It's Groundhog Day. I hope that Punxsutawney Phil doesn't see the shadow of an early demise via kidnapping and riding in a pick-up truck plunging into a quarry this year.
By the way, this was the reaction of one Cleveland television station to Phil's forecast of an early spring. It conveys the true meaning of the day.
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Saturday, February 02, 2019
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Free Delivery
[These are my journal reflections from spending time with God in His Word today.]
“Repent, then, and turn to God,” the apostle Peter told a crowd of his fellow Jews at the temple in Jerusalem shortly after the crucified and risen Jesus had ascended to heaven, “so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” (Acts 3:19)
Too often, Lord, I turn to myself rather than to You. In some way, I’m running from You as a judge when I do that. “It would be pathetic if I couldn’t handle this on my own,” I seem to think. “I should be able to get this done,” I think at other times without a thought of you. “I don’t regret doing that,” my attitude implicitly says about things I should regret.
But God, I’m grateful that Your Word leads me to repent--to change my mind, to turn from the direction in which I’ve been walking and turn back to You.
I’m grateful that Jesus died so that, despite my inclination for denying my sin, mortality, and need, You have come into the world, died, and rose to deliver me from myself. Thank You that Jesus came to be my Ruler and my Deliverer.
Response: Lord, help me today to live as a person set free from my enemies--sin, death, and darkness--and rest easy, not in the world or my achievements or anything but in the grace of Jesus Christ, the One Who delivers me from all evil. In His name I pray. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Look: “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.” (Acts 7:35)
This is part of the speech of the first-century Christian Stephen, speaking to his fellow Jews, about to stone him to death for his faith in Jesus. The speech Stephen gives reviews central themes of Jewish history to show that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy for a Messiah and Prophet. Stephen also asserts that Jesus is “the Righteous One” come to earth, God Himself (Acts 7:52). Jesus, Stephen says, is no radical departure from the faith in God given witness in the Old Testament law and prophets, but its fulfillment.
In verse 35, Stephen is talking about the call of Moses by God to be the instrument by which God frees or delivers His people, Israel, enslaved in Egypt in Old Testament times.
Moses received this call from God in Midian, where he’d been living for forty years in exile. Moses had fled Egypt and gone to Midian shortly after he’d killed an Egyptian overlord who had been beating an Israelite (Hebrew) slave. He ran after another incident, when he tried to prevent two Hebrew slaves from fighting one another. Until that moment, Moses appears to have thought that his killing of the Egyptian soldier defending the Hebrew wasn’t witnessed. Instead, referring to the killing, one of the Hebrews asks him who he thinks he is, a ruler and judge of the Hebrews? Moses spent the next forty years as a fugitive.
It’s ironic (and typical of God), Stephen seems to say that Moses, who had been rejected by the Israelites as their leader was picked by God to be their leader.
Listen: But of interest to me is the competing set of designations for Moses in this verse.
Forty years earlier, Moses felt that the people of Israel had rejected him for seeking to be their “ruler and judge.”
Now, God sends him to the Israelites as their “ruler and deliverer.”
Both phrases see Moses as a leader for God’s people. But “judge” is how the enslaved Hebrews who rejected Moses had seen him. “Deliverer,” translating a Hebrew word that can also mean redeemer or liberator, is what God actually sent Moses to be.
It strikes me that often in life, we see people who want to deliver us as our judges. Of course, in order for us to accept the deliverance or freedom a person offers us we must accept the implicit judgment that there are things in my life that enslave me.
The enslaved Hebrews cried out about their horrible situation, their slavery which had now lasted over four-hundred years, but they didn’t want Moses reminding them of their need of deliverance. Who did he think he was?
When someone offers us freedom, our pride kicks in and we deny that we are enslaved in any way. “We don’t need anybody’s help,” we think.
The descendants of the ancient Hebrews, for example, when offered freedom from sin, death, and futility by Jesus, denied that their people had ever been slaves to anyone, even though they’d been enslaved through the centuries by Babylonians and Assyrians and, at the moment they denied it all, were under the thumbs of the Romans.
Their reaction is no different from the addict, whether their addiction is to work, money, alcohol, drugs, food, sex, whatever. All will, at least initially, deny their enslavement.
It’s this pride, this need to hold onto the lie of self-sufficiency, “having it together,” of being gods to ourselves, that prevents us from taking up the offers of others to help set us free.
That pride is why the Israelites saw Moses as their judge rather than their deliverer. It’s why the people who stoned Stephen to death heard the good news of Jesus he proclaimed not as liberation from sin, death, and futility, but as a judgment that they needed freedom from those things.
When God brings up my sin and mortality with me in His Word, He doesn’t do it to judge me. God doesn’t want His interchanges with me to end in terminal guilt or fear of living and dying.
God points my my sin and mortality so that I can see how far I am from being like God, how far I am from having it together, how helpless I am before the reality of my own sin and dying, and how hopeless my existence is without His deliverance. When I see these things, I know to return to Him. And because of Jesus, I know that I turn to a High Priest (Jesus Himself), “who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15) and who has, through His death and resurrection killed the power of our sin and mortality over our lives forever.
Moses came to the people of Israel as an agent of God’s deliverance. God comes to me in Jesus Christ, reminding me of my slavery, so that He can be my deliverer. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” Jesus says in Matthew 11:28. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” He says in Mark 1:15.
According to Stephen, many of his fellow Jews, like many people in the world today, saw God, his Old Testament agent Moses, and Jesus, God enfleshed, as only judges. They did so because they refused to turn to God and be set free by Him.
And freedom is what Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead to give to us: Freedom from sin, death, and futility. And so, the apostle Paul wrote to first-century Gentile Christians who thought that salvation and new life as free gifts from God through faith in Jesus was just too good to be true: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
This is part of the speech of the first-century Christian Stephen, speaking to his fellow Jews, about to stone him to death for his faith in Jesus. The speech Stephen gives reviews central themes of Jewish history to show that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy for a Messiah and Prophet. Stephen also asserts that Jesus is “the Righteous One” come to earth, God Himself (Acts 7:52). Jesus, Stephen says, is no radical departure from the faith in God given witness in the Old Testament law and prophets, but its fulfillment.
In verse 35, Stephen is talking about the call of Moses by God to be the instrument by which God frees or delivers His people, Israel, enslaved in Egypt in Old Testament times.
Moses received this call from God in Midian, where he’d been living for forty years in exile. Moses had fled Egypt and gone to Midian shortly after he’d killed an Egyptian overlord who had been beating an Israelite (Hebrew) slave. He ran after another incident, when he tried to prevent two Hebrew slaves from fighting one another. Until that moment, Moses appears to have thought that his killing of the Egyptian soldier defending the Hebrew wasn’t witnessed. Instead, referring to the killing, one of the Hebrews asks him who he thinks he is, a ruler and judge of the Hebrews? Moses spent the next forty years as a fugitive.
It’s ironic (and typical of God), Stephen seems to say that Moses, who had been rejected by the Israelites as their leader was picked by God to be their leader.
Listen: But of interest to me is the competing set of designations for Moses in this verse.
Forty years earlier, Moses felt that the people of Israel had rejected him for seeking to be their “ruler and judge.”
Now, God sends him to the Israelites as their “ruler and deliverer.”
Both phrases see Moses as a leader for God’s people. But “judge” is how the enslaved Hebrews who rejected Moses had seen him. “Deliverer,” translating a Hebrew word that can also mean redeemer or liberator, is what God actually sent Moses to be.
It strikes me that often in life, we see people who want to deliver us as our judges. Of course, in order for us to accept the deliverance or freedom a person offers us we must accept the implicit judgment that there are things in my life that enslave me.
The enslaved Hebrews cried out about their horrible situation, their slavery which had now lasted over four-hundred years, but they didn’t want Moses reminding them of their need of deliverance. Who did he think he was?
When someone offers us freedom, our pride kicks in and we deny that we are enslaved in any way. “We don’t need anybody’s help,” we think.
The descendants of the ancient Hebrews, for example, when offered freedom from sin, death, and futility by Jesus, denied that their people had ever been slaves to anyone, even though they’d been enslaved through the centuries by Babylonians and Assyrians and, at the moment they denied it all, were under the thumbs of the Romans.
Their reaction is no different from the addict, whether their addiction is to work, money, alcohol, drugs, food, sex, whatever. All will, at least initially, deny their enslavement.
It’s this pride, this need to hold onto the lie of self-sufficiency, “having it together,” of being gods to ourselves, that prevents us from taking up the offers of others to help set us free.
That pride is why the Israelites saw Moses as their judge rather than their deliverer. It’s why the people who stoned Stephen to death heard the good news of Jesus he proclaimed not as liberation from sin, death, and futility, but as a judgment that they needed freedom from those things.
When God brings up my sin and mortality with me in His Word, He doesn’t do it to judge me. God doesn’t want His interchanges with me to end in terminal guilt or fear of living and dying.
God points my my sin and mortality so that I can see how far I am from being like God, how far I am from having it together, how helpless I am before the reality of my own sin and dying, and how hopeless my existence is without His deliverance. When I see these things, I know to return to Him. And because of Jesus, I know that I turn to a High Priest (Jesus Himself), “who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15) and who has, through His death and resurrection killed the power of our sin and mortality over our lives forever.
Moses came to the people of Israel as an agent of God’s deliverance. God comes to me in Jesus Christ, reminding me of my slavery, so that He can be my deliverer. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” Jesus says in Matthew 11:28. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” He says in Mark 1:15.
According to Stephen, many of his fellow Jews, like many people in the world today, saw God, his Old Testament agent Moses, and Jesus, God enfleshed, as only judges. They did so because they refused to turn to God and be set free by Him.
And freedom is what Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead to give to us: Freedom from sin, death, and futility. And so, the apostle Paul wrote to first-century Gentile Christians who thought that salvation and new life as free gifts from God through faith in Jesus was just too good to be true: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
“Repent, then, and turn to God,” the apostle Peter told a crowd of his fellow Jews at the temple in Jerusalem shortly after the crucified and risen Jesus had ascended to heaven, “so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” (Acts 3:19)
Too often, Lord, I turn to myself rather than to You. In some way, I’m running from You as a judge when I do that. “It would be pathetic if I couldn’t handle this on my own,” I seem to think. “I should be able to get this done,” I think at other times without a thought of you. “I don’t regret doing that,” my attitude implicitly says about things I should regret.
But God, I’m grateful that Your Word leads me to repent--to change my mind, to turn from the direction in which I’ve been walking and turn back to You.
I’m grateful that Jesus died so that, despite my inclination for denying my sin, mortality, and need, You have come into the world, died, and rose to deliver me from myself. Thank You that Jesus came to be my Ruler and my Deliverer.
Response: Lord, help me today to live as a person set free from my enemies--sin, death, and darkness--and rest easy, not in the world or my achievements or anything but in the grace of Jesus Christ, the One Who delivers me from all evil. In His name I pray. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Should You Stifle Your Sneeze?
Ann Althouse, who is soon to have cataract surgery, has been looking for ways to avoid sneezing. She's been advised that sneezing while recovering from the procedure is not good. It appears she may have found one method for avoiding sneezes in this Youtube video.
My brother-in-law might want to see this video. Last week, during a visit, he sneezed. I thought nothing of it, but he said, "Excuse me."
Then he told me, "I hate to sneeze." I'd never thought about sneezing as something one either hates or loves, just something that your body does.
But I can understand why, after cataract surgery, sneezing isn't a good idea.
So, does this anti-sneeze technique work?
After reading Althouse's post, I felt a sneeze coming on. (Maybe because I had sneezing on my mind..) So I tried the little technique recommended here and, I didn't sneeze.
It didn't, though, prevent what always happens to me after a sneeze: the need to blow my nose.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, it's usually not a good idea to suppress our sneezes:
But, in fact, they're meant to protect us from the bad, the body's way of getting rid of an intruder. So, the folks at the Cleveland Clinic say, when you feel a sneeze coming on, just cover your mouth and nose and let it rip. (Unless you're recovering from cataract surgery or wanting to avoid sneezing on someone while giving them a massage, I suppose.)
My brother-in-law might want to see this video. Last week, during a visit, he sneezed. I thought nothing of it, but he said, "Excuse me."
Then he told me, "I hate to sneeze." I'd never thought about sneezing as something one either hates or loves, just something that your body does.
But I can understand why, after cataract surgery, sneezing isn't a good idea.
So, does this anti-sneeze technique work?
After reading Althouse's post, I felt a sneeze coming on. (Maybe because I had sneezing on my mind..) So I tried the little technique recommended here and, I didn't sneeze.
It didn't, though, prevent what always happens to me after a sneeze: the need to blow my nose.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, it's usually not a good idea to suppress our sneezes:
The next time you get the urge to stifle a window-rattling sneeze, you might want to reconsider. It could be harmful to your health.
Clamping your nostrils and mouth shut might avoid disturbing others. But it could damage your eardrums or sinuses or cause an ear infection.
Sneezes are surprisingly forceful. The sudden, powerful expulsion of air can propel mucous droplets at rates of up to 100 miles per hour...
Some people sneeze because of colds. Colds may produce a yellowish nasal discharge that signals an infection.Often, I tell people after they've sneezed, "Gesundheit [German for Health]" or "God bless you." Doing so is probably rooted in a cultural idea that sneezes are bad.
It’s best for that discharge to move out of the body. Stifling a sneeze only keeps it in the body — and could move it further inside.
“By stifling a sneeze, you could push infected mucus through the eustachian tube and back into the middle ear,” Dr. Szekely says. “You can get middle ear infections because of that.”
Sneezing is a protective reflex. It means an irritant has gotten into your nose that your body wants to keep from getting to your sinuses or lungs. When you sneeze, your body is trying to rid itself of the intruder.
But, in fact, they're meant to protect us from the bad, the body's way of getting rid of an intruder. So, the folks at the Cleveland Clinic say, when you feel a sneeze coming on, just cover your mouth and nose and let it rip. (Unless you're recovering from cataract surgery or wanting to avoid sneezing on someone while giving them a massage, I suppose.)
Bearing Fruit for God's Kingdom (Part 4)
[This was shared with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, earlier today.]
Hebrews 5:12-14
Matthew 17:17-20
Not long ago, a group of us met to plan this year’s Ohio Mission Region Convocation. The theme will be Baptized AND Living It! and I hope that a good crowd from Living Water will be able to attend. In the course of our planning, we looked at Acts 2:40-41, where we’re told that, on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to Jesus' disciples, the apostle Peter, “...pleaded with [his fellow Jews], ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
I was struck again by that last verse. I couldn’t help asking a question: Don’t you ever wonder why we’re not taking in 3000 new believers as members of Christ’s Church every Sunday today? At least on Pentecost Sunday?
What exactly is wrong with the Church today, at least in the Western world, that we’re not seeing those kinds of conversions to Christ as a result of the Church’s proclamation of Christ?
Some Christians will say, “All of my friends are Christians. I don’t have anyone I can reach.” But all this explanation tells us is that we aren’t very good about reaching out to people who are different from us. While we cocoon ourselves from non-Christian people, the numbers of our neighbors, classmates, and co-workers who have no religion increases.
Other Christians will say that ever since the courts took prayer out of school, it’s harder to share our faith; we live in a hostile environment. Listen: You couldn’t have found a more hostile environment for the Church than what existed in the first-century Roman Empire in which Jesus died, rose, and established His Church. When was the last time an American Christian was thrown into a den of hungry lions?
When Jesus gave the Great Commission, he didn’t give it to the public schools, the United States government, the entertainment industry, or the people who make cups for Starbucks, all of whom are among the people and institutions about which American Christians like to bellyache. Jesus gave the Great Commission to us, His Church, to every baptized Christian, to you and me.
Our explanations for the lack of growth and vitality in our Western churches sound like excuses or rationalizations rather than explanations. So, why don’t our churches grow the way the first-century Church grew early on?
The question isn’t a new one. Even the second-generation early Church faced it. In Hebrews 5, the preacher tells a congregation of Jewish Christians, “...though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-14) Evil happens in the world, in the Church, and in individual Christians' lives when we aren’t growing as Christian disciples.
We can’t be the instruments of God’s love and grace that Christ wants us to be (and which, I’m convinced that, deep in the heart of every Christian, we want to be) if we insist on remaining babies in our faith. Babies are only cute when they’re babies; not when they hit ages 20, 30, 40, 50, 80, 90.
It’s Jesus’ expectation that the baptized children of God will grow up in their faith. In Matthew 17, Jesus upbraids His disciples for not bringing healing to a boy whose life was being decimated by demons from hell: “You unbelieving and perverse generation...how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” (Matthew 17:17-20)
Why then is the Church of our day not growing like it did in the first-century? Even allowing for the fact that there are eras in history and in different places when people are more open to the good news of new life through faith in Jesus Christ, part of the answer may be is our lack of faith!
In places like China, Ethiopia, in Germany where Lutherans independent of the state church are seeing hundreds of refugees from Iran come to faith in Christ, and in other places, the Church is growing. Today, in fact, in terms of conversions, Christianity remains the fastest-growing religion in the world. But here, where we’re distracted and comfortable, not so much. We’ve allowed the relative ease of our lives to rob us of our faith in Jesus.
Folks: We cannot and will not bear as much fruit for God’s kingdom--we won’t see people come to faith in Christ through our churches or through us as disciples of Jesus Christ--if we’re not growing.
And growing isn’t something we can manufacture. If you leave here today and resolve, “I’m going to grow as a disciple,” you will not grow as a disciple. You can't resolve to be a growing disciple.
It’s God’s Holy Spirit, employing the Word of God, the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and the fellowship of the Church built around the good news--the gospel--of Jesus Christ that will bring us personal growth and bring spiritual and numerical growth to this wonderful congregation.
Here’s how disciples and congregations grow: by getting close to Jesus every day.
Growth in our discipleship is a byproduct of spending time with Christ and with His people, the Church.
That growth allows us to bear fruit for God’s kingdom:
This isn’t magical. It’s as simple as this: When we take root in Christ, He fills us with Himself and we bear the good fruit that only comes from Him.
Jesus says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
The pathway of discipleship--knowing Christ, growing in Christ, and showing Christ--isn’t an end in itself.
Knowing Christ, growing in Christ, and showing Christ: These are gifts that come to God’s people as we dare to come close to Jesus. They're what God uses not only to increase our joy in being eternally saved by grace through faith in Jesus, but also to produce the fruits of Christ living in us: “...love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Through people rooted in Christ, God the Holy Spirit grows His Church. But more than that, these gifts evidence that God is at work making us into the people He always intended His children to be: Human beings who reflect the image of God in which they were first made, transformed into the image of Jesus Christ Himself. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Hebrews 5:12-14
Matthew 17:17-20
Not long ago, a group of us met to plan this year’s Ohio Mission Region Convocation. The theme will be Baptized AND Living It! and I hope that a good crowd from Living Water will be able to attend. In the course of our planning, we looked at Acts 2:40-41, where we’re told that, on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to Jesus' disciples, the apostle Peter, “...pleaded with [his fellow Jews], ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
I was struck again by that last verse. I couldn’t help asking a question: Don’t you ever wonder why we’re not taking in 3000 new believers as members of Christ’s Church every Sunday today? At least on Pentecost Sunday?
What exactly is wrong with the Church today, at least in the Western world, that we’re not seeing those kinds of conversions to Christ as a result of the Church’s proclamation of Christ?
Some Christians will say, “All of my friends are Christians. I don’t have anyone I can reach.” But all this explanation tells us is that we aren’t very good about reaching out to people who are different from us. While we cocoon ourselves from non-Christian people, the numbers of our neighbors, classmates, and co-workers who have no religion increases.
Other Christians will say that ever since the courts took prayer out of school, it’s harder to share our faith; we live in a hostile environment. Listen: You couldn’t have found a more hostile environment for the Church than what existed in the first-century Roman Empire in which Jesus died, rose, and established His Church. When was the last time an American Christian was thrown into a den of hungry lions?
When Jesus gave the Great Commission, he didn’t give it to the public schools, the United States government, the entertainment industry, or the people who make cups for Starbucks, all of whom are among the people and institutions about which American Christians like to bellyache. Jesus gave the Great Commission to us, His Church, to every baptized Christian, to you and me.
Our explanations for the lack of growth and vitality in our Western churches sound like excuses or rationalizations rather than explanations. So, why don’t our churches grow the way the first-century Church grew early on?
The question isn’t a new one. Even the second-generation early Church faced it. In Hebrews 5, the preacher tells a congregation of Jewish Christians, “...though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-14) Evil happens in the world, in the Church, and in individual Christians' lives when we aren’t growing as Christian disciples.
We can’t be the instruments of God’s love and grace that Christ wants us to be (and which, I’m convinced that, deep in the heart of every Christian, we want to be) if we insist on remaining babies in our faith. Babies are only cute when they’re babies; not when they hit ages 20, 30, 40, 50, 80, 90.
It’s Jesus’ expectation that the baptized children of God will grow up in their faith. In Matthew 17, Jesus upbraids His disciples for not bringing healing to a boy whose life was being decimated by demons from hell: “You unbelieving and perverse generation...how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” (Matthew 17:17-20)
Why then is the Church of our day not growing like it did in the first-century? Even allowing for the fact that there are eras in history and in different places when people are more open to the good news of new life through faith in Jesus Christ, part of the answer may be is our lack of faith!
In places like China, Ethiopia, in Germany where Lutherans independent of the state church are seeing hundreds of refugees from Iran come to faith in Christ, and in other places, the Church is growing. Today, in fact, in terms of conversions, Christianity remains the fastest-growing religion in the world. But here, where we’re distracted and comfortable, not so much. We’ve allowed the relative ease of our lives to rob us of our faith in Jesus.
Folks: We cannot and will not bear as much fruit for God’s kingdom--we won’t see people come to faith in Christ through our churches or through us as disciples of Jesus Christ--if we’re not growing.
And growing isn’t something we can manufacture. If you leave here today and resolve, “I’m going to grow as a disciple,” you will not grow as a disciple. You can't resolve to be a growing disciple.
It’s God’s Holy Spirit, employing the Word of God, the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and the fellowship of the Church built around the good news--the gospel--of Jesus Christ that will bring us personal growth and bring spiritual and numerical growth to this wonderful congregation.
Here’s how disciples and congregations grow: by getting close to Jesus every day.
Growth in our discipleship is a byproduct of spending time with Christ and with His people, the Church.
That growth allows us to bear fruit for God’s kingdom:
- to persevere in praying for others in Jesus’ name when all seems lost;
- to seek from God and receive opportunities from Him to share the good news with others;
- to live in God’s peace even in the most challenging of circumstances;
- to emit the magnetic joy of Christ from every pore of our bodies!
This isn’t magical. It’s as simple as this: When we take root in Christ, He fills us with Himself and we bear the good fruit that only comes from Him.
Jesus says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
The pathway of discipleship--knowing Christ, growing in Christ, and showing Christ--isn’t an end in itself.
Knowing Christ, growing in Christ, and showing Christ: These are gifts that come to God’s people as we dare to come close to Jesus. They're what God uses not only to increase our joy in being eternally saved by grace through faith in Jesus, but also to produce the fruits of Christ living in us: “...love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Through people rooted in Christ, God the Holy Spirit grows His Church. But more than that, these gifts evidence that God is at work making us into the people He always intended His children to be: Human beings who reflect the image of God in which they were first made, transformed into the image of Jesus Christ Himself. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Friday, January 25, 2019
Faith: Credit Where Credit Is Due (It Ain't Me, Ma)
"...It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see." (Acts 3:16)
This verse struck me during my quiet time with God today.
I find the phrasing interesting.
Peter and John, devout Jews at the temple in Jerusalem, sometime after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, encounter a paralyzed beggar. The beggar wants money. But, after getting the man's attention, Peter tells him, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk (Acts 3:6)." And the man walked.
Understandably, this created a stir. People came running to Peter, treating him like a god. Peter is quick to correct their misimpression. He insists that it's the power of Jesus' name, the name he used to command the man to walk "and the faith that comes through him" that the paralyzed man was now was "walking and jumping, and praising God (Acts 3:8)..."
That phrase, "and the faith that comes through him" is what strikes me. What it says is that Peter takes zero credit for the faith that led him to tell the beggar to walk. In other words, Peter not only gives credit to Jesus and His powerful name in the healing, but Peter also says that even his own faith to believe that Jesus' name could accomplish the healing is God's work. This is true faith.
I think sometimes I and other Christians are tempted to take just a little credit for the good we do in Jesus' name and in the power of Jesus. We like to think that the good things we do, however small, have just a bit to do with our being faithful people. But Jesus tells Christians, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5)."
Whether it's me resisting a temptation, repenting for sin, deferring to someone else on approaching a long grocery store line, tutoring a child, caring for a neighbor or a loved one, sharing the good news of new and everlasting life for all who repent and believe in Jesus, or whatever it might be that we do in Jesus' name, I can't take credit for it. It's Jesus working in me.
And this applies even to my faith. Martin Luther writes in The Small Catechism:
Prayer: Father God, in the name of Jesus, get me out of the way of the Holy Spirit so that daily my faith in Christ grows and daily You use me for Your purposes. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
This verse struck me during my quiet time with God today.
I find the phrasing interesting.
Peter and John, devout Jews at the temple in Jerusalem, sometime after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, encounter a paralyzed beggar. The beggar wants money. But, after getting the man's attention, Peter tells him, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk (Acts 3:6)." And the man walked.
Understandably, this created a stir. People came running to Peter, treating him like a god. Peter is quick to correct their misimpression. He insists that it's the power of Jesus' name, the name he used to command the man to walk "and the faith that comes through him" that the paralyzed man was now was "walking and jumping, and praising God (Acts 3:8)..."
That phrase, "and the faith that comes through him" is what strikes me. What it says is that Peter takes zero credit for the faith that led him to tell the beggar to walk. In other words, Peter not only gives credit to Jesus and His powerful name in the healing, but Peter also says that even his own faith to believe that Jesus' name could accomplish the healing is God's work. This is true faith.
I think sometimes I and other Christians are tempted to take just a little credit for the good we do in Jesus' name and in the power of Jesus. We like to think that the good things we do, however small, have just a bit to do with our being faithful people. But Jesus tells Christians, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5)."
Whether it's me resisting a temptation, repenting for sin, deferring to someone else on approaching a long grocery store line, tutoring a child, caring for a neighbor or a loved one, sharing the good news of new and everlasting life for all who repent and believe in Jesus, or whatever it might be that we do in Jesus' name, I can't take credit for it. It's Jesus working in me.
And this applies even to my faith. Martin Luther writes in The Small Catechism:
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.If I believe in Jesus Christ, it's because the Holy Spirit, working through the Word and Sacraments entrusted to Christ's Church and to Christ's Church alone has given and is giving me faith in Christ. Peter clearly knew and gave witness to this truth.
Prayer: Father God, in the name of Jesus, get me out of the way of the Holy Spirit so that daily my faith in Christ grows and daily You use me for Your purposes. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
'Bearing Fruit for the Kingdom' (so far)
So far, three of the four installments of our series, Bearing Fruit for the Kingdom, have been presented at Living Water Lutheran Church. Here are links to those first three sermons:
Knowing Christ
Growing in Christ
Showing Christ
The links also show the video postcard we've created for the pathway to discipleship.
Knowing Christ
Growing in Christ
Showing Christ
The links also show the video postcard we've created for the pathway to discipleship.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Even Peter, Even Me (Even You)
[This is the journal entry from my quiet time with God today.]
Look: “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (Mark 16:7)
This is part of what the young man in white, who I presume to be an angel, told the women at Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter morning. Jesus, Who had died on the cross, was now risen from the dead and would meet His followers in the Galilee region.
But the phrasing caught my attention this morning: “tell his disciples and Peter.” When read as and, the Greek word kai, could mean several things in this sentence:
1) It could mean that, because of his denial of Jesus on the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter was no longer considered a disciple. The fact that in John 21, Jesus makes a point of restoring Peter to fellowship with Him three times might be read in support of such a reading. But if Peter was being considered, at least temporarily, excommunicated, he would hardly be invited to a gathering of disciples with the risen Jesus. Besides, all of the disciples denied or betrayed Jesus in some way.
2) If read as and, kai could also be seen as singling Peter out for special mention as the designated leader of the Church that Jesus is founding. This seems to be the preferred meaning among most scholars, I think, and I have no particular quibble with it.
But this morning, a third possible interpretation hit me. That little Greek word kai can also mean even or also. What if the angel’s invitation was meant to be a word of reassurance to Peter, whose denial of Jesus had been so cowardly, so public, and so bitter to Peter himself that he wept over it?
What if the angel was saying, “tell his disciples, even Peter who feels ashamed over his denial of Jesus to meet Jesus in Galilee”? Even Peter, who denied knowing Jesus to a lowly servant girl who posed no threat to him, is invited back.
After all, Peter, who was inclined to pride and shame (two sides of the same coin), may have concluded that his sin was unforgivable. “You tell Peter that the Lord wants to see him too,” the angel may be saying.
Even if you accept the second interpretation above, it wouldn’t preclude translating kai as even, not and.
Listen: The implications for me this morning is that Jesus, just as He wanted to see Peter, even wants to see me.
Despite the condition of sin into which I, like the rest of the human race, was born.
Despite the sins I've committed because of my fallen condition.
Despite my failings.
His grace includes me because He is good and because I, however inconsistently, by the power and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, repent and believe in Jesus and the good news His death and resurrection brings to sinners like me.
The angel seems to be telling Peter that Peter’s sense of guilt need not lead him into shame.
I’ve noticed the difference between these two things, guilt and shame.
Guilt is the prick to one’s conscience used by God to turn us back to Him when we’ve heard the good news of Jesus and realize that we've acted out of our sinful nature and sought to be our own gods.
Shame is the conclusion we draw that our sins make us beyond redemption, forgiveness, or renewal, that God is impotent to save us.
Guilt can turn us to Christ.
Shame turns us ever-inward, away from God and His grace.
I think that Peter was so inclined to self-sufficiency that after he had denied Jesus, he may have believed that he was forever damned. Peter still was putting too much faith in himself, even in his own sense of guilt. There is a subtle egotism and pride involved in refusing to be forgiven, in wallowing in shame, in refusing to allow Christ to have dominion over our sins.
But, if this is how Peter was feeling, the angel would have none of it. He tells the women at the tomb, “Tell his disciples, even Peter!”
When I pronounce absolution during worship, God wants me to remember, “These words are for you too, Mark. Yes, you’ve been a sinner again today and this week. You are a sinner, after all: Sinners sin. But you are a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ. When you turn (repent) and trust Christ with your life, including all of your sins, you’re forgiven. The only people beyond repair are those who stop turning to My Son, who refuse it when the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin or when the Holy Spirit convinces them of My grace. The only ones who can’t be saved are the ones who are too focused on themselves to turn to Christ.”
I’m sure that Peter felt like a failure after Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Truth is, he was. But that didn’t make him beyond Christ’s capacity to save him from himself, to give him life. In Christ, God can save, restore, renew, empower, enliven, give resurrection to anybody, even Peter, even me.
Respond: Thank You, Lord, for this reminder of Your grace. Help me today to not be afraid to own my sin and my sins before You and in Jesus’ name, see You crucify my sinful nature so that You can be about the work of making me over in Jesus’ image. I don’t deserve Your grace. But in Christ, it comes even to me. In the name of Jesus, I thank, praise, honor, and glorify You. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Look: “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (Mark 16:7)
This is part of what the young man in white, who I presume to be an angel, told the women at Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter morning. Jesus, Who had died on the cross, was now risen from the dead and would meet His followers in the Galilee region.
But the phrasing caught my attention this morning: “tell his disciples and Peter.” When read as and, the Greek word kai, could mean several things in this sentence:
1) It could mean that, because of his denial of Jesus on the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter was no longer considered a disciple. The fact that in John 21, Jesus makes a point of restoring Peter to fellowship with Him three times might be read in support of such a reading. But if Peter was being considered, at least temporarily, excommunicated, he would hardly be invited to a gathering of disciples with the risen Jesus. Besides, all of the disciples denied or betrayed Jesus in some way.
2) If read as and, kai could also be seen as singling Peter out for special mention as the designated leader of the Church that Jesus is founding. This seems to be the preferred meaning among most scholars, I think, and I have no particular quibble with it.
But this morning, a third possible interpretation hit me. That little Greek word kai can also mean even or also. What if the angel’s invitation was meant to be a word of reassurance to Peter, whose denial of Jesus had been so cowardly, so public, and so bitter to Peter himself that he wept over it?
What if the angel was saying, “tell his disciples, even Peter who feels ashamed over his denial of Jesus to meet Jesus in Galilee”? Even Peter, who denied knowing Jesus to a lowly servant girl who posed no threat to him, is invited back.
After all, Peter, who was inclined to pride and shame (two sides of the same coin), may have concluded that his sin was unforgivable. “You tell Peter that the Lord wants to see him too,” the angel may be saying.
Even if you accept the second interpretation above, it wouldn’t preclude translating kai as even, not and.
Listen: The implications for me this morning is that Jesus, just as He wanted to see Peter, even wants to see me.
Despite the condition of sin into which I, like the rest of the human race, was born.
Despite the sins I've committed because of my fallen condition.
Despite my failings.
His grace includes me because He is good and because I, however inconsistently, by the power and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, repent and believe in Jesus and the good news His death and resurrection brings to sinners like me.
The angel seems to be telling Peter that Peter’s sense of guilt need not lead him into shame.
I’ve noticed the difference between these two things, guilt and shame.
Guilt is the prick to one’s conscience used by God to turn us back to Him when we’ve heard the good news of Jesus and realize that we've acted out of our sinful nature and sought to be our own gods.
Shame is the conclusion we draw that our sins make us beyond redemption, forgiveness, or renewal, that God is impotent to save us.
Guilt can turn us to Christ.
Shame turns us ever-inward, away from God and His grace.
I think that Peter was so inclined to self-sufficiency that after he had denied Jesus, he may have believed that he was forever damned. Peter still was putting too much faith in himself, even in his own sense of guilt. There is a subtle egotism and pride involved in refusing to be forgiven, in wallowing in shame, in refusing to allow Christ to have dominion over our sins.
But, if this is how Peter was feeling, the angel would have none of it. He tells the women at the tomb, “Tell his disciples, even Peter!”
When I pronounce absolution during worship, God wants me to remember, “These words are for you too, Mark. Yes, you’ve been a sinner again today and this week. You are a sinner, after all: Sinners sin. But you are a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ. When you turn (repent) and trust Christ with your life, including all of your sins, you’re forgiven. The only people beyond repair are those who stop turning to My Son, who refuse it when the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin or when the Holy Spirit convinces them of My grace. The only ones who can’t be saved are the ones who are too focused on themselves to turn to Christ.”
I’m sure that Peter felt like a failure after Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Truth is, he was. But that didn’t make him beyond Christ’s capacity to save him from himself, to give him life. In Christ, God can save, restore, renew, empower, enliven, give resurrection to anybody, even Peter, even me.
Respond: Thank You, Lord, for this reminder of Your grace. Help me today to not be afraid to own my sin and my sins before You and in Jesus’ name, see You crucify my sinful nature so that You can be about the work of making me over in Jesus’ image. I don’t deserve Your grace. But in Christ, it comes even to me. In the name of Jesus, I thank, praise, honor, and glorify You. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Monday, January 21, 2019
Showing Christ (Part 3, 'Bearing Fruit for God's Kingdom')
[This was shared with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, during worship today.]
Luke 13:6-9
Two weeks ago, we first showed the congregation what we call a “video postcard,” displaying the pathway to the destination of full maturity as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Now, why are we making such a big deal about growing as Christ’s disciples?
In Luke 13:6-9, Jesus tells one of His parables. He says, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
Here, Jesus paints a picture of a vineyard-owner upset that one of his fig vines hasn’t grown. Impatient, the owner tells the caretaker to cut the tree down. The way he sees it, the tree is just taking up space, using water, nutrients, sun, and life that might more productively be used by a new tree that will actually produce figs. But the caretaker wants to give the fig tree more time to do what fig trees are supposed to do, to show the result of all that’s been put into it. He says that he wants to put more manure on it, water it, and dig some space around it to give it the chance to grow. If, after all of that effort, the tree won’t bear fruit, then it will be time to cut it down.
The point Jesus is making is clear. Through His Word, which we can read and hear proclaimed, as well as taste and see in the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, we can know Jesus Christ and the new life that He brings to all who believe in Him; we can grow in Christ, as we mature as followers who daily die to self and rise to the new life God has in mind for us; and we can show that Christ lives in us and so, bear fruit.
Some see the caretaker in Jesus’ parable as being Jesus Himself. Jesus shields us from the condemnation for sin and hard-heartedness that we deserve and keeps pouring His Word into our lives with one aim in mind: that Christ will so fill us that we will show Christ to the world. We will be people who live for Christ, serve in Christ’s name, share the good news of new and everlasting life through faith in Jesus. The people around us will know that we follow Jesus. That’s what it means to show Christ.
Let’s be honest, taken together, most people in the churches of North America and Europe are like the dormant fig tree in Jesus’ parable. Despite being able to freely receive the Word of God, the word of new and everlasting life that when embraced and trusted, fills a person with the very life of God, most church-goers are indistinguishable from the rest of the world. They’re dead stumps. They’re “go through the motion Christians.”
And one day, such lukewarm Christians may be cut down, eternally separated from God, because they refuse to let Jesus take up residence in their lives, refuse to let the Word they repeatedly received from the crucified and risen Jesus fill them and impel them to lives of love, service, and witness to the dying world around them.
In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” But something miraculous happens to us when we let Jesus, the blazing, luminescent Author of all life, get to us, to enter into us, when we open the door and let Him into the center of our lives.
We become lights that show others Jesus so that He can change their lives the way He’s changing ours. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus says. “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15) Are we giving light to the whole house? The whole world? The whole community?
God’s grace given in Christ is not our private possession and faith is not a private matter. We’re to show it, not with arrogance, but humility; not with pride, but with love.
1 Peter 2:9 tells you and me as baptized believers in Jesus, “...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” In other words, God has poured all of this grace and life made available to us through faith in Jesus not just for our own personal assurance, but so that we can let others know and grow in Jesus too. That’s our purpose in life! There is no other!
This message up to this point is apt to engender two main responses.
One is indifference.
The other is an anxious desire to know how we can show Christ, as though showing Christ to others was an item on a holy checklist, the successful completion of which will earn us a place in eternity with God.
Both reactions are human and understandable. And both of them are completely wrong.
Nothing I’ve said today alters the truth that we are saved by God’s charitable grace through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. But what I am saying is that if you have been saved by Christ and your faith in Him, you will want to show others how you, although a sinner worthy of eternal condemnation, have been made a saint in God’s kingdom because of the death of Jesus on a cross and the faith in Jesus created in you by the Holy Spirit. In other words, what we should be asking is, How can we get out of God’s way so that Christ is shown through us? Here are a few thoughts on how that happens.
First: We consciously, daily invite Jesus into every part of our lives. The New Testament book of Revelation begins with the resurrected Jesus interacting with seven ancient Christian congregations, one of them Laodicea, a church filled with people indifferent to Jesus. “Here I am!” Jesus tells them. “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20) We show Christ to others when we let Jesus in.
Second: We spend time in God’s Word so that Christ can take root in our lives. Psalm 1:1-2 uses the term law in the Old Testament sense, meaning God’s Word or the way of life God reveals to His people in His Word when it says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” We need to let God’s Word go deeply into our lives each day if Christ will be shown by our lives.
Third: We worship and receive the sacrament every time we can. I’m so happy to be part of a church that offers Holy Communion every Sunday. And to be part of a church that take God’s Word so seriously. We need God and we need God’s people if we’re to bear fruit for the kingdom.
Fourth: We build listening into our prayer lives. It’s a noisy, busy world. If you can, take time to let God speak to you, to assure you of His presence and His love for you, to guide you, and to challenge you each day. Psalm 46:10 famously tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God…”
Fifth: We don't ignore what God tells us. Some people spend their lives wringing their hands, wondering what God wants them to do. But there’s really no need to wonder! God calls those who trust in Jesus to love God, love neighbor, and make disciples. This is God’s will for our lives, which Jesus expressed in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. When we’re not sure what to do in situations in our lives, Martin Luther tells us to “sin boldly,” meaning seek God’s guidance, ask wise Christian friends, and then do what we think shows God’s love or helps us share Christ with others. We can’t show Christ to others if we get mired in what’s been called “the paralysis of analysis.” Think and plan, of course. But “Do not quench the Spirit,” 1 Thessalonians 5:19 tells us. In other words, be bold about sharing Jesus in your family, among your friends, and in the world.
These are steps of faith we can take in order to get out of God’s way to show the world the Savior Jesus we want everyone to know.
At Living Water, we’re committed to creating opportunities for everyone touched by the life of this congregation to know Christ, to grow in Christ, to show Christ and so, bear fruit for God’s kingdom. This is the entire reason for our being. Let’s continue to seek to follow Christ faithfully so that together we can fulfill our purpose as a church. We conclude our series next week.
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Luke 13:6-9
Two weeks ago, we first showed the congregation what we call a “video postcard,” displaying the pathway to the destination of full maturity as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Now, why are we making such a big deal about growing as Christ’s disciples?
In Luke 13:6-9, Jesus tells one of His parables. He says, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
Here, Jesus paints a picture of a vineyard-owner upset that one of his fig vines hasn’t grown. Impatient, the owner tells the caretaker to cut the tree down. The way he sees it, the tree is just taking up space, using water, nutrients, sun, and life that might more productively be used by a new tree that will actually produce figs. But the caretaker wants to give the fig tree more time to do what fig trees are supposed to do, to show the result of all that’s been put into it. He says that he wants to put more manure on it, water it, and dig some space around it to give it the chance to grow. If, after all of that effort, the tree won’t bear fruit, then it will be time to cut it down.
The point Jesus is making is clear. Through His Word, which we can read and hear proclaimed, as well as taste and see in the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, we can know Jesus Christ and the new life that He brings to all who believe in Him; we can grow in Christ, as we mature as followers who daily die to self and rise to the new life God has in mind for us; and we can show that Christ lives in us and so, bear fruit.
Some see the caretaker in Jesus’ parable as being Jesus Himself. Jesus shields us from the condemnation for sin and hard-heartedness that we deserve and keeps pouring His Word into our lives with one aim in mind: that Christ will so fill us that we will show Christ to the world. We will be people who live for Christ, serve in Christ’s name, share the good news of new and everlasting life through faith in Jesus. The people around us will know that we follow Jesus. That’s what it means to show Christ.
Let’s be honest, taken together, most people in the churches of North America and Europe are like the dormant fig tree in Jesus’ parable. Despite being able to freely receive the Word of God, the word of new and everlasting life that when embraced and trusted, fills a person with the very life of God, most church-goers are indistinguishable from the rest of the world. They’re dead stumps. They’re “go through the motion Christians.”
And one day, such lukewarm Christians may be cut down, eternally separated from God, because they refuse to let Jesus take up residence in their lives, refuse to let the Word they repeatedly received from the crucified and risen Jesus fill them and impel them to lives of love, service, and witness to the dying world around them.
In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” But something miraculous happens to us when we let Jesus, the blazing, luminescent Author of all life, get to us, to enter into us, when we open the door and let Him into the center of our lives.
We become lights that show others Jesus so that He can change their lives the way He’s changing ours. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus says. “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15) Are we giving light to the whole house? The whole world? The whole community?
God’s grace given in Christ is not our private possession and faith is not a private matter. We’re to show it, not with arrogance, but humility; not with pride, but with love.
1 Peter 2:9 tells you and me as baptized believers in Jesus, “...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” In other words, God has poured all of this grace and life made available to us through faith in Jesus not just for our own personal assurance, but so that we can let others know and grow in Jesus too. That’s our purpose in life! There is no other!
This message up to this point is apt to engender two main responses.
One is indifference.
The other is an anxious desire to know how we can show Christ, as though showing Christ to others was an item on a holy checklist, the successful completion of which will earn us a place in eternity with God.
Both reactions are human and understandable. And both of them are completely wrong.
Nothing I’ve said today alters the truth that we are saved by God’s charitable grace through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. But what I am saying is that if you have been saved by Christ and your faith in Him, you will want to show others how you, although a sinner worthy of eternal condemnation, have been made a saint in God’s kingdom because of the death of Jesus on a cross and the faith in Jesus created in you by the Holy Spirit. In other words, what we should be asking is, How can we get out of God’s way so that Christ is shown through us? Here are a few thoughts on how that happens.
First: We consciously, daily invite Jesus into every part of our lives. The New Testament book of Revelation begins with the resurrected Jesus interacting with seven ancient Christian congregations, one of them Laodicea, a church filled with people indifferent to Jesus. “Here I am!” Jesus tells them. “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20) We show Christ to others when we let Jesus in.
Second: We spend time in God’s Word so that Christ can take root in our lives. Psalm 1:1-2 uses the term law in the Old Testament sense, meaning God’s Word or the way of life God reveals to His people in His Word when it says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” We need to let God’s Word go deeply into our lives each day if Christ will be shown by our lives.
Third: We worship and receive the sacrament every time we can. I’m so happy to be part of a church that offers Holy Communion every Sunday. And to be part of a church that take God’s Word so seriously. We need God and we need God’s people if we’re to bear fruit for the kingdom.
Fourth: We build listening into our prayer lives. It’s a noisy, busy world. If you can, take time to let God speak to you, to assure you of His presence and His love for you, to guide you, and to challenge you each day. Psalm 46:10 famously tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God…”
Fifth: We don't ignore what God tells us. Some people spend their lives wringing their hands, wondering what God wants them to do. But there’s really no need to wonder! God calls those who trust in Jesus to love God, love neighbor, and make disciples. This is God’s will for our lives, which Jesus expressed in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. When we’re not sure what to do in situations in our lives, Martin Luther tells us to “sin boldly,” meaning seek God’s guidance, ask wise Christian friends, and then do what we think shows God’s love or helps us share Christ with others. We can’t show Christ to others if we get mired in what’s been called “the paralysis of analysis.” Think and plan, of course. But “Do not quench the Spirit,” 1 Thessalonians 5:19 tells us. In other words, be bold about sharing Jesus in your family, among your friends, and in the world.
These are steps of faith we can take in order to get out of God’s way to show the world the Savior Jesus we want everyone to know.
At Living Water, we’re committed to creating opportunities for everyone touched by the life of this congregation to know Christ, to grow in Christ, to show Christ and so, bear fruit for God’s kingdom. This is the entire reason for our being. Let’s continue to seek to follow Christ faithfully so that together we can fulfill our purpose as a church. We conclude our series next week.
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
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