law

Brothers and sisters, I’m talking to you as people who know the Law. Don’t you know that the Law has power over someone only as long as he or she lives? A married woman is united with her husband under the Law while he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is released from the Law concerning her husband. So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she’s committing adultery. But if her husband dies, she’s free from the Law, so she won’t be committing adultery if she marries someone else. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also died with respect to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you could be united with someone else. You are united with the one who was raised from the dead so that we can bear fruit for God. When we were self-centered, the sinful passions aroused through the Law were at work in all the parts of our body, so that we bore fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law. We have died with respect to the thing that controlled us, so that we can be slaves in the new life under the Spirit, not in the old life under the written Law. (Romans 7:1-6, CEB)

The Law is only in effect while you are alive. And once you die the law no longer has control.

And through Jesus, we died to the law, so the law has no control over us. So then we can not quote the law to say someone is not doing what God calls for them to do. Since they are in Christ and a new creation, the law can not be used to say they are not in a right relationship with God because the law has no effect on them.

Do not use the law against one who is in Christ. We are all either free from the law, or none of us are free from the law.

We are called to love not judge.

Loving People. Loving God.

change

Then he began to scold the cities where he had done his greatest miracles because they didn’t change their hearts and lives. “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives and put on funeral clothes and ashes a long time ago. But I say to you that Tyre and Sidon will be better off on Judgment Day than you. And you, Capernaum, will you be honored by being raised up to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to the place of the dead. After all, if the miracles that were done among you had been done in Sodom, it would still be here today. But I say to you that it will be better for the land of Sodom on the Judgment Day than it will be for you.” (Matthew 11:20-24, CEB)

What change did these cities not have? Right before this Jesus says that this generation is like a child crying out who didn’t get their way, or that they did something according to the way it had always been done and people did not respond the correct way. Going from that, would make me think that the change that didn’t happen was focusing on others.

We have a set of rules to follow and those help us maintain a godly way, yet they have us focusing on our actions and not our motives. We are focused on keeping the status quo and not the need of the other.

And that was the sin of Sodom, they were not hospitable to the stranger. And had the miracles done in Chorazin and Bethsaida been done in Sodom, Sodom would have been hospitable.

Are you loving others, or trying to keep the rules?

Loving People. Loving God.

How do we know?

Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world. This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come as a human is from God, and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now already in the world. You are from God, little children, and you have defeated these people because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view and the world listens to them. We are from God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6, CEB)

According to this reading, we are to test the spirit and see if it is of God.

Well, exactly how do we do that? The author of 1 John says, “This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come as a human is from God, and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God.”

Ok. I know people who say homosexuality is an abomination and they confess Jesus as the Son of God and I know people who say homosexuality is not an abomination and they confess Jesus as the Son of God, so which spirit is of God? It is not as clear cut as this reading seems to make it. And the author says they have all of the right answers, and if you do not listen to them then you are wrong. That sounds a lot like the sides of the issue I talked about above. Neither side has all the right answers. We think we all read the scripture the way God intended, but when we are never challenged or pushed then we are making God in the image we have for God and it really isn’t God.

So if you are always right and never challenged, I think you are not actually following God.

Follow God. When it’s easy and when it’s not.

And love everyone.

Loving People. Loving God.

Love

You don’t need us to write about loving your brothers and sisters because God has already taught you to love each other. In fact, you are doing loving deeds for all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Now we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do so even more. Aim to live quietly, mind your own business, and earn your own living, just as I told you. That way you’ll behave appropriately toward outsiders, and you won’t be in need. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, CEB)

We shouldn’t have to write about love because we should love because God loved us.

We can encourage each other to do more and to always be more loving.

How can you be more loving to those around you today?

Loving People. Loving God.

rewarded?

“Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.” (Matthew 10:40-42, CEB)

If you receive a prophet you will get a prophet’s reward…

If you receive a righteous person you will receive a righteous person’s reward…

If you give a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples you will be rewarded…

Why do we do good?

From this passage, we do good for what we get. But that is not why we should do good.

The reward is the cherry on top. We do not do good for the cherry. We do good because good was done to/for us and doing good is the loving thing to do.

We love because we are loved. We do not love to be loved.

So do good, not for what you get but because of what you already have.

Loving People. Loving God.

Restore

That same year, early in the rule of Judah’s King Zedekiah, in the fifth month of his fourth year, the prophet Hananiah, Azzur’s son from Gibeon, spoke to me in the Lord’s temple before the priests and all the people. He said: “The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. In two years I will restore to this place all of the temple equipment that Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar carted off to Babylon. I will also restore to this place Judah’s King Jeconiah, Jehoiakim’s son, along with all the exiles from Judah who were deported to Babylon, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 28:1-4, CEB)

We need to be patient and wait. Endure and hope.

God will restore this place.

Have faith and hope always.

Loving People. Loving God.

forgive

Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause people to trip and fall into sin must happen, but how terrible it is for the person through whom they happen. It would be better for them to be thrown into a lake with a large stone hung around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to trip and fall into sin. Watch yourselves! If your brother or sister sins, warn them to stop. If they change their hearts and lives, forgive them. Even if someone sins against you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I am changing my ways,’ you must forgive that person.” (Luke 17:1-4, CEB)

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things for humans because we have a hard time forgetting what others (and ourselves) have done to us. And there is also this thing called trust.

Forgiving someone doesn’t mean you allow them to continue to do the things they have done. Even though this passage says if they sin against you seven times, that could be the same sin or a different one. Either way, it is a lot, but it doesn’t say the same thing. We still have to forgive them. More for us, than for them because we need to let go of the pain and the agony and let God take care of it. Let go and let God is overused, but it is appropriate.

Let go of the pain and give it to God.

Forgive. as you are forgiven.

Loving People. Loving God.

matters

Look, I, Paul, am telling you that if you have yourselves circumcised, having Christ won’t help you. Again I swear to every man who has himself circumcised that he is required to do the whole Law. You people who are trying to be made righteous by the Law have been estranged from Christ. You have fallen away from grace! We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit by faith. Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t matter in Christ Jesus, but faith working through love does matter. (Galatians 5:2-6, CEB)

It seems interesting to me that Paul says if you are circumcised then you have to follow all of the law, but then he says that being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t matter in Christ Jesus.

And of course, it doesn’t matter if you are circumcised or not and Paul isn’t saying that if you are circumcised for no reason but because you are doing it for the understanding of the Law. If you do it because the Law says you must, then you have to follow all of the Law. Not that that would get you anything anyhow. but…

What matters is love. Love all. That simple.

Loving People. Loving God.

go and proclaim

Jesus sent these twelve out and commanded them, “Don’t go among the Gentiles or into a Samaritan city. Go instead to the lost sheep, the people of Israel. As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, and throw out demons. You received without having to pay. Therefore, give without demanding payment. Workers deserve to be fed, so don’t gather gold or silver or copper coins for your money belts to take on your trips. Don’t take a backpack for the road or two shirts or sandals or a walking stick. Whatever city or village you go into, find somebody in it who is worthy and stay there until you go on your way. When you go into a house, say, ‘Peace!’ If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if the house isn’t worthy, take back your blessing. If anyone refuses to welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or city. I assure you that it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than it will be for that city. “Look, I’m sending you as sheep among wolves. Therefore, be wise as snakes and innocent as doves. Watch out for people—because they will hand you over to councils and they will beat you in their synagogues. They will haul you in front of governors and even kings because of me so that you may give your testimony to them and to the Gentiles. Whenever they hand you over, don’t worry about how to speak or what you will say, because what you can say will be given to you at that moment. You aren’t doing the talking, but the Spirit of my Father is doing the talking through you. Brothers and sisters will hand each other over to be executed. A father will turn his child in. Children will defy their parents and have them executed. Everyone will hate you on account of my name. But whoever stands firm until the end will be saved. Whenever they harass you in one city, escape to the next, because I assure that you will not go through all the cities of Israel before the Human One comes. (Matthew 10:5-23, CEB)

We are called and sent into the world to tell the house of Israel.

It seems maybe this passage is appropriate again today. Jesus sent the disciples out to tell those following after ways that are not what God is after that they are not doing what God has called them to do. Martin Luther called out the Catholic Church and reformation is still happening today. We are always learning and growing and when we think we got it, we most certainly do not.

Speak the truth in love all the time and if people won’t listen, shake the dust off your feet and move along. But never cease in speaking truth in love.

Loving People. Loving God.

Walk tall

“Write this to the angel of the church in Smyrna:

These are the words of the one who is the first and the last, who died and came back to life: I know your hardship and poverty (though you are actually rich). I also know the hurtful things that have been spoken about you by those who say they are Jews (though they are not, but are really Satan’s synagogue). Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison in order to test you. You will suffer hardship for ten days. Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Those who emerge victorious won’t be hurt by the second death. (Revelation 2:8-11, CEB)

Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer.

God is always with you. You can stand tall knowing you are proclaiming the truth in the face of a world that doesn’t want to hear it.

Death is not the end, let them take your life here but do not back down from proclaiming the truth.

Loving People. Loving God.