The God Who Shows Up

OK, folks, my faith in Christ doesn’t depend on my feelings or thoughts, but solely on what Christ has done for us sinners through His death and resurrection.

Jesus has conquered sin and its power to damn and kill us by taking our humanity and our sin into His sinless body and has opened eternity with God to all who live with repentant faith In Him.

That’s true whether I’m feeling it at any given moment…or not.

But sometimes, Jesus Christ gives me goosebumps.

I’ve just been reading the Old Testament book of Joshua which recounts events that took place about 1400 years before Christ Jesus, God the Son, was born at Bethlehem.

The leader of God’s ancient people, Joshua, whose Hebrew name, Yeshua, was the same as Yeshua, Jesus, is preparing for battle, when he’s met by someone.

The Bible says: “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’ And he said, ‘No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’ And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:13-15)

The text makes it obvious Who the commander of the Lord’s army is in two ways.

First, Joshua falls down and worships the Commander. As a believer in God, Joshua would only have worshiped God Himself. Joshua knows that He Is in the presence of God, though mysteriously God as a man.

Second, the Commander gives Joshua the same directive that God gave to Moses when Moses encountered God in a bush that burned but was not consumed. There, God—Yahweh, or I AM—told Moses to remove his sandals because, with God present there, the ground Moses was standing on was holy. Throughout the Old Testament, the “pre-incarnate Christ,” God the Son before He was born at Bethlehem, makes appearances to God’s people. These appearances demonstrate that the one God in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—never leaves or forsakes us, is involved with His creation, and cares for us.

The God we all now can know in Jesus Christ is the God Who shows up!

Even when the cosmos thrashes under the raging of sin, death, and the devil, the Lord fights for us. Ultimately, Jesus came into our world to save us from ourselves, bringing us peace with God, the forgiveness of our sins, and eternity with Him.

In Jesus, all your sins are forgiven. All who daily turn from sin and trust in Him can believe this promise.

Jesus tells us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Whether that gives you goosebumps or not, you can believe it’s true and, In the believing, know that you are reconciled forever with the God Who always shows up for the cosmos (and you) He created and still loves.

Thoughts for May 30, 2023

"So [Jesus] said to his disciples, 'The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest.'” (Matthew 9:37-38, Good News Translation)

Here, Jesus tells us that the world is full of people who need to receive the Gospel Word about Him and are ready to do so. The problem, Jesus says, is that there aren't enough of His workers, His disciples, to get His Gospel to everyone who needs it. So, Jesus tells us to pray that God the Father, "the owner of the harvest," will send His people to share the good news of Jesus that, "...God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life." (John 3:16, Good News Translation)

Heavenly Father, raise up disciples, both laypeople and pastors, who will go into their everyday worlds and share the good news of Jesus with all people. Grant us an openness to Your Holy Spirit's call to be among the workers You send to gather disciples into Your eternal harvest. In Jesus' name. Amen

When We Love

[Below you'll find the message shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio, earlier today, as well as video of both worship services.] 

John 14:15-21

Do Jesus’ words at the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson make you uncomfortable? He says “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15) 

Does Jesus seem to be contradicting Himself and the rest of the Bible?

Elsewhere, He famously says, for example, “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.” (John 3:16)

And also: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)

The apostle Paul summarizes all this teaching from Jesus by saying, “For we maintain that a person is justified [that is, declared innocent of their sins] by faith [in Christ] apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

The distillation of these passages of Scripture and many more is that we who are born sinners cannot and are not saved from death, the condemnation for our sin, by anything we do; we are saved solely by Christ Who died and rose for all sinners through the faith in Christ we receive through the Gospel Word about Jesus.

So, what is up with Jesus’ words at the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson: “If you love me, keep my commands”? It sounds as if Jesus is saying that our relationship with Him and our eternal salvation from Him depend on how much we love Him and on our obedience to His commands.

There are schools of thought within Christianity that teach this is exactly what Jesus is saying here. They think their salvation depends on what they do and the depths of their love for Jesus. People taught this way are constantly turned in on themselves, trying to police themselves of doubt or sin.

But, friends, this kind of thinking can only lead us to one of two endpoints: Either false pride when we think that we really are obeying and loving Jesus perfectly or despair, even unbelief, at the realization that we cannot obey or love Jesus perfectly.

Jesus and the whole Bible are clear though that we won’t find life with God by diving more deeply into our personal sewers of sin and self-obsession.

Freedom from sin and death only come from outside ourselves through Jesus Christ!

So, what is Jesus telling us in the first verse of our Gospel lesson? There are two words in the verse that say much more than we might realize and will help us understand what Jesus is saying.

The first word is if, “If you love Me,” Jesus says.

The word in the Greek in which John wrote his gospel is ἐάν, a conjunction that usually means if. But there is an irregular use of the word and almost every time it appears in John’s writings, this irregular use is meant. Let me give you a few examples of this use.

In John 12:32, Jesus says, “And I, when [that’s our word, ean] I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Another example, 1 John 2:28 : “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when [there’s our word again] he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28)

One more, 1 John 3:2: “...we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

So, Jesus isn’t telling us, “If you get yourself convinced that you love Me.” He’s saying, “When, by the power of my Word, given in Scripture, preaching, teaching, and the Sacraments, that all your sins are forgiven and that you have been justified by grace through faith in Me…”

Jesus is assuring you: “When you have been told, ‘I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,’ you will love Jesus.”

That’s the power of His forgiving, loving Word; it incites love for Him within us.

“This is love,” the apostle John writes elsewhere, “not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

We love Jesus when His Gospel Word allows us to experience the love He has given to us from the cross. It was this very love that the disciples who betrayed Jesus would experience after His resurrection: forgiveness and love despite their sin.

The second word is keep. “If you love me,” Jesus says, “keep my commands.” The word here in the original Greek is τηρέω. It means to watch over, to guard, to observe. To keep the commands of Jesus, of God, is to acknowledge their authority over us. It doesn’t mean perfect obedience to God’s Law, which God’s Word tells us no sinful human being can muster.

Jesus, you’ll remember, used words from the Old Testament to summarize God’s commandments for the human race.

He summarized commandments one through three–that we have no other gods, that we not take His name in vain, that we hold His Word at the center of our lives–by telling us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37).

He summarized commandments four through ten–that we honor our parents, not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness, and not covet–by commanding us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39)

Honesty compels each of us to acknowledge that we do not obey God’s law of love. We are worthy of condemnation.

But, friends, we keep these commands of Jesus every time we come to Him and acknowledge, formally or informally, together or on our own, “We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” We keep His commands whenever we respond to His Word and take up our crosses daily and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)

We love Jesus and we keep His commands, acknowledging His grace and authority, whenever He comes to us with His Word assuring us that through Him, all our sins are forgiven. This is what Jesus explains to us in the rest of today’s gospel lesson. Jesus sends His Holy Spirit Who comes to us in the word of forgiveness and rebirth we receive at Holy Baptism, in the preaching of His Gospel Word, and in the forgiveness and power for living we receive in Holy Communion.

When Jesus tells us today, “If you love me, keep my commands,” Jesus isn’t turning us in on ourselves to engage in a morbid inventory of our sinful selves. He’s freeing us from both the sewers of self-congratulation and self-condemnation.

He calls us to look to Him, the One Who died and rose to set us free from sin and death.

It’s good and right for us to confess our sins to God. But when Jesus’ words of forgiveness come to us, our old sinful self is crucified and, with the words of absolution, we rise to newness of life!

Pastor David Schmitt talks about a friend who, as she puts on a coat to go outside, says with a smile of her deceased dad, “My father always told me to wear a coat.” These are the words of a woman who knew how deeply her earthly father loved her, that his “command” wasn’t arbitrary but came from love, and so, even now, out of his immediate presence–even when she forgets to put on her coat, she “keeps” her father’s “command.”

When the Holy Spirit–the Spirit of truth–turns our attention to Jesus and we know that He has already paid the price for our sin and already given eternal life to all who believe in Him, we are filled with the love of children who know they are deeply loved by God and, from love, reverence, and respect, will always gladly acknowledge His authority over us.

Receive the forgiving love of Jesus and you will love.

That is Jesus’ Word for us today.

Amen

The One Jesus Loves

Today is the Feast Day of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist.

Preachers and scholars sometimes tease John for calling himself “the disciple Jesus loved.” They read a bit of egotism and neediness in the apposition.

But remember that this is the same John who reminds others who walk in God’s love through faith in Jesus how deeply loved they are by God. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us,” he writes in 1 John 3:19.

I think when John refers to himself as the disciple loved by Jesus, he expresses humility and awe bordering on incredulity.

Jesus gave John and his brother James the nicknames, “sons of thunder.” That may be because they once asked Jesus if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village that wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Or, it may be because they once asked Jesus if they could be his right- and left-hand men when He became King, confidently assuring Jesus they could take any adversity Jesus might experience.

I imagine John shaking his head at memories like these, memories of his sinful arrogance and condescending judgment toward others, and thinking, “But Jesus still loves me. He still gives me forgiveness and eternal life.”

John understood that the God revealed to all the world in Jesus loves and wants us to be with Him now and always despite our sin. He spent a lifetime trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the world loved by God included him.

It includes you too, friends.

We have that from Jesus Himself, in words noted by John in the third chapter of his gospel. There 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.” (John 3:16)

Sinners though we are, those, prompted by God’s Spirit to daily turn away from sin and death to believe in Jesus, Who brings forgiveness and life, will have the same sense of awe and incredulity in describing themselves as disciples loved by Jesus.

May you walk each day in that blessed mystery.

[For a beautiful consideration of Saint John by Chad Bird, see here.]

 

For Grieving Believers: Two Promises from Jesus

[This message was shared during the funeral of a Living Water Lutheran Church saint yesterday morning.]

Romans 8:35, 37-39

In the Name of God the Father, and God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen

Lou, you should know that you, your daughters and sons-in-law, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, are in the prayers of many people today. Donna was a person cherished by many, not least by those of her Living Water Lutheran Church family, along with many from Epiphany.

Donna was a special person, devoted to her husband and family, committed to helping others, as she did for years through the Gabbards’ involvement in Aid Association for Lutherans.

I always found Donna to be a kind and considerate person, quick to smile and quick to laugh, and always available to participate or help. Donna will be missed!

Lou, I want you to know, how inspiring you have been for your family and others, as you have cared for Donna these past few years By the power of the Holy Spirit, you have faithfully kept your vows to God and to Donna, loving and serving Donna in a trying season. I know you have been assisted in doing this by your family and that you’re grateful for them and their help. But believe me, they’re grateful for the love you gave to Donna every day of your married life!

At the start of a beautiful section of First Thessalonians, the apostle Paul writes, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope…” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) 

Paul wrote to the Christians in first-century Thessalonica, a city on the Aegean Sea, who, thinking that Jesus should have returned by then, had become concerned about the fate of fellow Christians who had already died. Paul wanted to reassure them that the Savior Who had died for the world’s sins and had risen to open up eternity to all who believe in Him, was good for His promises to come back to the world to judge the living and the dead and to usher His kingdom fully into being. 

He also wanted them to know that those who died trusting in Jesus Christ as their Lord and God were, even then, in God’s care. 

No one who trusts in Jesus is ever lost to God! 

Paul wanted to underscore the promise that Jesus had made to us all in a conversation with Martha, the grieving sister of His friend Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) This is the promise to which Lou referred during one of my visits to hospice last week when I asked him how he was doing. Of Donna, he said, “I’m glad she’s a Christian!”

Christians, like others, of course, grieve the loss of loved ones, even of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ. 

It would be unnatural for us not to grieve those we have loved and who have loved us. 

It would be strange not to grieve for a mother who has nurtured her children, a friend who has shared life’s burdens, and a fellow disciple who believed in Jesus. 

We feel grief for those we love even when we know their passing brings them relief from this world’s pain and brings us an end to our agonies for them. 

But, as Paul says, the Christian need not grieve like those who don’t believe in Jesus. Those without faith, Paul says, are people “who have no hope.”

The Christian has an eternity of hope! We know that Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins and sent His Holy Spirit to witness for the Gospel in the Word and the Sacraments to give us saving faith in Jesus, will welcome believers in Him into His loving arms when we pass from this life! 

We know too, that we will be reunited with all the saints, like Donna, who have trusted in Christ in this life. What a reunion that will be, living in the presence of God: tears dried, bodies made new and whole, death eternally destroyed!

Until that happy day, we will, in this world, have grief. We will have challenges and setbacks. 

But, even now, the joy of heaven invades the lives of those who take Jesus at His Word when He invites us to daily take up our crosses, that is, repent for sin, and follow Him, meaning trust in Him. 

Jesus has told His Church and all who are part of it, “...I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) 

God inspired the apostle Paul to talk about this too, as He does in our second lesson for this morning. “I am convinced,” Paul writes, “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) 

Nothing can separate believers from Jesus!

So, once more today, Lou and family, the crucified and risen Jesus gives you two incredible and undeserved promises, the power and credibility of which are certified by His death and His resurrection.

First, He promises that death is not the final word over the lives of those who, like Donna, believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus, Who triumphed over sin and death, including your sin and my sin, your death, and my death, can be trusted when He tells us, “For God so loved the world [God so loved Donna and you and me] that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) 

The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, tell us repeatedly that, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:17) Saved by grace through faith from sin, death, and futility! Jesus is the certain sign that we can bet our entire lives on that incredible promise!

Second, Jesus promises to be with us in this life, no matter what. This promise too is given in both Testaments. In Deuteronomy and Hebrews, God’s promise is shouted forth: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5; Deuteronomy 31:6) Again, the Savior Who bore our death on the cross and Who gives His righteousness to all who repent and believe, tells us that we can trust this promise for our daily lives, even today, even in the midst of grief.

Last week at the hospice facility, we read Psalm 46, the words of which inspired the lyrics of Martin Luther’s best-loved hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It begins: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Then, God breaks in to say, “Be still, and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10)

These words are for you, Lou, and for your family. 

Even in your grief, you can rest easy, you can be still, in the strong arms of the God you know in Jesus. You can be still, knowing that He is God and, because of the Word-borne, Holy Spirit-given faith in Jesus that was Donna’s and is yours, you can know for a certainty that God has Donna and you and all who believe, in His strong, loving hands, now and forever. Amen

 

Now What?

[Below is both the live stream video of the 11:00 AM worship service with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio, and the text of the message presented during worship. Ordinarily, I would also link to our 8:45 AM service, the traditional worship service, but we had technical difficulties that prevent that.]



John 21:1-19

Today’s gospel lesson, John 21:1-19, is part of the epilogue of John’s gospel. John’s gospel, of course, has a prologue. It starts out, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) 

John’s prologue prepares us to hear Jesus when He says things like, “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.” (John 3:16) 

Or, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die…” (John 11:25-26)

But now, after taking us on this dizzying journey with Jesus, John comes to today’s Gospel lesson. The rest of the gospel poses questions like, “Who are you, [Jesus]?” (John 8:25) Or, “How can someone be born [that is, how can someone born in sin start all over again in the righteousness of God] when they are old?” (John 3:4) 

But, today’s lesson asks the question, “Now what?” 

After I’ve come to believe in Jesus as “my Lord and my God,” like the once unbelieving Thomas, and so have eternal life with God, now what? How do I live my life from now until the resurrection?

The opening of today’s Gospel lesson finds seven of Jesus’ disciples hanging out together. That in itself is healthy. We Christians need each other. This is why the New Testament book of Hebrews tells the Church: “to [not neglect to] meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:25) 

So, here we meet those seven disciples of Jesus, gaining strength from their fellowship around God’s Word, but still not clear about what they should do now.

Then, Peter announces, “I’m going out to fish…” (John 21:3) Friends, the call to follow Jesus and the call to gather with His Church, is not a call away from the world or its mundane pursuits. Part of the call of Jesus is, as we’re regularly fortified and challenged by God’s Word through the Church in worship, the Church in study, and the Church in service, to go into the everyday places of life, fulfill our daily duties, and be Christ’s witnesses “out there.” 

We can’t share the Gospel with others if we spend all our time with the people in our church family who agree with us about Jesus. Imagine a football team that spent all of their games in a huddle. Not much would happen.

Jesus has sent us into the world. That’s why I told Trish a few weeks ago during our staff meeting that I want to personally devote two nights a week this summer to doing kindness outreaches. 

Peter decides to go fishing and the other disciples, even the ones who weren’t formerly fishermen, say, “We’ll go with you.” (John 21:3)

The disciples spend the night fishing and catch nothing. Life can be like that, even when you’re following Jesus. You seek to be faithful, maybe faithful in sharing Jesus with others, and nothing happens, no one is interested. At times like these, the life of discipleship seems futile and meaningless.

Early in the morning following this futile fishing venture, someone calls the disciples from the shore. They don’t recognize the risen Jesus at first. Jesus doesn’t say, as our translation puts it, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” (John 21:5) Rather than “friends," the word Jesus uses here to address them is Παιδία (paidia). It means children. It’s the Greek word that gives us the English words pediatrician and pediatrics. Jesus tenderly calls out to the disciples who have been seeking to be faithful in spite of the challenges of this world, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” No, they don’t have any fish, the disciples admit.

So, echoing a similar incident that occurred near the beginning of His earthly ministry recounted in Luke, chapter 5, Jesus tells the disciples, still unaware of His identity, to throw their net to the right side of the boat. No one says as Peter did in that earlier incident, “We’ve been out all night. There aren’t any fish to be had.” Instead, like little children, credulous and unmarred by cynicism, they toss the net over the side of the boat. The net becomes so heavy with fish that they can’t haul it in. 

This is a picture of God’s grace. There is no end to it. He loves us. His Son died to free us from our sin, from death, and from our idolatries. He covers those who trust in Jesus with His abundant forgiveness and new life, even in the midst of life’s frequent futility.

I’d been called to the hospital room of a twenty-one-year-old who had been fighting cancer for seven years. She had taken a turn for the worse. On the car ride, I prayed I could get there before she died. I walked into her room to find her sitting in a chair, eating a chicken dinner her grandmother had sent. I just looked at her, a bit shocked. She smiled at me and said, “I know. I’m complicated.” After that rally, she did, some weeks later, die. But I reflected later that while her life had been complicated by cancer and this life, she wasn’t complicated at all. She trusted in Jesus and was committed to taking the next step in His rich grace even in the midst of great pain and uncertainty. 

The rich, abundant grace, love, and favor of Christ are on offer to us all, no matter how complicated (or futile) our lives can become.

John is the first to recognize the man on the shore as the risen Jesus. On hearing John say, “It is the Lord,” Peter throws himself into the water to meet Jesus. 

This incident provides another contrast between that earlier miraculous catch of fish Luke talks about and this one. There, you’ll remember, after Jesus caused Peter’s nets to fairly burst at the seams, Peter fell on his face and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) But now Peter can’t wait to get to Jesus. 

This is the difference between life under the Law and life under the Gospel. 

A life lived under the Law is one in which we labor under the delusion that we can or must be good enough or work hard enough to gain God’s favor and forgiveness. That was the life that Peter was living earlier. God’s Law is good because it describes the life of righteousness. But it’s pure egomania for us to think that we can keep God’s Law. As the layperson (not the comedian) Steve Martin, wrote on Twitter the other day, “The job of God’s Law is to obliterate any confidence that you might have in anything outside of Jesus Christ.” Martin Luther said that the function of God's Law is to drive us to despair over our sin to the foot of Jesus Christ, to the only One Who can set us free from the debt for sin we owe our Maker!

But now, after Easter Sunday, Peter understands that despite his sins, he lives life under the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we still sin. That’s why Jesus calls us to daily acknowledge our sin so that its power over us can be covered in the grace of Jesus. 

This is what Peter experiences now as he comes into Jesus’ presence. 

On the shore, Peter finds that Jesus has lit a charcoal fire, “burning coals” in our reading translating the Greek word, ἀνθρακιὰν (anthrakian), from which we get the English word, anthracite. The only other time we encounter this word in the whole Bible is in John 18:18, where Peter warms himself by a fire set by Roman soldiers in the place where Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. As Peter sees the burning coals, he no doubt remembers how he had abandoned the Lord on the night of Jesus’ trial.

Peter doesn’t run away though. He already knows that Jesus has forgiven him and sent him into the world, as he sends us, despite our sins and imperfections, to point others to Jesus as the way and the truth and the life. 

Jesus then, in a reversal of Peter’s three denials of his Lord, underscores His forgiveness and His sending of Peter, when, three times, He asks: “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Feed my lambs.” “Take care of my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17) 

When we live under Christ’s Gospel, not only are our sins forgiven, we also have a mission, to feed the Church and to feed the world on the truth of the same Gospel that has saved us from sin, death, and darkness for everlasting life with God.

Following Jesus isn’t easy. Jesus tells Peter that his life is no longer his own, that he will die as one sent into the world to fish for people. But, you can be sure that as he walked with the risen Christ for the rest of his life, Peter, knowing that he lived under Christ's gospel, would always say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) 

Jesus has died and risen for you. That's an accomplished fact. 

So, now what? 

How should we live each day? 

Simply in this way: By turning to Jesus each day, confident that wherever we may go and whatever the duties of our lives may call us to do, we live under His gospel, set free to be God’s people now and always. 

Amen