pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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In Love

Reading: Ephesians 4: 15-16

Verse 15: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the head, that is, Christ”.

Words are powerful. James compares our tongues to the rudder of a giant ship. This small piece of equipment can easily direct a huge ship. He also compares the tongue to a spark – with just a quick flash it can set a whole forest on fire. Perhaps like me you too have said a word or two in anger or in the heat of the moment and have just been engulfed in a firestorm. Words are powerful.

In today’s passage Paul advises us to “speak the truth in love”. There are two parts to this statement. The first is to speak the truth. We have all been in situations where this is hard. We will all encounter times and situations when truth needs to be spoken. Perhaps a child has gone a little astray or a brother or sister in Christ is struggling with some poor choices. They need us to be prophets, reminding them of God’s ways and to call them back to faithful living.

The second half of Paul’s advise is to speak the truth in love. Yes, at times it is harder to speak in love. Yes, at times it is downright challenging. Yet it is still what we are called to do. This may require taking a deep breath or even stepping away for a little while. It will definitely include swallowing our pride or our inclination to judge or condemn now and then. In spite of the difficulties, we can make the choice to speak truth in love. In the Gospels we have a wonderful example to follow: Jesus Christ. He is also the “why” behind speaking the truth in love.

The rest of verse 15 reads, “We will in all things grow up into Him who is the head, that is, Christ”. When we practice Paul’s advise, we will grow in all things to be more and more like Jesus Christ. That is ever our goal on this journey of faith. Our short passage today concludes with this: “From Him the whole body grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work”. Each of us – each of us – doing our part, helps to build up the whole body. May we each be connected to Him, the head. May we each allow His Holy Spirit to lead and guide our words and actions today so that they will build up our family of faith. Amen.


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Something Far Better

Reading: John 6: 24-35

Verse 35: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty”.

For the audience in today’s passage, there is a recent past and a distant past. Just the day before Jesus fed them. He took five loaves and two fish and fed thousands. And there were twelve baskets full of leftovers. He had satisfied their physical hunger in an amazing way. Remember their response? They wanted to force Jesus to be their earthly king.

In the handful of hours since the miracle, the people have connected their recent experience with an event from their people’s distant past. When the people were starving out in the desert, just a month and a half after leaving Egypt, they grumbled against Moses. God responded by saying, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you”. For the rest of their forty years in the desert, each person received food from God. So the crowd now returns to Jesus, looking for food for a second day.

Jesus’ response to the people coming for food was this: “Do not work for food that spoils”. In other words, don’t be so concerned with earthly sustenance. It is not that Jesus wants them to starve, it is that Jesus has something far better to offer. To receive this eternal food, Jesus tells them that they must “believe in the one God has sent”. The people respond to Jesus’ claim with a request for another miracle. Prove it Jesus.

Jesus again claims to be the bread that God has sent down from heaven. Their response is to ask for this bread that gives life to the world. Jesus says,”I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty”. Come to Jesus, believe in Jesus, and you will be satisfied with food for your souls and water for your spiritual thirst. In this way, Jesus offers something far better than daily meals. It is far better to receive eternal food that sustains us for eternity. Jesus continues to offer this far better option. The offer is still on the table. For those who have come to Jesus and accepted His Lordship, we rejoice and partake daily. For those yet to bow before the King, take the offer and find life. Believe in Jesus Christ and be filled. Believe in Jesus Christ and find true life.


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Grow

Reading: Ephesians 4: 7-16

Verse 15: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the head, that is, Christ”.

Our goal in life is to grow. As little children we dream about what we will be – a firefighter, a football player, and eventually a teacher then a pastor. Even once we settle into our “career” for life, the desire to grow remains in us. We do not just want to be a ___, but we want to be the best ___ that we can be. To do so we must continue to read and study and go to conferences…

These same ideas are true of our faith journey. And God has a plan for this! In verse 11 Paul tells us that God created some people to be apostles and some to be prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. At different times in our journey we need people to play these various roles so that we can continue to grow. For example, when we were young we relied on our teachers to plant the stories of faith in us. As we move into our adult years we continue to need teachers to grow in our faith but also find a need for pastors to shepherd and guide us. All of these roles are intended for the same purpose: “so that the body of Christ may be built up”.

Paul tells us why – so that we are no longer “infants”. When we are infants we are not sure of our faith so we are easily influenced and we are more susceptible to temptation and sin. This is a place we can choose to remain and some do. Paul wants more for us. We should each want more for ourselves too. To this, Paul writes, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the head, that is, Christ”. Sometimes this truth is hard to hear. Accountability is a necessary part of the maturation process. We must be willing to accept “the truth in love” to move into spiritual maturity.

Our goal as faithful followers of Jesus Christ is to attain the “whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. Although we will never be perfect as Christ was perfect, the goal remains to grow more and more into Christ. As we each play the role that God has blessed us with, the body of Christ, the church, “grows and builds itself up in love”. The question for today is this: how will you help another to grow in faith?


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One

Reading: Ephesians 4: 1-6

Verses 4-6: “There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all”.

In a different season in my life I went backpacking once a year. The backpack was my existence for that week. The pack would carry the tent, my pad and sleeping bag, my food and cooking gear, the stove and fuel bottle, my clothes, my Bible and devotionals, my toiletries, a shovel and some toilet paper, and a water filter. Each of these was essential for my week trekking around the wilderness. If I discovered six miles into the journey that I had forgotten the fuel for the stove, I was in trouble. In a similar way, Paul describes today the essentials for our Christian journey. If we do not have all of these traits inside of us on our journey of faith, we are also in trouble.

Paul encourages us to be completely humble, to be patient, to bear with one another in love. He also encourages us to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. At times our journey is not always easy. To represent Christ well, it requires humility and patience and love and peace. In the good and especially in the bad these traits are essential because they help us through and they are the things that others notice. The peace in the suffering, the patience in the trial, the love for the unlovable or the unloved – these are some of the marks of the Christian. When we fail to love the other or when we demonstrate arrogance instead of humility, then we do harm to our Christian witness. We must carry all of these traits with us all of the time if we are to live out our faith well as we interact with the world.

Paul closes this section with a great reminder of what unites us as people of faith. He writes, “There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all”. We are all one body of believers throughout the world. We are all connected to and through the head, Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we find humility, patience, love, and peace. May others see these traits in us today as we bear witness to our faith in Jesus Christ today.


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A Willing Spirit

Reading: Psalm 51: 1-12

Verses 1& 2: “Have mercy on me, O God… Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”.

The common understanding of the background of Psalm 51 is that it springs forth from David’s sins around the Bathsheba-Uriah episode. His outpouring of repentance comes after Nathan confronted him. The depth of his sin has settled in on him and David comes to God with a broken and sorrowful heart. This pours from the Psalm.

David begins with, “Have mercy on me, O God…”. Forgiveness begins with God extending us mercy. Mercy is that undeserved gift that we cannot earn yet never run out of. It is the love that makes it possible for our sins to be removed. Mercy says that God understands our plight as the sinful creatures that we are. The depth of God’s love says this over and over again.

In just the opening lines, David continues with, “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”. It is precisely what God does with our sin. He washes it away and remembers it no more. Unlike us, when we repent, God forgets our sins. This is a second sign of the depth of God’s love – we are made totally clean again. God restores us to righteousness and holiness. I imagine that God smiles as He looks upon us in this state. It is a knowing smile that I picture on God’s face. He knows us well.

As this section of our Psalm closes, we read these familiar lines: “Create in me a pure heart and a steadfast spirit within me”. These familiar words ring out over and over in my church and in churches all over the world on Ash Wednesday as we enter into a season of preparation for Easter. The sign of the cross on our foreheads reminds us that sin has a cost. Yes, mercy and forgiveness are free to you and me, but they did come with a price.

Verse 12 asks God to “grant me a willing spirit”. It is David’s request to walk more closely with God. Like David, may we too be honest with God, admitting our failures, welcoming His cleansing, and continuing our journey of faith with a resolute mind and heart. May we live today and every day with a willing spirit and a repentant heart. May it be so, all to the glory of God. Amen.


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No Sin Too Great

Reading: 2 Samuel 12: 7b-13

Verse 9: “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes”?

David has just heard Nathan say, “You are the man”! In our passage today, God begins by telling David this same thing but from a much different perspective. God reviews how David was anointed and protected, how he was given the houses of Israel and Judah. God closes this summary of how He has led and blessed David with these words: “And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more”. The unspoken line is, ‘All you had to do was ask’.

God’s intent was to bless David. I believe that is God’s intent with us too. We probably will not be made kings or be given large mansions to live in. The blessings are not necessarily financial. Yet I believe that God does bless the faithful. At a minimum, there is a joy and peace about life, a contentment that assures us, and a hope for all to come. Like David, even when we find ourselves in this good place with God, we still fight the urge for more or for some earthly thing. With the power and presence of the Holy Spirit we can usually withstand the temptation. But sometimes we cannot. Like David, sometimes we sin.

In our passage, David’s sins have consequences. Yes, God forgives him but there will be ramifications. God asks, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes”? It is again a way of asking why David didn’t just come to God in the first place. But because David lusted after another man’s wife and used the sword, these two sins will rear their ugly heads against David from within his own family. Unlike David’s though, this rebellion will be out in the open, for all to see. It will be public and it will be brutal.

Our sins also bring consequences. These are usually not of the type that David faced, but they can be. At the very least, our sins disrupt our relationship with God. The same can happen with other people that are affected by our sin. And our sins also affect us too. Our hope is that when we utter, “I have sinned against God”, we too repent and repair whatever damage we can. Out of His great love, God forgives and restores us too. No sin is too great to forever separate us from God’s love. Thanks be to God. Amen.


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A Beautiful Love

Reading: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:7a

Verses 5 & 6: “David burned with anger against the man… He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity”.

Today’s passage comes in the aftermath of David’s affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. We recall that David simply took what he wanted and then did what needed done to cover up the problem. At least that’s how David saw it. As the king, there was nothing outside of his appetite. David is far from that young shepherd boy that God anointed years before.

We too can get to a similar point. No, we may not commit adultery or murder, but we can commit a sin and do as David did. We can try and rationalize it in our minds. We can try and make ourselves feel better through a variety of distractions. We can tell ourselves that ‘x’ is a sin but at least it is not ‘y’. And a favorite: we tell ourselves that we are not as bad as ___. The other trap we fall into is offering up a hollow and insincere admission of sin. Yet even as we do so we are thinking about committing that sin again. There is no repentance involved.

To bring David face to face with his sin, God sends Nathan to tell David a story. There is a rich man with many, many lambs. There is a poor man with only one lamb. The rich man probably hasn’t even seen all the sheep he owns. The poor man treats the one lamb that he owns as if it were his child. When a guest arrives at the rich man’s home, instead of taking one from his own vast flock, the rich man takes the poor man’s one and only lamb. The poor shepherd boy in him kicks in and “David burned with anger against the man… He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity”. What a consequence David metes out! The wealthy man with a vast flock of wives and concubines now stands in the shoes of the one poor soldier with only one wife to love and cherish.

Nathan says to David, “You are the man”! At once David recognizes the depth of his sin. We too come to these moments. Maybe it is the Holy Spirit, maybe it is a ‘Nathan’ that God has sent into our lives. God sends us a messenger to draw us back into a right relationship with Him. The conviction falls heavy upon us and we fall before the throne, begging for mercy. In that moment, Christ reaches out, helps us up, and reminds us that the price has been paid. Once again we are made new, holy and perfect in His sight. It is a beautiful love that we find in Christ. Thanks be to God.


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Rooted and Established

Reading: Ephesians 3: 14-21

Verses 17 & 19: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power… to know this love that surpasses knowledge”.

In this life we can pursue many things. Even for those who know God, the things of this world can call out in loud and enticing voices. We can act as if we were in love with the things of this world and our behaviors can indicate that we are smitten. Bright and shiny things that we chase are easier to identify: a new car, a bigger home, the latest iPhone. Non-physical things can draw us in too: the promotion, the recognition, the applause. No matter what we are pursuing, if it is not God, we find that ultimately self is at the core of the pursuit. We chase after things to try and satisfy self. And at the center of self we find pride.

Even though it looks like love as we pursue these things, none of these things can love us back. The new phone does not love us and the new title hanging outside the door does not love us. These things cannot make others love us. So we keep pursuing to find love. And if we dig down deep to the heart of the matter, we find that pride does not love us. Pride is willing to do much to elevate self but never finds love because the car or the title or whatever are never enough. Pride never rests because there is no final satisfaction.

To this endless cycle and for the rest of our souls, Paul offers this prayer: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power… to know this love that surpasses knowledge”. It begins with where we are rooted and established. Instead of being driving by pride, God invited us to be rooted and established in His love. Paul prays for us to have the power know God’s love because it is a love that brings peace and joy and contentment to our souls. It is not based on this world or on the things of this world. It is an eternal love. It is an unending love.

When we know and are rooted and established in God’s love, our focus shifts outward from self. We pursue God and the things of God as we reciprocate His great love. We begin to see as God sees, finding worth and value in all people. As this occurs, the things of this world grow dim. Relationships with God and each other become our pursuits. These have true value. Here we find a love that surpasses even knowledge. This day and every day may we be rooted and established in God’s love.


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A Big, Big God

Reading: Ephesians 3: 14-21

Verse 16: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being”.

Paul’s writing today in Ephesians 3 paints a picture for us concerning the vastness of God’s love for us. It is indeed a vast, vast love. It is a love that is difficult to fully understand too. It is one of those things that once you begin to grasp the immensity of, you are more and more amazed by it.

Our reality is that God’s love needed to be that big because of who we are. At its core, God’s love is a covenant love that says to us, “I’ll love you no matter what”. When I think about my tendency to return to the same sins over and over, it really makes me wonder how God could continue to love even me. These sins are not egregious and do not cause great harm to others, but are sins nonetheless. God’s love is a love big enough to say that He still loves me after the 3,187,349th unkind thought.

Paul too lived this struggle. He was not perfect and knew that his brothers and sisters in Christ we’re not either. He knew that we needed help. Today he prays for us, saying, “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being”. In essence Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit dwell in us to give us strength in our constant battle with sin. It is a prayer I appreciate very much. It is a prayer that I need.

On some days I cannot imagine that I will make it through the day. And then I remember God’s vast love for me. At the close of today’s reading is another great reminder on those days. In verse 20 Paul writes, “to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. Immeasurably more. More than I can ask or imagine. This is a big, big God. It is strength for the day and hope for all tommorows. Thanks be to God that He loves you and me.


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Evildoers and the Poor

Reading: Psalm 14

Verse 6: “Evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge”.

The second half of Psalm 14 speaks of evildoers. These are the folks who will do anything to become more powerful or wealthier. In order for anyone to gain more power or wealth, someone has to have less. What was true in David’s time remains true today.

Verse four speaks of evildoers as people who “devour” God’s people as “men eat bread”. In this verb there is an implication of greed and gluttony. It brings to mind the memory of placing a pizza before a group of teenagers who had been eating backpacking food for a week. The pizza was gone in the blink of an eye and I could see the look of “more?” in their eyes. But the evildoers that David writes of are not seeing “real food” for the first time in a week. They are folks who will eat and eat and eat – not because they are hungry but because they can. The lust for power and money is never satisfied. Getting some just wets the appetite for getting more.

Verse six reads, “Evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge”. For those living in poverty, it is an enending battle to simply stay afloat, nevermind getting ahead. Decisions like buying gas to get to work or buying food for the kids competes with decisions to buy your medication or to pay the electric bill. It is a world of decisions foreign to most of us. These thoughts draw me back to a prayer walk we were on during a mission trip to Racine. A large pile of belongings was soaking up a heavy rain on the curbside. The pastor explained that someone else had been evicted. Among the belongings was a mattress – no box spring or rails or frame. The mattress was all this person could scrape and save for thus far. It was now ruined because they chose another necessity over rent. Yes, there are legitimate reasons to evict someone and, yes, poor decisions could have led to the eviction. The deeper issues that need to be addressed are why the person cannot earn a living wage or find affordable housing.

Where do we fit into this world of evildoers? As Christians, we are called to stand with and for the poor and marginalized. We are called to speak out against low wages and other practices that intentionally and unintentionally keep the poor poor. We are also called to help alleviate suffering wherever we find it by feeding, clothing, visiting, teaching, training… May we each discern both the changes that need to happen and the differences we can each make in our neighborhoods and communities today. May it be so. Amen.