hear his words (Not the pastor’s or priest’s) that you are forgiven, that you are His beloeved chidlren.
Hearing this changes everything for Daniel, knowing the presence of God is what is needed, for Satan can’t stand against those words. Even for the exocrcists – those skilled in dealing with demonic, the presence of God is always what makes the difference, always the necessity. The guarantees that we celebrate in the sacraments are that what tells us that there is more than our clining to thoughts and ideas given to us from those who have gone before.
He is clinging to us. He loves us. That is the message we need to know, to depend upon, to trust.
For the Lord will always answer our cry for mercy. AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 2164-2167). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 378–379). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press. cited fromt he Large Catechism Explanation of the Third Commandment
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.
