pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Best Friend

Reading: Psalm 25: 1-10

Verse Ten: “All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of the covenant”.

In today’s Psalm, David outlines what a great relationship with God looks like. He begins where all relationships must begin: trust. In the opening line, he declares that he is coming to God in prayer because he trusts God. David’s trust in God is based upon past experiences of God being faithful to His promises over and over. From his time as a shepherd defending the flock from lions and bears through the time of the writing of the Psalm, God has protected David as He puts to shame those who have rebelled.

In verse four, David asks to know God’s ways. This is the second step in all great relationships: knowing each other intimately. David asks God to teach and guide him in truth. Verse five ends with the result of knowing God intimately: “my hope is in you all day long”. David knows God and trusts God; therefore, he places all of his hope in God.

Next David admits his shortcomings. Honesty is essential in all great relationships. We are not perfect so at times we must see past the mistakes and failures. God has forgiven David many times, not only because of God’s great mercy and live, but also because of David’s genuine repentance. David recognizes that God is good and upright. Because of these qualities, God chooses to instruct sinners in the right way to walk. Like a great friend, God accepts David for who he is – both the good and the bad – and does all He can to help David’s faithful walk. He is willing to invest in the relationship.

Our passage today closes with David recognizing what makes God such a great friend, saying, “All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of the covenant”. God is indeed loving and faithful. The second half of this verse turns to us. That is only right as all great friendships are two way streets. What does it look like to keep our side of the covenant? It may sound familiar. The demands are to trust God, to seek to know Him better and better, to be honest and to seek His mercy when we stumble, and to acknowledge that our best friend is loving and faithful and steadfast in His covenant. May we ever strive to live as faithful servants of the Lord our God, the best friend and father in the world. Amen.


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Invitation

Reading: Matthew 22: 1-14

Verse Nine: Go to the streets and invite to the banquet anyone you find.

Today’s parable is symbolic of God’s continuing invitation to all of humanity to come into the kingdom of God.  The original invitation began with God’s chosen people, but most rejected the invite – they did not see Jesus as the Messiah.  Still God invited them.  They abused and killed many who God sent to invite them – even killing the Son.  So God sent others out, saying, “Go to the streets and invite to the banquet anyone you find”.  In the Good News translation the Great Commission from Matthew 28 reads, “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere”, mirroring the invitation to all.  In God’s great patience, He will continue and continue to invite all into the kingdom.  Today, tomorrow, and on into the future God will continue to send out invitations to all who are lost.

The parable goes on to say that the good and the bad respond to the invitation, filling the banquet hall.  There are some who hear the invitation and come to see what it is all about.  Some come because a friend or family member received the invitation and they are going.  They come and they sit in the pew.  But they do not take the next step.  They do not become a part of the kingdom.  In the parable, the king comes to look over the guests.  He notices a man not wearing the right clothes.  The man did not fully accept the invitation.  He came to the banquet, but on his terms.  He remains stubbornly silent.  He is cast out into darkness.

This same idea occurs elsewhere in scripture.  In the parable of the sheep and the goats, for example, the goats are left wondering why they are cast out.  They knew who Jesus was and even did a few things He asked, but they did not choose to enter a saving personal relationship that changed their lives.  Today, many know who Jesus is, but they cling to their old self.  They appear to be at the banquet, but inside they are the ones in control, not Jesus.

To be a follower requires that we put off the old self and take on the new robe of righteousness.  We must not only accept the invitation, but we must allow it to reshaped us into the image of Christ.  We must die to self so that Christ can rule on the throne of our hearts.  Yet even then God continues to send us invitations.  He invites us to go out and live our lives as the salt and light the world so desperately needs.  He invites us to go out to the street corners and to invite everyone we see, helping them into the kingdom.  How will we do this today?


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Unity or Less?

Reading: Romans 14: 10-12

Verse 11: Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.

Paul continues his conversation about diversity in the body of Christ.  He emphasized that most of us are at differing spots in our faith journeys and that we come to the church with our own unique backgrounds and traditions.  Therefore unity must come in and through Christ.  Christ must be the one thing that unites the church.  Jesus is our “bottom line” so to speak – He is Lord of all.

Paul asks why we must judge or look down on our brother or sister in Christ who does not do exactly as we do.  When we choose to judge or condemn or belittle another’s faith or their practices of faith, we are putting ourselves in a place we should not go to.  For example, just because I prefer to read and study and pray in the early morning and another prefers the quiet of the evening does not make one of us “right” or “better” than the other.  If one church uses bread and another crackers, one communion is not better or more acceptable than the other.

The time or particular way we practice our faith are small details we use to accomplish the same goal – to grow closer to Christ as we seek to become more like Him.  This is the goal for all Christians – to become more like Christ.  But at times we fail, so Paul includes a warning, quoting from the prophet Isaiah: “Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God”.  He will not only want to know what we did with the least and the lost, but also how we treated all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Did we practice unity and did we work to bring harmony to the whole body of Christ?  Or did we remain divided, allowing it to be less?


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Unity and Strength

Reading: Romans 14: 1-12

Verses 7 and 8: For none of us lives to himself alone… We belong to the Lord.

Paul begins chapter fourteen by imploring Christians to not pass judgement on others because others do not worship and practice their faith just as they do.  Instead Paul urges Christians to model acceptance and to have understanding for their fellow believers.  For the Jews who had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they entered their new faith with their old faith’s worship and dietary guidelines still intact.  They wanted the new believers to worship and eat as they did.  In effect they wanted to new followers to be Jewish Christians.  On the other side of the aisle, many of the new converts came with their own cultural background and practices.  Therefore they did not want to change some of these things, especially if they did not see how they were incompatible with what Jesus taught and did.

The same tendencies to judge and condemn others still exists today both within our churches and between churches.  The hot topic can be a wide variety of things.  Between people in a church it can be things like worship style or who is welcome or over what one does on a Friday night.  Between churches it can be over how one receives salvation or it can be over how we practice or understand baptism or communion.  Whatever the case, Paul’s advice is the same: do not judge but seek to accept and understand one another.  Paul says we must do this because ultimately, “none of us lives to himself alone… We belong to the Lord”.

Christ is the one who unites all Christians and all Christian churches.  There is one God, one Christ, and one Holy Spirit.  God created each and every one of us and loves us all dearly and equally.  Jesus taught live and grace to all people He met and went to the cross to give forgiveness of sins and a way to eternal life for all people.  The promise if the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our lives was a promise and gift to everyone.  May we each seek to love God and to love all of our neighbors as Christ loves us, bringing unity and strength to the whole body of Christ, to the church universal.


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Follow Well

Reading: John 9: 24-42

Verse 27b – Do you want to be His disciples, too?

Jesus has done something extraordinary for this man who was born blind.  This man who would have been shunned in the temple or synagogue because of assumed sin in his life or past is touched and healed by Jesus.  He experiences a radical change in his life because of Jesus’ radical love.  He is so moved that he is willing to challenge the religious authorities with an audacious question to their ears: “Do you want to be His disciples, too”?  In response, they hurl insults at him and throw him out.  Even after this negative experience with religion and the synagogue, the man in undeterred in his newfound faith.  In a second encounter with Jesus, he declares his belief and worships Jesus.  It is a second act of radical love by Jesus to seek out and offer welcome to this man who was rejected by the religious leaders.

This story makes me think of the church today, of churches I have been a part of, and of the church I am at today.  I often wrestle with the idea of just how big our circle of welcome really is – just who all would we genuinely welcome.  It makes me think back to Jesus – the One we follow – and how Jesus loved all He met.  He never said, “Come back when you are free from sin”, or “Come back when you are just like us”, or “Come back when you…”.  Jesus met them where they were at, ministered to their needs at that moment, and loved them with all of His being.  This is the One we follow.

People today are touched by Jesus all the time.  They encounter the love of Christ in a radical way and wander into our churches seeking fellowship and belonging and a chance to explore this newfound faith with followers of Jesus Christ.  When they walk through our doors do they all experience genuine welcome and more of the love of Christ?  But what if they are a little rough around the edges or if we know their past or if they are new to this church thing or if…  There should be no “if” to enter, to be truly welcome, to belong in our churches.  There were “ifs” in the synagogue for the blind man and there still are in the church today.  We must be very cognizant of our tendency to limit access, to judge, to stereotype, … and be true followers of Jesus Christ – ones who meet all right where they are at, who minister to them right then and there, and who love on them like they have always been a part of our churches.  Then the love of Christ will grow.  May we follow well the One who loves all.


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Jesus’ Response

Reading: Luke 23: 39-43

Almost everyone abandons faith in Jesus and hope that He is the Messiah as He hangs on the cross.  How could this be the Messiah?  Almost all of the disciples, those who have spent three years with Jesus and who have heard over and over that this day is coming, almost all abandon Him and flee in fear.  Those who did not think Jesus was the Messiah feel affirmation in the cross.  For them it is an “I told you so” moment.  How could this be the Messiah?

In our passage today, one who we would think highly unlikely to acknowledge Jesus as Lord does just that.  The thief on the cross next to Jesus has done enough illegal to himself be crucified.  In his defense of Jesus he admits his own guilt: “we are getting what we deserve”.  Yet somehow he sees Jesus for what He truly is.  The thief says, “This man has done nothing wrong”.  Somehow he understands what Jesus is doing for humanity on the cross.  In light of this understanding, he asks Jesus to remember him “when you come into your kingdom”.  The thief recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus’ response to the thief is the same as it is to so many who have come to Him.  He is welcoming and accepting and loving.  Instead of “your faith has made you well”, Jesus instead tells him that his faith has saved him: “Today you will be with me in paradise”.  Jesus sees straight through to the heart and welcomes another believer home.

There are two lessons in this for us.  The first is to see all as worthy of Jesus’ kingdom.  We need to look at all who are lost as Jesus did – as just another beloved child of God searching for a Savior.  The second is to realize that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ.  Not what we have done, not who we are in life, and not even the lateness in life when we come to accept Jesus as Lord.  Jesus welcomes and accepts and loves all who come seeking Him.  This day, may we help others to see and to approach Jesus just as they are.  May we help all to see that they too are a dearly loved child of God.


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Accept, Accept, Accept

At times in life we find ourselves where we do not want to be.  There are things we cannot control, such as health, and we feel a little powerless.  Sometimes it as if we were on the other side of a window looking at an unfolding scenario.  We desire to rush in and change things, but we cannot.

Jesus experienced this in His hometown.  He was there to teach and heal but He could not.  He was amazed at their unbelief.  Jesus did not scold them or have a meltdown or launch into a rant.  He simply moved on to other places and continued His work.  He also sent out the twelve to teach and heal.  Perhaps in reaction to what happened in His hometown, the twelve were sent out with the instruction not to take anything along but instead to rely on the hospitality of those they ministered to.  If people were not welcoming, they simply moved on.

Again, there was no forcing the issue.  There was no shoving faith down someone’s throat.  There was no judgment or condemnation.  The twelve simply shook the dust off their sandals and moved on.  I hope to show the same grace and love the next time someone rejects my attempt to share faith with them.

The lessons here for us are many.  Accept things as they are without dwelling on disappointment, anger, …  Accept the situation as it is without piling on our own expectations or judgments.  Accept the possibilities that God places before us.  Live fully in the moment at hand, offer all that we have and are, and experience God’s transforming power at work.

Scripture reference: Mark 6: 1-13