It is a holy and sacred privilege when we are able to minister to someone. This can occur in the pastor’s office or in the front pew of the church. It can happen at the break table at work or on the bleachers at the soccer game. While it is true that the pastor receives a call from God to minister to the people, all Christians are commissioned by Christ to share the good news found in faith in Jesus Christ.
On the cover of our bulletin it lists Greg and I as ‘pastors’ and lists the congregation as ‘ministers’. In some cases the situation at hand calls for one specifically trained for just such a time. Yet in some cases it is one’s life experiences that qualify one to offer ministry to another in their time of need. The pastor can offer care and empathy to one who has lost a spouse, for example. But a fellow Christian who has walked through that can offer this and more.
In those times we feel led to come alongside one another and to offer love, support, encouragement, … we must also remember that we do not walk alone. Jesus is also with us. The incarnate Christ walked this earth and experienced life. In those sacred moments when we are called to minister to one another, Christ walks beside us too. His love, care, presence, and power flow through us and into the life of the one in need. In faith may we respond to His call, offering the love and light of Jesus to one in need.
The voice of God speaks out in nature. It roars in the thunder and whispers in the gentle breeze. It reveals silent beauty in the sunset and lifts the heart with the song of the bird. God has also continued to be revealed through science. As technology has allowed us to peer further and further into space we come to better understand God’s immeasurable nature. And as that same technology has allowed us to deeper and deeper into living organisms, we come to better understand God’s complexity and the fine detail of His work.
In spite of how big and intricate and vast and mind-boggling God is, He is also a God who seeks to know each of us personally. He desires an intimate and deep relationship with each of us. This relational God is best revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. As God came and dwelt among us as the incarnate Jesus, we came to know Him personally. In His relationship with man, Jesus revealed God as love. This love was lived out through things such as hope, peace, comfort, forgiveness, mercy, service. Jesus patterned what a life lived as love should look like. It was shown in how He interacted and treated everyone that He encountered.
Through Jesus our God is so close we can rest in His presence when needed. He is so close we can hear the Spirit whisper into our life. He is so close we can come with our questions, joys, concerns, fears, doubts, praise, and thanksgiving. The God of all creation, in His vastness and complexity, is still our comforter, our guide, our companion, and our friend. For this I say, thanks be to God!
Job wrestles with the question many people wrestle with: why did this happen to me? In general, we view the world as good and God as loving and caring. Most people believe these things to be true. Yet for most, believers included, we almost always ask the ‘why question when unexplained or unjust suffering and trials come our way. It is a natural question to ask. We wrestle with this question, because at least a little, in our minds, we think that if we are faithful that no bad should come our way. We track right along with Job’s thinking. This too is a natural thought process.
In Job’s day the common understanding was that if evil or bad befell someone, it was because of sin. For example, if one were blind it was because of sin in their life or in their parent’s life. This idea is backed up by the experience of the nation of Israel. Sin causes separation from God, then they experience trial, exile, or some other calamity. The view that God blessed Israel with peace, victory… when they were faithful was also a dominant belief. We mostly hold these beliefs today as well. Good brings good and evil brings evil is still a common thought process. It also holds generally true in life: if you are nice to someone, usually they are nice in return. The reverse is also true.
Job was seen as righteous and good in his pre-trial life. Once the bad befell him, his wife and friends assumed he had sinned. They thought, Why else would God do this? But Job knew he was still faithful, upright, blameless. So he asked God the ‘why?’ question. God’s response was big questions that did not really answers Job’s question. God asked Job is he could bring floods or lightning or even rain. He asked if he could provide prey for the lion or food for the raven. He asked if Job was there at the creation of the earth. The questions do not provide an answer but turn Job back inward.
God created a world that is good and has order and logic. There is both good and evil. Both must exist if we are to have free will. God does not force us to obey Him or to be faithful to Him. We do so out of love. We love because He first loved us. Love is our grateful response to the love God poured out in Jesus Christ. In life there is free will and logical consequences. The world was created as good, not as perfect. Perfect will be the new heaven when Christ returns. So some rains waters the crops and some rains flood the fields. Illness and death are part of life. So is birth and good health. Like Job, in the midst of our pain and suffering we ask ‘why?’ But the answer is elusive. It does not come in many cases. But the promise we receive in Christ is not elusive: Jesus saves all who call on His name and through His saving grace we will all one day enter that perfect world. Hold onto the promise. Live the promise. Share the promise.
Today is “Native American Day” in my home state. I think in every state except South Dakota that today is “Columbus Day.” I do not know the reasoning that went into the name change and shifting the focus of the day, but I think it is cool. The Lakota and Columbus both tie into a theme found in Psalm 104 – discovering something amazing.
Psalm 104:1 calls for us to praise God who is great and who is clothed in majesty and splendor. For the Lakota and many other indigenous peoples, there is a holy connection to the Creator and to all of life. They see the Creator God in all things and in all of life. God ‘pulses’ through each creature, mankind included. The Creator is the life force. In my Lakota friends I see the wonderful way that they have of continually discovering God and His goodness in people, nature, and so forth over and over and over. It is awesome!
Columbus set out into the unknown to try to find a new way. As Christians we often wrestle with our faith and in knowing the unexplainable God we worship. As we walk along on our journey of faith, we often encounter the unknown or that which we cannot give a logical explanation right away. Yet with time in the Word, in prayer, in study, and in meditation, we can often find a way to either a new place of faith or to a place where we are comfortable again with God. Often we are also reminded of how immeasurable and big our God is. This connection builds our faith as well.
In Job, God tells him to brace himself. Sometimes I think we are like Job in this. When we are willing and open to God and where He wants to lead us in life, sometimes I think I need to brace myself. To trust and step into this unknown takes a lot of faith and trust. God asks Job (and us) who was there when the foundations of the earth were laid or when the cornerstone was set. God reminds him and us that none were there except the stars and the angels! It is good in this story to remember that God was there before the beginning, at the beginning, is here now and will forever be. Praise indeed for the God of the universe and the same God that walks and connects with us daily so that we can discover and grow in our faith.
Jesus’ words about leaving home, family, friends, and job to follow Him seem to be difficult words. To me it is an extension of the choice many make to die to self as they choose to put on Christ and become a new creation in Him. Often this means we set aside some things and some people in our lives that keep us from fully pursuing a life lived in Christ. A speaker I heard yesterday said we cannot be 99% in for Jesus – it needs to be 100%. Until it is 100% we are holding something back. As it says in Luke 9, we cannot put our hand to the plow and look back. This sacrifice can be hard but we are promised great reward when we receive eternal life.
In a culture where rugged individualism is valued, we cannot allow that to isolate us or any new believers. Christianity is not meant to be lived alone but in a community. One’s new family and friends are the church – a group of loving and caring people who want to come along side the new believer and each other to encourage, strengthen, and support one another. How we love and care for one another should reflect the love and care Jesus gave to the disciples.
Being such a community can be difficult in a society that so values wealth, power, and position. These are not the things of God’s kingdom. The economy in God’s kingdom is based on love, mercy, and forgiveness. All of these are not things we accumulate to hoard and hold onto. These are gifts from God that we experience so that we can give them away. This day may we be filled with these things of God so that we may bountifully give them away. May His light and love reign today!!
The story of the rich young man. In it we can hear his desire to follow Jesus. In it we can sense how torn he is when challenged to give away all his possessions. In it we can sense Jesus’ sadness over the man’s condition. In it we can feel great conviction ourselves. The general principle Jesus is teaching is to give away all you can. He tells the man to sell his possessions – those things he more we must trust in God.he owns that he really doesn’t need.
We live in a society that teaches us to be consumers. Society even tries to tell us that it is OK to live in debt, maybe even that it is normal. Our culture values signs of wealth – big paychecks, impressive titles, grand mansions, fancy cars… It is easy to say we are doing ‘well’ simply because of the country we were born in or because God is blessing us. We easily become comfortable with our nice lifestyle. All of this makes Jesus’ words so hard to hear.
Jesus does not say wealth makes it impossible to enter the kingdom, he just says it makes it hard. He says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But don’t miss the key phrase, “impossible with man.” He reminds us that anything, though, is possible with God. “With God” is the key.
God blesses us in so many ways. He blesses us not so that we can accumulate great wealth but so that we can bless others. We are not blessed so that we can live in excess. It is hard to look at our lives and to decide to prioritize differently so that we can give more away. But it is not impossible. The further we want to push that line, the more we must trust in God. With our trust fully in God, we all will have much to give away. In doing so we bless others and we bring glory to God.
Sometimes in life we make poor choices and we sin. Sometimes there are consequences we must face and deal with and live with here in this life. When we sin there are always consequences to our relationship with God. But we do not have to live with these. Some do choose to but none of us have to.
Just prior in Hebrews we are reminded that we will have to give account of ourselves to God. While this is true, in today’s reading we find our true hope. We are encouraged to hold fast to our faith in times of suffering and pain because we have access to the great high priest, Jesus Christ. We are invited to approach His throne boldly and without fear.
Do not think that what you have done is too much for Him to bear. Do not think it is too depraved to reveal before Christ. His love is greater than any sin we can commit. In Hebrews we are reminded that Jesus, our great high priest, was tempted in every way. He has been right up to that line where we cross into sin. He has felt every temptation we feel. Even though Jesus was without sin, He can relate to us in our sin and temptation.
We can boldly approach the throne with confidence because the one who sits on the throne walked where we walk and faced what we face. At that throne we can lay our burdens down and confess our sins and sufferings and find nothing but mercy and receive nothing but grace. At His throne we are washed clean and made new. Go often and always for His love never ends and His mercies are made new every morning.
Job cried out to God to seek an audience. He knew in his heart that he was righteous before God and that He would set things right if God only heard his case. Job was bold in coming before God because of how he chose to honor God with his life.
In Hebrews we are reminded that the Word is living and active and is sharper than a two-edged sword. It also judges the heart and the attitude. We are also reminded that all is uncovered and laid bare before God. For emphasis we are reminded that in the end we must give account to God as well.
For some, when we put all of this together, it makes us want to hide from God instead of going boldly to Him. We don’t want God to call us into account – much less give that account ourselves.
We all live with the divine spark within us and through this we are good. It is our natural inclination to love instead of hate, to help instead of hurt, to give instead of take. No, we do not always choose the right thing. Sometimes we are selfish or greedy or lustful or jealous. Sometimes these drive our choices.
In our struggle we feel unworthy. But we do have a mediator. Christ resurrected sits at the right hand of God and speaks on our behalf. We also have an intercessor on our side. The Holy Spirit prays and prays and prays for us constantly. Us and our case is always before God. We are not alone. Jesus lives in our heart and helps us to be able to come before God. The Holy Spirit is the voice that always calls to us, always leads us to the good inside. All of this because God loves us so. Yes, He loves us.
We find great comfort in the past. Through our own experiences and through what we read in the Bible we gain both an understanding of God and of our relationship with Him. We live day to day with these memories as both our guide and our support system. We know God to be loving and caring and protecting and compassionate.
But sometimes in life we suffer and suddenly our God memories don’t seem to work. We experience discord when we are in conflict or in the midst of a life change or in the woes of a loss and the God we know seems absent. In this uncertainty we cry out to God. We bring our laments to God as a means of reminding God that to us, at that moment, He is not the God of love and care and,,, that we know.
In lament we also bring before God the suffering and pain of others. We lift up their need for God’s presence and intervention and we demand an answer or action on God’s part. In a sense we proclaim the suffering and hurt in the world to God so that He will act on it and be present to those in need.
In lament we remind both God and ourselves that He is the one who saved us from the powers of sin and death through Jesus and that He is the one we, His children, look to for our deliverance. Reminding God calls Him to action. Reminding ourselves brings reassurance and a reminder that although we may not know or see the plans of God, all is in God’s hands. In this we lay our trust and our hope. God is love. God is faithful. For these things, we say thanks be to God!
If God forsook His own Son, it is possible that at times we too are forsaken? If God turned His back on Jesus in one of His greatest times of need – there on the cross – won’t we too experience times when we feel God is not near? These ‘dark nights of the soul’ are times all believers experience.
Personally, when we feel times of separation from God, it is an uneasy feeling. God’s promise to always be there and never to leave us seems to be in question. But it is His presence we miss. Or the feeling that God is near. I believe God is there – we just are struggling to feel His presence. In these moments I think God is refining, molding, reshaping our faith so that we are more than we were before the experience. It grows us and our faith to trust in and rely on God when we cannot sense His presence. It requires blind or total faith.
At times groups of people feel forsaken. We can certainly find many examples of this in the Old Testament and in the world today. We certainly know how to pour out prayers of lament when we feel personally forsaken. We must remember that God created and loves us all. Each day may we seek to lift up those who feel forsaken by God – from the homeless and hopeless to the one who just lost a loved one to those who are victims of a tragedy near or far. Cry out to God. Be a voice for those who feel forsaken. Draw God near to them so each may again feel His presence.
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