pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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God at Work

Reading: Esther 9: 20-22

Verse 22: “Mordecai wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving of presents of food”.

Our passage today begins with Mordecai recording the recent events and sending this out in a letter to “all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerses, near and far”. Mordecai is writing to all the Jews for two purposes. In Esther 3 an edict had been sent out to all the provinces that on the 13th day of the month of Adar, all the Jews were to be killed. Imagine the horror and fear that must have swept through the Jewish communities spread “near and far”. The date would have felt like a ticking bomb. So the first purpose of Mordecai’s letter was to let the Jews know that they had been spared.

As important as this information was, the bigger purpose of the letter was to tell the story of how God had acted to save His people. Yes, being spared is super important, but the “how” is much more important. The letter must have detailed Mordecai’s faith and trust in God to act. It must have spoken of Esther’s course and trust in God. In both cases, it speaks of people willing to step up and stand up for God and for their faith. Thus, it encourages to do the same should necessity or opportunity arise. The letter also tells, more importantly, of how God was faithful too – guiding and orchestrating the events to rescue His chosen people from sure death. The letter ultimately reminds the Jews of God’s love and care.

In his letter, Mordecai declares the 14th and 15th days of Adar to be “days of feasting and joy and giving of presents of food” as the people celebrate God at work. These are the days immediately after the former date of their destruction. Mordecai directs the people to give gifts of food not only to each other but also to the poor. Just as God had cared for His people in a time of need, so too will they care for those in need among them. This act is also one more way to tell the story of God’s saving hand.

This story reminds us of times when God has been at work in our lives. These times are part of our story of faith. Like Mordecai, may we also share the story.

Lord, I recognize and give thanks for the many times that you have guided and cared for and even rescued me. May I use each opportunity today to tell the story of your love and care and faithfulness. Amen.


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The Healer

Reading: Mark 5: 25-34

Verse 33: “The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at His feet…”

Today’s passage is a story of absolute faith. It is the story of what Jesus can do when we are willing to lay it all on the line and to totally trust it to His power.

The woman who sought out Jesus is long suffering. She had been bleeding for twelve years. Imagine being ill for that long. We get all grumpy and fussy when we have had a cold or the flu for a few days. Just imagine having a cold for over 4,000 days in a row. The woman is now financially ruined. Our passage tells us that she has spent everything on any and all doctors that would see her. She has probably been to every rabbi and priest too. But she only gets worse. She is probably at her last emotional straw too. Illness was equated with sin. Blood made her unclean. This woman has been dealing with this condition essentially alone – outside of society and most likely away from all family.

The woman’s situation reminds me of folks I have known who struggle or struggled with addictions. This disease gets ahold of them and it won’t quit. One by one family and friends are driven away. They find themselves mostly alone. Despite treatment and new plans and all else they can do, the illness still has a hold of them. On another less obvious level, the woman’s situation also reminds me of the sins in our lives that just keep hanging around. For me, the need to be in control is an almost constant battle. I can trust God for a time, but pride and ego seem to always surface, tempting me to take control again. I know I need to trust God more fully, but…

This broken woman desperately seeks out Jesus. Her faith is so strong that she just needs to touch His clothes to receive healing. It is a faith powerful enough that Jesus senses healing power leaving Him. As Jesus asks who touched Him, she knows. She knows she must confess. “The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at His feet…”. I can see Jesus gently helping her to stand and warmly smiling at her as He says, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace”. What powerful words from Jesus.

Do you need to hear these words? Do you know a friend or another who needs to hear these words? Reach out to Jesus in faith. Help guide another to the Healer. May we all honestly turn to the only One who can free us. May we wholly trust in Jesus. May we find healing. In His name we pray. Amen.


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Saving Relationship

Reading: Psalm 20

Verses Six and Seven: “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed… we trust in the name of the Lord our God”.

Relationship is the key to our faith. In today’s Psalm, David speaks of the relationship we have with God. One of the keys to any good relationship is communication. David opens with one of our key communication tools: prayer. He asks God, “May the Lord answer you… protect you”. As the faithful we are to bring all things to God, trusting in God’s response. David then prays for blessings of help and support from God.

Another way we communicate with God is through our acts of worship. Often this occurs on Sunday mornings as we gather for corporate worship. How we choose to live our day to day lives is also an act of worship if it brings glory to God. When we offer some of ourselves or some of our time, talents, and resources, it is an act of worship. When we give to God or to others because of the love of God overflowing from our hearts, it is worship. When we sacrifice self and place God and neighbor ahead of our own interests and desires, we are also modeling for others the witness given by Jesus Christ.

David goes on to ask that God may give us the desires of our heart and for our plans to succeed. He is petitioning God to grant us a good life. David is not hoping that the king or any of us are billionaires, but that we find contentment and that God provides for all our needs.

As he closes, David turns to the salvation we find through our relationship with God. In verse six he writes, “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed”. When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are saved. We are anointed with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, with the “saving power of God’s right hand”. David goes on to acknowledge that some people “trust in chariots and horses” – the things of man, the things of this world. “But…”, David writes. “But we trust in the name of the Lord our God”. David observed that those who trust in the things of this world are “brought to their knees”, but the faithful “rise up and stand firm”. We do so because we stand on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God for the great love that calls us into this saving relationship. Praise be to the Lord! Amen.


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Saved

Reading: John 3: 16-17

Verse Seventeen: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him”.

Not to condemn but to save. Not to seal our fate but to show us the way, the truth, and the life. Not to stand far above us in judgment but to live within us as friend. Not to be unknown but to be fully known. “For God so loved the world…”. He took on flesh, lived among us, was crucified and rose so that His Spirit could continue to live on in each of us.

God’s purpose in Jesus is to make His love known more completely. As we journey through life, our faith changes and grows. We become more and more who God created us to be in Jesus Christ. In doing so, God takes all of us – who we are and what we have experienced – and molds and remolds us day by day, reshaping us into who He wants us to be. Through God’s great transforming power we are made into a new creation so that we can be change agents in other people’s lives. God created us to use us for the transformation of others and of the world.

How will that look today and tomorrow and the next day? How will God take each of us and use us to build the kingdom here on earth? How will God use us to share the good news of salvation and hope that is offered through a relationship with God’s Son, Jesus Christ? All of this is done through us and through our story. The change that God has wrought in us is the change that He can work in others. If we share our story with others, it opens the door for God to go to work in their lives as well.

Not to condemn but to save. Not to hate but to love. Not to separate but to draw together. May we be Jesus’ light and love in the world today and every day, helping others to be saved. Amen.


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Divine and Human

Reading: Mark 11: 1-11

Verse Two: “You will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden”.

Today is Palm Sunday, the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem amidst a cheering and excited crowd of supporters. It is a proclamation of hope and longing by the people. They so want someone to free them from the Romans. For the most part, over the past three years, they have clearly missed seeing the type of kingdom that Jesus is building. It is not a kingdom of might and military power but one of grace and love and mercy and forgiveness and community.

Today’s first clue comes in the mode of transportation. Jesus does not select a fine warhorse to ride into the city. Instead He gives these instructions to the disciples: “You will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden”. Jesus chooses a meek and young animal. That He is able to ride the colt amidst all the noise and celebration testifies to His quiet power. But at the time only His inner circle of disciples would marvel at this. The masses ignored the colt because they wanted and could only see one thing – a possible Messiah to save them from the Romans.

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, He goes to the temple. Many probably followed His there, presuming that He would raise His hands to quiet the crowd before giving a rousing speech to stir up the people even more. But Jesus enters the temple and simply looks around. He then quietly exits the city. Perhaps Jesus was just taking stock of the state of the temple and beginning to formulate a plan for His last week.

Jesus and His disciples quietly clip out of town and go to Bethany for the night. No crowds follow, eager to see what is next. We know that Jesus and company often take rest when they visit Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, so we assume this is where they went to spend the night. Their home is a place that is special to Jesus. It is a place where He finds rest, peace, and community, surrounded by people He loves and that love Him. With the week that lies ahead it is a good place to be for a night.

In the small details of the passage today we get a glimpse into both Jesus’ obedience to God’s plan and into His humanity in needing to surround Himself with a loving community. One shows His strength and true power and the second shows a humble need to be loved and to belong. The divine and the human in one. Thanks be to God. Amen.


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Present to Us

Readings: Psalm 31: 9-16 and Philippians 2: 9-11

Verse Sixteen: “Let your face shine on your servant and save me in your unfailing love”.

The readings today begin in the Psalm. Verses nine through thirteen speak of sufferings and trials. There is weakness and anguish and contempt and brokenness and slander and conspiring. For David, the author, it seems as if he has hit a pretty rough stretch. At times we can relate to what David is expressing. Life is not always easy and we sure can find ourselves tossed about.

In verse fourteen the Psalm takes a turn as David writes, “I trust in you, O Lord”. There is an assurance that God is near. The psalmist then writes, “my times are in your hands”, illustrating a deep trust in God. The section of the Psalm that we read today concludes with, “Let your face shine on your servant and save me in your unfailing love”. In the these words is a quiet confidence that God will always be present.

As we shift forward several hundred years, we find Paul writing about Jesus in Philippians. In the verses proceeding verse nine Paul has acknowledged Jesus’ humility and obedience as well as His servant’s attitude. In these characteristics we also see the trust and confidence in God’s presence that came out in Psalm 31.

For both David and Jesus, although great men, they suffered at times in this life. It was through these experiences that they came to truly look to God. By doing so, they came to have this deep and abiding trust that God would be present and that God would carry them through, that He would save them. As we journey through life we too can trust that God will always be present and that He will always carry us through. As we do this more and more we will come to that place of living with God ever-present to us. May we trust and lean into God this day and every day. Amen.


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Love Pure and Unending

Reading: Jeremiah 31:34

Verse 34b: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”.

God’s love, of course, is much greater than our love. It is greater not only in volume, but also in quality. It is a love that we cannot begin to see the bounds of. In Jesus, we see that God’s love is a love for all people, especially the least and the lost and the broken and the marginalized. God’s love is something that binds us together with God and with each other. It is a love that sees beyond faults and stumbles to always say, “I love you”.

In today’s passage, God is saying that His love will lead mankind to know Him in such an intimate way that one day we will no longer have to teach about God and His ways. As we look at the world that say seems a long way off. Yet within this is also revealed God’s patience. Jesus could have returned long ago and made all things new. But I think the delay shows God’s patience. He is saying, “Just one more. Let’s save just one more” over and over. This patience, of course, comes from His great love.

Our passage today concludes with this line: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”. Just more proof of God’s vast love. Not only does God offer forgiveness, but He does not remember our sins. Forgiven and forgotten. How I wish I was more like God in this way! It is easy to forgive someone that feels truly repentant. But if it feels shallow or if they turn around and do the same thing again, I can easily withhold forgiveness or place another mark on the chalkboard in my mind. The same mentality that leads us to feel like we need to return the favor or the compliment leads us to think we should keep track of wrongs and hurts.

This is not the love and forgiveness we experience from God. It is not the love and forgiveness modeled by Jesus. In Psalm 103 we are told that God removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. In John 12 Jesus reminds us that He did not come to judge or condemn the world but to save it. Faith is all about love. Love conquers all things. May God and Jesus’ love in me conquer my penchant for keeping score and may my love God and others be pure and unending, just as is His love for me. May I love as He loves me. May it be so. Amen.


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Walk in Light

Readings: Numbers 21:7-9 and John 3:14-21

Verse 19: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil”.

Mankind has always wrestled with sin. Complaining against God and Moses led to snakes appearing, biting and killing people. The people repented and that is where our Numbers passage picks up. Because they repented, God lovingly provides a way for snake bitten people to live. To be saved, the people must look up.

In the passage from John, it speaks of living in darkness or living in light. When we choose to live in the darkness, we are always looking down. For practical purposes, it is to see our way in the dark. The emotional and spiritual analogy would be we look down because of our guilt or shame. When we instead choose to walk in the light, all us illuminated. Our path is clear to see and we carry no guilt or shame because the light reveals our sin and we repent of it in the light.

John presents a clear picture of the gift of salvation: for God so loved the world… He goes on to remind us that Jesus came into the world to save us, not to condemn us. Yet not all accept this. In verse nineteen John writes, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil”. Some people continue to love darkness because they think their evil deeds are hidden. They are not – God sees just as well in the dark as He does in the light. But for those who are saved, they choose light. John writes, “Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God”.

This day may we walk in the light so that all will see that we walk with God and that we live by the truth and light of Jesus.


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Breaking Chains

Reading: 1st Peter 3: 18-22

Verse 18: “For Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God”.

Noah was saved because of his righteousness. Because of this, he was chosen by God to survive the great flood. Out of the flood came God’s covenant to never again destroy the earth by water. Instead, God will have mankind’s best interests at heart. And then, at just the right time, God sent Jesus into the world. Instead of the rains, God sent love.

Christ came for two main purposes. The first was to show us what God’s love looks like when lived out to perfection. Before He died, Jesus made it abundantly clear that all Christians are to do the same – to live God’s love out into the world. The second and main reason Jesus came was to save mankind. Through the purchase of His blood, Jesus made atonement for our sins. Peter sums it up this way in our reading today: “For Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God”. For us, the unrighteous, Christ died to bring us to God.

Peter connects this gift from Christ to the waters of our baptism. In our baptism, the waters symbolically wash away our sins and our old life. In baptism, Peter also says we receive the “pledge of good conscience”. In simpler terms, this means that we are led to act and live righteous lives as we walk out our faith as a new creation in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit in us, which marks us as a child of God in our baptism, that leads us to walk out our faith, sharing God’s love with a world in need.

Peter refers to Christ, being made alive by the Spirit, going and preaching to “spirits in prison”. He went to hell to save some lost souls. This too is one way that we can live out God’s love. We can go to the lost and the broken and share the good news of Jesus Christ. We can lead them to the waters of baptism so that they too can be made clean and can receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, walking ever more as a beloved child of God.

As Christ’s light and love lived out in the world, may we be led by the Spirit to help the least and the lost break the chains of sin and death, freeing them to live a life in Christ. May it be so today and every day. Amen!


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Come and See

Reading: John 1:43-51

Verse 46: “Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there”?

Our key verse today is full of emotion and opinion.  Nathanael dismisses any chance of Jesus being the Messiah because of his preconceived notions about Nazareth.  He looks right past Philip’s excitement and belief in finding the One.  Nathanael cannot see past all his world has ever been or known.  I wonder if he has even ever been to Nazareth.

Sometimes though, we are all guilty of doing just what Nathanael did.  We make a decision or pass a judgment on what we think we know.  Often this comes from our parents or friends, sometimes from society or culture.  We have all been guilty of drawing conclusions or making assumptions based on things like ethnicity, socio-economic status, appearance, gender, family of origin, …

To illustrate, a quick youth group story.  After cooking and sharing a meal with a group of people on the street outside the church, one of the young men in the group shared something with me.  He had spent some time eating and talking with one of our guests.  Afterward, he came up to me and said, “They’re just like me”.  Yes, they are just like us.  When we are willing to spend time with someone, getting to know them, we come to the same conclusion.  Our lot in life at the moment may be different, but we are all the same on some levels.  One for sure is our place as a beloved child of God.

Philip could have thrown his hands up in the air or he could have walked away, but he did not.  He simply said, “Come and see”.  Come and see the One who will save the world.  Come and see.  It is our invitation too.  Come and see what Jesus will do in our lives.  Come and see how He will forever change you and your life.  Come and see how Jesus changes our hearts and minds, making it easier to love the other.  Come and see how He changes our eyes, helping us to see the world as He sees the world.  Come and see!