Sermon Title: What is Jesus doing for us now?
Scripture: Luke 24:36-49 (ESV)

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Sermon Title: How Can We Be Found?
Scripture: Job 14:14-17 (ESV)

 
In Genesis 3, and week 3 of the Godspeed Pilgrim, Adam and Eve found themselves hiding from the Lord their God and “Getting Lost” in their sin. This week the scriptures led us to some notable Old Testament Greats who chose “Not Hiding” from Yahweh and discovered themselves “being found” by God. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David and Isaiah all responded to the Lord’s “Where are you?” with “Here I am” courage. Even though the details of their stories vary, for each of these great men of faith, their “Here I am” courage came at a cost—the same cost that you and I must pay. Let’s look deeper into one of these saints—the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah chapters 1-5 have painted the not-so-pretty picture of Israel’s rebellion and disobedience and of the impending judgment that is to come. Some believe that the placement of chapter 6, the story of Isaiah’s call and commission, is strategic. Following the brutal description in the first five chapters, the people may be asking, “Is there hope of redemption for such a disobedient people?” Isaiah tells his own story to assure them that God’s answer is “yes!”

Isaiah chapter six is a fantastic epiphany—a manifestation of a divine being—that stretches the imagination. It is an awe-filled glimpse of heaven and of the majestic throne room of God. (Read and compare Isaiah 6:1-4 with Revelation 4. Our own eyes will one day see what Isaiah saw!) In the thirteen verses that comprise this chapter, Isaiah is called to be God’s prophet and he is commissioned to deliver God’s message of judgment and promised redemption to Israel.

Isaiah describes what he experienced: “I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Is 6:1). There are seraphim with six wings, doorposts and thresholds shaking, smoke fills Isaiah’s nostrils (Is 6:2-4), and there is thunderous singing. “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is. 6:3).

Then the despairing reality hits Isaiah hard. “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty’” (Is 6:5). In today’s sermon scripture, Job also recognizes his sin longs for his sin to be taken away. He asks that “My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and You would cover my guilt” (Job 14:17). Among the Old Testament Greats, David also cries for atonement. “Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me” (Ps 51:9-10).

In the presence of the God of Glory, standing before the throne of God, Isaiah cries, “I am ruined!” He is utterly humbled and he knows himself without illusion or pretense. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for’” (Is 6:6-7). Atonement for Isaiah’s sin has been made and his guilt is removed. Oh, what joy! With atonement accomplished, then the Lord speaks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Is 6:8). It may be pure relief, deep gratitude, raw desire to extend what Isaiah has received, but whatever the reason, the Spirit of God rumbles within him, and Isaiah enthusiastically answers the Lord. “And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Is 6:8). Like a child clamoring to be chosen, Isaiah raises his hand high and says, “Pick me! Pick me!”

Isaiah is no longer hiding from God because of his sin. He is not waiting for someone else to volunteer. He is not doubting the extent of his forgiveness. Nor is he questioning the goodness and trustworthiness of his God. Isaiah, like the other Old Testament Greats, along with the Lord of Life, prays, “Your will, not mine, be done!”

Consider—
╬   Telling one another our Pilgrimage stories is an essential part of this journey. One pilgrim was surprised to realize that she is a “hider.”  She’s never thought that hiding was her modus operandi, but found herself hiding from a neighbor and hiding from an unpleasant task or responsibility and looking for any distraction to keep her from addressing what she needs to tend to. She is working hard to pray “Here I am, Lord. . . not hiding!” A second pilgrim confesses that she uses “I’m busy!” as her means of hiding. Another pilgrim admits that he is a hider and he equates his hiding to his shame. He is actively and intentionally walking with Jesus to relinquish his shame and to receive his belovedness. Are you Godspeed-ing? Tell your stories to one another.

╬   In what circumstance of your life is the Lord inviting you to pray, “Your will, not mine, be done”? Will you relinquish your illusion of control, trust in God’s desire for your flourishing, and humbly surrender to his call?

╬   “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.” We worship you, our Living God. It is in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Scripture: Genesis 3:1-12 (ESV)


When children have wandered away and gotten lost in their own desires there is often an attempted cover-up. Adam and Eve tried to cover their disobedience, their nakedness, their shame. The kinds of coverings were many. Discovering that “they were naked” (3:7), they covered themselves with fig leaves. When they heard “the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” Adam and Eve covered themselves by hiding “among the trees of the garden” (3:8). When their disobedience was called out, Adam covered himself by blaming “The woman whom you gave to be with me” (3:12) and Eve covered her disobedience by blaming, “The serpent” who deceived her (3:13).

The Lord’s first children in Eden’s garden are prototypes of people, be they children or adults, who have gotten lost through the ages. Disobedience brings fear of consequences. Disobedience breaks fellowship. Disobedience burdens the child with an unbearable weight of guilt.

Fear of disapproval, dread of a verbal tongue-lashing or of an angry parent’s backhand are consequences that compel a child to hide. When love is conditioned upon behavior and when a child’s confidence of belonging may be withdrawn because of failure to meet an imposed standard, a child will always seek to deflect and deny. A burden of guilt may be disguised as withdrawal, as anger and tantrums, or in attempts to find another’s behavior that is more egregious than my own. There is nothing new under the sun! We know these stories in our own lives and in the lives of those we love.

But the most fundamental difficulty of these narratives is made clear back in the Garden. “But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (3:9). If the above narratives describe your own experiences, then you may hear the Lord’s question as being asked in a demanding, condemning tone. However, the God who is love (1Jo 4:16) asks the question already knowing what has happened, how his first fearful children are feeling and what will be required to respond to the consequences that flow from the serpent’s lies and Adam and Eve’s choices. These first children, and the world they lived in, were created for love and relationship. The God who made them will not break his promises.

The LORD God is the one who “keeps you as the apple of His eye” and who hides you “in the shadow of His wings” (Ps 17:8). He tells you, “Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you” (Gen 28:15).

He declares, “You are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God” (Eze 34:31). “But now—even now—this is what the LORD says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. . . For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Is 43:1-3).

Truly, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps 91:1), because nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39).

Consider—
╬   Telling one another our Pilgrimage stories is an essential part of this journey. One pilgrim still remembers his fear after he had a fender bender that left a small dent in the bumper of his dad’s car. He tried and failed to fix the dent himself. He never confessed and his father never said a word about it. Fifty-five years later, he can still feel the relief he experienced when his dad sold the car.  Are you Godspeed-ing? Tell your stories to one another.

╬   When have you tried to hide a choice that had big consequences? The Lord already knows and is waiting for you to come to him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt 11:28-30).

╬   Abba Father, we confess that we still try to hide from your gaze. Thank you that you know us. You love us still. And you readily receive your lost children back into fellowship when we come in Jesus name. Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Scripture: Mark 10:13-16 (ESV)


On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, the Godspeed question is “What makes kids flourish?” The gospel of Mark helps us with the answer. But first we need to enter the time and place where the story unfolds.

Imagine the scene. Jesus is present and available to the people. “Crowds of people” have gathered, including Pharisees “who had come to test him” (10:1-2). The disciples are on edge and have heightened awareness of the dangers that this moment presents. The Pharisees advance to the front of the crowd and they set a verbal trap to trick Jesus into teaching contrary to Mosaic law about divorce and remarriage (10:1-10). Silenced for now by Jesus’ response, the Pharisees step back while the parents rush in.

The parents know stories of recent healings—a blind man can see (8:22-25) and a boy possessed by a demon is set free (9:14-29). They have heard Jesus teach a message framed in love and hope. In a tension-filled world of Roman domination and Jewish discord, parents are desperate to care for their beloved children. Moms and dads rush forward to present their children to Jesus. Like the woman who risked touching the edge of Jesus’ cloak as he walked by (Mk 5:21-34), these parents deeply desire the life-giving touch of Jesus for their children.

As the parents press in toward Jesus, the disciples panic because they feel responsibility to protect Jesus from bad actors who may get too close. But they misunderstand the moment and they miss Jesus’ message. Earlier, Jesus had been explicit about welcoming the least and the last. “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all. He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me’” (9:35-37). Receiving the least is welcoming God himself.

Rather than welcoming the children and their parents as Jesus had taught, the disciples rebuke the parents and put themselves between Jesus and the children. “The disciples scolded the parents for bothering him” (10:13). “Get back! Take those children away and leave the Teacher alone.” “When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples” (10:14). Jesus was “indignant” (10:14 NIV, ESV)! Angry and indignant—in this moment, Jesus’ patience is taxed. The disciples have missed an essential truth that Jesus has been teaching them. “He said to them, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it” (10:14-15).

Jesus says that those who wish to enter the Kingdom of God must come with childlikeness as their identity. What does a child have that qualifies them for the Kingdom? Children depend on and trust in the life-giving goodness of the parent. “Like a weaned child in her mother’s arms” (Ps 131:2) a child rests secure – calmed, quieted, assured of her belovedness, and surrendered to the good will of her caregiver.

What makes kids flourish? “Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them” (10:16).
 
Consider—
╬    Imagine yourself here: “Jesus took the child in his arms and placed his hands on his head and blessed him” (10:16). Don’t be afraid to receive this touch of Jesus’ hands and his blessing for you today. Imagine yourself in Jesus’ arms. Place your hands on your head now. Pray, “Jesus, I receive your gracious touch and blessing now. I am your child!”

╬   Telling one another our Pilgrimage stories is an essential part of this journey. One pilgrim, a retired nurse, answered the question, What makes kids flourish? “Children flourish with attention. When kids know that their parents’ eyes are on them, they explore freely and joyfully as they play.” Another pilgrim who is coach in a high school with troubled kids said that his kids flourish when honest relationship is extended. Every day he walks with Jesus into his school listening and watching for opportunities to tell his young men “I’m here. I see you.” Are you Godspeed-ing? Tell your stories to one another.

╬   Thank you, Abba Father, that we are invited to come to you. Help us to know ourselves as you know us – your beloved children in whom you are truly delighted! It is in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9 (ESV)

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more they were called, the more they went away. Hosea 11:1-2

Our Godspeed Pilgrim question for today is, “What kind of parent is God?” In responding to this question, we need to take care not to impose our views of earthly parents onto God the Creator’s parentage. Hosea 11 describes for us what kind of parent God the Father is to Israel, “his son.”

Hosea’s story of God’s parentage and Israel’s “childhood” is a story about God’s fidelity in the face of Israel’s infidelity. The contrast is stark and unmistakable. God’s unshakable commitment and devotion to Israel is met with deception and rejection. The Lord reveals, “Ephraim [another name for Israel] has surrounded me with lies, Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One” (Hos 11:12). Hosea tells the story of a Parent who has a beloved, challenging, rebellious child.

The character of God’s parentage as revealed in Genesis 1 and 2 tells us much and shows where the story begins. Before the world began and even though he did not need them, Creator God wanted children. Godspeed Pilgrim tells us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God made humans not because God was needy, but because God loved making children. God didn’t need slaves. God wanted children. God wanted kids! Slaves can only obey or disobey. Children can be loved, and learn to love” (GP, p. 19). Creator God made these children in his own likeness (Gen 1:26) and as a result they could have a unique, one-of-a-kind relationship with God. Genesis tells us that God created the Garden of Eden as a nursery for his first beloved children. He provided everything they would need for thriving life and meaningful labor. God was completely available and present to his beloved children and sought them as they “walked together in the cool of the day” (Gen 3:8). Because he loved them, the Creator placed healthy parameters on the garden and on the permissions given to his children. All in that exquisite garden was declared good, indeed even very good. What kind of Parent is God? He is Present, Available, Generous, Provider, Affectionate, Playful, Wise.

Hosea fast-forwards the narrative from the first garden and tells us more of God’s parentage story. The difficulties began when Israel’s first human parents chose to reject God’s good will for them. Millennia later, Israel’s relationship to the Creator repeatedly devolved. God continued to call to them, but “The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols” (Hos 11:2). Father God recalls, “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them” (Hos 11:3). The Lord taught Israel to walk – to live and to choose righteousness: “O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live” (Deut 4:1). “Have no other gods before me,” “Do not steal,” “Do not murder,” “Do not commit adultery.” (Deut 5 and Exod 20). But Israel continued to choose their own way rather than the life-giving good of God their Father.

What kind of parent is God to his rebellious and disobedient children? The Lord “led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them” (Hos 11:4). Hosea tells us that even though God was righteously angry, because of his unwavering love the Lord’s “compassion is aroused” and he determines that he will “not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man – the Holy One among you” (Hos 11:8-9).

God is the divine Parent who is always Holy and Righteous and Faithful and Just. He is the Compassionate One “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, and who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Ps 103:3-5). Thanks be to the Holy One of Israel.

Consider—
╬   Are you Godspeed-ing? Telling one another our Pilgrimage stories is an essential part of this journey.
Paul’s words, “Do not exasperate your children” (Eph 6:4 and Col 3:21), inspired one pilgrim to make amends with her child and to consider better ways of communicating love and care.

╬   Do you desire what God the Father desires for you? God is calling to us, his children. Hosea tells us that “the more they were called, the more they went away.” Stop for a moment. If you are going away from God, “Be still” and hear him call to you. You are already known by your Abba Father. Let yourself receive his love for you.

╬   Abba Father, we confess that we desire our own definitions of what is good more than we desire your perfect good for us. Forgive us. Because of your Son, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, renew our minds and hearts that we may have fellowship with you. It is in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Scripture: Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV)


Two rich elements get us started on our Godspeed Pilgrimage. The Bible Path gives us the focus for our walk with God along our Parish Path.

Today’s Bible Path comes from Colossians 2. Paul begins his epistle saying that he is writing to “God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ” (Col 1:2) who have heard and believed “the true message of the gospel” (1:5). That “true message” is a trinitarian message: knowledge of the Father’s great love and his perfect will comes to the Colossians “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” because Jesus the Son has come “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (1:9-20). The believers are no longer “alienated from God” (1:21); they are “reconciled” to God through Christ (1:22).

The brothers and sisters have “received Christ Jesus as Lord” (2:6). They have been united with Christ and by the gift of the Spirit, they are sealed for Christ forever. Now Paul exhorts these new disciples of Jesus to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way” (1:10) and to “continue to live [their] lives in him” (2:6). Paul tells the Colossians to let your roots grow deep and be established to maturity in Christ Jesus. “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him” (2:7 NLT). That maturity is realized as Christ’s disciples forsake “elementary truths,” become students of “the teaching about righteousness,” and “by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Heb 5:12-14). By God’s gift and grace, the disciples are “established in the faith” (Col 2:7).

The Godspeed Bible Path—the truth found in God’s word—and the Parish Path merge as Paul tells the Colossians to “walk in him” (2:6). How are they to live their lives in him? The Parish Path is found outside our front doors and along the sidewalks of our neighborhoods. It is also a much greater and more encompassing path. It is inside our own homes and at the table where we share breakfast and do homework. It is in our school classrooms, our workplaces, laundry rooms, and committee meetings. Our Parish Path is where we laugh and cry, where we wait, and where we grieve and complain. It is wherever we wonder, wherever we ask “Why?,” and whenever we pray “May your will be done.” Our Parish Path is where faith and trust walk alongside our fear and anxiety and confusion. It is where our eager listening at the feet of Jesus mingles with our faithful service in Christ’s Kingdom.

We walk this Parish Path with a question. The Lord God asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” (Gen 2:10). The Lord asks us the same question during our Godspeed pilgrimage. We humbly reflect and honestly answer. Here I am, Lord . . . walking with You—here, now, and always.

Consider—
╬   Telling one another our Pilgrimage stories is an essential part of this journey. One pilgrim is seeking to set aside more quiet early in the morning to say, “Here I am, Lord.” Another walked with Jesus at the gym praying for those he saw there. Another pilgrim describes beginning to “learn how to walk with my Father.” Are you Godspeed-ing? Tell your stories to one another.

╬   Take time to remember who has taught you, who has modeled a rooted and established life in Christ? Give thanks to God for them. If you are able, tell them how they have shown you the path of righteousness.

╬   In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. It is in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 32:1-7 (ESV)

 
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Our CCPC Lenten practice is to walk with Jesus on a pilgrimage from today toward Jerusalem and Holy Week. The small book, Godspeed Pilgrim, by Matt Canlis, is guiding us along the way. Be sure to pick up your copy from the CCPC Narthex. A Service of Lament begins our pilgrimage. Today’s sermon scripture comes from Psalm 32 as we experience The Weight of God’s hand calling us to journey out of darkness and into the Light.

Lent is a season of confession and repentance. Matt Canlis says that the Godspeed Documentary “is a confession.” Although Matt was trained for ministry, it is Matt’s confession that he needed to learn how to walk at Godspeed—the speed of relationships. Relationship with God and with God’s people. This is the pace Jesus walked with his disciples, and it is the way that Jesus invites us to walk with him in our lives today.

Psalm 32 is David’s testimony of having sinned against God. He is telling the story of his sin, his resistance and rebellion, his confession and repentance, and God’s forgiveness and reconciliation. We don’t know the nature of David’s sin, but we do know that he did not want to admit that he was wrong. David tells us that when he “refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long” (v. 3). David experienced holy conviction of his sin that would not ease by any distraction or attempt to hide from the truth. “Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” (v. 4). God’s merciful and excruciating love pursued David until there was nothing to be done but to acknowledge his sin to God. After hiding and dismissing his sin for a time, David tells us, “I said, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone” (v. 5).

Instead of hiding from God in unrepentant rebellion, David’s repentance and confession has changed everything. He prays, “Lord, ‘You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance’” (v. 7). The weight of David’s sin has been lifted, “all his guilt is gone.” His physical agony and his groaning of body, heart and mind (v. 3) are no more. David is restored to intimate fellowship with his Lord and Savior. He ends this testimony psalm saying, “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (vv. 10-11).

Unconfessed guilt becomes an unbearable weight upon our souls. Sin separates us from God, from ourselves and from God’s people. It leads us to deceive and manipulate. Once the deception is conceived, it only traps us into greater sin as we seek to continue our narrative of denial and innocence. But God loves us too much to leave us spiraling into ever increasing darkness. Because David confessed and repented before God, the Lord has become David’s shelter, “a hiding place” (v. 7). God does not want us crushed by shame or held in bondage by our deception. The Lord wants us to be enfolded by his great mercy.  
 
Consider—
╬   Are you bearing the heavy weight of sin today? You don’t need to suffer this agony any longer! Follow David’s example in Psalm 32. Cry out to God. Use David’s words or your own. “I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” We want to pray with you and to celebrate as the Lord of Life forgives you and reconciles you to himself, to your own heart, and to God’s community. Don’t be afraid. Reach out today.

╬   When have you known the weight of God’s hand upon your unrepentant heart and mind? Remember when you confessed your sin to God and experienced his mercy and forgiveness. Like David, tell the story of how God reconciled you to himself. Others need to hear that the excruciating love of God is still available to them.

╬   O Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Scripture: Jude 24-25 (ESV)


At the end of his epistle, Jude takes his readers into a “big picture” perspective of eternal reality. He has drilled deeply into the presence of, and the temporal and eternal dangers of, false teachers who have slipped into their fellowship. Jude has been blunt. These interlopers are sexually immoral (vv. 4, 8), they scorn authority (vv. 8-10), they are “grumblers and faultfinders” who “follow their own evil desires” and “boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage” (v. 16). The situation is bad. Their presence is doing grave damage to the fellowship.

In verses 24 -25, Jude’s message changes. He draws back from the details of the messy, chaotic and dangerous moment in the church to whom he writes, and Jude says, “Nevertheless, remember God!” He reminds the struggling fellowship that God has always been God—from eternity past and through all eternity to come. The living God rules and reigns forever.

Jude begins his doxology saying, “Now to him who is able. . .” (v. 24). Who is able to care for these new believers? No god made of wood or stone or imagination can lead, protect, or rescue God’s beloved. Although they try endlessly, people cannot save themselves. Jude’s audience includes those people who are “are called [by God], beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (v. 1). The triune God who created them is able and willing to care his flock like the “Good Shepherd” cares for his sheep (Jn 10:11-14).

Jude goes on to say that the One who loves and cares for the believers is “able to keep you from stumbling” (v. 24). This stumbling is a “falling away” from God. This is what the false teachers are enabling and encouraging. Just as Jesus said to “remain in me [Christ]” (Jn 15:1-11), believers need vigilance, discernment, and commitment to God in Christ by the Spirit to seek truth that exposes the false teachings around them. The whole of Jesus’ instructions in Jn 15:4 promises, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” The disciples are to take great care to be diligent to the truth of Christ even while it is God who keeps them from permanently falling away. God is ever wooing his confused people back into his care.

The One who is able to keep his people from falling away in this world will then, before the throne of almighty God, “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (v. 24). Rather than the caricature of St. Peter reading a list of failures and sins at the pearly gates, Jesus will present God’s beloved people dressed in white robes, spotless from sin’s stains and blameless from the myriad ways we have betrayed our God, because of the Lamb who was slain (Rev 7:9). There will be great rejoicing when God’s people are forever reunited with him in the New Jerusalem!
         
Consider—
╬    Jude concludes his letter worshipping the Living God. “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 25). Take time to consider each of these attributes of our triune God. The weight of his Glory, the unparalleled greatness and honor of his Majesty, the complete, unrivaled reign of his Dominion, and the eternal supremacy of his Authority over all things past, present and future. Let your heart, mind and spirit enter into this glorious picture of your God and Savior. Worship Him. Amen.

╬   Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end! Amen. Amen.

Scripture: Jude 20-23 (ESV)


Through the majority of his epistle (vv. 3-19), Jude has not held back his harsh critique about the church’s false teachers. He has called them “grumblers, malcontents” who follow “their own sinful desires, are loud-mouthed boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage” (v. 16). These people are “scoffers” (v. 17) who reject and “deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 4). The circumstances in Jude’s church are not good and Jude is compelled to proclaim a wake-up call to those who will listen.

In today’s text, Jude has finished exposing these divisive and spiritually dangerous interlopers. He turns now to encouraging the faithful. “But you, beloved, . . . keep yourselves in the love of God” (v. 20). Remembering Paul’s declaration that nothing and no one, “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 8:39), they know that it is God who keeps his people secure in his love. But Jude insists that God’s beloved people also need to “cling to the Vine even as the Vine clings to them” (Jo 15:1-17). Jude tells them to be “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Spirit” (v. 20). God keeps them secure in their faith, and they themselves also need to engage the practices that build faith.

“Church,” Jude says, “remember who Christ Jesus is and what he has done and remember all that Jesus has taught you through the apostles by the Holy Spirit. And don’t forget to ‘pray in the Spirit.’” Jesus’ followers must persevere in the Christian faith.

In verses 20-23, Jude uses the word “mercy” three times. God’s mercy is first received and then extended. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (v. 21). Through Jesus, they have already received eternal life. They are also asked to expectantly wait, anticipating God’s ultimate gift of mercy which is eternal life in his presence. Waiting is a formal act of hope.

The second and third uses of the word mercy explain the duty of Jude’s readers toward others. “Have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire” (vv. 22-23). The faithful are asked to show compassion for those who doubt and to extend pity upon those who have been deceived by the false teachers. Actively, “snatch them from the fire” of destruction and separation from the eternal life won for them by Christ. Finally, to others, Jude insists that the faithful “show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (v. 23). This is another warning for Jesus’ followers in the church. Have compassion “with fear.” Take great care, use caution, and pray for Spirit-enabled protection against the enticing seduction of the false teachers’ claims. To “hate even the garment stained by flesh” is for the preservation of the faithful and to ensure that the name of Christ is not dishonored.

Consider—
╬    “Doubt” (v. 22) is real and common for us all. The false teachers have planted many seeds of doubt in the church. Is Jesus really who he said he is? Does God really love you? Are your many sins really forgiven by the blood of the Lamb? If God is good, why are bad things happening to you? We all need God the Spirit to lead us from doubt to faith. And we need the fellowship of our brothers and sisters who will walk with us through our doubts and into deepened faith and trust in the triune God. Who do you know who is doubting today? Engage them—listen, seek to understand, and share your own story of journeying from doubt to renewed faith. Hold their doubt until the Spirit revives their faith.

╬   Father of all mercy and compassion, keep us in your love. Through the power of God the Holy Spirit, show us how to build one another up for the furtherance of your kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture: Jude 17-19 (ESV)


Remember! “You must remember. . .” (v. 17)! The call to remember appears again and again throughout Scripture. To forget who God is and what he has done, to forget what God has commanded and what Jesus has accomplished, will always have grave consequences. Likewise, Jude tells the beloved, those faithful Christ followers within the church, to also remember the warnings made by prophets of old and by Jesus and his apostles—there will be trouble even within the Church of Christ.

There are no surprises here; there have always been, and will always be, those who reject and resist the Lord of Life. The apostle Peter says: “I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles. . . I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires” (2Pet 3:2-3). Jude points to false teachers who “have wormed their way into your churches” (v. 4), who “live immoral lives” (v. 4, 8), who are “grumblers and complainers,” faultfinders who “brag loudly about themselves and flatter others to get what they want” (v. 16).

Jude and Peter call them scoffers, mockers, slanderers. Jude says, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires” (v. 18). Jesus suffered at the hands of scoffers. The soldiers “stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, . . . they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’” (Mt 27:28-29). At Jesus’ crucifixion, “The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. . . The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. ‘He saved others,’ they scoffed, ‘but he can’t save himself!’” (Mark 15:29, 31).

Those who will not believe in Jesus have always been characters in God’s unfolding, redemptive story of salvation history, and they will be present until the Last Day. However, the scoffers inside the church are the urgent concern of Jude and Peter. Are the scoffers in Jude’s church rejecting Jesus, the resurrected and ascended Messiah? Are they rejecting Jesus’ teaching that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead? Are they rejecting Jesus’ commandments to live as his disciples were told? Are Jude’s scoffers simply “softening” Jesus and claiming that there is no need for whole-life commitment to the Living God?

What might it look like to be one of these false teachers, scoffers, today? These scoffers may claim to belong to the fellowship, but their private lives in their homes and with those who know the ways they love and live, demonstrate that they primarily serve themselves and “their own ungodly desires” (v. 18) before serving God or their neighbor. Scoffers create a narrative that seems like they understand and assent to the rule and reign of God over their lives and the redemption purchased for them by the blood of Christ the Lamb, but beneath the surface of things, the heart is full of deception. A scoffer’s carefully crafted mask worn to create a public and spiritually mature image will eventually slip. Incongruencies will always be exposed in the end. “Devoid of God the Spirit” (v. 19), scoffers cause increasing division in the church as a corrosive influence on community life. Jude has made clear, “these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction” (v. 10). Paul reminds us who the scoffers serve. “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (2Cor 4:4).

Jude tells the beloved that these are “the last times” (v. 18), the last days before the Lord’s return. The presence and the trouble caused by false teachers and scoffers should be no surprise because the church has been clearly warned. God himself knows what is happening in these last days and he is still in control. Thanks be to God!

Consider –
╬   Jesus said we are to love one another, to forgive one another, to take great care to take the log out of our own eye before we take a speck out of our friend’s eye. We are also called to be wise and discerning as we seek to keep in step with the Spirit of Truth. These things are directives for each of us and for all of us in community. Pray for eyes to see how you may have engaged in “scoffer” behavior or thought. Ask the Lord’s forgiveness. Pray for God’s protection for our fellowship and our leaders.

╬   Almighty Father, thank you for Jesus our Lord and Savior. Thank you for God the Spirit who firmly dwells within those who belong to Christ Jesus. We need you, triune God. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture:  Jude 11-16 (ESV)

“Woe to them! . . . . ‘See, the Lord is coming . . . .’” Jude 11 and 14

Jude devotes most of his words to talking to and about the Christian community—both (1) describing and critiquing the interlopers and (2) warning and exhorting his faithful but vulnerable brothers and sisters in Christ. Yet, it is important to receive Jude’s words to and about the community in relation to the ultimate point of reference, in relation to Jude’s ultimate concern: the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, Jesus is the one about whom the interlopers are spreading error. Jesus is the one whose authority they are rejecting. Jesus is the one whose will and designs they are flaunting and overturning. As we learned in verse 4, they “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” So, in the middle of this passage (vv. 11-16) we read the words, quoted from Enoch, that constitute the reference point for all that Jude says here: “See, the Lord is coming . . .” (v. 14).

The false teachers, the interlopers, arrogantly presume to be authorities unto themselves. However, the only One who has authority in Himself—indeed, IS an authority in Himself—is the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus was and is the antithesis to Jude’s description of the interlopers.

They are “shepherds who feed only themselves” (v. 12). Jesus is the Good Shepherd who powerfully feeds and cares for His flock (Jn 10:11-18). They are “clouds without rain” (v. 12). Jesus is Living Water (Jn 7:37-38). They are trees that are barren, “without fruit” (v. 12). Jesus is the Vine, giving life to the branches (Jn 15:1-8).

Clearly, Jude is concerned about and devotes many words—honest, pointed words—to describing the false teachers. Yet they are not his primary audience. His letter is not written to them. It is written to his fellow Christ-followers, whom he addresses as “Dear friends” (v. 3). The primary reason for his extended description of and harsh words about the interlopers is to undergird his exhortation to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (v. 3). And that “faith” is about and in Jesus. Divine judgment will come upon the “ungodly” interlopers because of, among other wrongdoing, “all the defiant words [they] have spoken against him” (v. 15).

Integral to “contend[ing] for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” is keeping our eyes and ears focused on Jesus. Does the teaching we find so appealing correspond to the teaching of Jesus? Does the teacher with whom we are enamored remind us, in at least some ways, of Jesus? (No one is precisely like Jesus, but teachers ought to reflect and direct our attention to Him.)

Thank the Lord for His Son, Jesus. Listen to Him and follow Him. (To which Jude would say, “Amen!”)

Consider –
╬   Any one of us, no matter how sincere and earnest, is capable of unwittingly embracing beliefs that are not consistent with the teachings of Jesus. Are there any beliefs of your own or beliefs that you observe being promoted “in the name of Christ” about which you have doubts? If so, invite a trusted Christian friend or pastor to discuss these with you and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in “the faith once delivered.”        
 
╬   Thank you, Father, for sending your Son, Jesus. By your Holy Spirit, enable us to cut through the distractions and deceptions that surround us, and guide us to follow Jesus in thought, word, and deed. In His name we pray. Amen.

Scripture:  Jude 5-10 (ESV)

 
Living close to the Rocky Mountains, I have enjoyed going off road and seeing some amazing vistas and scenery. Last summer I traveled through Colorado and Wyoming in a Toyota 4x4 with a few friends. We camped. We climbed mountains and had a great time. Even though there were some difficult trails to conquer my 4x4 did well.  But I was careful and knew what my truck could do or not do.

The Christian walk is similar. Like my experience last summer, the Christian is called by Jesus to stay on the course, to know what you can or cannot do, and to not test the limits of his authority and instruction. Unfortunately, not every person who calls themselves a Christian has learned this lesson.

Jude is warning us about this very issue. As those saved by Jesus Christ, we are called to follow Him, to imitate Him and to do as He taught us. At end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. . . And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (Mt. 7:24,26). A house built on the unstable foundation of sand will inevitably fall into destruction. Jude was concerned that some people are living like fallen angels (v. 6), like the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 7) and like unreasoning animals (v. 10). He is making a distinction from those who believe and follow Jesus, and those who do not believe and obey. He equates them with Cain, with Korah and ultimately, the Evil one (v. 9, 11) who did not believe God’s word or seek to obey God’s instructions. They followed their own passions and thereby, built their houses upon sand.  So where are you building your house?

Jude is also communicating that those who follow Jesus humbly seek to remain under God’s authority and are vigilant against following their worldly passions and desires. The archangel Michael remembers that it is God alone who judges evil. He says, “The Lord rebuke you” (v. 9) rather than speaking in his own authority as the highest of God’s angels. Michael’s response is in contrast to the devil who rebelled and rejected God’s authority. Jude is warning his readers that to reject God’s authority over their lives will lead to destruction. Which do you choose?

The world—the devil—tells us we can live without limits. We can follow our passions, and do what we want, when we want and how we want. Jude reminds his readers that they are “those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (v. 1). Our lives are not our own; we belong to Him. The beloved ones have all they need to stay the course and will seek to joyfully place themselves under God’s authority.

If I had driven my 4x4 recklessly in disregard of very real limits, I would never have finished my trip last summer. If I was driven only by a passion for adventure and for taking high-adrenalin trails that were not suitable, constantly pushing the limits of my 4x4, I would never have made it to the Big Horn Mountains. Remember who you are in Christ Jesus. Stay the course as you seek to walk faithfully according to God’s authority. Build your house on the Rock who is Jesus. Amen.

Consider—
╬      We are all under God’s authority we are called to trust God’s authority over our lives. When do you chafe at God’s authority? When does his “no” make you want to rebel and reject his limits? In humility, bring your rebellious heart to our loving God.

╬      Finitude means that we have boundaries to our physical, relational, and spiritual lives. Our days are just twenty-four hours long. No matter how many hours we wish them to be, each day has a God-given boundary. This finitude, these limits and boundaries, are a gift from the Lord. Give thanks to God for all of his set boundaries for your life. Where do you need a greater embrace of God’s boundaries and your own finitude?

╬      Holy and loving Father, teach us your ways and protect our hearts and minds from rebellion. It is too easy to live as the world lives. Help us to build our house on the firm foundation of the words and life of Jesus. Keep us for Christ Jesus that we may not reject you and your authority over our lives. May your grace be sufficient so that we learn to walk with humility. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture:  Jude 3-4 (ESV)

Scripture:  Jude 1-2 (ESV)

 
Today we begin a sermon series on the book of Jude. Jude is just twenty-five verses of warning that impending judgment is imminent because of the deceptions and compromises occurring in Jesus’ church. Jude will make clear that dangers to the church are found first and foremost within rather than outside the church. It is an important reality check for the church of Jesus.

But first, we have the greeting and blessing of verses 1 and 2. Jude tells us who he is: “a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (v. 1). James is Jesus’ brother, so Jude is also a brother of Jesus. James begins his own letter in a similar way: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). Though they are brothers to Jesus, James and Jude call themselves a servant. Rather than claiming the authority of brotherhood to Jesus, they claim the position of “doulos” meaning servant, slave (NLT) and bond-servant (NASB) to their Master and Lord. A bond-servant to Jesus is one who willingly, voluntarily, places himself under Christ’s authority as his devoted follower. No sibling rivalry or competition here. Jude and James declare submission to their earthly brother who is Christ the Lord.

Then Jude tells us who his audience is. He writes “to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for (in) Jesus Christ” (v. 1, ESV). The NLT phrases Jude’s greeting this way: “I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.” Three things define the identity of the letter’s recipients. God has called them, God loves them, and God keeps them. Each of these three is significant for Jesus’ followers in Jude’s day and also in ours.

God has called his own. By God’s initiative, they have been divinely selected and appointed for salvation according to God’s purposes. In Romans, Paul tells his letter’s recipients that they “are among those called (by God) to belong to Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:6). God himself has brought us, established us, called us into relationship with himself.

God loves his own. “God so loved” (Jn 3:16) his own that he gave us Jesus the Son. “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1Jn 4:10, NLT). The called ones are the loved ones.

God keeps his own in Christ Jesus. The word used here, from the root tereo, means to keep, to guard, to watch over. Jude closes his brief letter saying that God himself is able to “keep you from stumbling” (Ju 24) in the face of opposition, persecution, false teaching, and disunity in the church. In Christ Jesus, because of Christ in us, God preserves and protects his called, beloved people.

To end the brief introduction to his letter, Jude prays a greeting over God’s called, beloved, and kept people. “May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love” (Ju 2, NLT). “Yes,” God’s people said, “We need that today!”

Consider—
╬      Jude tells us who he is: a servant and slave to Jesus Christ. What would it look like for you to increasingly know yourself to be a slave and a servant of Jesus? Consider what you would have to surrender to the Lord to more fully become his servant – control, independence, autonomy, self-importance?

╬      And Jude tells us three things about who we are: called and loved and kept secure in Jesus by God the Father. We thank God for the truth of this, our identity. Is there one of the three that you doubt? Do you know in your heart, as well as in your mind, just how much God loves you? Ask God the Spirit to help you “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Eph 3:18-19) for God’s people.

╬      Holy and loving Father, you have called us by name and we belong to you. Regardless of our rebellious minds and sinful hearts, you love us completely and keep us secure in Jesus our Lord. We need your mercy, peace and love today and every day. May you be glorified in your church throughout all generations. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:1-7 (ESV)

 
It is interesting that in this list of titles for the Son of God, “Prince of Peace” appears last. In Hebrew, “Sar Shalom” is translated “Prince of Peace”. Sar means Commander, Captain or Ruler, while Shalom-peace, implies more than just the absence of outward conflict or the ending of turmoil.  It conveys a sense of wholeness, completion, perfection, safety and wellness.

To experience peace implies conflict before resolution. Earlier in the list, Mighty God (warrior God) is named.  Judges 6:19-27 describes the “Angel of the Lord,” or God incarnate, appearing to Gideon who prepares a sacrifice. When the sacrifice is miraculously consumed, Gideon fears he will die, having seen God face to face.  He is assured that he will not die but is then commanded to destroy the altar to Asherah, to disrupt the peace of his country, and build an altar to the Lord. God, the “disruptor of peace” uses Gideon and a handful of men to conquer the hosts of Midian, without the accoutrements of war. This foreshadows the Messiah who beginning with a small band of disciples, in the end, overcomes the mighty hosts of Antichrist, the enemy of his Church, as Isaiah describes the fall of the “Day Star” or the last great enemy. War and conflict precede a new era of peace where war and its methods are no longer required.  The disruptor of peace, the warrior God, finally embodies the title Prince of Peace.

Shalom comes from living in harmony with God. The fruit of that harmony is unity with others, prosperity, health, satisfaction, soundness, wholeness and well-being. It is a covenant word, and an expression of God’s faithful relationship with his people. Praying to Yahweh Shalom is praying to the source of all true peace.

Jesus is not referred to as the Prince of Peace in the New Testament, but this title from Isaiah has traditionally been associated with him as the One who brings peace to the world. In Ephesians 2:14-16, Paul refers to Jesus saying, “He himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”  Living in peace is to live in his presence.

The Greek word for peace is eirene.  Like the Hebrew concept of Shalom, this portrays peace as much more than the absence of conflict. The New Testament further develops our understanding of peace by revealing Jesus as the source of all peace. Alienated from God by sin, Jesus reconciled us, making peace through his blood. Peace with God then produces peace with others and peace within us.

Jesus brought peace from God to the earth. More than the absence of war, more than silence or tranquility, His peace is a restoration of our relationship with God, the peace we lost at the fall of Adam and Eve, when we became God’s enemies. Because of Jesus, we are again friends with God.  He bought our place in God’s throne room and God’s heart.  He made peace between God and us.

As true God and true man, he absorbed death as only life itself could. He conquered sin because he IS righteousness. He overcame the powers of darkness and demonic oppression because his power is greater than that of the world.  Because life, power and righteousness exist in God alone, and due to His great love for us, he chose to ransom us from sin and death, to become our Sar Shalom.

Consider—
╬      Are you experiencing Christ’s peace in your life? Have you made compromises that have eroded your faith?  Do you rely on news media to shape your perspective, distorting the deeper truths of your faith?  Are you more connected to culture than to Sar Shalom? Ask the Prince of Peace how can you participate more deeply in his peace.

╬      What steals your peace?  How often do you experience habits of worry and anxiety? Ask Jesus to free you from these so that you may reside more consistently in His peace.

╬      Holy Child of God, you shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace! Thank you for your great love and your ultimate work of peace. You became the perfect sacrifice and substitution for our sin so that we might be friends with God and enjoy Him forever.  May we live in that peace and bring it into our relationships and our world, not just at Christmas but throughout the year. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:1-7 (ESV)

Coming Soon!

Scripture:  Revelation 12:1-5 (ESV)


“The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth . . .” Revelation 12:4

There are many ways in which the truth of Christmas becomes either distorted or simply abandoned altogether. For example, cherished gifts such as family are a wonderful part of the celebration of Christmas. But even this great gift can take the place of the celebration of the Giver of the gift. Or the call to celebrate Christmas is seen as a call for “Peace,” without any acknowledgment of the Prince of Peace and the unique peace that He brings. And there is another way in which truth about Christmas can be distorted or lost. Christmas can become sentimentalized.

The people of squalid sections of London in Charles Dickens’ stories are portrayed as cheery shoppers in a bright suburban mall. The people in Norman Rockwell’s renderings are cozy and well-fed betraying the suffering of the Depression and World War eras. More significantly, the little Lord Jesus? The sky over his “sweet head” is “bright” with stars and “No crying He makes.”

In fact, the reality of Christmas—that the Son of God came to earth and took upon Himself human being—is at the heart of a cosmic drama. Drama does not here refer to a fiction or mere legend, but rather a this-worldly battle between good and evil, between heaven and earth, between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Darkness. In one vignette from the apostle John’s visions of this drama, “an enormous red dragon . . . swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.” Then the dragon “stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born” (Rev 12:3-4).

Yet, this is not the conclusion of the drama. Many centuries before John, the prophet Isaiah assured the people of God living in “the land of deep darkness” that “a great light” would shine (Is 9:2). And for John in Revelation the threat from the dragon is not the conclusion of the drama. Rather he reports, “Now have come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah” (Rev 12:10).

This story, the cosmic drama of God and the world, is not a story like Star Wars. The story of God and the world is not a story of two equal but opposing forces—good and evil. We are not uncertain and need not be anxious about the outcome of the cosmic drama. God has ever been, is, and will always be the supremely good, powerful, sovereign Creator and Lord over all creation . . . including that which has fallen into evil. As Revelation 12 proclaims, this Lord and no other “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (Rev 12:5; cf. Ps 2:9).

While it is true every day of the year, at this time of year we are particularly reminded and joyously celebrate the fact that the Light “has dawned” (Is 9:2) and has come into the world. Thanks be to God for Emmanuel, God with us!

Consider –
╬   Is there a “dark” situation in your personal life of which you are particularly afraid? If there is, pause now. Bring it to the feet of Jesus and let Him shine His Light upon it and to bring His peace to your spirit.

╬   Is there a “dark” situation in the world of which you are particularly afraid? If there is, bring it to the feet of Jesus now and all through the Advent season. In your heart and mind, let Him shine His Light upon it and bring His peace to your spirit and to the weary world around us.

╬   Thank you, Father, for sending the Light, who is your Son, into our dark world. By your Spirit enable us to seek, find, rest in and walk in the Light of Jesus. Amen.

Scripture:  Malachi 1-5, 16-18, Isaiah 9:1-7 (ESV)

   
“Long lay the world in sin and error pining. . .” These familiar words from the first stanza of O Holy Night make the world’s condition clear: All of creation needs a Savior. And in creation, God has been revealing the world’s need to every generation since the Garden of Eden, and every generation, every individual, has been asked to be honest about the need for a savior.

Acknowledging our need of a savior is the difference between life and death. This isn’t hyperbole—Paul warns us, “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Since the Garden, throughout history, humanity has been inclined to deny its need for a savior. Self-sufficiency (“I’m mostly good and can manage my shortcomings.”) and comparison (“We aren’t as wicked as they are.”) only deepen our denial and lure us into complacency. But God wants us to know the desperate need of the world, and to be wide awake to our propensity toward sin.

Remember—our Creator is a holy God whose ardent love for the world compels him to come to the world. When our first parents ate of the Garden’s forbidden fruit, their disobedience brought them separation from holy fellowship, shame over their rebellion, and the compulsion to hide from the divine Lover of their souls (Gen 3). Without the intimate fellowship of the Creator, the world was plunged into darkness. Our forefathers and mothers yearned for God’s atonement for their sin and rebellion as they offered daily sacrificial lambs and exhaustingly strove to keep God’s laws. For millennia this was the only pathway to the life and light of God. All along, the living God made clear that he alone would provide the one true Savior who could meet the world’s desperate need. Isaiah foretells the promise: “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. . . Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Is 49:13, 46).

When the time was fulfilled, “the people who walked in darkness” were shown “a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Is 9:2). The Answer to the world’s “deep darkness” and desperate need for a savior was announced by angels to watchful shepherds: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2:11). The angels did indeed “sing for joy”!

Christ has come and “the weary world rejoices”! The Savior has come and has provided the necessary sacrifice for the sin of the world. At Christmas we celebrate that God has accomplished through Christ the Son what we could not accomplish through sacrifice and law-keeping.

But there is more to know and embrace. “He, the Savior, knows our need” and those who walk in this dark and sin-stained world know they need a Savior who continually comes. Today and every day until Christ returns, still we need a Savior. Sin continues to separate us from holy fellowship, we continue in shame over our rebellion, and we continue to compulsively try to hide from the divine Lover of our souls. All of humanity, even those who fervently “confess that Jesus is Lord” (Ro 10:9) and are saved into eternal life with Christ, daily, hourly, need the Savior.  

We “Fall on our knees,” we “Behold our King” and before Him we “lowly bend.” Immanuel—God with us reminds us that we need the Savior.

Consider –
╬    Immanuel—God-with-us is a comfort to those who seek God, a gift to those who know their need of the Savior. But to those who are self-sufficient, to those who trust in themselves or prefer to hide from God their Creator, God-with-us can feel like a problem. The Lord knows our weakness, and he knows how desperately we need the Savior even if we try to deny that reality. Does God-with-us feel like a problem to be solved or ignored? Or does Immanuel—God-with-us bring you comfort, joy, and peace?

╬    Malachi 3 tells us that a holy God comes to refine, restore, and redeem. What would it look like for you to lay down all your defenses and self-justification before this life-giving love of God?

╬    Our Lord Immanuel, “Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, let all within us praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever! His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim! His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim!” In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:1-7 (ESV)

Scripture:  Luke 18:9-14 (ESV)


The preface of this parable is startling. In crystal clear terms, Luke states the intent of the parable from the outset. The parable describes the audience to whom Jesus is speaking: “[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (v. 9). Jesus was speaking to people who were self-sufficient and self-confident in their righteousness and moral uprightness. These are people who believe that their works and piety saved them. Those listening to Jesus that day held the Pharisees as the example of scrupulous, godly obedience and perfection in true piety.

In the parable, two men are in the temple praying aloud—a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee is moral, upright, and self-sufficient. In his prayer he thanks God, with self-congratulatory thanks, listing ways that he goes above and beyond the requirements of the Law to demonstrate his righteous devotion to God. In Jewish Law fasting is required during the Day of Atonement, but this Pharisee fasts two times every week (v. 12). His tithing practice is likewise beyond the Law’s requirements. The Pharisee has deep contempt for others. He compares his goodness to those nearby and believes them to be obviously full of sin and less worthy than he.

The other praying man was a tax collector, the lowest and worst example of a Jewish citizen at that time.  Not only had tax collectors consented to work for Rome, but they were cheats, thieves and extortionists who demanded money from their Jewish brothers to enrich themselves. However, this man stood afar off, would not lift his eyes toward God and humbly, reverently confessed his sin. He prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (v. 13). In a shocking twist to the listeners, Jesus tells those listening that this man, this sinful tax collector, left the temple justified in the eyes of God (14).  

The contrast between the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector is clear. Both men have no doubt come to the temple at the time of sacrifice. With contrition and humility, the tax collector asks for God’s mercy for his sin. In essence, in his prayer he requests that the blood of the lamb sacrifice would pay the penalty of his sin. “Beating his breast” (v. 13) in mourning over his sin, the tax collector begged for God’s mercy.  The Pharisee didn’t seek mercy and felt no need to empty himself before God. He believed his works justified him.

Jesus pronounced the tax collector “justified” (v. 14).  Justification is forgiveness, the gift of a new standing before God. Justification does not imply holiness, a new moral character, nor moral renewal.  These things develop from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that accompanies justification.  Justification is due to God’s mercy alone, nothing else. Conversion is the act of turning to God rather than adopting new behavior.  It is penitence followed by a changed life, and Jesus contrasts this with the self-sufficient Pharisee and the broken-hearted, humble, tax collector.

Perhaps the most important lesson of the parable is found in Jesus’ response to the contempt that the Pharisee has for those he believes are beneath him. One commentator writes, “What counts as righteousness before God? Righteous acts without compassion and love are not considered righteous by God.” The Pharisee prayed a prideful and self-congratulatory prayer while the tax collector prayed a humble, penitent prayer. God truly hears us when we pray. And God knows the true heart behind our converse with him.

Consider –
╬    God hears our prayer and knows the heart condition from which we pray? Does this truth make you pause? When you pray, what do you pray aloud in the hearing of others?  Is your focus on the holiness of God or your own situation and circumstances?

╬    What are the motives behind your work and your actions?

╬    Abba Father, Jesus our Lord and Savior, Spirit of Truth—search my heart and reveal to me seeds of self-sufficiency, of pride, of social comparison.  Show me the true nature of my heart and reveal my utter dependence and need for your mercy, grace, and justification.  More than anything, pronounce me justified before the God of the universe, the supreme judge, and plant in me a desire to become more like you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Scripture:  Luke 16:19-31 (ESV)


Today’s passage examines a well-known parable of Jesus—that of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man, who is given no name and yet is the main character of this story, lives in comfort and luxury. He is described as wearing “purple and fine linen … every day” (v. 19). In a time when purple dye came from crushing large quantities of the murex shellfish that lived in the waters near Tyre, the man lived an extravagant life in every sense.  The rich man “lived each day in joyous splendor” (v. 19).

At the rich man’s gate lies a poor man, who is given the name Lazarus and yet has no speaking role in the story. Lazarus is a poor beggar with a physical disability who cannot care for himself. He cannot even fend off the local dogs, who lick his open sores. He longs to eat the scraps that fall from the rich man’s table (v. 21). By anyone’s standards, he is extremely lowly, an object of pity and fear. The rich man travels past him daily and ignores his plight.

Death comes for both of these men. The rich man is described as being “buried,” which suggests an elaborate ceremony that contrasts with what was likely a quiet, unnoticed passing of Lazarus. “The angels carried [Lazarus] to Abraham’s side” (v. 22) where all good Jewish people expected to be in death. The rich man, quite unexpectedly for this Jewish audience, goes to the realm of the dead in Hades, where he suffers tremendously in a fiery torment.

The rich man begs Abraham that Lazarus, whom he still conceives of as a kind of servant, be sent to bring a merciful taste of water. Abraham replies that the rich man is getting his just desserts for his callous treatment of Lazarus. Undaunted, the man continues to argue, begging that Lazarus be sent to the rich man’s family to warn them of the fiery fate to come. “They have Moses and the Prophets,” replies Abraham. “Let them listen to them” (v. 29). Portentously, Abraham adds that even a sign such as “someone being raised from the dead” (v. 31) would not convince the relatives of the rich man if the Scriptures had not.

The somber ending of this parable would have been startling to the original hearers. Unlike a similar rabbinic parable in which the rich sinner did get to heaven for doing just one good deed, this story raised the possibility that hell was filled with seemingly devout people. The audience at the time would have been filled with Pharisees. Many of them, we know from Scripture, were lovers of money who justified themselves in the eyes of others, with lives defined by self-indulgence and self-righteousness. It is easy to imagine the offended sniffs and angry mutters.

Consider –
╬    It’s not hard to imagine the mood of the crowd after Jesus told this startling story. How did Jesus engage with people afterward? What did they discuss? How did they connect? Are there any lessons for us?

╬    In life, the rich man ignored Lazarus, did not share the leftover scraps from his table, and refused to show mercy to those who had less than he did. What might it look like to be known for being a merciful person in your workplace or neighborhood?

╬    Lord, we are undeserving of your mercy. Thank you for the welcome that will be ours at the end. In the meantime, as we run the race, keep us from self-satisfaction and self-righteousness, and give us a loving, evangelistic zeal for our neighbors, relatives, colleagues, and classmates. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture:  Matthew 20:1-16 (ESV)

Scripture:  Luke 15:11-32 (ESV)

Scripture:  Luke 12:13-21 (ESV) 
As Jesus is teaching one day, a man in the crowd appeals to him with a complaint: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (v. 14). We know nothing about this man’s situation, but we can assume that an inheritance not fairly split between siblings was as fraught a situation in the first century as it would be today. The man feels he is being treated unjustly, and he wants the help of the Teacher. It was not necessarily inappropriate for the man in the crowd to ask Jesus for help in the matter of his family inheritance. It could have been the role of a rabbi to arbitrate in a situation like this, or to at least give advice. So Jesus’ response to the man’s appeal is surprising. He shows no sympathy. He does not ask the man any questions or try to assess the case against his brother. He does not summon the inheritance-stealing offender forward or delegate one of his disciples to follow up on the situation (“Thomas, go with this man to his brother’s house and let’s see if we can bring about some resolution to this family quarrel”).

No.  Rather, Jesus immediately rejects the man’s request, and replies emphatically, almost confrontationally, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (v. 14). In other words, Jesus says, “I have nothing to do with this.”  The man in the crowd is trying to draw the Lord into a family squabble, and Jesus refuses to take the bait. The Son of God did not come to earth to help decide civil cases or to litigate economic disputes, and He will not waste precious time haggling over lesser issues.

Instead, he turns to the crowd, and cuts straight to the heart of the issue, exposing not only the inheritance-hogging brother, but also his whining sibling, and every heart of every listener in the crowd: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (v. 15).

This, Jesus says, is the real threat: Not unfair inheritance distribution, but greed taking root in the hearts of anyone who trusts in possessions. The verb “be on your guard” is a present imperative, calling for ongoing vigilance against greed. This is not a dragon that one slays once and for all. It is an ongoing fight to guard the heart and prune the weeds of covetousness. To illustrate the danger of this deadly sin, Jesus then tells the crowd one of the most straightforward and poignant parables in all of Scripture, found only in Luke:

A rich man had so many crops he didn’t know what to do with all his bounty. So, he makes a plan:  He’ll build big enough barns to store all his grain and all his riches. From a certain angle, the rich man’s actions could be called prudent. He has had a good year, and he will build larger barns to store his earnings. The listener sees the problem, though, in the man’s self-congratulatory, self-sufficient and self-gratifying posture: “…And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry’” (v. 19).  The Rich Fool is self-obsessed. In vs. 17 - 19, he says “I” six times and speaks of “my crops,” “my grain,” “my goods,” and “my soul.” His retirement years are in view, and he will keep his abundance for his own private enjoyment.
 
But the man has forgotten about God, and he has forgotten about death. God has a terrible announcement:  “Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”  (v. 20). This, says Jesus, is the fate of the one “who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (v. 21).

It’s a shocking and devastating plot twist. The man in the parable had worked and prepared his whole life and had been gifted with abundance. But instead of being generous toward God and His kingdom, thereby investing in what would last for eternity, he hoarded his excess for a future of personal enjoyment that was never guaranteed him. All he had trusted in was lost.

The parable is titled “The Rich Fool.” In the Old Testament, a fool is someone who acts without wisdom in a self-destructive way. Making money and having possessions are not sins in and of themselves. A fool allows greed to take root in their heart as they trust in possessions rather than trusting in God who generously, lovingly, and righteously gives and takes away.

Consider—
╬ Comparing ourselves to others is a chronic obsession for the young and old among us. Comparison gives birth to a spirit of scarcity within us and a fear of not having enough. How preoccupied are you with comparing your possessions with others’ possessions: your clothes compared to your friend’s clothes, your house compared to your sister’s house, your car compared to your brother’s car, your retirement account compared to your neighbor’s account? How does comparison affect you: are you more inclined to hoard your possessions or to be generous with them? How is comparison with others revealed in your daily actions: Are you inclined to compulsively strive for more or are you genuinely content with what you have?

╬ What do you do with your wealth—your time, talents, possessions? Do you consider them “mine”? Do you use your abundance to entertain and please yourself? Ask the Lord to show you how you can use your possessions as a tool to bless others and build God’s kingdom?

╬   Father God, help me to be a faithful and generous steward of every blessing that comes my way. Help me to see that everything I have comes from you. Give me the grace to hold my possessions with an open hand and to give generously for the glory of Your eternal kingdom. In Christ, Amen!

Scripture:  Matthew 18:21-35 (ESV)
 
Today we come to the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, where the themes of “mercy,” “forgiveness” and “a transformed heart” are on display. Please take a few minutes to read Matthew 18:21-35. We should note that Jesus had given the topic of forgiveness great attention in his teaching to the disciples. For example, when teaching them to pray, the one condition our Lord includes is our readiness to forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15). The Jewish Talmud taught that one person was to be forgiven three times. Peter, likely thinking he was offering a generous readiness to forgive offenses, asked Jesus ‘how many times is enough? Seven?’ (Mt 18:21). Jesus’ response of 77 (or maybe 490!) clearly suggests that there is no limit. I hear Jesus saying to Peter, “If you are counting, you are not forgiving with your heart.”

Then, to make his point, Jesus presents a parable about a king and his servants who owe debts to the king. One servant owed him 10,000 talents. Craig Blomberg says:
Jesus is speaking of an infinite debt. The servant begged the king for mercy. The king took pity and canceled the debt entirely, bearing the cost himself, letting the servant go. The heavenly parallel becomes clear. God is our master and our King. In our sins, we owe a debt that could never be repaid because, “the wages of our sin is death” (Rom 6:23). But God is merciful and forgiving. When we come to the end of ourselves and cry out for mercy, Jesus bears the cost, God extends extravagant mercy and forgives our debt, and he restores us to relationship with himself.

In our parable the forgiven servant is owed a relatively modest sum from another servant. The forgiven servant demands payment. He disregards the fellow servant’s cry for mercy, chokes him and throws him in prison, demanding full payment. When the king hears this, he summons the forgiven servant, throws him in prison and has him tortured! I hear the king saying, “How can anyone who has experienced the lavish mercy I showed you have such a cruel, unforgiving, ungenerous attitude toward others? Your heart is hard, and you have not understood my mercy and forgiveness.”

Tim Keller summarizes it beautifully in his excellent book entitled Forgive:
Consider—
╬   The mercy we have received is the mercy we have to extend. The forgiveness, the grace, the love we have received flows from God to us, and from us to others. Take a moment to reflect on what you have received from God through Christ Jesus, by the Spirit. When has God lavished mercy upon you? When did he forgive you an impossible debt? Worship the Risen and Ascended Christ and give him thanks and praise.

╬   Is there someone whom you have not forgiven? Your unforgiveness stands between your heart and the heart of the Father for you—your unforgiveness is costly indeed. Ask the Lord to soften the soil of your heart that you might receive his forgiveness and extend His forgiveness to others. For the sake of Christ, ask him to help you let it go.

╬   Father, thank you for loving us, for forgiving us and for saving us.  Holy Spirit remind us of the mercy and grace that the Lord has extended toward us.  We want your divine mercy to change our hearts. Help us to liberally extend all that we have received to others who have sinned against us.  We pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.