pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Measure Out Love

Reading: Luke 6: 32-38

Verse 36: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”.

Jesus continues in our passage today with the same radical love that we saw yesterday. Today He begins by comparing our call to love with the world’s way of love. Jesus points out that even ‘sinners’ love, do good, and lend to those who do the same to them. “What credit is it to you?” Jesus asks over and over. To just do the things the world does has no value in God’s kingdom. Again Jesus reiterates the call to love, do good to, and to lend to our enemies, but adds, “without expecting to get anything back”. This is nearing a godly love. Love them even though you know they will keep on sinning. Love us anyway God, even though you know we’ll fall short.

Why try and love as God loves? Because then we will be sons and daughters of God most high. Jesus reminds us why, saying, “because He is kind to the wicked and ungrateful”. He could just as well have said, “because He loves you”. With our worldly eyes this is hard to see, to understand. But it is the way of God and will be the way of Jesus Christ. In verse 36 Jesus offers another way to look at it: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. Over and over again, we sin and hurt our relationship with God. Over and over. And over and over God extends mercy and says, “I still love you”. Over and over.

In the last two verses for today, Jesus gives us some examples of why we are to love even our enemies with this radical, all-encompassing love. It takes us back to the ‘golden rule’ of verse 31. But in these examples there are three parties – us, them, and God. Do not judge them and we will not be judged by God. Do not condemn them and we will not be condemned by God. Forgive them and we will be forgiven by God. Give to them and God will give to us. Love matters. It certainly does in our relationship with God so it had better matter in our relationship with others.

The section closes with this line: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”. Powerful. May we measure out lots of love, mercy, and grace today and every day.

Prayer: God of love, may I practice daily what your Son lived out every day. May love be my guide as it was Jesus’ guide. Amen.


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Enemy? Love them!

Reading: 2 Samuel 23: 6-7

Verse 6: “But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns…”.

King David had accumulated a few enemies. He ruled in a time and place where conflict with the tribes and kingdoms around you seemed constant. He also had some enemies within his kingdom and even within his own family at times. In a way, each of these were “evil” – trying to take land or goods or slaves or power from the one who God anointed to rule Israel.

King David’s take on what to do with evil men fits right in with the rest of the Old Testament. Evil is to be destroyed like thorns – cut down with the sword and/or burned in the fire. When we move to the New Testament we get a different approach. Yes, in the end, Jesus did recognize the fact that some will be condemned to the eternal fires and to torment. But for Jesus this seemed like a far-off event.

Jesus also had many people who opposed Him. But I don’t think Jesus would have called them “evil” or would’ve thought they should die by the sword or by fire. Jesus’ first reaction to those who opposed or attacked or threatened Him was to love them. He did not see them as evil to dispose of but as sinners in need of saving. They may have evil intents or may have even done evil, but they were not evil themselves. Some did not agree with Jesus’ teachings or with who He chose to hang out with. His response was to love these too. Jesus tried to show them the better way, the way that God called Him to love God and neighbor. It is not a wonder that Jesus instructed us to love our enemy, to pray for our enemy. It is what Jesus did. May we follow His example well.

Prayer: Lord, help me to do what can be hard – to love those who seek to harm or hurt me. Lead me to love them and to pray for them – not to change them but to change me. May it be so. Amen.


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The Price Is Paid

Reading: Hebrews 10: 11-18

Verse 14: “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy”.

Rituals and traditions are important. We like being creatures of habit. More than once I have driven to work and, as I pulled into the parking lot, wondered, ‘How did I get here’? I could not recall passing that building or stopping at that traffic light. It felt Twilight Zone-ish. Have you ever begun, “Our Father who art in heaven…” and suddenly found yourself at “Amen”, wondering how you got there?

Day after day after day the priests offered sacrifices for the same sins. Day after day after day, same atonements for the same log of sins. It did not seem as if the behaviors or the attitudes were changing. Maybe the sins changed for some as the believers became more devout, but the sin remained. The blood of the cow or sheep or dove did not erase the guilt or the shame or the sin. Day after day the sacrifices continued. Do you suppose people showed up week after week after week with a lamb, wondering how they got there?

And then came Jesus. God in the flesh changed everything. Jesus offered Himself as the perfect final sacrifice. “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy”. Jesus died for each of us, we who are sinners, once for all. On the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished”. He died once for all. Jesus’ blood atones for our sin and washes it away, making us perfect as we are ever made more holy. Through the power and constant presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus walks with us, sanctifying us, making us more and more like Christ. Yes, we will sin again. But His mercies make us new again each time we repent, each time transforming us, making us more like Jesus. This is not a ritual. It is personal. Each and every time.

Our passage reminds us that God will “remember no more” our sins. They are washed away in the blood. Because our sins are forgiven and forgotten through Jesus Christ, we can freely and boldly approach God without hesitation. We are free to come to God all the time because we can be made holy at any and at all times. Jesus has opened the door and He stands in the doorway beckoning us to come in. Forever. Verse 18 reads, “Where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin”. The price has been paid. Thank you Jesus.

Prayer: Praise be to the Father and to the Son! Thank you God for loving me enough to send your Son for me. Thank you Jesus, for your perfect witness, for your sacrifice for a sinner like me. Thank you for the cross. Amen.


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The Last First

Reading: Mark 10: 28-31

Verse 28: “We have left everything to follow you”.

The opening and closing lines of our passage really point out the counter-cultural nature of our faith. Peter declares, “We have left everything to follow you”. Culture today says more is better and bigger is better yet. Our society elevates the wealthy, the powerful, the supremely athletic, and the most beautiful. They have “it” and have climbed to the pinnacle of success. Culture tells us that these things are the goal for all people.

The call to discipleship is a call to the opposite. Instead of us wanting it all, the gospel asks for all of us. The call invites us to step into God’s upside-down way of thinking that places ourselves far from the focus, looking first to God and then to neighbor.

When we look at Jesus’ ministry, we see what this truly looks like. Jesus stood on the side of the woman caught in adultery – convicting all there of their own sins first and then offering mercy and grace to the one who was last. Instead of avoiding the sinners, the tax collectors, the Samaritans, the children, the lepers, the blind… Jesus engaged them, knowing that God’s kingdom includes those that society devalues and overlooks. The same healing, redemption, and restoration that Jesus offered when He walked the earth is still offered today. It is offered through all who will place self after God and neighbor.

Jesus assures the disciples that the reward will come – not in the ways that the world evaluates success, but in the abundant life that God has planned in the coming age. As we let go of pursuing wealth and status and popularity, we will be able to be all in as we work to bring God’s upside-down kingdom to reality. Our passage closes with Jesus saying, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first”. This is a radical thing we are being called to – considering first the orphan and the widow, the broken and the hurting, the sinner and the lost. May we be willing to give our all for those who are seen as last, elevating them as God does, to first.

Lord, help me to surrender all to you, all for Jesus. Give me a servant’s heart to see the last first, sharing with them the love and hope of Jesus Christ. Amen.


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Righteous

Reading: Psalm 1

Verses 1-2: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked… but his delight is in the law of the Lord”.

Psalm 1 paints a pretty sharp contrast between those who are righteous and those who are not. The psalmist begins with a warning not to spend time with the wrong crowd: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…”. The psalmist also includes sinners and mockers in the groups to avoid. While all Christians sin, we do not live a life of sin. In the general sense, the psalmist is spot-on: if we hang out with the wicked, the sinners, the mockers, then we will likely become these things ourselves.

In verse 2, the writer goes on to say, “but his delight is in the law of the Lord”. The righteous not only delight in the law but also meditate upon it day and night. It is to live and breathe God’s ways. The blessing is compared to a tree – healthy roots soak up the water of life, it bears fruit, it does not wither. Prosperity comes to those who dwell in the Lord. All done in alignment with God’s ways and desires will prosper.

The Psalm returns to the wicked in verses 4 and 5. They are blown this way and that in the changing winds. They cannot stand in the judgment. Like the house built upon the sand in Matthew 7, the winds and waves beat down the house built upon a poor foundation. If we desire to stand firm, our foundation must be found in God.

A promise concludes the Psalm: “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous”. God is present to the righteous. He goes with us always. The Holy Spirit is our constant companion offering guidance, direction, discernment, conviction… We are never alone. Thanks be to God.

Lord, help me to walk in your ways. Keep me intimately connected to your Word and your ways. Grant me discernment so that I can walk in your truth. May my life allow others to see you and your love. Amen.


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God’s Good

Reading: Psalm 125

Verse 4: “Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, to those who are upright”.

For the psalmist and his contemporaries, trusting in God and doing what God said to do was how life was to be lived. A hop, skip, and a jump to the west or south or north and religion was what one must do to please Baal or some other god. Even today, as we scan the world, we find that religion is still essentially these two components: worship God or a god or gods and live a good life to gain an improved state in the next life. Naturally there is conflict between those who seek to worship their god and to do what is right according to that god and those who do not. All religions have an “us” and “them” mentality to some degree. In Judaism, you were one of the chosen people or you were not. In Christianity, either you are saved or you are not.

Psalm 125 clearly paints this picture. Trust in God and you will not be shaken. God surrounds His people. God banishes evildoers. In the context of this Psalm, the Jews were a closed group. They practiced circumcision as a physical sign of belonging to God. Either you were or you weren’t. The Law kept the Jews from mixing with others. Verse 4 fits right in: “Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, to those who are upright”. Follow God and be blessed. Sin and be cursed was the flip side of this.

And then came this radical evangelist and his followers who shared a message that God loves all people. They took the idea that God was the omnipotent and omnipresent creator of all and applied God’s love in this way – to all people and to all situations. They acknowledged that we are all sinners. And then the leader, Jesus, gave His own life as the perfect sacrifice for all sins. He who was without sin, God’s own Son, gave His life to atone for all sin. Once and forevermore. Jesus defeated the power of death and rose to be the first of many to experience God’s grace. Grace – this purely Christian manifestation and experience of God’s love – says “I love you” over and over, to all people in all situations. Oh yes, God is good. God pours out grace upon grace freely. There is no condemnation, there is no punishment, there is no banishment.

Thank you God for your good grace – a grace that allows us to be forgiven and to walk upright in a continuing relationship with you. Thank you God for your goodness and your love. May both be evident in our lives. May both overflow from us so that all may come to know your love and grace. Amen.


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The Maker

Reading: Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, & 22-23

Verse 2: “Rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is Maker of them all”.

Our three pairs of verses from Proverbs 22 all deal with the same subject. It is a man-made subject but God is certainly aware of it. For as long as humanity has existed, some have been rich and some have been poor. Sure, we use other words too: haves and have-nots, blessed and cursed, upper class and lower class, fortunate and unfortunate… Rich and poor are but two of many words we use to classify, categorize, and even judge people. We also judge by education, location, position, ethnicity, gender, religion, politics,…

Our passage today deals with a topic that we can find many, many other places in the Bible: God cares for the poor. The argument for why is the same argument for any category we choose. Verse two reads, “Rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is Maker of them all”. One can substitute any two words that represent two ends of a spectrum for ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ and the bottom line is still the same: the Lord is Maker of them all.

Let us remember these seven words the next time we want to judge or exclude or condemn someone. In a world where we are all sinners, some saved by grace, we must seek to love others above all else. Beneath any label and under that really thin layer of covering that we call skin, all of our hearts are the same. All of humanity longs to be loved and to belong and to be valued. This was how Jesus lived His life. May we choose to do so as well.

Maker of all, give me a heart to love one and all. Give me eyes to see hearts and not anything else. Help me to love and care for and welcome one and all, just as Jesus did. Amen.


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Amazing Love

Reading: 2 Samuel 18: 31-33

Verse 33: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son, Absalom! If only I had died instead of you”!

David experiences something no parent ever expects to experience. One of his children dies before he does. No one wants to bury a child. It just seems unnatural. For David, this is the second son he has lost. The first son who died, Ammon, was murdered by Absalom. Ammon had raped his half-sister, Absalom’s sister. David did not punish Ammon for the rape so Absalom took matters into his own hands, avenging his sister’s shame. This act also went unpunished by David. So it was not a total shock that the fiery and arrogant Absalom was leading a rebellion against his father, King David.

Even then David’s first reaction when it comes down to a fight is to try and protect Absalom. David’s army gains a hard-fought victory. It is a costly battle – over 20,000 die that day in the forest of Ephraim. News comes first of the great victory. The messenger is elated to share the news that the Lord has delivered all who rose up against the king. David cares not but only asks about Absalom. The messenger replies, “May the enemies… all be like that young man”, letting David know that Absalom was killed. The Word then says, “The King was shaken”. David went to mourn this personal loss, crying out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son, Absalom! If only I had died instead of you”! The victory on the battlefield is meaningless to David because Absalom died. Like all parents, David wishes he could trade places with his child.

The love of a parent for a child is on vivid display here. The pure love models the love that God has for each of us. Yet it is pale by comparison. God sent His own Son to die for others. God sent Jesus knowing that Jesus would endure the cross to bring forgiveness of sins and hope for eternal life. God incarnate, God in the flesh, sacrificed Himself for the sinners. That death had to pain God the Father deeply. But the greater love for you and me prevailed. As a parent, this would be so hard to do – especially when He had the power to stop it. The atonement, the sacrifice, had to be made. It is an amazing love revealed in God the Father. Thanks be to God for the amazing love for all of His children, imperfect as we may be. Thanks be to God.


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Engaging

Reading: 2nd Corinthians 4: 7-12

Verse Ten: “… so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”.

Today’s passage has this idea that we have something inside of us that we share with the world. In our perishable and finite bodies, these jars of clay, we have this “all-surpassing” power that assures us of the eternal and infinite promise of heaven. It is the source of this hope and promise that we share with the world.

Verse ten reads, “… so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”. Our call is to be followers of Jesus. Figuratively, this means to walk as Jesus walked. As we look at how Jesus walked, we see that He often walked with the sick and the marginalized, with the sinner and the outcast, with the lonely and the spiritually hungry. Jesus engaged one and all as He walked in this world. It seems as if Jesus always had time for the one He found standing before Him. This is the picture of the man that we are called to follow.

This following is not easy. Paul writes of the challenges we will face – hard pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. Yes, following Jesus and walking in the places and with the people that He walked with will be hard. I’ll add one more: hard but not impossible.

Paul also writes, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake”. When Jesus is alive in our hearts and in our lives, we do offer ourselves willingly to others. We are willing to die to self and to our own selfish desires, putting the needs of others ahead of our own. This verse finishes with these words: “so that His life may be revealed”. So that others may come to know Jesus Christ too. So that others may take hold of the hope and promise that we profess.

Where can you walk as Jesus walked today? Is there a jail or prison nearby to visit? Is there a care facility or hospital that you could stop by? Is there a place in your community that feeds people or hands out food? Is there a family in your neighborhood that could use a bag of groceries? Us there an elderly neighbor who needs their lawn mowed?

May we each find a way to walk as Jesus walked – engaging the one who is in need, offering ourselves to them.


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Come into Grace

Reading: Isaiah 6: 1-8

Verse Five: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips”.

In our passage today Isaiah finds himself in the presence of the Lord. He sees God seated in the throne, high and exalted. Around the throne are beautiful and powerful seraphs – six-winged angels. These angelic creatures are singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty”. In the Bible things are repeated three times to show importance and for emphasis. Much as it would probably be for you or I, Isaiah is taken aback by the scene and where he finds himself.

In this passage Isaiah reminds me of the tax collector we find in Luke 18. This man stands off in the corner of the temple and will not even look towards heaven. He beats his chest and confesses to God, begging, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner”. He senses his unworthiness in God’s presence. Isaiah comes to a similar realization, saying, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips”. Standing in the presence of the holy, holy, holy God, Isaiah feels his sin.

We all feel this way at points in our lives. Sin wins the day and we feel unworthy of being in God’s presence. We think our sin too great to be forgiven, never mind even bringing it into God’s presence. We may even feel like we need to sit in this place of guilt and shame for a period of time. Even though a part of us knows that God loves us, we feel like we must remain a bit distant. Like the tax collector standing in the corner and like Isaiah declaring “Woe to me!”, we hover on the edge of our relationship with God – not quite good enough to stand before God.

Some find this barrier at the foot of the cross or at the communion table, the places of grace. They see the sacrifice of Hesus or the cup and bread on the table and they may even hear the words of grace and love, but cannot quite approach. Maybe this is in a place of worship, maybe this is in their minds. God says the same to one and all: “Come, come to me. Find grace and love”. If you feel stuck in your sin or in the guilt and shame of sins past, know that you are invited to come into God’s grace and love. Know that you are loved and welcome.