pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Jesus


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Listen Well, Go Forth

Jesus was the Word made flesh that lived among us and gives us new life.  As we read and meditate on the Word found in the Bible, as we hear and ponder the Word proclaimed in sermons, devotionals, and books, and as we take in the nudges and whispers of the Holy Spirit, God is planting the Word deep within us.  He plants for one purpose: to bear fruit.

James advises us to be quick to listen.  When our ears are seeking to hear the Word of life, we hear a lot better than when we are focusing on the things the world tells us.  Listening takes practice and focus, so not only must we focus on the Word of God, but we also must practice on hearing the Word of God.  Practice makes perfect!   In our active practice of listening, we come to define and refine what we believe and how to best live out our faith.

James is clear that we cannot stop at the listening phase.  We must go on and do what the Word says.  We must take in the Word of God, allow it to sink deep roots that nourish our soul, and then go forth to live out its teachings.  James mentions looking after the orphans and widows, but this is just one of many areas that we can share God’s love with others.

James 1 closes with this tidbit: “keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  Polluted is an excellent choice of words because that is exactly what happens.  The more we focus on the world, the less we are able to focus on the word.  Only one letter separates ‘word’ from ‘world’.  It is easy to blur the lines and end up living in the world instead of in the Word.  Each day may we look to God, spend time in the Word nourishing our souls, and go forth to bear fruit in His world.

Scripture reference: James 1: 17-27


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Love Always Wins

Today we have a picture of Jesus that is not all warm and fuzzy.  In today’s passage He is giving it to the Pharisees.  I think in our minds we usually cheer Jesus on in this type of scenario.  It is almost like the new kid on the block stood u to the bully and all around cheer him on.  This direct and confrontational Jesus is alright until we realize that He is talking to us as well.

Hypocrite?  Me?  Hold on a minute Jesus!  Theft?  Murder?  Adultery?  Surely not.  Greed?  Envy?  Arrogance?  Well, I can explain.  Can’t I?  No, I really cannot.  Jesus is right.  At times what is within me is not so good.  Those unkind thoughts and words that sometimes come out of me are not so beautiful and loving.  Jesus is right.

One cannot explain sin away.  All one can do is to come before Jesus, to kneel down, and to offer up our confession and repentance.  The good news is that Jesus does not expect perfection.  He knows we will stumble and even fall at times.  It is not His desire for us but He did walk this earth.  Although Jesus was without sin, He certainly felt pain and sorrow and other human emotions.  Jesus saw firsthand the battle that rages in every human heart.

We are guilty as charged.  Sinners one and all.  But, thanks be to God, our story does not end here.  Confession and repentance leads to forgiveness and restoration.  Through grace we are made new again, pure and clean and worthy to call Jesus Christ our friend.  We are humbled by our failures.  But love alway wins.  The love of God made known through Jesus is an unending gift that is always given to al who draw near to Christ.  This love came to save one and all.  Praise God.

Scripture reference: Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, and 21-23


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God Is Better

Our culture has become adept at bending the truth.  We are good at telling people what we think they want to hear and at ‘working’ statistics to support our viewpoint.  It is easy to say this is who we are and then to go act in a different manner.  Larger society has become very gray.

It was no different in Jesus’ day.  The Pharisees came out to see Jesus and wanted to challenge Jesus and the disciples because they were eating with ‘unclean’ hands.  They had not undergone the ceremonial cleansing of their hands before they ate.  The word ‘ceremonial’ is a tip-off.  In the opening line of His response, Jesus calls them hypocrites and quotes from Isaiah about their lip service and fascination with the rules.  We hear “smack, smack, smack” but the Pharisees were wondering who Jesus was talking about.

Jesus goes on to teach that it is not what we put into ourselves that makes us unclean but it what comes from our thoughts and words that make us unclean.  We sin and become unclean when we have evil thoughts, when we utter lies and unkind words, when we engage in immoral behavior, and when we allow envy, greed, jealousy, and malice into our hearts.  When we work to be holy and to live a righteous life and to keep evil far away, then we are right with God and we are ‘clean’.

People today are pretty good at wading through the smoke screens and half-truths served up so commonly today.  And we must make no mistake about it – God is pretty good at it too.  We cannot fool God.  When we come before Him with sin in our lives – and sinful we are – we must confess, repent, and seek His strength for the battle.  In His great love we find mercy and grace.  He refines us and gives us strength.  Allow Him in, lean on Him a little more, hear His voice, and go forth in Christ, seeking a closer walk with God.

Scripture reference: Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, and 21-23


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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


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Partners with God

Imagine the happiest couple you have ever seen – 80+ and still holding hands, giggling, kissing.  The deep and pure love that flows between them is just a glimpse into the vast love that God has for all of creation.  In creation itself we also see much of God.  In creation itself we can see both complexity and simplicity, both often created in wonder and beauty.

In creation we witness God’s strength and power.  He spoke all into being simply with His words.  God did not have to go into the lab in heaven to create water and earth and plants and animals and us.  He simply spoke and each was created.  What is even more amazing than this to me is that God also passes this power and strength on to us.  God gives His power and strength to all, especially to those who are weak and powerless and in need of God’s power and strength to face the many challenges that life brings their way.

In the continuing works of God and in the life of Jesus Christ, God continues to reveal Himself to us.  Our God created us as good and He desires that we act in good ways, bringing righteousness and equality into the world around us.  In Jesus we were shown what true love is really all about.  The love Jesus modeled is kind and gentle and truthful and giving.  This love flows to all, not just to a select few.  Our love is meant to be like Jesus’ love –  poured out to many to transform lives.

The amazing omnipotent and omnipresent creator of the universe and all that is in it invites us to partner with Him in transforming the world.  May we live lives full of His love, justice, strength, and power, bringing these into the lives of each we meet to do our part in healing a broken world.

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


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Commitment

“Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.”  Jesus often said things that were a bit jarring and often His words challenged people to the point of turning away.  In His day, disputes and arguments often arose over the words He spoke.  At times, Jesus intentionally challenged the status quo and turned the ‘normal’ upside down.

Could one really eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood?  Those living alongside Jesus could have if the purely literal interpretation was His true meaning.  But if this were His true meaning, then heaven would be closed off to all who lived after the resurrection.  As this is not the case, what then is Jesus’ meaning in these difficult words?

I think Jesus is looking for more than just hearing His words and pondering their meaning in our lives.  I think He is looking for commitment.  When we “eat” and “drink” Jesus we are taking His words and teachings and digesting them.  They become a part of who we are inside.  His teachings are the source of our energy and strength.  They are the source of life within us.  His words bubble up in us as the living water, bringing to the surface the things He taught that we are to live out.

When we take in Jesus’ words and teachings at this deep, deep level they become a part of who we are at the core of or being.  It is then that we are claimed by Jesus and we fully belong to Him.  Through His living presence in us we participate fully in this life.  Our lives then reflect the light and life of Jesus in us to a world living in darkness.  With Jesus deep within us, we become a part of building His kingdom here on earth each day.

Scripture reference: John 6: 51-54


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The Table

In the Lord’s supper we are offered communion with Christ.  As the bread is broken and the cup is poured out we remember Jesus’ body broken and His blood spilled at the cross.  His sacrifice opens the door for us to experience eternal life.  In communion we welcome in the life-giving presence of Jesus Christ as we are made new and are restored to a whole and right relationship with our God.

The table we come to is the Lord’s.   No one person or group has the corner on the market.  It belongs to Jesus alone and is extended to all.  Each and every person is invited to come into the presence of Jesus as we come to the table.  All are welcomed because all are loved by God.  He wants all people to come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We certainly come to the table in a variety of states.  Some come with a relatively clean slate and a conscience without much burden.  Others come so weighed down by their sins that they feel barely able to approach the table of communion.  But the good news is that Jesus came for the masses of sinners, not just for the few saints.  In reality we are all sinner who all fall short if the glory of God.  We are all in need to a Savior.  The table is for all.

In communion we not only remember what Jesus Christ did for us but we also look forward to the future.  One day all can join Him at the great feast in His new kingdom.  In our communion liturgy we say, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”  We know He will come again one day to make all things new.  In this we trust and in this rests our hope.

Scripture reference: John 6: 51-58


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God’s Presence and Will

It is common in the church today to hear that these are dark days.  The world is full of greed, the lust for power and control, the idea that the individual is supreme, and tragedies such as war, disease, and oppression.  While much of this is true, dark days are not common only to our time.  For those that lived through world-changing events, such as the Depression or the World Wars, their times were certainly filled with dark days.  This could be said of many events in mankind’s past.  For the Ephesians that Paul was writing to, the days were filled with persecution and they lived within a pagan culture.  These were dark days as well.

As each generation of Christians face the dark and evil days in which they live, the questions are the same: how will we face these days? And, how will we respond?  Today our answers are just as important as they were during the bubonic plague of Europe or during the more recent AIDS epidemic in Africa or at any other time in the church’s history.

Some voices call for the Christian to retreat within the walls of our churches and homes, to live largely in isolation.  Venture forth only when absolutely necessary.  Other voices call for more aggressive measures such as protest, boycott, and other forms of condemnation.  Through these and other political actions these voices call for Christians to play the world’s game of power and control, just with our own Christian agenda.

Paul’s advice to the Ephesians was to understand God’s will.  Christians never were or are called today to run from the world.  Nor are we called to fight with the world.  Instead we are called to follow Jesus.  Jesus’ life was God’s will lived out in the flesh.  We too are called to live as God’s presence in the world sharing His love, goodness, mercy, righteousness, truth, justice, and forgiveness.  We face each day knowing God’s presence in and will for our lives.  We respond by sharing God with others.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 6: 18-20


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Sharing the Light

As light and dark are opposites, there is a sharp contrast between the two.  Biblically speaking, the light represents God, Jesus, and all other things holy and righteous.  The dark represents Satan and his minions and all things evil and sinful.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are choosing to walk in the light.  Although it is our intent to always “be in the light”, at times we slip and walk in darkness or at least in the shadows.

Paul contrasts the light and dark with a few illustrations laid out as choices.  He urges us to be wise instead of unwise, filled with the Spirit instead of with wine, to be understanding instead of foolish.  In each case it is choosing to follow Christ’s will for our lives instead of pursuing our own selfish desires.  When we veer off the path of light we are often chasing temporary pleasures or the things of this world with no eternal value such as power, wealth, or possessions.

We are called to be light.  We are called to be in the world but not of it.  Our light is to shine out into the darkness.  One light in a dark room makes an amazing difference.  As people of faith we choose to pursue goodness, righteousness, and truth.  We seek to share these things with others in our lives, sharing the light within that cannot be overcome by the darkness.

In our pursuit of being light, the Spirit is the essential traveling partner.  The leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit is the only thing that allows us a chance to stand in the battle between good and evil that rages inside of us.  At times we will stumble or even fall, but the Spirit will always guide us back to the light.  Because of God’s great love for us, we never need to remain in the dark.  We are beloved children of God, always welcomed back into relationship with Him through Christ’s atoning work on the cross.  This day, shine the light!

Scripture reference: Ephesians 5: 15-20


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Holy One of God

In communion we remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection to the Father.  In the sharing of the meal we use the bread and the juice (or wine) to remind us of the physical sacrifice that gave us spiritual life.  In communion we celebrate the fact that Jesus is still present with us and still offers Himself daily.

The day after the miracle of feeding the 5,000 the crowd gathers again.  Jesus senses that they came not to believe in Him but simply to get another free meal.  So He calls them on it.  After this “hard teaching” many turn away and leave Jesus.  The masses do not understand what is really being offered.

Sometimes in the celebration of communion we miss the significance too.  It can be all ritual and no connection.  The outpouring of the confessions of our heart should be deep and passionate.  It should mirror what Jesus did for us.  It should not simply be bread and juice.  In communion, Jesus awaits us in Spirit; in the act of communion we should expect to meet Jesus there.

After many leave and fall away, Jesus asks the disciples if they are leaving too.  Sometimes I sense Jesus asking us the same question.  Peter answers for the group: “Lord, to whom would we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  His confession is still true today.  There is no one else to turn to.  Jesus alone offers eternal life.  When we waver, when it appears that we are beginning to turn away, may we recall Pater’s confession and return to the giver of life, Jesus Christ.

Scripture reference: John 6: 56-69