Month: October 2021

Romans 5:1-6 PHILLIPS   Since then it is by faith that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys—we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles. Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint us. Already we have some experience of the love of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. 

Romans 5:1-6 MSG  ^1-2 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.  ^3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Observation

Wait, wait, wait!  I was good with “Through Him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future.”  I really like the standing “out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.”  Isn’t this relationship of grace about the guarantee of a life full of blessing, happiness, glory and freedom from conflict?   What is Paul meaning by these words – “We can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles.”  Trials and troubles!!  How can we “continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles”?  Doesn’t God promise us smooth sailing on an luxurious yacht through life when we accept Jesus and embrace salvation?  Some may say so, but I say absolutely not!   

Just as an athlete must practice and a student must study to achieve their goals, there is work involved in sustaining faithfulness on our parts.  Don’t forget that we have an Enemy who, since the Garden of Eden, is constantly working for our failure.  God never fails in faithfulness, but we humans are inconsistent and must build the muscles and experience of our faith through resisting temptation and never giving up.  Trusting and relying upon Jesus in troubling and difficult times builds in us patient endurance, mature character, and a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint us. 

Please understand that patient endurance suggests long distance, physical challenge and/or persisting under unpleasant or difficult circumstances without flagging or complaining.  Mature character means that you have a firm foundation morally and spiritually because of the deeper relationship with Jesus built in and through all you have endured.  Then hope, beautiful hope, which encourages us to turn to and depend on our God for Whom all things are possible, even when we don’t understand why we are where we are experiencing difficult circumstances.  No matter how long or difficult the journey, when Jesus goes with us, we will accomplish His goals and reach our destination.

In John 16, Jesus explains to His disciples what being His disciple will be like after He goes away.  They are filled with sorrow and probably fear because they have depended upon Him for wisdom, leadership, instruction, confronting the opposition and the extraordinary demonstration of God’s power.  Their reaction suggests that they do not feel prepared to go it alone.  Jesus encourages them with the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who will be with them, and even in them, to do all that Jesus did for them.  Jesus said to His disciples, “I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” (John 16:32-33 MSG)

Impact on Me

So, what should I expect in this current godless world?  After these verses, Jesus died a horrific and culturally shameful death on the Cross.  10 of His 12 disciples were martyred and 1 was exiled to a tiny rocky island for the faith.  Paul himself suffered beatings, shipwreck, prison and eventually death for his work spreading the Gospel.

How can I have the joy and peace God promises when I experience difficulties and face trials and troubles?  He promises His Holy Spirit will be with us and for us in our trials and tribulation so that we through patient endurance will become mature in character so we can have “a hope that will never disappoint us.”

So, I guess my expectations should depend upon whether I want to be a fully committed disciple or just a member of the crowd.  Have I come only to hear a great message and get a free meal like so many of the 5000?   Am I willing to risk ridicule, opposition or worse to identify with Jesus?  When life is not “blessing, happiness, glory and freedom from conflict,” will I blame God and look for comfort and security elsewhere or seek Him for what He wants me to be and do as I walk in patient endurance?  It is always my choice.  If I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”, I will need to press on in the footsteps of Jesus before me regardless of where they lead.

Prayer

Father God, Creator of the Universe, All-Wise, All-Knowing, Merciful One.  There are so many times that life seems too difficult to bear, circumstances too overwhelming.  I don’t know how people survive without faith in You.  Sometimes my enduring does not seem too patient, but give me the strength and courage to walk in those footsteps of Christ You have placed before me so I can be what You have called me to be and do what You have called me to do.  May I be found faithful, a servant of mature character and steady hope.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Make it so.

Matthew 5:14-16 MSG “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

Observation

This passage appears very soon after the “Blessed are those…” list which begins the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus was preaching to a mixed crowd, people unqualified to be included in God’s favor because they were either poor or Gentile or uneducated or a myriad of other societal or Jewish religious reasons.  He was teaching the people how God was calling them to live in this messed up world – to be in it but not of it.  My goodness, how Jesus turned the current understanding of what God wanted from them upside down (or was it right side up?)!  

In this sermon, Jesus is putting the pathway to loving and serving God as a choice – one anyone can choose.  No picky mountain of rules about how to behave, but, rather, be generous, be kind, be loving to the unlovely, give up your rights to benefit others who cannot repay you, be meek (constant strength of faith under pressure) and humble (know exactly who you are in Christ).  He was teaching them that God wanted them – the formerly excluded – to be a carrier of His light, a light which would dispel the darkness wherever they would go, remembering always “we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”    

Impact on Me

The Sermon on the Mount is a place where I meet Jesus face-to-face every time I come, asking Him to judge my obedience, my willingness to be a living sacrifice, a good and faithful servant. Here is where I ask the Holy Spirit to inspect my heart, my motives, my thoughts toward others, especially those who make it so hard to love them! Here is where I am reminded that it is how I allow Christ in me to shine that matters because what I bring on my own is only an dark lantern or empty pot. So, I ask myself:

• How clean is the glass of my lantern?
• What trash have I accumulated in the clay pot of my life that reduces the treasure I can hold and share?
• How brightly does Jesus shine through my life?
• Have I allowed myself to dim or obscure His pure light by mucking up the glass (or filling my pot) with my human pride, my selfish desires, by offenses I have not forgiven, by my circumstances, by the cultural muck of the world, the decoration of religion?

These verses are where I ask for a good scrubbing of the glass in my lantern and a good clean out of my pot – a refreshing to my soul, my heart, my attitude, my perspective, my mercy and compassion for the unlovely. I want my glass to be sparkling clean and no hindrance to His light shining through to pierce the darkness for me and others. I want my pot to hold nothing but His treasure so it is all I have to give.

Prayer

Lord God, Father, Savior, Teacher, Helper, I praise You and am so grateful for Your love and care.  I invite You on an inspection tour of my life, the storehouses of my soul, the dark corners of my attitudes and perspectives, the hidden places of my heart.  I want to be filled with, motivated by, overflowing with only You, Your light and treasure, so others will come to know You because they meet You in me.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

Luke 10:25-37 MSG

²⁵ Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

²⁶ He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

²⁷ He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

²⁸ “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

²⁹ Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

^30-32 Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.  ^33-35 “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

³⁶ “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

³⁷ “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Observation

The Samaritans were a racially mixed people of Jewish and pagan ancestry. Although they worshiped Yahweh, their religion was not “pure” Judaism.  So, the Samaritans were a despised people by this religion scholar.  The divide was so marked that, even though passing through Samaritan territory was the most direct route between Judea and Galilee, “to avoid contamination” Jews who were traveling from Judea to Galilee or vice versa would cross over the river Jordan to the east in order to bypass setting foot in Samaria, only crossing over the river again to the west as they neared their destination.

The antipathy and enmity existing between Jews and Samaritans gave this story so much more sting.  The only man who inconvenienced himself to show kindness, care and compassion, even at a significant cost to himself, was the hated Samaritan.  Here was an in-your-face story providing the unexpected and challenging answer to the religion scholar’s interpretation of the Law.  Jesus is making it very clear that the law of love has priority over ritual law in God’s Kingdom and sets no limits on who we are to consider our neighbor.  Jesus defines neighbor as anyone who needs our help.

We need to understand that those hearing the story would have understood how the priest and the Levite rationalized avoiding the man.  Touching him would have made them unclean and unable to perform their religious duties for a period of time.  (We’ll keep the clean and unclean issue for another time.)   However, it is interesting to note that they were traveling away from the Temple, not toward it (“down the road” would be away from Jerusalem).  Jesus was making a point to this religious scholar about placing ritual and duty before mercy.  This was not the only time He did so.

Matthew 23:^23-24  PHILLIPS “Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you utter frauds! For you pay your tithe on mint and aniseed and cummin, and neglect the things which carry far more weight in the Law—justice, mercy and good faith. These are the things you should have observed—without neglecting the others. You call yourselves leaders, and yet you can’t see an inch before your noses, for you filter out the mosquito and swallow the camel.

Impact on Me

“And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”  Webster’s dictionary defines it as “1: one living or located near another; 2:  fellow man.”  Neighbor as illustrated by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan fits this description exactly. There is no indication of race, religion, political beliefs, lifestyle – no tags to identify anything about my neighbor other than location and member of human race.  It is easy to be kind and compassionate to nice, friendly, pleasant friends or strangers.  However, it is more challenging for me when the person is “difficult,” such as:

• a family member who is critical, divisive or vengeful,
• one I might think is deserving of what he or she gets,
• one who has opposing traditions, values, or ethics,
• a believer who shames the Cross by the way he or she lives, or
• one who is angry, arrogant, antagonistic or passionately disagrees with me in areas I consider non-negotiable.

All of these and more are my neighbor according to Jesus!  I must honestly confess that there have been times when I shamefully recognized myself as that priest or Levite – allowing commitments to get in the way of compassion, unwilling to get involved, too busy with my own affairs, primarily concerned with what I would be required to invest in time or resources, and so on.  It is then that the Holy Spirit reminds me that I have been all of the characters in that story at some point –  the victim, the priest or Levite as well as the Good Samaritan. The one constant throughout has been God’s unwavering love, compassion and care for me in all of those roles, whether I was stranger, friend or foe to Him at the time.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NASB).   When I first came to Christ, I was the half-dead victim along the side of the road, beaten up by life and robbed of hope.  So many in my Christian walk have been like the Good Samaritan demonstrating God’s law of love at their own expense.   The Levite and the priest thought they were serving God by strictly observing rituals and performing their duties.  They completely misunderstood the service God was asking of them.  I don’t want to do the same.

Prayer

I bow before You and remember that You are Love, the One Who created and redeemed us all.  Lord, redeem my perspective of Your heart for us all.   Expose and replace with Your truth any misunderstandings rooted in my upbringing, traditions, values, and ethics, so that all I am and do will be rooted in and activated by Your eternal perspective. Let me see through the eyes of Your Holy Spirit rather than with my limited, prejudiced viewpoint. I pray that I will be able to see past the barriers and strongholds that make someone difficult for me to the battered soul that needs Your love.  Help me to be willing to invest myself as did the Good Samaritan to see that battered soul redeemed and restored. Never let me forget that all I am and have I owe to You. I pray all of this in Jesus’ name.