pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Monthly Archives: March 2014


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Thanks Be to JC!!

In Romans 5 we find many of the great cornerstones of our faith.  Paul had quite a way with words!  In the first part of Romans 5 Paul reviews the basics of the faith – Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead.  Jesus made the choice to die for our sins.  He chose to take upon himself the sin of the world and to shed His own blood for us.  Through Jesus, God restored every person’s connection to Himself.  Up to this point there was a lack of personal connection.  The priests played the role of intermediary between God and the Jewish people.  Sacrifices were made on behalf of the people to atone for their sins.  Reconciliation came through these ritual sacrifices.

As Paul writes, at just the right time Christ died for us.  While we were still sinners, He died for us.  Jesus was and is our sacrifice.  He opened to us and to all mankind that conduit to God.  We come ourselves before God seeking forgiveness so that we can be reconciled to Him.  We do not need a human intermediary.  Nor do we need a ritual sacrifice.  For us that was and is Jesus on the cross.  Because Jesus defeated death and rose to live eternally, He will always be there to intercede on our behalf.  He will always be with us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to guide and lead us in this life.  Through Him we grow to be more and more ike the Father.  Through him we are continually reconciled.  Through Him we repent, are washed clean, and are restored to the righteous relationship with God.  Thanks be to Jesus Christ!!


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His Mystery and Power

How does God see our hearts today?  Does He see us like the Israelites who saw the mighty miracles of their exodus story yet chose to test God almost as soon as they were across the Red Sea? (Psalm 95: 7b-11)

In our lives we see the beauty of creation, witness the miracle of a birth, experience healing from a rare disease, … We give thanks yet so often in the same breath say, “but could You also…?”

Instead we should take the time to rest in the creation and mystery of God.  Maybe even sing a song of praise to Him!  But most importantly, acknowledge Him as the creator and ruler of it all.  Bow or kneel before His awesomeness and take notice of the Lord almighty.  Draw in a deep breath, focus in on His presence, and lift up a long, slow thanks.


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Don’t Worry, He Can Take It

In Exodus 7 the Israelites depart from the Desert of Sin and head out on the path that God directs them to follow. As they wandered they started to grumble – they were in a desert with no water. You and I would grumble too. But they went a step beyond where you or I would normally go. The Israelites come to God and almost accuse Him of a lack of care and concern for them. After all, they are in a desert and they are thirst and God is providing them with water. It kinda makes sense.

At times, in my own mind, I may question God and may even wonder why He allowed this to happen or wonder why He did not choose to intervene in this situation or that one. Sometimes I struggle with reconciling what I know of God with what I see happening in His world. But I don’t ever come close to accusing God of something.

Maybe this disparity about how we each relate to God reveals some things about us and some things about the Israelites. The Israelites certainly had a different comfort level with God. They felt that God would listen to their complaints and that He would listen and that maybe He would even fix things. We don’t see our relationship as that personal. We don’t see God as our direct caretaker. And I wonder ‘why not?’

Many times we pray for something or for someone. Last week, a fellow church member asked me to pray for a friend’s daughter who was very ill. The friend’s family lives in another state and I do not know them. But one morning later in the week I felt the Spirit move me as I prayed for this girl and her family – to tell God that I trusted in Him to bring her healing. I believe He is a mighty God and that He can do anything. So I placed this girl into His hands. Sunday morning my friend told me that she passed away. For a few minutes I was almost at a loss for words and for thought. I wondered how God could allow this. But then came my understanding. God did bring her healing. And in the midst of this tragedy He will continue to be present for this family. He will love on and comfort and get them through this. He will send the right words they need to hear and will send them the people they need to have in their life right now. He is a mighty God.

And just like we wrestle with what God lays before us from time to time, the people of Moses wrestled with God. From the expression of their frustration, the Israelites came to learn something. We need to learn this lesson as well. They came to see God’s mercy in His repsonse to their complaint. They came to know Him more. When we come to God with all of our good, bad, and ugly, we too come to know Him better. And don’t worry – He’s a big god, He can take it!

 


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Waiting Long Enough

Interesting thought in one of my devotionals this morning: what would an encounter with Jesus at the water cooler in the break room look like?  It is a pretty cool twist to put ourselves in a modern version of the Samaritan woman from Sychar meeting Jesus at Jacob’s well.  I may not have 5 wives and a current live-in, but Jesus would certainly have plenty of other sins to pick from!  JC: “John, what about that control that you like to keep such a tight grasp upon?  Or what about how you like to judge so-and-so?  Or …”  Would you, like me, be begging for Him to stop?  Would I be more astonished that He knew all these things or more embarrassed that He did?  Would I stick around or “remember” another meeting that I had to get to?

I really admire the woman at the well for sticking it out.  In her culture a Jew did not talk to a Samaritan, especially to a woman.  But here a man she does not know is talking to her.  And He is telling her things about her life that He shouldn’t know.  Being a woman who has had five husbands and is now living with a boyfriend, she must have been used to begin looked down upon.  But she must have sensed that Jesus had something more to offer than an insight or two into her life.  She digs in and connects with Jesus.  She leaves this encounter wanting to bring everyone she knows to meet this Jesus.

Today in our little daily routines, will we encounter the living God?  He will certainly be there.  The question is: will we be willing enough to stick around long enough to meet Jesus?  Will we be aware enough to see the potential of the situation? Will we be resolute enough to drink of the living water that He offers?  Will we wait long enough to be filled so much that we go forth seeking to share what we have just found?  Today, may we wait long enough to encounter Chrst in those we meet!


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Tuning Into God

On Sunday mornings we are pretty good at praising and worshipping God.  The hymns or songs remind us of our relationship to and with God and to and with our fellow man.  In the praise song “Holy Is the Lord” we sing these words: ‘We bow down and worship Him now; how great and awesome is He.’  In the prayers and liturgies we are also drawn to God and community.  In our quiet times at home, at work, in the park… alone with our Bible, devotional, journal, … we too can grow in our relationship with God.  These are the times we would expect to experience God.  Worship and ‘alone time’ are times when we do experience and raw close to our God.

But God is always here.  God doesn’t slumber or sleep or go on vacation.  If He is always here, then we could always be with Him too.  But are we?  Do we go through our day breathing in and out God?  Today, as we go through our day, may we take a few seconds in each encounter to see God in the people we meet, in each experience we have with His world, and, most of all, in the way He touches our life throughout the day today.


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May It Blow Strong

Nicodemus visits Jesus with a purpose.  Yet he never gets to ask his question.  Jesus decides the topic and tenor of the conversation before his “guest” can initiate it.  Like so many other times in the Gospels, it seems that Jesus knows just what this person standing in front of him needs to hear.  We do not know for sure which Jesus speaks of – baptism of being reborn spiritually.  Maybe it is both.  In Jewish tradition baptism was for proselytes.  We too view baptism as an initiation into the faith.  For some churches it is akin to confirmation or in others to a believer’s baptism.  In both cases it is roughly equal to a confession of faith.

The “pnuema” or wind that Jesus speaks of is fascinating.  Also challenging!  We cannot see when or where or why the wind begins.  Scientifically we can explain ‘how’ the wind is created.

In our faith we cannot explain when or where or why the Holy Spirit enters into our lives. We do have Biblical explanations and examples of how the Holy Spirit came to enter the world and how it functions in our lives.  But for most of us, just like the wind, the Spirit comes and goes from our lives.  There is no question in our minds, hearts, or souls, that the presence is with us.  The Holy Spirit is there as surely as the wind rustling the leaves outside.  The strong power guides us and leads us.  It calls us to action at times and to repentance at others.  It draws us closer to God.  And like the wind that blows away the dust and the leaves, the Holy Spirit clears away the chaff so that we are left standing on the rock, on Jesus Christ.  May the Spirit blow strongly in your life this day!!


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The Questions

This week’s gospel lesson from the lectionary is the story of Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night to ask him a few questions.  Nicodemus acknowledges that Jesus is sent from God – they know this from the miracles Jesus has done and from the teaching he shares.  Yet Nicodemus and friends (who are not here with him) don’t quite get that Jesus IS God.  Jesus and Nicodemus speak of begin born of the spirit and this confuses Nicodemus.  Jesus tells him that belief in Christ leads to salvation and eternal life.  This passage contains the famous John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world…”  It also contains verse 17: “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Many people today have faith like Nicodemus.  They keep their faith pretty secretive, hidden or kept neatly tucked into Sunday morning  They prefer to keep their faith a private affair.  If others knew they went to church they might expect certain behaviors…  It’s just easier to keep their faith private.  Are you living an easy faith?

Others out there also have a curiosity like Nicodemus.  They see, hear, and catch glimpses of what true faith is all about.  They want to know more.  They will be in the lookout for you so that they can quiz you.  There are some questions they want to ask.  The question for us is:  will they recognize you?

Hopefully the answer to these two questions is ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – but which answer goes to which question?  May we choose to live boldly for our faith so that Jesus’ light shines into all of the dark places that we will walk by today.  And may we be attuned to the call of God, so that when someone whispers, “Hey, can I ask you a question?” from out of the shadows, we hear their voice and stop to talk with them.


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What Gets You Into Heaven?

Does being a member of a church or attending worship equate to salvation?  Does being saved require going to church ‘x’ times a month?  Paul writes that we are justified (or made right with God) only by our faith.  Yet in our human nature we often go to the question, “Am I good enough?”  Am I good enough to be loved by God?  Am I good enough to attend church?  Am I good enough to find happiness?  Am I good enough too….   Yes, yes, yes, and YES!!!

We are put into good standing in our relationship with God becuase of what we believe, not because of what we do.  When we come to trust in God with our lives, job, money, family, time… then we are living in a right relationship with God.  Do works or what we do matter?  Of course.  Later in the Bibe we read that faith without works is dead.  As we grow in our relationship with God, we come to see that His great love for us calls us to share that love with the hurting and broken world in which we live.  Why?  So that they too can come to know His saving love.

We cannot buy or earn righteousness or a right relationship with God.  We don’t get saved through membership or attendance, but by living and walking daily with God.  When our lives are guided by a trust and belief in God, then we come to live by faith.


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Always Ready

Does anyone watch over you at night?  In a sense the police watch over the town as we sleep at night, but they do not guard each individual house.  A security company protects the church at night, but in reality they are only there a fraction of the night-time.  We tend to rely on locks and alarm systems to keep watch over us at night.

When the psalmist penned #121 it was a different culture but some things existed then that exist now.  Thieves and robbers broke into houses and people were concerned about being safe at night.  And like us today, they lived in and among people who followed other religions and worshipped different gods.  But in contrast to God, the people around the Israelites believed in gods that slept at night or even for a whole season.  They worshipped gods that had to be appeased or bought.  For the psalmist, for the Israelites, and for us, we worship a God who is always there.  We worship a God who never sleeps, who always watches over us, and who keeps us from harm.  Our God is always present.

Yet how often we bounce between God and our own personal gods!  We can easily stay late at work with an eye on that possible promotion or we can jealously eye the neighbor’s new car with a thought on how we could afford a new car too.  We can plop down on the couch in front of the TV instead of at the table with our Bible.  Even in these times God is with us.  Perhaps a little sad but still right there with us.  And always ready.  Always  ready to guide us, to guard our heart, to protect us, to love us, to welcome us home. Continue reading →


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Now and Forevermore

The Psalmist asks, “Where does my help com from?”  How would you answer that question?  In Psalm 121 the writer is reminding the people, and us, that help does not come from the false gods up on the hilltop or from the many sources that we can turn to for help.  For the Israelites and for us, help comes from the maker of heaven and earth and of all things that dwell upon the earth.  In this ‘song of trust’ that the Israelites would sing, they were reminded of God’s constant watch over them.  We too have this grace – God is our all-in-all every second of each moment of each day.

Like the people who wold sing this song to remind themselves, we too sometimes need reminders.  Today we can come to put our trust in ‘things’ other than God.  We can turn to modern medicine, the latest technology, all sorts of ‘professionals’ and other ‘experts’, and even friends and family.  While each of these  things may be helpful to a degree, we must always keep in mind that God is the one in whom we put our ultimate trust.  God is the only one really in control.

Whether gathered together in corporate worship or in a study, alone with our Bibles, or gathered with a few fellow believes, at all times we have the same purpose – to more fully develop our faith and trust in God.  We must remember that He never slumbers or sleeps.  We must remember that He is always watching over us.  Both now and forevermore.