pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: spirit


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Living as Easter People

Reading: Acts 2: 14a and 22-32

Verse 24 – God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep it’s hold on Him.

Yesterday was Easter.  Chronologically speaking, the next day Jesus appears to the disciples inside a locked room.  This must have removed any doubt that a few may have been holding onto.  They had all heard Mary’s testimony but had not seen Jesus for themselves.  A week later Jesus again appears to reassure Thomas, who had been absent a week prior.  Today’s passage occurs several weeks later.  Over the forty days since His resurrection, Jesus has appeared multiple times, teaching and performing miracles.  Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus gave the promise to send the Holy Spirit.  Right before today’s text, this has been fulfilled.  The Spirit descended on the believers and the have spoken in tongues, sharing the Word with all of the Jews gathered to celebrate Pentecost.  It is at this point that Peter stands to address the crowd.  They are amazing at the work God has done right before their eyes.

Peter addresses the crowd that day with a message that connects the words of Joel and David to what they have just experienced.  From the prophet Joel, Peter recalls Joel’s vision of God pouring out the Spirit on all people.  He also quotes Joel and reminds the people there that all who “call on the name of the Lord will be saved”.  In today’s text Peter speaks of Jesus’ death and resurrection and backs it up by quoting David from Psalm 16.  In this Psalm, David writes of the Lord being ever before him and of the Holy One not seeing decay.  Peter is connecting two Old Testament texts into what has just occurred, to help those present to make sense of what they have just heard and experienced.  He is connecting what the Jews there know to what they have just witnessed.

Yesterday was Easter.  Many felt and experienced the power of Jesus Christ in and all around them.  Worship was moving and impactful.  It was like Pentecost for the crowd in our passage today.  Verse 24 reads, “God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep it’s hold on Him”.  This we know to be true.  Many experienced it yesterday.  Some are like those there on Pentecost – needing a bit more explanation to help them believe.  How will we live as Easter people today, helping those who felt and experienced to come to know and believe?


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Controlled by God

Reading: Romans 8: 6-11

Verse 6: The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.

Paul establishes an either/or situation in today’s reading.  Either we are controlled by the Spirit or we are controlled by the flesh.  Either we submit to God’s ways or we pursue our sinful nature.  Either we are alive as Christ dwells in us or we are destined for death.  Either we are filled with God’s peace or we are hostile to God.  Paul is drawing some clear distinctions.

For Paul, being a part of God’s family was a universal invitation.  He did not see any limitations on who could live in covenant relationship with God.  It was not by birth that one gains access.  This remains true today – some born into a “Christian home” never find a faith of their own and others raised in a secular home come to a deep faith.  Paul also saw no barriers in regards to race or ethnicity or nationality or status or anything else one could name.  We also see this today.  Jesus’ mandate to “make disciples of all people of all nations” has brought the gospel all around the world.

There are many, many people today who are active participants in fulfilling the great commission of Jesus.  While some are in far away places bringing the Word of God to every tribe and tongue, most of us operate in a much smaller, more local context.  While our prayers may go far and wide for the work of the church universal, our actions and words most often impact those close at hand.  Those affected can be family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and even strangers.

When our “mind is controlled by the Spirit”, we exhibit a life of peace and love and hope.  When we are filled with the Spirit, our lives are different than those whose live by the flesh.  We do not chase after the things of the world because the Spirit helps us and leads us to trust in and to rest in God.  We live life longing for and trusting in an eternal time when we will forever dwell in the light and love of Christ.  The day to day of this life is small change.  We are not held captive to but are set free from the power of sin and death that so easily entangles the world.  We follow God’s ways and offer love and hope and peace to the world.  This day may our lives be a living testimony to the power and presence of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit within us, drawing others into the kingdom of God.


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Reap

Reading: John 4: 27-38

Verse 35b: I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.

The disciples return just as Jesus finishes His initial conversation with the Samaritan woman.  It is an unusual scene by the norms of the day, but the disciples have seen Jesus engage any and all time after time.  He does not appear to be a man with any barriers.  The woman heads back to town to tell others of her encounter with Jesus and people from town head to the well to meet Jesus.  As the disciples have returned with food, they offer Jesus some.  His response puzzles them: “I have food to eat that you know nothing about”.  Staying on the surface level, they wonder if someone else has brought Jesus some food.  Further explanation is clearly needed.

Jesus then explains that the true ‘food’ that feuls Him is to do the work of God.  Perhaps knowing that the townspeople are heading their way, Jesus says, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest”.  Jesus and the disciples are about to be joined by people who are searching for the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  Jesus has down the seeds, now the harvest is at hand.  He tells them that the hard work is done – He planted faith in the woman who has in turn planted seeds in the people who approach.  The disciples will now “reap what they did not work for”.  Where do we fit in the story?

First, Jesus’ call to look to the fields applies to us.  There are many in our lives ‘ripe’ for the truth and saving grace of Jesus Christ.  It is our role to help people to the well so that they can drink of the ‘living water’ that Jesus offers.  Second, we need to be ready to reap what the Holy Spirit works in someone’s heart once they accept Jesus as Lord.  This “work” is the work of the Spirit.  We can only plant seeds and inspire searching.  God alone makes the seeds grow into faith.  Lastly, we need to be ready to step in and walk alongside that new believer, nurturing and guiding their growth.

As we look at those in our lives, who is searching, who is ripe to meet Jesus Christ?  What can we do today to sow seeds of faith?  How can we be ready to reap and walk with those new to faith?


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Born Again

Reading: John 3: 1-15

Nicodemus understands our human birth.  All of us enter the world the same way.  Being born, we become part of the human race.  Jesus then speaks of another birth that must take place for one to “see the kingdom of God”.  Just as Jesus speaks of new birth at two levels, so too can we “see” at two levels.  The first is to see this world through God’s eyes, as the kingdom here on earth.  The second level is to see or experience eternal life.

Jesus begins His explanation of second birth with the water.  This is a concept that Nicodemus would be familiar with.  Maybe Nicodemus even ventured out into the wilderness to be baptized by John.  The baptism of repentance that John offered out in the desert was adapted by the early church to be more a baptism of belief.  New converts were baptized after a long period of preparation.  Over the centuries most churches have retained the belief that baptism marks one as a member of the family of God.  In baptizing our young, we as a church are marking them as a child of God and declaring our communal intent to raise them within the family of faith.  Thereafter the infant or young person is forever marked as a child of God, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The second birth Jesus speaks of is being born of the Spirit.  At some point in a Christian’s journey, one chooses to declare Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  This decision results in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, marking the point at which one is born of the Spirit.  Once the Spirit dwells in us, our lives are made new.  We are born again as a new creation.  Instead of seeing through our old eyes, seeing the things of this world, we now see through God’s eyes.  Instead of living for earthly things, we come to live for spiritual things and according to the will of God.  We see community instead of just our self.  We see others and their needs instead of just our own desires.  As the Holy Spirit works in us to help us see the kingdom of God here on earth, we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit, becoming more loving, caring, giving, and forgiving.  We come to bear witness to Jesus Christ in the world.  We are transformed day by day through the power of the Holy Spirit in us.  Soon we begin to see the kingdom of God at work here on the earth as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our lives.  Being born of the water and the spirit, we seek to bring God glory and honor in all we do and say.  May this be our walk of faith this day and every day.


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Be Holy

Reading: Leviticus 19: 1-2

It is tough to be holy, yet God calls us to be just that.  To be in the most intimate relationship possible, we must be as like God as we can be.  Holiness is one characteristic of God that seems hard to fully grasp, nevermind live out each day of our lives.  More often than not, we are not capable of being holy on our own.  By ourselves we simply are not capable of being holy all the time.  We can freely share our money and possessions with those we love, but we struggle with giving to the stranger.  We can love those who love us, but it is another story with ‘him’ or with ‘her’ – those we do not like even slightly.  On our own, our holiness only goes so far.  We know that God’s holiness has no end and no boundaries.  This is the holiness we are called to.

God knew from the beginning that we are not capable of always being holy.  God began with the law, a set of guidelines on how to live in relationship with God and with each other.  The Ten Commandments grew over time to be a huge list – but they were more do’s and don’ts than a way to be holy.  In time, God sent Jesus to show  humanity how to live a holy life.  Jesus gave us the example of what God’s love and holiness look like lived out every day.  But the example is not enough.  To help us in our daily walk with Jesus, God sends us the Holy Spirit – the constant presence that helps us to be holy, the constant presence that helps us care for the needy, to love the stranger, to offer mercy and forgiveness to all who wrong us.  With the power and presence of Holy Spirit, we begin to be holy as God is holy.

We cannot, however, simply rely on the Holy Spirit.  We too must play a role. We too must put in the work because it is hard to be holy.  We must commit to our own spiritual growth.  We must spend time in prayer and in the Word each day.  We must be in community to worship the Lord our God and to offer one another fellowship and encouragement.  We must daily confess our sins, repent, and seek His renewing touch.  It is through all of these means of grace that we can draw near to a God who is holy, becoming more like Him ourselves.


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Perfectly Extraordinary

Reading: Matthew 5: 38-48

Once we begin our journey of faith, we are committing to walk in a way of the Lord, to work to become more and more like the perfector of our faith, Jesus Christ.  While we may never reach the perfection that Jesus exhibited, we are nonetheless called to press on towards that goal.  This is God’s desire for each of us.  It is why we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us – to be a constant presence and reminder of our call to live as children of God.

God calls us not to the ordinary, to the run of the mill, but to lives that are extraordinary, to lives that are outstanding.  In the opening verses of today’s passage, Jesus gives some examples that demonstrate going above and beyond.  If one strikes your right cheek (to show insult or offense), then offer your left cheek next (to extend love and friendship).  If someone demands your tunic, then give them your cloak as well.  If a Roman soldier ‘asks’ you to carry their pack one mile (as required by law), offer to carry it a second mile as well.  It is living with a willing and generous heart, even to those who harm, sue, and oppression you.  It is demonstrating extravagant love even to those who are hard to love.

It is a call to be “more” that Jesus issues.  He reminds us that we all love those who love us.  That is ordinary, normal.  Jesus says even tax collectors and pagans do this.  Jesus calls us to more.  In verse 48 He says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.  Jesus himself is our example of what God’s perfect love looks like lived out.  Jesus offered life, hope, healing, forgiveness, and love to all He met – regardless of whether or not they loved Him.

God expects the same of us.  Yes, this is perfection we are called to.  Yes, on our own this is impossible.  We are not alone.  The Holy Spirit leads and guides and corrects and redirects us to love as Jesus first loved us.  Each day God seeks to renew us, to make us each new creations, ‘born of the Spirit, washed in His blood’.  This day may we each offer extravagant love and extraordinary witness to all we meet, bringing glory to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, our risen King.


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God in Us

Reading: 1 Corinthians 3: 16-23

Through Jesus we have a personal, tangible connection to God.  Just as at Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit descended and dwelled in Him, so too does the Spirit come and dwell in us once we ask Jesus into our hearts.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we live with God’s presence within us.  This personal, tangible connection is so much more powerful than God just dwelling in the temple or only being found in our churches today.

Because Christ dwells in us once we accept His Lordship, the living presence of God makes each of us holy.  Once the Spirit dwells in us, we are carriers of Christ’s holiness, we are bearers of His light and love.  There can be no presence of darkness in our hearts once Jesus dwells there.  Yes, Satan can whisper lies and dangle bright, shiny objects before us, but he cannot abide in our hearts.  Once we invite Christ in then Satan must work on the perifery of our lives.  Once we begin to live as a Christ-follower, we are filled with Christ’s goodness and are able to tap into that to make Satan flee.

There also communal aspects to Christ dwelling in us.  The living Spirit within causes us to look outward instead of inward.  Christ living in us gives us eyes that see with compassion and empathy and understanding and hope and love.  Through His eyes we see needs and places to share our faith.  Through Christ’s presence in us we are moved to action, being His hands and feet in our world.  This same outward focus helps us build community with our fellow believers.  In the same way that we focus outward with those in need, we also look to be of service to one another and to our communities of faith.  We share and use the gifts and talents that God has given each of us to build up one another for service outside the church walls.

The indwelling of God in us is a wonderful thing.  It forever changed us and our role in the church and in the larger community.  Each day may we live into all God calls us to be, allowing God to work in, through, and out of us.


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God’s Power

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2: 1-16

Paul was well-educated and knew the Jewish faith inside out.  He could quote from the scriptures all day long.  He could probably recite all 623 codes found in the Law.  Paul was a man with great knowledge.  And he was very smart – he knew that the power to transform lives was held by God alone.  So Paul chose to proclaim faith, not religion.  Paul chose to share the words brought to him by the Spirit instead of relying on all the fancy religious terms and rules he knew so well.  Paul chose to speak from the heart and not the mind.

When we come to the sacred place of being able to share our faith with someone, they want to know the source of our joy, peace, and contentment.  They want to know how God has transformed us.  They want to know how accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will change them forever.  There is no interest in knowing what committee we are on or where to sign up to be an usher.  The seeker simply wants to feel what we feel and to experience the power of Christ in their life.  They want to hear and feel from our hearts what it means to be in a relationship with Jesus.

Others will come to us in times of pain or brokenness.  They often do not know where else to turn.  They have exhausted their other options.  Some have a sense that only God can help.  It may be prompted by a sudden tragedy, by an unexpected job loss, a request for a divorce that comes out of nowhere.  Here too we must speak from the heart and must rely on the power of God to give us the words to say.  Like Paul, we must trust in God to lead and guide us and to help us “speak not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths”.  In situations that are truly beyond us and make us feel inadequate, we must call upon God and seek the power of God.  Then the words we speak will be the wisdom of God.

In all things we must rely on the Lord our God.  This is true of our words, our actions, our relationships.   May we ever seek God first, trusting fully in God’s power alone.


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By How You Live

Reading: Psalm 112

The psalmist expresses how life is different when our lives are lived in a relationship with God.  The Psalm speaks of mighty children, riches in the home, and good coming to the believer.  The writing also speaks of light in the darkness, of having no fear of bad news, of having a secure heart with no fear.  The Psalm also shares that a God-follower is gracious and compassionate, generous to the poor.  It is not a perfect life, free from all trouble, but it is the only way to truly live.

When one follows in the way of the cross, life is much different than the life of a non-believer.  Life in Christ is marked by joy and peace and contentment.  There is a steadiness that guided through both the highs and the lows.  This all comes from our eternal assurance.  God’s love permeates our interactions with our fellow human beings as we seek to live and serve others as Jesus did.  Non-believers will see us, will notice how we are different – in a good way – and will be curious, will be led to inquire about why we are the way we are.

It has been said the we are the only Bible some people will ever read.  I hope this is only partially true.  Living as a witness to Christ will open the door for us to eventually share our faith with someone who is curious or hurting or broken or lost.  Once that door is opened, we can gently lead them to Jesus.  When the Spirit nudges us to do so, we can share a Bible with the seeker because reading the Bible is a next step for someone seeking Christ.  Yes, how we live our lives is an introduction to faith in Jesus Christ.  But at some point, we must share the Bible too.

Where can you be a light today?  With whom can you share the faith?  How are you living as the Word of God this day?


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Come, Follow Me

Reading: Matthew 4: 18-22

What has been the scariest step of faith you have ever taken?  When have you stepped out boldly for your faith?  For me it was leaving a job I had known and loved for 23 years to follow God’s call.  I would love to say I was as spontaneous and trusting as those first disciples, but that is far from the truth.  It was a long and slow process that involved lots of prayer and many conversations with family and trusted friends.  But it was a process through which God worked in amazing and powerful ways.

For Andrew and Peter, and then for James and John, the bold step of faith that they took amazes me.  They are sitting there at work, doing the only job they have ever known, when a stranger walks up and says, “Come, follow me”.  Certainly they did not have a clue what this really meant nor how the course of their lives would change forever.  There is no way they could have foreseen the journey they were about to begin the moment they left their nets and followed Jesus.

The same is true for each one of us that has chosen to follow Jesus.  Most are like me, answering a gradual call.  Others answer His call in a flash as Jesus breaks suddenly into their lives, like He did with these simple fishermen.  We all enter into our relationship with Jesus and begin our journey of faith, not ever really knowing where He will take us physically or spiritually, but usually eager to see where that is.

If we faithfully follow, Jesus will lead and guide.  He will also provide us those moments, like He did with the first disciples, when He says, “Come, follow me”.  These are not forever or career-changing moments, but temporary side trips.  They are the come, share a meal with this homeless man moments.  They are come, mentor this new Christian as they begin their journey of faith moments.  Whether big or small, safe or risky, these moments are part of our journey of faith and our responses demonstrate our obedience to Jesus as Lord.  Lord, grant me a willing spirit and a courageous heart today when You call.