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God’s Not Dead… but He did die on a Cross…
Devotional Thought of the Day
22 Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. 23 As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; 24 but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 (TEV)
16 I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, 17 and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, 18 so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. 19 Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God. Ephesians 3:16-19 (TEV)
I venture to assure you, my dear reader, that if you and I enter into this forge of the Love of God, our souls will become better, being cleansed of some of the dross that clings to them. (1)
I watched a couple of interesting movies yesterday. The first was Good Will Hunting, and then I watched the movie that has become quite popular among Christians, God’s Not Dead.
I wrote last night on FB that both were about redemption, and that both fell short. They both dealt with brokenness, they both had characters, several of them, that needed to be healed of the darkness they dwelt in, and they both seemed to find healing for their brokenness. And both fell short. Both were incomplete.
But what surprised me is that I found that God’s not Dead seems to have fallen shorter in some ways.
Good Will Hunting isn’t a movie trying to serve as an apologetic. It is simply a John Hughes movie, done in the context of Boston. Quite realistic, even to the language. it got it when the character that is redeemed can’t be helped by the wisdom and knowledge of the world, of the professors and clinicians. It takes a broken, battered man (Robin Williams) and the unlikely average joe to bring about the promise of redemption, of meaning. And it is found, not in the career, not in the perfection of life, but in the need for real love, and the chase of the one who loves. Replace Minnie Driver with Christ, the sexual scenes with times of intimate prayer – and you have something.
But the brokenness and pain can’t be healed by anything but love.
Now to God’s not dead
Did you notice anything really conspicuous missing from the movie?
Think.
Think again.
The ontological arguments were well done. The brokenness of relationships with God and between Dean Cain and his family, and Kevin Sorbo and his girlfriend, students and life in general are well done, if a bit over the stop in stereotypes. The dealing with cancer, and the band ministering to the girl with a cancerous death sentence, nice done as well.
But there is something missing.
Figure it out yet?
I’ll help.
Where was the cross?
You can prove the existence of the Divine, of a Creator, logically and completely, and still have someone who is bound by satan, enslaved by sin, in anxiety over death.
Luther noted that this was true, as he explained the work of the Holy Spirit in the Large Catechism
For all outside of Christianity, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites, although they believe in, and worship, only one true God, yet know not what His mind towards them is, and cannot expect any love or blessing from Him; therefore they abide in eternal wrath and damnation. (2)
We can know all about the existence of God, but without the cross, you cannot know God’s attitude is towards you. All we can realize is that you don’t deserve love, but punishment. Like the mathematicians and fancy psychologists, we cannot find a way out of our brokenness. We are so broken, so torn up, so enslaved by sin. Even forensic, scientific apologetics becomes, not a hope, but a hindrance. The victory of young Wheaton in the movie is something we can triumph in, we defended God successfully! We won the battle, even as they don’t see the victory in the back room, or out on the street, or even behind him, as the girl who lost her family but found Christ was there.
We have to have the cross, for it is there we find God’s attitude toward us, we see the incredible dimensions of His love in those rough beams, in the blood soaked body of Christ. We proclaim His death until He comes again, as Paul says we do as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the incredible love of the Eucharist. We are joined to that cross in our baptism (see Colossians 2, Romans 6, Titus 3)
it is impossible to know the love of God without seeing His work, without seeing the cross.
And it was missing.
The relationship? It was a minor secondary thing compared to the victory. Compared to the people who came to “know” about God by deciding God’s case.
As if we could comprehend His ways, understand His actions simply by deducing there is a God.
We have to know there is a God who loves us……who loves us enough to die for us.
Yes, God’s not dead, but He did die….
for you.
Get to know Him, walk with Him, it is why He died.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 203-204). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.Part II Of the Creed: Article III
Is Desiring Reconciliation Optional for Christians?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? Ezekiel 33:11 (NLT)
23 “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. Ezekiel 18:23 (NLT)
9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NLT)
824 Do you feel as if goodness and absolute truth have been deposited with you, and therefore that you have been invested with a personal title or right to uproot evil at all costs? You will never solve anything like that, but only through Love and with love, remembering that Love has forgiven you and still forgives you so much! (1)
Therefore it is God’s ultimate purpose that we suffer harm to befall no man, but show him all good and love; and, as we have said it is specially directed toward those who are our enemies. (2)
It seems like yesterday I had to quote the passages above from Ezekiel a half dozen times, and should have quoted them a dozen more.
In each, people were rejoicing over brokenness. Some were larger than life, as they rejoiced over victories in war. Some were more organized, as people planned to celebrate larger divisions between people groups. (including the Reformation.) Some were far more personal, as people encouraged each other to rejoice in division, to rejoice in broken relationships. There were even a couple of situations were those trying to promote reconciliation were attacked and mocked.
Yes I know, that in some of these cases, pain is involved, But what about those who encourage the joy? What about those who welcome the brokenness, who encourage it?
It is even more tragic that in each case, the people involved were leaders in the church. Some of the brokenness was in the midst of the church, Traumatic and tragic, this lack of desire for reconciliation is!
And it is not Christian. It is not imitating Christ. It is not being obedient to His giving us the mission of reconciling people to Him, as Paul points out. For in reconciling them to Him, we find them reconciled to us.
Life isn’t a personal crusade to stamp out evil. That only turns us into evil people, as we place ourselves in the place of God.
Life isn’t about rejoicing over division, over the bad things which happen to those we consider enemies, adversaries, or just pain in the ass’s.
God has told us to love them, to work for their good, to see them reconciled to Christ. For that is His will, even though every person who is brought to reconciliation was once God’s enemy, who chose evil over good, and hate over love.
This blog isn’t easy to write. I have my own people I struggle with, who I have to grow in Christ to love and seek to reconcile with. But let me tell you, the joy that is there when we do… is amazing.
I’ll leave you with this blessing, knowing that it pleases God when people reconcile:
20 Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood— 21 may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen! Hebrews 13:20-21 (NLT)
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3390-3393). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
The Lord’s Supper, and Spiritual Apathy
Devotional Thought of the Day:
28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 1 Corinthians 11:28-30 (NLT)
“These words, I have said, are not preached to wood or stone but to you and me; otherwise Christ might just as well have kept quiet and not instituted a sacrament. Ponder, then, and include yourself personally in the “you” so that he may not speak to you in vain.
In this sacrament he offers us all the treasure he brought from heaven for us, to which he most graciously invites us in other places, as when he says in Matt. 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will refresh you.
”Surely it is a sin and a shame that, when he tenderly and faithfully summons and exhorts us to our highest and greatest good, we act so distantly toward it, neglecting it so long that we grow quite cold and callous and lose all desire and love for it.”
It’s my twenty-fifth anniversary today. As I was thinking about that, and about my sermon this week, the quote from Luther’s Large Catechism above kept coming back to mind. Let me explain why.
Twenty-five years is a pretty decent period of time. We’ve faced unemployment, major health issues (2 years in I had a massive cardiac arrest due to a genetic problem). We’ve faced adjusting to having a child after seventeen years of just us. An incredibly brilliant son, but who has some challenges as well. We have survived, we have endured. Like our parents, who also have endured much. There is a challenge to this though, and that is frequent interaction with each other. Reminding each other of our love for each other. Being passionate and perhaps even more… compassionate towards each other.
It is all to easy to stop working, to just assume the other will be there. To become apathetic in our relationship, to just get by. But the problem is that when our hearts look for that which is needed. The support, the encouragement, the interaction. The rest that comes when a couple’s home is their place of rest, their place of being nurtured, their place of being able to drop everything.
Are Kay and I perfect at this? No. ( I am involved in this after all! 🙂 ) But we do well… and have endured by God’s grace.
So what has this to do with communion?
Well, it is a primary contact point – a refuge, a place of peace and restoration in our walk with God. It is a treasure, that too often we get apathetic about, not realizing what it is… God calling us to gather around His table, and feeding us in way that is incredible. The family of God getting together, celebrating the forgiveness of sins and mercy of God and His love for us all. Clearly seen when we realize that piece of bread – yes it is His body, that little cup of wine, His precious blood – give for you and I.
As Luther says – those words aren’t for rocks and stones – Jesus spoke these words for you and I!
There are two ways I see us growing, as the church at large, callous and cold to it.
The first is when we think that it is somehow less necessary than the sermon, and therefore we celebrate it far less often. Or we cut it out of our masses or worship services because of time or convenience. (even heard one church that wanted to cut it out because of the cost of bread and wine..!) What message are we saying when we do such a thing? Are we reducing our belief that it is effective, that it is not profitable for our spiritual renewal?
The other way is when we just look at the celebration mechanically, as a duty, not as a joyous celebration of love. When we realize that God wants us there, that His greatest desire is to fellowship with His people – and that is why we gather. That we look at it with anticipation, recognizing what God is doing in this precious time. The more we consider that, the more hungry we get for it, the more it takes on a meaning that is precious – the more we desire it.
In both cases – in determining that we don’t need to celebrate it often, and simply it being a duty and not a celebration – we lead people into apathy, we lead them away from realizing the grace and love revealed to them in Christ. Paul says such is the reason for our spiritual apathy, and even spiritual death. Luther concurs with scripture, calling such an attitude a sin. It’s something we need to think about today, as the church in America has fallen asleep… and in some places is beginning to revive, breaking its fast from the blessings of God, and growing in desire of them.
This is a precious time with God, some of the most valuable and nourishing time we have in our week. It is a treasure, a necessity, a blessing beyond our able to understand, but easily one we can appreciate.
it’s a homecoming, a feast, a celebration, a time that should inspire us to worship, a time where we can know God’s promises are true in Christ.
So come, blessed children of the Father, to a feast prepared for you……
[i] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 454). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.LARGE CATECHISM – Sacrament of the Altar
Treasuring God’s Gifts: Valuing our Parents
Treasuring God’s Gifts
Means We Value our Parents and all authorities
(rather than look down on them or provoke them)
Eph. 2:10, Exodus 20:12, Luke 10:25-38
† In Jesus Name †
May you be so overwhelmed by God’s grace and peace that your trust in Him overwhelms you anxieties and doubts, enabling you to know His work in your life.
As I look around the room, it would seem that it has been a while since most of us lived under out parent’s roof. Which is what comes to mind when we talk about the fourth commandment, the idea of honoring your father and mother.
We think that commandment that part of God’s plan is for children and young adults, those who still should be hearing their parent’s directions, and immediately going and obeying.
Take out the trash,
Clean your room!
Be home by 10.
Remember, the Bible says you have to honor your father and mother!
Of course, it is usually the parents reminding their children of this…
And the children always ask in confirmation – “what if they are wrong”, or “what if they want me to do something God knows is wrong….
As we have said throughout this series, this is not about being a robot and obeying the commandments of God. If we treat it that way, it is no wonder that scripture is used as a weapon, and that people react to it in “self-defense”, trying to prove they are not as bad as the next person is.
But when we see this “word” this part of the design that begins with God revealing Himself to be our creator, revealing Himself to be the Lord who delivers us from our slavery to sin and the devil, then it takes on a different understanding.
For we begin to value our parents and all authorities as gifts from God, we realize it is not about them or us, it is about God. Trusting Him at His word becomes more dominant in our life than our frustrations that come when we have to interact with fellow sinners, whose lives and decisions impact our life.
or at least sometimes we think they impact our life negatively.
What does it mean to Honor
Looking a little deeper into this, we need to define “honor”. It means to value, to treasure. That is very different from simply obeying people, or simply submitting to them.
Why would we treasure these people, why would we value them? I mean after all, aren’t they sinners just like us? We know they had bad days, challenges, maybe a temper or a rush to judgment. Maybe their faith seems week, or they didn’t believe at all.
How do we honor them, how can we value them then?
Again, valuing them is not based in their value as we perceive it, but in the value of God, and in trusting in His word, especially promises like Romans 8, that all things work out for good for those who love God. Or Jeremiah’s words about God having a plan for our lives, or of course our epistle for this season of lent….
That God is making our lives a masterpiece.
It’s a matter of trusting in Him. About knowing His love, about realizing the power of the gospel in your life,
The Extension
I mention before that from the responsibility of the parents, Luther extends out that responsibility to others. People who have callings like teachers, doctors, police officers, and even government. These people take a portion of the role of the parent, and we entrust people to their care.
This where faith is seems to be a challenge! How can we trust God in this! Their sins are usually much more public, and we have to wonder about their judgment, their care for our sake, their trustworthiness, how can we honor and value them?
We have to keep re-focusing, to know it is not about our trust in men, but our trust in God. Whether we are the three men thrown into the furnace, and were kept safe, or the one who uttered, 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” Acts 7:56 (TEV)
Those words come a short time before the rocks were piled on him, as Stephen asked God to forgive those who were tossing them. That takes trusting in God, and knowing His promises.
But that is where is all keeps coming back to, this God who reveals Himself as our God, as our deliverer, as our provider, as our protector.
Who throughout scripture, is always faithful, who always hears His people call, A God who desires all to be saved. A God who delivers His people from oppression, who calls us His children, His people.
Who invites sinners to gather in His presence, that He can pronounce them clean, and welcome and give them faith and repentance, and transform them>>
As we trust in Him, as we realize the power of the death and resurrection of Christ, as we dwell in their presence… more and more… we know this…
The Lord is with you…
Therefore we dwell in His peace, in His glory, in something more incredible that we can conceive of, and know that we are guarded in this peace, our hearts and minds, by Jesus.
AMEN?
Can God Re-Build a Church? Look at His Heart & His Track Record!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor, the LORD made what he had said through the prophet Jeremiah come true. He prompted Cyrus to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his empire: 2 “This is the command of Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. The LORD, the God of Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and has given me the responsibility of building a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah. 3 May God be with all of you who are his people. You are to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is worshiped in Jerusalem. 4 If any of his people in exile need help to return, their neighbors are to give them this help. They are to provide them with silver and gold, supplies and pack animals, as well as offerings to present in the Temple of God in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1:1-4 (TEV)
“Land of my fathers, how I long to return, to touch the thy earth, and find again they sacred paths, well walked with the Gospel of peace, veiled now in the shadow of mediocrity. What means these stones, which beset they coastline, who in tristed in agaony cry out in praise and supplication of Him, and the renewal of the faith that bled to secure them there….Yet we would walk again Thy sacred paths, repair Thy ancient ruins, restore Thy Broken Altars, raise of the foundations of many generations….” (1)
Since I watched a small church in Van Nuys close, the building sold away, the money given to more growing and “growing” churches, some might say I have an attitude problem.
Every time I hear of a church being written off, or the attitude that we can combine parishes, that we can leave churches in “maintenance mode”, until they whither and die I get a bit…. well pissed off is what I want to say, but know I should not. Experts give up on churches that are more than 25 years old, they say they are in a death cycle, and quote statistics about churches that are 5 years old or younger being the source of most abult baptisms and growth. We buy into these studies – and dismiss the lessons of scripture – we dismiss the times where God has taken things that have long been broken, or considered dead and/or impotent, and created life that is wondrous and beautiful and so outrageous we say with jaws dropped open….. WOW!
Think about..
Israel in captivity for 400 years plus – rebuilt into a powerful nation
Exra rebuilding the temple – at a unbeliever’s direction and underwriting
Ezekiel’s Valley of the Dry Bones, Jeremiah’s promises.
Hannah and Elizabeth and Sarah – wombs that were old and dried up (that’s what scripture says) Their men weren’t spring chickens either…
Though my wife and I aren’t in their age bracket – or in their physical deterioation – we are both within 366 days of being considered “senior citizens” by our community. And we just found out we are expecting. That kind of shock makes you think.
Or renders you incapable of thinking.
Gof has interesting plans in life… and life is what His plans are about. Restoring it, Rebuilidng it, Cleansing it, with all His craftsmanship rendering it into a masterpiece that makes you jaws drop – more than a 48 year, 364 day old man trying to get his mind to consider he will be a dad again.
My point is, if God can do this – why would he want to let a congregation die, or fade off? Why would he want where his name has been put, to be rendered impotent, the doors closed, the windows bordered up – the building sold and a starbucks or liqour store or antique store put in its place?
I don’t believe He does, it is not how He has worked. He has brought us, His people, to the place where we can cry out to Him, and like those who have gone before testify to us – He always answers…. Rebuilding our congregations is about trusting Him, hearing Him, knowing His love for us and our community.
So let’s cry out Lord have mercy – and knowing His heart – let us see how He will rebuild our churches, His Church, through us!
(1)from Celtic Daily Prayer – Aidan Reading 2/10
Does It Seem Like You Are Just Spinning Your Wheels in Life? in MInistry?
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Week:
3 He said to me, “You’re my dear servant, Israel, through whom I’ll shine.” 4 But I said, “I’ve worked for nothing. I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work. Nevertheless, I’ll let GOD have the last word. I’ll let him pronounce his verdict.” Isaiah 49:3-4 (MSG)
657 Sometimes the immediate future is full of worries, if we stop seeing things in a supernatural way. So, faith, my child, faith… and more deeds. In that way it is certain that our Father God will continue to solve your problems.
658 God’s ordinary providence is a continual miracle; but He will use extraordinary means when they are required. (1)
One of the better professors I had in my Master’s program taught young pastors to be to never change anything in their churches, until they could mourn the loss the change caused.
His idea was two-fold, the first that we need to work in ministry patiently, not just changing things, whether to make them more tranditional or more missional (which I don’t think are contrary – though I admit many do). Things will not become more successful just because you change how you go about things. Far too often we have the attitude, the view of the servant in Isaiah, we look around and do not see any results for our labors, for our sacrifice. So we get desparate to see results, and we react by changing eerything to produce the results we want. We may try to become “holier” to do things in a more regiemented, disciplined way that seems to have worked at some point in the past. Or we may try to throw off the past, and do tings that get back to the “core” of the early church, far more missional/apostolic.
In both cases, we are not trusting in the providence of God, but rather in the direction we feel should be set, often without looking to see where we are at, what we are doing. We want results now, great, glorious results, results that are undeniably miraculous, and to which we can point to a place in time and say, it was at this point, when we discovered, revealed, made this change… that it all happened.
I would contend that our desire to change things – either to restore the practices of the past (romantically viewing them as the solution because the church was so perfect or to make them cutting edge to see better results) can be driven by despair, by frustration, by the feeling that we are simply spinning our wheels in ministry. I am not saying we shouldn’t evaluate what we are doing, or that there shouldn’t be a standard that includes both scriptural integrity and pragmatic effectiveness (does our preaching Christ crucified communicate) but that spinning our wheels may only be in our perpspective.
So the first question we should ask – are we trusting in God in doing what we are doing now? Are we working form the assumption that God is already working within us, within our lives, within in our ministries? Do we see His hand in our present situation, providing for us, caring for each of us? Or are we seeing the “spinning of wheels” as evidence to the contrary? Do we see the supernatural miraculous, the sacred that is already occuring in our midst?
You see, its easy to see the lack of our effect easily, it is almost our default – our impatience, our self-determination taking over, but faith demands seeing God at work, even when we don’t see it in our own lives. To know He is there, listening comforting, strengthening. He is at work through HIs word, which never returns void, and in the sacrament, the word combined by God with water, with bread and wine, through the hands and voices of the people of God. THat His work is always beneficial, that it always provides results, including the greatest of results, calling us into His presence.
From that position, we perceive our work differently, we trust in His judgment more, we rely on HIm, more, and ours plans are synthesised into His will.
Breathe, be still and know that He is God…. then having heard, realize His glory will be seen in your life, in your work. AMEN!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2419-2423). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
He Loves It When His Plan Comes Together!
He loves it When His plan Comes Together
Ephesians 1:3-14
† IHS †
May you understand the pleasure that God finds, in pouring out His grace, mercy and love on us as we are drawn into Christ!
A-Team
Sometimes as I watched the show, I thought it was a comedy, sometimes a action adventure epic, other times a serious drama where people were rescued from oppression. The characters played their roles, the Colonel, Faceman, B.A. and the possibly crazy pilot Murdock…so well.
Yeah – I am actually talking about the old show A-Team. Because there was a line in every show that came to mind as I prepared to share what is revealed in the Epistle reading this morning.
The line of the colonel, when the people are rescued, as the team regathers, as he sits back and exclaims, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Not that they planned anything better than I planned how the last five years would go. We aren’t God, our plans.. well.. their our plans.
This passage causes me to picture our Father in heaven watching as Jesus is born, and ministers to people, dies, rises, ascends, as the Spirit is poured out into our hearts. As He sees what has been planned before there was even the earth, our Father in Heaven, with a twinkle in His eye, uses similar words. Hear again how Paul describes God’s attitude? Reaction? How God responds to the completion of His plan.
5 This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.
Hence the title of this sermon, “God loves it when His plan comes together!”
Look at God’s work (we have a better a team)
I want you to hear some of the passage again.
Verse 4: God loved us and chose us
Verse 5: God decided in advance to adopt us, and This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him good pleasure
Verse 9, God has now revealed His mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure
Verse 11 – He chose us in advance, and then, He makes everything work out according to His plan
Verse 12 – God’s purpose was
Verse 13 – He will give us the inheritance He promised
Verse 14 – by giving you the Holy Spirit whom He promised long ago
Do you see how these words, over and over tell us that this is God’s will, His plan? Do you see the great desire Paul describes that God has a plan in place from before time?
Even more incredible, can we begin to understand that this plan isn’t just a last minute thing – but He desires to do it, that God takes incredible pleasure when this plan comes together?
Look at “In Christ” I-R Stuff (they have a real mission)
So what is the plan? Well that is well laid out as well… and always comes down to the fact that we are in Christ.
God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ
Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,
we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit,
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.
Nine times in this passage’s eleven verses, we hear about our being in Christ, about us being brought in and adopted as the children of God. About God brining us into a relationship. A relationship that is defined by His love and desire…
His plan to save us is to deliver to Himself a people, a people to love, a people to care for, to share life with for eternity, a people with whom to have a relationship deeper, freer more complete than any other.
Us.
To do this brings Him pleasure.
Each time one of us comes home, each time a sinner trusts God, each time a life is made whole.
No wonder Peter can write to the church and say,
always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have. 16 But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, 1 Peter 3:15a-16b (NJB)
What a hope – to know God has always had this plan, a plan to find us in Jesus Christ, and place the Spirit in our hearts, so that we will always know we are God’s people.
That we are forgiven, freed, adopted, chosen,
Think on this for a moment – God’s work & Plan and desire and what gives him pleasure = You in Christ!
Going to read those verses describing God’s plan again, this time I want you to hear it being said to you….. and listen and hear them, for they are about us, and all who trust in God…
God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
At the right time he will bring (US ) and everything together under the authority of Christ
Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,
we (Jews) who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit,
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.
That is what happened when God saved us, when verse 6 became true on the cross, and at our baptism, and when we take and eat His body and blood in and under the bread and wine,
6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
It is beyond words, this love of God that we know, that is the fulfilment of His plan and promise, a plan that He takes great pleasure in seeing come to fulfillment in everyone of our lives… as we are brought together in Christ…
A place where we indescribable peace, the indescribable peace of God, in which we are kept by our Lord Jesus Christ…. AMEN?
A Celtic Advent: The Trinity’s Look Towards Christ’s Birth
The Father’s Thoughts:
Looking forward to the Birth of Christ
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
18 …may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT)
Mary did you know? God did!
If it hasn’t happened yet, soon your mailboxes will be filled with cute Christmas cards, some of them actually daring to be “religious”, to have picture Mary and Joseph looking down, adoring the “6lb, 7oz. Baby Lord Jesus” asleep quietly, without dirty diapers in a manger so spotless, cleansed by the glorious light of the star, that you wouldn’t hesitate to make Christmas cookies there.
We’ll sing the carols, eventually, as they help us contemplate what it means to look into a manger and see there Jesus, our savior. We’ll even hear songs like Joseph’s song, as he tries to comprehend what it means to raise Christ, or “Mary, did you know”, as we celebrate Christmas. As we consider if Mary really understood the pain that Simeon prophesied she would bear – as she watch Jesus be crucified, or the joy she would know as He ministered, and healed and rose from the dead.
This advent, I want to prepare us for those joys by seeing what the Trinity expected, as Jesus was sent to be born. Tonight, we will look at what the Father thought, as the plan made before the foundation of the world became reality, as His only begotten was born into this world, amidst the sin and brokenness…
What did He see, what did He plan, what was He expecting, as He sent Jesus into our world?
A difference, a Mission, and a wedding banquet
He’s different… (so you will be!)
The first thing we need to consider is who is sent! It is not a soldier on an impossible mission, it’s someone who has been hand-picked.
Picture God the Father, looking down into the manger and saying the words He wrote through Isaiah,
““Take a good look at my servant. I’m backing him to the hilt. He’s the one I chose, and I couldn’t be more pleased with him. I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life. He’ll set everything right among the nations. 2 He won’t call attention to what he does with loud speeches or gaudy parades. 3 He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant, but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right. 4 He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth. Far-flung ocean islands wait expectantly for his teaching.” 5
This babe, this man, this Savior, is our God, who will not disregard anyone us, He will set things right, not just in one place, one country, but in the world. He won’t tire or quit on us, He won’t give up, even when we do.
As the Father prepares for these moments of Jesus’ Incarnation, His life among us, He knows the relationship He has with His Son, that is the kind of relationship He wants with each of us, His people.
But Christ’s being sent, is what that will cost!
Here’s what will happen!
You see, even as Christ is the image of the Father, in sending us Jesus, the Father sends us the very image we are being transformed into, the very life we are being reformed to live. The image that we can see, as we look at our own children in love, or in those moments where we struggle with the injustice and unrighteousness of the world. The times where we operate “outside ourselves” in the way we love and sacrifice, just because we need it.
Hear again what the Father says to Jesus, and picture Him saying it over Jesus, laying in the manger.
6 “I am GOD. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, 7 To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.
This manger – these lights, the blue paraments, that is what it is all about, this time of Christmas.
It’s about the Father sending Jesus with the deliberate intent of dealing with our brokenness, about freeing us from the darkness of sin and self-centeredness, about releasing us from that which constrains and binds us, Satan’s work deceiving us and getting us to buy into our rights.
Freeing us to live in a relationship with the Father, as His children, as those who He rejoices in, whom He takes responsibility for, the people that He keeps safe.
You’ve been invited!
As we look at advent, the Father’s intent becomes clear as we are invited to His son’s wedding feast in the gospel. For Christ has come, and as we look at His coming again, no message sends that more clearly than the feast we’ve been invited to, to celebrate His love, to celebrate the fulfilment of His mission.
To celebrate His taking our burdens and bringing us is, everyone the Spirit has laid eyes on, the good, and those of us who aren’t so good. To look forward to the feast, and to realize we continue in the very ministry of Christ, inviting all to be fed, to know His love.
For in Jesus, all has been set right, as we live in Him this work of His is being finished.
For we have been called to dwell in His peace.
Celtic Cross (Photo credit: freefotouk)
Related articles
- A Celtic Advent: Looking at God’s Expectations about Jesus Birth (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Celts to the Creche: St. Columba of Iona (saintsbridge.wordpress.com)
Encountering others on Holy Ground.
Christ icon in Taizé (Photo credit: lgambett)
Devotional THought of the Day:
16 No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no longer do so. 17 Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. 18 All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. 19 Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends. 20 Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends! 21 Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (TEV)
For Monsignor Escrivá the value of every human being, the reason for their overwhelming dignity, was that each had an immortal soul. “To save one soul,” he said, “I would go to the very gates of hell.” These were not mere words. At a time when he was the focal point of all kinds of gossip, he had not held back from going to a brothel to hear the confession of the owner’s dying brother, and administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. As a precaution, he took an eminently respectable elderly man with him, since he was a young priest in his twenties. He had also exacted a promise that for that whole day there would not be an “appointment” there. A hug for a Mason Nor did he mind opening the doors of his house in Rome to an illustrious Mason, riddled with cancer, who secretly wanted to be reconciled with the Church. This man began by calling him “Sir” and ended up calling him “Father.” When Monsignor Escrivá enveloped him in a big hug, he felt that his evil past had disappeared in an instant into the ocean of understanding of a God who forgives. Approaching each soul on one’s knees Monsignor Escrivá was driven by two passions, both anchored in one love: a passion for God and a passion for souls. The heart of his “business” was bringing souls to God. Since God is always near human beings, what was necessary was that each person decide to listen to God and his or her conscience. His task as an apostle was to bring about silence in souls so that God could make himself heard. When Monsignor Escrivá said he was interested in a hundred souls out of a hundred, he was not thinking of crowds so he added, “one by one”—“handling each soul like a unique pearl,” entering consciences “on one’s knees,” always conscious of treading on sacred ground. (1)
It’s Monday, yesterday began a new week, but one that I would rather not deal with. Too much work to do,
Too many hearts , already broken and devastated, ready that will need grace that I can point to, and wish I could simply give. I love those words I underlined, in the description of St. Josemaria! The idea that a simple hug could be the antidote for evil that consumes us, or that I could bring about silence in souls that would allow them to hear God clearly, to know His love, and His desire to forgive them.
If only we could get people to stop for a minute – and consider what God has done for them, as He claimed their souls, their lvies in baptism. As He promised to deliver them, and heal them and be with them, taking care of them, providing for them! If only when they approach the altar to receive His Body and Blood, they realized the love that drew them there, as Christ is lifted up before them. For He is the Lamb of God, who took away the sins fo the world, and grants us peace.
These words aren’t simply words, they are His words. The words that show His work, His desire.
I suppose that’s why I like Escriva’s work so much – he cuts through most of the “stuff” of theology, focusing on what makes a difference, the presence of Christ. Not to condemn us, but ot heal us, to set us apart as His people, to set us apart to share in His work – which is the very work we praise and glorify Him for in our words, and hopefully in our deeds. It’s not about the world’s problems, or about this rare theological tidbit, or that great event. It is about knowing Christ.
Like this idea that everyone we meet is made in God’s image – and is loved by God, and God desires that they should be transformed. Everyone. Even those who oppose us. Therefore, as we are sent into their lives, the very ground we meet them on is Holy Ground, a place desitned for their meeting God, because we bring Him to them. As surely as Moses encountered God in a burning bush, I would desire that those who don’t know Jesus encounter Him burning in those of who do know His love.
And that their lives would forever more be changed.
With that in mind – let us take on this week, as we remember to plead with them on God’s behalf, urging them to be reconciled to God.
Lord have mercy on us, and make it so! AMEN…
(1) Urbano, Pilar (2011-05-10). The Man of Villa Tevere (Kindle Locations 2001-2017). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Does anyone really know what time it is?
“Saint Francis embracing Christ on the Cross” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Does anyone really know what time it is?
Luke 12:49-56
† Jesus, Son, Deliverer †
My friends, may you be very careful about the sort of lives you lead, living like intelligent and not like senseless people. May you make the best of the present time, for it is a wicked age. 17 This is why you must not be thoughtless but must recognize what is the will of the Lord. AMEN! Adapted from Ephesians 5:15-17 (NJB)
Synchronize your watches
The men are gathered around their leader, excited, anxious, a bit nerve-wracked as they consider what it will take to come out of this alive, and more importantly, bring those that they have been sent to rescue out alive.
They have gone over the plan, time and time again. They have it memorized, the exact time each will be called on to do their part, right down to the second. They know the signals, the potential obstacles, and as they once last time are briefed, the leader calls for them to synchronize their watches, it is 9:35 on my mark….mark!
Timing is very important. Knowing what time it is, can be critical. (except during the sermon)
When Jesus is talking to the crowd about timing, about how they should know what time it is, they cannot quite comprehend the mission He is on, nor perhaps can they understand how it will change their lives.
It is time for something to happen, for God is in their midst. Jesus the Messiah is talking to them – and all of the promises of His work in preparing them to be the people of God are coming true, right before their eyes.
But that action will call for a painful division, one that cuts right through their souls, right through their hearts.
Jesus has been teaching them, and we’ve been hearing Him teach them for 3 weeks, about His work… really, we’ve been hearing Him talk to us, calling us to realize it’s time.
The question today is like the title of an old Chicago song…”does anyone really know what time it is?”
and if we do, are we ready for what needs to take place, within us, within our world?
The High Cost of the Mission
As Christ has spoken to us through the gospel readings this week and the previous two weeks, He has asked us about our priorities, or perspective in life and yes, our loyalty.
It’s not that there is something wrong with wealth, or things, or family. Each has its place; each has it’s time; each should be treasured as a gift from God. The challenge is when they become more important that our relationship with God. Make no mistake, the cost of hearing God’s love and responding to it, trusting in Him, can divide us from anything.
It can mean we realize that money or careers are not our priority.
It can mean we realize that even relationships with family and friends don’t quite compare.
Luther found this out, when he realized God wanted him to be a priest, his father wanted to disown him. Francis of Assisi’s dad locked him up in a storage area that was 3 feet tall and 5 feet long because he wanted to become a monk. Some relatives may call us nuts or fanatics, we may struggle to explain to them why our relationship with God is our highest priority…there is division… at first.
We may even struggle with this cost… after all, worldy logic tells us that blood is thicker than water… though I don’t think they understood the power of this water when the word of God is applied with it.
The temptation is simple – to allow the Trinity to be overlooked. To see God’s mission to take a back seat, to be blind to our time with family to be time invested in God’s mission. Whenever we forget it is time to see God at work, we’ve allowed false God’s to slip in,
Back to the question for us, which means more to us? Is it our relationship with God, or how we define ourselves apart from Him?
If it is time to see God’s Kingdom come in its fullness among us, if we are going to find our lives set apart completely for God’s use, then that means that we will be divided from things, and potentially our relationships with others will change.
And we need to ask are we ready for this time?
If we answer ourselves honestly, to really see our loyalty and how we invest our time and effort being centered in our relationship with Christ, we are going to need help. Lots of it!
Christ’s desire
But as is the case over and over, when we have to face the harsh reality and demands of our life of faith, we find the one in whom we have faith. I love the way the New Living Translation puts the first two verses of the gospel.
I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished.
The two verses are a parallelism – they are saying the same thing. What will set the world on fire – what will devour us, is the very baptism of suffering that Jesus would endure. For us, that He endured. Next year – on good Friday, you will hear Jesus proclaim “It is finished” (well you can read it before then too!) It is the same root word as accomplished. For as He dies, everything in the universe changes – the world is consumed there on the cross – along with all of us, and our sin.
But I want you specifically to see the desire of Jesus – He wants to get on to this, He is under a heavy burden, waiting for His crucifixion! Not because of the nature of the suffering, but because of what it brings – our deliverance, our salvation, our being united to Him, our being freed from burdens of sin, anxiety over death, from the oppression of Satan.
All of that will be consumed at the cross. All of that was consumed at the cross…
Being on fire for Christ, as some talk about it, is about His suffering, His death, consuming our sin, our idolatry. It’s about responding to Christ’s enduring the cross because of the incredible joy that God, Father, Son and Spirit would have, with our life in Christ secure.
Look at the cover of the bulletin – that is what the author of Hebrews, tells us, in the chapter after our epistle reading….
What all of those people of faith looked forward to.. it is time for… time to..
2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken his seat at the right of God’s throne. Hebrews 12:2 (NJB)
That’s the fire that changes everything – this baptism of suffering which Christ endures. It causes a fire of love, of faith, something which consumes our hearts and minds, something that transforms them, purifying us, assuring us of God’s love in a way that is not illogical – but greater than any logic we can understand…
it’s like the blessing which I started the sermon with…
May you make the best of the present time, for it is a wicked age. 17 This is why you must not be thoughtless but must recognize what is the will of the Lord. AMEN!
The will of God, His greatest desire… to feast with you, to pour out His love upon you, to help you realize you are never alone, but that He would cleanse of all our idolatry, that He would divide us from the world in a sense, but give us back that same world and many of those relationships as they are cured of their brokenness, that they are healed of the sin which so ravaged them.
Because of His love for us…
His burden is over now… the wish that the fire were already burning is no longer needed – this fire, this desire to see the world saved – it is kindling in us, and as we come to realize how great the Father’s love for us is…. It will burn brighter and brighter, as we desire that all the people we know join us…all the people we meet, for as they join us at this altar, we know that they will join us before His throne…..
So yes – may you daily recognize what is the will of the Lord…
That because of the cross, because of Christ’s love, we would dwell now and forever in His peace, the peace that passes all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN?
Related articles
- How and Why do we confront sin? (justifiedandsinner.com)
- “Jesus’ Fire And Baptism” by Fr. Robert Manansala, OFM (santuariodesanantonio.wordpress.com)
