Truth for the "Self-Sufficient"

[This is a presentation shared last evening, during a dinner following a charity golf tournament supporting Whole Truth Ministries. Whole Truth is a Christian ministry that helps the addicted community to transition successfully to healthy, productive lives. If you would like more information on Whole Truth or to donate, here is a link to the ministry's website.]

Months ago, when Jim Lopez conveyed the invitation to me to speak here tonight, I was honored to be asked and because I so believe in the work of Whole Truth, I immediately said, “Yes!” 

When, a few days ago, Jim reminded me that last year’s speaker was Anthony Muñoz, I wondered whether I hadn’t made a big mistake. 

But if you’re willing to scale down your expectations to about a guy at 5’8” and 150 pounds, with no past or present athletic ability, I want to spend a few minutes sharing my heart with you about Whole Truth Ministries.

Now Jim, who is a member of the congregation I serve as pastor, Living Water Lutheran Church, was the first one to tell me about Whole Truth. Once a month, Jim takes a spread he prepares for women and men served by this ministry. Several years ago, he asked if I would be willing to tag along with him and provide a Bible study.

I need to make a confession. When I agreed to do the Bible study, I had two reactions.

The first was wondering whether the men and women in recovery to whom Whole Truth ministers would be interested in what I had to say. Over the past thirty-nine years, I’ve gotten asked to do lots of presentations to groups. Usually, Bible study for these groups has been nothing more than a box to be checked.

My second reaction, the one of which I’m most ashamed, was thinking that in doing a Bible study, I would be the one giving and the folks sitting around those tables at dinner would be the ones receiving. What a lot of egotistical rot!

Never have I been around a group of people who, almost universally, were so hungry for the Word of God, so hungry for Jesus, “the living bread who comes down from heaven” and the “living water…” that becomes a “spring…welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) In their desire for Jesus and the new and everlasting life that only Jesus can give, the recovering folks I’ve met and interacted with at Whole Truth have given me far more than I have ever given them.

Above all, they’ve given me an important reminder. Jesus once told His disciples–and you and me, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; [and then He said] apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. Do you believe that?

You know what I think? 

I think that when our lives are going reasonably well, when things are OK at work, when our families are healthy, when we’ve got a comfortable home and get to take nice vacations, it’s easy for us to think that we can handle life without Jesus. Jesus, at most, becomes an add-on accessorizing our lives. We’re sure that through our brain, brawn, willpower, and stick-to-it-iveness, we’ll be OK. We even think that our charitable works–even these good things we do, speak to our self-sufficiency, our personal agency. 

We think this even though God’s Word tells us, “... it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) 

The truth is that even your being here tonight, raising money for Whole Truth Ministries, is a good work that God already created for you beforehand. You’re only walking in it here this evening. (I don’t know whether he wanted you to walk into your double bogey or not. That’s another issue.)

But here’s the thing: Though we may doubt Jesus when He tells us, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing,” the recovering community served by Whole Truth Ministries doesn’t doubt that. 

The reason for that is simple: When you’ve come to the end of yourself and Jesus Christ is all you’ve got, you realize that Jesus is all you need. 

The folks with whom I’ve shared the Word of God at Whole Truth are often already steeped in the Word of God because, down in the bottom of life, in the lowlands of human experience, the God revealed in Jesus Christ reached out to them through His Word and the work of Whole Truth, which is built on His Word!

Whole Truth is a ministry of God’s Word. Its primary ministry is to serve the Word of God to the people it serves.

The New Testament says that “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12) 

The two edges of God’s Word, the two ways God speaks to us, are Law and Gospel. 

The Law gives us the will of God and leads us to recognize that we’re sinners who, no matter how hard we work to fool ourselves into believing we’re self-sufficient, good people, without Jesus Christ, we can do nothing. Nothing that matters. Nothing good. Nothing helpful. Nothing lasting. The Law means to drive us to the ends of ourselves to the foot of the cross where Jesus freely gave His life for self-sufficient sinners.

The Gospel is God’s good news that He covers those who are at the end of themselves and come to Jesus by faith, with the righteousness, life, grace, peace, and hope that only come from Jesus Christ. 

People who have been reached by Christ and His gospel are those who recognize the delusion of self-sufficiency, lay aside their defenses, and compelled by the Word of God, confess that “Jesus is Lord. Not me. Jesus alone.” 

It is the Gospel, the good news of forgiveness, new life, fresh starts, and everlasting hope freely given to those who turn to Jesus, that I see in the people served by Whole Truth Ministries. 

They may have once thought when they were abusing various substances that they were making their own decisions, even as their lives spiraled out of control. The Word of God given to them by Whole Truth, turns them from the self-destruction that happens when we cling to the lie of self-sufficiency and shows them Jesus, “the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

Whole Truth Ministries has helped me see this more clearly and I thank everyone involved in it for their ministry to me in Jesus’ name. 

I also thank you for the support you’re giving to Whole Truth, making it possible to reach even more people who need this ministry.

Finally, I want to remind you that the Word of God about Jesus Christ, the gospel, the good news, that is changing the lives of so many through Whole Truth Ministries can transform all of our lives. You aren’t and you don’t need to be self-sufficient either. The power of God, given in Christ, can lead us each day and change our eternity. 

The Gospel of Mark records only one sermon preached by Jesus, encompassed in a single verse: “The right time has come…and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:15, GNT)

If we all are reminded by Whole Truth Ministries to turn away from sin and the garbage that bedevils, distracts, and harasses us in this life, and to turn in trust to Jesus, our Good News, its work will impact more than the just community it directly serves. It will impact and change for the better the lives of all who are part of it. 

Thank you.

The One Who Does All Our Works for Us

In my quiet time today, I considered Isaiah 26. Verse 12 hit me:

"O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works."

It's the second part of the verse that struck me. Nothing good that we do comes from us. That's because in our own power or moral strength, as Isaiah writes elsewhere, "all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." (Isaiah 64:6) The moment we set out to consciously do a good or righteous thing, our sinful natures stand up to applaud and tell us what wonderful, good people we are, giving the lie to our pretended intrinsic goodness or righteousness.

In Jesus' portrayal of the day when He returns to bring the Kingdom of God in its fullness, He tells His sheep to enter into the joy He's prepared for them because they had visited imprisoned disciples, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and given drink to the thirsty. In giving these gifts to "the least of these," Jesus says, the sheep really cared for Him. But the sheep have no memory of these good deeds. 

This underscores the transformation that happens in the baptized as they turn to Christ in trust. The God revealed to us in Christ invades their lives and God does HIS good work through them. They're just living their lives in the freedom of forgiven sin, the freedom of knowing that as God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, He will do the same for those who trust in Jesus.

This is exactly what the apostle Paul talks about in his famous verse about those who are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by any good thing they do. He says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Notice that good works, being a good person, cannot make us acceptable to God, bring us forgiveness for our sin, or give us eternal life with God. That's because in ourselves, we could never be good enough.

Instead, God gives us faith in Christ, then, as we turn daily turn to Christ (Luke 9:23), Christ does His good works through us and in us. If Christians do anything good, righteous, or loving, they'll know not to take credit for it. In fact, they'll be completely unaware of having done anything good at all. 

But Isaiah's words apply to more than just good works. He says to God, "...you have indeed done for us all our works..." 

ALL is an ALL-ENCOMPASSING WORD. Without God, we can do nothing. 

In Athens in the first century, Paul quoted one of the Greek poets and said of the God we all now can know in Jesus Christ, "...in him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28) 

If you're living, breathing, and reading these words, it's the work of God. 

If you're able or have been able to make a living by your brain and brawn, your brain and brawn comes from God, along with your capacity to work or think. 

God didn't have to give us life. And once the whole human race fell into sin, God didn't have to give new life through the crucified and risen Christ. But He does. And He works in our lives.

Today, like every day, is a good one to repent--turn away from our sin, including our sins of pride and pretended self-sufficiency--and trust in Jesus. 

Free!

[This was shared yesterday, Pentecost Sunday, during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Acts 2:1-21

Today brings us to the third great festival of the Church Year. There’s Christmas, then Easter, and now Pentecost. Of course, Christmas and Easter get all the publicity...and those two festivals attract the crowds. Pentecost is the most ignored of the Church’s most important festivals.

Why is that? 

Maybe it’s because the Holy Spirit, the One Whose coming fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead Pentecost celebrates, doesn’t really call attention to Himself.

There's probably another reason. Painters and cartoonists may show God the Father as a white-bearded old man. And Jesus has been the focal point of endless artistic renderings for the past two-thousand years. But the Spirit, even though the Bible says He has a personality--Jesus calls Him a Counselor, a Comforter, an Advocate--is hard for us to picture.

The Holy Spirit, of course, is sometimes shown as a dove. That’s because Luke’s Gospel, for example, tells us that when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came to Him in the bodily form of a dove, a bird that the ancient Jews thought of as pure.

Sometimes the Spirit is shown as fire. This is appropriate not only because in our lesson from Acts today, the Holy Spirit rested on 120 praying followers of Jesus like tongues of fire, but also because of some properties that fire shares with the Holy Spirit. Fire enlightens, destroys, and purifies. So does the Spirit of God, depending on our needs at the time: He can show us the way to Christ. He can decimate our excuses and rationalizations for sin, kill off our old selves so that our new selves can rise, as happens in Holy Baptism and every time we repent in Jesus’ name. He can also purge us of sin and free us from temptations to sins that would contaminate us and separate us from God.

And sometimes, the Spirit is seen as Wind. This too, is appropriate. The word translated as spirit from the Old Testament Hebrew is ruach, a word that also means wind or breath. It’s God’s ruach--His Wind or Spirit--that moves over the waters in Genesis to create the world. It’s also God’s ruach that God breathes into dust to make the first human being. 

In the Greek of the New Testament, the word pneuma has the same multiple meanings as ruach. Pneuma can also mean wind, breath, or spirit. 

But the problem with trying to picture something like wind or breath is that, as Jesus told the old Jewish teacher Nicodemus, you may hear the sound of the Spirit—and on the first Pentecost, the Spirit must have sounded like a tornado filling the house where the first disciples had been praying--but you can’t really see Him. 

You can only see evidence of His presence in the lives of those who trust in Christ as their God and King.

Maybe the Spirit’s insusceptibility to being pictured is why we attach so little importance to Pentecost. Maybe too, it’s easier to understand what Jesus does for us than it is to understand what the Spirit does for us. At Christmas, we understand that Jesus, God the Son, took on the burden of being human. At Easter, we understand that after offering up His sinless life as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, Christ rose to give life to all who turn from sin and follow Him. 

But what exactly does the Holy Spirit do for us?

A lot of things. 

But I want to talk about just two things the Spirit does for us today, as seen in our first lesson, which comes from Acts 2.

First, the Holy Spirit gives us the courage to live past our fears. Before the events recounted in our lesson, 120 followers--disciples--of Jesus had gathered in a room to, just as Jesus had ordered them to do, wait and pray for the power of God to come upon them. 

When the Holy Spirit showed up “like the blowing of a violent wind,” they did something they probably couldn’t have imagined doing moments before: They went out onto the hostile streets of Jerusalem and told anyone who would listen about God's mighty deeds. They conveyed the message that all who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved.

The Spirit gives courage to people who pray. This is important to realize. It seems that the number one fear of Lutheran Christians is doing precisely what the Holy Spirit empowered the first disciples to do on the first Pentecost: Share the good news that all who turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ have life with God that never ends. “I could never do that,” we say.

Listen: When Ann and I find a new restaurant we like, we have no hesitation about telling friends about the place. We describe the food, the service, the prices. I bet that you’ve done the same thing. Why is it easier for us to talk about a restaurant that will, at most, feed us one meal at a time...for a price...than it is for us to talk about Jesus, the living Bread from heaven, Who is the only One Who can give us eternity? You know the reason: We let our fears, not Jesus, to control our thoughts, our feelings, our actions.

I remember listening to a devoted follower of Jesus say how upset he was with himself because it had been three whole weeks since he had last shared the good news--the gospel--of new and everlasting life for all who believe in Jesus with a spiritually-disconnected person. Three weeks. I prayed, “God, make me more like that. Help me to live past my fears so that I have that same passion for people who, absent a faith relationship with Jesus, will go to hell.”

The Holy Spirit also gives us a reason for living. Often, elderly people will ask me, “Why hasn’t God taken me yet? What am I still doing here?” These people think that because they’re less physically capable than they once were, their lives are less worthy of living. Children can also grow frustrated by the limitations of their youth. And the chronically ill think that their lives have less value because of what they can't do.

But you and I have value not because of what we do, but because of who we are. 

When we stand before the judgment seat of God in eternity, God won’t ask us, “What did you accomplish?” Instead, God will ask, “Were you a believer in the Lord Jesus? Were you a repentant sinner? Were you a grateful disciple? Did you live in constant fellowship with Jesus?” 

This last question is critical, because it’s only those who live in constant fellowship with Jesus--not with their fears, not with their preferences--but with Jesus, Who will be empowered to live for Jesus and share Jesus with others, no matter what limitations may dog them. Their lives will have power because they live only in the power of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. 

One of my favorite passages of Scripture appears in Matthew 25. In it, Jesus describes how He will judge people at the end of the world. He turns to the people He describes as His sheep and tells them, in essence, "Because you clothed Me when I was naked, visited me when I was in prison, fed me when I was hungry, and so on, enter into the joy of eternity with Me."

But their reaction says everything. In essence, they tell Jesus, "We don't remember doing any of that stuff!"

Listen: You cannot be saved from yourself, saved from sin, death, darkness, or futility by anything you do. None of us could ever do enough--or be good enough--to get into eternity with God. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that we are saved only by God's grace, God's charity, given to those who dare to trust in Jesus. So, nobody has any right to brag. All we are are people in whom Jesus lives and Jesus does His good work. You see, even the good I do doesn't come from me; it comes from Jesus. All I'm to do is trust in Him and get out of His way!

So, Jesus' commendation of the "sheep" in His portrayal of the judgment in Matthew 25 shows us that we aren't judged for what we, in our own strength, are able to do. We're only judged on whether we have entrusted our lives to Jesus and so, without our even realizing it, become instruments through whom, Christ does His loving, life-giving work in the world!

Many of you have read Ole Hallesby's classic book, Prayer. The story he tells near the end of the book is something I come back to again and again. There was, in Hallesby's home village in rural Norway, a man who was practically an invalid from birth. He could do little work. As he aged, he became bedfast and had to be cared for by several women from the village. Though he had been limited in his mobility, his funeral was the most well-attended in Hallesby's village. Why? Because he had done what he could in response to Jesus' love and grace: He prayed. People would come from miles around to ask him to pray for family members, friends, or themselves and to receive his wise Biblical counsel. On his daily prayer list were babies and children he never met. That man's life had a deeper purpose and meaning although he seemingly could do nothing: By his surrender to Jesus, God gave him purpose.

Jesus is the eternal-life-giving dynamo; if we are connected to Him, if we trust in Him, if we are surrendered to Him, He will give us purposeful lives, no matter what our age or condition. We who are being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ will always have a purpose, always have a reason for living: 

To give God glory and to point others to the God we know in Jesus.

The first followers of Christ must have wondered after Jesus ascended into heaven why they were still around. In Jesus, they’d glimpsed eternity and they wanted to be with Him. But here they were, stuck on a planet filled with people who would rather worship themselves, possessions, power, prominence, or their country, or their political party, rather than the God Who made them and died and rose for them. They were stuck living a life in which they would have to struggle and possibly suffer...because they believed in the crucified and risen Jesus. 

But when the Holy Spirit came, He gave Jesus’ praying followers a reason for living this as fully as they could. In short, the Holy Spirit gave them a vocation.

All followers of Jesus have the same vocation, whatever jobs they do, even if they can no longer do a scrap of work.

Some of you have heard me speak before of our friends Sig and Chris. They came to this country from Germany in the early-1960s. Sig was an engineer and Chris was a pediatric intensive care nurse. But above all, they were ambassadors for Christ! When Sig was dying, he was a patient at a hospital in Cincinnati. His room was a holy place, bathed in prayer, filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit. When Sig would occasionally regain some semblance of consciousness, he would ask that Scripture or writings by his favorite writer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, be read to him. People who weren't even believers asked if they could spend time in that room, so palpable was the presence of God. Even as he lay dying, you see, Sig had a purpose for living. He had a vocation. He honored God and showed Christ to others even in his dying.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t get a lot of attention. The Spirit takes a backseat in the Trinity, content with being Jesus’ megaphone as Jesus speaks new life to us, content with silently supporting us as we call out to Jesus, follow Him, and share Him with others. The Spirit never calls attention to Himself. But He showers us with gifts, including the courage to live past our fears and a reason for living, a vocation of pointing others to Christ, serving them in Jesus’ Name and inviting others to follow Christ, a vocation that lasts our whole lives.

Today, I wish to all of you, a very happy Pentecost! May you keep in constant, prayerful contact with the Holy Spirit so that you will have the courage to live past your fears and a reason for living life every day you remain on this earth. Amen

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Walk in the Spirit (Part 5, The Disciple's Life)

[This was shared tonight during midweek Lenten devotional worship with the people of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Galatians 5:16-25
1 John 2:15

Tonight, as we complete our look at The Disciple’s Life, we come to an element of being a disciple that's probably discussed too little and misunderstood a lot, particularly in Lutheran circles.

It’s walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

What on earth does that mean and what do we have to do to walk in the fullness of the Spirit?

If we approach this subject with that question though, we’ll come out all wrong. As with everything else in the life of a Christian disciple, walking in the Spirit has to do with what God does for us and not what we do for ourselves.

Remember these words in Ephesians: “...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast…” (Ephesians 2:8-9)? The whole life of a Christian disciple is from God, not from us. That’s true even of the good works we may do in the name of God the Son, in response to God’s call, and in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. As Ephesians goes on to say: “...we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Yesterday, a man called me here at the church and asked for $22. He said that he needed that amount to complete what he needed for airfare to Florida, where his mother just died. I couldn’t verify that he was telling the truth, of course. But I looked in my wallet and saw that I only had $16. So, I called Ann; she swung by here with the other six bucks.

When the man came here, he thanked me profusely and asked if I could take him to the bus hub in Miamisburg. I was leaving anyway, so I did.

I am not telling this story to boast. I mean, it was only $22 and a ride that was on my way to where I was going anyway!

What I’m saying is that I had prayed about how I should respond to this man and I just did what I thought God was telling me to do. If a stranger asks me for money, my first impulse is to say no. Sometimes I do say no. And sometimes after saying yes, I realize that I’ve been “had.” But that doesn't matter.

Here’s the deal: I felt called and led by God to give away the money. With something as small as this, I feel no need or compulsion to use the pastor’s discretionary fund. God seemed to say to me that the money should come from my pocket. After all, if I'm going to ask others to give to God's work in the world, to respond to the needs of strangers, I need to be willing to do the same thing!

God was teaching me two things yesterday, I think. First, that my money isn’t my money; it’s God’s money! James 1:17 tells us: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” I sensed God telling me, “I want you to give this stranger some of My money, Mark.”

Second, God was telling me, “This is one of those good works I prepared long ago for you to walk in. You don’t need to know whether the request is legit or not. I’m planting seeds here. Give the man $22!” Walking in the Spirit can be scary, but as Saint Paul shows in Galatians, walking in the Spirit is the way of life with Jesus.

Take a look at what Paul says in Galatians 5:16: “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Older translations have Paul saying “walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” But that’s a bad translation of--you’re going to have to take my word for this--the aorist subjunctive active second person plural verb, will gratify.

In other words, Paul is not laying down the law here. He’s not issuing an imperative. He’s not saying, “Do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” He’s saying that when we walk by the Holy Spirit, when we let God be our guide--not our consciences, not our instincts, not our hearts, not our guts, we will be walking in line with the Holy Spirit and not our own selfish desires.

Paul is not barking orders; he’s making an observation about two different kinds of lives.

One life is spent gratifying the desires of the flesh, flesh here meaning life spent pursuing those things that align with what I want to do.

The other is life in the Spirit, in which our primary aim becomes walking in the direction in which the Holy Spirit, given to us at our Baptism, leads us.

Life lived in response to the flesh is lived under the condemnation of God’s law, because it’s a life lived according to our own standards with no reference to God.

The life of the Spirit is one set free of the law because, as Paul writes elsewhere, “...there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1)!

In the rest of the passage from Galatians, which we read earlier, Paul helps us to see the profound difference between a life in which we call the shots and a life in which we follow where Christ’s Spirit leads us.

Verse 19: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality [The word Paul uses in the original Greek is porneia, from which we get the word, pornography. It means any and all sexual intimacy outside of marriage.], impurity and debauchery [The word Paul uses here means unrestrained, unrepentant lewdness.]; idolatry and witchcraft [Putting anything ahead of God.]; hatred, discord [This refers to the practice of creating divisions.], jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. [Paul goes on:] I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Let’s be clear: Any human life lived apart from the saving grace of God granted to all who repent and believe in Jesus will manifest one, some, or all of these characteristics. We who are born in sin are all inclined to live in these ways. But when, by water and the Word in Holy Baptism, we born from above (John 3:3), God gives us a share in the victory over sin and death Jesus earned for us through His death and resurrection and makes it possible for us as disciples of Jesus, to walk differently, to live differently, to live by faith in Him and in His way.

Paul explains, beginning at verse 22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Notice again what Paul doesn’t say here. He does not tell Christians: You'd better live in love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He says that these behaviors are “fruit of the Spirit.” These wonderful attributes aren’t the cost of admission into the kingdom of God. These attributes aren’t the fruit of our work. They’re the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit working in a life surrendered to Jesus Christ. They’re what happen, often without our even knowing it, when we daily yield our lives to Christ, examine our lives in the light of God’s Word, repent for sin, and receive the renewing Word of forgiveness that comes to all who humble themselves before the mighty grace of Jesus!

By faith, we open ourselves to the work of God’s Spirit within us and the Holy Spirit goes to work, working intimacy between God and us, scrambling our priorities, using us to accomplish the good works God prepared for us before we were even born. All we must do is take a step in faith, a step toward Jesus. When we do this, we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit.

How can we do this?

How can we dare to do things that seem frightening or not in our best interest, but that respond to the will of God?

Paul explains in Galatians 5:21: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

When we are linked with Christ through Holy Baptism and the faith to which Jesus calls us, our old selves are crucified.

And as we keep our eyes on Jesus, the old self with all its selfish, sinful desires is crucified.

The new us rises every time we repent, every time we receive God's grace in Christ with faith, every time we respond in faith to God’s call in our lives.

And our new selves, knowing that we belong to God forever, are set free to live the lives of love, joy, peace, and selfless that are the hallmarks of Christ’s presence in us.

Only Jesus Himself has walked in the complete fullness of the Holy Spirit, of course. But the more we move toward Him, the more of Him will be evident in our lives, the more fruit of the Spirit will be apparent in us.

This is why Paul says in Galatians 5:25: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Disciples

• believe and follow Jesus, 
• love God and neighbor, 
• live as the Church, and 
• pray. 

In so doing, God makes it possible for us to walk in step with the Spirit.

You could say that Christ sets us free to walk the beat of God’s drum.

If you want the simplest definition of the disciple’s life and of walking in the Spirit, it might be this: Disciples walk where Jesus leads them. 

Let’s do that together. Amen

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Do we get what we deserve?

I reposted this graphic over on Facebook and was then contacted by a friend who asked about Galatians 6:7, where Paul writes: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

That business about a person reaping what they sow, my friend wondered, isn't that like karma?

Good question!

This is how I responded:

I think that Paul here is talking about unrepentant humanity. If we don't repent and trust in Christ, we stand defenseless against condemnation for our sins. In Romans 6:23, Paul writes: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord."

The law, God's commands, are real and holy and they reflect the will of God for human beings. But the law can't save us because we're incapable of keeping them in our own power.

The grace God gives to those who repent and believe in Jesus (Mark 1:15; Ephesians 2:8-10) trumps the condemnation of the law.

God's grace in Christ covers our sins and spares us the eternal consequence of them.

Luther pictures God standing before two groups of sinners at the judgment. One group stands naked in their sin. The other group, although sinners, are covered in Jesus and all that the Father sees in them is Jesus.

To unrepentantly sow sin without turning to Christ will cause people to reap judgment. But when we take Christ's outstretched hand of grace, we are set free. And Jesus says, "...if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)

I hope that this helps.

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

God Loves the Leftovers!

[This message was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, on Sunday, September 24.]

Matthew 20:1-16
The title for this morning’s message is God Loves the Leftovers!

From today’s Gospel lesson, we can see that God loves the also-rans, the forgottens, the nobodies, the johnny-come-latelies-to-faith.

And He loves them with the exact same passion and provides them with the exact same eternal salvation with which He loves and provides to those who have believed in Him for as long as they can remember.

This morning, as we consider Jesus’ words, we should be grateful that God loves the leftovers. Because He does, you and I have a place in Jesus’ eternal kingdom.

So do all who turn from their sin and trust in Christ as their God and Savior. That’s good news, gospel!

So, let’s take a look at what Jesus says to us today.

A few verses before the beginning of our gospel lesson, Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells the disciples that it will be harder for the wealthy to get into His kingdom than for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. Peter, anxious to show that he and the other eleven apostles are worthy of being in the kingdom, reminds Jesus that they’ve given up incomes to follow Him. (As thought Jesus had forgotten that!) Jesus tells Peter and the others: “...everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29)

In other words, anyone who has sought the kingdom above everything in life, will gain much more than the wealth that this dying world can offer. As Jesus puts it elsewhere: “...seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

Jesus caps His response off with these words: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matthew 19:30)

You may have noticed that Jesus says similar words to these at the end of today’s Gospel lesson. That means that everything from Matthew 19:30 to the end of today’s lesson, Matthew 20:16, is about just this: In the kingdom of heaven, Jesus’ kingdom, God the Father’s kingdom, the first will be last, the last will be first.

The leftovers will go to the front of the line and the people who showed up first, who followed Jesus faithfully for years and years, won’t mind sitting in the back; they’ll just be grateful to be in the eternal kingdom God gives to all who trust in Jesus! 

To say that this is foreign to our way of thinking is an understatement. It’s revolutionary, it’s counter-cultural. Some might even call it un-American.

But let’s listen to what Jesus tells us this morning, starting at Matthew 20:1: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.”

In those days, landowners and employers had total power, the way that God has total power over His kingdom. When it says that the landowner, standing in for God in this parable, “agreed” to pay the workers a denarius, the common wage for a day of labor in those days, it doesn’t mean that there was any negotiation. This was the rate that the landowner decided on: The workers in his vineyard were going to be paid this amount.

Read on, please: “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.” (Matthew 20:3-5)

It’s been several hours since the landowner first went to the marketplace to find people to go into his vineyard. He mentions nothing about the rate of pay to this second group. He just invites anyone who wants to go to his vineyard to do so. They aren't sent to Human Resources. No interviews. No screening. No attempts to learn the qualifications of the workers. If the men milling in the marketplace are willing to trust the landowner and his offer, they go to the vineyard.

How often do church members want to screen out people they don’t think will “fit in”? How often do we keep people from becoming part of Jesus' kingdom because we thoughtlessly neglect to invite them?

True story: A man who had just moved into a community told me about attending a Lutheran church shortly after his move and having a pleasant conversation with one of its members turn unpleasant when the member told him, “You seem like a nice person. But we already have enough members here. Things are just the way we want them to be here. Maybe you should go look for another church.” He did.

That’s not the way it is with the God we meet in Jesus, the God portrayed by Jesus as the landowner in today’s parable. God invites everyone into His kingdom. Anyone willing to leave the square, with its sins and warped values, and instead, enter His vineyard will be richly rewarded in forgiveness of sins, the power to resist evil, the presence of Christ in their lives on earth, and eternity with God and His people.

Read what Jesus says next, please. “[The landowner] went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’” (Matthew 20:5b-7)

“Why aren’t you in my kingdom?” the landowner-stand-in-for-God asks. “Because no one has invited us in.” These are the leftovers, the people nobody else wants. But God does!

The leftovers called by the landowner are like David, at whom the prophet and judge Samuel looked, and saw, not a king, just a scrawny afterthought. But God told Samuel: “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7) Samuel anointed David king.

The leftovers are like ancient Israel to whom Moses said: “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you…” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)

The leftovers are like the thief on the cross, a criminal who had wandered in the marketplace, stealing and killing all of his life, but on the brink of death, encountered Jesus, acknowledged His sins, and asked for a place in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus told him as they both died on their crosses: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)

The leftovers are like the apostle Paul, who had rejected Christ and yet came to believe and would speak of himself as “the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” yet…”by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

I am a leftover, someone who had once rejected the crucified and risen Jesus and His grace. Yet God still kept calling me. Why? Because God loves the leftover people of the world. He wants everyone of them in His kingdom. And He wants His Church to keep calling all people to repentance and new life as long as this brittle, dying world still turns on its axis.

Look at what Jesus says next. “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”

"The Workers in the Vineyard" by Kazakhstan Artist Nelly Bube. 

 We know, good Lutherans that we are, you and I, that we are sinners only saved by the generous grace of God, brought to us through our faith in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, God has ushered us into His vineyard, His kingdom, and it’s a privilege. We know that we don’t deserve life with God. It’s a free gift which He created for us. The apostle Paul reminds us: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

But sometimes we forget about grace. Sometimes, we may want to pray like the self-righteous Pharisee in another of Jesus’ parables: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.” (Luke 18:11) Life in God’s kingdom belongs to all who hear Jesus’ call to follow and like the tax collector in that parable in Luke’s gospel say to God: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)

No matter our sins or failures, God wants us in His kingdom.

Whenever we have the guts to acknowledge our sins, turn away from them, and follow Jesus, we are in His eternal kingdom.

It’s true that God loves leftovers. But the deeper truth is that in His kingdom, there are no leftovers.

As Jesus says at the end of today’s Gospel lesson: “...the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16)

Speaking for myself, as long as I can be in Jesus’ kingdom forever, I’m not particular about the seating arrangements. Amen

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Living Water is a congregation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

Protect me, God, from the lies I tell myself

This journals my encounter with God and His Word today during my quiet time. See here to see how I spend my time with God; it may help you to keep your own quiet time.

Look: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

Paul addressed these words to Timothy to explain why he had given the instructions that immediately precede them: “I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:1-2)

The times that Paul describes--”when people will not put up with sound doctrine”--have arisen often in the history of Christ’s Church.

Today is no different.

For example, Joel Osteen promotes a “prosperity gospel,” teaching that if people have enough faith, they will become rich. It’s possible for faithful people to be wealthy, of course. Abraham, the earthly father of Biblical faith, had wealth. But the notion that a lack of wealth is a sign of little faith is a lie, a lie which Osteen is willing to sell you with the tickets he sells to attend his events around the country.

And then, there’s the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the body I left several years ago, who recently told an interviewer from the Chicago Sun-Times that if there is a hell, it's empty. No Christian should be anxious for a person to go to hell. In fact, our mission is to make disciples so that people can have God’s presence, salvation, and blessings now and for eternity. But Jesus is very clear throughout the gospels, as are the apostles: There is a hell and it is populated not only by Satan and his demons, but also by those who refuse to trust the God revealed in Christ with their sins and their lives.

Pernicious lies like these never lose their appeal to people. I think that’s so for several reasons:

1. Lies like those told by Osteen make people feel more in control and more self-righteous. If people have wealth, they can tell themselves that this is a sign of their righteousness. Such beliefs existed in Biblical times and Jesus condemned them. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God,” Jesus says in Mark 10:25. Jesus understands that wealth can delude us with the idea that we are self-sufficient and wealth can become our god. The advocates of the prosperity gospel find passages like this inconvenient. I’ve been told about Christians who truly think that if people in poverty had more faith, they wouldn’t be poor. That is a self-aggrandizing lie.

2. Lies like those told by the ELCA bishop make God seem like a liar when He tells us in His word, repeatedly, that there is condemnation for those who refuse to trust in Christ. In John 3:16-18, for example, Jesus says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” And Jesus isn’t shy about speaking of hell as the place of condemnation filled with unbelieving people (Luke 16:19-31). Nor is Jesus shy in speaking of eternity with God as the reward for simple repentance and faith in Him. To the thief on the cross, dying alongside Him, Jesus said, “...today, you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Listen: It’s easy to see the lies that other people readily accept.

But, Lord, are there lies to which I am susceptible? As I reflect, there is one big lie that I find myself needing to guard against.

It’s this: The idea that since I’m a Christian, anything I take into my head to do must be OK. That is a big lie!

Although I would never consciously frame things in this way, the thinking here is: “I’m saved by Jesus from sin and death. So, if I decide to do so-and-so, it must be all right. After all, Jesus knows how much I love him. He’ll give me a break.”

This lie exemplifies what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” It’s an expression of that “buddy God” lie. Cheap grace is what we tell ourselves God gives to us in order to wrestle with the reality and consequences of our sinfulness and our sinful actions.

This is why the Lutheran practice of “daily repentance and renewal” is so important. Otherwise, like a “lost sheep,” we rationalize our ways farther and farther away from Christ and the life only He can give.

The reality of my sin is something with which I must daily wrestle. And I need to be open to remain silent before God and His Word to show me where I have gone wrong.

Psalm 139:23-24 teaches believers to pray: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Paul engages in daily repentance and renewal when he talks about his daily struggle with the reality of his own sin and his utter dependence on God’s grace, given in Christ, to save him from himself (Romans 7:21-25).

Another subtle lie against which I want to remain vigilant is, I imagine, quite alluring for many Christians when they see things like earthquakes in Mexico or hurricanes in Florida, Texas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and elsewhere. The lie people not in affected areas might be open to accepting is, “This hasn’t happened to me. Therefore, I must be blessed and favored by God, while those facing these catastrophes are not.”

Jesus specifically called out people prone to accept such lies when, referencing disastrous events that must have happened shortly before He spoke to a crowd. Luke 13:1-5 says: “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’”
Unforeseen disasters happen in this world. They happen to the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45).

And, as Dave, a disciple who is part of the congregation I serve as pastor, mentioned to me the other day: “Disasters come all the time to people.” He went on to mention things like heart attacks. We could also name traffic accidents, cancer diagnoses, deaths.

To believe that because particular disasters haven’t struck us yet, we’re exempt by reason of righteousness, isn’t just a delusion, it’s a lie.

Respond: Protect me today, God, from my impulse to believe my lies, the world lies, or Satan’s lies rather than Your truth, revealed definitively in Christ and in Your Word. Help me to hear You clearly throughout my day and help me to call on You constantly so that when I start to wander, I return to You. Help me to remember always the truth:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

I place my life is in Your hands, and not mine.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Living Water is a congregation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).