pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Monthly Archives: February 2017


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Do Not…

Reading: Matthew 5: 21-26

In this section of Matthew, Jesus deals with three of the ten commandments.  As always, Jesus seeks to get at the root of the Law instead of just the surface letters.  Today’s segment of this section deals with “do not murder”.  For most people in Jesus’ audience and for most of us reading it today, we hear this commandment and think, ‘no problem’ – we would never think of actually murdering someone.  It is one of the commandments you read and move right by because it seems so easy to abide by.

But Jesus says, not so fast.  He dives right into the heart of this commandment.  He first addresses the root that can cause murder.  Jesus focuses in on anger.  He states that if we are angry with our brother (or sister) then we are subject to judgment.  First, He says, in essence, do not come to the altar seeking God’s forgiveness or blessing if you are harboring anger or if you have wronged someone else.  Jesus advises us to make things right with our human relationships before trying to right our relationship with God.  Second, Jesus advises us to settle disputes quickly and personally – long before it ever gets to the judge.  Jesus is telling us to be personally accountable for our relationships.

On the surface, Jesus is speaking to our relationships with each other.  But there is also an inner layer.  Anger is something that can burn and smolder within us.  Think of the deepest grudge you have ever held or have heard about.  In the original text, the word translated ‘anger’ carried the idea of seething or underlying rage.  If we allow our anger to fester and to feed upon itself, our anger soon comes to match this idea of rage bubbling just below the surface.  It can build pressure until it erupts in a verbal tirade or even in violence.  Suddenly murder may not seem too far away in an extreme case.  In most cases, the words spew forth and much damage is done to our relationship.

It is relatively easy to obey “do not murder”.  The concept of “do not be angry” is much harder to master.  The battle must begin early – we must be honest and open and deal humbly with one another.  We must seek to love first, to listen carefully, and to be quick to reconcile when we wrong another.  May the Lord our God strengthen and encourage us in our walk.


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Choice

Reading: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

As the Hebrews stand on the edge of the Promised Land, they face a whole new life.  It is a life unlike any they have known or heard about.  It is a life that contains options, choices, freedom.  All of the stories they heard as children were of slavery in Egypt and of God’s redemption.  As slaves, the people had to follow Pharaoh’s orders or they died.  Even when God redeemed them and Moses led them out of Egypt, they were ‘free’ but we’re very dependant on God.  They wandered for forty years in the vast desert, dependant on God for everything.  On the occasions when they tested out freedom, like when they built and worshipped the golden calf, the consequences were dire.

What lay ahead was the land of milk and honey.  The land would provide their food.  The toil of their own hands would also play a role in what seemed to produce the crops.  Instead of being the only people isolated together in the desert, now rheyb would live in and amongst many different tribes.  Each of these tribes brought and offered choices.  Who to fight with, who to intermarry with?  Who to shun as outsiders, whobto kneel beside at the altar to an idol?  The Hebrews entered a new land flush with choices and freedoms.

We too live in a land flush with choices and freedom.  We too live as aliens amongst many different tribes.  Not only this, but we live in a world of tolerance and acceptance.  The ‘just do it’ and do whatever you need to to find success mentalities are poor examples of these good ideals.  And to add to this, the list of what our culture idolizes is long.  It is a tough time and place to be a devout Christian.

Each day, we too face the choice that Moses presented to the Hebrews: choose life through God or choose death through the world.  When we choose God, we are choosing the narrow road.  Our choices are not unlimited but are bound by God.  All of our choices and decisions must be filtered through lens of ‘What is God’s will in this’?  How we speak, act, and do must also be aligned with God’s will.  When we choose life through God we are choosing life in Christ.  When our choice is Jesus and we choose to declare Him the Lord of our life, we hand it all over to Him, surrendering all that we are.  When we choose life in Christ, we are choosing to become slaves to His love, hope, mercy, compassion, …  And what a life of freedom it is!  There is a choice to be made.  What is your choice?


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Choose Life

Reading: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

The Hebrew people are on the brink of the Promised Land.  400 years in slavery in Egypt are not too far in the rear view mirror.  As God’s people began to experience life lived in freedom, God gave them the Ten Commandments.  These commandments gave guidance on how to live in a right relationship with God and with one another.  The commands are both quite simple and also encompass much.  The people have had their struggles living with these ten commandments, so as they prepare to begin a new era, a new way of life, Moses seeks to remind them one last time.  Moses urges them to “choose life” because he knows that living in the land of milk and honey with foreign cultures all around will be a great challenge to the people, to their relationship with God, and to their relationship with one another.

This choice sounds so familiar to me.  Each day when I rise, I can choose to seek God with all of my being and to “walk in His ways”.  It is the choice Moses begins his address with: “I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction”.  On my own, I am prone to temptation and sin.  On those days and in those moments when I do not intentionally choose God, I may not be doomed for immediate death and destruction, but it begins me on that path.  If I do not quickly see the consequences of my poor choices, I can soon find myself “bowing down to other gods”.  It is necessary for me to begin each day choosing to follow God’s ways, seeking to live in right relationships with God and those around me.  When my first few steps and my first few decisions begin with God, then the rest of the day tends to follow.

When we “choose life”, we are blessed by God.  The blessing is not necessarily in financial terms or in any other earthly measure.  The blessing comes in the peace and assurance of being held in God’s eternal hands.  The blessing comes with hope and contentment in this life and in the life to come.  The blessing comes in abiding in God’s love and grace.  This day, what do you choose?


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Salt and Light

Reading: Matthew 5: 13-20

As follower of Christ, we are called to be both salt and light. Both are essential roles in our Christian witness.  If we fail to be either, we are only partly carrying out our role.

Traditionally, salt served two purposes – salt preserved and salt flavored.  In a world without refrigeration, preserving food was an essential practice.  Food is crucial to life and is a prescious commodity, so preserving what you did not eat when you killed an animal would later sustain life.  In much the same way, our faith preserves us.  Through prayer, study, and worhsip we coat our hearts and minds with the things of God.  Then both in the day to day and in the trials, our faith preserves who we are at our core, keeping us grounded in Christ.

Sal is also a flavoring.  Many foods are bland or dull without salt.  Our faith is the salt that flavors our life.  It is also our faith that flavors the lives of those around us.  Who we are, what we do, the words we choose, how we treat others – all are flavored by our faith.  The ‘flavors’ our faith adds to all these things is love, truth, compassion, honesty, understanding…

Traditionally, light was held up to illuminate or show the way to things around the source of the light.  For example, a city was built upon a hilltop or a lamp was placed upon a stand.  The analogies of lighting the way or of casting aside the darkness are what Jesus refers to as He calls on us to be light.  Our faith should shine out from us, into the world.  Our faith should radiate out from within, bringing hope and promise and vision to a world living in darkness.  Our faith must not be private – hidden under a bowl – but public and out there for all to see.  It is through seeing our faith lived out that others see the true light and are guided towards a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We are called to be salt and light.  We each have opportunities each day to be these things to a world in need.  May we make the most of what God sends out way, seeking to bear witness to the faith we hold dear.


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Gospel of Love

Reading: Isaiah 58: 9b-12

Isaiah calls upon faithful Israelites to live out their faith by being compassionate and by reaching out to the hungry and others in need.  He calls for God’s people to break the yokes of oppression and to “spend” oneself meeting the needs of the less fortunate.  There are two components that drive this call.  One is outward and one is inward.  The outward component is the love that flows throughout the Bible.  The call to love one another without limitation is modeled by God in the covenant with Israel.  It is the promise to love no matter what.  This model is continued in the love for all of mankind exhibited and lived out by Jesus.  The call to love our neighbors as self that began in Leviticus 19:18 is repeated in the New Testament ad Jesus declared this one of the two great commandments.  This love involves “spending” oneself for others.

The second component is inward.  When we live life as compassionate people spending ourself for others, then God is at work within us.  When we are givers instead of takers, we see and live life in a new way.  We ourselves become so much more aware of and grateful for all the ways that God blesses us.  This inner attitude of gratitude is contagious, leading us to reach out to others, to meet their needs, to work to root out injustices they face, and to end any oppression that they are living under.  When we are faithful in living out the gospel of love, God renews us with His love and watches over us with His care.

On our mission trip last summer, one group was working in a park.  During a morning water break a man in need wandered over.  The group gave him some water and talked with him for a few minutes.  Later, at lunch time, a girl noticed the man on a bench across the park.  She walked over and gave the man her sack lunch.  Another youth brought over a bottle of water.  Compassion for one in need.  Loving others as God loves us.  Thinking of others above self.  It was a great witness to God’s love.  May we too be willing bearers of the light and love of Christ.


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Kingdom Builders

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2: 12-16

As followers of Jesus Christ, we receive the Spirit from God.  Through our baptism we become part of the family of God.  When we accept Christ as the Lord of our life, we are blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  It is the Spirit that helps us to discern and understand the things of God.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we come to know the gifts and talents that God has blessed us with and how to use them for the glory of God.

Paul writes to the church in Corinth to encourage them and to spur them on to action.  Paul reminds them that when they allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them that they will speak not with human words and wisdom but instead they will speak words taught by the Spirit.  With the power of the Holy Spirit they will speak to others “expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words”.  God will fill them with “the mind of Christ” so that they are able to share Jesus’ light and love with others.

Both remain true today.  God has blessed every member of every church with gifts to be used for the kingdom.  As members of the body of Christ, we are called to help each other discover our gifts and talents.  We do this through fellowship, by getting to know one another, and by inviting one another to come along as we go forth to serve Christ in the world.  We also do this through prayer and study, allowing the Spirit time and space to reveal who God created us to be.  Once we know our gifts and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the use of our gifts, then through the power of God we will be able to do great things for the kingdom of God.

May we each play our role well – both by seeking the Holy Spirit and by faithfully serving God with the gifts we have been blessed with.  May we each be kingdom builders today.


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Light

Reading: Matthew 5: 13-16

Upon entering the old gold mining shaft, it seems like the old coffee can lanterns are just not very bright.  But as we proceed and our eyes adjust to the darkness of the cave, those little candles seem awfully bright.  Usually when we get to the small room at the end of the main tunnel, we have a short devotional and then blow out all the candles.  In that moment it is absolutely dark.  After a short prayer, we relight one candle.  It seems so bright.  As we pass the light from one lantern to the next, the small room becomes brightly illuminated.

Jesus’ words today speak of us being a light in the darkness.  We need to be a light because, in the world, there is much darkness.  Satan created much darkness in people’s lives.  Through the lies and deceptions Satan tricks and leads many into sin.  Jesus calls us to be the light that shines into this darkness in people’s lives.  Just as the small candle lit up that room in the cave, the light of Christ within us can expose what lingers in the dark.  Sometimes the light is a relief as it spreads and casts out the darkness.  Sometimes the light is very bright at first and causes one to recoil – just like that one candle that was relit after the time in darkness.  But gradually the light is welcomed as the love of Christ begins to work in their heart.

The light we bring is so often what one living in darkness so desires.  When one feels stuck or lost in life and does not know where to turn or how to even get moving, the light can guide their path as the Holy Spirit gets ahold of them.  When one is mired in the pain or loss or grief that life has brought, the light brings warmth and hope in the arms of the great Comforter.  When one is trapped in addiction or some other situation, the light reveals the first steps of recovery as the loving Healer touches their life.  When one cannot see past their doubt or feelings of unworthiness, the light of the compassionate Redeemer takes them by the hand and pours in love and value as a child of God.

We are children of the Light.  “Let your light shine before all men so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”.  Be the light today!


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God’s Power

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2: 1-16

Paul was well-educated and knew the Jewish faith inside out.  He could quote from the scriptures all day long.  He could probably recite all 623 codes found in the Law.  Paul was a man with great knowledge.  And he was very smart – he knew that the power to transform lives was held by God alone.  So Paul chose to proclaim faith, not religion.  Paul chose to share the words brought to him by the Spirit instead of relying on all the fancy religious terms and rules he knew so well.  Paul chose to speak from the heart and not the mind.

When we come to the sacred place of being able to share our faith with someone, they want to know the source of our joy, peace, and contentment.  They want to know how God has transformed us.  They want to know how accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will change them forever.  There is no interest in knowing what committee we are on or where to sign up to be an usher.  The seeker simply wants to feel what we feel and to experience the power of Christ in their life.  They want to hear and feel from our hearts what it means to be in a relationship with Jesus.

Others will come to us in times of pain or brokenness.  They often do not know where else to turn.  They have exhausted their other options.  Some have a sense that only God can help.  It may be prompted by a sudden tragedy, by an unexpected job loss, a request for a divorce that comes out of nowhere.  Here too we must speak from the heart and must rely on the power of God to give us the words to say.  Like Paul, we must trust in God to lead and guide us and to help us “speak not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths”.  In situations that are truly beyond us and make us feel inadequate, we must call upon God and seek the power of God.  Then the words we speak will be the wisdom of God.

In all things we must rely on the Lord our God.  This is true of our words, our actions, our relationships.   May we ever seek God first, trusting fully in God’s power alone.