pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: lost


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God’s Promises

Reading: Jeremiah 32: 1-3a and 6-15

Many are the promises of God. “I will never leave you or forsake you”.  “I will be with you until the end of this age”.  “My mercies are new every morning”.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.  “The Holy Spirit will teach you and remind you of everything I told you”.  “Trust in me alone”.  These are but a few.

In our text, Jeremiah is under house arrest in a city besieged by the mighty Babylonians.  He had warned the King about the danger of relying on Egypt and had prophesied about Israel’s impending doom.  The time had come.  In the midst of this scene of doom and destruction, Jeremiah’s cousin visits him to sell him some land.  To all but Jeremiah this seems like a foolish investment.  This would be like a football coach calling a timeout with one second left on the clock when their team is down 50 points.  Yet Jeremiah buys the land.  It makes no sense.  Except to Jeremiah.  He was trusting in God’s promise.  God had told him that one day, even though hard to believe at this point, that one day God would restore and redeem Israel.

At times life will besiege us as well.  The storm may come in the form of a broken relationship, a health crisis, an unexpected loss, or ….  In these moments, we feel lost and alone and like we are about to go under.  Into these moments, God will speak.  If we are open to God’s Spirit, we will be reminded of God’s promises.  God never stops loving us, never stops reaching out to us, never gives up on us.  In life’s trials, may we turn to the promises of God, our rock and redeemer, our Savior and hope.


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The Flock

Reading: Luke 15: 1-7

Today’s passage begins with Jesus acting in a countercultural way.  He is associating and dining with those who would not be welcome at the Pharisees’ tables and who the Pharisees see as outcasts.  Who could you bring to the family dinner table or to sit beside you in your pew at church that would make others uneasy or would make them frown or tisk-tisk you?

Instead of arguing with the religious leaders, Jesus tells a story that all there could relate to.  Being a shepherd was a very common job.  Although it was a job at the bottom of the scale, all would be familiar with this occupation.  Each gathered there would understand that all the sheep in the flock were of worth and value.  So when one sheep goes missing, of course the shepherd goes and looks for it.  Naturally, the shepherd is happy when the sheep is found.  Although just a story, probably all there were happy for the shepherd too.

Now that Jesus has all in the audience to this common point of understanding, He adds an analogy.  He says that in the same way God rejoices when one lost sinner repents and is returned to the fold.  I think the Pharisees would agree with this concept as well.  If a fellow Pharisee sinned, God would rejoice when they made the requisite sacrifice, became ceremonially clean again, and returned to the group.  Their ‘flock’ is the circle of people who are just like them.

If you walked into church tomorrow with someone who had not attended in a while, the flock would rejoice and say, “Welcome back!” to the lost sheep.  While someone returning to church is a good thing, I think Jesus is making another point.  Jesus’ understanding of “flock” is much bigger than ours or the Pharisees’.  By ‘sinner’ Jesus means all people who sin, not just church members who sin.  Jesus’ vision of flock is ALL people.  Red and yellow, black and white, sinner and saved, believer and non-believer… all are precious in His sight.  Who is outside your circle that you need to bring in?


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Living Witness

Reading: Revelation 7: 9-17

It’s pretty easy to look at someone else in the store or in line at the traffic light and to judge if we think they are a Christian or if they are lost.  It becomes even easier to judge one’s eternal destination if we work or go to school with them.  Of course we are all ‘in’ and will one day stand around the throne with other stalwart Christians praising God day and night.  Or will we?

Often in our churches or places of worship we do like to think we have the inside track.  We like to gather with others like us (at least spiritually) to worship and have coffee and cookies with on Sunday mornings.  We get a little uncomfortable when someone who is definitely not one of us comes into our space.  Sure, someone welcomes them – they are good working with those kind of people.  We don’t need to take the time to talk with that ‘guest’ because we will never see them again.  Or will we?

Our passage today gives us a snapshot of heaven.  Gathered around the throne are thousands upon thousands from every tribe, nation, and language.  The great commission calls us to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.  That’s far and wide.  While some are out there in far away places, for most of us our mission field is right where we are today.  It is that person in line with us at the store or the one at the next desk over or the seeker who wanders in on a Sunday morning.

We must remember that we are all called to share the good news.  God wants us all to know Him.  We must live and see as Jesus did: without judgement, with no reservations, with no preconceived ideas.  We must meet people where they are at and love them as God loves them.  We are called to be a living witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  May it be so this day.


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The Same Love

Reading: Luke 15: 1-3 and 11b-32

Today’s parable is sometimes read as about being lost.  All people experience times when we would consider ourselves to be ‘lost’.  Maybe our time was short, like at college, or maybe it was a longer season in life.  Maybe we had an extended period in life when we lived a life we really do not want to recall.

The younger son in this parable certainly fits this description.  After a period of wild living he comes to place of remorse and returns home.  He know his choices have been wrong and he acknowledges that he has sinned again God and against his earthly father.  Both offer compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and accept him back without any conditions or stipulations.  They treat him like he has never been gone.  That is what is so amazing about grace.  It is a great example and reminder for us.  No matter what we have done and no matter what we have become, God eagerly awaits our return so that we can be reconciled to Him.

The older brother is certainly lost as well.  He may have never physically left the estate, but he seems lost to his father’s love as well.  He reminds me of one who comes to church out of a sense of obligation, just going through the motions and never really connecting to God or anybody.  There but always wanting to be someplace else.  The older son is showing up every day for work because he is supposed to, not because he loves the job or the boss.  We see this manifest itself in his reaction to how his brother is received back home.  Forgiveness is difficult in his hardened heart.  But it is possible.

The father demonstrates the same love for both sons – the physically lost and the spiritually lost.  He runs to both and offers love, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and acceptance.  No matter what we have done and no matter how lost we are, God offers all of His children the same.


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How Far?

Servant leadership is difficult.  It is pretty easy to serve, to go out and do for others.  There are lots of needs that can be met and many people who would appreciate a group of volunteers showing up to help them out.  If one is gifted with certain characteristics, then leadership can also be pretty easy.  As people rise into higher positions, we usually recognize these characteristics in the person.  Almost all leadership positions come with some level of power and authority.  Jesus warns against using this to lord one’s position over others.

Great leaders do not dominate but include others.  Great leaders do not dictate but they participate.  Great leaders have vision and drive and purpose and they spread this to those on their team.  Great leaders build up their team and keep it moving towards its goals and purposes.  If one is able to lead in this manner, power and authority tend to find them.  To be a servant as well can be difficult.

As servants we must sometimes do things we do not want to do.  As servant leaders we may have to lead others in doing these things.  Great servant leaders have a gift for bringing others along on these difficult journeys.  Jesus gave us many great examples of the leader serving and He calls us to do the same.  How far are we willing to go?  On the cross the Most High suffered and died for the lowly and sinful, for the sake of saving us.  How far will we go to save the least and the lost, the sinful and the broken?  Leaders go as far as needed.  May we go where He sends us.

Scripture reference: Mark 10: 42-45


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Forsaken

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.

Scripture reference: Psalm 22: 1-8


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Bread of Life

Jesus, the bread of life, the bread of heaven, wants to feed us.  His food is for our spirits.   Jesus desires to pour into our hearts both to fill us with His joy and to sustain us in the hard days we all face.

The crowd in the story today is almost the same crowd who ate of the fishes and loaves the day before.  They have been physically fed by a miraculous work of Jesus and they are back wanting more.  Like us sometimes, they ask, “What must we do?”  But Jesus has no requirements.  There is no ticket to punch.  He simply wants to give us the bread of life.  Out of His great love for us, the gift of life is offered to all.

Jesus simply invites us into His presence to be fed.  We can ‘fill up’ in many ways – in worship, in prayer, in praise, in study.  At the table of the Lord we are fed.  His spirit and presence fill us up.  Oddly enough, over time we come to the place of desiring to offer our thanks. The ‘must’ becomes ‘can’ as we ask, “What can we do?”  As we are filled we come to want to share the bread of life with others through word, acts of mercy, and acts of kindness.This is our grateful response to Christ’s great love being poured into us.

As we ourselves continue to come to the bread of life, we grow to become more and more like Christ.  Out of His great love for us we are led to love others more.  In our churches, in our places of work or school, in our social settings, in or homes we will have opportunities to lead others to the table of our Lord.  This invitation is one of the greatest offers we can offer another.  This day may we find one who is lost and bring them to the table.

Scripture reference: John 6: 24-35


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The Story for All

Paul reminds the Ephesians of life before Christ.  He reminds them how they used to be strangers or aliens, of how they were excluded, and of how they were not good enough to be a part of the family of God.  He does this to elevate their joy over Christ’s reconciling work on the cross.  Through the cross Christ broke down all barriers and gave all access to God.

At times people still feel excluded from God.  At times the things I do create space between God and I.  My sin creates separation.  But through His blood I find grace and mercy and reconciliation.  Then I am restored to the family of God.  I regret where I was but rejoice over finding my place again in the family of God.

This story Paul tells the Ephesians (and us) is a story many need to hear today.  Lots of people think they are not good enough, not worthy enough.  Some think their stains are too dark to ever be washed clean.  Others keep a distance because they fear they will fail because the demons they wrestle with are strong and usually win.  The story for all of these and more is the same story for us.

For all of us, this is a journey. It does not matter where you start, it only matters that you start.  For all of us, we will stumble.  This does not matter either because Christ is always there, extending a hand and welcoming us back through His blood.  Christ calls us all.  As followers we have heard the Word.  It is our call to share this good news with the least and the lost so that all can make their claim in the family of God.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 2: 11-22


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All Who Come

Jesus taught with authority. People could recognize there was something special about Him. The disciples dropped all the were doing at a simple call to come and follow. People brought the sick and afflicted to Jesus – simply for a touch of His hand.

This phenomena was occurring at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. Jesus was teaching in the temple and all who heard were amazed. Even a man with an evil spirit in him recognized Jesus and his authority. After Jesus cast out the demon people were even more amazed at His authority.

He was one with authority. Jesus often used this authority to question the religious establishment. He questioned their treatment of those on the edges of society. Or maybe it was their lack of treatment. Either way, if Jesus were to look around our sanctuaries tomorrow, would he see a very homogenous crowd? A lack of a segment of our community or neighborhood would indicate what Jesus often critiqued about the establish religion.

In the example Jesus set for us, He loved all who came to Him. How open are we to sitting next to the lost and marginalized in worship or by us at the potluck? Jesus took all who came. This is or call too – to love neighbor as self, to reach out to those who are alone, to share His light for all to see.

Scripture reference: Mark 1: 21-28


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Lost in Him

If one were to pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV or surf the internet, one would maybe think that Christmas is just around the corner.  It may be that there is more on sale after Christmas than there was before Christmas.  Even for those who had a blessed and wonderful Christmas and thought they were satisfied on December 25, all of the advertising draws one to ponder what else one might need.

I wrote ‘need’ but really should have used ‘want’ instead.  When we are stuck on focusing on what we want too much then contentment becomes elusive.  Yes, it is difficult to be still and quiet amidst all the noise, yet God is still very present and is still seeking our presence.

The psalmist reminds us to sing out to God our thanksgiving, to see Him at work in the rising of the sun and the falling of the rain.  God delights in those whose hope is in Him.  Today may we get so lost in singing our praises to God that we become lost in Him, so that the noise of this world fades away and He is all we have left.

Psalm 147: 7-14