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Where’s the Rest of my Story? I Have to Know I Get the Miracle, Don’t I?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 It was then that some Babylonians took the opportunity to denounce the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May Your Majesty live forever! 10 Your Majesty has issued an order that as soon as the music starts, everyone is to bow down and worship the gold statue, 11 and that anyone who does not bow down and worship it is to be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 There are some Jews whom you put in charge of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who are disobeying Your Majesty’s orders. They do not worship your god or bow down to the statue you set up.” 13 At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the three men to be brought before him. 14 He said to them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you refuse to worship my god and to bow down to the gold statue I have set up? 15 Now then, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, oboes, lyres, zithers, harps, and all the other instruments, bow down and worship the statue. If you do not, you will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Do you think there is any god who can save you?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, “Your Majesty, we will not try to defend ourselves. 17 If the God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing furnace and from your power, then he will. 18 But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty may be sure that we will not worship your god, and we will not bow down to the gold statue that you have set up.” Daniel 3:8-18 (TEV)
872 To help you keep your peace during those times of hard and unjust contradictions I used to say to you: “If they break our skulls, we shall not take it too seriously. We shall just have to put up with having them broken.” (1)
In my devotional this morning, the Old Testament reading was exactly what you see above.
My first reaction was, why stop it here?
Why not give us the rest of the story. (spoiler alert?) Why not just let us read on, to the glory, to the miracle of the 4th man? To the repentance of the community in its sins, not just to God, but to me!
I want the rest of the story! And I want it….. now!
I looked ahead – I don’t get the rest of the story tomorrow! What is up with that?
What is up with that is the words of faith that the three men said. They were sure of their trust in God enough to embrace the fact that the story might not end with a miracle, and somehow, they are okay with that. Somehow, knowing that God is at work is enough, being sure He will keep His promises is enough.
Many martyrs die without receiving what we would want, their release back into the world. Their freedom from those who would oppress, torture, and eventually kill them.
And they were able to endure, knowing something that their captors did not.
That God, by his very cHesed nature,the depth and height, the breadth and width of His love, is worthy of the trust that the three men showed. Even if He didn’t rescue them, even if they didn’t get the miracle they expected. They knew His love.
May we, as we think through the work of God accomplished in our Baptism, as we meditate on the Body and Blood of Christ, as we hear with absolute delight that our sins are forgiven, that all is made right, know God enough to trust Him, even if we don’t get the miracle we want……
For we have the one we need. The Cross. (see Romans 6:3-8)
He is our God.
AMEN.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3565-3567). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Dare We Speak of Wanting to Leave God???? We must??
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
67 Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?” 68 Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. 69 We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-69 (MSG)
257 The Lord, the Eternal Priest, always blesses with the Cross. (1)
Last night, as we gathered in Bible Study, we talked about Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12. We talked of how he had a thorn in the flesh, and how he begged the Father in Heaven to remove it, not once but three times. Each time he received an answer. Peter had a similar discussion once with Jesus as well, three times having to hear an answer. We all laughed, knowing that some of us need to hear what has to be said 4 or 5 or even 211 times. Jeremiah accused God of deceiving Jeremiah. St Josemaria tells us that Jesus always blesses with the cross…. but that means there is a cross.
Yeah, there are days like that. Days were we have to give voice to that which flows from our hearts. The pains, the doubt, the brokenness. We can’t bury it, we can’t just ignore it, and let our hearts harden, for then they will surely shatter.
There are times where you have to exhale the poisons in your system, before you can breath in the Spirit. You have to let it go (O gosh – not that phrase! 🙂 ) Prior to seeing the answer that is there.
In the gospel reading above, the crowds have abandoned Jesus. They don’t want to admit the depth of their need, a need that can only be met through the body and blood of Christ be given and shed for us, to be more than just those who observe, but those who are joined to Christ’s death, that we would be joined to His resurrection. With all abandoning Jesus, He turns to the last dozen…..and offers them an opportunity to leave the pain, to leave the discomfort of the message that challenges their nicely fabricated holiness.
Somehow Peter gets it right, No, not somehow rather by God’s grace.
Where else could we go Lord? The best hope we have, the only hope, is to walk with you, through whatever it is that opposes us. It’s the cry of faith, that God is God, we aren’t, and so we trust in Him. Or like a paralytics father cried out, “Yes I trust in you Lord, help me to trust in you!” As odd as it seems, we need the times in Elijah’s cave, we need to have rants like Jeremiah or Moses or David. We need to have the times like Peter on the beach, and like Paul struggling to really hear God, distracted by a thorn in the flesh.
I think that cry of faith can only come from the point where we know nothing else, Where we are broken and weak, the place and time we’ve given up on trying to do it by ourselves. It is then we look up and see that God’s been there all the time. It is then we hear His words, and know they are the words of life. It is then, as we feel His embrace, that we know His mercy, love and peace are endless. Sometimes we don’t realize the value of that, until we face walking away from it.
And then – our hearts lifted by the the words of life, we find ourselves given that life, dwelling in it, for we walk in the presence of God.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Location 1254). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Through You I Will Shine!
Through You I Will Shine
Isaiah 49:1-7
† In Jesus Name †
As you dwell in the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, may you realize that His glory shines through you, doing far more for His Kingdom than you could ever imagine!
Who is this servant who brings God glory?
As we hear this call from Isaiah to pay attention, to hear his words, written to us from distant lands and who are far far away, we need to ask the question.
Hear part of it again, starting in verse 3,
“He said to me, “You are my servant Israel, and you will bring Me glory”
So here is the question – who is it that is saying this?
Who is God’s servant, who will bring God the Father glory? Who is it that God says to, “through you I will shine?”
The Sunday School answer is Jesus, some scholars would says the nation of Israel, others might indicate it is Paul, and missionaries and people who want to see the church grow may say it is…us.
Yet, who is this servant whom through God says “you will bring me glory”, or as I titled the sermon – “through you I will shine?”
I think we need to dig through more of the passage in order to find out.
What about this feeling of uselessness? Is that Jesus or Us?
If we are going to find this person or persons out, let’s look at the next sentence:
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
That’s a proper response to realizing that God chose us from before our mother’s gave birth to us? That is the response to realizing God knew our name – even then?
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
I think this would put many of us in contention for who this passage is about. We know God’s called us, we know He knows our name. Yet there are days where we wonder if our efforts to be faithful are working. When our prayers don’t seem to be answered, where we have spent ourselves, exhausted ourselves in our efforts to build His kingdom, or some days, our efforts just to endure.
So is this passage about us then?
If it is, then can we finish the verse?
Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”
The real struggle in life isn’t enduring those times, but in leaving things in God’s hands, in trusting Him to make the situation be what He promised, when He promised that all things work for good for those who love Him, whom He called according to His will. When we look around us and wonder, why aren’t things reflecting the love of God, why does not it look like we are blessed by God?
Here is the catch, while we may know these feelings at times, they are also true for Jesus. Think of the words he uttered in tears looking over Jerusalem,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. Luke 13:34 (NLT)
Later He would say,
Luke 19:41-44 (NLT) 41 But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace.
Just in case we in our pride think Jesus only felt this way about Old Testament Israel, read the letters to the church in Revelation, for there we see God’s call to Christians like us, who struggle to realize they are His.
There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus knew these questions as well, for He was tempted in every point, just as we are. Yet He was able to commit Himself into the Father’s hands
So is He the servant through whom God will shine? Or are we?
The final “qualification”
If we go down to verse 6, there is another point to consider; that will help us determine whether this servant is us, or Jesus, or someone else.
6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Surely this points to our Lord, it is the very concept we sing of in the Nunc Dimitis, those words of Simeon when he saw the infant Jesus. For his ministry was seen to be just to the Jews, to restore them, that they would be readily identified as the people of God. His ministry went beyond that, reaching out even to us, 2000 years later, in a far distant land, the land that Isaiah calls to listen, and pay attention!
I do not think it is only about Jesus though. In our Bible Study, we’ll see Paul used the same language about Paul’s call into ministry, and about others. I would include, ABOUT US! The people of Concordia, the people that God gathers here in the this place.
Even with this last qualification, there is a strong point to be made – that we are part of this….
The realization of the Gospel
To make my point, I will refer back to last Sunday’s sermon on Romans 6. In the call and response we re-learned I said something – based on Paul’s understanding of our being united to Christ in Baptism….let’s see how good your memory is….
The call was, Alleluia! His is Risen! To my saying that, the new response is…
( “therefore WE are risen indeed! Alleluia )
It is critical to understand the gospel, to learn to place it all in the Lord’s hands, to trust in God for the reward, that we are that united to Christ’s death and resurrection. We need to realize that we find life in Him, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us that God has called by name, those whom He recognizes as His people. (even if we do not yet)
So this passage is about Jesus – but because it is about Jesus, it is about us as well! We can learn to leave everything in His hands, and trust in Him that it will be made right. We can see that He has called us, knowing us and forming us in our mother’s wombs, and that our words can bring people to know that they are righteous in the sight of God, for that is His judgment for those who know Him.
Our strength isn’t spent for nothing and no purpose, our work isn’t useless.
The answer to that attitude is found not in trying different things, or working the old things harder. Instead, its found in realizing that we are in Christ.
Even to the phrase that our ministry is not just found here, among the people we love. Rather God uses us, our words, our work, to reach people throughout the world, and will continue to do so. For what Paul said in our epistle reading this morning, to the church in Corinth. Look there in your bulletin, for the verses are highlighted,
2 I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
And let’s start at verse 7 for the second one..
Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9 God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
For there, in partnership, in communion with Christ, we find who we’ve been called to be, the children of God. For there in Christ we know that God will shine through us! That we will reflect His glory, and dwell in Him.
Knowing that, we find a peace that passes all understanding, which guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! AMEN?
Is God Listening? Is God here?
Devotional thought of the day:
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!Matthew 6:7-8 (NLT) 7
463 Your prayer will sometimes be discursive; maybe less often, full of fervour; and, perhaps often, dry, dry, dry. But what matters is that you, with God’s help, are not disheartened. Consider the sentry on duty. He does not know if the King or the Head of State is in the palace: he is not told what he might be doing, and generally the public figure does not know who is on guard. It is not at all like that with our God. He lives where you live, He cares for you and knows your inmost thoughts. Do not abandon the guard-duty of your prayer! (1)
One of the more interesting challenges I have, is teaching my son how to pray. Not the words to say, he has that down, but how to realize that prayer is a conversation with God. That God is there, that God is listening, that God is present.
For a very intelligent 6 year old, who can read like a teenager can eat, what isn’t in front of him, visible, is hard to see. It is hard not to see prayer and simply something we do together, a time we spend together. Body language and voice intonation lets me know he is involved, yet not quite discerning the presence of God. At least that seems to me to be what I’ve seen over the last year or so develop.
I look at people, and are we any different? As we gather, two or three, together. As we pray together in Church, never mind if I dare ask people about their prayer habits. I’ve thought about the pastors gathering that is hosted at my church, and wondering what would happen, if we talked about out prayer habits, and how many would show up if I pre-announced that topic! (Even writing this makes me a bit nervous, because if I ask them, they will surely ask me!)
So how to encourage this regular conversation with God? How do we dare open our lives to Him? How do we pour out on Him our anxieties, our concerns and how do we know He is listening? How do we know the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all creation is waiting to talk to me?
The problem is, like a 6 year old, we struggle to believe in that we cannot touch, We want documentation, a proven methodical concept that works the same way each time. In a way, we want to reduce prayer from the dynamic communication it is, to a formulary set of practices that will work the same way, each time. And when it doesn’t, we can analyze what we did wrong, or dismiss the entire thing as a intellectual fraud.
Relationships are a matter of the heart though, not of our mind. They are surprising and fluid, they are intense, and yet if abandoned dry out. They are life, which is why its called a life of prayer. It is experiental – beyond our ability to logically or within our scope of reason. So why would a relationship with God be any more rational, definable, subject to our control? Knowing His presence is observable, but not with our eyes. It’s know through a trust in Him that is alien to our minds, but with which the heart overrides that analysis, and does so in great joy… for it is there we find peace.
All I can say is faith relies on Him. It trusts Him. He promised to be here,
Jesus in Pray (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
and He promised to listen and to craft our lives and all that happens to work out for our best. He invited us to pray, taught us how to lay it all out before Him, to let Him care for our burdens and bring life to our weary and broken lives.
I pray that we can be aware of the promises and the reality of them.
AMEN
Related articles
- Monday and The Priorities of Work (justifiedandsinner.com)
A Sermon for Those sent to Serve
“The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me…so Why?”
Luke 4:14-30
† In Jesus Name †
As you give your lives as a living sacrifice to God, as you are equipped by the Holy Spirit’s gifting in your lives, never forget that for you as well is the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ!
The Burden of the Call
We So want to see the evidence – to know it has been fulfilled!
It always amazes me, how the man made schedule of readings God is able to use. The Sunday I am preaching to those apostello’d – those sent not just by the LCMS but by God to share His message – the gospel reading is about Jesus taking up the burden of His being apostello’d – of His being sent.
Not that you and I have the same burden as Jesus did – or even that of the original 12 plus Paul – but we do share in that burden – you are as surely sent here as God sent them. Whether you are GEO’s or doing life… err lifetime missionaries or accompanying spouse – or the children – you are all here because God has brought you here.
We look at Jesus taking up His burden as the primary, the first apostello. As He reads the prophecy that points out this very thing in Isaiah – hear these words, not just descriptive of His call – but of your call – because you are united to Him.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The year of the Lord’s favor – the year, when God descreed every debt cancelled, that every bill was paid in full – that everything is restored to its rightful place- including us. The year of jubilee.
I know when I left the University I worked at – to enter “full-time” ministry, I thought of all those things happenin – all the people that would come to know Jesus, all the wonderful – even miraculous things that would occur – and how God’s people would praise Him… as they saw His love.
But then the questions arise
Who are you – anyway?
We even may think they are out to crucify you
If they are – so what?
That was 15 years ago – nearly 20 if you count my time as a “part-time” minister. Gonna be a little honest – I think more of my time has been like Jesus’ first service and sermon. So excited to share God’s call to everyone to enjoy the freedom of Christ.. and I quickly fade as people start questioning me – and while they haven’t picked up stones yet……
It seems like that sometimes – not enough eyes that are blind to the gospel open them – or those who hear that they are free from the bondage of sin, stay in the familiar cells that they have become comfortable to – afraid of venturing out into the reality of God’s love. Some have questioned me – not the – “aren’t you Joseph’s son”, but the same question, who are you to tell me I am a sinner in need of God’s grace?
I have to admit – I look at myself far more often than the message I am entrusted to bear. I don’t always hear it for myself first, and so I find myself condemned in the eyes of those I am called to bring it to, those who it is so evident that they need it.
I end up feeling crushed – I end up wanting to go home – to find a little cabin in the mountains of new Hampshire, on a nice quiet lake with a awesome internet connected, and finish out my life canoeing, playing piano and guitar and World of Warcraft.
IT is then, that the law has afflicted me… and I need to be comforted by the very message I bring. Having talked to a number of folk since I landed in Asia ten days ago, I am not the only one.
We have to know the news we bring… just not know – but know. We have to hear it from Him!
As good LC-MS Lutherans – we may have heard the phrase once or twice about proper Law and Gospel tension – Afflict those comfortable in their sin, comfort those afflicted by their sin.
I get the feeling that most of you are as in need of that comfort as I am. Ou wonder why wasn’t there 100 baptisms or even ten, or just one, to witness recently. You want to blame someone, lest you have to blame yourselves. Our “Leaders” are really easy targets. If only they would… then I could see the kinds of results I thought I would.
We who serve in the temple – so need to stop and remember that we are the temple – that God’s spirit is with us here – wherever here is. The love we want people to know – we need to meditate on it, dwell in it, rest and be strengthened by it.
When we want to go on our way – to escape the crowd as Jesus did we need to realize He went on His way for us, and indeed through us! As He walked through that crowd, the way He went, the way He chose to go on, was to that cross to did for us, that we could die with Him in baptism, that we could rise with Him.
That is why I am so greatful to end my stay this way – serving you – calling you to remember what I have failed to remember so many times. That while we share Christ’s calling, we aren’t Christ. The work doesn’t depend on us, or those holding us back. No one can separate us from His love, for we are His called one, His loved ones.
When I proclaimed your sins forgiven, and when you proclaimed mine forgiven, did you hear that? That you are cleansed of all your sin and all unrighteousness?
When we pray together the Lord’s prayer – do you hear yourself correctly addressing God as your Father? Do you hear what Jesus has taught you to ask for, to pray for, knowing it is the Father’s will to give you all these things?
When you hear the words “for you” during the words of institution, do you get that it is for you… you?
Know this – you have been called and sent into… called and apostell’d to this place. But you haven’t been sent alone, you have been sent with Him – not just His message – but with Him.
For you are His, as the song said – bought with the precious blood of Christ.
So as you serve – as you are tempted with loneliness, know that is never true… but you are in Christ… with Christ…
And he is keeping, guarding your hearts and minds in the glorious peace of God, the peace that goes beyond understanding, the peace that is the Father’s.
The peace that is yours.
AMEN?
