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Christianity and Lessons from the Blacklist!
Devotioal Thought of the Day:
15 I do not understand what I do; for I don’t do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. 16 Since what I do is what I don’t want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. 17 So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. 19 I don’t do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20 If I do what I don’t want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. 22 My inner being delights in the law of God. 23 But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. 24 What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God’s law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin. Romans 7:15-25 (TEV)
Liz: You’re a monster.
Red: Yes.
Liz: How can you live with that?
Red: By saving your life. (1)
With my schedule, I don’t get to watch television much, except when I am home sick, or occaisonally something dvr’d.
One of my favorites used to be Boston Legal – wihich surprised me, because I didn’t like any of the primary actors in it. But I was amazed with the brilliance of how they worked together, and how the writers strived to find ways to take the broken charachters and send them hunting, often blindly for some sort of reconciliation, some sort of justice they found, despite themselves. Have to admit, I became impressed with James Spader’s characterization. Enough so, that when the Blacklist came about – I wanted to see it – just to see if he could be a truly evil charachter.
Have to admit – it is the only television show I really watch these days, usually a couple of days later, and always fascinated with the depth of depravity and yet, a quest for some kind of vindication.
There is a blunt acknowledgement of evil, a confession that is there, unaware that there is grace. There is in each primary character – a questioning of the soul. You see it in Liz, as she struggles with the evil of each case, and the questions about her husband. You see it in Red, as he tries to help Liz, but also as he has his moments of solitude, (of course he goes and decides to do what he knows is wrong thereafter) you see it in the director, and in the partner.
There is an acknowledgement of our sinful selves, and attempts made to justify themseives by doing something good or noble or perfectly just. Except they realize, as we do, that the harder we try, the more likely we fail.
That’s perhaps what I like about the show – it strips us, not from the idea that we are not sinners, but from the idea we can justify ourselves. That we can explain away our own shortcomings, our own falures, our own tendency to sin. But it needs to go beyond that.
Luther wrote,
For although the whole world with all diligence has endeavored to ascertain what God is, what He has in mind and does, yet has she never been able to attain to [the knowledge and understanding of] any of these things. But here we have everything in richest measure; for here in all three articles He has Himself revealed and opened the deepest abyss of his paternal heart and of His pure unutterable love. For He has created us for this very object, that He might redeem and sanctify us; and in addition to giving and imparting to us everything in heaven and upon earth, He has given to us even His Son and the Holy Ghost, by whom to bring us to Himself. (2)
Red sees his own redemption in saving the life of another. I don’t think he means just her physical life either, but the emotional and spiritual life that can be lost in their line of work. (remember what he did before he went rogue) Perhaps by ridding the world with more efficiently of the truly evil, he can help her save her life. He wants to be her savior, her Christ, Even so, he cannot.
Luther sees it differently, noting that God is the one who can do, and has done, what Red so longs to do. He did come – and take on evil, personally as Christ carriest all our sin to the cross. That’s what Paul is talking about as well – who can rescue us from the despair of living in the presence of Evil? Only Christ.
Maybe we don’t see ourselves as the people on the balcklist – people beyond hope. Maybe were the Liz, losing her naivete about the world, about mankind with every episode. Maybe we’re Red, hoping beyond hpoe that we can save the next generation from turning into us.
What we need in each case – is to cry out to Jesus, the One who can save us, and has already provided all the means for our salvaiton, and more importantly, to leave anxiety over walking in evil behind, as we walk with Him.
We cry, “Lord, Have Mercy” and know, and trust.. He has.
(1) http://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/shows/the-blacklist/page-4.html#sthash.HSTHtX83.dpuf
(2) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
An Impressive Resume
That’s an Impressive Resume!
Col. 1:13-22
† Jesus, Son, Deliverer †
May we realize and reveal the depth of God’s grace, that mercy and love He pours out on us, until the day He returns for us.
We’re Looking for a Good Man
Well, here we are, at the end of another church year.
We’ve endured a lot this year, as we have in year’s past. We’ve endured because of God’s work in our midst, without which I don’t think we would have survived.
We’ve also had a number of great moments, like the baptisms, the weddings and the Combined services Sunday, and every week that we’ve knelt at this altar together, and received the blessings of Christ’s Body and Blood. They are great moments, not just because we are together, but because we’ve been brought together in the presence of God Almighty, who brings us together in those moments.
As we go into the next church year, as the weeks of advent lead to Christmas, and Ash Wednesday is followed by Lent and Easter and Pentecost, as we endure the summer months, we have to know that the one person that completes our community is here. The person that can bring it altogether, that will lead us as we try to change the world, by bringing it to the cross. He is necessary if we are to change our community by bringing it healing where it is broken, He will always be the only irreplaceable person at Concordia.
We must remember as well where to find Him at work and at home (especially those recently retired!) so that we can follow His lead.
Our epistle this morning presents His resume, His qualifications, this Son of God, this One who existed before all creation, this Man through all things were created and in whom they are created. This One who is the Alpha and Omega, who carries not just a team on His back, but all of creation.
Of all of this, what makes Him so essential to us here at Concordia, to ministry here in Cerritos and in each of our homes and workplaces,
So let us see why Jesus is qualified to be “the” person here. Why we need Him to be our… auditor.
Some messed up books
Someone made the comment this week, that 50 years ago a president gave an order to send a man to the moon, and it was done. Another president has given a order to create a web-based program to help people choose insurance, and they cannot. I thought it ironic, because all of the computers in Houston 50 years ago couldn’t add up to the power of my tablet computer, maybe even my phone today.
The person we have to depend on here at Concordia has a slightly larger job. To track the sins of at least 15 billion people, and give an accounting for them. To keep a set of books that are accurate not to 99.999999 percent – but perfectly.
If I make a rough estimate that the average age of a person in history is 50, that means tracking 2 quintrillion 190 quadrillion sins (190,000,000,000,000,000) That’s a lot of bookkeeping!
That weight of sin is incredible, the amount of damage we have done to each other, and to ourselves. It’s a mess that cannot be hidden, it can’t be ignored. Society has for too long been narcissistic, it has too long encouraged sin, it has too long said that to challenge sin is something we shouldn’t do, because it’s none of our damned business. Yet the brokenness is there. You see it in the commercials like I saw that night, where a man who was getting engaged bought a necklace for his fiancé’s daughter. Are broken marriages that common that we market to the kids of them now?
Yet these broken lives that are the result of sin, that is our business. We’ve been sent to bring them Christ’s healing! To help heal the relationships that the world would rather justify walking away from, as if somehow they can escape the pain.
We can’t, and neither can we deal with it on our own… we need someone with, as they say today, skillz. Someone we trust
So we need the ultimate accountant/reconciler
There is some incredible theology in this passage of Colossians, As Jesus is described in the second paragraph, the incredible majesty and glory is described in language that should leave us in awe. That is not where Christ’s qualifications to fix everything are best shown.
The part I would draw you attention to is in the first and third paragraphs, and in the last line of the second.
There we find accounting language, the language of books and audits, profit and loss, the language of running the fiscal operations of a major business, or a kingdom. Consider these phrases,
He “re-established” us! Where we were a liability, in the red in debt and under the power of darkness, He re-established us, put us in another column – as assets of the Kingdom of heaven1
He redeemed us, purchasing our debt of sin and cancelling it – dismissed the debt – wrote it off.
He reconciled everything (not just us) within Himself.
He restored the books to their proper manner – everything balancing out, everything in good order. Repeatedly in this passage are words related to the word for place. Moving us from one column to another, sending that which was our sin to a place far away from us. He restores us and reveals us to be not just something God values but treasures, as we are God treasured children. Something He treasured so much that Christ would give everything He had to make us the Father’s children, to restore in us the very image of God in which we are created.
And how he does it…
What is so amazing, is that Jesus, in maintaining the books of heaven, in judging who performs the audits, does so in a way that is well unconventional. He doesn’t consider the value or the cost, he doesn’t care if our “red ink” was 200 or 400 thousand sin.
He doesn’t just ignore the debt, or write it off and declare bankruptcy. He doesn’t handle it with analytical precision, but by drawing us into to His own death, His blood covering all of the sin completely. His blood cleansing us, reconciling us, purchasing us, moving us from being a liability, a mark in the power of darkness, and re-establishing us in the kingdom of God as a asset, as a valued treasure.
As it say in the last verse – we are set apart as His – made His alone, for that is the definition of Holiness, and beyond censure, we are without a single fault to be called upon.
That’s the way God does accounting, embracing us with all of our debt, bringing us back in Christ, That’s why there is the picture that there is on the front cover – with Jesus embracing a man who cannot go any further, who cannot bring himself to the cross.
For that, beyond everything else Christ is, is what amazes me the most. That He comes to us, that He reconciles us, that He pulls us into Himself, and carries our burdens, the things that cause us anxieties, our sins, and our very lives.
That is why Jesus is essential to our work here, no matter who pastors our congregations, no matter who our elders are, no matter who comes and sits in the pews, no matter how great the sin is.
We are gathered here by Him, even as He will on the last day, the day which the last Sunday of the Church year focuses. It is the reason we bow and worship, why we glorify Him.
It’s the reason this place, is His place, where our voices praise His name, where He pours out His gifts on us….It’s the reason He is our irreplaceable person, this Chief Reconciliation Officer, this Lord, this Savior, this King of Kings!
Where He makes us at home, in His peace. AMEN!
Lessons about God re-learned from Candy Crush Saga
Devotional thought of the day….
14 So, when gentiles, not having the Law, still through their own innate sense behave as the Law commands, then, even though they have no Law, they are a law for themselves. 15 They can demonstrate the effect of the Law engraved on their hearts, to which their own conscience bears witness; since they are aware of various considerations, some of which accuse them, while others provide them with a defence . . . on the day when, 16 according to the gospel that I preach, God, through Jesus Christ, judges all human secrets. Romans 2:14-16 (NJB)
35 Bless the Lord, all the Lord’s creation: praise and glorify him for ever! Prayer of Azariah 1:35 (NJB) *
7 O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Jeremiah 20:7 (NIV)
Sitting in the airport the other day, getting frustrated by playing a silly game on my phone, I recognized the same kinds of frustrations that I’ve been dealing with for a while in life. As I got on the plane, I was reading a new book, recommended to me by a friend. Written by a Catholic priest, it talked about the lessons of faith learned through watching Star Wars, and how to apply those to ministry. Very well writtent this book, and so while taking it in, I thought of my frustrations and decided to write this blog.
So here are the things I’ve learned about God from playing this frustrating, addictive game.
1. Achieving your goal may take some time!
Nothing in Candy Crust saga is impossible. It just seems like it! Eventually the little things will line up, you’ll get rid of the bombs and you will finish that level. It may take you a week, or 30-40 trips to the bathroom (come on – be honest – you play Candy Crush there!). You might put it down for a couple of days, you might even delete it off you tablet. But the levels aren’t impossible. Likewise, we will endure through the struggles in our lives. Some may take longer to play out, some may be very very frustrating, some may cause us to want to drop out. The funny thing is, we get all excited to finish a level… only to take on… another level!
But we will endure them, and in fact, sometimes we will learn a lot more about life (or the game) because it takes so long!
2. You aren’t God
How many times have you wanted to choose what colors fall next? How many times have you gotten wanted to bargain with the processor, just drop me a blue candy there, and I will get you a new SD card, or a pretty new case! Or gotten angry as that last bomb ticked off, and you had to start again? There are times I wonder if my failues are deliberately caused by the computer – that they want me to fail. Most of that anger is silly, but it shows me how much I want to be in control of the game… and of my life.
Sometimes, I’ll be honest – like in the game I want to play God. Sometimes I am actually foolish enough to think I can do better, or that God is playing with me, like He did with Jeremiah, at least in Jeremiah’s mind (see Jeremiah 20 quote above…) But God isn’t the programmers of CCR. He’s promised that He’s in charge, that He is our Master, that He has obligated Himself to do exactly that which is good for us.
3. Mistakes are in the past!
So you failed 40 times at a level. Guess what! When you hit play, all those failures are history, and they have no impact on the new game, or the new attempt to solve the problem.
Likewise in faith, when we hear 1 John 1:8- when we confess our sins, and trust God to forgive them and cleanse us of all unrighteousness, we start as new as the day we were born, and the day we were born again. The sins we’ve committed are in the past, the failures are gone, and while they lurk in the shadows, they really can’t affect how we live today, We might listen to them, we might learn from them, but the glory of the Ministry of Reconciliation that we’ve been given (see 2 Cor. 3-5) is that God’s work is complete. He has forgiven us, He has cleansed us, and hit the play button again.
I could go on and on about this one… there are things about this game that so mirror the frustrations of life. There are amazing things, when you think all is lost and a striped candy and a mirror ball show up next to each other with one move to go, and the day is miraculously saved. But there is one thing for sure, and that will be my last point..
4. The makers want your time.
I bet that the designers of CCS have an innate or learned knowledge. They have a goal, expressed in how many minutes we maddle move little things around, trying to achieve our goal. They want our time, because for them, it means $$$$. God is neither so manipulative or so greedy for stuff that doesn’t matter. But He wants our time as well. He wants to spend it with us, showing us His love, showing us His mercy, sharing with us He re-creation of the world, because the blood of Christ was spilled on the cross. He wants your time, because He loves you, because that’s what this life is all about. The people of God, and those who have yet to realize that He loves them but will. Gathered together in His arms, cared for and loved.
As incomplete this silly little game is, that last point, in their brokenness and ours, says it all. For they realize how precious our time is….and want it. Not as much as He does, and not for the same reason.
Maybe.. we can spend some more of it with the Lord who loves us, and takes care of our failures, and walks with us through the levels of life.
Related articles
- Persecution, Martyrdom, the Love of Christ…. and a hard lesson in prayer (justifiedandsinner.com)
Dare we pray…for mercy
Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, alabaster, Throne of St. Peter, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Discussion thought of the Day:
12 Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Matthew 6:12 (MSG)
38 And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ 39 40 Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:38-40 (MSG)
In this life of ours we must expect the Cross. Those who do not expect the Cross are not Christians, and they will be unable to avoid their own “cross”, which will drive them to despair. (1)
If the atrocities that happened in Dr. Gosnell’s clinic sickened you, this blog may be difficult to read. Please know that even a I type these words, I am praying specifically for those who will struggle with this.
I think we, as the church, must pray for this man, we must cry out to God that God would bring Dr. Gosnell to repentance, to the very transformation that leads to life. I say this neither lightly, nor ignoring the horrors that occurred at his direction, at his hands. I as much as any, struggle with the abortion issue, because of the circumstances of my birth. If I was born 8-10 years later, society would have approved – heck – would have recommended that I be aborted. Having now met my birth mother, I am pretty sure she still would not have…yet….
Obviously we need to pray for Dr. Gosnell’s sake that he finds the mercy that can only come through the Holy Spirit circumcising his heart, through the hardness being excised. It would be a miracle as mind-blowing as any I’ve seen or heard of in my life, a conversion far more incredible than that of Chuck Colson, and perhaps even Dahmer. We cannot let this man go forgotten, we have to realize that sharing the gospel with him, and praying that God would raise up the chaplain who will minister to him in prison, is essential.
But, as we are taught to pray, we need to do it for our sake as well. We can allow ourselves to be hardened and callous to this man, we cannot just demand justice, ignoring that he too, is a life. If we do, if we are merciless – then we have turned into the same kind of monster we perceive him to be.
As St. Josemaria tells us – we have to expect this cross, we have to expect to bear the cross of ministering to the greatest of sinners. We cannot avoid it.
For if we do we fail and despair. If we do, we will convince ourselves that there is a limit to God’s grace, a limit to His reach, a limit to His ability to grant someone repentance.
And eventually, that limit will find itself growing – leaving more and more in the position of being beyond grace. Until we find ourselves outside the limit of His grace.
If we determine Gosnell can’t be reached – if we decide his reconciliation is not something we will pray for, bearing that cross, we will start down a dangerous path.
Dahmer was saved, as were Paul, as was King David, as are we…
Let’s pray for Dr. Gosnell, and for those involved in the abortion industry, for the victims, for those convinced that it is “okay”, for those who work and advocate for it.
That they would come to know the grace found in the only begotten son of God.
May we find God’s mercy to pray for them, to pray for Him.
Let us pray….
LORD HAVE MERCY!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2748-2750). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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- FB Behavior and the Theology of the Cross… (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Do they know of your trust in God from your FB postings? (justifiedandsinner.com)
FB Behavior and the Theology of the Cross…
English: the beginning of the 1. Epistle to the Corinthians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them. 15 Rejoice with others when they rejoice, and be sad with those in sorrow. 16 Give the same consideration to all others alike. Pay no regard to social standing, but meet humble people on their own terms. Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom. 17 Never pay back evil with evil, but bear in mind the ideals that all regard with respect. 18 As much as possible, and to the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone. Romans 12:14-18 (NJB)
4 Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, 5 it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. 6 Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. 7 It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NJB)
Never reprimand anyone while you feel provoked over a fault that has been committed. Wait until the next day, or even longer. Then make your remonstrance calmly and with a purified intention. You’ll gain more with an affectionate word than you ever would from three hours of quarreling. Control your temper. (1)
How quickly we are ( okay – I am) to send a scathing rebuke across the cypberwaves!
We see something really idiotic, or vicious, or heretical posted, and we re-create the cyber version of MAD – mutually assured destruction.
Please read carefully, it is not that we shouldn’t respond, but it is how we should respond. With love, with caring, with the goal of reconciliation and not just confrontation. ( Yeah I know I am preaching to me more than everyone else) But if we don’t hear this, if we aren’t reminded to love, if we don’t bear the cross we’ve been given – for their sake, we find out that we will also suffer.
For we will have abandoned the peace of Christ, we will have walked out of the fortress, that mighty fortress that is our God. We will have tried to become the conquering savior of FB or twitter… and chosen a path to deliver it from evil that is not the cross. At the cost of destroying each other.
So today – if you have to do it – maybe not wait a day – but take a five minute walk… before hitting enter.
And while you do, pray,
“Lord have mercy on me… a sinner”
Godspeed
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 185-187). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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- Facebook, Memes and Christlikeness (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Grateful to be used… (justifiedandsinner.com)
It’s Not About Calling the Qualified, or Even Qualifying the Called… it’s about revealing Christ.
Detail – Glory of the New Born Christ in presence of God Father and the Holy Spirit (Annakirche, Vienna) Adam and Eva are represented bellow Jesus-Christ Ceiling painting made by Daniel Gran (1694-1757). Post-processing: perspective and fade correction. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day: (feel free to discuss – would really like to discuss this one!)
9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT)
“With little effort we could find among our family, friends, and acquaintances—not to mention the crowds of the world—so many worthier persons that Christ could have called. Yes, persons who are simpler and wiser, more influential and important, more grateful and generous. In thinking along these lines, I feel embarrassed. But I also realize that human logic cannot possibly explain the world of grace. God usually seeks out deficient instruments so that the work can more clearly be seen to be his. It is with trembling that Saint Paul recalls his vocation: “And last of all, as by one born out of due time, he was seen also by me. For I am the least of the Apostles, and am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.”15 Thus writes Saul of Tarsus, whose personality and drive fill history with awe. As I said before, we have merited nothing. Before God called us, there was nothing more than personal wretchedness. Let us realize that the lights shining in our soul (faith), the love wherewith we love (charity), and the desire sustaining us (hope) are all free gifts from God. Were we not to grow in humility, we would soon lose sight of the reason for our having been chosen by God: personal sanctity. If we are humble, we can understand all the marvel of our divine vocation. The hand of Christ has snatched us from a wheat field; the sower squeezes the handful of wheat in his wounded palm. The blood of Christ bathes the seed, soaking it. Then the Lord tosses the wheat to the winds, so that in dying it becomes life and in sinking into the ground it multiplies itself.” (1)
It’s Monday morning, after an incredible church service, a great Sunday School class, and then 4 plus hours in a hospital room with my dad, who is struggling with a number of verious serious health concerns and hates the weakness he finds himself in now. I am sitting down at my computer, in a moment will begin the studies for everything I have to teach this week – from a very indepth Bible Study for those preaching this week (tonight), to the end of the first chapter of Philippians (Wed), to the 10th Chapter of Hebrews (Thursday morning) to preaching and teaching Sunday. IN my weakness, I wonder why me, why isn’t there someone stronger, more charismatic, more caring, more eloquent, more spiritual, less sinful.
And I know that if I were to post such a thing – I would undoubtedly here the phrase above, as people try to encourage me, with a trite phrase that simply pounds me into the ground a little deeper. You see, what I hear when I hear the phrase, “God doesn’t call you because you are qualified…because you are absolutely not qualifed – what WERE YOU THINKING! But that’s okay, somehow God will make you barely adequate!” (Somehow I think I am not the only one who hears it that way!
That trite “Christian-ese” is so wrong. Simply because it leaves the focus on us, on our ability, on our qualifications, and on our success or failures.
Paul thought the issue didn’t revolve around us – it is simply about grace – about His power not just qualifying us, but compensating, healing, overwhelming us. It is about knowing how trustworthy He is, and knowing the Father has entrusted us into Christ’s care, and sent the Holy Spirit to work through us – in all of His power.
I love how St Josemaria explains it! Just the the apostles, God works in and through us in such a way that people have to admit that it is more than our natural abilities. In our God given vocations, as husbands and wives, parents, children, employees, managers (See Eph 5:21-6:9), we see God at work, as we love and serve and yes submit our desires to what is best for those with whom we live. And in that sumbission, in that “dying to self” we find that Christ brings His light, His glory, His healing, into every relationship, into every place we go.
That is living in Christ, that is living the life of one who is revitalized/quickened and renewed in their baptism.
Such we see our lives, despite our sin, despite our shortcomings, despite our weaknesses, being reflections of Him into this world of darkness, into this valley where sin and death had cast their shadow on all.
We walk there, knowing this simple truth, which we hear over and over in our Liturgy.
The Lord is with You!
So go in His peace!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Christ is Passing By (Kindle Locations 425-438). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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The Church’s Only Business, it’s only ministry….
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 5:20-21 (TEV)
“Like the grain of wheat, we too have to die in order to become fruitful. You and I, with the help of God’s grace, want to open up a deep furrow, to blaze a trail. That is why we have to leave the poor animal man behind and launch out into the sphere of the spirit, giving a supernatural meaning to every human undertaking and, at the same time, to all those engaged in them.”
Yesterday I read an article about a church offering a program that was advertised as “life-changing”. I thought it would be something that was about this incredible week – as we celebrate Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. It wasn’t – it was about how to find peace – but not Christ’s peace. Instead it was financial peace. Over the last few days, similar things have arisen, as people have asked about this or that, about getting churches active in this political crusade, or that social issue. Most of the things have merit, they can benefit people. But they aren’t critical. Not even close.
There is only one thing that is critical. There is only one business the church about which the church should be concerned. It has a couple of different names in the church, a couple of different ways we describe it. Today, as we celebrate Christ dying on the cross, (yes celebrate) I was to use the one I used a couple of weeks ago in a sermon. The church or theological term is
“reconciled”
I like the way the TEV describes it – “let God change you from enemies into His friends”.
That’s our job – to appeal to people on God’s behalf – let God do what God does best. Let Him heal all the relationships you have – let Him not just forgive your sin, but let Him bring you into a relationship where you share His righteousness and holiness, (fancy words that simply describe a relationship with Him, with His people, with all His creation where things are done in love) let Him bring you into a relationship where you share His glory as well.
To those in such a relationship – we make our appeal, we beg people to let Him do these things – even if we have to die to do so. For we definitely do die to self – it takes sacrifice to reach out to people, it takes love, it takes humility.
You might think that is asking to much? Can’t we just leave this to pastors and priests, to do this work?
Well, not really, and it isn’t really asking too much, for when Christ reconciled us to the Father, when He brought us to the Father, when He brought us home….
He will never be the older brother, upset at the Father throwing the celebration for the prodigal son/brother. Instead – he offered His life to bring us home…. now its our turn – not necessarily to die – but whether we are a living sacrifice, or a martyr- that is our business.
Other things may come into play – but let us be about the Father’s work, Jesus work, the work the Spirit does through us,
And let us beg people – to let God transform them, from His enemies, into His friends.
Godspeed!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3571-3574). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Devotional Thought for Good Friday.
Remember – We Speak for Christ
We Speak for Christ
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
† In His Name †
As we speak for God, may we speak through the knowledge of the grace, the mercy and love which reconciled us to God, as we bring others the message of reconciliation!
We Speak for Christ, but what are we saying?
The sermon title you see before you, “we speak for Christ” is one which is an incredible burden, but it is something we need to keep in our mind, not just during the sermon, and the worship service, but every moment of the day.
You see if we claim to others that we speak for God as we talk about His will, as we talk about grace, as we invite them to church, then we need to realize that often, they will judge God by what they hear from our voices at other times as well.
I was talking to a lady this week, she was talking about why she and her husband were considering leaving the big church they were going to, and thinking about looking for a smaller church. In the process, she told me about the church that they went to before the mega-church. I asked her about why they decided to check out the big church in the first place, and she told me of the event that soured her husband on their original church some ten to fifteen years ago.
She related how they had gone there one morning, in her husband’s older truck. As they parked the truck in the parking lot in front of the church, a man came out, and asked them to move the truck and park it somewhere else. The man was concerned with what kind of image would be given, if beat up cars were in plain view in the parking lot.
The man moved the truck, to a different church and its parking lot where he and his wife have been going to that church ever since. She did promise that upon their return from vacation, they might return to the church here. You see, this church was where their children were baptized and confirmed.
It is a challenge for us to do what we are told in Colossians 4:6, 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:6 (NKJV)
It is even harder sometimes, for our words to be Christ’s as we respond to those who’ve sinned against us. It is hard for us to forgive those whose words may not have been as gracious to us, for in that same way we are tempted not to be gracious.
How we see them, determines how we speak to them
I’ve joked once or twice about not putting Christian bumper stickers on my car, because I don’t want my driving patterns to reflect badly on God. There is some truth in that, and the same thing when not thinking about representing God, we step on our tongues and insert our foot in our mouths. There is one thought – maybe we just never claim to talk for God? Then people wouldn’t blame God for our failings – right?
But then, we are ignoring the multitude of scriptures that talk about the people of God, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, being God’s voice to call people out of darkness and sin, to share in His peace. We need a better solution than just being quiet about our faith, our of fear of misrepresenting God.
It is found in the first verse of our epistle reading, St. Paul writes,
“16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
Most of our problem, controlling our tongue is because we look at people as un-redeemed, or not worth our time, or for that matter, God’s time. Maybe we are snobs, and think others are below us, or that they are just different, or maybe, even as we look around this room, we think – “thank God I’m not like that sinner…”
How we interact with people is based often in how we “see” them, how we perceive their value to us, to society. It isn’t just the generations represented in this room – it’s been a problem even back to the time of Christ…
For some, including Paul who wrote this letter, saw Jesus as illegitimate, as an outcast, as an wandering religious kook – who, because of a lack of education, couldn’t possibly understand the deepest part of the Jewish faith… to the extent Paul really persecuted the people whose trust was in Christ. Paul would realize Jesus was more than homeless religious fanatic… that he was the Son of God, and what it mean – that Jesus would die on the cross.
The difference comes into play when we stop looking at them based on human standards of value, but understand how Christ sees every man, woman and child that has ever existed, and when we consider their value to Him.
How does Christ see them?
In verse 17, we are told that anyone who belongs to Christ isn’t just waiting to become something else – they have become something new already. It’s passages like this – and the discussion between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus that we get the concept of being born again, the washing of rebirth that we commonly call baptism.
Which Is how we are to see each other – as people whose value is not measured according to value on earth, but rather value to God. Who thought enough of us, who valued us enough, that He reconciled the world to himself – He brought us back – He reconciled us, He cleanse us, the ways scripture describes this incredible work we given “church words” like justified and sanctified, ransomed and redeemed, and the one in this passage – reconciled.
As in reconciling a checkbook, or a set of accounts, where not only is everything accurate, but it is the way it should be – every negative entry accounted for and every error corrected. Where there is nothing left to devalue what is, by God’s account – priceless and precious. Where after everything is accounted for – and everything is checked – it all balances….
And this miracle – the way that every sin has been paid for – Paul describes in verse 21:
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
That is Christianity simply put – God loved the people He created, to the extent He has taken care of our sin. He values us, our company, our presence, He values us enough to let Jesus bear all of our debt on the cross. All of it.
That is how, then we are to relate to each other, with the same value as God has for us…. We are to each other as people God cared enough that Jesus would die for them.
The offer on the table…which we take to them
That then leads us back to the original concept – that people base their perception of God on how we treat them, of the things we say, and don’t say…
That we are His ambassadors, given the task of reconciling all people to God. That we have the responsibility to plead with those who don’t know Jesus, who don’t know the love of the father, to come back, just like the prodigal does, when he remembers how his father treated all of his people.
To see it through – we need to look at others, as those God would die for, for indeed He did. We need, for our own deeper understanding of God’s love for us, to realize it extends to all – that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would be reconciled – that’s why Christ came to reconcile us all – so that all children of God could always come home.
That Is the glorious message we have been tasked with, the message we, as Christ’s ambassadors are tasked to deliver… and no other message then this… that all would come back to God…
That they would all know His love…
His mercy…
His peace.
The peace of God that is beyond all understanding, the peace in which we are kept, for we dwell, reconciled in and by Christ Jesus. AMEN!
Why Do We Need to Play God? Dealing with Anger and Wrath
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
1 GOD spoke all these words: 2 I am GOD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. 3 No other gods, only me. Exodus 20:1-3 (MSG)
For the last week, I have been as angry as I can get, saddened by an action taken, that I can only describe as wrong, as a cruel betrayal. From my perspective, the betrayal is heinous, as hideous, and all the more, it was unnecessary for any action to be taken. I am still trying to chart a course that will allow me to speak clearly and confront it, even thought I presume it will not matter.
It probably doesn’t help that in the midst of this, I have been helping people deal with the death of loved ones. Death has a way of putting things in perspective, of causing us to realize how incredibly helpless we seem to be, of how life is still but a mystery, and death, a great equalizer.
As I prepare for another memorial service today, of a man who was one of those guys, that pastors need, someone who allows us to be…human, to be ticked off, to blow off steam and to work together, I started to wonder…
Why do we so need to play God? Why do we expect that we have a right to righteous indignation (are we righteous enough ourselves in the first place?), to strike out with wrath, to get vengeance (and revenge). Haven’t we had to face our own failures? Don’t we realize we deserve wrath? Don’t we gather on Sundays (at least some of the time) to celebrate that we have been shown mercy?
We don’t have to play God – don’t we realize we have One? One who delivers us from truly righteous indignation, the One who has the right to wrath, and would so easily pass on it, so that He could embrace us as His children, give us comfort and peace, and walk with us, sharing every moment of every day, pointing out the blessings that He created, and reminding us that His greatest masterpiece….
Is His people, reconciled to His, made part of His family, welcomed into His presence.
Lord this day, help me contemplate how to address that which has been done that is evil, not to pass judgment on those who took part in it, but to heal its damage, to depend on you to see created an atmosphere where forgiveness is sought, where mercy is dominant, where love prevails.
,
