You want legalism? Rely on your works?

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ImageJesus’ Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Beatitudes have been the lectionary lessons for the last few weeks and has raised some interesting discussions. Among them is that guy who lets everyone know that he “lives by the sermon on the mount…” Yea, not so sure that was what Jesus was really intending. That same guy never got angry with anyone and called them a fool, never looked anyone with lust, never stole? Yea, really? Kinda doubtin’ it.

To drive home the point though, because what we are talking about is somehow being saved by grace, vs by your works and “living by the sermon on the mount”, would be your works, if you never do anything bad, you have nothing to be forgiven for kind of thinking.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ time had added on something like an additional 200 commandments and 300 laws, over and above what God told Moses in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) and they continued to do so, well after Jesus was gone. To the Jew the Law is the ultimate, everything according to the most minute detail. We know we cannot live perfectly under the Law, as Christians we know we need grace. The Law does not save, it only means you didn’t break it. By not breaking the Law does not put God under obligation to save you, only through the grace, sacrifice and redemption of Jesus have we been saved. To illustrate how abstruse the whole procedure became, I have quoted, at length, a passage out of James Michener’s book The Source (which is a really great book, fictionalized account of generations starting at the beginning and going up to the present in Israel).

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“In the middle years of the fourth century there was in the Roman city of Tiberias, called Tverya by the Jews, a lively community of thirteen synagogues, a large library and an assembly of elderly rabbis who met in continuous session to discuss the Torah and its later commentaries, seeking thus to uncover the laws which would govern all subsequent Judaism. For hours and even months they debated each phrase until its meaning was made clear, and it was to this body of men that Rabbi Asher directed himself in the spring of 329. He had no need to hurry, for the assembly had been in session, off and on, for a hundred years and would continue for another century and a half, if not in Tverya then in Babylonia across the desert.

…an extensive courtyard in which stood two pomegranate trees and a large grape arbor, beneath which huddled a circle of old men who did not bother to look up at his approach. At their feet, literally, crouched groups of students, following their words affectionately, while at a table under one of the pomegranate trees sat two scribes making notes of how the argument progressed. When decisions were reached, these scribes would compress into a few pithy lines the debate of months, and that would be the law. This day they wrote little as four rabbis engaged in energetic debate on a minor point. FIRST RABBI: We are concerned with one question alone. Protecting Shabbat. I say that the man may not wear it. SECOND RABBI: Speak out. On what authority do you make this claim? THIRD RABBI: Then listen. Rabbi Meir had it from Rabbi Akiba that if a woman goes out of her house on Shabbat with a bottle of perfume so that she may smell nice, she is guilty of vanity and has broken Shabbat. This case is the same. FOURTH RABBI: More to the point. The law of the sages prevents a man on Shabbat from carrying in his pocket a nail from a gallows. Why? He carries it only for good luck and it is forbidden. SECOND RABBI: What nonsense. The man we are talking about does not seek good luck. FIRST RABBI: Listen to t…

FOURTH RABBI: Nor shall she go into the street wearing a hair net. The same case, surely. SECOND RABBI: But remember this. A woman may go abroad on Shabbat sucking a peppercorn to keep her breath sweet. FIRST RABBI: Only if she placed it in her mouth before Shabbat began. THIRD RABBI: Also, the sages always held that if she happened to drop the peppercorn from her mouth during Shabbat, she could not put it back until Shabbat had ended. SECOND RABBI: TO all of that I agree. But our man is not going to drop it from his mouth. And he placed it there before nightfall on Friday. FIRST RABBI: On those requirements we agree. It must be in his mouth before Shabbat begins. THIRD RABBI: The real question. Has he any right to have it there at all on Shabbat? No, because it is an act of vanity. Lik…

SECOND RABBI: Agreed. If it is merely an ornamentation, the man must not have it [a gold tooth] in his mouth on Shabbat. FOURTH RABBI: And I insist that it is merely an ornament. SECOND RABBI: Hold now! He wears his false tooth in order to eat better. FOURTH RABBI: But he could eat just as easily if he didn’t have it. A false tooth for a man is no more, no less, than a gold headdress for a woman. SECOND RABBI: That cannot be the case. The headdress is ornamentation. The tooth is a necessity. THIRD RABBI: False. A gold tooth is just as attractive to a man as a gold … SECOND RABBI: Who said a gold tooth? I said a tooth. A false tooth added to the mouth for the purpose of chewing better. THIRD RABBI: Is there a difference between a false tooth and a gold false tooth? FIRST RABBI: Indeed! The gold tooth i…

FOURTH RABBI: Error! Error! THIRD RABBI: Is not a false tooth placed in the mouth the same as a woman’s curls added to her forehead? And do not the sages say that she may not wear such curls unless they are sewed on permanently? FOURTH RABBI: Why permanently? THIRD RABBI: Lest she inadvertently add them to her head on Shabbat. FIRST RABBI: Sewing she can be trusted not to do because three acts are involved. Needle, thread and sewing. She knows that each is forbidden. But pinning a curl to the head is not a usual act and this she may forget, so it is forbidden. THIRD RABBI: And a false tooth is not added to the mouth permanently, but must be put in each day, and is therefore exactly like the false curl of the woman, which may not be worn.”

Still want to be a legalist, still want to live according to a bunch of laws? And if that doesn’t convince you check out the Code of Federal Regulations and imagine that as part of your personal life.

I don’t know about you, but I just wanted to go crawl into a corner after reading this. How can you really live your life this way and when Jesus told His listeners that in order to be righteous, you had to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, he knew that couldn’t be done, He knew that even the Pharisees couldn’t do it. That is why God gave us grace, that is why He gave His Son Jesus to be the propitiation of our sin. Otherwise we would all be doomed to condemnation. Hey, not my rules, the reality is the Bible, I’ve seen a lot of other “realities”, but they never seem to have the authority to back up what their “reality” is.

So you can get caught up in your works, that just aren’t going to save you. Or you can trust the leading of the Holy Spirit, feel the salvation of Christ. As always you, your family, are welcome to worship at First St Johns, be a part of the family of Christ here at First St Johns, 140 W King St, downtown York, Pa. 10:30 am, plenty of parking in rear. God bless you all. Image

And please check out our Lent/Easter worship schedule at http://www.lutheransonline.com/firststjohns

Why I do it

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Thank you for reading and staying with me. It would be nice to hear from folks, if I’m accomplishing anything or rambling into cyber space.

I thought that I would buttress my fulminations (did ya like that?), with some of my pertinent background. I was raised in Brockton, Ma. That was where Rocky Marciano lived and Marvin Hagler, who is just a little older than me. It was not a gentle place to grow up, an old blue collar mill city, where every guy in junior high thought he was Rocky (the real Rocky). The only sports I was barely decent at were football and swimming.

While it just sort of happened, I was accepted into the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve in a program that required that I had to already be accepted into a college program. Nothing fancy, but a very good State College (hey I’m pretty much middle everything). While at Bridgewater State College, I met my wife Margie and we have been married 35 years in June of this year, we have three children who are grown, Erica, James, Timothy and we have three grand children.

There is no doubt in my mind that God takes a hand in each life, especially if we just go with it and don’t try to force our own agenda. I was not raised a Christian and hadn’t been a Christian, that really doesn’t matter to God. He is God of all creation, and we are His creation, He is still in control and when I look back in my life He was certainly guiding my life, as He does every life. Quite often though, we mess ourselves up through sin, through our own agenda, our own weaknesses which we allow to separate us from God.

Along with three other guys straight from bootcamp we reported to Group Boston, they had orders to further report to Point Allerton Station, one of the most historic boat stations in the Coast Guard. I had orders to work in an office at Group. They already put  me to work at Group, but I could hear the conversation with the CO at Pt Allerton, who asked (well when it’s a Warrant Officer 4, it’s not a question, it’s a direction), is there anyone else? Yes… Send him. So I was saved from a career of filling out forms, filing, typing, to doing Search and Rescue, Law Enforcement, port security, environmental, etc. Had a lot of adventures, made life-long friends and a lot of life-long lessons. The Coast Guard Reserve is not like other military reserves. We are assigned to a station and we are expected to have the same or better qualifications as the equivalent active duty people assigned to the station. So when we were there we were expected to perform the same jobs; search and rescue, law enforcement, port security, aids to navigation, environmental, etc. It was through a pretty serious situation on a case that made me do one of those there are no atheists in foxholes. The next Sunday my wife and two children, rather confused, were going with me into a Methodist Church. Neither one of us really knew where to go, we went there because my younger brother was part of the youth group there. From there God continued to set the course of my life. In the Coast Guard I was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal, Presidential Unit Commendation, Secretary of Transportation Unit Commendation, Unit Commendation, 2-Meritorious Unit Commendations, Bi-Centennial Unit Commendation 6- Team Ribbons, Special Operations Ribbon, Humanitarian Service Award, 2- Armed Forces Reserve Medals, War on Terror Service Medal, six -Meritorious Service Commendations and Joshua James Operational Achievement Award,

Did two years of college majoring in Political Science, got married, and like most people who go to college for one thing, they end up working in finance, and I got an opportunity to work for Chase Manhattan, financing computer systems. Spent three years at Chase, moved on to Motorola, went to Fleet National Bank in Providence R.I. for two years, then back to Motorola total of six years, one year with the Massachusetts State Treasurer, then Entex Information Systems for four years, then Robert Half International for three years. While at Robert Half, 9/11 happened and I became an active duty member of the Coast Guard. At the time I was with Naval Coastal Warfare which is a deployable unit to provide force protection for foreign or U.S. ports. We were able to transport all our gear, set up in ports and live in tents etc. Just before 9/11 I did a 4 week deployment to do seaward security on Vieques which is an island off of Puerto Rico, the year before did security for Tall Ships in Puerto Rico for four weeks. Our first deployment after activation was to Taragona, Spain, doing force protection for a NATO exercise in Spain. This unit was demobilized, but I was put back on active duty to be part of a mobile security unit (Small Boat Tactical Team) in New England to do security at various locations in District One. After this I went back to Pt Allerton Station for two years, did a month of port security down in Staten Island, NY. Did a lot of search and rescue at Pt Allerton and some Law Enforcement, had some great adventures, which I will happily share on demand.

I was a candidate for various local  offices in my (basically) hometown, I served four years as the Chairman of the Republican City Committee and served with other civic organizations. During this time, Margie and I were the State Coordinators for the National Day of Prayer in Massachusetts I had the great honor to organize a state committee that consisted of Ambassador Raymond Flynn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican and Prof Elie Wiesel of Boston University, Holocaust survivor and Pulitzer Prize winning author, among other prominent church and state leaders, While state coordinators we had the opportunity to organize programs at the Massachusetts State House as well as to work with local coordinators across the state. One of the most active members of the state committee was a lady named Margaret Schatkin a professor at Boston College and a member of the Lutheran Church. One thing led to another, Professor Schatkin had me meeting with a few different Lutheran leaders up to the District President and just before I finished active duty learned that I had been accepted to Concordia Seminary in St Louis.

Academically I finished my Bachelors Degree at Lesley College, in Cambridge, Ma. BS in Business Management. After I did four years of active duty in the War on Terror, we moved from Brockton, which we both lived most  of our lives and raised our children there and moved to St Louis.  In 2010 I finished four years of seminary and received a Masters of Divinity Degree. Margie and I were put through a weekend vetting and designated as “church planters”. Our first call, though, was to a grand old church in York, Pa. and we were charged with putting our church planting skills into a “Renewal” project at First Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. This is a grand old church, with a great group of Christian brothers and sisters, who truly want to reach out in the world to lead others to Jesus. I have served as pastor since 2010 and have seen God do some great things, there is still a long way to go and we welcome all to worship and to become members of the Lutheran Church and First St. Johns.

Be baptized and be saved

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Rev Dr J Vernon McGee is an institution, I really do like hearing his broadcasts, he has a common sense Christianity that is down to earth, assuring, you know you are listening to someone who really has a grasp of genuine doctrine and Christian living.

I give him credit, most Reformed commentators don’t like to get into this question, they operate under the supposition that everyone can “make a decision” for Christ, and that’s the way it should be. The narrator for Dr McGee’s radio program reads a letter from a mother whose son is mentally retarded: “How can he make a decision for God?” she writes. Well Dr McGee does kind of a two-step, “well it’s about reaching the age of accountability, otherwise God will take the baby, because he wasn’t old enough to “choose” God. Well he never really answers in respect to someone who is over the age of “accountability” and is just not competent.

The Reformed position really tends to undermine the entire concept of Christianity. We are all born into sin, therefore how can we be anything but sinners when we are born. Reformed teachers always have a problem with this and I really don’t understand why it’s necessary to even get into it. Let’s remember Martin Luther is the one who started all of this. All of Protestant, as it were, Christianity traces its roots back to Luther. Luther’s original beef with the Roman Catholic Church was the Roman’s idea that “well ya, Jesus died for all of our sins, but we have to do something to augment that. For the Roman Church the over the top error was indulgences. Throw some money in the kettle and you or your relatives get a few thousand years off from purgatory. The Roman church says “ya, while we can die in a state of grace in Jesus, that’s not quite enough, we need to spend a little time in purgatory getting the rough edges burned off, or of course, a little sumpin/sumpin, and maybe we can spring you a little quicker.” Yea, I know a little cynical, but it all comes down to; we have to add to what Jesus did. Well either Jesus is perfect, totally Holy, almighty God and died for the complete redemption and remission of our sins, or He didn’t. It’s either all about Him or it isn’t.

That goes for all the other acts of contrition. Contrition isn’t an issue, if you feel you should do something that shows contrition, give to the poor, give to your church (my person favorite, First St Johns), help the handicapped, the elderly, great! Do it, but not thinking that somehow that is some kind of efficacious atonement, you are saved entirely by what Christ did, nothing you can do can add to that.

It doesn’t matter, if your son is intellectually handicapped, or your mother has Alzheimers, substance abuse, what matters is what Christ has done, what the Holy Spirit does through you. We are saved solely in Christ’s power. You hear, what if that person’s evil? Well that question is so obvious it doesn’t really even justify an answer, we are all evil, case closed. What if they aren’t sincere, really how high is exactly sufficiently sincere to justify being righteous enough to be saved that Christ hasn’t surpassed by infinity? If Christ has made the decision to save me, I’m saved, and there’s nothing I can add to that. In fact it would be incredibly arrogant to think that I could add one hundredth of one percent to what Jesus has done for me. He has saved me entirely and there isn’t one miniscule thing that I can add to that.

The Lutheran says that is why you take the baby to be baptized, we have the assurance in baptism that we are saved, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal 3:27) Only in His righteousness, are we saved, only through the baptism that He gives us are we saved. Only through His Body and Blood, through His Word are we saved. What is in there that you did? Yea, nothing. It’s not a question of our decision, it’s a question of what the Holy Spirit does, He moved our parents to take, well some of us, to be baptized, to be saved.
The woman who asked Dr McGee the question doesn’t have, she shouldn’t have to, agonize over the question, she has the assurance of her Son’s salvation entirely through the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It’s not a question of accountability, or sincerity, or works, indulgences, our works, works that can be tainted, do not save us. Nothing we can do will be sufficient, it will all be tainted by our sin. The only assurance is in what God does for us and He saves us in baptism. That does raise one more issue, if for some reason someone who is on the edge of death and hasn’t been baptized. As an ordained, duly called, authorized minister of the Lutheran Church, I authorize you to baptize that person, regardless of age or condition. Address the person by name and say “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” That person is baptized and we trust in the mercy and grace of God that person will be in the presence of the Lord. There are too many people who cannot make a “reasoned” choice for Jesus and even if they could, inevitably doubt arises and they question whether they did it right, right time, right place, were they really sincere, etc, etc. Were you baptized? You are saved. It’s the Holy Spirit bringing you to Jesus through baptism, it’s not about what you do, it’s about what God does to you. He saves you, not your decision to be saved.

You are a temple of the Holy Spirit

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You are a temple of the Holy Spirit

First St Johns February 23, 2014

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”, that’s a tall order Father, what does it mean to be “holy”? How are we to be “holy”? Too often we rely on our own understanding and inevitably find how far off we are. Satan tries to control our understanding of who You are, what we are in You, “Did God really say?” Satan mocks us with this and since we really don’t know, we wonder, we wander, we question where we really shouldn’t be questioning. Help us Lord, to turn to You, to understand that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and there are things we should be grounded in, forgiveness Your Word. Help me, Your minister to Your people, to teach and preach well, exhorting, rebuking, not giving in to the world, to what’s popular. We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father… and all who are a temple of the Holy Spirit sd Amen

We have to remember that what Jesus is saying here is decidedly contrary to current beliefs, what contemporary society would tell you. And as much as those pious ones out there today, who will try to sell you that they are all about Jesus’ words, when they really read them and put them into context, it’s clear that their life doesn’t reflect their words.

So the issue here is how much does our real life stack up against Jesus’ words. I will tell you right up front that I fall plenty short. Paul tells us we are “God’s temple”. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you? …God’s temple is holy and you are that temple.” Heady stuff, almost scary. Paul is telling us that we are God’s temple and that temple is holy, that’s an intimidating idea, if we are bearers of the Holy Spirit, if we are God’s temple, how are we supposed to treat that temple?

Jesus is addressing that issue. If we are God’s temple, then we are going to have to expect that it is God working through us, that He is going to be working through us to His glory, He is going to be using you to draw others to Him, in order to do that, yes you are different, you are not like the average day-to-day, the rest of the world sees in their slices of the world. God is going to move you to be different with people and part of that means living as the Holy Spirit guides you which is in keeping with what Jesus taught.

The story is told by Chuck Swindoll and J Vernon McGee: “a successful Irish boxer was converted and became a preacher. He happened to be in a new town setting up his evangelistic tent when a couple of tough thugs noticed what he was doing. Knowing nothing of his background, they made a few insulting remarks. The Irishman merely turned and looked at them. Pressing his luck, one of the bullies took a swing and struck a glancing blow on one side of the ex-boxer’s face. He shook it off and said nothing as he stuck out his jaw. The fellow took another glancing blow on the other side. At that point the preacher swiftly took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and announced, ‘The Lord gave me no further instructions.’ Whop!”

This entire pericope of Jesus’ is just so counter-cultural to first century Israel, to any period since then, and just as much today. Why on earth would I forgive someone who deprives me of sight or maybe my ability to eat? Why would I just rollover and let someone take my tunic, my cloak? Why would I let that happen? Of course the short form answer is, “Because Jesus tells us to.” Jesus is God, Jesus is telling us what to do, if God wants us to do things a certain way, it’s going to ultimately be in our best interests to do it. Now before you get too puckered, you, me and Jesus, most of all, recognizes that we are not going follow this to the letter, we are imperfect creatures and we will only follow imperfectly. Having said that we should all set high goals. Does that mean we always meet high goals? No! But it does mean that we will strive higher than we would have otherwise. We are to grow in Christ, that’s an important part of being a Christian. So we strive to achieve that, the person that hits us up for something important to us, we are more likely to think what we can do for that person. I’m not saying be a dope about it, because there are people out there who will play you and prey on your Christianity, but I feel the pulling of the Holy Spirit, He whose temple I am, and I try to serve that person. Jesus tells us “ya take the hit”. And obviously Jesus is making a bit of a metaphor here, but it’s going to bring the heat down a little if you don’t just react to a “hit”. Sometimes people do things in the heat of passion and lash out. It doesn’t serve anyone to turn the heat up in the situation by hitting back. I’ve noticed that today, with everyone and I’m guilty of it too. Someone will say something and we’re really not listening to what is really being said, because we’re more focused on our response, on our wise crack back. One of the things that I keep learning is how to read people better. What I might take as a verbal hit is really intended for something else. How can I help that person by not reacting and just lashing back? James tells us: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” I’ve had the experience when I had wished the person had just punched me in the face then say to me the hurtful thing they just said. I know it’s just so cool today to engage in verbal sparring. What you think may be cute or clever means you weren’t really listening, you weren’t really reaching out to that person in love the way the Holy Spirit who is a part of you wants you to react. And I’m not saying that you should take the example of our Irish boxer, let the other person get in a couple of shots and then let them have it? No! Show some genuine Christian understanding and tell them “I hear you saying… and I want you to know that I understand your feelings and that does not mean I love you less and that you are not loved by Jesus any less.

It’s interesting that Jesus says if someone slaps you on the “right” cheek. For example the Bible refers to the “right hand of fellowship”, we confess that Jesus sits on the right hand of God the Father. The right side has always been considered to be the good side, honorable, it meant that to hit on the right side was to be especially insulting, to attack what is best. I’m sure you know that left-handed people have been considered to be a little odd, not good, that it’s normal to be right-handed. As those who are saved in Jesus, He who died a brutal humiliating death as the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sins and to give us eternal salvation in the resurrection, who endured insult after insult, shame after shame, for us to decide that we are better than our Lord and strike back anyone who offends us, is to mean that; sure Jesus our Lord, He can endure insult, but I can’t. I’m special and I shouldn’t have to endure this affront. We are not more special than the Lord, we are called to take the slap to the right cheek and the Lord’s instructions, by the way are to continue to endure the blows, just as Jesus did from His arrest to His death. Is there any doubt that Jesus was struck more than once? He was struck in front of the High Priest, He was flogged by Pilate, He was struck repeatedly by the guards who were mocking Him, read John 18 and 19 how Jesus was continually beaten. Are we above the Lord who asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him, above Stephen who was being stoned said: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are saved by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. Guillaume Williams points out: “Sin has so deluded our minds that even when we think we know what we are doing, we really do not. If we really knew the consequences of our actions, we would not do the sinful things we do.”1 Sin distorts us so much we just lash back instead of remembering Jesus’ guiding. As is always the case it’s not what we do, it’s what Jesus does to and through us. When you feel that urge to fire one back, and not over the bow, but right into the waterline, ask yourself, am I so special that I can’t forgive? Then turn it over to the Father, saying: “in my own strength Father, I cannot forgive this person, please do it for me.” We grow in holiness like Him.

Take some time this week in your journal, who should you be forgiving, list all the names out, ya, I’m going to be spending awhile on this. For each person you list, write next to the name, Father forgive this person, I rely on Your strength.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

1Guillaume Williams Simply Believe “The Lutheran Witness” January 24, 2014 p 6

What you need or what you want? Often a big difference.

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I’m just going to go for this. It may seem that I am trying to antagonize people, I’m not, I’m really not. But on the other hand, I’m really trying to push people to really look at their relationship in Christ and the church, if any, that is supposed to be discipling you in a real relationship with Christ.

I am sure that you are all smart enough to realize that you need to trust, rely on and get the right information from the people you hire to do the job, whatever job they do. Oh yeah, I think we all know the type of person who can surround themselves with “yes-people”, we also knows what happens in most of those situations, hmmm let’s see Ken Lay of Enron and Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco jump immediately into my head. I’m sure we all know it wouldn’t take long to come up with a long list. We know that most of the time those kind of people ride the vessel down to disaster. You expect your lawyer, accountant, CIO, to give you the most prudent advice, to be successful, but to also trust that their practice is in keeping with real doctrine and teaching. Every profession has doctrine and teaching, however we also know that a lot people kind of make it up as they go along, it’s the same in “churches”.

It occurs to me that you should also have that kind of faith and trust in your pastor. It’s always been a mystery to me why people will

 

insistImageon the most expert direction in other parts of their life, but when it comes to your eternal soul, uncritically turn to clergy who they know will tell them what they want to hear, as if church only functions to make them feel good. There are times when it is entirely appropriate to comfort, it’s always appropriate to give the hope of Christ as Savior. But as Paul teaches Timothy: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 3: 4:1-5)
Timothy is a student of Paul’s, being trained for ministry, what Paul is teaching Timothy, well, we are there. We’ve been there for a long time and I will readily admit, the church has been its own worst enemy, clergy are all too often more concerned with telling people what they want to hear, taking the path of least resistance, that too often people see that as the way church is supposed to be, and it’s been happening for decades, probably at least since the 1950s.

Ya, I’ve probably said this ad nauseum but if you went to your doctor do you want him/her to tell you the truth, or pat you on the head and send you away with “don’t you worry about that cancer”. We all have a cancer, it’s called sin. It eats your soul up just like cancer eats your body. It’s the clergy’s job to tell you this and not let you die in your cancerous state, smiling and comfortable the whole way down. Seriously, you run into a pastor who, figuratively speaking, pats you on the head and tells you to your face, ‘don’t you worry about that sin thing, that’s so old-fashioned”, I suggest you run not walk and find someone who will help you deal with reality. Anyone who has the slightest clue knows full well that we all have sin issues.

Let’s be honest, you work in the world, you know when you have to confront reality in your work. Isn’t it time to deal with the reality of that vacuum in your soul? You know the reality of your sin, the reality of Christ dying for you, the reality of Him controlling your life and not you. But you keep putting it off, avoiding it. Your spouse, your children? And ya for guys, you know it’s on you. You don’t get your life together, so you give the rest of the family, let’s use the political phrase, “plausible deniability”. Yea, cute, but are you living up to your responsibility as a husband and father?

Yea, it is the church (that is the wrong churches that are out there) and many are not providing the teaching and guidance it should. But you’re the one who is leaving your critical thinking at the door, you’re buying into it and even, uncritically, precipitating it. You are uncritically accepting what you get and not looking critically at what is being taught and practiced. Do you run your business that way? Why on earth would you trust your eternal soul to someone who won’t sit down with you, look hard at your life, get you to think critically and eternally? Instead, you trust someone who just smiles, tells you what you want to hear and sends you on your way. Does that make sense?

It does kind of amaze me you get these smart/tough business types: “I want the straight story from everyone. I want to know how it is!” But they then expect their pastor to give them some little puff-piece as if the Christian thing really isn’t true, but “I’m paying for someone to magically make it true” (i.e. the pastor is supposed to work out everything for me. Yeah, right?) Huh, really? I guess your world is reality and church just there to throw in your money and you get  what you want. If that’s what you really think, I would take a really hard look at your life as a whole. Salvation is in Christ, Christ established His church, Matthew 16:18, in His church is baptism, His Body and Blood, others to disciple you, and those for you to disciple. In His church is the Word of salvation through His Word in the Bible, and His preached Word through His Ministers. It’s His way, it’s not throw in your money and get what you want. It’s to learn to get your life in line with your Savior, being guided by the Holy Spirit, that’s reality! Do yourself a favor and get to First St Johns, sit in a pew and listen (promise you don’t have to talk to anyone) and I don’t care if you throw in a dollar or five hundred. If you feel I’ve really wasted your time after a couple of months, I will happily pay you your $8 back.

Business people love to tell you how hard core they are and how serious they are “Just the facts mam”, market share, ROI, EPS, my personal favorite EBITDA, analyzed financial statements for twenty years, can throw around all the jargon you can imagine. Hey that is important and I liked the challenge of the corporate world. But the ultimate reality isn’t production, cycles, financials, .WSO/DSO, market share, it is your eternal soul. Let’s start dealing with the ultimate reality and live your life in that reality.

First St Johns is at 140 W King St in York, Pa. Worship is at 10:30, before that we have our “Coffee Break Bible Study”, Wednesdays at 10am at the corner of W King and Beaver Sts. So come on down, see what you’re missing in your life, in your family’s life, OK, I’ll buy you coffee! May God richly bless you.

It’s in obedience to God

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It’s in obedience to God

First St Johns, York, Pa. February 16, 2014

 

.Loving the LORD your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to him, for He is your life and length of days… We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who love, obey and hold fast to the Lord their God said … AMEN

Lutheran preaching, Lutheran doctrine is about Law and Gospel, you first have to know that you are a sinner, that you have broken the Law. Afterall, what do you need a Savior for if you have nothing to be saved from. This is a path that contemporary Christianity and not what we would just think of as liberal Christianity, for example the emerging church, which is all about shows and entertainment, much of Christianity is teaching that it’s not really about our sin, everyone is good, it’s about what we do. Are we “good”? Do we do “good deeds”? Because we really are good, so there’s nothing we really need to be saved from. Are we “good” to those around us? If we tote up enough points on God’s cosmic scoreboard, then we are good? This is exactly what Dr Luther pushed back against the Roman Church about. Give us money, give us labor, soldiers, do good tasks, good deeds and you will be good to go.

Luther said no, it’s not about what we do, it’s entirely about what Christ did for us, we can’t improve on that, we can’t add to that, Jesus is perfect, Jesus is all-powerful, Jesus is God and by virtue of that, what He does saves us. What He gives us, saves us, He is the complete, total sum of all that is and because of that we can only be saved in Him. In John 15:16, Jesus is telling His disciples and of course, we are His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” It’s about Jesus as our Lord, do we go and do good works? Yes! But it is through His moving us, it is through Him

Yahweh is painting a picture for His people in today’s reading. He has been leading Israel through the desert for forty years, He has been teaching them to be dependent on Him. Not themselves, not other “gods”, not the government, not big business, not big medicine or big academia, Him, only Him. He has provided for them, He has protected them. So our Old Testament reading today starts with: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and his rules,…” Our reading last week ended with Jesus saying: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” God is telling His people, “Look, I’ve given you what you need to know about me, I’ve given you the rules, I decide for life and good, death and evil.” Sounds like a contradiction between Jesus and the Father. It’s not, throughout the Beatitudes, Jesus is being hyperbolic. Jesus says, “if your hand offends you cut it off, if you eye offends pluck it out.” In no way does Jesus ever tell us to be stupid. What he is doing is exaggerating his point in both comments. Don’t sin, don’t let your hand or your eye guide you, because it would be better for you to be without an eye than to burn in Hell with both eyes, then to be in heaven. OK, point taken, does that mean when we sin we won’t be forgiven unless we pluck our eye out? No, the grace, mercy and forgiveness of Jesus has paid for our sin, our baptism saves us and what Jesus did through His death, His sacrifice to save us, to pay for our sins. On the other hand, you really want to try it, you really want to go for it, to live your life in perfect righteousness? Do you think you can outdo the Pharisees? Come on, no you can’t! It’s not going to happen! The only way you can be righteous is through Me, for you to have My righteousness, which we have as Christians. At this point in time, the Pharisees have decided that the Law is what it is all about, there has to be laws, commandments, rules for everything. It didn’t start out to be a mean spirited attempt, but that’s what it really ground down to. It was supposed to be a way for people to understand what they should and shouldn’t do. Rabbis, pharisees, scribes would sit together for years debating points of law and through their own wisdom, their own discretion and yes frankly their own pride and prejudices they came up with their own rules, because apparently, the five books of the Law, Genesis through Deuteronomy, the ten commandments, well these weren’t enough, their people needed more guidance. They came up with an additional 240 commandments and 300 rules. When Jesus says “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He is saying you can’t keep all those rules and regulations, sort of what we’ve found out when you have to conform to the Code of Federal Regulations, our government pumps out rules and regulations by the volume. We have created an environment that doesn’t allow for good will, for honest error, we’ve created an environment that tries to criminalize everything. That is what the Pharisees were trying to do, create an entire maze of laws that were intended for “gotcha”, that’s the new fad today. Don’t really care what’s right or wrong, what will actually serve, only care that I can confuse the issue enough for you to make a mistake and then “gotcha”, oops, you messed up, you’re on the hook now, you blew it, I win, you lose.Laws and regulations don’t make you righteous, we can only be righteous in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is trying to untangle all the Pharisaical ,rules He’s telling us, you can get all caught up in these rules and man-made devices, like the National Football League or you can trust in Me, as I tried to teach your ancestors after they had been in the desert forty years. You can try to make it through the maze the Pharisees created, or you can come to me in repentance and humility and trust my mercy and forgiveness. Trust that what I’ve done for you is going to save you, that you do not have to make your life like a football game and fuss over every little bit of nonsense. That you can concentrate on what is important. Trusting in me, doing the good works that I lead you to do, witnessing to others about me, serving and worshipping according to my laws and not a few hundred man-made laws. I’ve referred to the person who tells me that they live by the Sermon on the Mount. They usually say this in this sort of patronizing, “you silly little preacher, I’ve advanced beyond you.” OK, you have just called me a fool, Jesus is telling us that by treating people with contempt you are essentially committing murder against me, [buzzer sound] sorry you lose, thanks for playing and you aren’t going to like your parting gift very much. You decided to play the Pharisee, there’s no love in your heart for God or your fellow man and you’ve ignored what God has said from the outset: “”And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deut 10:12) Take some time this week to back off from all the man-made stuff, try to see what life would be like to live in the simplicity of God’s leading, God’s rules. God wants life to be simple and straight forward for all of us, He’s not the one making things difficult and complicated. How can you back off your life, to truly follow Him, to truly know His will for you and not worry about the clutter we make when we try to play God and set up all sorts of conditions and rules. How does that affect your life at work, at home, at church?

The commandments and statutes He gave us, if we are faithful to what He has revealed to us, we will be faithful to Him and serving all of those God leads us to come into contact with and to serve. Do you do that? Do you live that way? Or is it all about what you chose and leave God out of the equation?

keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

(Jude 1:21) Shalom and Amin

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Worship should create a new paradigm

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This is a collection of items that are quick and to the point, mostly observations on being a Christian, but emphasis on worship. As always you are welcome to add your comments, I look forward to hearing from people on what I write, it helps to know if they are just being effective. Thanks and God bless and as always come and worship at First St Johns 10:30 am Sunday mornings 140 W King St downtown York, Pa. Plenty of on street parking. Bring this blog with you and you will get a Lutheran Coffee cup and a copy of Lee Stroebel’s “A Case for Christ”.

+++ There’s a story on AOL, a woman who was arrested because she left her children in the car to go to a job interview. She’s homeless, unemployed and needed a job. Yea, enormously stupid, but certainly a symptom of how we have lost a sense of community. We have an employment support group at First St Johns. No, we wouldn’t be able to solve all this woman’s problems, but I’m sure we could have helped. If she had got in touch with me and said “hi, I’m part of the employment group, I’m part of the church and here’s the deal…” I would’ve watched the children if that was the problem, but you know what, I’d bet you a serious money I’d find someone in the church who would be happy to serve and to watch the children. There is an effort to raise money for her, don’t know if it’s for her defense or provision. Either way, the barn door’s getting closed late. The church is always for the gospel of Jesus, but it’s also there for the mutual support of the saints, and those who the Holy Spirit brings to His church. There would be a lot more in terms of community if we would rely on and support the church so that we can collectively support each other and build a community for the saints, present and future. This woman wouldn’t be in jail and in jeopardy of losing her children. I ask you, what would have been better for her and you, being part of a group that is there to support each other, or picking up the pieces afterward. Furthermore, what organization in today’s society, other than the church, that’s really available to provide such support? You can start tomorrow, 140 W King St, downtown York, worship at 10:30am

+++ In seminary, in the church that I was called to, in fact just seemed to be the general wisdom, that “contemporary” worship was the way to go to really reach people in worship.

The first difficulty that I encountered in this respect was, what do we mean by contemporary worship? Many who are in the National Church, and the local church, have their own idea of what “contemporary” is, and it is just not “contemporary”. I have my own idea of “contemporary” and frankly my idea is dated, not entirely out of the arena, but definitely on the edges. What is “contemporary” now is good, there is plenty of good stuff there, but this is not what is generally accepted in the church, and it seems the more I read, the more it seems as if people in general don’t think this is “worship”, it’s great and appreciated, but not for worship.

This is counter-intuitive to me, but the more research I read, the more anecdotal evidence I hear and see, the more it indicates that the younger generations are looking for more traditional, liturgical, what I’ve come to call “classic Christian worship”.

The latest is from the Barna Research Group. Barna is on the cutting edge of research on the Christian community. The latest findings are related to the perceptions of the new pope, Pope Francis. The following describes Roman Catholic worship attendance. Roman Catholic worship continues to be highly liturgical, still in the tradition of centuries old worship. More and more I am convinced that is what people are looking for today. Society today is so unstable, starting with the family unit and cutting through society to the biggest institutions. While the church is certainly fits into that cross-section, it seems that there is a resurgence and it is in more “classical” worship. This trend seems to be in the younger generations who see that there is at least some stability, something much more substantial in classical worship. It seems as if “Boomers” and older are still tied to “contemporary” worship, that is what is contemporary to them. But the younger generations more traditional. The Barna report says: “Looking at reported weekly church attendance numbers from January 2013 to January 2014, attendance among all U.S. adults declined from 37% to 36%, and from 48% to 46% among self-identified Catholics. Interestingly, Catholic Boomers and Elders (those ages 49 and older) are less likely to report church attendance in a typical week, while Catholic Millennials and Gen-Xers show significant increases in church attendance over the last year. Among Millennial Catholics, church attendance is at 47% compared to 34% just one year ago—an increase of 13 percentage points. Among Gen-X Catholics, 42% attended church in the past week, compared with 32% a year ago.
In an open-response question, the survey asked those who reported changes under Pope Francis’s influence to describe what, specifically, they are doing differently. Among the most common answers were returning to more regular church attendance, more frequent or fervent prayer and stronger belief or trust in God. Other common responses highlighted one of Francis’s trademarks: under his influence, at least a few Catholics and Protestants—young and old alike—say they are trying to be more humble.”. (Barna Group Mar 18, 2014) These are certainly indicative of “classical” worship, versus “contemporary” worship which is much more focused on passivity, being entertained.
No, I’m not saying this is conclusive, but frankly if there’s a trend at all, what Barna reports seems to be consistent with the rest of what I’ve seen and heard. I’m not saying that worship should be driven by public opinion (yes I can hear the gasps even in cyber-space). I am saying that is what is going on around us, is driving many back to actual worship. That is worship that is tangibly understood as worship, we are realizing that we cannot depend on the things around us and many are seeing the church and genuine worship as something to depend on and bring us back into the presence of the Lord, He who we can trust in and rely on.

+++  One of my most discussed posts has been on the Lord’s Supper. The Lutheran Church teaches that in the Lord’s Supper we receive the true Body and Blood of Jesus. It is not just a memorial or some kind of remembrance, but that Jesus is truly giving us His Body and Blood to give us spiritual nourishment, to give us forgiveness of our sins. Because this is His true Body and Blood, we are, obviously expected to treat the Lord’s Supper with great reverence, that it is only for those who are truly in Christ and who the Lord has brought to a true understanding of what they are doing in the communion. This is done through the teaching of the church.

Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 11:27-30: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”

Clearly it is not in the interests of one who does not properly discern the Body and Blood and the pastor who is responsible for the proper instruction and guidance. Dr Martin Luther refers to pastors as “soul doctors”, a responsibility, at least I don’t take lightly. To be unworthy is not meant to be a pejorative statement, it’s simply meant to say, if you do not understand what this is all about, it’s not going to do you any good. Further more for those who actively abuse it, Paul is saying that many have become sick and even died. If we take Paul seriously, why would we even play around with this?

I’ve been watching the “Bible” series and I saw a really great illustration about this concept. At the Last Supper Jesus gives Judas the “sop”, piece of bread and then Judas rushes out of the upper room. As soon as he gets outside he starts choking and it shows Judas spitting out what I would think of as the Host. Judas would not be forgiven, or saved, He could not tolerate the Host. The pastor serving the Host, the communicant receiving the Host is what the Holy Spirit blesses and turns into the Body. If that is not done, then it is taken in vain, that is, taken in an unworthy manner. It’s not about what is nice, hospitable, or some how impugns, it is simply the formula that Scripture directs us. This should be respected and not made into some kind of popular vote. If you really don’t understand what it is, and respect the teachings of Scripture, why would you want it to begin with? It doesn’t give forgiveness, or salvation and it may even be to your harm. Why another pastor would teach otherwise baffles me.

It is a sign of respect, have the proper understanding of this most holy gift and honor our Lord who gave His Body and Blood so that we would be saved in Him.

+++10 Symptoms that Your Christianity is too Comfortable (Gene Brooks)

1. You are not attending church with a high level of expectancy

2. You no longer seem to be concerned about the spiritual condition of neighbors, family members or co-workers.

3. You haven’t had a spiritual conversation with a non-Christian in a long time. you can’t even think how you’d manage one.

4. The Bible seems lifeless to you. It’s like a history book with so many unpronounceable words.

5. Your happiness on Sunday mornings is more important to you than what it takes to reach the unreached nations. As long as you get your parking spot, your seat, and hear the music you like, everything’s fine.

6. The plight of the poor doesn’t concern you. Images of overseas suffering do not move you to action.

7. The idea of worship seems a boring waste of time. You don’t ‘get anything out of it.’

8. You do  not give your financial resources sacrificially. You kind of resent it, actually.

9. Your prayers don’t seem to make it past the ceiling. There’s this faint frustration when you try to pray.

10. It doesn’t even dawn on you that God could do something incredibly radical in your life at any moment today. It’s not even on your radar.

It is not about your comfort and entertainment. It is about the Glory of the Holy One of Israel. So what do yo do about it? Do the things you know to do. Confess to the Lord and repent of your dead and wooden Christianity. Open the Word of God and ask the Lord to renew your spirit through the ministry of His Spirit. Psalm 51 is a good place to start. Read and pray through that one.

+++ When He [Jesus] speaks the Law I feel naked, I feel undressed, vulnerable. When He speaks Gospel I feel loved in a way I can never express. Something happens when Jesus speaks. [Dr Michael Horton  White Horse Inn podcast talking about what people might have felt like who heard Jesus speak to them in His life on earth.]   Dec 19, 2009

+++ Jesus healed mostly just the blind, the deaf. He also heals outcasts. What is harder to tell a man to walk or to forgive sins.? Jesus might say to us: “It’s easy for me to say walk. But I have to suffer and die in order for sins to be forgiven,

+++ Try this the next time you pray, meditate on God not as a way for you to go up, but to understand how He has come down to us.

+++ You might want to reinforce with children, grandchildren, right out of the gate, that the people of the Bible are real, the things the Bible talks about is actual history. These things really happened. Too often we try to make the Bible to be simply stories, thinking that is the easiest way for children to understand them. But what usually happens, is we keep doing that, even when they are older and they end up being adults who think that the Bible is just a bunch of stories. Help even the youngest children know that these stories are about real people, that the Bible is about how God has come to real people and affected their lives and moved them to do difficult things to His glory.

+++ One aspect of the Trinity that we really don’t consider is that no person [Father, Son, Holy Spirit] of the Trinity would thwart the will of another. All the persons of the Trinity are in accord with each person of the Godhead. So it’s not 3 gods, it’s three persons/one God. [Issues Etc May 28, 2010]

“Christian service is not about creating a better world. Nor is it about a message that has no trust of compassion during its delivery. The gospel is both practiced and spoke. This means the biblical world view is about having a heart for our fellow humans created in the image of God with the satisfying and of pointing them to or only real hope of eternal deliverance; repentance and faith in Jesus Christ our Redeemer and King.”

Steve Horn “Delivering both help and hope”  Answers Magazine  Jan-Mar 2014 p 38

[Ex 23:31-33] …Luther: “Man was especially created for the knowledge and worship of God; for the Sabbath was not ordained for sheep and cows, but for men, that in them the knowledge of God might be developed and might increase. Therefore, although man lost his knowledge of God, nevertheless, God wanted this command about sanctifying the Sabbath to remain in force. On the seventh day He wanted me to busy themselves both with His word and with the other forms of worship established by Him so that we might give first thought to the fact that this nature was created chiefly for acknowledging and glorifying God (AE 1:80)

Hi I’m Jim and I’m a sinner II

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[Continuing Gordon MacDonald’s article in Leadership Mag Winter 2014 pp 29-32]
…”‘I woke up at four this morning and couldn’t wait until it was time to get here. I need you people so much. I’m a much stronger person after the meeting is over. I can go without a drink for another 24 hours.’ I imagined church people saying this about Sunday worship.” Yea, amen brother Gordon! So the issue is how to get people stoked to want to be at worship all the time. I do a Matins worship on Thursday 9am, if I had the interest [because so far attendance is, me], I’d do it every day, I’d love to start every day at Matins. No one in the church has ever given it an honest chance [I do it on Sundays at 8:30 too]. I like to get there and worship like that every morning. How do you translate that to people so they “couldn’t wait until it was time to get here”?
“In all the months I attended AA. I never learned a last name, or what anyone did for a living, or even what anyone’s socio-economic position was. These things made no difference. The primary issue was recovery, nothing else.”
Yea, Hi I’m Jim and I’m a sinner. That’s all that matters. Clearly that is not the understanding of most people in the church, they want to be part of the museum of saints. Unfortunately, in reality, the church is a hospital for sinners. Until such time as you treat it as such, you will never be healed, you will never know new life, you will be stuck where you are at, a museum display.
“‘You don’t get it,’ he responded. ‘In an AA meeting, there are no homeless men and there are no prostitutes. We’re just a bunch of drunks helping each other stay sober for one more day. Where we sleep or how we make our living has little to do with our addictions.'”
Again, what would it be like if we worshiped together and were never the least bit concerned if we were worshiping with a gay prostitute, or the most successful, handsome man or woman you can imagine. You’re not there to sweat the other person, you’re there to worship God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are also there to support and be supported by those who are brothers and sisters. Yea, maybe you’d never have anything to do with that person on the street, but in that church, before the altar of Christ you are brothers and sisters in Jesus and I mean that in the best sense.
“Alcoholism is as illustrative of what the Bible calls sin as anything I know. It is a spiritual disease that warps the brain, destroys common sense, generates selfishness and twists the truth. A classic alcoholic is a habitual liar, sure he’s never wrong, convinced that everyone else is to blame for his problems.”
I’m not going to say that most people are these extremes, but like Jesus did, sometimes using hyperbole makes us think a little. We all have our sin problems, church is to help us to grow in holiness and away from our sin problems, but they will always be there. Do yourself a huge favor, acknowledge it in yourself and give yourself a break and even more so acknowledge it in everyone else with you in worship and give them an even bigger break.
“Transparency. The alcoholic’s price of admission to an AA meeting is acknowledged brokenness.” That’s the way we should all go to worship, and as I said cut ourselves and each other some slack. And please, give me a break, I’m not looking to have a whole group of contrite sinners in front of me while I show everyone how holy I am. If you think I’m getting a little too full of myself and holier than thou, then you just trot up to me and let me know. Better know what you’re talking about, but I’m as accountable (probably more so in reality) to the congregation as the congregation is to me. When either one of us loses sight of that, then we are just playing church and going through the motions, we no longer know true worship or being in Christ.
“Acceptance” You have to accept others, even the unlovely and they have to accept you. Our Savior embraced lepers, sorry, but you don’t know anyone even close to leprosy, there isn’t anyone you can’t at least shake hands with.
MacDonald described a woman really up against it, just completely unlovely and without hope. “[Marilyn] sober for more than a dozen years. She reached with both arms toward Kathy and pulled her close …’Honey, you’re gong to be OK. You’re with us now. We can deal with this together. All you have to do is keep coming. Hear me? Keep coming.'”
I’ve said that to people in as many words, but under much less dramatic conditions.
If we had that heart of Christ and hey, I’m as lacking as anyone. We all have to be more empathetic and accepting, let’s help each other do that.
Having said all that, I do have one criticism of AA/NA. Yea, it’s worked, and I understand the rationale with the “higher power”. But hey guys maybe it’s time to get real, get off your high horse (cause I have gotten that kind of attitude from people in AA, when I was talking to someone who really wanted to know about Christ). I have to wonder, how many people got left behind because the focus wasn’t on the one true higher power, Jesus Christ? No more then in the rest of the world, AA is not a place to get all up in how you can change, and should be all about how God the Father, brings new life, how God the Son died so you could be saved from your old life and God the Holy Spirit works that transformation in you. Anything else? Sorry! Just doesn’t work. Having said that, there is a lot in AA that we in the church could learn from. I really do like being with my brothers and sisters in Christ, I like being their pastor and I hope they like being a part of the congregation I have been led by God to pastor. So let’s show that compassion, empathy and willingness to help and sacrifice for those around us.

Yes I can, In Christ I can do all things…

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There was a great article in Triathlete Magazine (Aug 2013, Jesse Thomas pp 38-39) about ways to positive talk yourself through a race. The longest I’ve done is International Distance. But after swimming up to a mile, 20 plus miles on a bike and halfway through a 10K run, yea you did need to do some self-talk. It doesn’t have to be athletic, believe me I’ve had to push through some grueling days at a desk, traveling, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of days wherever your work day happens when you feel like you’re literally hanging on by your finger nails.

Jesse Thomas defines a sports mantra as: “…a positive word, phrase or image that an athlete repeats to himself to combat fear, doubt and pain during training or competition. A simple mantra example might be, ‘I can do this!’ or ‘I look amazing in these aviators.’ … They can be used before (‘I am superbly prepared’) or during ((‘I am the pain king’) training and racing to calm your nerves, balance the inevitable negative thoughts that creep into your brain and ultimately, make you go faster and stay positive.” Now Thomas has done many triathlons and is a three-time Wildflower (one of the premier events in triathlon) Long Course champion. So I’m sure he knows from whence he speaks.

I think the applications of this are obvious in probably any areas of our lives. Hey let’s face it, it’s not just the workplace, moms at home with kids, I know I’ve been home with kids and thought I was going bite through my lower lip.

“…I think whatever creates a repetitive, believable, positive image for you works, but here are a couple of general qualities I’ve found in my mantra experience:

1) Keep it short and simple…

2) Relate it to your successes. Mantras are  most effective if they help you recall other successes you’re had. That could be a great workout, a strong race…whatever recalls a time you got through pain and doubt.

3) Stay positive and realistic …I think my best mantras are ones that acknowledge my doubts balanced with positive reinforcement to overcome it: ‘This is hard, but I own hard…”

“…If I remember that all I have to do is get through this moment and keep myself from projecting an outcome (staying in the now) it doesn’t seem so bad and relieves the anticipation of potential failure… if I tell myself I’m tearing through this while I’m in the pain cave, for some reason it makes it easier. Yes, it hurts, but I’m asking for it and kicking it… I’ve found it’s best if I say these out loud as well, which has the extra benefit of psyching out your competition!”

Yes, there are times when we just have to tell ourselves, “I own this”, “I’ve done this before and I’m stronger now”, “wow, what great scenery and I get to run through it”. Triathlons do have some great venues, I would love to do “Escape to Bermuda”, just watching it on TV you can tell the course is really striking. Point is, there is much you can hang on and push through but as Christians we have so much more and much more than a mantra. We are talking to our omnipotent Lord, this week I am preaching on 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,…” I am not telling you that the Holy Spirit is going to power you through your next Iron Man, He could if He chose to, but God is not in the business of overturning the natural laws that He created, although He certainly can. But I am saying that no matter what you are dealing with, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit, you are a child of God the Father and you should remember that. Hey I’m always going to be a “back of the packer”, but I’m still out there doing it, I’m still striving and I hope in some way God will use it to His glory. Or He will help you to push through a bad day with the kids, or at your desk, or on the work site, where ever/whenever.
We’ve been talking about “hesychasms” in some of our groups at church. This is where you recite something like; “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy” so often that it just becomes that background program running on your heart, it comes to the surface whenever you need it, it’s constantly on your heart, you are constantly talking to the Holy Spirit whose temple you are. As Christians we can reach out during a race to our Father in heaven and I’ve done it, “This is the day that the Lord has made”, appreciating everything He’s doing in me. How much more can you be encouraged? But I’d sure like to see a day that the Lord has made in the “Escape to Bermuda” Triathlon. Anyone out there want to sponsor a back of the packer? God bless, and remember, sure, keep those positive ideas in your head through your “races”, but always remember as children of the Father, we should always be looking to Him and trusting in Him, quoting Paul: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) That’s not just happy self-talk, that’s inspired talk from God Himself.

Salting and Lighting your world

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Salting and Lighting Your World

First ST Johns Feb 9, 2014

We Make our beginning in the Name of God the Father, and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who are the salt and the light of the world said… AMEN

Are you the salt of the earth? Reminds me of that great song from Godspell, “You are the salt of the world, but if that salt has lost its flavor, it ain’t got much in it’s favor, you can’t have that fault and be the salt of the earth.” Salt and light were precious commodities back in Jesus’ time. If He was talking to us today He might ask us if we are the petroleum oil and the Amana freezer of our time. Salt and light were valuable, unlike today where, relatively speaking oil and refrigeration are relatively cheap, everyone uses oil in some form and pretty much everyone has a refrigerator/freezer in their home. Tory Borst notes: “Salt is one of those common everyday items we use without thought. We grab the shaker and shake. According to the Salt Institute (www.saltinstitute.org), in the year 2002 over a billion dollars were spent on salt in the United States alone using about 24 ½ million tons of salt.” In Jesus’ time it was more the exception than the rule that you would be able to light your home at night or you would be able to salt your food to preserve it. For the average worker, they would do their work during the day, they would get paid on that day and they would buy what they needed to eat for the rest of that day, they simply didn’t have a way to preserve food for a month, even a few days as most people have today. The phrase “he’s not worth his salt” comes from around that period, Roman soldiers would be paid in salt, if they weren’t performing their jobs properly it was said they weren’t worth the salt they were being paid.

It really goes back to a very fundamental question that we should be asking ourselves all the time. Henry Blackaby‘s devotional raised the issue and he points out what should be a constant reminder to us, are we salt, are we that preserving agent in a corrupted, degenerating world. “Your life is designed and commissioned by God to enhance a community and to preserve what is good and right.” (Henry Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day p 51) Origen writes: “As salt preserves meat from decaying, so also do Christ’s disciples, [that’s you and me, not just the 11 guys with Jesus, we are all Christ’s disciples], do Jesus’ disciples have a preservative effect?” That is do we simply decay and degrade along with the environment, or is there something active in us? That being the Holy Spirit. Chrysostom writing again says “The worldly are less like lamps than buckets, lacking in God, they are empty from above but full from below.” Do we want to be stretching toward what’s above instead of wallowing in what’s below? Those around us in the world deserve the same chance following the leading of the Holy Spirit and help those around you to be full from above.

Blackaby points out when we are focused on God and what He is guiding us to do, are we staying in front of God? This may be a digression, but it’s part of being a soldier of the Cross too. Do I go and worship, restrengthened, yes even rearmed in Christ. Have we been in His presence in worship, hearing the preached Word, strengthened by the Body of Christ, our brothers and sisters? If we haven’t been strengthened by the Body and Blood of Christ, can we truly be prepared to be salt to a world, that is decidedly unsalty and very corrupt and degenerate world. We are regenerated through the things that God gives us, baptism, Scripture, the preached Word and the Body and Blood. We are not only salt in the world, but we are also sufficiently armed to face the spiritual challenges that keep pushing back against everything that is Jesus. Worship, discipleship, the things that we do to serve and worship God give us our saltiness.

Blackaby asks: “How do we test the ‘saltiness’ of our life? Look at our family. Are we preserving it from the destructive influences that surround it? Examine our workplace. Are the sinful influences in our work environment being halted because we are there? Observe our community. Is it a better place because we are involved in it? What about our church?” Chromatius tells us: “Those who have been educated for heavenly wisdom ought to remain steadfast so as not to be made tasteless by the devil’s treachery.”

No one is saying that your environment is perfect, we are always going to live in a fallen world. But because of our saltiness, is the world around us being impacted? When I worked in finance and during my time on active duty, people did come to me, and they did kind of expect a little more from me, and they did want to “talk”. I was a light in my environment that people were drawn to. Chromatius again, says: “ Jesus’ disciples are called the light of the world because they are illumined by One who is the true and eternal light.” If we are in Christ, we cannot help but project His light. No, it’s not like a lighthouse, “hey look at Driskell over in his cube, all lit up”, but it’s a supernatural radiance that the Holy Spirit produces in you that people look for guidance like sailors looking at a lighthouse. I’m not saying that I was just all that, but it seems that I did make an impact. Many of us, who expect whiz-bang results, I can’t say my results were whiz-bang, but I can say that God was using me. Let’s make it a constant recheck, are we affecting our environment for Christ in the way the Holy Spirit is leading us to impact?

Kevin Haug, who labels himself a Lutheran preacher in Texas told a story written by Warren Hudson of Ontario, Canada. He writes, “One night at the end of a special Saturday night worship service a thunderstorm unleashed a bolt of lightning that plunged the church into darkness.” With the congregation seated in total darkness, the pastor felt his way to the kitchen to find some candles. The pastor handed out the candles to everyone present. Persons lit their candles in much the same way as many churches do on Christmas Eve, each person lighting the candle of the person next to them. The worshipers then made their way through the church’s winding hallways to the front door.
“Peering out, we could see the rain coming down in sheets,” Warren remembers. With traffic snarled, people were running for the nearest shelter. Looking around they realized that the entire city was in darkness. “There in the darkness we stood,” Warren writes, “a little band of Christians, each clutching a light, not sure whether to venture out into the storm or stay inside the church in hopes that the storm would soon blow over.”
Isn’t this an appropriate analogy for many of us in the church? We know there is a world out there enshrouded in darkness. A world out there that is bland and in need of spice. Yet, what do we do about it? Do we face the storm and shine our light? Do we add some spice to the world?”

You really can light up your environment and make it a lot more interesting, a lot more compelling and yes, a lot more challenging. But once you are hooked on jumping in and challenging, not in an arrogant way, or obnoxious, but in a compelling way and in a loving way, showing to others the love of Christ. It is exhilarating, you can’t see it, but as Jesus tells us: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This isn’t to brag on yourself, but by letting your light shine, seeing what God does through you, You glorify God and others see you being glorified by God. God initiates, He raises you up to be salt and light, you become that to others and by virtue of what you’ve done God is glorified to all. It truly is amazing that by being salt and light God continues to raise us up, raise others through us and justly and deservedly brings glory to Himself.

Spend some time this week, get out your journal, I know all of you contribute so much to your church, your family, your associates, but do they see how God is taking something so ordinary as salt and light and using it to His glory, by glorifying you and turning others to Him through you? How can you help others to know that the true source of your spiciness and light is our Father in heaven?

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

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