May 2009
May 1, 2009
AWESOME GOD
Readings: Exodus 39:32-40:16 and Luke 8:22-39
Israel never directly approached God. The Tabernacle and later the Temple were the place they went to pray to God. The priest was the intermediary between God and the people.
Jesus came into the world. The need for a priest was assumed by Jesus. He is God's Son.
We see Him acting as God's Son in two awesome acts in our lesson today. We see Him calm a storm.
The disciples were scared to death of storms. They were experience sailors, but storms could tear a small boat to bits in minutes. Jesus calmed the storm by His word to the storm to be still. He then asked the disciples where their faith was.
Jesus also exorcised a demon in Gentile country on the east side of Lake Galilee. The man was possessed for many years. He lived in the hills because he was so fierce and frightening to the people. Jesus talked to the demons and told them to depart. They did!
The demons then inhabited a group of swine nearby. The swine dove over a cliff to their deaths. The swineherds went into town and told what had happened. The townsfolk came out and asked Jesus to depart from them because He scared them. Jesus then sent the man back to the people to witness to what had happened. He did so!
Jesus shows us today what an awesome God we have. We have no reason to fear anything happening to us. God is always looking out for our good. He sent Jesus to die and to rise so we can have the hope of life forever with Him.
Our fear merely shows a lack of faith. Our fear comes when our brain combines history and emotional reactions to past events so we see them as a reason to be afraid. If we think just a minute, we can pray to God and ask Him to relieve our fear and help us to see His almighty power working for our good. We can look at today's verses and know that nature and even demons obey Jesus. He is God.
Prayer. Lord, the next time fear tries to grip us, help us to look to You for protection. In Jesus' name. Amen.
May 2, 2009
ONLY BELIEVE
Readings: Exodus 40:17-Leviticus 7:38 and Luke 8:40-56
As we begin a new book of the Bible, we might do well to see how the book relates to the story of Jesus. Leviticus is a book to help Israel show its faith to other cultures and amongst themselves. The first seven chapters tell of sacrifices. Most of the Israelite sacrificial system pointed to Jesus. The animal sacrifices used blood and body of an animal to deal with various sins and also with communion. The substitution of the animal for the human to forgive sin also talks of Jesus, the Perfect Substitute for us to forgive our sins. The sacrifices showed the faith of the worshipper in God for forgive their sins.
Jesus also looked for faith amongst the Israelites of His day. He found very little faith. Two people of faith were the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus, a synagogue ruler. Their stories are intertwined, as they both relate to faith.
Jairus had a daughter. She'd fallen ill. He wanted Jesus to come and to heal her. The crowd was so large, they couldn't get very far.
Enter the woman. She'd been ill with a hemorrhage for 18 years. No doctor had been able to cure her. She touched Jesus. He felt it and asked who'd touched Him. The woman, trembling, came forward. Jesus told her she'd been saved by her faith. She was cured immediately.
By the time everyone arrived at Jairus' house daughter had died. Jesus took only Peter, James, John, and the mother of the girl into the room. He spoke to her and she lived.
Faith keeps us looking to God for help. The woman knew touching Jesus could cure her. She was able to make her way to Jesus because He looked for her. Faith made her believe she'd get to Jesus. She did. Jesus commended her.
The same is true of Jairus. He trusted that Jesus would come to his house and right the situation with his daughter. In spite of the unbelief of the servants, he let Jesus go in to see his daughter. His daughter was alive again.
Faith holds hope like Jairus and the woman. It has enough patience to wait for God's time to act and to solve a problem. Best of all, faith is God's gift to us because the Holy Spirit brings us to faith and keeps is in the faith. We, too, can see God act in wonders in our lives. Only believe!
Prayer. Lord, increase our faith so we always look to You in time of trouble or in time of need. In Jesus' name. Amen.
May 3, 2009
A MISSION OF TELLING ACTIONS
Readings: John 10:11-18 and Acts 4:1-12
We began this post-Easter series of messages with discussing the unity and the community expressed in the Early Church. We saw how they worked together to see no Christian, Jew or Gentile, was in need. We now see their actions outside their own community.
Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening. He'd first appeared to two disciples on the Emmaus Road. John tells this story with the inclusion of the authority to forgive and to retain sins. Here we see Jesus telling the disciples to quit being afraid. He shows them His hands and His feet to prove it's Him. Then He eats a piece of raw fish in front of them. They know then it's Jesus.
In Acts 3, we see the bold and open disciples. They are preaching in the temple. If they were still afraid, they wouldn't have gone near the temple.
Something interesting happened. They were met by a lame man. Luke seems to have wished to show how much like Jesus the apostles were. Peter and John restored the man's ability to walk. He went about walking and leaping and praising God.
The healing attracted attention. Peter and John began to preach. Them people listened because they'd just seen a sign of Jesus' power.
The action Peter and John did was one meant to attract attention. No other preachers or Bible teachers could talk to a lame man and cause him to get up and walk. Very few people even stopped to offer the man any kind of help. He did beg for alms, special offerings for those who were physically or emotionally challenged. Peter and John didn't have money. They had given up their profession as fishermen to preach the Gospel. They'd seen the resurrection of Jesus. Now they were telling the world what they'd actually seen.
Their sermon tells us how we need to preach the Gospel. We call no attention to ourselves. We are but the conduit from which God delivers His saving message. Peter told the people that God had glorified Jesus. They had made Jesus suffer and put Him to death unfairly. God raised Jesus. Jesus had returned to heaven until He would come again to make a new heavens and a new earth.
Peter also called for repentance, a change of heart and mind. This is also necessary when we talk to people about Jesus.
How do we do when we have a chance to talk about Jesus? Do we pray for the Holy Spirit to come and to help us, or do we shy away in fear? How do our actions match our words? May God grant that we preach boldly about Jesus and that our actions match our words.
Prayer. Lord, give us the boldness and courage of the apostles so we can stand up to those in our society who misuse and abuse Your Word and others. In Jesus name. Amen.
May 4, 2009
GETTING ON WITH GOD'S MISSION
Readings: Leviticus 9:1-17 and Luke 9:18-36
Often we need to get on with our lives. If some bad thing happens, we need to deal with it, then to get on. When someone hurts us, we need to forgive and get on. God's people always continue on.
Moses and Israel continued on after Moses' 40 days on Sinai. They set up society and built the tabernacle, a place to meet God. They also needed to begin the business of sacrificing animals in their place to God. Aaron did so. His sacrifice, done for his sins, was accepted by God sending fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
Jesus didn't need to sacrifice animals for sin. He was and is the sinless Son of God. He made the one sacrifice for all sins. His sacrifice forgives all sins. It was good when He made it, it is good now, and remains good to all eternity.
Jesus stood on a mountain once in the Gospel of Luke. He changed His appearance to bright white. Moses and Elijah, the two great Old Testament prophets, came to confer with Him. Their presence showed Jesus as the Greatest of All Prophets and as the Messiah. Jesus came down from that mountain and went towards His sacrificial mission of suffering, dying, and rising again to forgive our sins and to give us the hope of life with God forever.
God's mission for us is to spread the news about Jesus' sacrifice for us to all the world. We spread the word by our lives. We are always willing to sacrifice for God and for others. We always proclaim Jesus with our thoughts, actions, and words. When we act more like Peter, and ask Jesus not to send us into mission and to "do it our way," we deny Jesus and tell the world we're not really His people. When we show Him and fulfill our mission, we tell the world about Jesus so they can join us in the hope of eternal life.
How well are we ge tting on with God's mission?
Prayer. Lord, help us to always be about Your mission by our sacrificial giving to You and others. In Jesus name. Amen.
May 5, 2009
TO BE JESUS'S DISCIPLE
Readings: Leviticus 10:1-15:33 and Luke 9:37-62
In Jesus's day, many rabbis and teachers had disciples. The disciples would follow them wherever they went. Disciples gave up their jobs and families, even left family duties, to follow that teacher. They would also give the teacher pay for teaching them.
Jesus hoped His disciples will know well enough to send a father distraught over his son's demon possession to Him. They didn't. They also had no power to exorcise the boy. Jesus did exorcise the boy. He then told the disciples about His Passion.
The disciples never figured out what Jesus meant in His sayings. They usually did the opposite after He told them something.
How many of us fight for positions of authority or for honor of some sort? The disciples did so. Jesus rebuked them and told them they needed to trust in Him like a child. He wanted them to be child-like, not childish.
Following Jesus also meant giving up family ties and all one had or owned to walk with Jesus each day. None of the men in Luke were really ready to do so. Jesus answered one man that he would give up having a home. Herod had his palaces. The Romans had the world. Jesus didn't have such things. His disciples often wouldn't have them either.
The second and third men also showed no care for Jesus' teaching. They had to first attend to some traditional business, then deal with being disciples. The priority in being a disciple was to follow after Jesus.
What do we use as excuses for not following Jesus? Is Jesus the first priority in our lives?
Jesus made us the first priority in His life. He was arrested and mistreated by the religious rulers of His day. Pilate gave the order to crucify Him. He died the death of a common criminal. He was buried. He rose from the grave on the third day. So great was His priority for us. He went back to heaven and will return to take us to live with Him forever in heaven. He made us His first priority. Do we make Him our first priority?
Prayer. Lord, help us to always make You the first priority in our lives. In Jesus name. Amen.
May 6, 2009
SENT INTO MISSION
Readings: Leviticus 16:1-24 and Luke 10:1-22
At our baptism we were sent into mission for God. God took us, used Jesus' blood to wash us, re-clothed us in Jesus' righteousness, and sent us our into mission. We may not have been aware of it at that time, but the mission was there for us to fulfill. Jesus had fulfilled all the needs of atonement, previously done on Yom Kippur, and had won forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God for us.
Jesus sent 72 men into mission once. The number was the number of member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. It also signified 6 men from each tribe of Israel. The instructions were to take very little with them. Their needs would be supplied by those hearing and heeding their preaching. If someone didn't heed their preaching, they were to shake the dust off their sandals, an ancient way of showing a curse on that house, and depart. Don't give undue time to those not interested in the Gospel right now.
The 72 return. They exult in their power over demons. They tell of the great things they were able to do. These are all the signs Jesus told them were not important. No, they were to rejoice in the fact that they would be among those in heaven.
Jesus also prayed when the 72 returned. He thanked His Father that these men, not considered wise by worldly standards, were the ones He used to tell the Gospel. The wise trusted too much in their wisdom and power. These men let God work and saw the results. God had revealed the Son to those who would believe because God gave them the faith to believe.
What does this mean for us? We're also sent on a mission. Our mission isn't to find the fanciest way to preach the Gospel. Our mission isn't to find the cutest way to preach the Gospel. Our mission is to go and to preach the Gospel and to let the Holy Spirit take control of the situation to convert the people. We can do simple things to convert them. We can do simple deeds to love and to care for them. The Gospel is still preached. Human enhancements mean nothing. In the end, it's the word about Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection for us that is our message. All else is unnecessary.
Prayer. Lord, let the Holy Spirit lead and guide us as we proclaim Your saving love to all people. In Jesus name. Amen.
May 7, 2009
ARE YOU BEING AUTHENTIC?
Readings: Leviticus 24:1-25:55 and Luke 12:54-13:17
One of the biggest issues facing today's church is being authentic. We need to live what we preach and to preach what we live. We can not afford to be like the Biblical Pharisees, who changed the rules every time they needed to do so.
God tells Israel to be authentic and different in Leviticus. The ;point of the seventh and the fiftieth years was for rest and reconciliation. Everything was made free and new in the Year of Jubilee, the fiftieth year. Do we do such things? Probably not.
Jesus also talks about a kind of freedom and authenticity. He tells the Pharisees and the religious leaders they aren't in the least authentic They make one rule for one person and another for another person. Jesus couldn't heal and free a woman from an eighteen year old malady on the Sabbath. A person could untie a colt or even a donkey on the Sabbath. One could even lift an animal from a ditch on the Sabbath if that animal was needed for work. But, healing was strictly forbidden work. This constitutes a double standard. Authenticity it isn't.
The question comes back to us. Are we really authentic in our faith. Do we try to love and care for others at all times. Do we set rules so we can get out of doing what Jesus wants us to do? Does our business and making of money come before our living out our faith?
Jesus died so we could be made right with God again. Jesus rose from death so we could have the hope of our own resurrection. He told the disciples about His mission constantly throughout His ministry. He never set rules to avoid doing what God had sent Him to do. Are we as authentic? Does our mission to seek the lost so they can be brought to faith in Jesus Christ show in our lives at all times?
Being authentic to our faith is important. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us through God's Word and through Holy Communion He gives us the ability to be authentic.
Prayer. Lord, let the Holy Spirit lead us so our faith shows as authentic to the world.. In Jesus name. Amen.
May 8, 2009
ALL IN ITS OWN TIME
Readings: Leviticus 26:1-20 and Luke 13:18-35
Blessings and curses were a part of every ancient treaty. God also uses blessings and curses to help Israel to know His requirements for their lives. Israel would eventually be blessed by God to live in the Promised Land.
Jesus says God's kingdom grows like a seed and like leaven. A seed grows and becomes a plant. Leaven grows and raises bread and other baked goods. In either case, we do nothing to cause the growth. We merely reap the benefits of the growth.
We also learn today that heaven is God's to give. We can strive to enter by acting properly and doing what God tells us to do. But, we can't do that. Faith is our only hope of getting to heaven. God give the gift of faith as well. The death and resurrection of Jesus make us able to be God's children by faith. The forgiveness Jesus won on the cross and sealed with His resurrection restores us to be God's children. Then we can enter into heaven.
All of this is in God's good time. God's calendar doesn't match our calendar in matters of salvation. He has His own time frame. Jesus told Herod and to the disciples God's plans would be done before Herod would ever be able to kill Jesus. His lament over Jerusalem tells us God's time for His entry into that town was near.
Is our time table any different than the disciples' or Herod's? We often want God to act in our time frame. When He doesn't, we grow impatient. God tells us to wait. His time is the right time. He will act for our good when the time is right and everything is in place. Our baptism and God's Word teach us to trust God to act when the time is best for Him and for us.
Prayer. Lord, give us the patience to wait for Your time to act in our lives. In Jesus name. Amen.
May 10, 2009 A MISSION CROSSING CULTURES Readings: John 15:1-8 and Acts 8:26-40 Various groups of people do things in very different ways. People live in many different areas of the world. Each area needs to take heed to its weather, land types, and other factors to form it way of dealing with and living life. Often, religion or family relationships play a role in culture. Such was the case in Acts 8. Although the religions were very similar, Acts 8 tells of the Gospel reaching _____________. The _____________ were very similar to the Jews in their religion. They used the Old Testament and were even more observant of the laws than were the Jews. But, old rivalries kept them apart as did the fact the ____________ worshipped on Mount Gerizim, a local mountain, instead of Mount Zion. Their conversion had been accomplished by Philipp, a Greek deacon from Acts 6. Jesus had made this the second point of mission at His ascension in Acts 1. Philipp left Samaria. He was sent to the Gaza Road, a road going south into Egypt. The Holy Spirit led him to the chariot of an Ethiopian. The man was a eunuch, a man deprived of the right to have children in order to hold a high position over Queen Candace's finances. The eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53:7-9. He simply couldn't understand who Isaiah spoke of. Philipp told him about Jesus. He especially told the eunuch of Jesus' death and resurrection. When the chariot approached water, the eunuch asked to be baptized. Philipp complied and was taken away by the Holy Spirit to Azotus. Cross cultural mission work is still difficult today. The traditions and actions of many cultures do not fit with the beliefs, actions, and traditions of our own culture. It is far too easy to just turn aside. God's love, as shown in 1 John, spurs us to talk to these people to find out the best approach to help them discover the Gospel. As with Philipp, the Holy Spirit leads the way. The approach may be through a class, such as English As A Second Language. We may be called on to show the people Jesus through some portion of Scripture while speaking with them and listening for cues as to how they understand picture language in their culture. We may be called to find a church that works in their language. But, the Holy Spirit shows us, as he showed Philipp, just the right way to approach the people. These people can then be grafted into Jesus, the Vine. They will join the ranks of those saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as did the Samaritans and the Ethiopian eunuch. God calls us to cross cultures to tell others of Him. The Holy Spirit always leads the way and shows us how to approach and to handle the encounter. God blesses such efforts to bring people into His kingdom. Prayer. Lord, You once told Your disciples to tell the Gospel to the whole world. We ask You for the Holy Spirit so we may cross cultures and tell many about Your Good News. In Jesus' name. Amen. May 11, 2009 A TALE TO TWO BROTHERS Readings: Numbers 8:5-26 and Luke 15:11-32 We've all probably read A tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Jesus tells "A Tale of Two Brothers." Jesus had the riff-raff of society listening in the front row that day. He also had the upper crust of the religious elite grumbling in the back row. While the two groups aren't exactly those Jesus meant here, they are certainly prototypes. A rich man was growing old and was approaching death. He had two sons. One must understand that the older son received 2/3 of the father's property when the father died. No decent son thought to ask his father for an advance on the inheritance. The younger son needed money for a trip. So he thought. He went to dad and did the unthinkable. He asked dad for his share of the property-now! He then departed on his trip. The trip was no business trip. At least it wasn't the type of business bringing wealth or honor to his family. In fact, it was one large party. When his money ran out, he was left destitute, with no friends to help him, in a foreign country (read "Gentile"), without a job. Part of this mess may sound familiar for some today. Now, what was this young man to do? He hadn't worked much in his life. He really had no profession to follow. Remember, this is a not-so-good Jewish boy we're talking about. Desperation set in. He went to feed swine. Yes, I said swine. He even ate what the swine ate. Now, this not so-good Jewish boy wasn't totally stupid. He finally realized that even a slave in his father's house was better off than he. He hatched a plan. He'd go back to his father. He'd beg his father to make him a slave by saying, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy ot be called your son. Make me one of your slaves." When the father saw the bad son coming, he really lowered himself in the normal structure of things. He ran (no man of means ever did that, even for a good son), hugged and kissed his son. He then ordered the best robe to be brought from the house and the family ring to be put on the son's finger. The son, for his part, did his spiel. Dad would have none of that! He'd found his lost son. Dad even had a party that night. He killed the fatted calf (the sign of great joy and honor) to welcome the son back home. All the family friends were invited. Oops! One person wasn't there. The son's older brother didn't show up at the party. The father went to find out why. You see, this son insulted the father as much as the other by his non-presence at the party. The elder son even tried to lecture the father on proper actions in the case. He was mad! He refused to have anything to do with, "His father's other son." He was lost to his father. Do you get the point? We went astray from God. We sinned and did what we wanted to do. Jesus came, people treated Him badly, made Him suffer, crucified and killed Him. But, God the Father sent Jesus to being His bad sons back to Him. Jesus' death did just that. But, some of those sons still thought themselves better than other sons. They are still lost to God if they don't see their sins and turn back towards God again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Where do you fit into this parable? Prayer. Lord, help us always to be like the first son in the parable, repenting when we sin and coming to You for forgiveness In Jesus name. Amen.