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Life: God’s Version of ‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day: Week 3: The Family Business, a sermon on Hebrews 11:32-12:3
Life: God’s Version of
‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day
Week 3: The Family Business
Hebrews 11:32-12:3
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ strength your trust in them, as it did all of His family throughout history!
Dad, I Can’t…
As we continue our journey of life in Christ, as we conitnue to compare it to God taking us to work like dad’s took their kids to work we come to an interesting passage in Hebrews,
One that desribes those our Father in heaven worked with before, those He raised up before, those He gave His Spirit too, empowering them and guiding them in the work He was doing.
It doesn’t help us that some have named chapter 11 as the Hall of Faith, as if these older and brothers of ours were superheroes, and we were the little brothers and sisters who looked up to them, wanting to be like them, and thinking that would be miraculous.
I mean, look around, not many of us have the physique of Samson, or the holiness of Samuel or the myriad of abilities and talents of King David. Those guys are heroes, holy, talented, able to withstand the most challenging of times—I mean hear what they did..
33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword.
And how they could embrace suffering,
But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
I mean if we had to suffer like that, I would hope we would be like this..
But, too often I’II look at these hero’s and look at what God asks us.. and I tell him, “I can’t do that…” I feel the same way I did when my dad asked me to carry a couple of 12 foot long 2×4’s from the van to the house. I tried to pick up from one side. Not knowing how to pick them up in the middle and blance them om my shoulder.
We need to hear this line out of the middle of the passage, “Their weakness was turned to strength.”
Weights that impede us from running with endurance
If you try to carry a 2×4 or a board from one end, you will never be able to do it – the weight of the wood will bear to heavily on you. You won’t be able to carry/drag the weight very far. It will wipe you out.
The same thing goes for spiritual weights, they wreck our endurance…. Hear agin from Hebrews, “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.
Notice that sin isn’t the only weight, but it is “especially” important to toss away. Other you could ad our anxieties, fears, doubts, but really, all those go back to the idea of sin. It’s going to hurt to when I say this at first, but hear it out..
Most of our issues do get back to sin…even if it is simply the sin of not letting God be our God. That’s the one I am guilty of the most, as I try to play God, trying to lift the board by one end and wearying myself out too quickly, too completely.
Scripture is clear – strip off that weight!
Don’t let it trip you up!
Look to Jesus.
Here is the key to carrying our burdens,
“2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
Please hear that correct – he initiates and perfects our fatih.
Not our faithfulness – he initiates and perfects our faith, our trust in His – in the work He did at the Father’s command.
If we look at Jesus – we realize He picked up our burdens.
He carries them to the cross, they were dealt with there, and now, raised to life with Him, He carries us
If we are concentrating on what we can or cannot do, we lose sight of what Jesus has done. We are along for the journey, we travel by looking and trusting in what He did.
Again – Jesus initiates and completes our trust in Him, not our faithfulness.
It’s the entire reason He came, and here is what is amazing –
It was for joy set before him that He did it! For the joy of carrying us home, he carried our sin.
It was for the joy set before Him that endured the betrayals, from Adam and Eve, through Cain, and all those people mentioned in the chapter. They had faith in God, not in their faithfulness.
They found His strength in the midst of their own weakness, and learned to depend on God – who is their strength. Who is our strength, when we are at our weakest point.
And so we get to the bottom line,
“3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.
there is a secret to living in Christ, to working alongside of the Father in seeing people made perfect and mature in Christ—it is found in thinking about what Jesus has done for us, does with us.
And as He is perfecting our faith, as He has for every member of our faith family. He will sustain us, and carry us, and those whom follow…
Amen!
Life: God’s version of Take Your ChIld to Work Day” – Set Up to Succeed – A sermon on Luke 12:22-34
Life: God’s version of Take Your Child to Work Day”
Set Up to Succeed
Luke 12:22-34
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ remove from you all anxieties and fears, as you go with Him about His work, every day!
-Was there stress going to work with Dad?
As we look at the idea of God taking his children to his work, to learn His craft, to work side by side with him. As I look back on those days, I realized something was missing from working with my dad. Something that has been part of every workplace I have ever have been at.
That lovely thing called stress….
Or maybe call it anxiety, or we simply worry about work.
I don’t remember that kind of stuff, as I worked alongside my dad, there was just the work. At least for the children that accompanied their dads—what their dads are going through is a different matter.
For us, being away from our normal world of school, the chance to be with our dad, and share in His work made for a day to be savored and enjoyed.
Just like we should savor and enjoy going to work with our Heavenly Father sd we daily go to work with Him.
What Stresses us out? Why?
When I was running bookstores, we have two kinds of audits, our annual audit by our company’s internal auditors, and several times a year, our regional managers did, called “zero defect” audits. Even though 2 of the 3 RM’s I worked with were really nice, sweet people, the specter of their audits haunts me even to this day.
The auditors from Chicago could be bluffed, could be distracted, they didn’t know us well enough to know where to look. They just knew they couldn’t go homne without finding something… so we would leave one little error…aand then thery would smile and go “gotcha” and then we would take them to lunch in Malibu. Anna and Peter though, knew us and our staff, and knew our weak points. And as they wanted us to succeed, that is where they focused their attention
Look at the gospel, here are the points where Jesus knew we were weak:
Fhe first area is large – “everyday life” and includes the really big things – where we will live and what we eat, or whether we will have good looking clothes, whether we we live to 100, or merely 61. We aren’t going to add time to our life just by worrying.
But we do it!
I do it all the time, and this week was harder than most. Between my surgery and needing more students, and the stresses of watching people in pain all around me, it was really easy for me to lose track of working with God!
Mark Jennins used to ask my why we need to, as pastors, live in the middle of our sermon. That is me this week. How do you balance all of this? How do we adress all the what ifs and what if it doesn’t…. And we consumed by our fears, urworries, our anxieties and doubts. TO the point where we are not thinking clearly.
And Jesus says
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—
We know this, we believe it, so why are we unable ot stop the stuff that chase us in the night? Does that mean we are failures, does that mean we don’t believe God? Or that we get His promises wrong…
Then Jesus goes on, and says, “25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
And I feel nearly condemned, like the apostles did when Jesus confronts them with, “You have so little faith!”
Been there, done that, and to be honest – it is exhausting – physically, emotionally, spiritually….and if not careful, it can paralyze us, dividing us from those we love and care about…forgetting God put them there… to pray and support us in times like this!
Why can’t life be like when our dad or mom took us to work, and we just did the work they delegated, and enjoyed their company? Why can’t I just enjoy seeing what God is doing, and just relax – counting on His promises/
- Where does faith come in?
When Anna and Peter gave their seemingly brutal debriefing on the zero defect audit, there was something different than the games played with the auditors from Chicago. Those guys didn’t care, it was their job to point out what was wrong. Anna and Peter however, had more invested in us – their success was judged by how we improved – their bonuses tied in part to it. For them to succeed, for them to hit their goals, we had to improve!
They had to invest in us.
Jesus would have us look at how the Father invests in their world. The beauty He creates, the care He takes of birds and wildflowers. All these little things, that he barely cares about, that He created four our enjoyment,
If he takes such care of these things, how will God take care of that which He cares the most for – the people He calls His children.
Jesus says don’t worry, and often I hear that part and get fixated on that…and let it be addded to the weight of the day…
But Hear it in context.
Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
Hear that….the Father knows what we need!
As we work with Him, we can concentrate on the tasks at hand, knowing He is there to make it work, to cause us to grow, to help us succeed. He would rid us of every little thing that would hinder us, that would cause us worry.
After all, Christ didn’t die on the cross to provide for ravens and daffodils. He died on the cross for us, to forgive our sins, to bring us to the Father, and we get to go to work with Him!
We still do the work, but with a freedom that God is in control, that He is the one who promises that all will work for good for those of us who love Him.
That freedom is what allows us to set a different se of priorities, focusing on things of heaven, realizing our treasure is there, with Him. AMEN!
The Church isn’t supposed to convert people! It has a greater task!
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus and to the Cross
“For this reason I kneel before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named. I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14–19, NET)
953 I think it is very natural for you to want the whole world to know Christ. But start with the responsibility of saving the souls of those who live with you and sanctifying each one of your fellow workers or fellow students. That is the principal mission that the Lord has entrusted to you.
Just as the early Church did not attempt to save its existence either by trying to make a concordat with Nero, Domitian, and Decius, or by stirring up a revolution against these tyrants, or by making an alliance with the Persian Empire, but simply by confessing the truth of the Gospel and building up a truly confessing Church whose members were prepared to die for the faith, so Luther and the early Lutheran Church confined themselves to do what the Church, according to its nature as an ordinance of God, can and ought to be doing.
There is a desire in most churches to see the world saved, I will never doubt that. But i think our idea of salvation is weak, and it confuses the ministry we are to share in as the church. I think St. Josemaria’s words here are profound – evangelism isn’t about what missionaries we send out do — it is about what we are doing in our communities, within our family structures, within the places where we live. Our work places, our doctor’s offices, and the stores we shop.
We are the evangelists, the missionaries, sent by God to this place–whereever you are reading this–and if you look around–there are plenty of people who trust in God, who don’t know Him. That’s why Sasse said that Luther and the early church weren’t content with becoming the state church-they had a mission – what the church was to be focused upon–what they were willing to die for… and did.
And it is not about making “converts.”
Not at all…
Look at what Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus…conversion wasn’t the experience he prayed for the church in Ephesus.
He prayed for them to experience the Love of God – to be filled with that which goes beyond any measure, that which cannot be fully explained. To encounter and experience the love of God who created us, and re-creates us in His image. When they do, a change certainly occurs, but not one generated by man. It is only through the ministry of the Holy Spirit! Get used to that, it is not us that converts people, we simply reveal the love of God, the very reason we have hope.
And it is so valuable a experience that martyrs across time have willingly given up their lives if it would help their captors know this love of God.
That is our mission – that is the good news we share with those whom we know, whom we love, and hate and are even indifferent towards..
———
Escrivá, Josemaría. Furrow (p. 161). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (pp. 203–204). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Life: God’s Version of ‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day Week 1: Time to Get Ready – A sermon on Colossians 3:1-10
Life: God’s Version of
‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day
Week 1: Time to Get Ready
Colossians 3:1-10
† I.H.S. †
May the grace, mercy and peace of God be yours, as you labor in the faith, rejoicing as God brings His lost home!”
Robert Webber, the great modern expert on Liturgy wrote, “The purpose of worship is not only to glorify God by celebrating the work of his Son but also to assimilate in our own lives the pattern of dying to the sin that Christ died to destroy and rising to the new life that Christ rose from the dead to inaugurate.”
It’s an interesting thought, and it goes with the theme of the next 8 weeks. Whereas his statement is more from our perspective, we are going to look at how God assimilates us into this pattern of Christ’s death, resurrection and eventual ascension….as we begin to live life in the way that God has chosen for us, a life filled with love, and peace and mercy.
The way we are going to picture that goes back to an old practice, where dad’s would take their boys to work with them, so they could learn two things. One, to introduce them to a potential career, and two, to respect their father’s hard work.
It’s too bad the practice has been pretty much forgotten, or because of insurance and OSHA rules, stopped!
Some of my friends’ families really got into it, even make the children clothes that would resemble their dad’s – making them “twins” for the day! Some of my friends loved it, the banker’s son had to wear a suit, the police Lt.’s son had a uniform—complete with BB gun, the fireman and doctor’s kids dressed up to…
The only friend I had that didn’t like that day, was the kid whose dad owned the septic tank cleaning company…he had a crappy day…
Each and every morning you and I wake up, God is taking us to His work, to learn how and what He’s doing in the world, and teaching us to do the same work, as we learn how, and grow even more in our adoration and respect for Him.
So, it’s time to get ready, and for today, we will look at the very beginning fo the day, and getting ready, getting dressed to go to work, with Dad.
Get undressed
Unless you are a pre-school teacher or maybe an elementary school teacher, most of us don’t go to work in pajamas or whatever we wear to bed…. and I think that’s a good thing!
Can you imagine if Deacon Bob was wear his flannel “spidey” pajamas under his role?
But the first step in “getting ready for work,’ is leaving the clothes of the night, behind.
Paul says, “5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.
The phrase for “you have stripped off” is the based on the word “dyo”, to undress, to shrink out of, to remove.
The clothing of the darkness, the clothing of the night, needs to be removed, before we can get ready for work. We have to be stripped of it, it has to be removed, no matter the cost.
But look at what’s being removed…
The sinful matter described in these verses. It starts with desires and sexual immorality and all that goes with it, the desires, and it moves on to the bad stuff, uncontrolled anger, bad behavior – in fact, the word “bad” is the word for human waste product, the stuff they make fertilizer from. The list goes on and includes slander —what we term gossip today, and dirty or inappropriate language.
All that stuff has to be done away with, like the pajamas that are tossed in the hamper in the morning – they have to be put aside, even as Paul says, put to death. This is not only so we can go to work with God – but that we can live with Him.
The challenge is that we can’t – those stupid sins stick to us worse pajamas after a humid night in the 90s…. or some people stick to their bed despite 6 or 12 alarms going off!
The gospel begins as God causes us to rise out of bed, shrug off the pajamas, and He cleanses us like a steaming shower…
And now that we are cleansed, the gospel dresses us up… and get us ready to go to work…with dad.
Getting Dressed.
The same word that has a negative to it to make “undress” appears again- without the negative. Paul writes, “10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”
It is interesting that where as the behaviors of the old nature, the pajamas, the clothes worn in darkness are well documented, the behaviors to be expressed as we are clothed in Christ, as we are made ready.
We don’t have to describe the behaviors, the actions of those who are dressed with the nature of Jesus, because God walks with us, He guides us, He causes us to love and serve those who are different, those who are broken, those who lives the world has tossed aside, or glorified fro the wrong reasons.
To me this is the most amazing thing about God taking us to work –the complete change he works within us, the unbelievable peace and love that fill our lives, as we live in Christ with God our Father.
This is seen in Paul’s words to the council of Athens,. 28 For in him we live and move and exist.’ Acts 17:27-28 (NLT2)
This idea of is expressed as we are told to put on Christ, that the Holy Spirit dwells in us, the we are in fellowship with God, that He will never leave or forsake us.
And He takes us to work every day, that we might share in His joy when He shows us how He saves, heals and equips others just like us… and the learn that when Jesus rose from the dead, we did as well, to share in His life, and His dad’s work.
AMEN!
Life’s Unfair I Cry… and then realize I am glad for that…
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and the Cross
“For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14, NET)
When they arrived in the Spoleto valley, going back to their holy proposal, they began to discuss whether they should live among the people or go off to solitary places. But Christ’s servant Francis, putting his trust in neither his own efforts nor in theirs, sought the pleasure of the divine will in this matter by the fervor of prayer. Enlightened by a revelation from heaven, he realized that he was sent by the Lord to win for Christ the souls which the devil was trying to snatch away. Therefore he chose to live for everyone rather than for himself alone, drawn by the example of the one who deigned to die for all.
You stir us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.
Christians who understand the true meaning of Christ’s cross will never whine about being treated unfairly. Whether or not they are given fair treatment will never enter their heads. They know they have been called to follow Christ, and certainly the Savior did not receive anything approaching fair treatment from mankind.
In language the word “unfair” seems altogether innocent but it indicates an inner attitude that has no place among Christians.
It’s ironic that one one the most evil rulers in all of history had the opportunity to receive any blessing he desired. ALl he had tro do was ask, and God would have granted it, to prove that he was trustworthy. And despite the king’s refusal, God provided him a sign, the birth of the Messiah, All to prove what is contained in the name of the Child provided.
Immanuel – “God is with you!”
It’s something we should never tired of hearing.
Even when we are as obstinate as the King of Israel, or as evil as his wife. God is at work, stirring us, trying to awe us with His love, that we might fins the peace we so desperately need, so our heart can rest from the “unquiet”
And from there, even as we desire more peace and rest, like Francis, we find at the end of our prayers a desire to live fro others. We learn to stop whining about what is fair or cry out for justice for our sake. For it wasn’t fair for Christ to come and die for me, but he embraced that sacrifice, that injustice, for me.
And so dealing with things that are unfair…
Those things become meaningless when we find the joy that comes when we realize we can worship God–for we know God’s love for us, and knowing that we can rejoice in Him. Knowing why we can rejoice in Him, because of his extravagant, incredible love for us.
That’s where it comes down to – experiencing the love of God that goes beyond what theologians can write about, or make a Youtube about. The love of God needs to be experienced, it needs to be lived in!
It is so incredible, embracing that which is unfair, in order to help people experience it is well worth it, indeed, we will come to rejoice in those times of life being unfair – for we know the opportunity it brings, to testify to how Jesus embraced us, even as our sins were unfairly carried by Him, nailed with Him to the cross….
The tears will come, as will the pain, but God will use it all for good, even if we don’t understand. He promised and we can depend on it. AMEN!
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 214). New City Press.
Saint Augustine. (2012). The Confessions, Part I (J. E. Rotelle, Ed.; M. Boulding, Trans.; Second Edition, Vol. 1, p. 39). New City Press.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Christians are simply beggars… if we do things right.
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross:
“In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!”” (2 Corinthians 5:19–20, NET)
They are expressions of the one great heresy, which is as old as fallen mankind: Man refuses to accept the external word and the external means of grace and develops his own religion, which places man where God alone has the right to stand: “Ye shall be as gods!”
I have met Christians who were so intent upon winning souls to Christ that they would not talk to you about anything but God and His goodness!
Such a man was the Canadian, Robert Jaffray, one of our early pioneer missionaries. His family owned the Toronto Globe and Mail and as a young Christian he was disinherited because he chose to follow God’s call to China rather than join the family business.
That good godly man spent his lifetime in China and the south Pacific, searching for the lost—and winning them! He was always reading maps and daring to go to the most difficult places, in spite of physical weaknesses and diabetic handicap. He sought out and lived among the poor and miserable, always praying to God, “Let my people go!”
On my bookshelves I have numerous books about church growth, about having a missional spirit. Others talk about forensic apologetics and evangelism. Many of these approach the topic with a clinical approach, looking at statistics, looking for patterns that can be replicated, looking for logical presentations of the gospel that give overwhelming proof – which we hope will covert the heathen.
We know, for we ourselves our guilty, of the great sin of self-idolatry, of narcissism. Even in thinking “we” can prove the gospel, we are take up a burden that is rightfully the Holy Spirit. Far too often in the church, we create our own religion, putting ourselves in charge of saving the world.
Yet there are those, who in humility simply follow the Spirit, as they are compelled to not shut up about Jesus. Jaffray was one, Eric Liddell comes to mind, as does Barton Stone, and Wyneken and Luther. Each spent their lives, or a great deal of their lives not arguing, but pleading that people would be reconciled to God – a work already accomplished by Jesus.
I think that word pleading is important – it has the emphasis of desire built into the request. It doesn’t come from a place of power, or even authority, but of someone is so worried about the person they beg them to let God in, to receive the love and mercy. It comes from seeing people living without hope, without peace, assaulted by the world, and by their own guilt and shame.
And we have the antidote to that which poisons their life.
How can we get them to receive it? How can we get them to trust in a God they do not yet know of, that they have yet to experience, that they haven’t allowed to bring them to life, remove the guilt and shame of sin, and restore them?
This is the passion Paul had, this is why some cannot shut up about the love of God.
We can beg them, the Spirit opens their hearts, Christ has reconciled them to the Father.
This is our call… we simple beggers on a this journey called life…
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (p. 191). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
The Critical Need… Isn’t Deeper Theology…
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross
“Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?”The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”” (Luke 10:25–28, NET)
“Opening sentences
One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple.
Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.”
Yes, it is fun to fool around with councils and fathers if one juggles with the letters or constantly postpones the council, as has now been done for twenty years, and does not think of what happens meanwhile to the souls who must be fed with conscientious teaching, as Christ says, “Tend my sheep” [John 21:16].
The responsive prayer above in green is one I have used, on and off for years. I originally found it in a book called “Celtic Daily Prayer” and later found the website version above.
The responsive part of it, means so much to me, not that i full seek the Lord, but it reminds me to pray and do so. and to to strive to do it with all I am. For there I will find the love and peace I need to survive. I will find the grace that enables me to look past this troubled day.
I need to seek God, with all I am… and I need to be reminded to do so.
I see that in ministry as well. There are a lot of cool things to look at in academic theology. Wonderful thoughts about the mysteries of God, all the incredible histories, some of which provide warnings by example. But far too often, these histories, these doctrinal disputes, these things become red herrings and strawmen, capturing our hearts and minds, stealing our focus on Jesus.
That’s Luther’s point about the councils, and studying their works. Sometimes the actual work of those councils stopped the priests, bishops and cardinals from providing the pastoral care their people need. That they desperately need.
This is true today as well, as I find people, hungry for hope, turn to Youtube and other social media, looking for experts to teach them. They find teachers and apologists, men and women who do know a lot about doctrines and histories from within one framework or another, But what is not provided is pastoral care and guidance–which should focus us on our relationship with Jesus and celebrate our being healed from our brokenness with others that are broken.
I am not doubting the sincerity of these teachers, or necessarily what they teach, but we need to be carried to Jesus, we need to receive His healing. Then this other stuff might be beneficial.
What is critical – to experience the love and mercy of God, to experience the resurrection from the dead, that only comes from dying with Jesus at the cross and rising with Him – His people.
May we seek Him, and be strengthened by those who help carry us to Him.
Amen
https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/
Robinson, P. W. (1539). On the Councils and the Church. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, p. 359). Fortress Press.
Freedom, Liberty, and your Rights –
Thoughts which carry me, even drag me to Jesus and the Cross
“When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Why not ordinary matters! So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church?I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between fellow Christians?” (1 Corinthians 6:1–5, NET)
Francis told them: “When you pray, say “Our Father” and “We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches throughout the whole world, and we bless you, for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
To any human who bothers to think a bit, it should be evident that there is in our society no such thing as absolute freedom—for only God is free!
It is inherent in creaturehood that its freedom must be limited by the will of the Creator and the nature of the thing created. Freedom is liberty within bounds, liberty to obey holy laws, liberty to keep the commandments of Christ, to serve mankind, to develop to the full all the latent possibilities within our redeemed natures. True Christian liberty never sets us free to indulge our lusts or to follow our fallen impulses
Tozer’s words about freedom seem so appropriate today, though written decades past. He smacks down the illusion of idols named freedom and liberty. For they are not absolute, they are not all powerful, and they aren’t all merciful… for they have a cost that is reminiscent of slavery….unless…
It has been redeemed by the one who saves us, that He is allowed to put the limits on our freedom, limits which recognize His role as our God, and the limits He placed on Christ’s freedom, which was given the boundaries of what best cared and provided for us.
Tozer said “mankind,” but lets simplify it – our children, our parents, our parents, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Our liberty must be in tune with how we love those around us, those who need us to sacrifice for their well-being. whether the need is physical, psychological or spiritual.
That is what Paul us getting at with his comments on lawsuits–wisdom is required because God’s justice is different than man’s. It is based in mercy, love and loyalty– not just what is our “right” or allows us to maintain our liberty, above our community.
This is the truest freedom.. that found in our relationships…the freedom to be loved and to love.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 192). New City Press.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Job’s Death Wish… and finding Jesus there!
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the cross
““Oh that my request would be realized, and that God would grant me what I long for! And that God would be willing to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and kill me.” (Job 6:8–9, NET)
Hard fights are rarely fought except by those with the greatest strength.”
In each case, this line of theological thought expresses well that divine initiative brings about sudden conversion and that therein exists the indispensable spiritual basis for theology. Consequently, the words of Paul—“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20)—are foundational for Ratzinger’s understanding of theology.
“The knowledge of God is a way; it means discipleship. It is not revealed to the uncommitted, permanently neutral observer but, rather, is disclosed in the measure in which one sets out on the way.” Such knowledge requires deep conversion so that it remains a constant encounter. True reasoning requires “a purification of heart.” It is bound to the Logos and includes death and resurrection.
His words came out of a place of great despair, for everything he treasured, everything he found joy in, was stripped from him over the course of moments.
He was broken, overwhelmed by grief and pain and suffering, and his cry, his desire to die seems like the only hope.
He doesn’t have the strength that St. Francis alludes to, to battle thi hard fight. He just wants to get past it, and the only option appears to be death. Even his wife realizes this – as she encourages him to curse God and die.
I may not have lost as much as Job, but I’ve lost a lot at times. There have been pains in my life I didn’t think I could get through, times of hurting and to be honest, times where I wished Jesus would either return, or call me home. Not because I wanted to get to heaven, but because I wanted to escape from life.
And in a real way, the answer to life is found in death.
Not our physical death as we know it, but as we die with Christ in baptism, only to rise–united with Him as He lives.
it takes some thought to think through the change, to realize it with our mind, but our heart realizes it at the altar, and when we hear His word, and our old nature struggles with the fact we are loved, that we are forgiven, as demons struggle to keep their hold on us, trying to load on the guilt and shame removed at the cross of Jesus.
To help people experience that blessing, to experience that love is the purpose of all ministry, From facilitating worship through music, to the sacraments; from feeding the poor to counseling and advising the rich.
This is the true administration, the proper stewardship of the gifts of God, for the people of God.
To help them know and understand, and experience, as Job spoke, ““As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,” (Job 19:25–26, NET)
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 187). New City Press.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 211). Emmaus Academic.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 212). Emmaus Academic.
Navigating the Revitalization and Renewal of the Church
The church, is always in the midst of a storm… but safe in Him
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to His Cross
“With antiphonal response they sang, praising and glorifying the LORD: “For he is good; his loyal love toward Israel is forever.” All the people gave a loud shout as they praised the LORD when the temple of the LORD was established. Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders—older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established—were weeping loudly, and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly that the sound was heard a long way off.” (Ezra 3:11–13, NET)
Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ].
In promoting development, the Christian faith does not rely on privilege or positions of power, nor even on the merits of Christians … but only on Christ, to whom every authentic vocation to integral human development must be directed. The Gospel is fundamental for development, because in the Gospel, Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals humanity to itself.”
I have been thinking about my “career” as a pastor recently. It was 27 years ago this month I went from being a part-time to a full-time pastor. It’s been 23 years in August that I moved from being a non-denom pastor to becoming a Lutheran one, and last week-it was seventeen years since I received the call to become pastor in this place.
In that time I have seen a lot of changes in the world, the church at large and in my Lutheran group. Some of them quite good, some of them heartbreaking. I know the joy of Ezra’s people, as they saw God’s promises re-established for them, and I also understand the heartbreak of those who remember the past and its glories.
I am the one who wails over the losses, and yet I am the one who screams for joy at the renewal I see. A foot in both worlds, a foot which wants to deny the existence of the other….
I have tried to help both sides realize the other exists, not because i want to create a form of toleration, for that is worthless, and to be honest, vain.
In my devotional reading this morning, I came back to the answer–provided by the Lutheran Confessions and Pope Benedict. The answer isn’t to dwell in the past, failing to recognize its failure. It isn’t about just rejoicing in the victories of the moment–ignoring its shortcomings.
The answer is simply this – living in Christ, and revealing Him to those who so desperately need Him. To revoice in the enlightenment the Spirit provides in them–the relationship that is reformed, renewed, reborn! To sound more academic — to rejoice in the delivery and reception of grace, rather than comment on the color, texture and design. To dance with God and the angels over new life.
To be revitalized, not just an interested observer of it.
Then the church weeps and rejoices together, for God is good, and His mercy is forever!
Melancthon, P. (2006). The Augsburg Confession (1530). WORDsearch.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 197). Emmaus Academic.
