That's the title of a sermon based on tomorrow's Gospel lesson, John 14:15-21, which I wrote three years ago, here. I hope you find it helpful.
Tomorrow, I'll be preaching on Acts 17:22-31, a favorite passage of mine.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
May 28: Ninth Anniversary of This Blog
Tomorrow marks the ninth anniversary of this blog.
Frankly, I had no idea what a blog was when I started this one. I was just looking for a place to "park" my Sunday sermons and the columns I then wrote for a weekly Community Press newspaper in the Cincinnati area.
As you can see from perusing the archives on the right, it took some time for me to build up steam as a blogger. After a time though, it became a daily exercise and remained so for a few years. I believe that it sharpened my skills as a communicator, as the newspaper column had previously, and so I enjoyed the discipline of daily blogging.
What with changes that have come to my life in recent years, the blogging has become less frequent. But I still enjoy it a lot.
The blog has brought interesting people into my life, most of whom I've only "met" online. I have been able to actually meet several of my blogging colleagues though, back when I attended the first GodBlogCon at Biola University in California. That was a real treat!
But I truly have enjoyed corresponding with people from all over the world and count it a pleasure to have made your acquaintance in this way.
Though I have rarely advocated political positions here, I have, because of my interest in history and my past involvement with politics, sometimes written about politics and history. I seem to be doing a lot less of that these days. My focus is tighter as I take my cue from the apostle Paul, striving not to be distracted by the noisy and unimportant, and knowing nothing but the crucified Christ.
Besides, time and experience have shown me that I know a lot less about "everything" than I once thought I did. Preachers aren't pundits and that includes me. But of the God made known in Jesus Christ I am certain and I learn more about Him all the time; that's why I talk so much about Him here.
A few tidbits:
I also pray that God uses this blog not just to present Christ to readers, but also, I hope, to demonstrate that if God can love and redeem and use an imperfect, sinful person like me, God can love and redeem and use anyone!
Frankly, I had no idea what a blog was when I started this one. I was just looking for a place to "park" my Sunday sermons and the columns I then wrote for a weekly Community Press newspaper in the Cincinnati area.
As you can see from perusing the archives on the right, it took some time for me to build up steam as a blogger. After a time though, it became a daily exercise and remained so for a few years. I believe that it sharpened my skills as a communicator, as the newspaper column had previously, and so I enjoyed the discipline of daily blogging.
What with changes that have come to my life in recent years, the blogging has become less frequent. But I still enjoy it a lot.
The blog has brought interesting people into my life, most of whom I've only "met" online. I have been able to actually meet several of my blogging colleagues though, back when I attended the first GodBlogCon at Biola University in California. That was a real treat!
But I truly have enjoyed corresponding with people from all over the world and count it a pleasure to have made your acquaintance in this way.
Though I have rarely advocated political positions here, I have, because of my interest in history and my past involvement with politics, sometimes written about politics and history. I seem to be doing a lot less of that these days. My focus is tighter as I take my cue from the apostle Paul, striving not to be distracted by the noisy and unimportant, and knowing nothing but the crucified Christ.
Besides, time and experience have shown me that I know a lot less about "everything" than I once thought I did. Preachers aren't pundits and that includes me. But of the God made known in Jesus Christ I am certain and I learn more about Him all the time; that's why I talk so much about Him here.
A few tidbits:
- The blog was originally called, Better Living, which was the Norman Vincent Peale-sounding name I had chosen some years before for the newspaper column I wrote beginning in 1998.
- The first post was a column I had written in September, 2011 regarding what to tell children about the terrorist attacks of that month.
- There have been a total of 5112 posts, many of them short "pointers," directing people to other places on the Internet. But there's been a lot of original writing here, some in embarrassingly great need of editing, ranging from grammatical correction through dramatic paring down, all the way to merciful deletion of entire posts. Despite the flaws, I've decided to leave it all here: the good, the bad, and the really ugly.
- I don't know for certain when I added SiteMeter to track visits to the blog, although I believe it was sometime in 2005. Since its installation, there have been a total of 724,443 visits to the blog, with 1,187,139 page views.
- Along the way, I've written a number of serials, most written especially for the blog and some being sermon series and sets of devotions used in the congregations I've served during these past nine years, Friendship Lutheran Church near Amelia, Ohio (I was there from 1990 to 2007) and Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio (where I've served since November 2007). My favorite sets of blog posts include the Happiness Project, 40 Days to Servanthood, Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, the Promise and the Perils of Democracy, Opening Your Spiritual Gifts, and two sets of posts I did, one on how Christians might think about immigration reform and another on how they might think about the 2008 presidential elections. (In neither of these last two sets of posts did I advocate specific positions. I simply sought to give people Biblical prisms through which they might consider the issues at hand.) (By the way, you can use the search function at the top of this blog page to look for anything mentioned above that might interest you. You can also do separate Google or Yahoo searches.)
- There are several posts that seem to attract traffic every day. One was written six years ago, just before my wife and I celebrated our thirty-first wedding anniversary, about the lessons I'd learned regarding marriage. Another dealt with the phenomenon of tiny houses. And another is one which I think simply attracts the traffic of those looking for photographs relative to the Holocaust and Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I also pray that God uses this blog not just to present Christ to readers, but also, I hope, to demonstrate that if God can love and redeem and use an imperfect, sinful person like me, God can love and redeem and use anyone!
Recent Pic/Videos from Days Off and Vacation (Part 1)
Earlier this week, we took two-and-a-half days to vacation, visiting my wife's brother and his wife in Virginia. We saw some sights in both Virginia and West Virginia together. Below is a little travelogue of that adventure, along with videos and photographs from some recent days off.
Here I am rhapsodizing about a beautiful morning we spent in northwestern Ohio at the home of friends near Napoleon. That section of the state is reclaimed swampland and is great farm country. It was May 11 and it was only later that day, with all the rain we've had in the Midwest, that farmers were able to get into their fields to plant crops. We were there for a sad occasion: the funeral of a dear friend who was a member of our first parish, Bethlehem Lutheran Church near Okolona.
This boring video was taken on the banks of the Kanawha River in West Virginia. The Kanawha is a tributary of the Ohio River and, as you can see, on May 22, was quite swollen. It was a gorgeous, sun-drenched day for travel. I sat in the backseat, reading most of the time, while my wife drove and my mother-in-law rode shotgun...just the way I like it.
While I gassed up the car, Ann cleaned the windshield. I also shot this video, taken at a filling station as we closing in on Roanoke. The "hills" to which I refer are, of course, actually mountains. Duh!
As I dorkily announce at the beginning of this video, here we were traveling along the New River in Virginia. Catch the mountains. Gorgeous territory! (As in people, so in geography: God doesn't make junk!)
It sounded like an aviary in the Virginia neighborhood where we stayed on Sunday and Monday nights. On Monday morning, I took a stroll and listened to the birds. This one, up on a utility wire, particularly caught my attention.
What follows are some images from our trip to Floyd, Virginia, the seat of Floyd County. If you're looking for the 60s, Floyd is one place where you might find them. Aging hippies live there, leavening the place with galleries, organic food shops, and liberal politics. It's a really neat little town.
Marking the difference in Floyd is an emporium called The Republic of Floyd. That caught Ann's attention because here in Hocking County, the town of Athens, home of Ohio University, in nearby Athens County, is often referred to as "the Republic of Athens" for characteristics like those of Floyd.
The Floyd County Court House, a small building staffed by hospitable people, has, like many southern court houses, a monument to Confederate veterans of the Civil War, in addition to one honoring US veterans.
Floyd has a big blue grass music festival every year, apparently a major draw. It's happening this coming weekend.
There's also a big classical music festival in the works for Floyd.
We had an early Monday lunch at a neat Irish pub called Annie Moore's in Roanoke.
In Franklin County, Virginia, we got to meet several German Baptist families who are involved with organic farming. We visited the produce stand of one such family and later the store of a family who own an organic dairy. (The ice cream was incredibly rich there, and a huge but delicious violation of my heart-healthy diet!)
More to come later.
Here I am rhapsodizing about a beautiful morning we spent in northwestern Ohio at the home of friends near Napoleon. That section of the state is reclaimed swampland and is great farm country. It was May 11 and it was only later that day, with all the rain we've had in the Midwest, that farmers were able to get into their fields to plant crops. We were there for a sad occasion: the funeral of a dear friend who was a member of our first parish, Bethlehem Lutheran Church near Okolona.
This boring video was taken on the banks of the Kanawha River in West Virginia. The Kanawha is a tributary of the Ohio River and, as you can see, on May 22, was quite swollen. It was a gorgeous, sun-drenched day for travel. I sat in the backseat, reading most of the time, while my wife drove and my mother-in-law rode shotgun...just the way I like it.
While I gassed up the car, Ann cleaned the windshield. I also shot this video, taken at a filling station as we closing in on Roanoke. The "hills" to which I refer are, of course, actually mountains. Duh!
As I dorkily announce at the beginning of this video, here we were traveling along the New River in Virginia. Catch the mountains. Gorgeous territory! (As in people, so in geography: God doesn't make junk!)
It sounded like an aviary in the Virginia neighborhood where we stayed on Sunday and Monday nights. On Monday morning, I took a stroll and listened to the birds. This one, up on a utility wire, particularly caught my attention.
What follows are some images from our trip to Floyd, Virginia, the seat of Floyd County. If you're looking for the 60s, Floyd is one place where you might find them. Aging hippies live there, leavening the place with galleries, organic food shops, and liberal politics. It's a really neat little town.
Marking the difference in Floyd is an emporium called The Republic of Floyd. That caught Ann's attention because here in Hocking County, the town of Athens, home of Ohio University, in nearby Athens County, is often referred to as "the Republic of Athens" for characteristics like those of Floyd.
The Floyd County Court House, a small building staffed by hospitable people, has, like many southern court houses, a monument to Confederate veterans of the Civil War, in addition to one honoring US veterans.
Floyd has a big blue grass music festival every year, apparently a major draw. It's happening this coming weekend.
There's also a big classical music festival in the works for Floyd.
We had an early Monday lunch at a neat Irish pub called Annie Moore's in Roanoke.
In Franklin County, Virginia, we got to meet several German Baptist families who are involved with organic farming. We visited the produce stand of one such family and later the store of a family who own an organic dairy. (The ice cream was incredibly rich there, and a huge but delicious violation of my heart-healthy diet!)
More to come later.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Don't Be Troubled; Follow Jesus!
[This was prepared to be shared with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, earlier today.]
John 14:1-14
This morning, as we continue to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on the first Easter Sunday, our Gospel lesson from John takes us to a time when Jesus was teaching His disciples just before His arrest and crucifixion. Please pull out your Celebrate inserts and read what Jesus has to tell us in John 14:1-14.
Verse 1 says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” Jesus speaks these words in the Upper Room just before His betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples sense that Jesus will refuse to wage a war to chase the Romans who occupy their country from Jerusalem. He won’t make Himself king by force. The pall of death hangs over them, a sense that their Master was going to be killed.
Whether they realized it or not, the disciples knew that the people of their world—Jews and Gentiles—like Adam and Eve, the first sinners, and like all of us who descend from them, wanted to “be like God.” And what better way to clear the way to being God-like than to kill off Jesus, the Word made flesh, God incarnate?
But Jesus tells the disciples not to be troubled. That may seem like an impossible command. But it’s not.
The fact is that troubles come to us, each and every day. But we need not be troubled by our troubles. Yesterday, Becky handed me a little sack containing three crosses. She told me, “Give these to anyone who needs a little reminder.” You see, during Danny’s recent hospitalization and heart bypass surgery, she had found a similar cross in the gift shop at Mount Carmel Hospital in Columbus. When things got scary, Becky touched that cross just to remind herself that Jesus was with her. When troubles come, we can place them and ourselves in the hands of Jesus. Troubles that overwhelm others will not trouble the follower of Jesus Christ!
Verse 2 tells us why we can go through life untroubled. Look at what Jesus says: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
Man, I love this passage! Everyone who repents for their sin and entrusts themselves to Jesus—which what Jesus means when He speaks of believing in Him—can spend each waking moment of this life knowing that the risen Jesus, Who has conquered death through His death and resurrection, is readying a place for us with Him in eternity! That puts the troubles we face in this life in perspective. Wherever followers of Christ arrive in this life, it isn’t our final destination.
But we dare not be flippant about that. Eternity with God is a free gift. But claiming it doesn’t come cheap.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says that we can have none of Him or His gifts unless He takes precedence over everything—our fathers, mothers, wives, children, even our lives.
Look now at verses 4. Jesus says: “And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Whether they realized it or not, the disciples knew the way Jesus was going. They understood that the only way Jesus could claim the kingdom He had come into the world to establish was through a cross. And the only way we can claim the life that Jesus wants to give to us is for us to submit the crucifixion of our old selves, with all its self-driven sinfulness.
That’s not something we like. A man told me about an affair he’d been having for several years. He said: “I hate myself for doing this. I love my wife. I tell myself that I’m breaking things off. But, then I set up a time to meet the other woman. I want her.”
I think that this man wanted me to tell him, “There, there. God understands how hard it is for you. You just can’t help yourself. Keep on doing what you’re doing.”
But the fact is that while Jesus loves sinners just as we are, He also calls us away from our sin. He calls us to enlist the help of the Holy Spirit to resist temptation. He calls us to follow Him, even when it isn’t easy. He calls us—He commands us—to yield ourselves to Him, even when doing so will lead us away from the sins we enjoy. We can't hold onto Jesus and our sins at the same time. We must let go of one and hold on to the other.
Elsewhere, Jesus says, “…the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction [that is, to hell], and there are many who take it…the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it…”
Anyone who would follow Jesus and take up the resurrection He offers to those who do, must also submit to the crucifixion of our old sinful selves. We must die to ourselves so that Jesus can raise us from the dead and take us into eternity with Him. And we must do this day in and day out as long as we're breathing and tempted by sin.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it memorably: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Death to self is painful; but it’s the only way to God and the wholeness He wants for us.
In the next few verses, let's be honest, Thomas and Philip play dumb. Look at verses 5 and 6 of our lesson: “Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' The way that Jesus is going to eternity, to resurrection from the dead, also leads through a cross and death. And the only way you and I will reach eternity with God is through faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith in Jesus is more than intellectual assent. Faith in Jesus is betting everything you have—your whole life—on Him alone.
It’s submission to that crucifixion of self I mentioned.
It’s trusting that beyond all that troubles us, Jesus is there.
It’s trusting that as we let go of our sins—all our idolatries, materialistic cravings, gossip-mongering, hatred, thievery, sexual intimacies outside of the marriage between a man and a woman, and dishonoring of parents, whether lived, thought, or fantasized—beyond all that—Christ will give us a life filled with real living.
Faith is trusting that Christ will fill us with all the joy, peace, and excitement we try to steal when we sin, but that Christ gives freely when we surrender to Him.
Faith is trusting that Christ will catch us when we fall into His arms!
Psalm 139 is a prayer to the same God we meet in Jesus: “If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there! If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, You'd find me in a minute— you're already there waiting.”
Christ waits for you and me today. He’s already prepared places for us. But only the repentant who follow Him through the cross will live in those places with Him.
In verses 8 through 11, Jesus deals with a request made by Philip. Philip tells Jesus, “Show us the father and we will be satisfied.”
This is interesting coming from the apostle Philip. Philip was one of the very first to spread the news that Jesus was the long-sought Messiah, the Christ, God’s anointed King. Early in John’s Gospel, we’re told that Philip went to Nathanael and said, “We’ve found the one that Moses and the prophets said was coming. He’s Jesus of Nazareth.” When Nathanael skeptically asked if anything good could come from a blighted little town like Nazareth, Philip had said, “Come and see.”
Philip was a visual person. He had once seen Jesus and believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
But now, facing the troubling proposition that Jesus would be killed and no longer with him and his fellow disciples, Philip wanted to see God the Father.
Jesus tells Philip, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”
Some people, sometimes because of their troubles and fears, sometimes because of their boredom and lack of faith, want to see God.
Others, maybe to make themselves seem important or pious, will even claim to have special knowledge of God, including when Jesus is returning to the earth.
But the fact is that God can already be seen clearly by those who dare.
He can be seen in Jesus, on the pages of Scripture, in the waters of Holy Baptism, in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, and in this fellowship of recovering hypocrites and sinners that the Bible calls “the body of Christ,” the Church.
The Bible introduces us to Jesus and when we see Him, we have seen the Father.
Our Gospel lesson ends with Jesus making a big promise. In verses 12 to 14, Jesus says: “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
While on earth, Jesus performed miracles, signs pointing to His identity as Lord of the universe. But He also voluntarily limited Himself in that time to living one human life.
Today, the risen Jesus can be everywhere simultaneously. He's here right now as we gather in His Name. He's in heaven at the same time. He can be with billions of others who call to God in His Name all at the same time.
The risen Jesus carries our prayers and our lives before the Father. And while we know that life on this earth isn’t and never will be perfect, I’m confident in saying that everyone here, either in their own lives or in the lives of family members, has been touched by all that Jesus does through His people.
Whether it’s to bring healing, hope, or simple direction for our lives, Christ uses His Church to do greater things than He accomplished while on earth.
The Church is the conduit by which Christ’s grace and power is brought into the world each day. A woman approached me after worship. I had never met her before, but our church—one of my previous congregations—had prayed for her. Her cancer was in remission. “I don’t know what my future holds,” she told me. “But I knew when the people of the Church were praying for me. God became very present to me. And that has changed me forever.”
I later presided over that woman’s funeral. A life had been changed for eternity because Jesus is still empowering His people to pray, repent, believe, proclaim, love, and serve their way to doing greater things than He accomplished during his three decades of life on earth.
Whatever troubles we face, we know where we are going and we know that Christ will do great (and unexpected) things through those who follow Him. We need not be troubled. That's because Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life,” the one and only way to God for the whole human race. Keep following Jesus and keep sharing Him, confident of the place He's preparing for you. Amen!
John 14:1-14
This morning, as we continue to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on the first Easter Sunday, our Gospel lesson from John takes us to a time when Jesus was teaching His disciples just before His arrest and crucifixion. Please pull out your Celebrate inserts and read what Jesus has to tell us in John 14:1-14.
Verse 1 says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” Jesus speaks these words in the Upper Room just before His betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples sense that Jesus will refuse to wage a war to chase the Romans who occupy their country from Jerusalem. He won’t make Himself king by force. The pall of death hangs over them, a sense that their Master was going to be killed.
Whether they realized it or not, the disciples knew that the people of their world—Jews and Gentiles—like Adam and Eve, the first sinners, and like all of us who descend from them, wanted to “be like God.” And what better way to clear the way to being God-like than to kill off Jesus, the Word made flesh, God incarnate?
But Jesus tells the disciples not to be troubled. That may seem like an impossible command. But it’s not.
The fact is that troubles come to us, each and every day. But we need not be troubled by our troubles. Yesterday, Becky handed me a little sack containing three crosses. She told me, “Give these to anyone who needs a little reminder.” You see, during Danny’s recent hospitalization and heart bypass surgery, she had found a similar cross in the gift shop at Mount Carmel Hospital in Columbus. When things got scary, Becky touched that cross just to remind herself that Jesus was with her. When troubles come, we can place them and ourselves in the hands of Jesus. Troubles that overwhelm others will not trouble the follower of Jesus Christ!
Verse 2 tells us why we can go through life untroubled. Look at what Jesus says: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
Man, I love this passage! Everyone who repents for their sin and entrusts themselves to Jesus—which what Jesus means when He speaks of believing in Him—can spend each waking moment of this life knowing that the risen Jesus, Who has conquered death through His death and resurrection, is readying a place for us with Him in eternity! That puts the troubles we face in this life in perspective. Wherever followers of Christ arrive in this life, it isn’t our final destination.
But we dare not be flippant about that. Eternity with God is a free gift. But claiming it doesn’t come cheap.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says that we can have none of Him or His gifts unless He takes precedence over everything—our fathers, mothers, wives, children, even our lives.
Look now at verses 4. Jesus says: “And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Whether they realized it or not, the disciples knew the way Jesus was going. They understood that the only way Jesus could claim the kingdom He had come into the world to establish was through a cross. And the only way we can claim the life that Jesus wants to give to us is for us to submit the crucifixion of our old selves, with all its self-driven sinfulness.
That’s not something we like. A man told me about an affair he’d been having for several years. He said: “I hate myself for doing this. I love my wife. I tell myself that I’m breaking things off. But, then I set up a time to meet the other woman. I want her.”
I think that this man wanted me to tell him, “There, there. God understands how hard it is for you. You just can’t help yourself. Keep on doing what you’re doing.”
But the fact is that while Jesus loves sinners just as we are, He also calls us away from our sin. He calls us to enlist the help of the Holy Spirit to resist temptation. He calls us to follow Him, even when it isn’t easy. He calls us—He commands us—to yield ourselves to Him, even when doing so will lead us away from the sins we enjoy. We can't hold onto Jesus and our sins at the same time. We must let go of one and hold on to the other.
Elsewhere, Jesus says, “…the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction [that is, to hell], and there are many who take it…the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it…”
Anyone who would follow Jesus and take up the resurrection He offers to those who do, must also submit to the crucifixion of our old sinful selves. We must die to ourselves so that Jesus can raise us from the dead and take us into eternity with Him. And we must do this day in and day out as long as we're breathing and tempted by sin.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it memorably: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Death to self is painful; but it’s the only way to God and the wholeness He wants for us.
In the next few verses, let's be honest, Thomas and Philip play dumb. Look at verses 5 and 6 of our lesson: “Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' The way that Jesus is going to eternity, to resurrection from the dead, also leads through a cross and death. And the only way you and I will reach eternity with God is through faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith in Jesus is more than intellectual assent. Faith in Jesus is betting everything you have—your whole life—on Him alone.
It’s submission to that crucifixion of self I mentioned.
It’s trusting that beyond all that troubles us, Jesus is there.
It’s trusting that as we let go of our sins—all our idolatries, materialistic cravings, gossip-mongering, hatred, thievery, sexual intimacies outside of the marriage between a man and a woman, and dishonoring of parents, whether lived, thought, or fantasized—beyond all that—Christ will give us a life filled with real living.
Faith is trusting that Christ will fill us with all the joy, peace, and excitement we try to steal when we sin, but that Christ gives freely when we surrender to Him.
Faith is trusting that Christ will catch us when we fall into His arms!
Psalm 139 is a prayer to the same God we meet in Jesus: “If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there! If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, You'd find me in a minute— you're already there waiting.”
Christ waits for you and me today. He’s already prepared places for us. But only the repentant who follow Him through the cross will live in those places with Him.
In verses 8 through 11, Jesus deals with a request made by Philip. Philip tells Jesus, “Show us the father and we will be satisfied.”
This is interesting coming from the apostle Philip. Philip was one of the very first to spread the news that Jesus was the long-sought Messiah, the Christ, God’s anointed King. Early in John’s Gospel, we’re told that Philip went to Nathanael and said, “We’ve found the one that Moses and the prophets said was coming. He’s Jesus of Nazareth.” When Nathanael skeptically asked if anything good could come from a blighted little town like Nazareth, Philip had said, “Come and see.”
Philip was a visual person. He had once seen Jesus and believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
But now, facing the troubling proposition that Jesus would be killed and no longer with him and his fellow disciples, Philip wanted to see God the Father.
Jesus tells Philip, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”
Some people, sometimes because of their troubles and fears, sometimes because of their boredom and lack of faith, want to see God.
Others, maybe to make themselves seem important or pious, will even claim to have special knowledge of God, including when Jesus is returning to the earth.
But the fact is that God can already be seen clearly by those who dare.
He can be seen in Jesus, on the pages of Scripture, in the waters of Holy Baptism, in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, and in this fellowship of recovering hypocrites and sinners that the Bible calls “the body of Christ,” the Church.
The Bible introduces us to Jesus and when we see Him, we have seen the Father.
Our Gospel lesson ends with Jesus making a big promise. In verses 12 to 14, Jesus says: “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
While on earth, Jesus performed miracles, signs pointing to His identity as Lord of the universe. But He also voluntarily limited Himself in that time to living one human life.
Today, the risen Jesus can be everywhere simultaneously. He's here right now as we gather in His Name. He's in heaven at the same time. He can be with billions of others who call to God in His Name all at the same time.
The risen Jesus carries our prayers and our lives before the Father. And while we know that life on this earth isn’t and never will be perfect, I’m confident in saying that everyone here, either in their own lives or in the lives of family members, has been touched by all that Jesus does through His people.
Whether it’s to bring healing, hope, or simple direction for our lives, Christ uses His Church to do greater things than He accomplished while on earth.
The Church is the conduit by which Christ’s grace and power is brought into the world each day. A woman approached me after worship. I had never met her before, but our church—one of my previous congregations—had prayed for her. Her cancer was in remission. “I don’t know what my future holds,” she told me. “But I knew when the people of the Church were praying for me. God became very present to me. And that has changed me forever.”
I later presided over that woman’s funeral. A life had been changed for eternity because Jesus is still empowering His people to pray, repent, believe, proclaim, love, and serve their way to doing greater things than He accomplished during his three decades of life on earth.
Whatever troubles we face, we know where we are going and we know that Christ will do great (and unexpected) things through those who follow Him. We need not be troubled. That's because Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life,” the one and only way to God for the whole human race. Keep following Jesus and keep sharing Him, confident of the place He's preparing for you. Amen!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Forever Young
See here.
Check out Psalm 92:
Check out Psalm 92:
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2
to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
3
to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
4
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5
How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!
6
The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this:
7
though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever,
8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9
For your enemies, O Lord, for your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
10
But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.
11
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12
The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13
They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.
14
In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap,
15showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Christians Having Fun...by Being Christians
Earlier today, a bunch of folks from Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan and friends had a blast...by being Christian!
This was "pick-up, sort, and deliver" day for our PPSST! Community Food Drive.
The letters, PPSST, stand for pasta, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, soup, and tuna. Here's how PPSST unfolded:
On Saturday, May 14, members of Saint Matthew distributed empty sacks provided to us by the Kroger store in Logan, with a note attached. The sacks were left at 700 Logan doorsteps. The attached note told folks that the following Saturday, May 21, sometime after 11:00AM, we would pick up sacks filled with the PPSST items.
Of course, members of Saint Matthew also added items they wanted to give as well.
After we picked up the items today, their expiration dates were checked, then sorted and boxed.
Then, we took the items to Hocking County Job and Family Services, which works with the unemployed and needy persons in our community. This dedicated government agency knows the needs of people and will distribute the collected food to persons on their clientele lists. Any additional food items we might receive beyond today will go to the Clearing House Assistance Program (CHAP) emergency food bank.
This is the third year that we've undertaken this particular servanthood project. As usual, it was a lot of fun!
This year, it acquired an additional letter; it used to be PSST! But it's still a great practical way for us to join our neighbors in sharing the love of Christ with others.
We've distributed empty sacks and picked up filled ones in different Logan neighborhoods in each of the first three years. The response has been great everywhere we've gone.
On a monthly basis, Saint Matthew members donate food items to CHAP. That, PPSST, and other undertakings are all examples of how we strive to obey Jesus' great commandment to love God and love others.
[Phyllis is a blur as she sorts items.]
[Some of the boxes filled with food taken to Job and Family Services.]
[By the way, this is some of what I had in mind when I wrote about Christians getting on with the business of living, here.]
When Will the World End? Who Cares?
Though they may disagree on particulars, all Christians believe that one day, Jesus will return, bringing an end to this universe and fully establishing the new heaven and the new earth the Bible talks about.
That's why many of us, including we Lutherans, confess in the Nicene Creed, the most widely accepted statement of Christian belief in the world, that Jesus "will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end."
But anyone who claims to know the day, month, hour, or year of Jesus' return either is, at worst, a counterfeit Christian or, at best, a misinformed one.
A quick look at words of Jesus cited in three of the New Testament books--Matthew, Mark, and Luke--known as "gospels" will show this. Jesus says:
I personally can only speculate that as part of God's risk of subjecting Himself to temptation and sin and being human in order to bond with the human race for whom Jesus came to die and rise, it was decided that God the Son would be walled off from any unfair advantage over the rest of us in matters like knowing when this world will end. It may be a topic for discussion in eternity one day, though I suspect that by then, it won't matter much to us.
But the real take-away from Jesus' words is that He claimed to have no knowledge of when He would return to close the curtain on life in this world.
And why would that be? Because it's not important to know.
Following the words of Jesus cited above, He also says:
And who is ready?
*This is exactly what the members of our congregation, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, are going to do--get busy--as we conduct our community food drive today. Sharing Jesus in practical ways is one of the things we Christians need to be about, not speculating on when the world will end.
That's why many of us, including we Lutherans, confess in the Nicene Creed, the most widely accepted statement of Christian belief in the world, that Jesus "will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end."
But anyone who claims to know the day, month, hour, or year of Jesus' return either is, at worst, a counterfeit Christian or, at best, a misinformed one.
A quick look at words of Jesus cited in three of the New Testament books--Matthew, Mark, and Luke--known as "gospels" will show this. Jesus says:
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.For an attentive Christian, these words raise a question which, ultimately, we may find unanswerable: If Jesus is God enfleshed and if He and the Father are one, as He teaches and as we believe, then how is it possible for the Father to know the date of Jesus' return without Jesus knowing it?
"But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13:31-32)
I personally can only speculate that as part of God's risk of subjecting Himself to temptation and sin and being human in order to bond with the human race for whom Jesus came to die and rise, it was decided that God the Son would be walled off from any unfair advantage over the rest of us in matters like knowing when this world will end. It may be a topic for discussion in eternity one day, though I suspect that by then, it won't matter much to us.
But the real take-away from Jesus' words is that He claimed to have no knowledge of when He would return to close the curtain on life in this world.
And why would that be? Because it's not important to know.
Following the words of Jesus cited above, He also says:
Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”Jesus' point is clear. Don't waste time speculating. Don't waste money on billboards and ads in major newspapers saying you know the date of Jesus' return. Nobody, no matter how convinced or convincing they may be, knows. Our job is just to be ready for His return.
And who is ready?
- All who have taken up Jesus' offer on the free gifts of forgiveness of sin and everlasting life by turning from sin (repenting) and entrusting their lives to Him (believing).
- All those who, out of gratitude for the free gifts of Jesus, seek to live out the great commandment (love God, love others) and the great commission (make disciples, new followers of Jesus, by sharing the true story of what Jesus did through cross and empty tomb for everyone).
*This is exactly what the members of our congregation, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, are going to do--get busy--as we conduct our community food drive today. Sharing Jesus in practical ways is one of the things we Christians need to be about, not speculating on when the world will end.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
How to Have Faith
"I wish I had a faith like yours," a man told me one Sunday. "It makes me feel guilty that I don't."
"Don't ever wish you were someone else, especially not me," I answered. "I believe in Jesus, for sure, and I'm grateful that He went to the cross and rose from the dead for people like me.
"But I'm just a forgiven sinner. And every day I still do, say, and think sinful things, things that don't show love for God or love for others. I have to go back to God every single day, asking Him for forgiveness and for help in living like a Christian."
The man said that he understood all that. What he wanted was a stronger faith. He wanted to be more sure about Jesus.
With a clearer grasp of what the man was getting at, I then shared with him one of the most important truths I've learned on how to appropriate faith in Christ, as well as on how to enjoy a deepening relationship with Christ.
"Here's what I've found," I told him. "You have to live into faith. No amount of praying, reading, or thinking will get you there, as important as those things are. Faith in Christ is a gift from God. All you have to do is grab hold of it. And you can grab hold of it when you live your way into it."
As many who have read this blog or heard me preach know, I was an atheist when my wife and I first married. Marrying an atheist wasn't the smartest thing Ann could have done. She was a Lutheran Christian and it would be hard for her to build a strong marriage with a husband moving in a different direction from the one in which she moved.
But early in our marriage, mostly to get Ann off my back for sleeping in late on Sundays, I started going to worship with her at the Lutheran congregation of which she was a member.
I liked what I saw and experienced there. The members were real, down to earth people who dealt with real issues in their lives and also had real faults. What I learned from them, as I've told others, is that the church--any church--is a hospital for hypocrites, a place for sinners to come and be nudged toward a new way of life by the God we meet there.
I found that whatever tough times or personal flaws of character the members of Ann's home church dealt with in their lives, they kept coming back to Jesus. They kept seeking healing and the power for living morally better lives in the hospital for hypocrites, the church.
In worship, they confessed their sins, heard God's Word of forgiveness and new life through Christ, and tried to follow Jesus in their everyday lives.
In spite of myself, I found that I wanted to be like these people. I wanted to have faith in Jesus. But I really didn't know how to get it. (I was also too embarrassed to tell even my wife that this was what I wanted. I guess I didn't want to appear either weak or ignorant.)
Then, without knowing that this desire to have the faith was percolating in me, the pastor of Ann's church stopped by our apartment one evening. "Would the two of you take over as leaders of the junior high youth group?" he asked.
I had never admitted to the pastor that I was an atheist. But I was still on the roll of a Methodist church in which I'd been confirmed. So, I tried to use that as a an excuse to say, "You know," I told him, "I'm not even a Lutheran." He wasn't buying it. "We won't hold that against you," he said with a smile. Left out of defenses against taking on this task, I retreated, certain that Ann would put a stop to the whole thing. "Ann just told him, "We'll do it." "Well, if Ann wants to do it," I told him, "I guess I could try to help her."
This was a turning point in my road to faith. My wife and I were suddenly supposed to provide some spiritual leadership to young people. That entailed getting to know the kids and providing them with an environment in which it was safe for them to talk with God and interact with others in their own unique Christian way.
I started doing things that were needed for me to play my role with some sort of authenticity and effectiveness. I...
If you want Christ in your life or if you want to enjoy a deepening faith relationship with Christ, I recommend following this pattern. If you're not a Christian, find a church and, without expecting to be a leader (in fact, always expect and aspire to be a servant), volunteer to be involved in some ministry the congregation does. It might be...
But whatever it is, if you want faith or you want a deeper faith, find a worthy Christian ministry and get involved.
Live into your faith and the living Jesus will live in you in ways that bring you confidence, hope, and...a deeper faith.
As long as you haven't landed at a church filled with institutional gatekeepers or where your particular talents are wildly out of sync, I believe something incredible will happen to you. As you live as a believer in Jesus, God will turn you into a believer in Jesus.
If you're a member of a congregation, this will entail getting off your tail. It will mean getting in the game. Suddenly, I think you'll find, that a faith you once found boring or meaningless will come alive. Jesus will come alive to you.
I have seen this work in countless people. But how? The answer, I think, is that Christian faith is not about us. It's what God has done for us in Jesus. And it's about sharing forgiveness, hope, and new life that comes from God with others. Living into Christian faith--serving others in Christ's Name before we fully understand what that means--gets our minds off of ourselves, cultivating the belief that, no matter what, God is with us.
Freed from the slavery to ourselves, God's Spirit empowers us to trust in Christ and to get on with the business of living.
When that happens, the Spirit has an open will on which to imprint new ways of living and thinking.
Live into Christian faith and it will grow inside of you.
"Don't ever wish you were someone else, especially not me," I answered. "I believe in Jesus, for sure, and I'm grateful that He went to the cross and rose from the dead for people like me.
"But I'm just a forgiven sinner. And every day I still do, say, and think sinful things, things that don't show love for God or love for others. I have to go back to God every single day, asking Him for forgiveness and for help in living like a Christian."
The man said that he understood all that. What he wanted was a stronger faith. He wanted to be more sure about Jesus.
With a clearer grasp of what the man was getting at, I then shared with him one of the most important truths I've learned on how to appropriate faith in Christ, as well as on how to enjoy a deepening relationship with Christ.
"Here's what I've found," I told him. "You have to live into faith. No amount of praying, reading, or thinking will get you there, as important as those things are. Faith in Christ is a gift from God. All you have to do is grab hold of it. And you can grab hold of it when you live your way into it."
As many who have read this blog or heard me preach know, I was an atheist when my wife and I first married. Marrying an atheist wasn't the smartest thing Ann could have done. She was a Lutheran Christian and it would be hard for her to build a strong marriage with a husband moving in a different direction from the one in which she moved.
But early in our marriage, mostly to get Ann off my back for sleeping in late on Sundays, I started going to worship with her at the Lutheran congregation of which she was a member.
I liked what I saw and experienced there. The members were real, down to earth people who dealt with real issues in their lives and also had real faults. What I learned from them, as I've told others, is that the church--any church--is a hospital for hypocrites, a place for sinners to come and be nudged toward a new way of life by the God we meet there.
I found that whatever tough times or personal flaws of character the members of Ann's home church dealt with in their lives, they kept coming back to Jesus. They kept seeking healing and the power for living morally better lives in the hospital for hypocrites, the church.
In worship, they confessed their sins, heard God's Word of forgiveness and new life through Christ, and tried to follow Jesus in their everyday lives.
In spite of myself, I found that I wanted to be like these people. I wanted to have faith in Jesus. But I really didn't know how to get it. (I was also too embarrassed to tell even my wife that this was what I wanted. I guess I didn't want to appear either weak or ignorant.)
Then, without knowing that this desire to have the faith was percolating in me, the pastor of Ann's church stopped by our apartment one evening. "Would the two of you take over as leaders of the junior high youth group?" he asked.
I had never admitted to the pastor that I was an atheist. But I was still on the roll of a Methodist church in which I'd been confirmed. So, I tried to use that as a an excuse to say, "You know," I told him, "I'm not even a Lutheran." He wasn't buying it. "We won't hold that against you," he said with a smile. Left out of defenses against taking on this task, I retreated, certain that Ann would put a stop to the whole thing. "Ann just told him, "We'll do it." "Well, if Ann wants to do it," I told him, "I guess I could try to help her."
This was a turning point in my road to faith. My wife and I were suddenly supposed to provide some spiritual leadership to young people. That entailed getting to know the kids and providing them with an environment in which it was safe for them to talk with God and interact with others in their own unique Christian way.
I started doing things that were needed for me to play my role with some sort of authenticity and effectiveness. I...
- showed up for the evening youth group gatherings
- hung out with the kids
- listened to what was happening in their lives
- helped plan activities
- listened to their Bible devotions
- tried to pray, though at first seemed a little weird to me.
- attended worship regularly
- began to read the Bible (I couldn't believe I was doing this. But I was...and enjoying it!)
- started attending adult Sunday School class and adult Bible studies
If you want Christ in your life or if you want to enjoy a deepening faith relationship with Christ, I recommend following this pattern. If you're not a Christian, find a church and, without expecting to be a leader (in fact, always expect and aspire to be a servant), volunteer to be involved in some ministry the congregation does. It might be...
- helping collect food for area needy
- corresponding with a child sponsored by the congregation through organizations like World Vision or Compassion International
- driving an elderly person or a family with young children to church or to doctor appointments
- joining in whenever the congregation does a community kindness outreach
- if you're a musician, offering to play your instrument (it could be brass or woodwind, strings or piano, guitar or bass, harmonica or bongo drums, whatever) for worship or for other gatherings
- volunteering to go on a church mission trip, whether it's in town or to impoverished Third World locations
- helping the homeless
But whatever it is, if you want faith or you want a deeper faith, find a worthy Christian ministry and get involved.
Live into your faith and the living Jesus will live in you in ways that bring you confidence, hope, and...a deeper faith.
As long as you haven't landed at a church filled with institutional gatekeepers or where your particular talents are wildly out of sync, I believe something incredible will happen to you. As you live as a believer in Jesus, God will turn you into a believer in Jesus.
If you're a member of a congregation, this will entail getting off your tail. It will mean getting in the game. Suddenly, I think you'll find, that a faith you once found boring or meaningless will come alive. Jesus will come alive to you.
I have seen this work in countless people. But how? The answer, I think, is that Christian faith is not about us. It's what God has done for us in Jesus. And it's about sharing forgiveness, hope, and new life that comes from God with others. Living into Christian faith--serving others in Christ's Name before we fully understand what that means--gets our minds off of ourselves, cultivating the belief that, no matter what, God is with us.
Freed from the slavery to ourselves, God's Spirit empowers us to trust in Christ and to get on with the business of living.
When that happens, the Spirit has an open will on which to imprint new ways of living and thinking.
Live into Christian faith and it will grow inside of you.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Want to Know Why N.T. Wright's Books Are So Great?
Whether writing for general audiences, for clergy, or for Biblical theologians, the qualities of deep reverence for God and thorough scholarship are apparent in the writings of N.T. (Tom) Wright. This short post tells you why. Humility before the Lord and the world has made Wright a powerful spokesperson for Christ in this confused and confusing age.
Here is a link to the N.T. Wright page on Amazon. Laypeople, clergy, and scholars alike will really enjoy his 'For Everyone' commentaries on the books of the New Testament. They're great for anyone wanting to understand the New Testament.
Here is a link to the N.T. Wright page on Amazon. Laypeople, clergy, and scholars alike will really enjoy his 'For Everyone' commentaries on the books of the New Testament. They're great for anyone wanting to understand the New Testament.
This Just In: I AM a Dork
My dorkiness was confirmed today (once again) by the fact that I was psyched to rip into the package containing the latest volume in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. There had been a delay of several months since the publication of the last book and in an email to me about two months ago, a spokesperson for the company wasn't certain when the next installment would be released. He assured me that, as a subscriber to the series of books, the next volume would be sent to me as soon as the ink dried. So, it came as a happy surprise for me to see it in my mailbox today.
Of course...ahem...my excitement may have been deepened by the fact that a note on the packaging indicated that the new book's subject is the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon (aka: Song of Songs), a sometimes saucy celebration of the marital love enjoyed by husband and wife.
Whenever I read or think about Song of Solomon, I remember the episode of M*A*S*H in which Father Mulcahy, visiting the wounded and sick, comes upon a soldier reading the Bible intently. Delighted, Mulcahy asks the young man what book of the Bible he's reading. The soldier says, "Song of Solomon." Mulcahy grabs the Bible from him and says that it might be a bit too much for him to read right then.
But, back to my dorkiness. Anybody who is serious about understanding Scriptures will be well helped by all the commentaries in the Brazos series. I own all the volumes published so far and each one has deepened my understanding of the Biblical books covered and helped me in thinking about their theological, practical application. I've been especially helped (so far) by Stanley Hauerwas' volume on Matthew, Risto Saarinen's on The Pastoral Epistles and Philemon and Jude, and David L. Stubbs' work on Numbers.
Of course...ahem...my excitement may have been deepened by the fact that a note on the packaging indicated that the new book's subject is the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon (aka: Song of Songs), a sometimes saucy celebration of the marital love enjoyed by husband and wife.
Whenever I read or think about Song of Solomon, I remember the episode of M*A*S*H in which Father Mulcahy, visiting the wounded and sick, comes upon a soldier reading the Bible intently. Delighted, Mulcahy asks the young man what book of the Bible he's reading. The soldier says, "Song of Solomon." Mulcahy grabs the Bible from him and says that it might be a bit too much for him to read right then.
But, back to my dorkiness. Anybody who is serious about understanding Scriptures will be well helped by all the commentaries in the Brazos series. I own all the volumes published so far and each one has deepened my understanding of the Biblical books covered and helped me in thinking about their theological, practical application. I've been especially helped (so far) by Stanley Hauerwas' volume on Matthew, Risto Saarinen's on The Pastoral Epistles and Philemon and Jude, and David L. Stubbs' work on Numbers.
God Can Heal Our Wounds Today
Thanks to Pastor Deb Grant for this.
'Healer of Our Every Ill,' #738 in With One Voice, comes to mind here. It was composed by Marty Haugen. You can find clips from the hymn here.
'Healer of Our Every Ill,' #738 in With One Voice, comes to mind here. It was composed by Marty Haugen. You can find clips from the hymn here.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Only Way to God
[This was shared during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, earlier today.]
John 10:1-10
There’s a common belief held by many in our culture these days. You hear it all the time, whether in barber shops, on TV talk shows, or at church meetings. It’s the belief that all religious convictions are equal in their ability to lead people to God. You don’t need to give your sins or your life to Jesus exclusively, some people assert. They say, “All religions are headed to the same place.” Is that true?
Not according to Jesus! And in today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus uses two illustrations to point us to Who He is and to the relationship with God that you and I…and every person on the planet…can have only through Him.
But before considering what Jesus has to tell us today, we should set the scene. How is it that Jesus came to speak the words we find in John 10:1-10?
It all started when Jesus gave sight to a blind man in John 9. That caused a controversy because Jesus dared to do this loving deed on a Sabbath day. Jesus’ action made some of Jesus' fellow Jews--the Pharisees--so angry that when the blind man He healed said that Jesus must be from God, they threw the man out of the temple, no longer considering him a faithful Jew.
Of course, at one level, the Pharisees were nothing like people today who claim that all religious beliefs lead to God. The Pharisees believed that only by abiding by their extensive lists of religious rules could one be right with God. But, based on what God has revealed of Himself in both the Old and New Testaments, both the advocates of anything-goes spirituality in the twenty-first century and the Pharisees of the first century have one big thing in common: They are equally wrong. Accepting the assertions of either group will lead us away from God and the life God offers only in Jesus Christ.
Over the centuries, starting with a people to whom God gave a land and a promise, God has revealed Himself and His plan for the human race. From the beginning, the plan for a right relationship with God and for a life with Him that lasts forever has been the same. We are to give our lives back to the Giver of our lives and give our lives only to Him.
Genesis says that Abraham, the patriarch of Biblical faith, believed in God and God’s promises and that God “reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Abraham was right with God because he entrusted his life to God. He believed in God.
The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that through the centuries, God revealed Himself through the prophets of Israel, but in these last days, God has revealed Himself definitively in Jesus. If we want to live with God, we need to listen Jesus.
All who turn from sin and believe in Jesus, God the Son, have the same blessings enjoyed by Abraham: rightness with God and life with God.
It isn’t because God is an egomaniac or because God wants to establish an exclusive club that the first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods” or that God commands exclusive fidelity to Jesus Christ.
It’s that God wants to give us life and only He can give it. Indeed, He will only give us life and, as Jesus puts it in today's Gospel lesson, life "abundantly," through Jesus Christ and our faith in Him.
All other roads are dead ends, literally dead ends.
So, in today's lesson, Jesus says that He is the shepherd of God’s sheep. Only Jesus can lead us into God’s sheepfold. People who try to get into the kingdom of God by other means are—whether through good works, other religious beliefs, or all manner of cosmic niceness—are, Jesus says, thieves and bandits. Look at verses 2 to 5 of the Gospel lesson printed on the Celebrate insert:
For just a second, think of God’s kingdom as a show everybody (including you and me) wants to see. The problem is that the gatekeeper—God the Father—will issue tickets to only one kind of customer: People who are absolutely clean and clear of sin.
That would leave us all on the outside, pining for a relationship with God because, as the Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Standing there in our sins, we would be without hope except for one thing: Jesus, the shepherd of the sheep, tells the gatekeeper, “It’s OK. She’s with me. He’s mine. You can let them in. I paid for their sins on the cross, the sacrifice of a sinless human being who didn’t deserve death on behalf of all other sinful human beings who deserved death.”
All who repent and believe in Christ are ushered into God’s eternal kingdom—long before their lives on this earth have ended, if they dare. Even now--even today--if you dare to trust in Him, you are living in Christ's eternal kingdom. As our second lesson from Peter reminds us, until we rise again, we live in a fallen world where suffering and challenges happen. But if suffering is a reality that can and does come to any of us, it's better to go through this life with Jesus leading us than to try to go it alone.
Those who heed Jesus’ voice live each day knowing that whatever our sins, deficiencies, and shortcomings, we belong to God forever! He is our ticket into eternity!
Like sheep attuned to the shepherd’s voice, when you dial into God through a relationship with Christ, you begin to know His voice. It brings incredible comfort, hope, and energy, straight from God, into your life!
Sometimes that voice will come with direction we'd rather not hear or will call us to do things we'd rather not do. I was the first person in my seminary class to interview for a call. It was for an associate pastor's position. There was another candidate who would be interviewing. Her candidacy made mine a long-shot because she had done her internship at that congregation. But my interview went well and, before Ann and I headed back to Columbus, the senior pastor told me he would be in touch in a few days. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month, and still no word from the senior pastor or the congregation.
More than a month after the interview, I was scheduled to be at the district convention, where, along with all the recently graduated seminarians, I would be trotted onstage to be introduced. In the evening, a service of Holy Communion was held in a college auditorium. We had just finished confessing our sins when I looked to see that senior pastor. "Mark," he said, "God wouldn't let me take Holy Communion until I came to apologize to you. I'm so sorry I never contacted you to let you know that the other candidate received the call. I didn't want to tell you that, so I kept putting off contacting you. Would you please forgive me?"
You see, that senior pastor was known by the Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus. And he knew Jesus. So, when Jesus called on him to make things right, that's exactly what he did.
The Shepherd speaks to His children in other ways too.
A member of this congregation recently told me that after her husband died, she was sobbing in her bed one night, seeking comfort, when she sensed a hand on her shoulder. So real was the touch she felt, that she reached around to feel for the unseen hand. No hand was felt, but the touch was no less real. In that quiet exchange, one of Christ’s sheep heard His voice of comfort and healing. She was comforted because she is one of Jesus’ sheep. Jesus knows His own and His own know Him!
A friend of mine has pastored a Lutheran congregation for decades. In spite of his faithfulness and innovative leadership, the congregation hasn’t grown. It’s actually declined in membership, attendance, giving, and activity. Day after day, year after year, he has prayed and worked faithfully, sharing Christ, leading people to deeper levels of faithfulness. But things have only gotten worse.
Then one day last year, after a long time in prayer, he sensed God asking him, “You pray for this renewal to happen, for new people to come to faith in Christ. But have you prayed that all the evil in the world that conspires against that happening be kept from this church, kept from its people, kept from the places where worship and education and planning happen?” No, my friend told God, he hadn’t done that in prayer. “Do it now!” God seemed to tell him forcefully.
And so, my friend went all through the church facility, praying in every room, asking God to take control of all that happened there, to displace Satan and all evil from every inch, and to fill the building and the people of the church with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with the power and truth of the Word of God!
Things haven’t yet changed in that congregation. But my friend now knows they will change. That’s because after he had prayerfully surrendered himself and his congregation and prayed that God would prevail over all evil that assailed them, the good shepherd assured him that all he had prayed for would come to pass.
God gave him a vision of a sanctuary filled with joyful people excited to be in God’s presence, excited to give themselves in worship to God on Sunday morning in anticipation of using their whole lives to worship God through the week. The voice of the shepherd spoke to my friend and he was filled with comfort, renewed hope, and holy energy!
But Jesus uses another image in our lesson to describe Who He is; He says that He is also the gate to eternity.
Years ago, Ann and I went to a party and realized after we got back home that we’d locked ourselves out of the house. Long story short, with Ann’s help I was able to push myself through a first-floor window that we had left partially opened. I was halfway into the house by this route, my arms and torso inside, my legs still hanging outside, when a thought crossed my mind: How would I explain this to a policeman? After all, if you belong somewhere, you don’t have to break in. You go through the front door.
Jesus is the front door, the only door—the only gate—to life with God, to the abundant, everlasting life that God wants to give to all people. You can't get into God's kingdom in any other way! “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” Jesus says elsewhere. “If you know Me, you will know the Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
The real quest of the Christian life is to get to know the God revealed in Jesus Christ. This “quest” isn’t an onerous task. It’s a joy like falling in love.
That’s why I hope that every member of Saint Matthew will not only regularly worship and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, but also join us, even belatedly, in reading the Bible in a year.
I hope that every member will be in Sunday School. (Yes, every member.)
I hope that we’ll all make prayer a daily habit.
I hope that you’ll help us share Christ in a very practical way when we collect those filled grocery sacks next Saturday during our PPSST! Food Drive.
These are all ways to follow the voice of Jesus, ways to enter more deeply into a relationship with God that only comes through Jesus.
This past week, at the graveside of our friend Betty, we heard her confirmation verses. Betty chose them sixty years ago when she was confirmed at the age of 23. They're words of Jesus from Matthew 10:32-33:
Let yourself get to know Him better.
Trust in Him and in His Word alone.
As you do, you’ll hear His voice over the din of an often-confusing world and He will lead you to a life prepared for you, a life that here will sometimes bring inexplicable challenges, but also a life that never ends, a life filled with the presence of God, today and always.
The Shepherd is calling you today. Follow Him…and live!
John 10:1-10
There’s a common belief held by many in our culture these days. You hear it all the time, whether in barber shops, on TV talk shows, or at church meetings. It’s the belief that all religious convictions are equal in their ability to lead people to God. You don’t need to give your sins or your life to Jesus exclusively, some people assert. They say, “All religions are headed to the same place.” Is that true?
Not according to Jesus! And in today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus uses two illustrations to point us to Who He is and to the relationship with God that you and I…and every person on the planet…can have only through Him.
But before considering what Jesus has to tell us today, we should set the scene. How is it that Jesus came to speak the words we find in John 10:1-10?
It all started when Jesus gave sight to a blind man in John 9. That caused a controversy because Jesus dared to do this loving deed on a Sabbath day. Jesus’ action made some of Jesus' fellow Jews--the Pharisees--so angry that when the blind man He healed said that Jesus must be from God, they threw the man out of the temple, no longer considering him a faithful Jew.
Of course, at one level, the Pharisees were nothing like people today who claim that all religious beliefs lead to God. The Pharisees believed that only by abiding by their extensive lists of religious rules could one be right with God. But, based on what God has revealed of Himself in both the Old and New Testaments, both the advocates of anything-goes spirituality in the twenty-first century and the Pharisees of the first century have one big thing in common: They are equally wrong. Accepting the assertions of either group will lead us away from God and the life God offers only in Jesus Christ.
Over the centuries, starting with a people to whom God gave a land and a promise, God has revealed Himself and His plan for the human race. From the beginning, the plan for a right relationship with God and for a life with Him that lasts forever has been the same. We are to give our lives back to the Giver of our lives and give our lives only to Him.
Genesis says that Abraham, the patriarch of Biblical faith, believed in God and God’s promises and that God “reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Abraham was right with God because he entrusted his life to God. He believed in God.
The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that through the centuries, God revealed Himself through the prophets of Israel, but in these last days, God has revealed Himself definitively in Jesus. If we want to live with God, we need to listen Jesus.
All who turn from sin and believe in Jesus, God the Son, have the same blessings enjoyed by Abraham: rightness with God and life with God.
It isn’t because God is an egomaniac or because God wants to establish an exclusive club that the first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods” or that God commands exclusive fidelity to Jesus Christ.
It’s that God wants to give us life and only He can give it. Indeed, He will only give us life and, as Jesus puts it in today's Gospel lesson, life "abundantly," through Jesus Christ and our faith in Him.
All other roads are dead ends, literally dead ends.
So, in today's lesson, Jesus says that He is the shepherd of God’s sheep. Only Jesus can lead us into God’s sheepfold. People who try to get into the kingdom of God by other means are—whether through good works, other religious beliefs, or all manner of cosmic niceness—are, Jesus says, thieves and bandits. Look at verses 2 to 5 of the Gospel lesson printed on the Celebrate insert:
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.In this illustration, Jesus is the shepherd. God the Father is the gatekeeper.
For just a second, think of God’s kingdom as a show everybody (including you and me) wants to see. The problem is that the gatekeeper—God the Father—will issue tickets to only one kind of customer: People who are absolutely clean and clear of sin.
That would leave us all on the outside, pining for a relationship with God because, as the Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Standing there in our sins, we would be without hope except for one thing: Jesus, the shepherd of the sheep, tells the gatekeeper, “It’s OK. She’s with me. He’s mine. You can let them in. I paid for their sins on the cross, the sacrifice of a sinless human being who didn’t deserve death on behalf of all other sinful human beings who deserved death.”
All who repent and believe in Christ are ushered into God’s eternal kingdom—long before their lives on this earth have ended, if they dare. Even now--even today--if you dare to trust in Him, you are living in Christ's eternal kingdom. As our second lesson from Peter reminds us, until we rise again, we live in a fallen world where suffering and challenges happen. But if suffering is a reality that can and does come to any of us, it's better to go through this life with Jesus leading us than to try to go it alone.
Those who heed Jesus’ voice live each day knowing that whatever our sins, deficiencies, and shortcomings, we belong to God forever! He is our ticket into eternity!
Like sheep attuned to the shepherd’s voice, when you dial into God through a relationship with Christ, you begin to know His voice. It brings incredible comfort, hope, and energy, straight from God, into your life!
Sometimes that voice will come with direction we'd rather not hear or will call us to do things we'd rather not do. I was the first person in my seminary class to interview for a call. It was for an associate pastor's position. There was another candidate who would be interviewing. Her candidacy made mine a long-shot because she had done her internship at that congregation. But my interview went well and, before Ann and I headed back to Columbus, the senior pastor told me he would be in touch in a few days. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month, and still no word from the senior pastor or the congregation.
More than a month after the interview, I was scheduled to be at the district convention, where, along with all the recently graduated seminarians, I would be trotted onstage to be introduced. In the evening, a service of Holy Communion was held in a college auditorium. We had just finished confessing our sins when I looked to see that senior pastor. "Mark," he said, "God wouldn't let me take Holy Communion until I came to apologize to you. I'm so sorry I never contacted you to let you know that the other candidate received the call. I didn't want to tell you that, so I kept putting off contacting you. Would you please forgive me?"
You see, that senior pastor was known by the Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus. And he knew Jesus. So, when Jesus called on him to make things right, that's exactly what he did.
The Shepherd speaks to His children in other ways too.
A member of this congregation recently told me that after her husband died, she was sobbing in her bed one night, seeking comfort, when she sensed a hand on her shoulder. So real was the touch she felt, that she reached around to feel for the unseen hand. No hand was felt, but the touch was no less real. In that quiet exchange, one of Christ’s sheep heard His voice of comfort and healing. She was comforted because she is one of Jesus’ sheep. Jesus knows His own and His own know Him!
A friend of mine has pastored a Lutheran congregation for decades. In spite of his faithfulness and innovative leadership, the congregation hasn’t grown. It’s actually declined in membership, attendance, giving, and activity. Day after day, year after year, he has prayed and worked faithfully, sharing Christ, leading people to deeper levels of faithfulness. But things have only gotten worse.
Then one day last year, after a long time in prayer, he sensed God asking him, “You pray for this renewal to happen, for new people to come to faith in Christ. But have you prayed that all the evil in the world that conspires against that happening be kept from this church, kept from its people, kept from the places where worship and education and planning happen?” No, my friend told God, he hadn’t done that in prayer. “Do it now!” God seemed to tell him forcefully.
And so, my friend went all through the church facility, praying in every room, asking God to take control of all that happened there, to displace Satan and all evil from every inch, and to fill the building and the people of the church with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with the power and truth of the Word of God!
Things haven’t yet changed in that congregation. But my friend now knows they will change. That’s because after he had prayerfully surrendered himself and his congregation and prayed that God would prevail over all evil that assailed them, the good shepherd assured him that all he had prayed for would come to pass.
God gave him a vision of a sanctuary filled with joyful people excited to be in God’s presence, excited to give themselves in worship to God on Sunday morning in anticipation of using their whole lives to worship God through the week. The voice of the shepherd spoke to my friend and he was filled with comfort, renewed hope, and holy energy!
But Jesus uses another image in our lesson to describe Who He is; He says that He is also the gate to eternity.
Years ago, Ann and I went to a party and realized after we got back home that we’d locked ourselves out of the house. Long story short, with Ann’s help I was able to push myself through a first-floor window that we had left partially opened. I was halfway into the house by this route, my arms and torso inside, my legs still hanging outside, when a thought crossed my mind: How would I explain this to a policeman? After all, if you belong somewhere, you don’t have to break in. You go through the front door.
Jesus is the front door, the only door—the only gate—to life with God, to the abundant, everlasting life that God wants to give to all people. You can't get into God's kingdom in any other way! “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” Jesus says elsewhere. “If you know Me, you will know the Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
The real quest of the Christian life is to get to know the God revealed in Jesus Christ. This “quest” isn’t an onerous task. It’s a joy like falling in love.
That’s why I hope that every member of Saint Matthew will not only regularly worship and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, but also join us, even belatedly, in reading the Bible in a year.
I hope that every member will be in Sunday School. (Yes, every member.)
I hope that we’ll all make prayer a daily habit.
I hope that you’ll help us share Christ in a very practical way when we collect those filled grocery sacks next Saturday during our PPSST! Food Drive.
These are all ways to follow the voice of Jesus, ways to enter more deeply into a relationship with God that only comes through Jesus.
This past week, at the graveside of our friend Betty, we heard her confirmation verses. Betty chose them sixty years ago when she was confirmed at the age of 23. They're words of Jesus from Matthew 10:32-33:
"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”Freedom from sin comes only to those who turn away from the dead-end ways of the world and trust the only One Who can give us forgiveness and new life, Jesus, the good shepherd and the gate—the front door—to eternity.
Let yourself get to know Him better.
Trust in Him and in His Word alone.
As you do, you’ll hear His voice over the din of an often-confusing world and He will lead you to a life prepared for you, a life that here will sometimes bring inexplicable challenges, but also a life that never ends, a life filled with the presence of God, today and always.
The Shepherd is calling you today. Follow Him…and live!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
"If people really knew this about me..."
God is anxious to forgive our sins and help us to move on with our lives unencumbered by the weight of sin.
All sin, of course, is equally worthy of death.
But all sin is also equally forgivable for the one who humbly turns to Jesus Christ in repentance and belief (trust) in Him.
Whatever your sin, whether...
God knows all about you and loves you anyway...and through Christ, has done everything needed for you to be with Him now and in eternity.
God is out to get you. But not to punish, but to reclaim, renew, and revive you. Repent and trust in Christ each day...and you are good to go without guilt or shame.
Here are some really great thoughts under the title, "If people really knew this about me..."
All sin, of course, is equally worthy of death.
But all sin is also equally forgivable for the one who humbly turns to Jesus Christ in repentance and belief (trust) in Him.
Whatever your sin, whether...
- sexual intimacy outside of heterosexual marriage (what the Bible calls adultery and fornication);
- gambling;
- taking God's Name in vain;
- murder;
- gossip;
- greedily aching for what others have (coveting);
- thievery;
- or any other thought or action that violates God's command that we love Him above all and love others as we love ourselves...
God knows all about you and loves you anyway...and through Christ, has done everything needed for you to be with Him now and in eternity.
God is out to get you. But not to punish, but to reclaim, renew, and revive you. Repent and trust in Christ each day...and you are good to go without guilt or shame.
Here are some really great thoughts under the title, "If people really knew this about me..."
Friday, May 13, 2011
Three Great Gifts from God
[This was shared during the funeral for a friend of ours earlier this week.]
Ecclesiastes 1:1-15
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
John 14:1-4
All of you who mourn Betty’s passing this morning: Today we know for a certainty that Betty wants you—and all of us—to hear the words of Jesus that begin our Gospel lesson. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.”
We know that Betty wanted you to hear these words because back in 1988, she took the time to do what, in my experience, few people ever do, when she selected the passages of Scripture for possible use at her funeral. So, let Jesus’ words be our theme as we worship God and commit Betty to Him today: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.”
Betty’s love for family—evident in how she and Virgil always made their kids’ and grandkids’ events, among many other ways—shines through in all of the Bible lessons she chose for us today. It was important for her to give a testimony for the Savior in Whom she believed, of course. And you can hear that in these passages. But it was also important to her that she comfort all of you and everyone who loved her with three great gifts from God: realism, joy, and hope!
The realism is supplied by King Solomon in the passage from Ecclesiastes that Betty selected. It begins with the famous words: “For everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven…” And that includes “a time to be born, and a time to die.”
This family knows too well that the time to die Solomon mentions can come tragically soon, as it did for Chad. But you also know that the death of someone you love can come, as it finally did for Betty, as a blessed release. She and Chad and all the saints—all who have trusted in Jesus in this life, are safe in the hands of their Lord…our Lord!
Betty once asked me, “How do people who don’t believe in Jesus face hard things?”
Betty, like many of us, could be a worrier. But she could face all the times mentioned by Solomon—the times to be born and to die, the times to plant and the times to pluck up what is planted—because of Jesus. And the fact is that it is only those with faith in Jesus who can face life and death with realism. We know, as we celebrated just a few weeks ago, that Jesus has conquered sin and death and futility. We can, even in the midst of tears, be filled with joy because we know that while the times of this life will one day come to an end for us, all of our times and all of our eternity are in hands of our risen Lord!
We see joy in all the passages Betty picked, but maybe especially in the reading from 1 Corinthians. There, the apostle Paul assures us that those who have died in the Lord share a great joy: “Listen!” he says, getting our attention, “We will not all die [death is not the end of the road], but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable…then the saying…will be fulfilled, ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is a victory? Where, O death, is your sting. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There’s joy in this passage, laughter in the knowledge that those who die in Christ rise again. And that seems appropriate because, not only did Betty believe in Christ, she also loved to laugh.
Ann and I have had so many fun times with Betty and Virgil! In the wee hours one Sunday morning, Ann woke me up while I was sleeping over in the parsonage. “Mark,” she said, “there’s a racket going on outside.” I reluctantly decided that I had to do my duty to protect my wife and kids. So, I quickly pulled on some trousers and went downstairs to the front door. There were Betty and Virgil, along with Kae and Kenny, and Larry and Cheryl, singing “Happy Birthday”…almost on key.
Several years later, when we were living in Cincinnati, we were bowling with friends, when we suddenly became aware of two people who were rooting for us. We’d never had fans before. We turned around and there, laughing, were Betty and Virgil.
I will always remember Betty’s laugh. So far as I can remember, she never laughed at anyone. She just enjoyed herself, whether she was rooting on her kids and grandkids or spending time with Virgil and friends at events like wedding receptions. And I know she enjoyed that hole-in-one.
Today, we can be certain that Betty is enjoying herself in the presence of God!
In another place, Paul writes that we who believe in Jesus Christ grieve, but we do not grieve as those without hope. God lets all who follow Christ in on the most wonderful punch line in history. For Betty and for all who believe, death has lost its sting. You can derive joy from that even today…and I know that you do!
Finally, in her selection of Bible lessons for today, Betty also showed that she clearly wanted to share the hope that comes to us from Christ. Our Gospel lesson is part of a long stretch of teaching Jesus shared before His arrest and crucifixion. The disciples sense that things aren’t going to go as they’d previously hoped. Jesus wouldn’t supplant the Romans and establish a government in Jerusalem. He was intent on being exactly what John the Baptist had described Him as being one day at the Jordan River: “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus addresses their fears and apprehensions. “I’m going to prepare a place for you,” He tells them, “so that where I am, there you may also be.” Just a few verses beyond our lesson, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The condition of sin and the reality of death represent threats to every human being. But all who turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ are reconciled to God for all eternity. Jesus is readying places for us now, even as He readied a place for Betty. In Christ, there is infinite hope and that is cause for celebration!
Another Paul (McCartney) sings words that could well speak to all of us about the comfort and the promise of a place in eternity that Jesus Christ gives to those who follow Him:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-15
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
John 14:1-4
All of you who mourn Betty’s passing this morning: Today we know for a certainty that Betty wants you—and all of us—to hear the words of Jesus that begin our Gospel lesson. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.”
We know that Betty wanted you to hear these words because back in 1988, she took the time to do what, in my experience, few people ever do, when she selected the passages of Scripture for possible use at her funeral. So, let Jesus’ words be our theme as we worship God and commit Betty to Him today: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.”
Betty’s love for family—evident in how she and Virgil always made their kids’ and grandkids’ events, among many other ways—shines through in all of the Bible lessons she chose for us today. It was important for her to give a testimony for the Savior in Whom she believed, of course. And you can hear that in these passages. But it was also important to her that she comfort all of you and everyone who loved her with three great gifts from God: realism, joy, and hope!
The realism is supplied by King Solomon in the passage from Ecclesiastes that Betty selected. It begins with the famous words: “For everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven…” And that includes “a time to be born, and a time to die.”
This family knows too well that the time to die Solomon mentions can come tragically soon, as it did for Chad. But you also know that the death of someone you love can come, as it finally did for Betty, as a blessed release. She and Chad and all the saints—all who have trusted in Jesus in this life, are safe in the hands of their Lord…our Lord!
Betty once asked me, “How do people who don’t believe in Jesus face hard things?”
Betty, like many of us, could be a worrier. But she could face all the times mentioned by Solomon—the times to be born and to die, the times to plant and the times to pluck up what is planted—because of Jesus. And the fact is that it is only those with faith in Jesus who can face life and death with realism. We know, as we celebrated just a few weeks ago, that Jesus has conquered sin and death and futility. We can, even in the midst of tears, be filled with joy because we know that while the times of this life will one day come to an end for us, all of our times and all of our eternity are in hands of our risen Lord!
We see joy in all the passages Betty picked, but maybe especially in the reading from 1 Corinthians. There, the apostle Paul assures us that those who have died in the Lord share a great joy: “Listen!” he says, getting our attention, “We will not all die [death is not the end of the road], but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable…then the saying…will be fulfilled, ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is a victory? Where, O death, is your sting. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There’s joy in this passage, laughter in the knowledge that those who die in Christ rise again. And that seems appropriate because, not only did Betty believe in Christ, she also loved to laugh.
Ann and I have had so many fun times with Betty and Virgil! In the wee hours one Sunday morning, Ann woke me up while I was sleeping over in the parsonage. “Mark,” she said, “there’s a racket going on outside.” I reluctantly decided that I had to do my duty to protect my wife and kids. So, I quickly pulled on some trousers and went downstairs to the front door. There were Betty and Virgil, along with Kae and Kenny, and Larry and Cheryl, singing “Happy Birthday”…almost on key.
Several years later, when we were living in Cincinnati, we were bowling with friends, when we suddenly became aware of two people who were rooting for us. We’d never had fans before. We turned around and there, laughing, were Betty and Virgil.
I will always remember Betty’s laugh. So far as I can remember, she never laughed at anyone. She just enjoyed herself, whether she was rooting on her kids and grandkids or spending time with Virgil and friends at events like wedding receptions. And I know she enjoyed that hole-in-one.
Today, we can be certain that Betty is enjoying herself in the presence of God!
In another place, Paul writes that we who believe in Jesus Christ grieve, but we do not grieve as those without hope. God lets all who follow Christ in on the most wonderful punch line in history. For Betty and for all who believe, death has lost its sting. You can derive joy from that even today…and I know that you do!
Finally, in her selection of Bible lessons for today, Betty also showed that she clearly wanted to share the hope that comes to us from Christ. Our Gospel lesson is part of a long stretch of teaching Jesus shared before His arrest and crucifixion. The disciples sense that things aren’t going to go as they’d previously hoped. Jesus wouldn’t supplant the Romans and establish a government in Jerusalem. He was intent on being exactly what John the Baptist had described Him as being one day at the Jordan River: “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus addresses their fears and apprehensions. “I’m going to prepare a place for you,” He tells them, “so that where I am, there you may also be.” Just a few verses beyond our lesson, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The condition of sin and the reality of death represent threats to every human being. But all who turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ are reconciled to God for all eternity. Jesus is readying places for us now, even as He readied a place for Betty. In Christ, there is infinite hope and that is cause for celebration!
Another Paul (McCartney) sings words that could well speak to all of us about the comfort and the promise of a place in eternity that Jesus Christ gives to those who follow Him:
You lead me to places, that I've never beenToday, in the words Betty has chosen for us, Jesus Christ is saying...
Uncovering secrets, that I've never seen
I can rely on you, to guide me through, any situation.
You hold up a sign that reads, follow me…
"Do not be troubled.And to that, all of God’s people can say, “Amen!”
"Believe in Me.
"Follow Me.
"Be comforted.
"Be filled with joy and hope, even as you face the realities of life.
"And know that, one day, all who have trusted in Me will be together again for eternity. And we will laugh.”
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Look to Jesus!
[These are thoughts shared with residents of the Carlin House assisted living facility in Logan, Ohio, earlier today. I didn't write this message in advance, but this is, basically, what I hoped I said.]
The main reason that the first Christians, who were all Jews, began worshiping together on Sundays rather than on the Jewish Sabbath, was because the first Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead, happened on a Sunday.
And truly, no matter what the season of the Church Year, every Sunday is a little Easter for Christians. Jesus can never be stuffed back into His tomb. He is risen!
But one of the things I particularly love about being a Lutheran--and this is something we share with many other Christian traditions--is that we don't just especially celebrate Easter on one Sunday a year. On our church calendar, Easter Sunday is just the first Sunday of Easter. Yesterday, for example, was the third Sunday of Easter for us. We just keep celebrating Easter for six weeks. It's great!
So, I'm still celebrating Easter and because of that, I want to share two passages of Scripture with you this morning.
The first is Philippians 4:4-9. A preacher named Paul wrote a letter to the first century church in Philippi and these verses are taken from that letter. The thing to keep in mind is that when he composed this letter, Paul was imprisoned. Yet the entire letter is shot through with joy. Here's what Paul wrote:
The psychiatrist hit on a strategy for each boy. As part of his treatment, he promised a gift for each one of them.
Then, he led the pessimist into a room filled with toys, games, sports equipment, and classic books--things bound to make any eight year old boy happy beyond measure. But this kid didn't do any thing. The psychiatrist asked, "What's the matter? Don't you like all this stuff?" "Yeah," the kid replied evenly. But then, hanging his head in sorrow, he said, "But eventually, they'll all wear out or break."
Shaken, but still intent on seeing his treatment regimen through, the psychiatrist took the optimistic kid to another room, this one piled high with horse manure. The kid's face grew bright with excitement and he flung himself into the middle of the pile. The psychiatrist, once more, was baffled. "How can you be so excited?" he asked. The kid laughed. "Because," he said, "with all this manure, there's bound to be a pony for me somewhere!"
I think that you'd have to say that neither boys' attitudes were realistic. Pessimism and optimism without some real foundations, always spawn despair.
Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, tells the fictional but true to life story of Willy Loman. Willy was an optimist. He always thought he was going to make that next big sale, experience that next big triumph. But he never did. And that led to his tragic death. Hope, optimism, without a certain object on which to base it will only end in disappointment and death.
But pessimism doesn't work well either. Back in my factory-working days, there was a guy with whom I worked who always spouted this little ray of sunshine: "Live in hope; die in despair." He said it all the time. "Live in hope; die in despair." I don't know if that man ever had hope. But I know that he lived and died in despair. And there is no more reason for living life pessimistically than there is for living it with unfounded optimism!
What we need is a real and certain hope, a hope that defeats pessimism, a hope beyond puny human optimism.
Jesus is that hope!
That day in Bethany, when He called Lazarus back to life, Jesus demonstrated His capacity to shatter the powers of sin and death and futile living.
Jesus showed that we need not, as my old coworker always insisted, live in hope but die in despair.
He showed that we waste our time looking for the next big personal triumph.
Triumph and victory...life and hope...forgiveness and reconciliation with God...purpose, even when we find ourselves needing assistance with the living of our daily lives...eternity which cannot be taken from us...all these blessings and more belong this very moment to all who dare to believe in Jesus Christ.
And when we face challenges and adversities, we would do well to look at the words of that prisoner for Christian faith, Paul. Even when facing the worst that life can bring, we can see something more honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, and excellent than anything that has ever happened in this dying world. We see unsurpassed passionate love and an infinite will to give life to us when we look to Jesus Christ crucified and Jesus Christ risen.
Don't settle for the trophies of this world that wear out and break.
Don't settle for the ponies that might be lurking in the world's piles.
You want a sure and certain hope, a strong foundation.
Look to Jesus! Look to Jesus alone!
Jesus alone is can bear the full weight of all our hopes and dreams. He alone can raise us up to new life.
Look to Jesus!
The main reason that the first Christians, who were all Jews, began worshiping together on Sundays rather than on the Jewish Sabbath, was because the first Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead, happened on a Sunday.
And truly, no matter what the season of the Church Year, every Sunday is a little Easter for Christians. Jesus can never be stuffed back into His tomb. He is risen!
But one of the things I particularly love about being a Lutheran--and this is something we share with many other Christian traditions--is that we don't just especially celebrate Easter on one Sunday a year. On our church calendar, Easter Sunday is just the first Sunday of Easter. Yesterday, for example, was the third Sunday of Easter for us. We just keep celebrating Easter for six weeks. It's great!
So, I'm still celebrating Easter and because of that, I want to share two passages of Scripture with you this morning.
The first is Philippians 4:4-9. A preacher named Paul wrote a letter to the first century church in Philippi and these verses are taken from that letter. The thing to keep in mind is that when he composed this letter, Paul was imprisoned. Yet the entire letter is shot through with joy. Here's what Paul wrote:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.Then, I want to share part of the Gospel of John's narrative of what happened the day that Jesus went to Bethany to see his friends, Martha and Mary, after the death of their brother, Lazarus. The scene, by the way, would have been bedlam. Family and friends would have been there crying, of course. But in those days, there were also "professional mourners," people who would led the wailing. It must have been a scene of craziness! John writes:
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”There's a story told of a mother and a father who were deeply concerned about their eight year old twin boys. One was an optimist, the other a pessimist. The parents knew that neither condition was healthy or realistic. So, they asked a psychiatrist to help each boy to move toward greater realism.
The psychiatrist hit on a strategy for each boy. As part of his treatment, he promised a gift for each one of them.
Then, he led the pessimist into a room filled with toys, games, sports equipment, and classic books--things bound to make any eight year old boy happy beyond measure. But this kid didn't do any thing. The psychiatrist asked, "What's the matter? Don't you like all this stuff?" "Yeah," the kid replied evenly. But then, hanging his head in sorrow, he said, "But eventually, they'll all wear out or break."
Shaken, but still intent on seeing his treatment regimen through, the psychiatrist took the optimistic kid to another room, this one piled high with horse manure. The kid's face grew bright with excitement and he flung himself into the middle of the pile. The psychiatrist, once more, was baffled. "How can you be so excited?" he asked. The kid laughed. "Because," he said, "with all this manure, there's bound to be a pony for me somewhere!"
I think that you'd have to say that neither boys' attitudes were realistic. Pessimism and optimism without some real foundations, always spawn despair.
Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, tells the fictional but true to life story of Willy Loman. Willy was an optimist. He always thought he was going to make that next big sale, experience that next big triumph. But he never did. And that led to his tragic death. Hope, optimism, without a certain object on which to base it will only end in disappointment and death.
But pessimism doesn't work well either. Back in my factory-working days, there was a guy with whom I worked who always spouted this little ray of sunshine: "Live in hope; die in despair." He said it all the time. "Live in hope; die in despair." I don't know if that man ever had hope. But I know that he lived and died in despair. And there is no more reason for living life pessimistically than there is for living it with unfounded optimism!
What we need is a real and certain hope, a hope that defeats pessimism, a hope beyond puny human optimism.
Jesus is that hope!
That day in Bethany, when He called Lazarus back to life, Jesus demonstrated His capacity to shatter the powers of sin and death and futile living.
Jesus showed that we need not, as my old coworker always insisted, live in hope but die in despair.
He showed that we waste our time looking for the next big personal triumph.
Triumph and victory...life and hope...forgiveness and reconciliation with God...purpose, even when we find ourselves needing assistance with the living of our daily lives...eternity which cannot be taken from us...all these blessings and more belong this very moment to all who dare to believe in Jesus Christ.
And when we face challenges and adversities, we would do well to look at the words of that prisoner for Christian faith, Paul. Even when facing the worst that life can bring, we can see something more honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, and excellent than anything that has ever happened in this dying world. We see unsurpassed passionate love and an infinite will to give life to us when we look to Jesus Christ crucified and Jesus Christ risen.
Don't settle for the trophies of this world that wear out and break.
Don't settle for the ponies that might be lurking in the world's piles.
You want a sure and certain hope, a strong foundation.
Look to Jesus! Look to Jesus alone!
Jesus alone is can bear the full weight of all our hopes and dreams. He alone can raise us up to new life.
Look to Jesus!
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Write a Caption
My nephew Jameson and I were asked to pose today as the family Mother's Day festivities were winding down. I'm not certain why, although it's said that Jameson resembles me (poor kid). He's better looking.
Jameson suggested that, rather than stand there smiling, we stare in terror at something in the distance. (The distance was actually my sister and brother-in-law's family room.) Jameson affected terror. I, on the other hand, affected comic stupidity, my usual expression.
Do you have an apt caption?
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