pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: love


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Expressions of His Love

The journey of faith is a journey to grow more and more like Christ.  It is a journey that seeks to emulate the One who was without sin.  Our pursuit of being made into the image of Christ is an endless pursuit.

Paul reminds us today that we are to act toward one another as Christ acted toward us.  We are to treat one another in love.  We are to offer of ourselves.  We are to forgive freely.

Paul offer us a list of ‘don’ts’ followed by a ‘why’.  Don’t speak lies – speak truth to strengthen the body of Christ.  Don’t sin in anger – keep Satan at bay.  Don’t steal – work so that you have something to offer those in need.  Don’t talk coarsely – speak good things to build one another up.  Each ‘why’ is how we can become more like Christ.

Ultimately though, we will say unkind things, we will allow sin into out lives, we will take from others.  Out of His great love for us through, Jesus has paid the price for our sins.  Through His death and resurrection Jesus offers us forgiveness.  This wonderful grace of God makes us new every moment.  This deep love that God has for us is what draws us to faith.

As we continue to grow in Christ, our faith becomes more and more evident in how we talk, in our actions, and in how we live our lives.  All of these things are expressions of Christ’s love alive in us.  Today, may we grow to be more and more like Christ through how we love those we meet.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 5: 25-32


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A Greater Fullness

What would the ideal church look like?  Paul gives us a glimpse in Ephesians 4.  He begins with a list of roles that are necessary in all churches.  The roles include apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, and pastor.  In most of our churches we have the last two covered, but a mature church has all five.  Each performs a specific role that helps the church grow into a mature, Christian faith.

These five roles are gifts given by Christ to Christians.  They are given to be used for the building up of the body.  An apostle, for example, is one in your church who is ‘sent out’ to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the lost.  Others may be gifted as a pastor and they spend their time caring for or shepherding the flock.  All of these roles are important to have a church maturing within and also reaching out to bring new people to Christ.

A mature body is also a church who is sure in their faith.  They know their call in Christ and are not swayed by the culture or the ways of the world.  Each member is working together to help all grow in their faith.  In our churches we see this in education classes, in small groups, and from the pulpit.  All work together to help each other grow into the mature mind of Christ.

As a community of faith grows to be more and more like Christ, things like love, inclusiveness, and compassion begin to permeate.  Even hard things that need said are said in love.  As individuals within communities of faith, our question is this: what gift do we have to offer to help our communities to grow towards a greater fulness in Christ? Then, we must put it to use for the glory of God and for the building of His kingdom.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 4: 11-16


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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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Choose Life

Bread is usually a basic part of most people’s diets.  When Jesus proclaimed that He was the ‘bread of life’ those listening would have connected this to one of the necessities of life.  His Jewish audience would also connect this statement to the manna that saved their ancestors in the desert.  Jesus points out to them that that bread was also from God.

As food is a necessity for life, hunger can drive our thoughts and actions.  Jesus often spoke of meeting the needs of the those who were hungry by giving them something to eat.  Yet Jesus knew that this earthly food was only temporary.  Even though satisfied right then it was only for a moment.  So Jesus offered Himself to His audience and to us as the ‘bread of life’ – bread that satisfies a deeper hunger that resides in all of us.

Food satisfies out physical need or hunger.  But this is not the only type of hunger we face.  We all crave to be loved, to find companionship, to fit in, to be successful, to be in control, ….  The list goes on and on.  We are vulnerable to being tempted to try to fill our hungers in unhealthy and temporal ways.  The recent story of David and Bathsheba reminds us how quickly it can go bad when one gives in to the desires of our flesh.

Jesus offers Himself to us as the ‘bread of life’ in the passage today.  Through this, He offers us life abundant.  Jesus can also be our ‘living water’, rising up within us.  When we choose to walk with Jesus we are filled with His presence.  Like bread, He sustains us when we are in need or are struggling with temptations.  Like water, He quenches our thirst for all we desire.  When we choose Jesus, we choose life.

Scripture reference: John 6: 24-35


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Past Confession

Communion is a time we gather once a week or once a month as a community of faith.  In this sacrament we remember both what Christ did for us at the cross and what He continues to do for us.  Through Christ we can be cleansed, forgiven, and restored to a right relationship with God.

In Psalm 51 we find ourselves with David just after he has been convicted of his transgressions with Bathsheba and Uriah.  In the opening verses we can hear David’s pain and sorrow just pouring out.  A man who is known for being close to God’s heart finds himself away from God because of his own actions.  David acknowledges the sinful nature inherently in all of mankind.  He acknowledges that his sin is against God.  And he acknowledges that God desires more.  All of this is true of us and our relationship with God as well.

Our reality is that we sin more than once a week and certainly more than once a month.  We need to come before God more regularly than at the communion table.  And His good news is that we can.  Lamentations 3 reminds us that God’s mercy and compassion never fail.  They are new every morning and great is His faithfulness.  Each day, each hour, each moment we can come before our loving God to be made new.

David goes on past confession and we must also go there.  In the second half of the psalm he asks God to create in him a pure heart and a steadfast spirit.  He asks God to restore the joy of His salvation within.  May the God of all love, hope, and mercy create in each of us a pure and willing heart and a steadfast spirit that willingly kneels at the cross of Jesus Christ each day, each hour, and each moment.

Scripture reference: Psalm 51: 1-12


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His Great Love

God desires our openness and willingness of heart so that the Holy Spirit may dwell within each of us.  When we welcome in the Holy Spirit, we welcome in Christ.  When we are willing to live with Jesus Christ in our hearts, we begin to understand just how wide, long, deep, and high God’s love is for each of us.  With the understanding we begin to be rooted in that love; it becomes the core of who we are.

As communities of faith or congregations, this deep abiding love is what unites us.  The love of God draws us to one another in loving, caring relationships.  This love and sense of Christ dwelling in and among us begins to drive what we do as a people of faith.  This vast love of God takes the lead on how we love one another and how we love our neighbors.

God by nature and Jesus in example were all about being full of love.  When our cup is full of this love we are best able to extend and share His love with those in need of that love.  As our cup is filled by God, we begin to experience a life lived in His presence.

This love leads us to serve others, to care for others, and to minister to others.  We no longer seek to be in control or to hold onto power.  Instead we seek to empower others to live lives of faith and to claim this wide, long, deep, high love that God offers for themselves.  This love becomes contagious.  May we be contagious today.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 3: 14-19


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Expanding the Covenant

Long ago God made a covenant with the people of Israel to be their God.  As humanity spread and covered the earth, we can assume that most people did not have a close connection to the God we identify with.  Many people came to worship a creator god as one of many gods they worshiped.  This situation continues today.  Christianity is widespread but remains definitely in the minority.  In fact, in many of the developed countries which were founded on Christian principles, we now live in the ‘post-Christian’ era.

Long ago God identified Israel, of all the Peoples of the earth, as His people.  They were set apart as the chosen people of God.  From the vast and varied tribes of people, God chose Israel and entered into a covenant relationship with them.  It was and is a small, select group of people who follow the Torah and worship the one true God.

Over time though, the Israelites came to focus more on the letter of the Law and its interpretation.  Life became more about the 613 laws rather than loving God and neighbor.  God saw the need to refocus faith on loving God and loving neighbor, so He sent His Son, Jesus, to establish a new covenant.  Jesus lived out the two great commands to love God and love neighbor with every fiber of His being.  He was setting an example for us to follow.  In the end, Jesus gave His body and blood as a means to defeat the power of sin and death and to offer us salvation and eternal life.

God also sent Jesus to expand the original covenant beyond the small nation of Israel into the whole world.  Through the work of Jesus, the apostles, and many Christians that have followed, Christianity has spread to many places throughout the world.  As followers of Jesus Christ, it is our continuing call to do the same – to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and into the corners of our neighborhoods and churches.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 2: 11-22


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Extend His Love

God offers a covenant to David that is not contingent upon what David or his descendants do.  God promises His faithfulness and love to David and his descendants no matter what they do.  This is an extravagant promise.  God acknowledges that if the sons sin, there will be consequences.  In doing so God recognizes that the human side of the relationship or covenant will at times fail.  But God will remain steadfast.

Human relationships are dynamic and often fluid.  People we were once friends with are no longer close to us.  Others will come to occupy our time and interest for a season.  Some friendships last a lifetime.  Even in marriage, where forever is our intent starting out, some of these relationships come to an end.  Human relationships are affected by so many things; change is often the norm.  And as we are humans, at times we fail.  This can be fatal to some of our relationships.

Through Jesus we are connected into the covenant God made with David and his descendants.  As sons and daughters of Jesus Christ, we too are heirs to this steadfast and unchanging love that God offers.  Our claim to the love of God begins the covenant relationship between God and each of us.  At some point we recognize that love and choose to enter into a relationship with God the creator.

Even though at times we too will fail in this relationship, His love will never fail.  God’s love never fails.  As we come to know this unfailing love more and more, we too begin to share this love with others.  We extend His love.  This is our grateful response to God’s love.  Love generously today.

Scripture reference: Psalm 89: 20-37


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The Question

Herod is a man who lived by manipulation, force, coercion.  He desperately wanted to be loved.  He worked at rebuilding the temple to curry favor from the Jews.  He went to great lengths to please his wife.  Guilt and self-doubt filled Herod.  When he hears stories of Jesus, he feared that John the Baptist had returned to judge him again.

Herod did not understand the world that John, and later Jesus, was trying to bring about.  Both John and Jesus experienced rejection and death because the rulers of the day would not hear their message of justice, peace, and love.  Both men willingly died to challenge the way the world was operating.  Both sought to bring the world shalom – the well-being of all, justice for all, equality for all people in all situations, and the blessings of God’s love, mercy, and grace.

In the world today I see people like Herod – driven by self-interests and greed.  Their priorities are far from those Jesus taught and died for.  In the world today I see many people who lack peace, justice, the basic necessities of life – things Jesus strove to bring to all people.  In the world today I see people who are suffering injustices and oppression – both in my hometown and throughout the world.

The question I must ask – the question all Christians must ask – is: what I am willing to do to bring this shalom to others?  It is a hard question.  But it is a question all Christians must not only wrestle with but one we must answer with how we live our lives.

Scripture reference: Mark 6: 14-16


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A Love So Great

To live the Christian life is becoming increasingly unique in our society.  All cultures evolve and change over time.  It is natural.  Today we find that the core values of society and Christianity no longer match up as well as they once did.  Currently the pendulum has swung away from ‘religion.’  The prevailing question for us and future Christians is will it swing back towards ‘faith’?

Paul opens his letter to the Ephesians with great words of encouragement.  He reminds them that God chose them as His children long ago.  He reminds them of the grace freely given.  He reminds them of the redemption from sin bought by Christ with His blood.  All of this is true for us as well.

Att times it is hard to live as a Christian in a post-Christian society.  People without faith will question why we choose to not do some things and are puzzled by other things we do.  Not pursuing the things of this world draws curiosity and offering acts of mercy invites questions.  Today it is our uniqueness that causes us to stand out and provides opportunities to share our faith story.

In choosing to live life as a follower of Christ we are choosing to be countercultural.  We are also inviting others into conversation about this radical love we offer as we seek to emulate Jesus.  It is a love so great that it has the power to change the world.  Through His love may we change lives today.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 1: 3-8