Blog Archives
The Greatest Challenges Revealed, and Crushed: The Nature of the Lord’s Supper.
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to His cross.
“Now in giving the following instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must in fact be divisions among you, so that those of you who are approved may be evident.Now when you come together at the same place, you are not really eating the Lord’s Supper.” (1 Corinthians 11:17–20, NET)
If the Sacrament of the Altar occupies such a central position in the Church, it is easily understood why it has become time and again the object of dissension and controversy. Every disease of the Church becomes manifest at the Lord’s Table….
Just as the Church of Christ becomes conscious of its own nature as it gathers around the Lord’s Table, so its weaknesses, errors, and sins also become manifest on that occasion.
It has been said by scientists that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As a theologian, I know this not to be true. There are cases where the reaction is significantly over the top of the original action.
If it wasn’t this way, being a pastor would be worthless, and ministry would be impossible.
I believe Sasse was right – that at the Lord’s Supper dissension and division become manifest most clearly. It is there that diseased and divided churches find no where to hide their brokenness.
I am not just talking about theological disagreements about the Lord’s Supper, fro even in those churches who do not recognize the miracle and mystery, divisions become so much clearer at the Altar. For the hope of healing isn’t seen, there is just contention, and avoidance. (this is why sharing/passing the peace once came after the words of institution and still does). And the lack of intimacy within the family of God leads to distancing ourselves from God.
Anecdotal stories abound about this – from the situation in Corinth to those who time their approach to the altar so as not to be close to those they are divided from–something that may be evident to others in the church.
If there is room for division- if that is the observed action at the Lord’s Supper, how much greater is the reaction – the invasion of the Lord and His mercy? To look upon and receive the Body sacrificed for us, and the Blood shed for the forgiveness of all our sin. To think and dwell on this mystery brings healing of damaged emotions and damaged relationships – this too is the work of the Holy Spirit–the comforter. It is the power of the gospel which saves and joins us all together, and breaks down the differences.
This isn’t magic, or some medicinal nature. It is because of the promise–the forgiveness of sins, both of me and my adversary. FOr if God is communing with one, He is communing with the other. And what was once coming together for worse (judgment in fact) is now coming together unified in Christ.
For what division, what way of arguing is worth the companionship and communion of God?
These divisions, the broken relationships, even when based on errors need God’s intervention, His love and mercy to flood our hearts (ours – as in everyone together). It is then, based on His word, that we will find things healing, being reconciled and redeemed to Him.
This is our God. Amen
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (p. 3). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
The Hands, washed and innocent? A Lenten Sermon about Jesus… and Pilate
By My Hands, for My Sake
The Hands, Washed and Innocent?
Matthew 27
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ help you understand what it means to have clean hands, and therefore no guilt or shame….
- Who was Pilate kidding?
Barabba’s hands were freed, Judas’s hands threw back the money, Nicodemus’s hands took the Lord Jesus, down from the victorious cross. Adam’s hands would not die, but would work the ground…While their sin was the factor in Christ’s death, only one set of hands could had done anything about it…
And he decided to wash his hands.
As if that would remove the blood that was shed, as the spikes entered the wrists and ankles, and the blood and water which poured out as the centurion’s spear entered Christ’s sacred side…
Who the heck did Pilate think he was kidding?
He wasn’t fooling the Jewish leaders, they realized that with enough voices shouting, they could get him to back down.
He wasn’t fooling his army, they would go ahead, and crucify him according to Roman standards
He wasn’t fooling his wife, who told him to have nothing to do with the holy man.
And he wasn’t fooling Jesus… for God knew his heart.
While Pilate claims he isn’t guilty of the death of Jesus, he needed Jesus to die as much as any of us.
Paul will write of Pilate and his friend Herod,
“7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 (NLT2)
Pilate, no matter how hard he tried, was as guilty as any of the death of Jesus…it was by his hand the order was given to crucify Jesus….
He didn’t fool anyone… it was by his hands… and ours.
- Do We Try to Duck Responsibility for our Decisions?
Over the years, I have heard people talk about Christ’s death, and “who killed him.” Even today some people want to blame the Jews, or at least the Jesus leaders. Others want to blame the soldiers, or the Roman politicians.
Like so much of what goes on in this world, we want someone to blame! Someone to hold responsible for causing the mess, so that we have someone to hold responsible for cleaning up the mess caused by the sin.
I don’t care if it is a big issue, like wars and homelessness. Or something in your home, like who left the garage door open, or who forgot to flush the toilet.
We all know the name of the guilty person, some illusive guy named “not me!” or perhaps, “not us!”
Pilate’s answer would work to- “I am innocent – you are responsible!” And so more damage is done, as sin breaks apart another relationship.
Some of us even have the nerve to blame God for the mess, the sin, the decision.
And we like Pilate – try to wash our hands to prove we are innocent!
- It was for Our Sake…
In researching this sermon, I came across an interesting passage about Pilate. It was written by an early church writer and leader named Tertullian, who wrote, “All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Cæsar, who was at the time Tiberius[1]” Other writers insist that he was a martyr, who was killed because he wouldn’t give up on his being a witness to Jesus’ death… and came to believe he rose from the dead.
I hope these testimonies are true!
The man who tried to wash his hands of the sin of signing the death warrant, cleansed of the sin by being united in baptism with the Lord?
The hands that once tried to place the responsibility in other hands accepting it, and having it forgiven! What an incredible story!
It is almost as good as our sins, which we blamed on others, being forgiven!
We don’t have to pass the buck anymore, and the buck doesn’t stop here. It stops there – Paul says it is nailed to the cross, where Jesus took on its incredible burden.
That’s the point – Jesus died at our hands, but He died for our sake.
He washed us, as He did the disciples’ feet, and to quote what He said to Peter,– you are clean indeed.
This is true for all who have confessed their sin, seeking not to justify it, but to accept and receive God’s promise of forgiveness.
[1] Tertullian. “The Apology.” Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, edited by Alexander Roberts et al., translated by S. Thelwall, vol. 3, Christian Literature Company, 1885, p. 35.
Accomplished by His Anguish: God Will Forget! A Lenten Sermon on Psalm 25:1-10
My Church’s Building – our goal – to see it restored and filled with people who find healing in Christ Jesus, while helping others heal
Accomplished by His Anguish
God WILL FORGET
Psalm 25:1-10
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ cause you to experience peace beyond all understanding!
- The Paradox of Divine Impossibilities
It is said that there is nothing new under the sun. or was that the Son? Both work!
This is especially true for those that think they have finally proven that God doesn’t exist! Usually, they ask me or just ask the air a philosophical question that cannot be answered, at least in their opinion.
One of the classic questions is this, “If God is all powerful, can He make a rock so big that He can’t lift it?”
Or “if Jesus is God, how could He be born, and die?”
Some hit a little closer home, “how could a good God allow suffering, or evil?
Or the one that comes out of the Psalm today, “If God is all-knowing—how can He “not remember the rebellious sins of my youth?” I mean—He knows everything, so how can He not know all the bad things I did back in 1981? That doesn’t seem to make sense. Either He is all knowing, or if He doesn’t know my sins, He’s not knowing—and that would mean He’s not God, right?
So if God has to be all knowing, how can He answer the prayer to forget the sins of the psalmist’s youth, or more importantly—ours?
- Avoiding Disgrace!
As the psalmist starts this intimate conversation with God he is telling God that he will surrender his life to God—that he completely trusts God! Hear it again,
O LORD, I give my life to you. 2 I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat
The more I read this, the more it sounded like a husband trying to get on the good side of his wife, before buying a new guitar…or a child who broke something, and needs to convince dad to fix it…
God—I’m giving you my life…and I trust you…sooooo…. don’t let me be disgraced! Lord, I’m losing over here don’t let my enemies and adversaries see it!
Doesn’t that mean that the psalmist did something that was—well–Disgraceful? Doesn’t it mean he was losing whatever battle he was in? You don’t ask for something like not being disgraced or letting your enemies see your embarrassing loss, unless well, it was happening!
Just like when the psalmist pleads, “Show me the right path!” I mean, how far does a guy have to go down the wrong road until he asks for directions?
Life is still like that. How badly do we have to screw up before we ask for help? How much guilt or shame has to crush us before we look for help?
How many times will we go through Lent, without dealing with the weight of sin it encourages us to let God deal with?
That Is why, finally, the psalmist cries out the plea for God to no longer remember the sins of his youth!
- He will forget – more than that – the proper path!
The ability of God to forget, to no longer remember our sins, whether of our youth or our old age, is found in the rest of verse 7, and in verse 8.
“Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O LORD. 8 The LORD is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray.”
While God knows everything, He can choose to overlook and forgive our sins. He’s God, He has that ability and power, and in fact, His love, which will never fail, compels Him to do so!
This is what the Psalmist has learned to count on, what He is sure of, what He needs—the love and compassion/mercy of God, who guides men and women who have gone astray.
I love the picture here! God taking us off the road to hell and putting us on a path leading into the presence of God, our Father! He remembers His love for us, and He sees us, broken, disheveled and lost, and moves all that blocks us from Him.
He then picks us up, battered and now healing, and places us on the path, but it doesn’t end there!
- On the Path
Hear again the last two verses, “9 He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. 10 The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.
The idea translated lead here is simply to accompany us on the road, to be more than just a guide, to travel with us. He teaches us, He guides with unfailing love, He is faithful in doing this….
This is the God we need to learn to cry out to more, this is the love of our God which we need to help others see and experience!
This is our God! This is the God who we can entrust our lives to, this is the God we depend upon…
Because this is the God who embraced the agony and anguish of the cross, because of the joy set before Him, He endured it all – for us. AMEN!
Shine Like Bright Lights! A sermon on Phil. 2:1-4, 14-18
Shine Like Bright Lights
Phil 2:1-18
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ fill your life, as the Holy Spirit turns on all your lights – and may your glow attract many others to Jesus!
- The Lights Coming On
It was different being at the pastor’s conference this year, as I was talking about my first church – just a few desert minutes away. All of a sudden I was back at my computer desk, reading Luther’s Catechisms, realizing the role the Holy Spirit had in my life.
One of those passages comes from the Small Catechism, where it says,
I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith[1]
This word, “enlightened” or “illuminated” or as I prefer to see it, God turns the lights on.
You know that moment, if you were a cartoon there would be a lightbulb come on over your head, and all of a sudden you understood a lot more than you did a second ago? When you make the connections, you didn’t make 20 seconds before.
There is far more to the Holy Spirit turning the lights on, for that light becomes visible to all, as the Holy Spirit shines through us into the darkness caused by crooked and perverse people.
- If there’s any… then why aren’t you
As Paul starts chapter two, one can read a little that at worst he’s mystified, at best he is frustrated more than can be believed. These people, who have come to know Jesus, are struggling with living like Jesus. I want you to hear this passage this way
Haven’t you been encouraged by knowing Jesus has take responsibility for your life? Are you comforted knowing He loves you? Doesn’t the Holy Spirit being there mean anything to you? Hasn’t he changed you, causing you to be gentle with people and want to relieve their burders?
Then why don’t you have one reason for existence as people of the church? Why don’t you love each other, and why don’t you have one mind and purpose? Why are you selfish? Why are you trying to impress others? Why aren’t you humble? Why do you think you are better than….them?
The basic question–with all that God’s done for you—think about it – why aren’t you living more like Jesus?
It’s a good question for each of us to ask ourselves today!!
Okay – it is a hard question to ask but it is good for us to ask it!
Why don’t you act more like Jesus?
Why can’t I act more like Jesus?
- I Want to Share Your Joy!
Paul’s answer to that is simple…
Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.
There in the middle of the passage you see what it critical to living innocent lives without as the children of God.
It is to hold on to the LOGOS ZOE – the Word and the Life.
This isn’t just about reading the scripture, it is about knowing that Jesus Jesus is the Word, and that Jesus is the Life.
It is His promise that we are justified – that we are declared innocent, this is what we have to hold onto – the fact that Jesus promised that He would always be with His people—we have to hang onto Jesus and His promise…
It’s a good thing that “the Lord is with you!
But it that Word of Life that the Holy Spirit uses to cause that enlightenment – that causes the lights to go on in us.
Which causes what described earlier, as the light is seen in our lives. “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.”
The light which comes on in us is Jesus – who is the light of the world. It isn’t some natural light in us that causes people to want to come it is Jesus.
This is what it boils down to – what people see and why they come to trunk or treat, or the women’s tea, or the health fair. You can find all that stuff somewhere else.
But you can’t find Jesus, healing us while we help heal others….
Keep your eyes on Him, remember and rejoice in His promises,
Like the fact He will lift you up.
He will comfort you as you realize He loves you,
The you dwell in communion with the Holy Spirit,
And that the Lord will transform you into His image.
AMEN!
[1] Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 345.
Only One Guy Understood-How Ironic Who it Was! A Sermon for Chirst the King Sunday
Only One Guy Understood—How Ironic
Luke 23:27-43
† In the name of Jesus, Son, Savior, King †
May the grace of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ draw you closer and closer to them! As close as a criminal executed for his bad (crappy) life!
- I Love Good Irony
Pastor Parker knows I like irony, for a few reasons….
But theological Irony? Well, I might need more teaching…to understand that!
Take this cartoon that someone put on the internet (ask Doug to advance slide or use the clicker)
Now, most of us will get the joke—having seen the beloved Peanuts gang’s Thanksgiving special for years…
But what most of you don’t know is that Charles Schultz was a devout Christian and used the Peanuts cartoon as a way to tell people about Jesus!
Linus will go from waiting for the Great Pumpkin in that movie to reciting the story of Jesus’ birth in the Christmas special. Hmmm That’s cool! From waiting for Someone to Come and bring ultimate blessings–to seeing that Someone to come at Christmas! Sound familiar?
Anyone make that connection?
Here is where irony comes in… Lucy kills Jes… err the Great Pumpkin and serves Him up for everyone to eat.
HMMMMMMMM… someone mocked the Peanuts characters and unknowingly revealed one of the most blessed mysteries in scripture. That Jesus would provide His body and blood to us, to help us know He loves us and would die for us! And we would share in that Body and Blood as gather here today!
Pastor thinks Schultz would love this cartoon… He certainly does. I think I do too!
So back to the gospel reading, and more irony!
- The Crowds and Experts (and sometimes us)
So, let’s talk about some serious mocking—or, as they say today—trash talking.
This is even more intense than pastor and I comparing Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers!
Hear the gospel again,
The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
That’s pretty nasty to say to a guy tortured and nailed to a cross to pay for your sins, don’t you think?
Other’s picked up on it, saying,
The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
Even Pilate, the governor, got into the act. This is what he had done…
A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
Man, these people are cruel!
I mean—I can’t see myself being that cruel to a guy was guilty and about to be executed!
Never mind doing that to Jesus, we would never ever do that, would we?
Here is the hard part of the law—we have…
Every time we have tried to kick Jesus off of the throne, by choosing our way, rather than His. Every time we have broken the commandments, or failed to love our neighbor, we deny the fact that He died to save us!
This is harsh—and I wish Pastor was preaching this… o wait- then I would sit there and pay attention…. And hear the law. It would sting and rip my sinful heart to pieces… hmmm… maybe it’s better I am up here…
We need to see our sin as…well sin. We need to see it as just as much a betrayal of Jesus as those people who mocked him, and those who laughed. We have to struggle with it, so that we become as desperate as the man on the cross… whose only hope…hanging there next to Jesus… was Jesus.
- Irony Man
Now we get to the criminal on the cross. Not the dude that mocked Jesus, but the one the Holy Spirit worked on, the one whose heart was opened, who saw Jesus as the Messiah, as the savior
The word for criminal is interesting. Kaka-poi-a-oh. It’s actually two words merged into one. The Poi-a-o one is to craft something—to bring artistic level skill to your work. So this guy is an artist when it comes to what he does…
What he does is the Kaka part. Now, that isn’t what it sounds like! It means the worst of the worse, the scummiest kind of bad actions against others. He was convicted of a capital crime—murder, treason; you know the other options.
And while everyone was mocking Jesus, telling him to save himself—this guy was the one to see that Jesus had to die… that Jesus must die, if there was any hope..
It is ironic—that the baddest, scummiest, crappiest sinner in the crowd was the one to see the need for Christ’s sacrifice… and to say… “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
I think it’s only when we put ourselves in his shoes… when we realize how broken and bad we’ve been, that we can see how wonderful Jesus is! How he is our hope—whether we are facing dealing with the consequences of our sin, or the ultimate consequence of sin as death approaches!
He is our King, the one who came to save us.
No matter how bad our kaka-poi-a-o has been…
We can cry out—Jesus, remember us, dear King!
And at Communion, what is called the Great Feast, I almost said pumpkin—as we celebrate, we recall what He said—do this; remembering me… proclaiming my death for you… until He comes again.
Jesus is here, and He could not save Himself, because He was saving you.
But in doing so, He entered His kingdom, and there will be a day when that Kingdom will be as clearly seen.
Until then, you still dwell in His Kingdom, as surely as the sinner on the cross next to Him, and therefore in His peace that passes all understanding, which He will keep you in…. AMEN!
do I have to be reasonable?
He died for us.
Devotional Thoughts for the Day:
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 (CSBBible)
We need a revival! We need a revival of consecration to death, a revival of happy abandonment to the will of God that will laugh at sacrifice and count it a privilege to bear the cross through the heat and burden of the day.
Reason that is under the devil’s control is harmful, and the more clever and successful it is, the more harm it does. We see this in the case of learned men who on the basis of their reason disagree with the Word. On the other hand, when illuminated by the Holy Spirit, reason helps to interpret the Holy Scriptures
Let us not be surprised to discover our frailty. Let it not come as a shock to see how easily our good behavior breaks down, for little or no reason. Have confidence in the Lord, whose help is always at hand. “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?”3 No one. If we approach our heavenly Father in this way, we will have no grounds for fearing anyone or anything.
Every once in a while I am told the church needs to be more reasonable. What I hear is an accusation that I am not being reasonable, that my logic is somehow flawed because I don’t agree wtih their niche of society, whatever its label. (And if you could narrow society into two basic sides – both sides will use the reason/logic play.
I am enough of a non-conformist that I have to watch myself, tell me that something is reasonable and I might just disagree for the sake of the disgreement. I resonate with Luther’s words, and am so willing to identify someone else’s reasoning as being in league with Satan. It is not hard to see usually, because it is not in agreement with scripture. So I have to watch my own sense of reason, and determine where my sense of reason, and the logic that interprets it, is faulty. Not an easy task! I have a few good friends I can count on to help me. This is the frailty of which St. Josemaria speaks. That frailty should drive us to the cross, to the
This is not the main reason to turn to scripture. The scriptures area there to reveal to us the love of God. But one of the side effects of that revelation is the abandonment to the will of God. To realize that dying to self (and therefore to my self’s reason) is not a major sacrifice.
Revival is not logical, it is not reasonable. It doesn’t have to be, and it is better subject to the Holy Spirit’s movement that to ours. But it can be prayed for, it can be sought, and the sermons and lessons given at our church’s need to aim at that – at seeing the church die and rise with Christ. It will happen in His time, in His way, according to the logic of God.
Ultimately, this is reasonable, ““Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isaiah 1:18 (ESV) That is also revival.
May it happen in our lives, that we we find His reason more satisfying than our own.
A. W. Tozer and Marilynne E. Foster, Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 366-Day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 2007).
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 54: Table Talk, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 54 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 71.
Escrivá, Josemaría. Friends of God . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
We don’t need to play the game…
Devotional Thought of the Day
12 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himselfe before the God of his ancestors. 13 He prayed to him, and the LORD was receptive to his prayer. He granted his requestf and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the LORD is God. 2 Chronicles 33:12-13 CSB
26 Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD: ‘This is what the LORD God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, 27 becausen your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before me, and you tore your clothes and wept before me, I myself have heard’—this is the LORD’s declaration. 28 ‘I will indeed gather you to your ancestors, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace 2 Chron 34:26-28 CSB
Someone wrote to the godly Macarius of Optino that his spiritual counsel had been helpful. “This cannot be,” Macarius wrote in reply. “Only the mistakes are mine. All good advice is the advice of the Spirit of God, His advice that I happened to have heard rightly and to have passed on without distorting it.”
Likewise, they teach that this faith is bound to yield good fruits and that it ought to do good works commanded by God on account of God’s will and not so that we may trust in these works to merit justification before God Article VI, Augsburg Confession
Naturalness and simplicity are two marvelous human virtues which enable men to take in the message of Christ. On the other hand, all that is tangled and complicated, the twisting and turning about one’s own problems—all this builds up a barrier which often prevents people from hearing our Lord’s voice.
Reading about the Kings of Judah can be depressing, it can even rob you of hope. For so many of them rejected the God we know, that their ancestor David knew so well. Mannasseh started out like so many of them, in fact, he may have been the one who strayed the furthest from God, leading people into all forms of idolatry.
Then God entered into the picture… and everything changed.
God brought him back to Jerusalem – completely reversing the captivity that has been prophesied to Hezekiah. His grandson would grasp on to that promise as well, and restore the Temple, the place where God would meet His people, care for them and cleanse them.
They both realized their need for God, and that humbled them. And God healed them, and healed the people,
That is the same kind of spirit that Macarius had, One that realized that anything good in him was because of God, and indeed tracable to Jesus. It is the same thing the Lutheran Confessions testify too – that the believer will do good and righteous thigns, as they dwell in Christ. That is the nature of the Bishop, who gave up the treasure of the church, his own treasures, because ValJean was one of God’s people. It would take a lifetime for ValJean to give up the game… but he did.
It is keeping it simple – because the more complicated we make it, the more plans and strategies we lay down, the more it is about our work, and the less it is about Jesus.
Which brings us to the idea of the church, the people the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, and makes holy by the Blood of Jesus. That is who we are. a bunch of broken people desperately in need of God’s love, and His touch on our lives.
That is what being a normal Christian is about, our need for God, a God who is always there. A God who can redeem us, and what we’ve done, and even find a way to make that into a blessing. So we don’t have ot hide who we are, we dont’ have to make up stories, or play games that make us our to be more moral or virtuous than we are. We can stop wasting time on trying to convicne ourselves and others that we are worth some.
God alreayd provided for that, by letting us nail Jesus to the cross. Sending Him to be nailed there, so that we could be drawn into Him….die to self… and be resurrected to new life.
That is what it all boils down to…
We are in Jesus…..
A. W. Tozer and Marilynne E. Foster, Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 366-Day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 2007).
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 41.
Escrivá, Josemaría. Friends of God . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A New Chapter…and a Restored Hope!
Devotional Thought of the New Year
5 Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD.” Suddenly the pressure was gone— my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared. Psalm 32:5 (MSG)
Brother Lawrence expressed the highest moral wisdom when he testified that if he stumbled and fell he turned at once to God and said, “O Lord, this is what You may expect of me if You leave me to myself.” He then accepted forgiveness, thanked God and gave himself no further concern about the matter.
“Tell the backslider,” says the Lord, “I am married unto him.” Was there ever a tenderer message?
My beloved Jesus, I am not yet perfect; but Thou canst make me perfect. I am not dear to Thee, and it is my own fault, because I have been ungrateful and unfaithful; but Thou canst make me become so, by inebriating me this morning with Thy love.
Gracious and Exalted Savior, we are not worthy to receive the mercy and goodness which Thou dost give us, and on account of our sins are far too unclean and weak rightly to receive this salutary gift. Sanctify us therefore in body and soul by Thy Holy Spirit; prepare us and adorn us with grace to draw near Thy holy Table.
What a way to start a year… with such refreshing prayers of de Ligouri and Loehe, a Catholic Mystic and a Lutheran Pastor. Add in Tozer quoting Brother Lawrence, a protestant quoting Roman Catholic lay monk, and the message is reinforced again. And yet, that is the only way to beging a year….
To realize our imperfection, and our hope!
Such is the way of Christ, who knew our sin, and still died for it. He knew our struggling with it, and sends the Holy Spirit.
It is no wonder deLigouri talks about God causing us to be inebriated to be drunk on the love He pours into us. To be dressed in the very grace of God, to be clothed with jesus.
This has been the way… it has been planned since the beginning, and sinners have become holy by experiencing the giddiness, the feeing lightheaded, that happens as the burdens of guilt, shame and resentment are lifted off of you.
This is how we need to start the new year. This is what you need to experience throughout 2021… It is what I need more than anything as well….forgiveness, pressures and burdens lifted….
God with us…
Rejoice!
A. W. Tozer and Marilynne E. Foster, Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 366-Day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 2007).
Alphonsus de Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, ed. Eugene Grimm, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori (New York; London; Dublin; Cincinnati; St. Louis: Benziger Brothers; R. Washbourne; M. H. Gill & Son, 1887), 89.
William Loehe, Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith, ed. J. Deinzer, trans. F. C. Longaker, Third Edition. (Newport, KY: n.p., 1902), 31–32.
What is Important – A Message Based on 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
What’s Important
1 Cor. 3:1-9
† I.H.S.†
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus help you see God at work, causing you to depend on the fact God loves you!
Teaching Little Ones ( or Big Ones!)
There are a lot of amazing things in life. The Grand Canyon, the dawn on the Atlantic Ocean’s beaches and the sunset’s you see sitting on the sands of the Pacific Ocean. Things people do also amaze me, whether it is skilled athlete, or our musicians.
Or our preschool teachers, especially Lisa and Lorena – who work with the tiniest of toddlers. Keeping them focused on a lesson, and sitting still in chapel, well, mostly still
Keeping big kids focused is hard enough, I can’t imagine the faith that results in patience that God gives our teachers!
That’s why Paul will compare the Corinthians (and us) to infants in Christ! For while they should be focused on what is important, they are not. And so in frustration Paul tells them that he has to treat them like toddlers, or people that have absolutely no clue about the love and mercy of God.
Sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it?
But all we have to do is look around, and we see the leaders who act as if they are playing out back in the playground. Then we see similar things among our church leaders. I will freely admit to getting distracted from what is important, and acting more than a toddler at times! I want what’s mine! Give it back! That’s not fair!
In the background, Jesus waits, for the Holy Spirit is at work… and will use God’s word, including these words penned by Paul, to correct us, to help us to focus, to get us back into what comes close to a line!
Distracted by what is not important
In the readings from 1 Corinthians, we see what was the distraction of the day. It was who the people followed. It must have been a significant problem, for Paul spends some time on it.
For some reason, they tried to establish a spiritual pedigree. I have seen that – even among pastors! They somewhat jokingly compare whether they were trained at our Ft. Wayne Seminary, or St. Louis Serminary! How ludicrous, especially when they know that the best pastors come from Irvine!
Can you imagine if people here argued about whether the Lord’s supper was better from the hand of Pr. Mazemke, or Pr. Rossow, or Pr. Hsu, or Pr. CHen or from me? The bread and the wine are what is important, not whose hand put it into your hand.
If that is true for the communion we serve, it should be true for the message we give. As long as that message is about Jesus, about His love for you, about His forgiveness, that message that we sum up in a couple of statements…
The Lord is with YOU! ( and also with you)
Alleluia! His is risen! (He is risen indeed!) and therefore (we are risen indeed!)
Everything else, including which pastor brought you to know Jesus, or where you learned about His love, isn’t as important as the fact that God loves YOU!
What is important
You see, the intellect, the charisma of the pastor, that is not what caused you to believe. It was not by your reason or strength nor mine. It is, and always will be the presence of the Holy Spirit that causes the growth.
All of us and everything we do is used by the Holy Spirit, whether it is the music team, or Lisa teaching the kids, or Sandi keeping the books, or Dane, Bob, and Tom as they bring other people the Lord’s Supper. Even our coming to the altar is about one thing – letting God do the work of making a masterpiece of our lives,
Hear the verse again,
What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
To truly being to understand that verse, we need to replace the word seed with the word, us,
What’s important is that God makes me grow!
or
What’s important is that God makes us grow!
God causes the growth in each one of us, and in us as a while.
We must realize this my friends, this is what is important, the work God does in your life! In our lives together. Seeing that He is working in our midst, through each other, all to the same purpose of helping everyone know God is actively part of their life. That is perfecting them, transforming them as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians,
“17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. [1]
That is the purpose – that God is making us more and more like Jesus… that’s the goal and that is how God will continue to work in us, and through us.
That is what encourages pastors to do what we do, and empowers us to be there… -when we see people grow in their ability to depend on God, to trust in Him, to believe in Him. For the miracle we see occurring is that transformation that only the Holy Spirit can be credited for…
and so we shall… (lead into doxology…)
Amen!
When A Christian’s Experience is More Important than Knowledge
Devotional Thought of the Day:
5 I trust your love, and I feel like celebrating because you rescued me. 6 You have been good to me, LORD, and I will sing about you.
Psalm 13:5-6 (CEV)
O children of God, seek after a vital experience of the Lord’s lovingkindness, and when you have it, speak positively of it; sing gratefully; shout triumphantly.
548 If you feel the Communion of the Saints—if you live it—you’ll gladly be a man of penance. And you will realize that penance is gaudium etsi laboriosum—“joy in spite of hardship,” and you will feel yourself “allied” to all the penitent souls that have been, that are, and that ever will be.
I grew up among a generation that was told not to focus on experiences, not to trust our feelings. to only focus on a logical, rational presentation of Christianity.
I’ve also seen the other extreme in my youth, where people chased after religious experiences, who wanted to feel the positive vibes that come when experiencing the supernatural, I think those excesses of the late 60’s and 70’s led to the pendulum swing of the 80’s and into the new millenium.
Both sides treat the other side with suspicion, both sides blame the other for the death or at least the hospice status of the church. ANd both try to convince me and others that their focus is the best and only hope, relying not on God for the growth of the church, but on man’s wisdom, and man’s ability to create the right… environment… that will bring about revival.
While I think both are wrong, and grow weary of both, I do think think that a sign of revival is an experience, Not one of great passion, not one of great signs and wonders.
Instead a humbling experience, one that touches the depth of our brokenness, and leaves us tired, exhausted, and in awe of what we’ve encountered… the grace of God.
That is what Spurgeon is talking about with the term loving kindness. cHesed in Hebrew, it is that experience of the merciful love of God that comes to us in our brokenness, in the depth our our sin, when we are with hope, and dries our tears and whispers to us that we are forgiven, that we are being healed, and restored.
That is what Escriva is talking about with the joy in the midst of hardship, the experience that causes us, in the future when we sin again, to pray for repentance and restoration with confidence,
It is the quiet celebration of the Psalmist, who though he believed there was no hope, found that hope in the middle of despair.
We aren’t talking about seeing a miracle that leaves everyone applauding like a Superbowl victory, (Well heaven parties like that) but one that leaves us like the feeling, having worked all night, to see the break of dawn…knowing that peace and rest is near… yet struggling to believe it.
We have to experience this healing, we can’t just “know” it happened once. We need to struggle with it, to ask, ‘could God have really loved me this much, and then be assured, by scripture and by the sacraments, yes, He does.
THis experience is contagious, it sweeps communities and nations, it changes individuals and countries, it changes the church, which welcomes sinners home with confidence, expecting to see the miracle again that reminds us of our miracle…. as we share in something that leaves us… awe doesn’t seem strong enough a word.
This experience can’t be manipulated, it is not subject to our feelings or our knowledge. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing us, even dragging us to the foot of the cross, helping us see we belong there, nailed to the cross, sharing in Christ’s death, and wondering why we are even allowed near Him. And then coming to the realization that because we died with Him, we rise from the dead with Him.
That’s not head knowledge, that is life…and that life has to be lived….
Heavenly Father, help us to see the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, drawing us to the cross, uniting us to His death and resurrection. Help us to see this, not as observers, but from actually experiencing the reality of the SPirit’s work. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN!
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 1322-1325). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
