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Visions of Fire and Brimstone are Needed Still, But Who Needs It Has Changed.
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the cross.
“Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, for without it no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:14–15, NET)
““And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart and bitterness; groan before their eyes. When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ Pay attention—it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign LORD.”” (Ezekiel 21:6–7, NET)
Those who saw them, however, were greatly amazed that they differed from all others by their habit and life and seemed almost like wild men. In fact, whenever they entered especially a city, estate, town, or home, they announced peace, encouraging everyone to fear and love the Creator of heaven and earth and to observe the commandments.
I think it was Moody who came up with the idea that having people put in hell for a minute would drive them to the cross. At least he had the first half of preaching law and gospel correct!
But perhaps there is another who needs to visualize, and even experience the wrath of God, to contemplate its horror.
I am talking about those who minister to others. It might be a pastor or priest, a deacon or even and internet apologist. It would include the Bible Study leader, and also the Christian who could make an impact in their community.
How much would it change your heart to share the experience of Ezekiel, who pictured people so overwhelmed by the wrath of God that their hearts melt, their hands can no longer hold or lift anything, and quite colorfully, they can’t control their bladders. (other translations say their legs become like water-attempting to clean up the mess!) To observe people experiencing that furious a revelation of God, delivering the punishment they deserve should change how we minister, and how we are motivated to minister.
That kind of ministry is what Hebrews describes, this passion to share with people a peace that doesn’t make sense. To work that people can see God, and approach Him boldly, for they have not rejected the grace of our Lord. I love the thoughts, just as I would love to be described as the two men St. Francis described! To seem like wild men, as we passionately seek to be at peace with others, a peace only possible in Jesus.
To know what people face if we fail, and they come short of the grace of God. That will tame the zeal and focus it on ministry. It will stop us from being condescending–and focus us on serving. It will change our attitude that we are battling those sinners, and remind us we are on a rescue mission to save them.
True revival will begin, the more we realize what God is rescuing us all from…as will the most incredible worship. May we
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 269). New City Press.
Life: God’s Version of ‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day Week 7: Dad’s Happy! (so are we) A sermon on Luke 15:1-10
Life: God’s Version of
‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day
Week 7: Dad’s Happy! (so are we)
Luke 15:1-10
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus be yours, and may you rejoice as others who were lost are found!
Intro – The Job is done!
There were days that I went to work with my dad that were more special than others.
We were doing something with cement, building a new stone wall, or patching some foundation, or creating a walkway. As we laid down the last wheelbarrows load of cement, as we were younger we always watched my dad take out a pencil and carve his initials in the last section.
As we got older, my brother and then I would do enough work, and do it well enough, that our initials, STP and DTP would join TEP in some corner of the project.
And then off to Howard Johnson’s for an ice cream shake and a beer.
There was great joy, the job was done. Something was created, something was made right!
Time to celebrate!
That is the same thing that happens in heaven, every time a sinner is found and brought home. And like my dad and brother celebrating, like the shepherd finding the one, and the lady who found the silver coin, there is incredible joy, and a party that goes beyond belief.
And what is really cool – because life is God taking his kids to work, we get to celebrate as well!
And what a celebration it is! Dad is happy, and so we are happy.
Sort of like the shepherd who carries home his sheep…and the woman who found her very valuable coin.
Law – We don’t like those…. People/Sinners
The context of Jesus’ parable cannot be overlooked.
The Pharisees and those that studied the law didn’t get it. Both of these groups focused on living their lives as holy as possible, trying to eliminate any practice or behavior that wasn’t allowed for in scripture. They were devoted to their way of life, and proud of it, because of the effort put into it.
As hard as they practiced their disciplined life-style, they forgot to love their neighbor, to be concerned about them, and they just looked down on them, because they didn’t follow.
When they Jesus spending his time with these lesser beings, they are ticked off—if he’s truly God’s holy chosen messiah, he should be with them, praising them for their diligence and hard work.
Here again how the Bible declares the scene.
2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
Imagine Jesus coming back today, and sitting here in church, and then we invite him to come eat with us, and his response was to leave, and head down to a picnic with…. Hmmm… who you do you think you are holier than? Or maybe those horrible rotten sinners who…
Or maybe, instead of heading to lunch with us, he heads to a jail in Colorado, to spend a couple hours with a 22year old assassin.
Maybe that puts us in the mood of a the pharisees.
“Pastor, you can’t mean that Jesus would rather spend His time with “him” rather than us…
My only reply – is God’s job today to search for the one, or the ninety nine?
Who is the lost coin that needs to be found – us or him?
Yet the interesting thing is, that God would have some of his kids with Him, to make the point of God’s love – to be there, as God does what only God does. As God works on Him seeking to finished the job that began as Jesus died for everyone of his sins.
And those of us who can’t go to jail to visit him, can God at work by praying for him, and for his family, as they realize that only Jesus can deal with the depth of his sin.
For in prayer, asking God to be at work, we confess that we believe God can and desires to save everyone.
And can you imagine the joy that would be in heaven, should this young man be brought home, carried by Jesus? Could God do it? He already has – in David’s case, in Paul’s case, in the case of one of the soldiers at the cross, a man named Longinus, who used his spear to prove Jesus was dead. Each a murderer was changed by the power of God’s love.
I know who the first person who would want to greet him when he gets before God’s throne. I mean after God the Father would welcome him home. Two forgiven sinners, saved by Jesus – what a image!
And I would pray we would all go ballistic with joy!
Gospel – Look at how God searches for us, finds us brings us home and rejoices!
Moving on to how incredible the gospel is–When both the lost sheep and the lost coin are found, the term used gives us a modern word- heurisko – the art and science of finding something, or someone. It combines intuition, deep research, intelligence, basically pursuing the thing with everything one is, and haves.
And Jesus came to find us, with everything He had and is, including His life.
To find all of us.
I saw something in Luke that I’ve never seen before in this parable, but it is there, both in Matthew’s account and the account from Luke we have today…
“Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness”
As I thought through this passage, this one verse captured my heart.
The 99 weren’t even home yet. They were still in need of their Shepherd for they were in the wilderness.
They were on the way, but they weren’t home, yet we still need Him to bring us home.
We still need Jesus, we still need the Spirit’s guidance, we still need the Spirit’s guidance to deal with temptation, to live a life with Him. And because we are really all more like the 1 than the 99, we know the Lord is with us. We and the pharisees aren’t the 99- we are the one, and Jesus is carrying us home. `1
We know that heaven went ballistic with happiness when we God put His mark on us. He was so happy.. another job well done.
And then he invites us to work with Him to share in His happiness, to share in His joy, as others are re-created in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
As He invites to go to work with Him, even as He takes on the toughest of jobs.
Amen!
Life: God’s Version of ‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day Week 5: Work Priorities–A sermon on Luke 14:1-14
Life: God’s Version of
‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day
Week 5: Work Priorities
Luke 14:1-14
† IHS †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ embrace you as your priotities in life begin to reflect Jesus’ priorities!
I wanna Do it My way!
There is an old phrase that comes into play when children go to work with their dads. It is that someone grew to big for their britches
You know the attitude, when the child tells God they know exactly how to get the work done, and they don’t need the Father, or their God’s direction or oversight
I can hear the cries…
“I can do it…!!!!”
“I know what I’m doing..”
And of course the famous, “I did it my way!!!”
Yeah, I remember a couple of projects I did my way…. I am amazed my dad let me – and even more amazed he didn’t laugh over the completed work….
The biggest lessons I would learn in those moments was that there was an order to do things, a priority, and that usually included doing the hardest and most challenging thing first.
In today’s gospel, there is a couple of priorities set by Jesus, or priorities reset by Jesus.
Higher Priority – People over Practices
The first priority is seen at the home of the one of the chief pharisees.
There’s a man there in pain, and it time for fellowship after they had worshipped together, they are ignoring him. I don’t know how long he’s had edema, but I know the pain the man was enduring. His issue was caused by a poorly functioning heart, which gathers in the legs and chest to cause more tension so that blood can return to the heart. Edema is a symptom, but it makes it harder to walk, harder to do anything – and as it turns to congestive heart failure, it can result in a brain fog.
And the poor guy is all but ignored by the pharisees.
Jesus notices him, not just like, ‘there’s Joe,’ but, ‘there’s Joe, and he’s in a lot of pain!” I Compelled to do something, Jesus also realzies that he can help—and yet there are other hearts that need to be healed.
Other hearts that are struggling and under pressure, and whose answer to Jesus’s question about healing on the Sabbath, shows that they are in a fog as well. They were so focused on proving their holiness, by keeping all the rules – God and their own, that they forget about God. Their hearts were far from them, and the harder they worked to keep the rules, the more pressure they put on their heart and soul.
They had spiritual edema!
Instead, excess water being stored in their legs, they had so much that caused them to lose focus on God’s love. You see pharisees and those who were “experts in the law” knew more, and tried to live life perfectly, and they added all these rules that would prevent them from accidently breaking any commandment. If you’ve ever seen the Jewish people who were all black, have the really cool hats and the men have long rair with ringlets – the are Hassidic, the modern Pharisees who say they keep the law. They would even tithe their spice rack, Jesus said “23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Matthew 23:23 (NLT2) Can you imagine yelling at your ids or your parents for interrupting your count of garlic salt and dividing one in 10 grains to give to the church kitchen?
A lot of those rules were attempts to keep safe the Lord’s name, and to keep holy the Sabbath.
When they wer faced with a decision not covered by their rules, scripture says, “they could not answer…”
Jesus’ didn’t just heal the man with physical edema. He would die to heal them of their spiritual edema to do, as he promised through Ezekiel. “26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NLT2)
That is the promise of baptism, what starts as God claims us as His own and cleanse us of all sin…
That new heart gets rid of all the edema, and more importantly it heals the cause of it. In the process, we see others with spiritual edema – and we want to see them find the cure we do… and that is more a priority…than our man-made rules and routines.
Prioritizing People
Even as we look at how Jesus teaches us to prioritize people’s hearts and souls over the the systems and structures we have put in place, He also teaches us how to prioritize people.
It starts by talking about our own place in the world, and not assuming we get the best position—even though God promises we are His prized possession, but like Jesus leaving heaven, embracing the lower position isn’t a big deal.
Nor is making sure you have done proper networking, making sure you get all the “best” people over for dinner. Jesus said it this way,
12 Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
The cool thing is you, when you do such things, are doing what Jesus did. Giving up, even sacrificing the easy life, ot make sure those with edema, or spiritual edema, are taken care of, even it is takes a little more effort. Some of those are physically disabled, but look out as much for those who are spiritually disabled, cripped by past experiences, blinded to the truth.
In need of a healer, in need of Jesus.
For once we in need of His healing… and most of us still are. But He is here, caring for us. As we go to work, as we do things the Father’s way, we find ourselves caring for them, as they, like we, are to be His work of art, created anew in Christ Jesus. 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 Vision of the Chalices: Thoughts on our Existence
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the cross!
“In all hard work there is profit, but merely talking about it only brings poverty.” (Proverbs 14:23, NET)
He found it easier to do what is perfect than to talk about it; so he was constantly active in showing his zeal and dedication in deeds, not in words, because words do not do what is good, they only point to it.
That is why we use we use matter in liturgy, explains Paul Evdokimov. “The final destiny of water is to participate in the mystery of the Epiphany; of wood, to become a cross; of the earth, to receive the body of the Lord during his rest on the Sabbath.… Olive oil and water attain their fullness as conductor elements for grace on regenerated man. Wheat and wine achieve their ultimate raison d’etre in the eucharistic chalice.
I am pretty sure it was a dream, (at least I hope it was!) but there were some chalices gathered together, having a discussion, which occasionally devolved into arguments about their reason for their existence. The odd thing, is that they all sat on a shelf, awaiting to be purchased, and none of them had actively served–they were all awaiting to be purchased and put to use. That didn’t stop them as seeing themselves as experts, of forming and aggressively sharing their theories and positions. They even formed a coaches and consultants guild for chalices’
One day, a chalice that should have been retired, for it was dented, and its gold faded, its ornate artwork rubbed down by decades in the hands of priests and pastors, came into the shop. The pastor asked if his old friend could be repaired, his gold polished if he could be restored.
There were more chalices there that day, as they were having a conference to vote on new rules for the creation, maintenance and use of chalices. Only the best were allowed to come, those that dedicated their lives to the study and teaching of chalice-ness. The old chalice listened in and smiled, and longed to be back in his parish, for it was there he was a chalice. It was there the joy of being the vessel containing Christ’s Blood was found, as broken people drank from Him, and found the healing God meant for them. It was there he was profitable, or in the old language, salutary.
He attempted to share this, but was shut out – too eccentric, to odd, and too dedicated to those ugly broken humans, who would wear him down, steal his luster and shine.
Hopefully you see the connection of this dream to the proverb, and the poverty of being “on the shelf” rather than in the hands. And St. Francis and the old chalice have much in common, as does the point of the destiny of water to be used in baptism, and wheat and wine in the sacrament. Of the wood of the manger and cross, and even the temporary use of the grave.
But do you see yourself in the dream? Are you the sort of Christian who just sit on a shelf, reading books on theology, evangelism, and how to be the church? Or are you like the old beaten up chalice which has lost its glorious shine, but filled with the completeness that is found in being who God called you to be, one of His people who was sent to continue Christ’s ministry to those who are broken,,,,
Don’t spend time thinking about it.
You know you are His, forgive, healing, children.
So live that way, and fulfill your ministry.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 104). New City Press.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (pp. 134–135). Emmaus Academic.
A God Who Loves Inconvenience
Thoughts that drag me to Jesus, and to the Cross
“The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. These were their descendants: Ishmael’s firstborn son was Nebaioth; the others were Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.”…
“The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, and (by Timna) Amalek. The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.” (1 Chronicles 1:28-31, 35–37, NET
“The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!”” (Acts 10:15, NET)
I have known some who were interested in the deeper life, but began asking questions: “What will it cost me—in terms of time, in money, in effort, in the matter of my friendships?” Others ask of the Lord when He calls them to move forward: “Will it be safe?” This question comes out of our constant bleating about security and our everlasting desire for safety above all else.
A third question that we want Him to answer is: “Will it be convenient?”
As I read Chronicles this morning, I had to think about it as I read about Ishmael and Esau’s descendants. I mean, they were the guys that were to be forgotten about, the covenant of Abraham ran through their brothers families–not theirs. They should have been forgotten about, except to log their sin, for they were exiled, put out of the family of God.
They didn’t matter. They weren’t the chosen people.
So why are their names here? Why do we know of their descendants?
Why go to the hassle, the inconvenience of tracking them? Why should their names be in the Bible?
Think about this – this book is somewhere between 800-1000 years after them….
God didn’t forget them, nor the promises he made to their mothers and to Ishmael and Esau. While the promise of the Messiah, the Lord who would come was to be through the lineage of their brothers, there was something to remember…
Jesus was coming to save them all.
They weren’t inconvenient, they were part of the target, the focus, the reason for the cross. We, the people of God, are to seek and save their further descendants, just as God promised.
As I read this, I am beginning to take inventory of my own actions and thoughts. Who do I dare consider inconvenient, ministering to whom is not worth investing my time and heart in? Do I consider them not worth including in my story of my journey with God?’
If there are people, I need to repent…
Which is fine, because God can handle that, granting me forgiveness and changing my heart and mine – as the Spirit works within…
Maybe its time for us to reconsider who our church considers inconvenient, and then rejoice as we engage and help them know God wants them in His Book as well!
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
The Cost of Discipleship is far less than you think (or has been told to you)
Thoughts carrying me to Jesus, and to the Cross…
“And when the people saw it, they all complained, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham!For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”” (Luke 19:7–10, NET)
But hope in the resurrection allows us to take the proper measure of our brief time in this world, and this does not make us neglect our neighbor, it stirs up greater generosity. We have seen this in the lives of many mystics. The saint with a soul soaring upward into heaven does not forget the world; to the contrary, he or she is in the most radically free position to transform it. Chesterton said his first attractions to Christianity came when he realized that Christians were the only ones to preach the paradox that one must be “enough of a pagan to die for the world, and enough of a Christian to die to it.” Hope allows us to love the world radically, without practical calculation or cost analysis.
Back int eh 1980’s, there was a great focus on the the idea of the “Cost of Discipleship.”
Some of it came because of the great work by Bonhoeffer bearing that name, which many people would read and not finish! Or if they did, would struggle and give up applying it. Others would talk about it based on Jesus’ parables and stories–illustrations like the general going to war, or the warnings about following Jesus costing family, friends, and even require accepting martyrdom and persecution.
In some ways, the Kingdom of God was put forth as requiring such a sacrifice that you would be considered a “hero” of the faith, a saint because of inner fortitude and a willingness to pay any cost to be with Jesus, and it turns the Church into a rest haven for weary crusaders fighting against that “ole Satanic foe.”
Count the cost – the pastors and evangelists told us… and held up images of those who left everything to go on the mission field, or serve in the inner city, or give up the tech career to work in the church. They counted the cost, and accepted the cost, and paid for it with their blood, sweat, and relationships.
And often burnt out – for the cost analysis they did was inaccurate, and minimized the cost to one’s heart and soul. (that is another blogpost entirely!)
Simply put, if our focus is on the cost analysis, we won’t make it.
But those who encounter Christ, as Zacchaeus did, don’t calculate the cost of walking with God, he didn’t perform a cost analysis or look at his bank account when he determined where God was leading him. He did check his credit card balance before throwing a massive parry at his house, so people could meet Jesus, he did it. And as he restored and multiplied his victims wealth, there was no one at his should, laying out a payment plan.
There was no need for a cost analysis, because he could see the value God put on restoring him… and nothing could compare. Those who serve God for 40-5070 years will tell you the same thing – nothing can compare to what they have, indeed they rejoice in their hardships!
This is why Fagerberg’s saints are so generous, why we are free to love radically–even to the point of bloodshed and death. dying for the world that we had to die to.
Which brings up a last point… if we were dead in sin prior to being brought alive in Christ, what price could we have paid, and what cost is there now?
This isn’t cheap grace _He paid for it…and as we receive it – we realize that only our relationship with Him, and walking with Him as we love others with Him matters.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 96). Emmaus Academic.
From Glorious to Glorious Light: The Glory FOR All – a sermon on Luke 2:22-32
The Glory FOR ALL!
Luke 2:22-32
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be reflected through you, lighting up the lives of those captive in the darkness!
Intro – Uhmm –WHAT DID HE SAY?
This morning, I came across the words of a pastor/theologian that were so concerning, and so contrary to the very gospel reading this morning that I had to adapt, almost re-write the sermon to contain them.
He wrote,” If people don’t like the idea that we are supposed to perform acts of love more for some people than others, just wait until they find out that God loves some people more than others”(Fr. Mike Totleben on Twitter, 1/31)
I want you to think about that for a moment, what he is accusing God of, that God plays favorites, and therefore, we should as well.
He would later go on to determine who he thought God should love more, which was disappointing, because it wasn’t about helping the least of these, but rather helping the people who were just like us.
In view of Simeon’s words, in view of Jesus’s words about being there for the hungry, thirsty, stranger-(that is the word for an outsider, with different cultures, languages etc), the naked, sick and imprisoned at the judgment day, I am in shock at the pastor’s words. And what about Jesus’s and the Apostle Paul’s words about loving our enemies, and adversaries?
But it gets to the heart of today’s message – which is how we see Jesus and His kingdom. And how that imprints how we live, and think.
What Do We Want the Messiah to Be?
If it wasn’t for the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding Simeon, I think he would have been gravely disappointed that day in the Temple. All his life, and a very long one by the averages, he had been told he would see the arrival of the Messiah, the hope of Israel, the Savior of the nation. That morning, as he is walking with the Holy Spirit, he is told, “today’s the day!”
I imagine, that if he wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit, he would be looking for a mighty warrior priest, surrounded by 10,000 holy warriors, all doing their best imitation of Chuck Norris!
But he looks around, and the Holy Spirit says, there! And he looks and again, “there!” and he’s shaking his head, for all that was there was a couple with a tiny infant…all exhausted from an 10 mile hike up hill, that morning
Uhm – “God—are you sure?”
Israel had expected a savior! One who would save them—not only from the Romans, but from the powers that be within their people. The Pharisees expected a Pharisee Messiah, the Sadducees, one of their own, the Herodians didn’t care where the Messiah came from, as long as he would work with the Romans, and the Zealots and Essenes had their visions of the Messiah, made in their own image as well.
I don’t think we are any better today. We expect Jesus to be like us… not in appearance, that would be disappointing, even horrifying in my case. But with our views, with our judgements, who loves only those we love, and hates all those who aren’t like us. And who would only help those people like us, that we approve of..
We might not say it that bluntly, but we do play those kinds of games –choosing our own favorites, and expecting God to only bless them, and therefore, we only have to help…them.
And let me be blunt, assuming we know who God loves and doesn’t love, and narrowing our ministry to only them… is sin.
And we need to change…
The Hope of Simeon
The great thing in this passage is that Simeon isn’t speaking as himself, full of the Holy Spirit, he is rejoicing in the fulfillment of the promise—that this baby would change everything…far more than anyone could ever dream… well unless he was a prophet!
30 I have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared for all people. 32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:30-32 (NLT2)
All People, to the Nations – the myriad of ethnicities, the people of Israel—the equivalent to people like us…
All people – sharing in the light and the glory—
By the way, I need to note that Simeon’s words are simply Old Testament passages—in fact 5 times in Isaiah the idea of the Messiah being a light to the Gentiles is covered!
God’s glorious love, enveloping people like us, and people we don’t think are like us. People who are completely compatible to us, and those that tick us off and drive us crazy.
That is who Jesus came to save—not just the “favorites” but all people. We don’t get to pick and choose, for God so loved the world that He gave…
To us, for there is two things everyone in this world, and everyone in history can be defined by.
The first is that we are sinners, that we’ve rebelled and disobeyed God. We are pretty good at defining who some sinners are…but we all are sinners in need of deliverance.
The second is that Jesus came into this world to be our Savior. To save us all from the sin that ensnares us.. all.
So that He could be our light and our glory, and love.
Let’s pray for His peace to be given to all He loves. The peace that comes with being delivered, being saved, that comes from dwelling in Jesus. AMEN!
The Necessity of Being and Enthralled Disciple…A different type of slavery…
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus and the Cross:
“‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Here we are; we are your slaves.”” (Genesis 50:17–18, NET)
“But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.” (Exodus 21:5–6, NET)
At the outset, to be mystical the liturgy must be enthralling, and this is less comfortable than we think. To enthrall means to make a person a thrall: to put someone into bondage, to reduce someone to the condition of a captive, to enslave, to subjugate and make subservient.
Once, when the brothers asked him whether he was pleased that the learned men, who, by that time, had been received into the Order, were devoting themselves to the study of Sacred Scripture, he replied: “I am indeed pleased, as long as, after the example of Christ, of whom we read that he prayed more than he read, they do not neglect zeal for prayer; and, as long as they study, not to know what they should say, but to practise what they have heard and, once they have put it into practice, propose it to others.
This tipping point in Ignatius’ conversion and the shift in attitude it brings is notable. All the more so in light of his prior manifest determination to conquer his sinfulness by force of his own will. His Autobiography’s terse narrative hides the magnitude of the spiritual and psychological transformation in Ignatius. The transformation is stark. Ignatius moves from managing his spiritual growth with the same swagger that he waged the Pamplona battle, and becomes a man of much greater humility, willing to be led like a boy at the hands of a schoolmaster.
It took me a moment to make Fagerberg’s connected between being enthralled and in thrall, in bondage. As a amateur wordsmith, I was a little annoyed at myself, I should have seen it, but the concept was… well enthralling. It took me captive, and even as I copied these quotes from my devotional reading some 10 hours back, I had to process it this evening.
I want the liturgy, the worship of my congregation to be enthralling, so that our walk with God proceeds from it. I want it to be captivated by it, to be addicted to the presence of God experienced there. To be enslaved to the freedom that comes as we are cleansed of our sin, as burdens are removed, as we begin to understand what it means to be the children of God.
But we are enslaved, addicted, captivated and in thrall in a very blessed way.
Far too often we see being servants of God and of His people as a negative, as something that not only requires being humble, but being humiliated, debased, neglected and even abused. We picture slaved in chains, and being whipped, as Jean Val Jean is in the opening scene of Les Mis, or as the many movies about slavery in the south, or n Africa. The kind of slavery Joseph’s brothers offered themselves and their families to enter, rather than face the wrath of Joseph–the brother they sold into slavery.
“God, I will do anything if you rescue me from…” type of slavery. (the reason btw, many of us (including Luther) entered into studying for the ministry and why we justify the “sacrifices” we make and are expected to make. A sense of slavery and sacrifice based in guilt, shame and a desire to “payback”–as if we could! We see this in Ignatius of Loyola as well, as he would confess and confess and confess, and never find the absolution he needed.
What that results in, concerns a pastor like St. Francis, who saw men enslaving themselves to an academic pursuit of theology. men who studied the word, and neglected prayer (and therefore worship that is the reaction to experiencing the love of God.) This is not the pursuit of Theology, it is the pursuit of religious philosophy. A kind of knowledge that neither enjoys and lives in faith, nor proposes that life to others.
Being enthralled, be in thrall is less like Joseph’s brothers offer and more like the slave whose ear is pierced. Who knows he is loved, who responds to that love with a desire to be in no other place, in no other relationship with His master, This is where worship is spontaneously embraced and savored. The slave’s attitude is not based in fear of wrath, or any kind of fear at all, it is made from a love that is responding to love! Itis what drives the academic to his knees in prayer, what drives the soldier to seek peace, and the pilgrim to find they are, finally at their destination.
This is what changes Luther, apparently changes Ignatius, can change our churches, can change our communities, this revealed love of our Lord, Jesus. This is the connection we find in our gatherings, as we realize the presence of the Lord, as He reveals Himself through the word and the sacrament, a love so powerful, a fellowship so full of joy and peace, so sustaining, so much a breath of heaven, that we continue to seek to serve and to introduce it to others.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 11). Emmaus Academic.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (pp. 336–337). New City Press.
Watson, W. (2012). Sacred Story: An Ignatian Examen for the Third Millennium (p. 25). Sacred Story Press.
