pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: salvation


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Because He Loves

Reading: Psalm 91: 14-16

“Because he loves me…” opens our reading today.  It goes on to say that because we love God, God will rescue, protect, answer, be with, deliver, honor, give long life, and show us salvation.  Because we love God.  Thankfully, these things God blesses us with because we love God is based not just on our love for God.  More importantly, it is based on God’s love for us.  Even though our love is at times fickle and wavering, God still desires a loving relationship with each of us.  There is investment and commitment on both sides.

From God’s side, the love is as steady as the day is long.  God’s love for us never changes.  As the character who portrays God in one of my favorite books says, “I’m especially fond of that one”.  It was said about everyone.  This is one of the most amazing things about God’s love – it is unlimited in that it is for all people, not just for those who love God.  And God’s love is constant.  There is nothing we can do or say to earn more of God’s love.  There is nothing we can do or say to drive away or lessen God’s love either.

But our love ebbs and flows.  Our commitment to the relationship is sometimes strong, sometimes weak.  As people prone to sin, we have moments, days, and even seasons when we slip, drift away, act like we do not love God.  At times we probably make God question our love and commitment.  We are human.

Yet God remains faithful, true, loving.  God remains the same always.  God patiently waited for us to realize our poor choices, to repent and return to our loving relationship.  There are no “Where ya been?” questions.  There is simply, “Welcome back”.  Welcome back to where we belong.  Welcome back.  Thanks be to God for this incredible love.


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Pray for All

Reading: 1 Timothy 2: 1-7

Paul opens this section with a universal appeal for us to pray for everyone.  Paul even says to pray for the King and all in authority.  Today he would tell us to pray for the President and all elected officials.  For some this may be a challenge.  Some dislike the King.  But as a Christian, we cannot argue with Paul’s logic: God wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth found in Jesus.  So Paul calls us to pray for all people.

There are always reasons or obstacles that can make praying for all people difficult.  First of all is our own self-interest.  We want to know what’s in it for us.  It can also be hard to pray for someone who seems to have little connection to our life.  Second, we do not like all people.  It can be very hard to pray for someone we dislike or disagree with.  Yet we are called to pray for all people.  So that they can be saved.

In addition to bringing others before God, praying for all benefits us as well.  We are being obedient to God’s word and this shows respect and love to God.  Praying for all is what Christ did and still does, so doing this brings us nearer to Christ.  Praying for all opens our eyes and hearts to others.  It makes us more loving and empathetic.  It places neighbor ahead of self.  Praying for all replaced judgment with empathy and love.  It helps us to see all as children of God in need of salvation.  Praying for all also leads us to offer healing and hope to a world so in need.  It changes how we speak to and treat others.

Pray for all.  Not only does it bring them before God, it also changes our attitude, our heart, and our outlook.  Prayer draws us into being more Christ-like.  May we pray often.  May we pray for all.  May our prayers draw us ever closer to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.


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Unconditionally

Reading: Galatians 3: 23-29

Paul’s message to the Galatians is first and foremost that they are “Christians” – heirs to the promises of God.  Paul in implying that they are heirs to all of God’s promises.  He does not delineate to just a few of them but he implicitly states that as those baptized into Christ they are blessed with all of His promises.  This too is our view as contemporary readers of the Bible.  We see all of the promises made to Abraham, Moses, … as promises that apply to us as well.  Christians are not just a New Testament people, but a people of the whole Bible.

The people of Paul’s day felt a little conflicted about the full application of the Law.  We too walk this middle ground today.  We read and apply some of the Old Testament and the Law, such as tithing and most of the Ten Commandments, but we certainly do not follow all of the Old Testament.  For example we do not follow most of the dietary restrictions or the Sabbath laws and we do not celebrate the festival’s such as Passover.  We hold onto many of the promises and some of the Law however.  Those things that Jesus emphasized or instituted are followed – baptism, communion, serving the needy, and the two great commands.

At times our churches and we as individuals can function much like the faithful Jews of Paul’s day.  We can exclude or be non-welcoming to people who do not fit into our boxes or who do not conform to all of our expectations.  For some that’s how they dress and for others it is what part of town you’re from.  For some it is your ethnicity and for others it is your style of worship.  Our bottom line, though, is still the same: we are all children of God and therefore heirs to His promises of forgiveness of sins, eternal life, … and all are called to love all as Jesus loves us: unconditionally.  May we come to see all as welcome in His kingdom and may we live and love accordingly.


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The Plan

Reading: John 16: 12-13

In His time on earth, Jesus began a great work: the salvation of the world.  In His limited time He of three years He brought many to faith.  But more importantly, He laid the groundwork for God’s master plan that continues to reach out, bringing the good news to all nations and to all people.  Jesus began with a small crew and taught them what it looked like to love sacrificially and to love God above all else.  He planned for His work of saving the world to continue on by sending the Holy Spirit.  For the disciples there that day and for us continuing the mission today, the Holy Spirit guides us, speaks into our lives, and empowers us to follow Jesus’ example.

The Spirit empowers us today so that we can continue to do the work that Jesus began.  The unfinished plan continues to draw closer and closer to completion, day by day, new believer by new believer.  Each and every one of us plays a role in the plan through the working out and living out of our faith.  Our lives tell the story of loving God and loving others more than self.  This is a radical and countercultural story.  In our day to day lives we must live as both salt and light.  As light we shine God’s love into the darkness of people’s lives and as salt we bring the aroma and taste of Christ to those in need.

As we are part of the plan, so too will others be a part of the plan.  There are many who have not heard the good news of Jesus Christ.  Many have an inkling of who God is and have heard of Jesus and maybe of His message.  But it is a superficial understanding at best.  As His witnesses in the world, we must enter into the lives of the lost and walk alongside them so that they can come to know the love of Christ.  The love of Christ is life changing once you have really experienced it.  He makes us into a new creation.  May we each carry Jesus Christ to the lost so that through the power of the Holy Spirit, all may come to truly know Jesus as Lord and enter into true life in Christ.


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His Witness

Reading: Ephesians 1: 15-23

Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus is that the Holy Spirit would bring wisdom and revelation to the church so that they would know Jesus better.  Paul lists three reasons why he is praying this prayer: to know the HOPE of salvation; to know the riches of the larger church; and, to gain a sense of His power.

It is one thing to know who Jesus is.  A good teacher.  A man with the power to perform miracles.  A moral example.  Yes, Jesus is all of these things.  But to know Jesus more, to the depth of calling on Him as Lord and Savior, requires faith and belief that He is the Son of God.  Once our ‘knowledge’ of Jesus has reached this place, then we begin to live for Him and not for self, knowing that our salvation, the eternal rescue of our spirit, rests firmly in His hands.

As we become a part of a community of faith we become richer.  The fellowship, worship, mentoring, accountability, and love of the faithful makes our lives so much better.  In turn we too can discover and offer the gifts that God has bestowed upon us to enrich the lives of the church and the world in which we live.  These experiences of sacrificially giving of self to others and receiving from others unconditionally opens the way for us to begin to sense His power at work.  It is through these acts of love and sacrifice that we begin to truly live as Jesus lived.  As we connect others to Him, we ourselves deepen our relationship with Jesus as well.

May we be His witness and example today, growing in our knowledge of Jesus Christ by following Him in all we do today.


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Salvation

Reading: Psalm 118: 14

Salvation, as it was often used in the Old Testament, has a slightly different connotation than how it is primarily used in the New Testament.  Whereas in general Christians see salvation as a personal and eternal matter, to the average Jew of the time salvation was more communal and concerned life in the present time and place.

In the Psalm there is a sense of tragedy and despair that God has rescued them from.  During this time the psalmist felt trapped, limited.  It was as if the world has closed in tight and it was hard to breathe.  It is a feeling we all can surely relate to.  For the psalmist, God’s act of salvation rescued them from despair and restored their hope in this life.  Part of this rescue is the liberation from that which constricted or oppressed them so that they can again have the abundant life that God intends for us all to live.  For the Hebrew community, salvation was something that could happen over and over and over again.

As Christians, we also see God’s presence and interaction with us as a regular, daily event.  We also view God as active and engaged in our daily lives.  We see God as present with us as individuals as well as with our faith communities and world.  God listens to our praise, our cries, our thanksgivings, and our pleas.  He responds to our needs and rescues us from trials so that we can live a life that is abundant and joyful, filled with His many blessings.

In both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, salvation has a saving character to it.  In the Old Testament it mostly had to do with God’s hand at work in their world, saving people from their struggles.  For us as New Testament people, we still see God at work doing this, but we also see salvation as the work that saves us from sin, death, and their consequences.  For both of these aspects of God’s salvation, I am thankful.  Praise be to God!


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Ambassadors

Reading: 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

Christ offers us healing and wholeness.  Through Him we are made into a new creation.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can renew our minds every day to remain in a right relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In the relationship we are no longer slaves to sin and death because we know that through Jesus we too have conquered these things.

All people have hurts and scars from living life.  As all is not in our control and as Satan is active in this world, there will be people, events, and circumstances that bring us pain and harm.  But the good news of Jesus Christ is that we do not walk alone.  Jesus wants to carry our burdens; He wants to take away the pain and hurt.  All He asks is that we bring these things to Him, to lay them down, and to trust Him with them.

We too at times bring hurt and pain to others.  In our humanity we can be less than God intends us to be.  In these times we are not fulfilling the call to be ambassadors for Christ and bearers of the good news of salvation.  Yet even in these times God is at work, calling us back to Him.  Through the whispers and nudges of the Holy Spirit God is always seeking to reconcile us back to Him.  As we grow in our faith, we increasingly bring the love of God out into the world with us as we seek to help reconcile others to God as His ambassadors.

God seeks to draw all people into relationship.  He seeks to have His love known in every heart.  As we experience this in our own lives, may we seek to share this good news with others, living as the ambassadors Christ calls us all to be.


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Things That Satisfy

Reading: Isaiah 55: 1-5

Today we hear an invitation to come to God to be satisfied.  Isaiah calls us to the waters that will satisfy our thirst.  He calls us to come and eat without cost.  Isaiah is calling us to come and find salvation and blessing, to enter the reign of Christ.

The passage is full of actions we must take.  “Come” is not the only one.  Isaiah also urges us to listen to what fills out soul, to spend what we have on things that truly satisfy, and to eat of the good that God offers.  When God invites us to partake of all this, Isaiah asks, why do we still seek what does not ultimately satisfy?  It is a good question to ponder.  It is one we wrestle with.

The things of this world can be alluring and enticing.  Satan is excellent at dangling that which draws each of us in before our eyes in a number of ways.  He works at those insecurities and doubts, deftly trying to pry them open just a bit wider all the time.  He nudges us into thinking more of ourselves and less of others as we play the blame and judgment games.

In the season of Lent, may we be increasingly aware of all that has appeal but that does not satisfy.  May we heed the voice of the Holy Spirit ad it warns, convicts, and corrects.  May we draw close to our Lord and Savior to drink and eat of the living water and the bread of life that He alone offers.


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The Mission

Reading: Luke 13: 31-35

In today’s passage the Pharisees make an appearance.  In almost all of their many encounters with Jesus, their interactions are usually negative.  But today they are not.  This group of Pharisees is trying to warn Jesus of Herod’s plan to kill Him.  There is concern for Jesus’ well-being.  Jesus’ response is interesting.  He tells them that He simply must keep going because there is a plan.  Like the disciples, the Pharisees do not understand Jesus’ reference to Palm Sunday and the events that will follow.

Jesus knows that the plans God has will succeed every time.  No matter what Herod or any other ruler does, in the end God’s plan will succeed.  Jesus also knows the plan.  In the conclusion of His story, the cross is essential.  In spite of how powerful he is, Herod will be used by God just as God intended all along.

At times in our lives we are like the Pharisees in today’s passage.  We get lost in the day to day and in the things of this world.  We lose sight of the big picture.  We lose our God-sized vision.  When we allow this to happen, we fail to follow our mission.  Jesus calls us into loving service of all mankind.  Our long term destination is the same as Jesus’: heaven.  Our daily task is also the same as well: to take as many along with us as we can.  We call this making new disciples.

Jesus never lost sight of His mission and the plan.  He knew seeing it through was the only way for you and I to find God’s goal for us: salvation.  May we also keep focused on our mission and the plan.  May we too always share the good news of Jesus Christ with all we meet.  May we serve as He served.


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All the Praise and Glory

At Christmas it can be easy to get into the receiving mode.  Although Christmas is really about the birth of Christ, it can be easy to slip into this mode.  Today’s passage begins by listing all we receive in and through Christ.  Through Jesus Christ we are blessed and adopted as children of God.  In Jesus’ blood we find the forgiveness of our sins.  Through Jesus’ perfect life and example we have come to know God’s will.  In Christ, through a personal relationship with Him, we receive the gift of our eternal inheritance.  In this list we find much that we “get” from Christ.  But that us not the point of the passage.

Paul’s first point is to remind us why we receive so much.  His answer is rooted solely in one thing: love.  We are part of God’s family, washed clean in Jesus’ blood, and promised eternal life because God loves us deeply.  It is a love that sees all of our flaws and sins and tendency to be independent yet loves us unconditionally anyway.

Paul’s second point is to reveal our correct response to all that God has given: to praise His name.  In doing so we turn all the attention to God.  God is at the center of it all and our praise needs to recognize and acknowledge God as our all in all.  In doing so we become less and He becomes more.  It is as it should be.  To Him be all the glory and praise forever and ever!  Amen.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 1: 3-14