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Ready, Are We? A Sermon on life as We Await Jesus’ Return
Ready, Are We?
Matthew 24:36-44
†I.H.S.†
As you encounter the grace, the mercy, and love of God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, may your desire to experience His presence grow, as will your desire for Jesus to come again!
2 A.M. Somewhere….
Most of us picture Jesus returning based on a passage in First Thessalonians,
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NLT)
We see him, His long hair and robes flowing in the wind, his hand stretched out and a look of pure serenity on His face, with just a few high clouds in the sky, and the sun shining brightly, but no obscuring his glory.
But did you ever think – that somewhere when he returns – it will be 2 a.m in the morning? That somewhere people will be sound asleep; and in another home, a mom will be feeding her baby, as some will be taking their delivery trucks out, as bars and clubs close.
And somewhere, in the midst of their lives, at some time of the day or night, some people will be engaged in sin. Someone will be cursing using God’s name, and another forgetting to pray for an enemy. Someone will be killing with physical weapons, and others simply using their words to do damage as significant. Some will be committing adultery, and others gossiping., and some, just struggling to depend on God who they can’t see.
And out of the clouds, whether 2 p.m., 2 a.m. Jesus will return.
Our gospel tells us we must be ready always, for Jesus will not only return, but he will also return when you least expect it.
So as I share God’s love this morning, I want you to think about a couple of questions.
First – Do you care?
The first is challenging, well, they both are. But here is the first question:
Do you, or do you think the church cares about whether Jesus is coming back?
Is it on your radar at all? Do you wake up in the morning, and wonder if this will be the day? Do we ever consider it given our decisions to do this or that?
Do we even think about Jesus coming back?
Think about that for a moment.
second – why?
if you do think about Jesus returning, the second question comes into play.
Why do you want Him to return?
Is it to escape the pressure and depression that this world and the evil in it causes? I have to admit; there are days I don’t want to hear any news, to see any headlines.
Is it to stop having to struggle with life and the complications we have in our lives? Complications like aging and sick bodies, challenged relationships. ( Great line from Skorpion – Thanksgiving is about having meals with people we don’t get along with the rest of the year!)
Is it to stop having to deal with our sin, our guilt, shame, brokenness?
When we pray for Jesus to return – is it to be rescued from something, or to be delivered into the presence of God?
That’s what the issues were in Noah’s day, they forgot about the presence of God in their lives, and they lived life without thinking about God.
And to be honest, many of us get trapped in the same kind of life.
Unaware of God, and only turning to Him to be rescued.
Walking with Jesus is much, so much more meaningful than that. Eternity will be so much more than simply being free of the crap of this world! Eternity with God is dwelling with Him, in the purest peace, the most mindblowing joy, in fellowship divine.
It is to live, as we are being drawn into the glory of God…..
And it will happen… sooner than we have prepared for…
Ready, Are we?
SO then, the questions change a little….
How do we get ready for Jesus to return?
We turn to the words of Paul in the epistle…
12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes,
This speaks of two things – first our baptism, and the incredible work of God that started there, as God cleanses us from all our sin, just as He promises. But it also speaks of repentance – the continuing action of our being transformed – what we see when we confess our sins and expect God to keep His promise there as we and then the question of how we stay read
14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this speaks of baptism too – as God the Father clothes us in Christ’s righteousness, in His holiness. As we see the work of God drawing us closer, and it is so incredible, so peaceful and so joyous that we begin to desire it more and more.
And we see that not only in baptism, but here as we kneel, as we receive Christ, as we have a glimpse at our relationship with God, and the height and depth, the breadth and width of His love for us, this endless joyous love.
Advent? TO desire Jesus presence, to have nothing hindering it, not guilt, no shame, no brokenness, this is what advent is about – and why we desire Him to return…
And may that desire grow – as you know His love, as you dwell in His peace.
AMEN!
It’s Time to Stop Hiding Behind Our Sinful Nature
Discussion Thought of the Day:
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.1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Romans 7:22-25, 8:1-4 (NLT)
4 Don’t say, “That’s the way I am—it’s my character.” It’s your lack of character. Esto vir!—Be a man!
125 Since faith brings the Holy Spirit and produces a new life in our hearts, it must also produce spiritual impulses in our hearts. What these impulses are, the prophet shows when he says (Jer. 31:33), “I will put my law upon their hearts.” After we have been justified and regenerated by faith, therefore, we begin to fear and love God, to pray and expect help from him, to thank and praise him, and to submit to him in our afflictions. Then we also begin to love our neighbor because our hearts have spiritual and holy impulses.
“Pastor, I can’t help it, I am just a poor, poor sinner.”
That response is a conditioned response, it is what pastors and priests have taught people to say. It is the response to sin of a generation where the sacraments have been diminished. Where absolution is not really heard and understood in the heart and the mind.
But what it does pick up on, is the law that convicts it, the passages that say, “no one is good”, “all have sinned”, and a focus that never is taken off of the doctrine of justification. People have heard all about, they know what it is, well as far as we can’t save ourselves, we are dead in sin and God delivers us. But they don’t hear the so what – how this absolution, how this declaration that we are righteous changes our lives.
With on the “what”, people (and I include pastors and priests as people – we are really) will make the what the end of the story. We still sin, God still forgives. We aren’t perfect, we’re just forgiven, and people will turn that into permission to keep on sinning.
We believe that works can’t save us, we know that nothing we do merits salvation, and we stop (and encourage people to stop ) there. That’s enough, trust in God and you will be saved people believe.
When we allow this, o what a great disserve we do! It would be like telling a convict the charges against them are overturned, but not unlocking their cell door, not removing the handcuffs, nor giving them clothes that identified them as something other. We have to share the complete gospel, all of the mercy, reveal to them the wonder of His love.
They’ve been not only declared righteous, but the Holy Spirit dwells in them, making them holy. sanctifying them, empowering them to live the baptized, repentant (transformed ) life. Our people don’t need to live in secret, hiding behind their sin or their propensity to sin. They can be encouraged to live in the freedom that Christ has given them.
That is what the third quote, from the Lutheran Confessions, is telling us. That the Spirit creating life in our hearts, is creating the impulses to do that which isn’t sin, impulses to love God, impulses to love our neighbor, impulses to trust Him more and more, and because we trust Him we are driven to reach our and serve those around us, meeting needs from physical to emotional to spiritual.
This is how Paul, distraught over his sin, finally comes to the realization (and needed to remember it daily) that justified, we can set aside that sin, and follow the Spirit. Does that mean we won’t sin on occasion? No, but it changes what drives us, what impulses we want to follow -and as time goes by, as we explore the depth of God’s love revealed in Christ, those impulses bring us great joy.
This is what St. Josemaria talks about when he challenges us to be men, not those who hide behind the weakness of character, who justify sin by saying that is who they are.
It is a challenge to live life as God intended, walking with Him, focused on Him, but even when we fail, He has, He is the answer. The Christian life is knowing this and living in light of it.
Heavenly Father, have mercy on us, your children!
AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 177-178). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.Apology of the Augsburg Confession Article IV
What Sex Can Teach us About our Relationship with God.
Devotional Thought for the Day:
5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6 The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to [this] mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Luke 17:5-6NAB-RE
Men experience the preciousness of things, and experience it fully, only in the company of those who share their enjoyment; in this way, they become aware of the festive quality of an existence that is so often hostile and ill-humored in their regard but is present at a meal, as it were, with open hands, with a gesture of lavish generosity, of unrestrained joy. This liberality of existence, which is rich and bestows itself freely, is an intrinsic part of a meal. The same is true of a wedding. In it, the elevation of the biological process of sexual attraction to a fundamental spiritual act of Eros, of the human being’s loving transcendence of self, is crystallized, epitomized, and confirmed. Here, too, we experience the liberal graciousness of existence, which grants us the festive wonder of a love we cannot force but that comes to us of its own accord, takes us by surprise and overwhelms us, transforms our life, gives us a new inner center, and even, in moments of ecstatic bliss, confers on us a foretaste of a life that is brighter and fuller than our everyday life. (1)
I’ve been known to use the phrase “intimate relationship with God” more than once, and more than in one setting. Reactions are often very strong and very polarized to it. Some feel it is too common, to base, even too perverted, or it could be taken that way. Some understand it, even though they might struggle with the implications of a God that desires that we should be His people.
The words in blue above come from a man whose took an oath to remain celibate for the rest of his life. His words describe it well thought – the transcendence, the even spiritual act of eros – of giving and being given, or experiencing a level of transcendence, and even “confers on us a foretaste of a life that is bright and fuller than our everyday life”.
The physical act is not contrary to God’s purposes – he established it as something two should share. two that committed before God and man to each other, as a way of testifying to the love. It is as much spiritual as it is physical, and in that sense gives us a look at what our spiritual relationship with God is like, and what it will be like in heaven.
Please hear this – we aren’t saying eternity is sexual – that our relationship with God is simply physical – but rather – that the spiritual aspect gives us an insight into what it means to truly commit to another – to love them, to seek our their best interest. Love means losing yourself, the awareness of yourself, as you care for the other person – and as you do that – there is something overwhelming, something that transforms us, something that is more than life, alone, abandoned, broken. It is intimate in it reveals the innermost parts of us, the part that is being recreated in Christ Jesus – the most intimate, deep, definition who we are – defined in relationship to God – the I AM.
You see this a little earlier – as a father reacts to his beloved son’s return,
While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. – Luke 15:20
The father doesn’t care about his dignity, he doesn’t care about his prestige or reputation. He doesn’t care about people (including his other son) thinking he is fool who will be taken advantage of. All that is set aside – this is a son, whom he loves, and the answer to many a night without sleep. THIS IS HIS SON!!!
It is that transcendent moment, the moment the I become I-Thou, the moment we realize how deeply God loves us, and how it transforms us, as we learn to love in return, as He teaches us. As we are united to Him in baptism, reunited as He forgives our sins and cleanses us of all unrighteousness, as we celebrate this relationship – this holy relationship as He gives us His body and blood.
Bringing us back to the original quote of scripture. They ask fo more faith, and what they are really asking for is to trust God more, that God would draw us closer to Him, make Himself more real, defeat our defenses – and show us His complete love for us.
That is, of course, the answer to another prayer as well…
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
And it is answered, and we see it when we are in union with Christ Jesus.
(1) 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.
Respect and the Mission of God
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the day:
13 No one can hurt you if you are determined to do only what is right; 14 and blessed are you if you have to suffer for being upright. Have no dread of them; have no fear. 15 Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have. 16 But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their accusations. 17 And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong. 1 Peter 3:13-17 (NJB)
The next question is obvious: Is the dispute with other religions not basically just as much an instance of Christian self-righteousness as the dispute among the denominations was an instance of denominational self-righteousness? In consequence, it is no longer Christianity that is at issue, but religion as such, which makes its presence felt among mankind under a variety of forms in which it is not basically a question of changing content, but of the inner nature of religion itself, which can be expressed in many contents, even entirely without the word of God. Catechesis is thus reduced to mere information on the one side, to instruction regarding religious attitudes (but with no prescribed content) on the other side, and faith silently quits the field. (1)
“65 As we explained before, we could never come to recognize the Father’s favor and grace were it not for the Lord Christ, who is a mirror of the Father’s heart. Apart from him we see nothing but an angry and terrible Judge. But neither could we know anything of Christ, had it not been revealed by the Holy Spirit.
66 These articles of the Creed, therefore, divide and distinguish us Christians from all other people on earth. All who are outside the Christian church, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites, even though they believe in and worship only the one, true God, nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing. Therefore they remain in eternal wrath and damnation, for they do not have the Lord Christ, and, besides, they are not illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.[i]” (2)
Pope Benedict XVI’s quote this morning struck a nerve in me. It causes me to look within, to try and understand exactly what my motivation is, as I minister. Is it a matter of personal pride in my intellect? Is it, as Benedict asks, a matter of self-righteousness, or worse, a sense of gnostic condescension? That I have the secret knowledge to a good life, even an eternal life, and those of other religions do not, is that my motivation? Or worst of all, have I set my faith to the side?
That question is hard, very hard. It is one that I am afraid to ask.
It is the same conversation that Peter is having with the early church, as he talks to them. Give the reason you have hope, do it with respect. Do it with the love that cares more about them knowing Jesus than you do about winning the argument.
That is what Luther is getting at, in talking about the work of the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit reveals that we live in the presence of God, as He gives us the ability, the comfort, the assurance that God wants to reconcile us all to Himself. Some have only seen God in nature. Others
Christianity isn’t a privilege. Christianity isn’t a combat sport. Christianity means sacrifice, just as Christ suffered for us. Peter talks about this as following in the footsteps of Jesus, Paul encourages the church to imitate him, as he imitates Jesus. They call us to sacrifice and serve, that people would be able to presented perfect to Jesus.
This is far more than finding ourselves more righteous. This is eternity, this is living free of the guilt and shame caused by our sin, by the relationships in our lives that were broken. A relationship with the God who created as to be His “beloved”.
TO engage in that kind of work takes sacrifice, it means putting aside our own pride, our own desires, our very lives. And that requires to take up the faith that we’ve laid aside. It requires that we realize salvation transforms more than our future. It transforms our lives, from our baptism through the day God completes us.
This isn’t pietism, it is the reaction of gratitude to a God who revealed Himself to us, who made known His attitude toward us, who invited us to be part of His work, part of His ministry. It is the Holy Spirit. This is what communing with God does for us. As we kneel at an altar, as we see revealed to us the love of God for the world, as we are given hope, we explain that reason to others.
This is the life of a believer, this is the life of the children of God.
Lord, Have mercy on us, and help us to realize you live in our very lives.
(1) Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (p. 32). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
(2) [i] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 419). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
The Kingdom of God is Like Nuclear Physics
The Kingdom of God is Like Nuclear Physics…
It’s all about Fission and Fusion
Romans 6:1-11
† In Jesus Name †
May you be encouraged by the grace of God, which powerfully is at work in your life, separating you from your sin in His death, and uniting you to Christ, and the glory of His resurrection to life!
The Power of a Word…
A Pastor Parker Parable.
Remember these locations. Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Nagasaki, Hiroshima.
The fear and anxiety associated with them is still felt, and their identity will forever be united with the release of incredible power. Nuclear Power.
There is a great power at work in our lives, and the way in which it work can be illustrated by the basic concepts of nuclear power. For there are two actions that take place when the power of God is unleashed.
The first is like nuclear fission, the power released when that which isn’t supposed to be separated is. The second is like fusion, where separate elements are bonded together by incredible power so completely, you cannot tell one from the other.
And so, on this day when we celebrate Christ’s baptism, and our own, we are going to take a glance at Romans 6, and the description of God’s glorious power, at work in our lives.
Like nuclear power, the power of God’s glory at work is amazing, a power so incredible that we are left in awe of it, as we consider it’s work.
And so we shall…
Fission –
When we consider fission, the basic concept is the core, the central part splits at the atomic level. The destructive force release is incredible as that which was supposed to be one is forced apart by the introduction of another force.
The element is forever changed by the release of such force. Enough so that a small pellet of uranium, about the size of a pencil eraser, is equal to three 55 gallon barrels of oil. No wonder the uncontrolled release of that energy causes death.
And that power is incomparable to the power that brought into the world, that separates us from our sin.
Hear it again from the words of Paul to the church in Rome.
We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
As Christ entered into this world, so did the power it takes to separate from us a nature that is sinful. For each of us has sinned, and that sin we can see the damage, the destruction it does. The lives that are broken, the relationships shattered; the force that wreaks havoc in this world, a force we call evil. It doesn’t matter the sin, whether it is idolatry, dishonoring God’s name, or those He places in positions of great responsibility, like parents, lawmakers, rulers. It doesn’t matter if the sin is murder, adultery, theft, gossip or simply being un-content with our lives, and desiring that of others.
Sin is that force that was at work in each of us, a force that still tries to wield its power over us.
Christ’s entrance into the world, and his death on the cross releases the power that severs the power of sin that binds us, and we are free as the neutrons freed in the reaction. Such is the power of Christ’s death, which captures the radical sin which so easily ensnared us.
The power of sin is shattered, as a greater power overwhelms it….
Fusion
If you think the power that would remove from you all sins in thought, word and deed is awe-inspiring, the power at work does something more incredible than that.
For while the power of sin leads to death, the power of God at work brings life, as it works like nuclear fusion, binding us to Christ Jesus.
8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.
What takes more energy that division is melding something, repairing it.
If you break a window – it takes a lot of force, but how can you replace that which is shattered?
It is a lot easier to spend money, that it is to reconcile the checkbook.
It is easy to damage a relationship, but it is very difficult to restore one.
Yet the power of Christ’s death and resurrection does that, it unites us to Him, it fuses us into Him,
It is the power of God that David’s psalm testifies to, His voice that powerfully resonates like thunder, majestic and able to make the mountains quake, as it rules over us. Look at the power of His voice, look at the fission it creates, and yet at the end, almost an after statement, these is what takes the greatest power.
Look especially at the last verse, verse 11,
11 The Lord gives his people strength! The Lord blesses them with peace!
That is the power, the glorious incredible power that joins us to Jesus in death, and yet in the resurrection, in the quickening, in the very life given to us, the voice of God speaks.
That is the glorious message that is the gospel. That God raises us in Christ, unleashing that power to separate us from sin, and binding us to Himself. That is His word, His promise.
Hear it again from other places
Php 3:10-11 — 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!
Col 2:12 — For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Col 3:1 — Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
This God at work, in you. It is all of His mighty power at work.
A power that goes beyond nuclear, it is the power of life itself.
Which is why Paul encourages us to stop living in sin, its power has broken over us.
And so I leave you with the last of his words. Know them, and the power of God at work in you. And rejoice as His power is unleashed. He are the words…
11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Live life my friends, for it is your gift in Christ Jesus.
AMEN!
3rd Week of Advent: He Gathers Us!
He Will Do All the Good Things He has promised!
He will gather (JOY)
Zephaniah 3:14–20
† I.H.S. †
I pray that the mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so overwhelm you, that all you can do is rejoice as you think of His coming…even as God does!
How Can I….Know this Joy
A pastor once wrote,
Day by day we encounter the world of visible things. It assaults us through billboards, broadcasts, traffic, and all the activities of daily life, to such an enormous extent that we are tempted to assume there is nothing else but this[i]
Sometimes I feel like that, like all of world that I encounter wants to assault me, attack me, trample all over me.
I so understand those words, that we assume there is nothing else but this….
struggle.
And this week, when the darkness of the dark “blue” weeks of Advent are interrupted, as if a hint of a new day were peaking through, even as the darkness still threatens, we are encouraged to rejoice. Not just look forward to the day of rejoicing… but to rejoice.
Now, today, even as we struggle with world events, with national and local problems; as we struggle with our finances, or families or maybe it is just our personal struggles, we are urged to sing and shout praises, to be glad and rejoice with everything in our hearts and minds and souls. We are called to cheer up, and not be afraid.
Thank God that He gives us a reason too…
Are We?
The people that rejoice in the presence of God are described in the following ways,
Those who need to be calmed, for they are afraid and anxious,
Those who mourn as they consider the state of appointed festivals like Christmas, and how they have become less about God and His people.
The people who will rejoice are those who are oppressed, to those who are weak and helpless.
Those who were chased away, or exiled.
This is referring to those who were run out of the camp in the days of the Exodus, who were cut off from the people of God because of their sin, yet will be welcomed back and restored.
Those who were exiled because of their sin and shame, for they too will be drawn back by God and restored.
Yeah, those who will rejoice in Jesus’s coming will include those who are burdened by shame and guilt, but who will be called by a new name, who will be given a new name, whose life will be restored. The prodigals who return, those crushed by their sin. For that is what Jesus does, as He was lifted up on the cross.
Lifted there because Jesus wasn’t just called a friend to tax collectors and sinners, He is a friend to them. And lifted up on the cross, the very image of God’s mercy and grace, He draws people to Him, as He desires.
Gather, for the Lord Will Live Among US
The pastor quoted earlier, who talked about the world assaulting us, following those words with these,
One single soul, in Pascal’s beautiful words, (your soul) is worth more (to God) than the entire visible universe. But in order to have a living awareness of this, we need conversion, we need to turn around inside, as it were, to overcome the illusion of what is visible, and to develop the feeling, the ears and the eyes, for what is invisible. This has to be more important than anything that bombards us day after day with such exaggerated urgency. Metanoeite: change your attitude, so that you may see God’s presence in the world—change your attitude, so that God may dwell in you and, through you, in the world.
There is the key to seeing where our joy comes from, in the midst of a world that will try to make life a living hell.
Realizing the worth of a single soul, your soul, to God.
And that is why we are gathered by God together. For in this Old Testament prophecy, over and over it mentions this promise – six times! – the fact that God will gather His people together, that He will make things right, and twice more just so we understand, he explains that happens as God lives in the midst of His people.
God living among His people
God gathering His people together
God living among His people
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23 (NLT)
The apostle John said it this way,
14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son. John 1:14 (TEV)
and
The hardest thing to get theologically is a concept known as “now, and not yet.”
Jesus has been lifted up, He has drawn us into Himself in His death, and in our baptism, bringing us into life everlasting. We celebrate now the feast that is the first taste of the feast to come. We can live free of the guilt and shame, free of what separated us from God.
We don’t see it yet, but we get glimpses of it. As we gather, and as we do, our hearts should cry out His praises, for He is our Savior. And I want you to hear one more “now and not yet
For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Know this, like the prodigal’s father, our Father rejoices as we are gathered into His presence… that is His love and mercy… AMEN!
[i] 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. 391). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
A Missional Lesson Not ot Be Forgotten…the Epistle Written on Hearts
Devotional Thought of the Day:
11 It was He (Jesus ) who “gave gifts to people“; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. 12 He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. 13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature. Ephesians 4:11-13 (TEV)
1 Does this sound as if we were again boasting about ourselves? Could it be that, like some other people, we need letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. 3 It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 (TEV)
195 When there is zeal for souls, good people can always be found, fertile soil can always be discovered. There is no excuse! (1)
This weekend was one of those lessons in ministry that had to be driven home with an exclamation point. I listened to 6 sermons, all by men who desired to serve God, who knew HIs love. One was during our church service when a deacon preached about a widow who would give all because she God could care for her. Then five deacon candidates preached a sermon on Philippians 2 as part of their homiletics course.
There were other sermons, not prepared, but sermons like the letters Paul mentions to the church in Corinth. The letters testifying to ministry being done, of the word being preached, of the Holy Spirit at work
One lady, who very rarely comes to church (like 3 times 7 years!) who was telling another guest about how great the church was, and that she should come here regularly. (And her laugh as I looked at her, and she realized she was talking to herself) Another man who was taken aback by several telling him he should be in the next class, and seeing his heart consider it, as He was speechless at the thought. Another man talked to me about how much these friends of his matured, how God had caused them to grow. Most impacting were the tears of one lady, as she watched her husband of forty-plus years come alive as he preached, and as she encountered the power of God at work in their lives. I could go on, to tell the stories I witnessed, as people were impacted by those messages, by those messengers.
None of the men who I heard yesterday would most consider “Minister material.” But the people they ministered too could not deny God’s work through them. Like the small shepherd who would be king, or the terrorist who would become an apostle, or the coward who would lead God’s people to freedom. They have some rough edges; each has significant struggles in life that would make most hesitate to put them in a pulpit. But this is undeniable, God used them. The proof was seen in the lives and conversations they touched. They worked their tails off, and God blessed others through them.
We are all called to ministry, and it is a wondrous thing to watch the church growing and serving each other. Even those we don’t anticipate God use so dramatically.
So how are you going to become the messenger whom God will write on others hearts this day? Or how will someone else by used by the Holy Spirit to imprint on your heart the message of God’s love? For we need both, we are fertile fields, and workers set apart to work in the fields ready for harvest.
Godspeed!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1026-1027). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
All Saints’ Day Sermon – The Gathering of All Companions….
The Gathering of All Companions
Rev. 7: 9-17
† In Jesus Name! †
We’re all here….
In the epistle to the Hebrews, after describing the great heroes of the faith, there the following words,
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT)
Thhat prophesy we see in Hebrews is described in the first reading, the one from Revelation 7. When people from every continent, from every culture, from every language, from every time period in history are gathered together, and God looks out on them,
and they praise Him.
Much as God has gathered us from every corner of this world and brought to this room. To celebrate the same thing we will celebrate then, that,
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
I want to hear those words, said by us all, to give us and idea of what they will sound like, in various accents, in various voices, male and female, young and old
We are here for the same reason, for the same purpose, to praise the God who comes to us and loves us.
The Tribulation
There has been much to be written and said about the answer the elder gives about the great crowd dressed in white.
Some translations talk of them coming through, or out of the tribulation. The translation we use here describes it as those who died in the great tribulation. I am not sure how it translates into Chinese, but the idea of tribulation in English has for a couple of centuries caused great fear, so much fear that theological systems have developed, not around Christ Jesus, but around when and how this tribulation occurred.
Oh, by the way, its not just any tribulation – it is the mega-tribulation. The greatest tribulation, the greatest suffering known to man, in all of history, since this passage happens at the end of time.
A tribulation that only God can bring us through, a tribulation where God brings forth all of His wrath against sin. A tribulation so great, that sin can’t withstand it, and those who are sinners are killed off by it.
All sinners, and it doesn’t matter what they have done.
For as Paul tells the church in Rome, all have sinned.
You might find it interesting, but that mega tribulation has already happened. It happened much as the Old Testament prophet claimed it would,
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck done. Isaiah 53:5-11 (NLT)
That is why the passage of Revelation mentions that the blood spilt, that causes their robes to be white is not their own, but it is Christ’s.
For it is in His death that we find life, it is united to His death, that we find our sins stripped from us, and our being brought to life. Don’t take my words for it, that is what Paul writes often,
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:11-14 (NLT)
My dear, dear brothers and sisters, what makes us family, part of the family of all Saints, is simply this, that Jesus suffered and died for us….
That’s Why We Praise Him
Because He died, we died with Him, because He has risen, we have been given new life, we’ve been born again, we’ve been quickened by the Holy Spirit, and been cleansed from every sin, and can wear the white robes of God.
That is why we can gather here, people from so many different backgrounds, and yet we are one people, God’s one people. The saints He gathers in His presence, and as we realize this, our voices cry out in praise.
This is our God, who loves us, who gathers us together, as His holy people. It is time to celebrate His love, just like the people do in Revelation.
Church, and especially the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, has been described as the Feast that is a foretaste of the feast to come….. and so the church is supposed to be is a small glimpse of what heaven will be.
So as we feast, on the Lord’s Supper, may we see that moment, when millions upon millions will gather, from many more backgrounds, ethnicities, languages than here.
But this glimpse, is a small view of that peace, the peace that passes all understanding. ..
For we are His people, gathered by Him together… gathered to live with Him.
AMEN.
Another year, another step, an incredible look at God’s glory, and hopefully a greater dependance on Him.
Devotional thought of the day:
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people* did not accept him.12 iBut to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 *j who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh* and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory,the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:9–14 NABRE
I will seek Thee, Lord, by calling on Thee; and will call on Thee, believing in Thee; for to us hast Thou been preached. My faith, Lord, shall call on Thee, which Thou hast given me, wherewith Thou hast inspired me, through the Incarnation of Thy Son, through the ministry of the Preacher.
This sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church. The Council therefore sees particularly cogent reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy.
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.
5 We should have preferred, and we besought and petitioned the Almighty, that our churches and schools might have been preserved in the teaching of God’s Word and in agreeable Christian concord and that they might have been well managed and carried on in a Christian fashion and in harmony with God’s Word, as they were while Dr. Luther was alive
I started a journey a year ago, and today I start a new one.
The journey began by adding to my devotional reading several things. The Bible, using a translation I like called the New Living Translation, The Book of Concord, which I read twice, The Documents of Vatican II, the Edicts of the Council of Trent, and as I went on I added a devotional called the Co-Workers of the Truth, a very pastor devotional book composed of the writings of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
It was an interesting journey, one which unexpectantly opened up a new category for my devotional blog. It is called Augsburg and Trent, but simply is where I see the Lutheran Church (once called the Evangelical catholic Church ) and the Roman Catholic Church (referred to recently as the Evangelical Catholic Church by George Wiegel and others) holding a pastoral application of doctrine together… or more together than I would have thought.
I will do a similar journey this year, dropping the writings of Trent, and adding two earlier sources, that of the writings of Augustin and Patrick. Augustine’s because is writings were the basis of a lot of what Luther wanted to see the church reform to, at least according to Him. Also, Calvin points to him often, and I’ve heard scholars describe his Christian faith as simple. Patrick because I am curious about the dude. A strong theologian by all accounts, and a noted missionary/apostle. Both writers write from a time of the earlier church, and in times where God’s love was revealed to many.
The goal is simple – not much different than the quotes above. To seek Christ as Augustine desires, and to call upon Him in faith. As Vatican II urges, to learn to given people a new energy and desire to examine the height and depth of God’s love which will impact their very lives. As Cardinal Ratzinger writes, to create the passion and love for God in my own life and the life of His people. Finally, as the Book of Concord writes, to have for the people a perspective that produces in believers a life like Christ’s, lived in harmony with scripture.
Such a journey is worth the time, (probably about 45-60 minutes a day) if indeed I can help us realize the truth that the Apostle John notes, that Jesus dwells among us, and to help us see His glory, finding in it the mercy, the love and the peace we so desperately need.
And yes, I will continue to blog where I find ideas that strike me, that challenge me and cause me to grow in understanding of God’s love for us, and communicating that to others. And I would love the comments and discussions that come from these thoughts.
Thanks for reading… and encouraging me to record my journey… Godspeed
Rev. Dustin T. (d.t.) Parker
Pastor, Concordia Lutheran Church
PS – my prior pattern was a Bible Translation and a book called Celtic Prayer, and writings of a Catholic saint by the name of St. Josemaria Escriva. The Bible reading and the writings of Escriva will continue. 🙂
Augustine, S., Bishop of Hippo. (1996). The Confessions of St. Augustine. (E. B. Pusey, Trans.). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.Catholic Church. (2011).
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
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. 345). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
does how we view God affect our ministry?
devotional thought of the day;
18 You have not come to a physical mountain,* to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”* 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”*
22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. Heb 12:18–24 nlt
119 Those problems which used to overwhelm you—and seemed like enormous mountains—disappeared completely. They were solved in a divine way, as when Our Lord commanded the winds and the waters to be calm. And to think that you still doubted!
when i read the verses from Hebrews this morning, i knew i would be writing about them, though i didn’t know how until i read the passage from St. Josemaria.
for i think we would all say that we understand the scripture passage, that we all agree, we do not dwell in the presence of God in the way Moses perceived. we live in grace, we live in a God who reveals His presence as the comforter, the paraclete, the refuge, the One in Whom we can trust, and upon Whom we depend.
if that is so, shouldn’t that be evident in our life? we should live in a manner that reflects the joy of coming into the presence of God as one whose name is written in heaven. we should live without fear, for we depend upon the fact that Jesus mediated the new covenant, a covenant which cries out with mercy, that speaks of forgiveness.
we need to realize what this means for life now, here and now. those mountains of fear that assail us, that challenged our desire to serve God, cannot cause us to fail, for forgiveness and mercy follow us, as David wrote. we may need to find our rest, our sanctuary, and a place to heal now and then, but God will guide us past the mountains, and through the storms. we don’t have to walk around on eggshells, as if failing God, He’s already proven what He does with our sins, would He somehow less merciful because we tried to love, care, and bring the gospel to others?
this means we can dream big – not of our fame, but of God’s glory. we can try something that we might not have seen as possible, or possible for us. we can reach out in love, without fear of rejection. we can simply love, not to be loved in return, but because we know we already are.
walking into God’s presence is something that leaves us in awe. yet it transforms us as well, freeing us to hear His voice, to realize we walk with Him. as we heard yesterday in Mark 9, that means the impossible – of seeing God at work in our lives… is not just possible. it is probable.
live in Christ Jesus my friends, for that is why you were born again. AMEN
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 692-694). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
