pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Going Out

Reading: Acts 1: 1-11

Verse Eleven: “Why do you stand there, looking into the sky”?

The book of Acts opens with a brief recap of the forty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It reviews how Jesus offered “convincing proofs” that He was alive and it reiterates His promise to send the Holy Spirit. The disciples then ask when Jesus is returning to restore the kingdom of Israel. Yes, they are still thinking of earthly kingdoms instead of the heavenly kingdom. Again, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus is taken up into heaven and the disciples stand there staring up. Two angels appear and ask, “Why do you stand there, looking into the sky”?

The angels indicate that Jesus will come back. But the implication in the question is ‘stop staring, it is time to get to work’. There is much to be done, so let’s get busy. Much needs to be accomplished before Jesus returns, so let’s get to work. Quit standing around staring at the sky.

I wonder how often God thinks thoughts like these today. How much of our time is spent staring up at heaven instead of engaging the work that needs to be done down here? How much time do we spend each day in prayer and personal study and how little time do we devote each day to the acts of mercy that Jesus so often called His followers to?

Nothing builds itself. While it is wonderful that we Christians spend our “alone time” with God each day, we must spend at least that much time spending “face time” with the lost, least, and broken of this world. No one will come to faith and experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises without someone first introducing that person to Jesus Christ. It is essential to go outside of our churches to find those who need a saving relationship with Jesus. They are not coming to us. We must go to them.

Each and every day may we look down and around us, seeking to be kingdom builders, going out into the world to share the light and love and hope if Jesus Christ with a world in need. Amen.


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Live in Love

Reading: 1st John 4: 13-21

Verse Sixteen: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in Him”.

In today’s passage there are a lot of references to “in”. The passage begins with “live in Him” and “He in us”, illustrating the connection we have between us and God. This connection is made through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. Once we acknowledge Jesus as Savior, then this “in” relationship is established, allowing us to “know and rely on the love God has for us”.

This relationship is based upon love and the connection that being in love brings. In verse sixteen we read, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in Him”. It does not say ‘dabbles in love’ or ‘occasionally strays’ into love. Living in love connects us to God. The more time and energy we invest in love, the more that “love is made complete”. As we approach this completion, we also gain confidence in our eternity. John writes, “perfect love drives out fear”. Our love of God and God’s love in us assures us of our everlasting relationship with God.

To live in love requires a constant attention. This relationship is built and grows only through attention. Like all relationships, it will wither and fade if we neglect it. We must take the time to invest in our relationship with God. Verse nineteen does say, “we love because He first loved us”. It is also true that God will continue to love us no matter what because “God is love”. But the development of a relationship and the reciprocation of love requires our intent and our commitment. It is not enough to say that God first loved us. We must also return that love. In doing so we will be filled with love and as we begin to live in love, that love will naturally flow out to our brothers and sisters as well.

We build our love for God by spending time with God. In can be through time in prayer and reading and studying His Word in the quiet of the morning or in the stillness of the night. It can be time spent in joyful worship at church or in peaceful and still reflection beside flowing waters or in the beauty of the forest path. It can be in a conversation with God during the commute to school or work or in the few moments we steal away waiting in line at the store or in traffic. There are many ways to connect to God to build our love. May we each find many today.


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Good and Pleasant

Reading: Acts 4: 32-35

Verse 32: “All the believers were one in heart and mind… they shared everything they had”.

What a beautiful picture of the community of faith is painted for us here in Acts 4! The day of Pentecost had just occurred and God added to their numbers in a big way. The power of the Holy Spirit that came at this event also carried Peter and John through their time before the Sanhedrin. There is a buzz and excitement and energy about the church. There is a tangible sense of hope and promise amongst the people. And there is a tremendous feeling of community. All of this is summed up in verse 32: “All the believers were one in heart and mind… they shared everything they had”. It was all the church is supposed to be: community, harmony, love, care, generosity.

I believe this is still God’s vision for the church. When one studies Jesus’ ministry, these are the things that He was all about. He always sought to invite the stranger in, to love and care for those in need, to build a sense of community and belonging, and to do whatever He could to improve someone’s faith and life. In our day and age, at times the church is like this. We rally around our own in times of loss or hardship. We still pull together to do some wonderful things for our church family and for our wider community. Folks will even give a bit extra when they experience God’s blessings in their lives, knowing that the church still does much good in the world.

Yesterday we read these words in Psalm 134: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony”! Yes, yes it is. As communities of faith, when we live with the love and generosity exhibited by the early church in Acts, then others will be drawn to faith. It will not be because of the generosity itself. They will be drawn to the love. Jesus said that they will know we are His followers by the way we love one another. Yes, it is good and pleasant to live together in harmony and unity and love as brothers and sisters in Christ.

What can you do this week to build the unity and harmony and love that is exists in your faith community? What generous act might God be calling you to this week?


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Goodness and Love

Reading: Psalm 107: 1-3

Verse One: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever”.

Today’s Psalm opens with an essential truth of our faith: God is goodness and love. Our response? To give thanks for the goodness and love that endures forever. We could say “Amen!” and be done here, but life is not always that simple. Unfortunately, we encounter stress and loss and pain and illness… at times in life. Even though God remains good and loving through these times, we can forget that fact. And sometimes our trials lasts so long that we begin to question this fact. So, what are we to do?

The psalmist gives us two suggestions to combat our tendency to forget that God is present in the midst of trial and suffering. Both revolve around giving thanks. The psalmist suggests that we begin each and every day by thanking God for His constant presence with us. By praying this we will better live into that presence. The second suggestion is to then thank God each and every day for what He has done in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Naming those large and small ways that God shared His goodness and love yesterday helps us anticipate the same today. Doing so also helps us to remember it in times of trial. And as an added bonus, the more we name it, the better we become at recognizing it on a daily basis.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we live in community. Therefore another aspect of living into God’s goodness and love is the sharing of our stories. Whether you are reading a testimony of God’s goodness and love that was written three hundred years ago or if you are sharing your own testimony with a friend, by sharing the story of God’s goodness and love we build one another up. May we not only spend time in prayer thanking God for His goodness and love, but may we also share the story of what God has done and is doing in our lives every day. May it be so. Amen!


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Talents

Reading: Matthew 25: 14-30

Verse 21: “Well done good and faithful servant… Come and share in your master’s happiness”.

In our passage today, the slaves see their master one of two ways.  Two see the master as trustworthy and to be worked for.  The third sees the master as harsh and greedy.  Two of the slaves take what the master has entrusted them with and put it to work, doubling what they had been given.  The third hides what he has been given, refusing to use it even a little by safely investing it with the bankers.

God gives each of us talents or gifts as well.  Each of us has gifts that can be used to build the kingdom of God here on earth.  What we do with what we have been given depends on how we see our master, God.  If we see God as a God who is harsh, as a God who punishes His children, then we are likely to risk little for God.  We will take what we have been given and guard it closely.  We do not want others to know the gift we have so we keep it hidden away.  But if we see God as loving and trustworthy, then we desire to take the talents or gifts we have been given and to invest them to help others to come to know God.  We use our talents to grow the kingdom of God.  One day we too will hear, “Well done good and faithful servant… Come and share in your master’s happiness”.

Our God is a loving, compassionate, grace-filled, forgiving God who calls us to be the same.  If we truly see God in this way, then we feel led to be this type of person to others.  We seek ways to help others know our loving, compassionate… God.  In doing so we use the talents and gifts that God has blessed us with so that all will come to know our God.  What gifts has God given you?  How are or can you use your talents and gifts for the building of the kingdom of God here on earth?


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Living Stones

Reading: 1 Peter 2: 2-10

Verse Five: You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a royal priesthood.

God desires to always be at work in our lives.  God is always looking to build us up, to ever draw us closer to the image of His Son.  But we don’t always cooperate.  Sometimes we halt the building progress.  Sometimes we even tear down what God has built.  Sometimes we wander far and become a total reclamation project.

Peter is the author of today’s text and is a disciple we relate well to.  At times he jumps all in for his faith and does amazing things.  He was the one who climbed out of the boat and walked on water.  And at other times Peter stumbles and falls.  Peter was the one who swore total allegiance to Jesus and later denied knowing His three times that very same night.  In Peter we can see how God kept working on him, kept growing his faith.  In Peter we also see the “rock that made them fall”.

As we look back over our faith journeys, we too can see how we, “the living stones”, are constantly being shaped and formed and reshaped and reformed by God as a “spiritual house to be a royal priesthood”.  As we reflect on our lives of faith, we also can surely see times when we too “rejected the stone” or when we were “out in darkness”.  Just as Peter did, we too experience being called back into the “marvelous light” of Jesus.  As we journey and grow in our faith, we continue to become more and more like Christ.  It is a wonderful journey.

It is a journey that God starts us on and it is a journey that God keeps us on, constantly seeking to be at work in our lives.  No matter what, God continues to lovingly work on us and to call us ever closer to the image of His Son.  When we stumble, God lovingly picks us up and continues us on our journey.  As children of God, “now you have received mercy”.  For God’s love and grace, we say thanks be to God.


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Questions

Reading: Luke 20: 27-38

Sometimes we ask questions because we seek information.  Sometimes we think we have the information and we ask questions to test or trap or embarrass someone.  The second scenario is the case with our Sadducees today.  They think up a whopper of a question to test and embarrass this man who seems to have all the the answers.  Even to this difficult question, Jesus has an answer.  It is such a good answer, in fact, that our gospel goes on to tell us that they dared not ask Him any more questions.

The intent of the Sadducees was not good.  We have all been in or witnessed such a scenario ourselves.  A person in authority asks a question their inferior likely cannot answer as a means to reinforce their own position or status.  A child asks another a question about something they just learned in hopes of appearing smarter than the other.  A colleague asks an apparently innocent “how was your weekend?” question, already knowing about the embarrassing thing that happened.  All of these questions are questions asked to knock down another while falsely building ourselves up.  This is not how we are called to live as followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is all about positive relationships and about helping others to grow in their faith.  It is true that at times Jesus asked tough questions.  He never sought to do this and only asked them as a way to prompt someone, not to force out an embarrassing revelation or confession.  At times we too will have teachable moment that call for us to ask a tough question in order to allow another to grow.  For the most part, we are called to ask questions that build others up, to ask questions that prompt growth and learning and thinking.  Our line of questioning should allow others to consider and contemplate their faith without condemning or judging them.  May we be careful with our words, always seeking to build up and teach and encourage growth in others so that they may grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. 


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Words

Words easily flow from our lips.  The words we speak can build others up or they can bring people down.  Careful thought needs to be given to the words we speak.  Our words can carry great power.

In the psalm the king has ‘lips of grace.’  The kind and wise words he speaks flow from his heart and reflect the deep compassion and care he has for his people.  In his words he triumphs justice and equality and prosperity for those he leads.  He is a king I would like to be around.

There are people I know who build me up with their words.  They are people I want to be around.  In my life I too try to choose words that build others up.  One cannot simply dispense kind words but the words must be genuine and honest.  Words are powerful and through intentional practices we can build another up or offer some light when another is struggling or is in need.

Jesus was a man who also spoke words of justice, equality, and prosperity.  He advocated loving and serving all we meet.  He was a man that I picture as being slow to speak as He weighed His words carefully.  Jesus’ words convey the deep love and compassion He has for each of us.  He too is a king I like to be around.

Scripture reference: Psalm 45: 1-2 and 6-9