see as a child

At that very hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Luke 10:21-24, NRSVue)

“You have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”

Infants need others to help them; they rely on their parents to care for them.

This is how we should be. Relying on God and seeing things as a child.

Jesus will provide for us, when we trust in him over our own power and desires.

Be childlike and trust in Jesus.

sinful beyond measure

What then are we to say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin that was working death in me through what is good, in order that it might be shown to be sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:7-20, NRSVue)

As I read this passage, this stood out to me: “so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.” Sin might become sinful beyond measure.

We do not know sin until we are told what is sin, and when we hear something is sin, we have a really hard time unlearning it is a sin.

Sometimes we make things sinful that are not sin. Sin is what separates us from God. It is not what we think separates others from God.

Do not make sin sinful beyond measure.

Keep your relationship with God central and do not worry about others.

Bound

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she belongs to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she belongs to another man, she is not an adulteress. In the same way, my brothers and sisters, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are enslaved in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code. (Romans 7:1-6, NRSVue)

Who or what are you bound to?

The law is only binding on us as long as we are not in Christ. When we belong to Christ we are bound to Christ and freed from the law. We are freed to live live out loud and share God’s grace in all we do.

So who are you bound to?

What makes you be who you are?

Who frees you to share love?

Sodom

Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?
    No, you will be brought down to Hades.
“For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.” (Matthew 11:20-24, NRSVue)

Many still think Sodom was destroyed for sexual immorality. But that’s not it. Sodom was destroyed because they were not hospitable and were on a power trip they wanted to maintain.

Want to follow Christ? Humble yourself and give up any power you think you have. Humble yourself and be love to the world.

Power will not save you. Love will always set you free.

who is this from?

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God and have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6, NRSVue)

This is important to test the spirits and to discern the will of God.

Many now say this is Biblical. I want a church that preaches and teaches the bible. Well, stoning children who talk back to their parents is biblical. But that is not loving or what God calls us to be. So, which is the right answer?

We are known in the world by our love, Jesus said. Love is biblical. Love is what God calls us to live out. Love is the thing that should be the basis for everything we do, not if it is biblical.

The Bible is a collection of books and stories that points us to who God is and how God is in our lives and working in the world. The Bible is not the end-all, be-all for deciding what we do. It is a book given by men for the purpose of connecting us to God and telling God’s story. It is not the end of God speaking in the world.

Discern what God is leading us to and follow God.

Not a book or a set of guidelines to maintain a power structure and power.

God is love and calls us to love.

love

Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, NRSVue)

Love.

Mind your own affairs and behave properly towards others.

Love.

In all you do, give grace and mercy and love.

Love.

Welcome.

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous, and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:40-42, NRSVue)

Welcome. What does it mean to welcome?

Merriam-Webster has a lot of different things for what “welcome” means.

As a transitive verb:
1: to greet hospitably and with courtesy or cordiality
2: to accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of

As an adjective:
1: received gladly into one’s presence or companionship
2: giving pleasure : received with gladness or delight especially in response to a need
3: willingly permitted or admitted
4—used in the phrase you’re welcome as a reply to an expression of thanks

As a noun:
1: a greeting or reception usually upon arrival
2: the state of being welcome

So what does it mean to welcome?

I like the second transitive verb meaning, to accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of. When we accept with pleasure the occurence ands presence of Jesus in our lives, we accept the presence of God. When we are that presence for others they are seeing and accepting the presence of God through us.

We need to be the people of welcome in the world, when so many others are trying to be the gatekeepers, or bouncers for God, we need to be the voice of welcome and understanding.

Give water. Be a place of openness and acceptance.

Remember, we are not gatekeepers, but voices of grace.

Live Love out Loud.

lead another to sin…

Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” (Luke 17:1-4, NRSVue)

“Woe to anyone through whom they come.”

As a pastor and one who preaches regularly, I ponder this verse a lot. I do not want to lead anyone astray or into sin. Sin, as in separation from God.

I get accused of being a false prophet and an agent of evil a lot on social media for advocating for LGBTQIA2S+ people and community. They are created as all are created in the Imago DEI.

And I ponder leading others astray as I stand in the gap for those who are held down because their lives are considered sinful.

Lead others to love.

Always default to love.

Love always wins.

prevented

You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. But my brothers and sisters, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves! (Galatians 5:7-12, NRSVue)

Who led you astray?

And to think of this differently, who are you leading astray?

Your leaven can change a lot or inspire others to stay the course with Jesus.

Who are you preventing from following Jesus?

Because we need to stay the course and help others follow Jesus.

Faith, working through love

Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that, if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be reckoned as righteous by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love. (Galatians 5:2-6, NRSVue)

Faith. Working through love.

It does not matter if you are circumcised or not. Physical circumcision is not the mark that gets you in the kingdom.

Circumcision of the heart through faith is what matters.

Paul spends the whole book of Galatians telling the community that circumcision is not the answer and to live lives of faith because Jesus is what brings us to the kingdom. Not being what others tell us we need to be.

Live faith working through love.