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Stand Firm! Geta grip! A Sermon on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8,13-17
Stand Firm!
Geta grip!
2 Thessalonians 2:1-8,13-17
† Jesus, Son and Savior †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ sustain you’re your grip on your salvation as you stand firm in the hope of the Resurrection to eternal life!
The key verse
Most of the time I preach, I try to come up with some illustration to help understand what scripture is teaching us. Educational theory tells us we are a visual people, which is why those who have tried to teach morals use storytelling, fables, parables, to help people see the point.
Today, I couldn’t come up with one.
That’s okay, as the point today is pretty simple…
“15 With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.”
That seems simple enough… stand firm – hold on to the hope we have taught you.
The hope found in the experience of salvation.
The hope found in the work of the Holy Spirit who makes us holy, and lead us to believe in the truth.
Stand firm there, and get a grip on this…
But there are challenges.
The challenge – false teaching leading to lawlessness
One of the challenges that I don’t talk about enough is false teaching – especially about End Times. Paul is warning the church about such people who would use the End times to motivate us through fear. Listen to Paul, “2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. 3 Don’t be fooled by what they say.”
It doesn’t matter how sincere these men and women who preach are, it doesn’t matter how they have studied and dissected the numbers and days that create their message. If they focus more on developing fear and horror at the thought of the end, they missed the hope we have…
So ignore them.
Despite the temptation to follow their logic and examine it thoroughly. Despite the attempts to make you come to repentance fearing the Day or Judgement, or the Tribulation, or anything else that puts the “fear of God” and the fear of judgment or condemnation in you, and then asks you to take some action to assure your survival.
But all that does is convince you that God’s grace is sufficient, and puts the burden of survival on you… and reinforces a stereotype that our sin is great than God’s ability to deliver.
The call to share in the glory of Christ.
When Paul writes to a young pastor named Titus, he addressed this idea of the believer fearing God because of their sin. He wrote, 3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:3-5 (NLT2)
That is the same message as he tells these believers from Thessalonika. Instead of worrying about the End Times, focus in on what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life, as we started with, “a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. 14 He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That last line is what we should be focused on, what we pin our expectations on, this idea that we can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we think of end times, this is what our focus needs to be! Not on the trauma, for life itself can be just as traumatic as anything the doomsayers and fearmongers put forth.
We need to remember the promise of our baptism—that we receive the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit and everlasting life.
This is a constant theme in scripture,
27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
Colossians 1:27 (NLT2)
23 but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT2)
And how many of the parables, from the wheat and the tares to the sheep and the goats talk about us entering everlasting life…
Us, those who were born into sin, and have struggled with sin, the kind of people this place was built for…
Not that we would fear Judgment Day, but that we would expect it and rejoice as we see it coming.
For it will come, and we will be at home with our Lord! AMEN!
The Tournament of Theology–cannot be won.
Thoughts which draw me close to Jesus, and to His cross.
20 Then Isaiah is bold enough to say: “I was found by those who were not asking me for help. I made myself known to people who were not looking for me.” Romans 10:20 NCV
That is the humility that is required of the theologian.… Without the realism of the saints, without their contact with reality, which is what it is all about, theology becomes an empty intellectual game and loses its character as a science.
It seems to me that we shall have our hands full to keep these commandments, practicing gentleness, patience, love toward enemies, chastity, kindness, etc., and all that these virtues involve. But such works are not important or impressive in the eyes of the world. They are not unusual and pompous, restricted to special times, places, rites, and ceremonies, but are common, everyday domestic duties of one neighbor toward another, with no show about them.
How does one acquire love? The human heart is so false that it cannot love unless it first sees the benefit of loving. No man can bring this love into the heart. Therefore God gave us his Son, graciously poured out his greatest treasures and sunk and drowned all our sins and filth in the great ocean of his love, so that this great love and blessing must draw man to love and be ready to fulfil the divine commandments with a willing heart. In no other way can the heart love or have any love; it must be assured that it was first loved. Now man cannot do this; therefore Christ comes and takes the heart captive and says: Learn to know me. I am Christ, who placed myself in your misery to drown your sins in my righteousness. This knowledge softens your heart, so that you must turn to him.
Now that we are removed a few days from Celtics domination of the NBA, my twitter feed is returning to deluge of those who treat theology like the ultimate sports event – a tournament seems to seek out who wins, and who loses. I see those who claim to be Catholics trying to score on Protestants, those who are protests trying to slamdunk Catholics, and even the Orthodox are involved now, both on offense and defense. It is far more competitive, far more brutal, and too be honest, bad sports abound more in this game than any sport.
For the tournament cannot be won, the game cannot be won. It is a double elimination contest, with both sides losing, and often both sides brutally, if not terminally injured in their faith in God.
I’ve witnessed too many such injuries, even recently, as I’ve worked with a few whose view of the church becomes jandiced. And I must confess to my engaging in such games (for that is all they are) and being scarred and hurting others….some deliberately.
To this problem the Apostle Paul speaks, quoting Isaiah above. The proof for those who tried to compete with Him didn’t eventually matter, for God could work, and does work, drawing people to His side, brining people into His glory, whco weren’t looking for Him. In fact, many of them were running from Him, and ran smack dab into a relationship where God’s love overwhelmed them. This is what Pope Benedict wrote of while a cardinal – and the head of theology for the Catholic church–without seeing the impact of God’s love on those who went before, theology is empty. Not that these people were great theologians, but because God worked in their lives– He became their reality.
That is the point of the Large Catechism, in noting the struggle to keep the commandments. I don;t care how well you can translate the Hebrew, that will not help you obey them, and those studies will not offer you comfort when you realize you shattered them in theological combat. The only think that matters then is the prelude is experiencing what precedes them, “I am the Lord, your God, who rescued you…”
Luther notes the only hope, though I would include the soul and mind as well as the heart. Without the love of God invading my life, without Him drowning our sin and filth inthe great ocean of His love, we cannot be Theologians. We have to be Theophilians first! We have to love- something foreign to us if we don’t experience the incredible dimensions of God’s love for us, which was revealed in Christ Jesus. Christ must come and take our heart captive, it must give us the ability to trust Him, who came to share in our lives, shattered and murdered by our own sin, to redeem and save us.
That is the core of real Theology, as the Holy Spirit leads us to experience the love of God that draws us into Christ, His death, His resurrection, and His glory. Theology should serve, not as an academic debate, but rather to assist in communicating that news, so that people may know the love of God.
Any other use is… worthless, empty, and leads to elimination of life.
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Edited by Irene Grassl, Translated by Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth, Ignatius Press, 1992, pp. 198–99.
Martin Luther, The Large Catechism, Tappert, Theodore G., editor. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mühlenberg Press, 1959, p. 407.
Luther, Martin, and John Sander. Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year. Augustana Book Concern, 1915, p. 221.
Inventory of Blessings: Presence – A sermon based on Psalm 41
Inventory of Blessings
Presence!
Psalm 41
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May the grace of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ keep you aware of the Spirit’s comforting, cleansing, empowering and guiding presence in your life!
Inventory Management Systems
Thirty-five years ago, I was the night shift manager at McDonalds. There was a lesson I learned there. A lesson I think we need to learn regarding our relationship with God.
And that lesson is the backbone of this sermon series, which I’ve titled “Inventory of Blessings”
We have to keep track of our assets. We have to know what we have to work with each day. At McDonalds, it was burger patties, bread, French fries and all the stuff that went with them. If you didn’t take inventory, you could have too much on hand, and it could go bad and cost the company money. If you don’t know you need to restock, and you run out of French fries—you lose not only sales—you lose your customer base.
While we can never have too many or too few blessings from God, we need to take inventory of them often, so we know what we have to depend on as we go through life. This is far more important than having enough burgers or filet-o-fish in the freezer!
We see King David doing such an inventory in Psalm 41 this morning. And it wasn’t as easy—but that is a good lesson for us to live as well.
- Look how great God Is!
He starts out well in verse 1, taking inventory of God’s work!
The Lord gives joy to those who help the poor
The Lord rescues those in trouble
The Lord protects them and keeps them alive.
The Lord gives removes all obstacles. (gives them prosperity)
The Lord rescues them from enemies
The Lord Nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health!
Wow—look at all the things David saw God doing for others! What an amazing thing it is, to see God at work in the lives of people around you! To see the God whose given His name (which we replace with Lord) as how His people are to know Him, at work in the lives of people, is a truly amazing thing.
What an amazing thing to know God in this way!
The more he considers, the closer he gets to praying a prayer that God desires to answer.
4 “O LORD,” I prayed, “have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
David reaches out and confesses his sin…he’s taken a huge step, trusting God to heal him of the damage sin causes. David entrusts his very life, and all its brokenness to God…
And at that moment… all hell breaks loose.
- Wait—my confession wasn’t supposed to be used against me!
David goes right from pleading for forgiveness to overwhelming paranoia.
But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. “How soon will he die and be forgotten?” they ask. 6 They visit me as if they were my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere. 7 All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst. 8 “He has some fatal disease,” they say. “He will never get out of that bed!” 9 Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.
One problem that happens when we are entrusting our lives, including sin, to God, is demonic interference.
Satan and his demon horde would do anything to stop us from realizing how present and compassionate God our Father is! There are many games that can be played! One of the greatest is to get us to look at how the world condemns us for the sin that we just confessed!
David thinks, “How people would gossip about me!” They would meet out in the parking lot, or at the coffee shop and mock me. I can hear the exaggerations now!
It is not beyond reason to picture shame and guilt as demons, fighting to keep their claws hooked in our heart and soul, trying to convince us that the world hates us, not because of who we are, but because of what we thought, what we said, what we did.
Everything we saw God doing disappears in this fight!
Sometimes, that paranoia is right on!
That little line about those who are closest, those who eat with you, betraying you, is something most of us know, and deal with, as the deep wounds caused by loved ones turning against us…
Even Jesus felt those wounds, as all 12 of the apostles abandoned him at the cross. Two of the closest, Peter and Judas, abandoned him as clearly as King Saul and David’s son, Absalom, betrayed David.
And in the middle of dealing with all this, we sin again, having taken our eyes off of God. forgotten that we had cried out, and we miss His answer…
- It doesn’t matter He is here!
This is when we need to take inventory of God’s blessings the most.
That is when we need someone to say something we respond to with, “and also with you!”
We need to take inventory and remember our great asset is the presence of God Almighty in our lives. The God who brings us peace and comfort, whose presence gladdens our heart, who cares and protects us so well that we can sleep the night in true peace…
He is here!!
Remember all the things David saw do for others? He again asks God for mercy, and then they all come true for David.
Here how the psalm declares these praises:
10 LORD, have mercy on me. Make me well again, so I can pay them back! 11 I know you are pleased with me, for you have not let my enemies triumph over me. 12 You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever. 13 Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen!
David gets back to business. He cries out for God’s mercy and healing!
Look at verse 12 one more time: “12 You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever.”
David said this, and we can and should say it as well,
God, You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever.
That is the work of Jesus at the cross… because of His death, where our sin was nailed to the cross, we have entered, not will enter, have entered the presence of God—where we will dwell forever!
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. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT2)
That is the day we are looking for, this day when our life in Christ is revealed to the whole world. When we see God, in whose presence we dwell….
Until then—take inventory often, realizing that you already dwell in His presence. He has cleansed you of sin, comforted and healed you! For this He has promised you…and promised you can help others realize these blessings… and praise God with them.
For you dwell in His presence and know His peace! AMEN!
No Time For Complacency! A sermon on Zephaniah 1:7-8
No Time For Complacency
Zephaniah 1:7-18
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May the Gifts of Serenity and Peace of God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ not just sustain you in these days, but empower and drive you from being complacent about sin, to reconcile those divided by it.
Did you come here to hear that reading?
What were you thinking of, as you heard the Old Testament reading from Zephaniah this morning? Was it what you expected to hear, what you thought about when you getting ready to come to church?
Anyone like the picture on the cover? Although it is there, not sure many of you saw the word “hope” there!
This is a hard reading, for sure, and I wonder how many of us truly agreed with Bob as we said “Thanks be to God!”, to his “this is the word of the LORD!”
Even as we struggle with this, we have to realize that the day of the Lord is near, and that means there is, no time for complacency.
For while that day is one we hope for, for others it will be terrifying.
Being sucked into the dregs of Life (Complacency)
This idea of complacency in the Old Testament has an interesting word picture. It is a word picture of someone so drunk that they do not notice they are drinking the bottom of the barrel of wine, what are called the dregs.
They are so drunk they do not notice they are drinking wine that is thicker than soup, and it causes them to be even more inebriated, even more, unaware of the situation around them. They are simply numb to reality, unaware of what they are witnessing, unable to even care.
While we don’t realize it, that is the power of sin over us.
It makes us numb, unaware of those around us, unable to care for them, as long as we are able to continue in the sin. Like the alcoholic who doesn’t realize the damage he is doing to himself and to others, sin slowly and surely claims those who are victim to it, slowly demanding that we give ourselves into it more and more.
You see, sin is the strongest addiction out there, and it doesn’t matter the sin!
That is what scripture is talking about when it talks about God searching through Jerusalem, searching through people that claim to be his, people that are so drunk in their sin that they don’t recognize His presence.
Please understand – God isn’t just searching out these sinners just in the world, but here, among His people.
And for those complacent in their sin, hear again what waits,
14 “That terrible day of the LORD is near. Swiftly it comes— a day of bitter tears, a day when even strong men will cry out. 15 It will be a day when the LORD’s anger is poured out— a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, 16 a day of trumpet calls and battle cries. Down go the walled cities and the strongest battlements! 17 “Because you have sinned against the LORD, I will make you grope around like the blind. Your blood will be poured into the dust, and your bodies will lie rotting on the ground.” Zephaniah 1:14-17 (NLT)
This is the word of the Lord!
Thanks be to God?
For judging us this harshly for our sin?
The Gospel of Jealousy
O wait, darn it, I forgot the last verse, the place where we will find not just the terror, but the hope. It’s a bit hidden, the gospel in the passage, so look closely
18 Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the LORD’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth. Zephaniah 1:18 (NLT)
Do you see the hope there? Right in the middle of that verse….
It might not be obvious at first, see it there?
In the fire of His jealousy, we see hope, right when our silver and gold does no good, when we can’t purchase our salvation, there is hope.
You see, God is jealous enough to burn it all up, yet when we take prophecy as a whole, and not simply focus on one passage, we realize that this too must be considered,
9 I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’” Zechariah 13:9 (NLT)
Throughout scripture, we hear about God’s jealousy, that God desires to make for Himself a people. But God’s way of doing that is incredible, for He purifies us, He cleanses us, even as He burns off the impurities.
Remember John the Baptist promised this when He said,
“But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Matthew 3:11 (NLT)
The fire of God’s wrath was poured out on Christ at the cross, all of His anger, all of His rage, and those of us in Christ were raised with Him when God broke the power of both sin and death.
Even are we can’t be complacent about our sin, we can’t be complacent about the sin of others. Not just about warning them about the sin, but we need to reconcile them to God! We need to help them wake up from their complacency that sin causes. We need to give them the hope that will see them through the fire to the resurrection, assured by the promise of Jesus.
That is why we are here, and knowing God is near, let us not fall into complacency, but rather hear God say that we are His people, while we rejoice that He is our God…and that He brings us through the fire, cleansed, holy, pure, and His. AMEN!
Dwelling in Jesus…is more incredible that we can know (for now)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. 2 Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!
Colossians 3:1-4 (TEV)
97 Renew each day the effective desire to empty yourself, to deny yourself, to forget yourself, to walk in novitiate census, with a new life, exchanging this misery of ours for all the hidden and eternal grandeur of God. (1)
Since teaching through Colossians a couple of years ago, these words in red above seem to resonate with me more and more. I have written about them before, and will probably do so again.
I think they are critical for us to understand, this idea of our “real life”, a life which seems hidden, a life which is easily overlooked and forgotten, a life that is found at the throne of God.
THat’s where we belong, it is our eternal life. The life that began when God circumcised our hearts, cutting away the sin and unrighteousness as He baptized us. That was the conversation in the previous chapter in St. Paul’s letter to these saints.
But in chapter 3 he gets to the impact of that cleansing, the difference it makes in our lives today, and every day that will come. He talks of our eternal life as our real life, our reality. He urges us to set our hearts on this dance with God the Father, Son and Spirit. The dance we’ve been invited too, and see glimpses of, even if our mind cannot clearly picture it.
If our mind cannot, our hearts and soul can be set on this. For our hearts are better at knowing we are loved, knowing we are forgiven, and being able to accept the mysteries that our minds can’t fathom.
But as our hearts settle there, we dwell in the peace of God, we lose ourselves, yet find our life in Jesus. For everything changes, from our priorities, to our relationships, from what we “need” to how we view those around us.
So today, think about the glory of heaven and come to realize with your heart that not only do you have a place there… you are already in His presence…
and rejoice in that peace!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 556-558). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Life’s Not Fair, Could That Be Ok?
Life’s not Fair
Could that Be OK?
Luke 16:1-9
† I.H.S †
May God’s gifts of love and mercy so fill your life, that you are assured you will live tomorrow and forever in His incredible, unsurpassable, unexplainable peace!
Life’s Not Fair!
That gospel reading this morning was strange, wasn’t it!
So strange most pastors don’t ever want to preach on it, but in a world that doesn’t always make sense, heck this world rarely makes sense. So this passage seems appropriate.
I mean I don’t understand why this guy is talked about positively in Scripture.
He doesn’t do his job.
When he does, he does it unethically, not doing what he’s given authority to accomplish, but what works in his favor.
Then, as he’s given notice to clean out his desk, what does he do? He uses the authority he’s been given to create a bunch of favors people will owe him – favors he will cash in on so that he isn’t bankrupt!
And here is what is strange, according to scripture, his boss, the owner of the company admires him! Other translations say he praises him – and the words are synonymous.
This just doesn’t make sense. It isn’t fair, so how in the world could the Bible teach that the dishonest rascal was admired?
I mean it’s not far, how could it be okay?
Admiration and Praise?
I think we need to hear again why the rich man admired the rascal. After being told to get his things in order, and that he was being terminated, the rascal said,
4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
Jesus would go on to say
And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
While neither praising the ethics or actions of the dishonest man, Jesus notes that he is thinking more than about the present moment. That his concern is for the time when he is not able to care for himself, for a time after he is judged, and found to fail, to fail because of actions he took.
Most of us don’t plan for five years from now, never mind 25 years from now or eternity. We don’t use our knowledge, what we’ve been entrusted with, what we’ve been given the future, never mind what is waiting for us eternally. We don’t often think about this given our lives, and we need to consider it about our lives, and those of these children we have been blessed with!
If we did, how would we live? What would change in our lives, in how we treat people? What priorities would change in your life, if you were thinking of judgment and eternal life? What would we want for our children?
How do we live life, thinking of eternity?
It starts there – with using your possessions to benefit others, To invest your time and strength in making friends and caring for them.
Not unethically, but realizing people are more than possessions. That relationships matter more than accomplishments, more than personal wealth, more than a secure retirement. T love and care for them, as you would want them to love and care for you!
And there is one relationship that demonstrates this, there is one where the relationships were so important, the future so important that one man died, to completely forgive the debts own to his Father.
Get that settled!
Jesus wasn’t just given notice, nor was he told that he was not doing His job well. Still, He knew He was about to be terminated with prejudiced. And as He had planned, along with the Father, He used his legitimate authority to make himself friends.
He wasn’t unethical, He wasn’t using His authority to benefit himself, He simply loved others, and by His death turned those that didn’t love Him, who abandoned Him, who cried out for Him to be crucified.
He was thinking of eternity, of life after all is terminated.
Not His life,
Yours.
And so He died on the cross, to make true these words,
15 I shall no longer call you servants because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.
John 15:15 (NJB)
This is why we are here – as a church, as a school, all the ministries that are Concordia. TO make the love of God know, to encourage you to search out the height, the depth, the breadth and the width of God’s love for you.
We find that out in our baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper, as we take and eat His body and drink His blood. As we hear, children sing of His love.
His love, for us.
As we know it, peace comes over us; that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN!
Martyrs Aren’t Heroes but the norm
Devotional Thought of the Day:
54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” 57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. Acts 7:54-60 (NLT)
11 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Revelation 12:11 (NLT)
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. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)
This post is based on one of the Bible Study discussions among my people at church. We’ve been going through the book of Acts of the Apostles, and came to the martyrdom of Stephen.
It brought out a discussion of the fears we have because of the terrorism in Lebanon, the Sudan and Paris, the incredibly painful trauma people experience. A trauma that is spreading through anxiety and fear, which is being maniuplated by those who would have us stop out from reaching in love, because of that fear.
As we discussed these things, someone mentioned the incredible level of faith that someone who willing embraced martyrdom must have. The faith that would testify of God’s love, that would know the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, even as the boulders were thrown down upon him, or as the blade slice through the air.
Such heroism seems beyond us, such an ability to set aside one’s automatic nature to preserve one’s self. Yet the angel in the passage from the Revelation states that the people there have defeated the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, the witness (in greek – the word we get martyr from!) and by the fact that they didn’t love life so uch they were afrasid to die.
That describes you, if your faith is in Christ. It describes me as well, and every other person who puts their hope in Christ Jesus. The more we comprehend, not just now, but understand at the gut level, the love of Christ, the guaranty of His promise that we will share in His glory eternally, the more we don’t need to cling to life, the more we don’t need to defend ourselves against persecution. The more we can embrance suffering like Jesus did. The more we trust, the more we look to the promise, the more we understand God’s love, the more we can accept martyrdom.
I want you to compare what Stephen goes through in the first reading to what Paul urges believers to do.
Stephen looked into heaven, and saw the glory of God.
Paul tells us to set our sights on the reality of heaven.
Stephen sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father, in the place of honor.
We are to see the same thing – the same Jesus, the same right hand, the same place of honor.
Stephen is killed. Physically.
We are to realize that we have died to this life. Yes spiritually, (as had Stephen) but also in our need to cling to it, for we realize we aren’t just here, we are hidden in Christ in God, waiting to be revealed with Jesus in our fullness.
That’s where the strength comes from to allow a witness to Christ result in our martyrdom, whether that martyrdom is physical, or whether it is setting aside our dream life, our desires, our need to preserve our identity, in order to bear witness to the love of Christ. This is exactly what Paul is talking about in Philippians 2:1-10. urging us on to unity in Christ. It is what Paul talks of when he urges ust o imitate him as He imitates Christ.
Ultimately, Martyrdom is never about the death, it is never about the sacrifice, it is about knowing the love of Jesus, about trusting in His promises, that is the martyrdom, the very witness we bear. Is this heroic then? It would be, except that the strength doesn’t come from us, it coems from the Holy Spirit. It is the very thing we are urged as believers to do. To bear witness with our very lives, to give the reason we have hope. To set aside our fears, to set aside our need for self preservation, to set aside all, to love God, and to love man.
It is who we are, because of what Jesus does for us in baptism…..what He does to us.
This is what it means to know the Lord is with you, that He answered your plea for emrcy.
It is abiding, secure in Christ’s peace. It is, His gift, His grace.
The End that Justified the Means
The End that Justifies the Means
John 6:51–69
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, may that love and mercy be revealed to you, and may it assure you that in His presence you will remain!
Is the Journey more important than the destination?
Four years before Martin Luther would nail to the door an invitation to discuss indulgences, a man in Italy, the man who would become the father of political science, and the first to write on political ethics finished his best known work.
Though not in the book as a direct quote, a summary of it gave us one of the best known proverbs that is not contained in the Bible. A proverb many a businessman and many a politician see as foundational.
The end justifies the means.
Basically, Machiavelli held that, “a ruler must be concerned not only with reputation, but also must be positively willing to act immorally at the right times.” (Wikipedia)
One example given on Wikipedia of that is this, “Violence may be necessary for the successful stabilization of power and introduction of new legal institutions.”
As odd as it sounds, there is one example of that proverb, that you and I must be grateful, one time in history where the end justifying the means was not only appropriate, but a blessing.
As the Jewish people struggle with Jesus teaching that they must eat His body and drink His blood, they will struggle even more that in order to receive the promises of God, in order to be His people, they would have to depend upon the greatest injustice in history.
The Journey
There is a part of me that wants to preach on this passage from the safety of focusing on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. After all, there are theologians who say this passage where Jesus demands us to eat His Body and drink His blood as being primarily about the Lord’s Supper. And there are some that say it is not. Fascinating arguments on both sides.
It is safe, it would help you comprehend what we do during communion, and it would miss the point.
This passage isn’t about communion, in the way that a journey isn’t about the journey, it is about the destination. Because the Jewish people were worrying about the journey, they missed the message of the destination.
That God would remain in us, and we in Him.
We’ll get back to that in a moment, but we need to see that we are no different than the Jewish people, who though knowing God’s law, struggled with what Jesus was saying, struggling so much that they would say,
“This is very hard to understand, how can anyone accept it?”
It was so hard to understand, that most of the disciples would leave.
Because they were focusing on the means, rather than the end.
We do the same thing today, when we toss aside God’s word. Maybe we consider it out of date in the moral standard. Or when we dismiss something because those rules were okay back then before people were educated, but they don’t apply to us smarter and more sophisticated people today. We argue with God, we try to define what is right and what is wrong. We try to change the rules, rationalize our way out of things, or create a different standard.
A great example is how we treat our enemies, adversaries and those who are a pain in the butt.
Do we really love them? Do we really pray for them? Do we really want to forgive them and welcome to commune with us?
Or do we try to find a loophole, an exception to God’s desire that we love all our neighbors?
Or what about when God says to embrace persecutions and suffering, for the sake of the gospel. He just means pastors and worship leaders and elders. Not bass players and sound men, and ushers, right?
We don’t get it, it seems too hard to understand. We don’t like it when God confronts us and challenge our agendas, or rules out what we like and what we dodo. Sometimes, confronted by God’s wisdom and unable to get it, sometimes we walk away. Just like the disciples did.
John’s gospel shows how hard it is, as it records Jesus’ words, “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.”
We need it, we need a God we can relate too, trust in, depend upon…
for our very lives.
Remaining in Christ Jesus
One of the things that we look at, when studying the passage, is the frequency something is mentioned. For example – if a thought is repeated, even if a little different, that is called a parallelism – and it is important. Especially if it followed by AMEN! AMEN! or “This is True!” Three times is even more critical to understand.
We know this well. If our parents or our wives or our bosses repeat themselves, it is critical we are listening.
In this passage, the body and blood being sacrificed is mentioned frequently. But even more frequently is something else. Here it is….
“will live forever”
“so the world may live”
“have eternal life within you”
“has eternal life”
“I will raise that person at the last day”
“remains in me, and I in him.”
“will live because of me”
“will not die”
“will live forever.”
“The Spirit alone gives eternal life”
“Very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life”
68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
This is what it is all about, this life we have with God. That we are His people, that He is our God. That we are fixed to Him, we remain in Him, and He in us. United from the very moment of our baptism, united by a promise, the very new covenant, a promised renewed as He sustains us with His body and blood.
A life given, and shared.
A glorious eternal life.
That is our destination, that is the end that justifies the means that seem beyond unfair.
For one of Nicollo Machiavelli’s summaries became true, at the cross.
Violence may be necessary for the successful stabilization of power and introduction of new legal institutions.”
Or let me phrase it a little differently
Violence may be necessary for the successful stabilization of God’s reign and introduction of a new covenant.”
The violence of a Cross, the creation and stabilization of a righteous people of God, gathered in His presence, by the enactment of a new law, a new covenant.
That is what this is all about… it is why we know Jesus words are true.
Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
So eat, be nourished, understand the gift of life in Christ and remain in Him, for there is His peace. AMEN.
What the Game of Thrones Can Teach Us About Death…..
Devotional Thought of the Day:
54 So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: “Death is destroyed; victory is complete!” 55 “Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your power to hurt?“ 56 Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. 57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (TEV)
383 The scholastics do not teach the righteousness of faith. They interpret faith as merely a knowledge of history or of dogmas, not as the power that grasps the promise of grace and righteousness, quickening the heart amid the terrors of sin and death.
(disclaimer, I haven’t watched GoT yet…. but please keep reading)
Last night my Twitter and FB feeds went crazy, I mean really crazy. Like 1000 posts in five minutes crazy.
Everyone was talking about someone dying, reacting the way I remember us reacting when the Challenger exploded, or perhaps when the way people did when Kennedy was shot.
Turns out it was a character on a television show called Game of Thrones. ( I vaguely remember a similar incident when someone shot JR, but then again, I didn’t watch that show either!)
One of my much younger friends tried to explain it to me. She was kind of shocked that I hadn’t watched GoT yet and tried to convince me I MUST watch it. We “chatted” across FB for a while, and I went to sleep thinking I might be able to watch and episode or two… maybe in August?
But I thought about it, apparently this show, like a few others this last year, have made a point about people dying who are someone special to the show. Someone died in Gray’s Anatomy (McDreamy McSteamy, McBlasphemy?) , And I think there is some other show where they regularly kill off a character. I suppose if BlackList (the only show I regularly watch, and I am a season behind)
All this shock of death, even the death of a fictional character is, in my mind a good thing. We can learn from it, that death is fleeting, and that life needs to be taken in a proper perspective. That the relationships, we count on can be horribly marred by death, Whether that death is a friend in their 90’s or infant still in the womb. Whether it is the death of a dear friend whom we will miss for years or of someone across the world.
Dying sucks.
It can cause fear as well, I can testify to that. Because of a genetic heart condition, I’ve faced it for a long time though since 1998 the threat has lessened because of surgery. Even so, death has an incredible power over us who live. It threatens us, it hurts us, it damages our psyche as we try to cope with our lives being shorter and more tragic than we want to admit, that we want to face.
Yeah – a character can be killed off. Even more importantly, a friend can die, or you can. An accident, a cardiac arrest, food poisoning, cancer, war, civil unrest. No one is immune. No one. (as GoT so aptly proves!)
In the quote above in blue, a man named Phillip Melancthon talked about belief, about faith, in a way that can give us some comfort. Faith is what gives us peace in the midst of death and dying, It isn’t just knowing some facts and figures, it isn’t just about thinking about God, or trying to behave well. It is clinging to God in a way that brings hope, even in the midst of tears, and anger, and trying to make sense out of this life, and the terminal nature of it.
Faith clings to the God, who promises that death is not as brutal, that there is something more to life than ending in death.
It clings to the promises God has made, that He has revealed, that He sends the Holy Spirit to confirm to us and to comfort us and to be our guarantee of eternity. When we have faith, we count on God more and more, and He sustains us, comforts us, holds us close. And nothing, not even death, can separate us from His love.
So if GoT caused you to grieve, to be angry, to hold onto speculation that the character really isn’t dead, to go even into a small depression, maybe that’s a good thing. Take the time to think through your reaction, to realize the power of death, and the only way to break its very real hold on you, is to hold on to Jesus.
He’s promised to protect your heart and your mind… and surround you with the incomprehensible peace of God our Father.
You’ll be okay. He died to make sure of it!
God’s peace!
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 165). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Death, Grief, Sports, and the Company of Heaven
Devotional Thought of the Day:
2 This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began. Titus 1:2 (NLT)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)
“with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven, we praise Your gloriously name” (words of our liturgy, prior to singing the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy)
It was October 28th, 2004 about 8 o’clock in the morning. I was listening to Jim Rhome’s show on the radio, driving up Palms to Pines Highway, heading to a meeting at my church in Anza. I had to call into the show, but even as I wanted to tell the story about my grandfather playing catch with me and telling me stories of the red sox greats…. I was overwhelmed, and missed my grandfather. The grief was hard to bear… even now remembering the grief that flooded….
Friday, two of my friends and I went to see the move Sniper. Watching the PTSD build up in Chris Kyle made me think of my dad. No movies were made about him, but he too saw things, did things, that would haunt him.
Sunday, after an incredible morning in church, my son and I watched our family’s favorite football team, the New England Patriots, come from behind to win a superbowl. I put on facebook my feelings a few moments after, as I walked through the bedroom and saw the flag presented to me at my dad’s service. How he would have loved the game. How he would have loved watching my son throwing a ball back and forth with me during it. Flashbacks to our driveway in New Hampshire, and my dad and playing catch. More and more emotions… more and more grief….
Being raised in a Irish/Italian home, I tend to sentimentality. Even more though, I was raised not to bury grief, but rather to embrace it. As I say the words in blue above, as I look out over my congregation, faces comes to mind. I can almost hear their voices as well, part of the great company of heaven. Those we’ve lost for the moment, those we’ve said good by to over the years. Guys like Dale, and Richard, my first vicar Clyde and his buddy Armando, Rich B, who helped me define a vision for my present church, and Warren, who helped that vision become reality. Others who’ve placed great faith in me, like my wife’s grandmother, or Joseph, a dignified retired pastor from Guyana, who pastored “his pastor” with encouragement. Or Harley, a man who proved I could be his friend as well as his pastor. And yes, my dad…
Grief upon grief, we face a lot of it in life.
Some is quite poignant, the bitterness of not being able to play catch anymore, or watch a game together, arguing about referees calls, or trying to break the record for the most consecutive throws and catches. (football with my dad was 232 – don’t know why I remember – with my son yesterday… it was 33)
The experience as we get a sense of the great cloud of witnesses, the whole company of heaven is different. Yeah, I wish I could commune my dad one more time, or either of my grandfathers just once. Or have a service with all those guys mentioned above…..and yet I know there will be a communion, that lasts eternally, that lasts forever. And this celebration here, is a small sense of the one there.
For all who believe in God, who trust Him for what He promises will be gathered together again. We can have confidence in that, because it was promised, this plan of God that even preceded creation. This promise is the joy that Christ focused upon, even as He was crucified by us, for us.
We will all share eternity with God, our Father, ou Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I can’t tell you what that will look like, because it will beyond anything we’ve ever seen, heard, even thought of, but it will be with Him.
As we hear those words, grief becomes… blessed… it transforms into yearning, and hope. Not just to see them again, but to be together in the incredible presence of God. He’s promised it, this family gathering that will be forever. We take that hope into the world, an share it with those who need it as much as we do. we share it with those who know it, as we celebrate it together, and with those who do not…as we minister to them, where ever we encounter them in life.
even as we play catch with them…. or watch a game with them… or argue about which team is the best in history….
God’s peace to you… in
