light fruit…

Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. Sexual immorality, and any kind of impurity or greed, shouldn’t even be mentioned among you, which is right for holy persons. Obscene language, silly talk, or vulgar jokes aren’t acceptable for believers. Instead, there should be thanksgiving. Because you know for sure that persons who are sexually immoral, impure, or greedy—which happens when things become gods—those persons won’t inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. (Ephesians 5:1-9, CEB)

It seems there is a lot of talk in the Bible about sexual immorality, and impure obscene things. And probably for good reasons. We should focus on what God called us to be and do, which is loving people, and loving God. When we focus on impure, obscene, immoral things we can not see the other and their needs.

We should imitate God and be like dearly beloved children who seek to be like the one who loves them.

So love others.

Loving People. Loving God.

Be

Therefore, after you have gotten rid of lying, Each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor because we are parts of each other in the same body. Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil. Thieves should no longer steal. Instead, they should go to work, using their hands to do good so that they will have something to share with whoever is in need. Don’t let any foul words come out of your mouth. Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say. Don’t make the Holy Spirit of God unhappy—you were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ. (Ephesians 4:25-32, CEB)

Do not lie. Tell the truth. Be angry without sinning.

Say what is helpful. Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander.

Be kind.

Be compassionate.

Be forgiving.

For that is what God was/is to you.

It is really that easy. (and that hard!)

Loving People. Loving God.

right judgment

Halfway through the festival, Jesus went up to the temple and started to teach. Astonished, the Jewish leaders asked, “He’s never been taught! How has he mastered the Law?” Jesus responded, “My teaching isn’t mine but comes from the one who sent me. Whoever wants to do God’s will can tell whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own. Those who speak on their own seek glory for themselves. Those who seek the glory of him who sent me are people of truth; there’s no falsehood in them. Didn’t Moses give you the Law? Yet none of you keep the Law. Why do you want to kill me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon. Who wants to kill you?” Jesus replied, “I did one work, and you were all astonished. Because Moses gave you the commandment about circumcision (although it wasn’t Moses but the patriarchs), you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man can be circumcised on the Sabbath without breaking Moses’ Law, why are you angry with me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Don’t judge according to appearances. Judge with right judgment.” Some people from Jerusalem said, “Isn’t he the one they want to kill? Here he is, speaking in public, yet they aren’t saying anything to him. Could it be that our leaders actually think he is the Christ? We know where he is from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he exclaimed, “You know me and where I am from. I haven’t come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” So they wanted to seize Jesus, but they couldn’t because his time hadn’t yet come. Many from that crowd believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man does?” On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “All who are thirsty should come to me! All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.” Jesus said this concerning the Spirit. Those who believed in him would soon receive the Spirit, but they hadn’t experienced the Spirit yet since Jesus hadn’t yet been glorified. (John 7:14-31, 37-39, CEB)

Do not judge by appearances…

How many times do we judge a person by how they look? I remember growing up hearing that first impressions mean the most. You have to dress for success. You need to always look your best. Well, what actually does that mean? It means if you are a guy you wear nice slacks, a button-down shirt with a tie, and maybe a sports coat with nice polished dress shoes. Well I’m sorry for those of you who actually know me, you know I don’t like wearing pants (hold on I wear shorts…) or ties. I actually do not remember when I wore a tie, not true it was July 4, 2022, for a concert that they had to give me the tie because I did not own one. This is not my best. but if I don’t wear that then I’m not making a great first impression. Unless we listen to Jesus.

Do not judge by appearances, but judge by right judgment.

Right judgment would be getting all the information needed to make a decision. It would be knowing both sides of the story and then the sides of the story neither side told you. We would need all the information and a lot of times we do not get that, we hear something and snap to a judgment. Or we see something and we snap to a judgment.

That is judging by appearances. And Jesus says not to do that.

Loving People. Loving God.

We are all family

Brothers and sisters, I want you to be sure of the fact that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all went through the sea. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, CEB)

Paul says here that our ancestors were under the cloud and went through the sea. We are all descended from Abraham. And have relatives who were in the exodus.

We are all family. So we need to act that way. And treat each other with love and kindness.

Loving People. Loving God.

Love each other

From the elder. To the chosen gentlewoman and her children, whom I truly love (and I am not the only one, but also all who know the truth), because of the truth that remains with us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, will be ours who live in truth and love. I was overjoyed to find some of your children living in the truth, just as we had been commanded by the Father. Now, dear friends, I am requesting that we love each other. It’s not as though I’m writing a new command to you, but it’s one we have had from the beginning. This is love: that we live according to his commands. This is the command that you heard from the beginning: live in love. Many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess that Jesus Christ came as a human being. This kind of person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we’ve worked for but instead receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not continue in the teaching about Christ does not have God. Whoever continues in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. Whoever comes to you who does not affirm this teaching should neither be received nor welcomed into your home, because welcoming people like that is the same thing as sharing in their evil actions. I have a lot to tell you. I don’t want to use paper and ink, but I hope to visit you and talk with you face-to-face, so that our joy can be complete. Your chosen sister’s children greet you. (2 John 1:1-13, CEB)

Sometimes I feel like a broken record. Always saying love. Love each other. Love those you love. Love those you don’t.

It really is that easy. Love everyone.

It really is that hard. Love everyone.

Just love each other.

Loving People. Loving God.

Woman at the well

He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food. The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.) Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water. The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!” Jesus said to her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here.” The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.” “You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered. “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.” The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.” The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.” Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.” Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?” They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus. In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” The disciples asked each other, “Has someone brought him food?” Jesus said to them, “I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then it’s time for harvest’? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest. Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests. I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.” Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.” (John 4:5-42, CEB)

This is a familiar story I hope…

Jesus had to go to Samaria, to meet this woman at the well at high noon. She went at this time so she wouldn’t see anyone because she was shamed by people. We all know someone who is not living the way they should…

But are we really called to judge others?

If we are always looking at other peoples’ lives and seeing what they are doing wrong and judging them, do we ever have time to love them? Do we ever have time to work on our own lives?

Jesus knows all of our lives, and knows our shortcomings, but doesn’t call us out. Jesus loves us. And wants us to love others. Jesus sees our failures, but overlooks them to see what our life can be, and if our focus is always on others’ failings or shortcomings, how will we ever focus on Jesus and what he wants us to be?

Our lives should not be lived judging others. Our lives should be lived loving others and lifting them up.

If we love like Jesus we will see people and love them and not judge them. We will see needs and know we can help. We will see opportunities to love people to be better.

Go into the world and look with loving eyes, not judging eyes.

Loving People. Loving God.

had to…

Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making more disciples and baptizing more than John (although Jesus’ disciples were baptizing, not Jesus himself). Therefore, he left Judea and went back to Galilee. Jesus had to go through Samaria. He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon. (John 4:1-6, CEB)

This is the beginning of the story of the woman at the well. When Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman.

It is always interesting to me that the text tells us Jesus had to go through Samaria. Most Jews would go out of their way to go around Samaria. But Jesus goes to Samaria, to encounter a woman at the well Jacob had given to Joseph. This was to say that the covenant of God is not only with the Jews, but will be with all people. And the people we think should not be included are the very people Jesus had to go to.

Who are the people you would exclude, that Jesus had to go see?

Who are the people that want to exclude you and are not happy Jesus had to come see you?

We all are included because it isn’t up to us.

So love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

one body

So remember that once you were Gentiles by physical descent, who were called “uncircumcised” by Jews who are physically circumcised. At that time you were without Christ. You were aliens rather than citizens of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of God’s promise. In this world you had no hope and no God. But now, thanks to Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God. When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22, CEB)

Physical circumcision means nothing for the new covenant with God. And even the old covenant was not first based on circumcision, Abram was not circumcised until after the covenant was made. It was a sign of the covenant, not a means to get the covenant.

God made us one with God regardless of what we say separates us or keeps us apart.

We are fellow citizens with all of God’s people.

Loving People. Loving God.

Reconcilled

The Son is the image of the invisible God,
        the one who is first over all creation,

Because all things were created by him:
        both in the heavens and on the earth,
        the things that are visible and the things that are invisible.
            Whether they are thrones or powers,
            or rulers or authorities,
        all things were created through him and for him.

He existed before all things,
        and all things are held together in him.

He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
        the one who is firstborn from among the dead
        so that he might occupy the first place in everything.

Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in him,
        and he reconciled all things to himself through him—
        whether things on earth or in the heavens.
            He brought peace through the blood of his cross.

Once you were alienated from God and you were enemies with him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame. But you need to remain well established and rooted in faith and not shift away from the hope given in the good news that you heard. This message has been preached throughout all creation under heaven. And I, Paul, became a servant of this good news. (Colossians 1:15-23, CEB)

We are made right with God by Jesus.

Through the life Jesus lived here on earth to show us how God wanted us to treat each other and live in love we are made right with God.

It is not anything we do, it is the way Jesus lived and we should live.

We love like Jesus because God’s love compels us to love others.

That is good news, that we are reconciled through Jesus’ life, and not our own or what we do because even when we try to love, we don’t always get it right.

But let us strive to live like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

First stone…

They each went to their own homes, And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he returned to the temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and taught them. The legal experts and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. Placing her in the center of the group, they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?” They said this to test him, because they wanted a reason to bring an accusation against him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. They continued to question him, so he stood up and replied, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.” Bending down again, he wrote on the ground. Those who heard him went away, one by one, beginning with the elders. Finally, only Jesus and the woman were left in the middle of the crowd. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Is there no one to condemn you?” She said, “No one, sir.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, don’t sin anymore.” (John 7:53-8:11, CEB)

I have always found this passage interesting.

First of all, only the woman caught in the act of adultery is brought to be stoned, what about the man? It does take two to adulter…

And Jesus when pushed finally says, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.” Meaning if one of you has not sinned and broken the law, you can throw the first stone and then everyone else is free to join in? That is one way to read that, and these men are legal experts and Pharisees. Didn’t Paul say he was a Pharisee and blameless under the law? Why wouldn’t one of these Pharisees be able to throw a stone? But we also forget that there was someone there who could have thrown a stone but didn’t. He says, after the others have dropped their stones and left, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, don’t sin anymore.”

We get so caught up in what others are doing when we should focus on what we are doing and how we are living a life that shows God’s love for the world.

So don’t judge, love.

Loving People. Loving God.