pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Unwanted Guest

Reading: Luke 7:36 – 8:3

The woman in today’s story is a bit of an unwanted guest.  She is well-known as a sinner, as one who is unclean.  Sins against God were also seen as social sins, so she is one who would have been shunned by any good Jew.  It is curious that she was even allowed in the house.

The Pharisee in the story is officially the host.  He has invited Jesus into his home for a meal.  However, as the story reveals, he is apparently not a very good host.  It was customary to do certain things to welcome a guest.  Most basic was the washing of the feet.  In the dry and dusty climate the cleansing of the feet was a needed and refreshing act of service.  It symbolized the acceptance of the guest.  By not washing Jesus’ feet, the Pharisee left a barrier up between them.

The woman must have sensed something powerful in Jesus’ presence.  She stood silently behind Him and began to weep.  Grace and love must have been working on her heart.  As she cried, her tears wet Jesus’ feet.  Sensing Jesus’ welcome of her presence, she knelt and began wiping His wet feet with her hair, taking on the physical grime and dirt as she cleaned His feet.  In a final act of loving service, she anointed His feet with perfume.  The sin that so encompassed her life must have been falling away too.  His love was overcoming much.

As the Pharisee is mentally recoiling at this obvious sinner touching Jesus, Jesus confronts him.  He uses a simple story on debt forgiveness to illustrate why the woman cries so – she is joyful over the love and grace and mercy that Jesus is giving her.  God’s love is not limited to the saved, but is offered most generously to the sinner, the one most in need.  Much joy comes when one repents, turns from sin, and knows forgiveness.  Through extravagant love given and received, this woman was made whole again and new in Christ.  In our encounters with the lost, with the sinners, and with the unwanted guests, may we too offer the extravagant love of Jesus Christ.


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Tell the Story

Reading: Luke 7: 11-17

It must have been a powerful scene for all involved.  Imagine the onlookers as Jesus approaches the funeral procession.  Those carrying the young man’s body stop as Jesus draws near.  Jesus reaches up and touches the coffin and says something.  The anticipation that has steadily build explodes as the young man sits up and begin to speak.  Jesus returns the son to his mother and continues on His way.  The story concludes with powerful words being spoken about Jesus and the story spreads throughout the area.

We can relate to this story from three angles.  Some of the time we are like the widow.  We are at a place in life when we feel a deep weight upon us.   Something in our family or at work has occurred and we we are filled with a sadness over our loss.  In these places Jesus enters our lives and speaks words of healing and wholeness and peace.  From these experiences we have powerful personal stories to tell.

Sometimes we are like the son – dead to God because of our sins.  A serious temptation or sin has us ‘stuck’ and we feel so far removed from God that is seems like He does not even exist.  Shame and guilt have created what seems an impossible chasm to cross.  In these seasons, Jesus Christ desire to walk up to us, to touch us, and to call us back to our journey of faith.  The story of redemption and His love is a powerful story to share as well.

And sometimes we are the crowd – observers of some amazing act of Christ.  We are privy to seeing a lost soul saved or a person who finds miraculous healing from a disease or illness.  We feel the buzz and want to share the story with all we meet.

Our faith impacts us in so many ways.  Each encounter with the living Christ is another story to share with those we know and meet.  May we ever tell the story of His love.


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Giving All

Reading: Luke 7: 11-17

In His encounter with the woman outside of Nain, Jesus extends deep compassion.  He sees the funeral procession nearing His group and identifies the woman as the mother of the son who has died.  The deep compassion Jesus feels leads Him to offer her some words of comfort, “Don’t cry”.  Perhaps He chooses these words because He already knows what is coming next.

At times we too have encounters where we can see quickly that one is suffering or is in grief or is somehow afflicted.  Compassion rises up in our hearts as words begin to form in our minds.  We want to offer comfort or relief.  We want to help their situation.  But sometimes we do not know how or maybe we are unsure of what the next step will be so we really do not offer all of the compassion we are capable of giving.  We hold back.  Our words are short and superficial.  Then there is no commitment or need for follow through.

It is unclear whether or not Jesus knew the woman’s situation.  Maybe all He saw was her grief and He was moved with a deep compassion.  Or maybe He knew her full situation.  In either case, Jesus offered all He could.  He followed up His words of comfort with action.  Jesus called to the dead son to get up and He breathed new life into him.

In our encounters with those in need, we sometimes hesitate at the action step.  We pause and ask ourselves what this step of action might cost us.  Maybe we wonder if we really even have anything to offer that will help.  The cost and whether or not we have something to offer are things we should not consider.  What we have to first offer in all situations is free and costs us nothing.  The love of Christ in us should always lead the way.  What comes next is also a gift from God.  All that we have to share is a gift from God.  Whether a physical blessing or a gift such as empathy or compassion, God blesses us so that we can bless others.  God expects us to love freely, to not hold back.  Jesus demands of us what He was willing to give Himself: all.  Jesus gave all of Himself for you and for me.   Let us do the same for Him.


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All

Reading: Galatians 1: 11-24

Paul, as the most zealous persecutor of the early church, was probably the most unlikely to become one of the great apostles of the early church.  He was about as far as one could be from Jesus Christ.  His mission in life was to wipe this new faith off the face of the earth.  Yet God, in His amazing grace, claimed Paul to be one of His own.  God took the one who persecuted, imprisoned, and even murdered Christians and made him into an excellent witness for Jesus and the church.  Paul realizes this miraculous change in his life and it becomes his call to ministry.  If God could reclaim him, God could reclaim anyone.  Paul also sees in Jesus another example of one who would reclaim any and all.  In his own life and in the example of Jesus, Paul came to know a God who loved everyone and desperately wanted all to be a child of God.  This became Paul’s mission as an evangelist supreme.

It was primarily through Paul that the church came to really understand Jesus’ command to ‘make disciples of all nations and peoples’.  Jesus really meant all.  The grace that Paul experienced was a grace that all people everywhere were intended to experience as well.  Paul was so gripped by God and Christ’s presence in him that he sought to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to all of the known world.

Paul’s life is an excellent example for us in two ways.  First, God will use anyone to spread the gospel.  If God chose and used Paul, all of us are fair game.  There is no one that God cannot use, no one that He does not want to use.  Second, Paul taught us that we need to share Christ with all people.  Through his own transformation, Paul knew the need for transformation in all people’s lives.  He sought to help all to come to know Christ so that they too could experience His transforming grace in their lives.  This day and every day may we, like Paul, live into God’s call on our lives to be both examples and witnesses to the transformation that God has made in us, so that all we know may come to experience the same in their lives.


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As God Loves

Reading: Psalm 146

The psalmist advises us to put our trust in God alone.  God alone is worthy of our praise and adoration.  He alone will the psalmist worship all the days of his or her life.  We are invited to join in with our praise all the days of our lives as well.

The psalmist also warns us about trusting in earthly kings and rulers.  It is pointed out that they cannot save and that they too will one day die and return to the ground.  It is a bit grim but knowing the context of the Psalm helps.  The recent kings were not worshippers of God and led the people astray.  The result has been the very recent destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.  Those of worth were hauled off to exile in Babylon.  Our reality today is that here and all around the world there are good rulers and there are not so good rulers.  There are a few Christian rulers, but in general are the exception.

Perhaps the destruction and exile has something to do with the focus on the hungry, oppressed, imprisoned, blind, orphaned, and widowed.  All who had value were hauled off to exile.  Those left behind certainly needed God’s care and attention.  It was a tough, fend for yourself kind of time.

Today we have a population in all of our communities who in essence have been left behind or left out.  Our culture of me-first individualism and too busy lives have left many on the margins.  Many think the government or someone else should deal with those who are struggling, but here in the Psalm we are reminded that God really loves those on the edges.  If we truly love the Lord, we too will love those He loves.  In the opportunities He places before us today, may we love all as God loves all.


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Lived Out through Us

Reading: Psalm 146

God is steadfast and true.  God loves the righteous.  God seeks to lift up those who are bowed down.  His desire is to bring relief to their suffering and to put an end to the oppression and injustices they face.  How does our God of compassion and love lift up the bowed down?  He sends the righteous, those who have received His favor and blessing, to minister in His name.  He sends you and me.

It is God alone who can restore a person’s soul and who can make a new creation from within.  It is God who sends the righteous faithful to engage the bowed down, oppressed, and suffering.  It is God who has given us each gifts and talents and blessings to share with others to lift them up, to help them in their struggles.  We can be there to offer much, but it is God alone who can transform their lives and hearts.

God desires to use us in many ways.  We are each uniquely gifted and blessed as the body of Christ so that we can corporately minister to a wide variety of situations and needs.  Some are the feet of Christ who enter into brokenness to lift shame and guilt so that hope can begin to enter in.  Some of us are the hands of Christ, entering in and offering a hand up so that one can begin to be above water again.  Some of us are His eyes, restoring value and worth to someone who thought they had none.  Some of us are God’s voice, speaking out against injustice and oppression, seeking to make things right.  Some of us are His ears, listening to the stories that need heard and retold so that others may find or experience positive change in their lives.

God loves all of His children equally.  Some do not even know that they are a child of God.  This day may we collectively be His feet, hands, eyes, voice, and ears so that all may begin to experience His love, lived out through our witness, example, and presence.


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Hope

Reading: 1 Kings 17: 8-24

As Elijah enters into a relationship with the widow, he realizes right away that she is struggling.  The famine has been long and surely this has worn on her.  She has been in survival mode for some time.  She is down to her last bit of food and is mentally resigned to death.  Life has totally beaten her down.

There are people like the widow in almost every community in which we reside.  Life has been uphill for so long that they can remember nothing but struggle.  They have come to feel like it is just them against the world and no one seems to care.  An added burden for some is the child or children in their care.  Where they will sleep that night or if they will find food that day are their greatest and often only real concern.  Their whole focus is consumed with things we do not even ponder.

The widow’s desperation and surrender are equally present in her words: “as surely as your God lives”.  She must have emphasized the word ‘your’.  In her mind no god would allow her to struggle as she has.  In her heart and soul any and all gods have been pushed far away, pushed out by the anger at life.

There are people today who think just like the widow.  You can see the exhaustion and fear in their eyes.  When life is nothing but a struggle to find the basics of food and shelter, there is no room for hope.

Elijah chooses to engage the widow.  He chooses to step into her life.  He asks her for the one thing she San provide: a little hospitality.  All people have something they can offer.  Often it is just a few minutes of help – sweeping the front patio or helping organize some clothes.  Sometimes it is just a few moments of conversation.  In doing and sharing, people can find worth in themselves.  In giving of themselves they can begin to find hope.

We can choose to engage the other or we can choose to not even look their way.  We can choose to enter into a relationship with them or we can maybe  choose to toss a little money their way.  Or we can choose to invest of ourselves, to show one in deep struggle that we care and that God cares.  May we follow Elijah’s example – engaging one whom others have ignored or shunned, loving and bringing God’s love to one so in need of hope.


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Don’t Be Afraid

Reading: 1 Kings 17: 8-24

Elijah tells the widow that her flour will not run out and that her oil will not run dry until God brings rain and ends the long famine that had struck the land.  His request for bread must have settled on her as a heavy weight when she first heard his request.  The culture was one that placed hospitality very high.  It was customary that even if your sworn enemy came knocking and asked for lodging for the night, then one would provide a place to stay.

All the widow had left was enough flour and oil to make one last meal for her son and herself.  When she encountered Elijah she was gathering some sticks so she bake the last meal they would ever eat.  The widow must have been at a very somber place in her heart and mind.  It is at this point that Elijah asks for some bread.  She has used up her every resource and is preparing to make one last meal and then to die with her son.  It is now that Elijah comes along and asks if he can have some bread too.

Have you ever been where the woman is at?  Totally spent and at the end of the rope?  She is there.  It is like going through a very hard loss of a dear loved one, finally heading home and feeling emotionally spent after the funeral, and a distant friend calls to tell you the news of their unexpected loss.  It is like spending a hot July day working outside all day long at the Habitat house when a friend of a friend calls asking if you can help them move out of their apartment.  Every fiber in your being wants to say ‘no’ but you feel compelled to talk a while or to go and help.

Elijah must sense the apprehension in the widow.  So her says to her, “Don’t be afraid”.  When the phone rings or the stranger appears at your door, asking when we feel totally depleted, hear His voice, saying “Do not be afraid.  Trust me”.  May we find the faith of the widow.  May we too experience His amazing blessings when we choose to trust and to answer His call.


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The Message

Reading: Galatians 1: 6-12

Paul opens his letter to the Galatians with some strong language and some hard words.  His words carry some emotion and urgency.  The church he founded there has begun to drift away from its origins and he does not like the change.  Paul taught them the gospel he received directly in a revelation from Jesus and it is important to him that the Galatians continue to hold dearly to the original message.  Paul knows that the message does not have to change much to really affect their faith.

All that Jesus taught and did in the Gospels can be boiled down to a few essentials.  First, love God completely.  Recognize Him as supreme, as Lord, as king of kings.  Second, love neighbor as Jesus first loved us.  His sacrifice on the cross let us know how much He loves us.  Now Jesus tells us to go and do the same: put others and their needs first no matter the cost to us.  Third, grace wins.  God’s love and His mercies never fail, making all who call on Him as Lord and Savior new creations every morning.  Our grateful response to this amazing love and mercy is to offer our lives daily in service to God.

Paul knew how essential the pure message of the gospel was.  He knew that our faith would lead to action.  He knew if the gospel message was changed or distorted, we would begin to follow our own way more than Jesus’ way.  Our belief really does lead to action.  When our belief is correctly rooted in the message of Jesus Christ, then our lives bear fruit according to this message.  May we cling tightly to the truth found in Jesus Christ, living daily as authentic witnesses to His light and love.


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Represent

Reading: Galatians 1: 1-12

Paul is angry with the Galatians for living a gospel that is less than what he taught them.  They have come to accept a gospel that is less than they first believed.  Although the way of the cross is hard and the path is narrow, there is only one way, truth, and life.  There is only one good news.

Before we condemn the Galatians, let us look within first.  Have you ever bought an imitation product before?  Even though you knew it wasn’t the real thing?  Maybe it was a watch or pair of sunglasses or a handbag.  We buy such things because we want to appear to be something or someone we are not.  If we were really what those items represent, we would buy actual Rolex or Oakley or Gucci.

Our faith is not very different.  If we were to honestly assess the faith we are practicing daily and living out in the world, then we would have a good look at the gospel we have accepted.  I am guessing it is also less than what we first accepted.  At some point we have read “with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” and thought, ‘not yet, but one day’.  To fully love God with our all is the goal.  When we fell in love and gave our lives to Christ, this was our goal: to make Him #1 in our life.

Maybe tomorrow you will worship the god of green pastures and little white balls.  Maybe tomorrow you will worship the god of still waters and drowning worms.  Maybe tomorrow you will worship the Lord of you life and sing and praise His Holy name with your church family.

Either we are living a sold out, 100% in faith or we are living something less.  Are we really who we say we represent?  May the true gospel of Jesus Christ be our all in all, our way, truth, and life.  All of it.