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Hang on to God, not gods, a sermon on Mark 10:23-31
The Companions of the Cross
Hang on to GOD, not gods
Mark 10:23–31
May the grace of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ so leave you in awe, that no idol, no other desire would distract you from their love and mercy. Amen!
Can’t get in!
I remember almost thirty years ago, standing at the desk at St joseph’s hospital in Orange. A young man was standing outside the obstetrics ward, as his girlfriend had given birth to his son. Big kid, some 13 pounds 8 ounces. He was frustrated, because it wasn’t visiting hours, he was there too early, and he wanted to see his son and his lady.
But there are rules, and at that hospital, back in those days, no one was allowed on a floor.
I remember the tiny little nun and the nurse, standing there, telling him there was no way they would let him in, never mind any of the other family standing around. He tried every argument, even suggesting a small bribe and then a bigger bribe. Well, that didn’t make things much better,
No access. No way.
I think the camel would have passed through the needle twice before he would get in past the nun and nurse prior to visiting hours. .
No access. No way.
Last week we saw the rich young man walk away because he owned too much property, and it was his idol, how he identified himself, and to give it all up to follow Jesus.
The rich man so wanted to find a way to get into heaven, and walked away realizing it would cost him more than he was willing to part with, it would cost him everything to walk with Jesus.
In today’s gospel, the story continues. The apostles are amazed that the rich man can’t get into to heaven. They were astounded that Jesus compared the difficulty of taking a camel weighing 2000 pounds and forcing it through a sewing needle.
About the same likelihood of a young father getting to see his son in a Catholic hospital thirty years ago, a son born to a woman he was not married to…
Astounded and amazed – Powerless – really
It says twice in our gospel reading that the apostles were amazed and astounded by the fact the man couldn’t be among those blessed. After all, the man they saw before Jesus had EVERYTHING they believed marked one as a blessed son of God.
He had property in the holy land, what God had promised to Israel, or so they thought.
He was able to keep the commandments and claim it before Jesus, something Jesus didn’t contest. That didn’t mean he broke them, but that when he did, he offered the appropriate sacrifices to atone for them.
Mark even records that he was greatly loved by Jesus. Either this was based on a comment or observation, but the proof was evident, so evident that the holy spirit recorded it in the scriptures.
With all of that, he wasn’t able to be given a free pass into the kingdom of God.
If anyone should have been, it should have been him.
Reminds me of paul’s words in Philippians
4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. Philippians 3:4-6 (NLT)
Sounds like the young rich young man, doesn’t it.
Matter of fact, some in the early church thought it might have been. A man with all the right stuff, all the right credentials, and he couldn’t get into heaven on his own.
The barriers were still up, and the idols he clung too were too much.
Amazed he can’t, the disciples are dismayed. They wonder who can be saved, they ask the same question, what will it ake. And if the apostles and the rich man can’t impressed Jesus enough, how in the world do you and I have a chance.
I guarantee I am not able to measure up to someone like Paul, and sorry, there isn’t one of you who can either.
Let’s be serious, we have as many false gods we cling too, we have our idols, and the things that control us, our identities, our sins.
And if it is impossible for a man who was, by all accounts a saint, who desired to be in heaven, to see the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, then it is impossible for us as well.
What hope is there then Peter says, we’ve given it all up.. is there any hope/
Empowered
While Jesus says it is impossible for man, it is possible for God.
The man, impatient to see his son and lady, realized someone walked up behind him. It was his younger brother, who had a name badge identifying himself as a chaplain at another hospital. The nun and nurse greeted him warmly, noting the badge.
He asked if he could see his brother’s lady, and the nun graciously said she would immediately show the young chaplain into see her. The chaplain asked if his brother would come, and was told, ‘yes, chaplain.’ The man went in and saw his newborn son and lady.
What power and money couldn’t do, having a connection to the right person could. As we said in Boston, click “ya gotta know somebody.”
It is as Jesus said, what is impossible for man, God is able to do.
Or as Paul the apostle wrote,
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. Philippians 3:7-9 (NLT)
That is what heaven is about. About having a relationship with the creator of the universe. It is about knowing his grace, his mercy, and his love. That we become one with Him, that we know we are the kids that God has given birth to in our baptism.
Nothing is more valuable, nothing is even comparable to knowing the love of God, love so incredible that St. Paul talked of our exploring its height, its depth, its width and breadth.
It is worth abandoning all, as peter indicated that he and the other apostles had.
And then heard Jesus remark something incredible,
I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.
my brothers, sisters, we have been given each other, a gift from God as we’ve been born again. We are going to have some struggles, but together, as His family, we will one day be home with our Father, and with our Lord and the Holy Spirit.
Until that day, we are His, and will dwell, guarded in peace, a peace that passes all understanding.
AMEN!
Mondays, Faith, and Encountering the Face of God
Devotional Thought of the Day
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
It is God’s will and express command that believers should do good works which the Holy Spirit works in them, and God is willing to be pleased with them for Christ’s sake and he promises to reward them gloriously in this and in the future life. (1)
Our faith is not for ourselves alone; it is also for others. Faith wants to be shared. Consequently, it always involves a going out to others, going with the steps of a heart enlightened by the name of Jesus. (2)
It is another Monday.
We’ve left our sanctuaries, and re-entered the harsh “reality” of the world.(3)
We’ve left behind the peace and joy and restoration we encountered at our churches.
We’ve left behind the security and love that surrounds our homes.
Now, in our workplaces, in our classrooms, in our doctor’s offices, we realize it is Monday. The day we claim to dread, the day were frustrations forgotten for a brief moment called “the weekend” come back to hammer us.
It is now time we get to do God’s work, to see how the praises we sang and said yesterday turn into worship today. For today is our day of worship, the day to praise God with our lives. It is the day to see our faith become more than what we think, but to be what we know, what we rejoice in, to be what we share.
It is time to see God turn us into His masterpiece; It is time to encounter Jesus in the faces of the least of these. Those broken, those beaten and harassed. Those so destroyed by their own sin, those so crushed by the sins of others, that they don’t know how to do anything but strike out in frustration. Those so broken that in pain they cause us pain and frustration. They may not look like the least, but God knows their need, and you’ve been sent, so go…to the least…
This is where worship proves the transformation that God is causing in our lives. As we embrace those who antagonize us, who would hurt us, who strike out with words, and yes sometimes with violence. As we go to them, as we trust in God’s guidance, we worship Him by embracing them. We worship God by knowing He can change them, calm them, transform them. Even those that need a miracle to change. In Christ, we find the strength to imitate Him, and bear our crosses, for them, because He bore a cross for us.
It’s a Monday; it is time to worship… let nothing distract you from His love, or the least of these.
(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 557). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
(2) 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. 317). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
(3) I would contend that we confuse reality, for reality is best determined by God’s perspective, not our own.
Why a Lutheran Pastor Would Quote the Catholic Pope about the Church’s Mission…
Devotional Thought of the Day –
For God’s Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of the righteousness, peace, and joy which the Holy Spirit gives. And when you serve Christ in this way, you please God and are approved by others. Romans 14:17-18 (TEV)
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn’t belong to our group.” “Do not try to stop him,” Jesus told them, “because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Mark 9:38-40 (TEV)
Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will. These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel. The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison. It does not matter! I am happy about it—just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy, because I know that by means of your prayers and the help which comes from the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall be set free. Philippians 1:15-19 (TEV)
“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 (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). The People of God can embrace everyone because we are the disciples of the One who knelt before his own to wash their feet (ibid., 24) ” (1)
If you haven’t heard, Pope Francis is visiting the USA. In green, you see one of my favorite quotes from him, one that hasn’t been pushed much on Twitter, or quoted on FB. It is both this lack of attention AND the truth of it, that makes it possibly my favorite quote of his.
Some people are excited, some people are worried, some people are mad, and want everyone to know that the visit of the one they think is “the” anti-christ, in combination with a harvest moon, in combination with the green stuff growing in their refrigerator resembling the hairstyle of a prominent presidential candidate means the means to the end is near.
I do think it providential though, that the gospel reading this week contains the middle quote from scripture. The one that has Jesus crying out, “do not try to stop him!”
Let me start out with this, According to the doctrines of the Catholic Church, some of what I preach is anathema. And likewise, some, repeat, some of the things that are doctrines the are to hold to are heterodox and even heretical. One could do several Ph.D. thesis outlining these things. And several more outlining the things upon which we agree. Those need to be discussed not hidden.
But therein is the rub. To dismiss each other entirely it is to dismiss where we agree as if it were as false. For example, the truths found in the three Creeds. Or the promises that God is faithful to the promises He makes to us, including the promises attached to the proclaiming of the Gospel, the promises attached to Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the forgiveness given us in Confession. We can never dismiss each other entirely, because the core of our creed, we share in common. We share a hope found in Christ Jesus. For me to presumptuously say everything the Roman Catholic Church teaches is wrong is to dismiss the Christ in whom I find hope, and the mission, the apostolic mission given to the Church.
With this particular Pope, Pope Francis, what resonates of his message is what is found in 1 Peter, that God doesn’t desire any person to be lost, but that all would come to repentance, that all would be reconciled, that all would know the love of God, and the mercy poured out on us because of the death of Jesus Christ, and His resurrection.
That message of his won’t make the evening news often, nor will it make the conservative or liberal blogospheres in either of our church bodies. That won’t get attention, because it won’t cause hits to come in large numbers. Controversy does that. It draws us in; it creates elitists, groups that will become, as Francis points out – apathetic. They will become apathetic to the real ministry, to the real mission, to the real apostolate. Their focus will go from that to their own personal crusade, and the Missio Dei will become a distant memory for them. Not for all, for God has promised that as well. That Missio Dei is our mission, the reason we are sent to this world, which is the reason Christ was sent,
as Francis says,
“to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ.”
May we bring that life to all,
A life in which Jesus guards our hearts and our minds, a life of peace the world cannot give, a life of incomparable peace which the Father in Heaven desires to share with us. The peace that is the answer to our prayer,
Lord have mercy on us sinners… AMEN!
(1) From the Homily given by Pope Francis on 9/24 found here http://opusdei.us/en-us/article/canonization-of-junipero-serra/
We Talk of Winning Souls, but Do We Protect them?
Devotional Thought of the Day
11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.Ro 13:11–14NLT
64 What a wonderful thing to convert unbelievers, to gain souls!… Well, it is as pleasing, and even more pleasing to God, to avoid their being lost.
This week, as I prepare to preach on Mark 9, this theme keeps coming back in my devotions.
This idea of the Church, its pastors, and its people, not caring whether we cause others to walk away from the church. Whether we, with all of our theological studies, with all of our systems and programs, do not have a pastor’s heart, a brother or sister’s care to encourage people like Paul does above.
Do we encourage people to live lives that will bring God glory? Not because of their perfection, but because of the love we show others? Because we don’t look out for #1 but look out for the one, who isn’t in line? Who is starting to wander off, who is choosing the darkness, or just being tempted by it?
I am not, by any means, talking about a forced life of purity. For such doesn’t exist.
But I am talking about a life that recognizes the love of God and treasures it more than the pleasures of the moment. That knows the promises and blessings, the love and mercy of God who comes to us. A life that journeys close to the cross,
And we allow too many not even to know that is possible.
It is simple in theory to change, as we encourage each other to hear God, not just a verse here and there. But time spent understanding the breadth and depth, the width and height of God’s love. To share in that word, not just study it in a closet, to rejoice and point out the blessings confirmed to us as they flow through the sacraments. To make sure that the old who know the story best hear it alongside those who haven’t heard it, so they may all rejoice together in God’s presence.
All of us, those who have been in the church for all our lives, and those who are just coming to hear of His love.
That’s the way it has been, that is what we even see at the dedication of Solomon’s temple. All come to pray, all come to know His love.
The family, acting like a family, the people of God, gathered around Him.
Bringing others, ensuring everyone has a place, helping others continue to focus on Jesus.
May our lives be lived in Him, and may they draw others to reconcile with God and encourage
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 487-489). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Traveling Companions of the Cross – Lesson 1 Become Okay with being Last
Travelling Companions of the Cross
Lesson 1: Become Okay with Being Last….
Mark 9:30–37
† In Jesus Name †
As we travel through life, may you be aware of God’s grace, of His mercy and love that rubs off on you, transforming your life, and the lives of your family.
The Theory
For the next 10 weeks, the lessons in our sermons are going to work on a theme.
It is based on the truth, that the longer you spend with someone, the more they rub off on you. You parent of our preschoolers will notice this over the next 10-15 years, as your children will pick up behaviors they observe. You might have already seen this, if they watch one particular show a lot and pick up on the verbal phrases of their favorite character. It’s one of the reasons you will have to get used to handy many, doc McStuffins, Dora the Explorer, and movies like CARS, UP, and Frozen as the kids watch them 475 times each!
Part of our role as a school is to help you help them pick up the good behaviors, attitudes and phrases and discard those not so good.
Picking up behaviors, phrases, and attitudes is something we will do all of our lives. To put it simply – we rub off on each other! Without realizing it, we begin to act like those we admire, those we care about, and sometimes, those who antagonize us!
That’s the nature of the sermon series, the behaviors we pick up – as Christ’s companions In life.
The First Lesson – The First Lesson
In our second reading, we are going to see the first lesson, that we can be okay with being last, with being the servant of all. Jesus gets the disciples – basically a term for apprentice or people who master something through on-the-job training, Jesus gets them alone for a while. He knows his crucifixion is near, so he wants to explain to them again what will happen. This is what he taught them
“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.”
there is a problem, though, as we keep reading
32 They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.
He couldn’t get to the point where he would explain to them that caring about people means this is the length you go to, to show them, love. That is part of His lesson for them throughout scripture. Paul does a great explanation of that in Philippians 2, and in Romans and 1 Corinthians 12. It is what he means by, imitate me, as I imitate Jesus.
They don’t understand yet that He has to die, or that He has to die so that they can live, so they can be free of the punishment their sins deserve.
Rather than ask, they keep quiet – they decide the lesson is too overwhelming… but they will learn, as will we
The First Quiz
The second part of the lesson occurs as the disciples argue who is the top student, the assistant to the rabbi-master. That is what they are asking, “Jesus, who is in authority if you leave?” For the greatest student always succeeded the master in that day.
As they are arguing about it, Jesus gives them the lesson again,
“Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”
And Jesus will show them what that means, as He heads to the cross, to die for them, and for us. He does it because He is the greatest example of God’s love we have ever known. He does it because the love of God drives him to do something no one else ever could. He dies, as Isaiah prophesied said he would, 700 years before the cross,
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. Isaiah 53:4-6 (NLT)
The Refresher
Which brings us to the third lesson, as Jesus takes time for the youngest, the weakest, those that society would think aren’t worth the time of a master teacher.
Imagine a seminary president, taking the time to show an unknown preschooler around a university. Not with television crews and thousands following him, but just the child and a few friends. Or think of computer CEO, playing some chutes and ladders with the 4-year-old daughter of one of his stockroom clerks. Again, not in the limelight, but because he valued them. Or a superstar taking the time to visit a senior home, or a President or international religious leader, who would spend time, without the cameras with someone in the hospital, or a forgotten convict in prison.
The lesson is to love the least, and that is what the disciples of Jesus need to learn.
Note I didn’t say they learned it – for we are disciples as well.
That is the example Jesus gives the disciples, and yet takes it even deeper with these words,
37 “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf* welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”
Here is the key to learning this lesson. It is found in welcoming Christ, in welcoming the Father’s presence in their life. Because Christ did exactly what He is teaching us, as He comes to us. He loves those who everyone else says are not worth the time. When we hear that by His authority, our sins are forgiven. When He invites us to pray to the Father, and gives us the words for when we don’t have the words.
We show we’ve learned not just the lesson of not being first, and the value of serving others because we’ve realized that He is how He loves us. As we realize that love for us, it changes us, to use a modern phrase, His character rubs off on us. We reflect the nature of God, the God who loves us, who comes to us, who put our salvation, our eternity before his own pleasure, and served us by dying for us.
It is because of this, that we know the peace of God that goes beyond all understanding, that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN!
A Metric for Church Leaders/Evaluating our Ministries
Devotional Thought of the Day
22 “And now I am bound by the Spirit* to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, 23 except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. 24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. 25 “And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again. 26 I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,* 27 for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know. 28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood*—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders. Acts 20:22–28 NLT
10 9. We must learn about Christ from the Holy Gospel alone, which clearly testifies that “God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32), and that he does not want anyone to perish (Ezek. 33:11; 18:23), but that everyone should repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:6; 1 John 2:2).
As most pastors do, I regularly get letters and packets, the “best advice” that I will ever hear. Or invitations to pastors conferences guaranteed to change my ministry.I have to wonder if they share the standard of the apostle Paul, as he writes,
..my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
and
I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,
When churches are tasked with evaluating their ministries, there is some metric, some measuring standard that is to be used. The end result of that standard is a mission statement, and a core list of values, and a general direction for the ministries of a church. Consultants and coaches are often the givers of guidance, as our national and even international leaders.
But I wonder if these words from Paul, as he seems to realize his days of ministry are coming to a close part of the consideration of whether a pastor, a teacher, an elder, a parish or even an entire denomination can be content with their work?
Go back through the readings above, hear the Lord asking you if you measure up to these standards.
You may think I am going to give my super secret way of getting to that level of maturity, my 6 plans or some cute five letter acronym to remember to motivate you to do God’s work. I don’t.
My advice?
Spend more time in God’s presence. Receive the Lord’s Supper more, contemplate the cross and your baptism more. Spend time being relieved of your sin, confessing and being absolved of it Find ways to know and revel in this simple truth.
The Lord is With You.
It is from there, from knowing God’s heart because His love has been shown to you – that is where the desire for ministry comes from, that is from where the dunamis power and ability comes. If you want you church to be able to follow Paul’s guidance, do the same. Feed them the word and sacraments that confirm the covenant, the declaration that they are His people.
Be sure that the Holy Spirit will work through you, and open your hearts and hands to do so.
And rejoice, for they will reach the measure of the fulness of Christ… for that is why you were called. And know this, He won’t abandon you forsake you – for that too is a promise.
AMEN!
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 495). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Christian Peer Pressure? Stopping the “pile on” mentality
Devotional Thought of the Day
What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Matthew 6:31-34 (MSG)
Paul is therefore free and independent of the favor of mortals; faith is therefore, not a form of adulation for him, but a preaching of the truth and consequently of true love. To please God—that is what makes Paul free. God must become a reality for us, too, must be more real to us—no! not just more real—than the things we can grasp, so that to please God can become for us a criterion that is also a final liberation from the question of success. “To please God” can thus become the center of our life, that which sustains and guides us. When faith experiences God as a reality and pleasing God is recognized as the sustaining and sheltering joy of our life, then faith makes us free.
The topics in the news are volatile, there is not doubt.
Homosexual Marriage
Planned Parenthood
Illegal Immigration
Fear over Middle East Refugees
Pre-Presidential Election Politics
But what is extremely concerning to me is how the people of od deal with such things. We see one person come out with something that is a reaction based in anger, or froma position of fear, and we all dive on top of the comment, lke a loose football in a Superbowl. We don’t care how hard we dive, we don’t care who gets hurt, we want our stab at the ball, at our moment in glory. Or like sharks trying to find what delicious thing is causing the blood spreading through the water. We want our position to triumph over the other. If someone happens to quote St. Paul’s direction to love your enemy and pray for those who oppress you – well they are just naive, or worse – they really are working for the enemy.
I sometimes think this is simply mass hysteria, a form of cyber peer pressure where we are sucked into behavior we know is wrong. That may be too easy an explanation. I am not sure of the cause, but I have seen the damage, as Christians on both sides of fences ae struck, and strike back. They attack, mock and assume the worst about their adversaries. And when someone creates a meme that is full of hatred and vile attacks, whether true or not – the like button is hit, before the mind can actually see if it is compatible to Phil 4 simple standard<
Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Philippians 4:7-9 (MSG)
The solution to all this might be to put a time delay on all like buttons – a 10-second warning that asks us if the thing you are liking truly is Godly. With loud warnings from the sermon on the mount flashing all over our screens.
A better option would be what is included in the quotes above, specifically, being drawn into the presence of God. Some call it abiding in Christ Jesus, others practicing the presence of God or living the baptized life. I usually refer to such a concept as the IR – having an intimate relationship with God. Being so enraptured by His presence that it makes other issues pale in comparison. Being so aware of His love, His mercy, seeing Him revealed as more real as Joseph Ratzinger stated.
That awareness transforms us, as it did for Moses, and the prophets, as it did for the apostles. It is the transformation that happens as described by Paul in 2 Cor. 3 and Romans 12.
Spend time with God my friends, ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Let Him show you how to love those you find unlovable. It will be an amazing journey.
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. 296). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
I love the LORD because He Listened to Me. A Sermon on Psalm 116:1–9
I love the Lord,
Because He Hears Me!
Psalm 116:1–9
† In Jesus Name †
May you always respond with love and adoration to the God revealing His grace and mercy, and the love of God shown you in Christ Jesus!
Why Do We Love?
It is the topic of thousands upon thousands of songs, of poems and novels, artists in every form have tried to paint it.
The greatest philosophers tried to explain it, the greatest psychologists have no explanation for it, and no one comes near being able to explain it, it is a mystery. Even languages can struggle to define it.
Yet, a child can express it in ways that brings tears and joy to your heart.
This word. Love
cHesed in Hebrew
agape
eros
storge
And phileo in Greek
It includes within it the words devotion, mercy, loyalty, adoration, honor and so many more in English. It is physical and spiritual, emotional and psychological.
And the psalmist dares to say…
I love the Lord….. and with the word because, explains what we need to hear today.
We love the Lord, for He hears our voice and our prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen……
The Despairs of Life
These words, sweetly said by a 2 year old their mother, or said during a wedding or whispered between two people in their 90’s as they look in their lives, seem more powerful than any words said by any president or king.
The truth in that second is clear, blunt, disarming, and said with everything aspect of our beings.
It doesn’t matter if the 2-year-old just opened a present, or just finished a tantrum and is near exhaustion. The same goes for a psalmist, the cries of love for God in scripture come from the times where God has blessed, but also when the blessing is harder to see.
That is the context for the Psalmist, the writer of these words,
He knows God hears, that God reaches down to him, even when life is as broken.
3 Death wrapped its ropes around me;
the terrors of the grave overtook me.
I saw only trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Please, Lord, save me!”
In the midst of the cries of love, are these pleas for mercy. It is as in the gospel story, as the father cries out in adoration and faith, there is also the desperate begging to heal, and even to given our broken faith the strength to believe, to trust, even to depend on God.
I love those words of the father,
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Been there, done that, Even as recently as yesterday.
We can know every instance of people crying out in Scripture, we can know all the prayers, but what I needed to hear, and I know we all need to hear, is that God will.
He won’t write us off because we don’t have the perfect life or enough faith.
He won’t write us off because we struggle to see His plan…
He won’t abandon us to our own wisdom, our own brokenness, We don’t have to remain condemned by our own sin,
No one is beyond hope, no one beyond God’s hearing range.
This is the testimony of the psalms, read them, over and over, as life tries to crush the writers, they find God’s peace, even if their problems aren’t alleviated the way they think is best.
They find as the psalmist describes so vividly here….something amazing.
He Leans Down.. and Hears
Hear it again…
1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.
2 Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
Last week, when my friends Jon was here, his wife commented about something we take for granted perhaps. She noted that when people come over and greet Debbie, many bend down, so as to greet her at the same level. (For reader’s, she is in a wheel chair) She, a lady whose husband has played and pastored in huge churches, said the love we show each other in this church is incredible and beautiful. I’ve seen the same thing done as people get on one knee to greet a child here.
It is that action that the psalmist pictures God doing, bending down, not in condescension, nor in anger, but with a heart full of love, a love which causes Him to listen intently, to listen carefully, to hear each one of us.
God listening to each of us, not like a potentate or world leader listening to us, but listening to us, hearing us.
God bending over to talk to you, to me, his eyes making contact with us, and we have His attention. He hears us…. And we love Him for it
No wonder the psalmist responds,
Yahweh is merciful and upright, our God is tenderness. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. My heart, be at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously. He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh, in the land of the living. Psalm 116:5-9 (NJB)
I used a different translation here for a couple reasons, but none as good as this.
You see that word Yahweh?
A lot of translations use the term LORD there, in all capitals. LORD is a title.
But the Psalmist uses the personal name of God, the name God gave Moses to give to Israel to use when they talk or pray to them, We aren’t talking about some God distant across a galaxy. We aren’t talking about a god made of brass or wood. We’re not talking about a God is weak and tolerates evil, but Yahweh, who is patient, not willing that any person should perish, but that all have the ability to return to Him.
As Luther reminds us, it is not enough not to use God’s name in vain, but we need to
He doesn’t just tolerate our prayers; He wants us to call out to Him. God wants to hear us, listen to us, care for us.
And assure us that we will dwell forever in His presence.
And so we can say with the psalmist
My heart, is at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously.
For He is our loving God, who bends down to hear us, who comes to us to care for us, to reconcile us, to heal us, to send us to others to send us to the world, to let them know He will listen to them as well, and love them even as He loves us, cleanses us from sin, and makes us hole, and holy.
This is why we adore Him, why we are devoted to Him, why we trust and depend on Him, why we honor and praise Him!
Why we love Him… Because He hears us…
And promises to give our hearts the peace and rest that comes from knowing the love of God. A love in which Christ keeps us forever. AMEN?
God, please turns their hearts.. not to me, but to You!
Devotional Thought of the Day
1 John 4:11-12 (NLT) Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
But after the Holy Spirit has performed and accomplished this and the will of man has been changed and renewed solely by God’s power and activity, man’s new will becomes an instrument and means of God the Holy Spirit, so that man not only lays hold on grace but also cooperates with the Holy Spirit in the works that follow.
But the real heart of Christianity is, and will always be, love of neighbor. For, in very fact, each individual is infinitely loved by God and is of infinite value. Christ says to each of us the words so feelingly formulated by Pascal: “In my mortal agony, I thought of you. I shed these drops of blood for you.
We all have people that seem to cause pain in our lives. Often we label the pains in the neck, or compare them unfavorably to hemorrhoids. Some of us have people that cause a more negative response, people who threaten us, who we label adversaries, or perhaps even enemies.
We may not even know them, they may be politicians of the opposing view, or someone who has their 15 minutes of fame for something that causes anger to well up in us. We may even label them names – either in discussion on FB or over lunch. Maybe we even can keep those names in our minds, But we still think of them as jerks, the personification of evil or simply call them assholes. You might, having read the last word of the prior sentence be shocked I use it, or you might be saying, “But pastor, they really are!”
Or you may feel guilt, worrying about why you can’t get over the feelings of frustration, anger, pain, hurt, and resentment.
Read the passage again that is in red above. Can we do this? Can we love each other, knowing that “other” has the same definition the lawyer received when he heard the parable of the Good Samaritan.
This ability to love them is the work that the Lutheran Confessions (in green) speak of, where the Holy Spirit makes our lives and instrument, and a means of the Holy Spirit’s work. It is the heart of Christianity that then Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of, to realize that for each one of us, every human being on earth, Jesus died, willing let his blood be spilled for you, and for them.
In an old hymnal (TLH), as part of the prayer of God’s people we found a very proper and timely prayer. It said something like this. “Father, turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries to you.”
This is where our heart begins to change, as we see their need, (and ours) to be reconciled to God. For that is the answer to everything. Without the blood of Christ, spilled to heal us all from the damage of sin, there is no hope to come together in peace. In Christ, the peace is not just compromise, but it becomes community, it becomes love deeper than any other.
It is in Christ, seeing Christ’s love for them, which we begin to be able to love them as well. That love may end up pleading with them, not to deal favorably with us, but that which is more important – their reconciliation with God. That becomes our goal; it becomes what we pray for, what we begin to do, to live for, even as God does…
And as we see the glory of God, as we worship Him, the glory of the Holy Spirit works through us… and they know they are loved.
As do we.
”Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 472). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 290). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
I’m Tired, Exhausted, Wiped out.. and Enduring!
Devotional Thought of the Day
4 “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. . Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NLT)
999 And what is the secret of perseverance? Love. Fall in Love, and you will not leave Him!
it is the last thought listed in the book, “The Way”
It is one I needed to hear, especially given the last few weeks. Full of things that I am praising God for, and things that challenge my faith. Other things which are simply irritating, like that rock in your shoe that keeps rubbing and rubbing.
How we survive, how we endure, how we persevere is to keep our eyes on God.
To trust in Him to get us through, whether it is to a green pasture, or through the valley of the shadow of death, or just a meeting we didn’t anticipate going the way it did.
That is what this is all about. He is our God, we are His.
Know He loves you and love Him… and He will ensure you endure.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 2320). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
