fruit

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, NRSVue)

God is seeking spiritual fruits, not religious nuts!

We are known to the world by what we produce, and if you are using your faith to keep others down and make gains for yourself, it’s no wonder why people are leaving the church to find faith elsewhere.

Faith should lift us and others up, not keep people in their places, so we gain more.

Be a fruit that shares love, not a nut that causes people to walk away.

I swear…

When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Humans, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute among them. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:13-20, NRSVue)

I swear by the moon and the stars in the skies, and I swear like the shadow that’s by your side.

We swear by something other than ourselves because there are things greater than us, but God swears by Themself because there is no one greater.

And as the song chorus goes:
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the skies
I’ll be there
I swear like the shadow that’s by your side
I’ll be there
For better or worse, ’til death do us part
I’ll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear

God will always be there for us, no matter what.

drift away

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message declared through angels proved valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was confirmed for us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will. Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,
“What are humans that you are mindful of them
    or mortals that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
    you have crowned them with glory and honor,
    subjecting all things under their feet.”
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:1-9, NRSVue)

We will drift away if we do not follow where God is leading us. In fact, i believe a lot have already drifted away and are not doing what God has called us to do and be.

They are following after their own interests, or the interests of those in power before them and are maintaining that power.

Humans have dominion over all of creation, but only because God has given them dominion and that is to care for and enhance creation, not use it or destroy it for their own gain.

Be love in the world for that is why God created us, to share love.

Don’t drift. Love.

See and hear

Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen but never understand,
    and you will indeed look but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and their ears are hard of hearing,
        and they have shut their eyes,
        so that they might not look with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and turn—
    and I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matthew 13:10-17, NRSVue)

Do we really always see people or listen to them!

The greatest issue with communication is we listen to respond and not to hear or learn. We hear words but not feelings or meaning behind the words.

We see people but only what we want to and not what God sees with Their eyes.

We need to listen to learn and understand and see with the eyes of God.

We need to move beyond the parable to looking with God’s eyes and hearing with God’s ears.

See and hear.

walk in love

Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 4:17—5:2, NRSVue)

Walk in love as Christ loved us.

We should live in such a way that Christ is seen in and through our lives. So we do not have to speak. As the quote that is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi says, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

Our lives should just show God’s love in everything we do.

Live love out loud.

Power…

Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God; that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, NRSVue)

Power is not something for us to yield over others. We need to never exploit others for our own gain but to lift others and treat all as equals. For all have fallen short of where God has called us.

By treating all as equals we live in holiness.

Be holy and love like Jesus.

Seed.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!” Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen but never understand,
    and you will indeed look but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and their ears are hard of hearing,
        and they have shut their eyes,
        so that they might not look with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and turn—
    and I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:1-23, NRSVue)

The sower casts seed and it seems to me maybe the sower in this s parable needs to be a little more careful about where the seed is cast. Or were they careful and just abundant in their casting?

The sower sowed and some seed fell on the path. The sower didn’t put it there. They cast seed and it went on the path. Some fell on rocky ground and some on thorny ground. It doesn’t say the sower did this on purpose. That is where some of the seed fell.

Maybe we should be extravagant in our casting of love and let some of it feed the birds and let God work through where it lands.

Our job is not to plant seeds but cast love. Our job was a to sow love and let God work in and through that.

Spread love and cast seed and let God do what God will do.

not to judge…

Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” (John 12:44-50, NRSVue)

I think we can all learn from this. Jesus says very clearly here that he will not judge those who hear his words and do not do them. Because he came to save the world, not to judge it. If Jesus did not come to judge the world, why do we think God would want us to judge others for not living up to our understanding of how we are supposed to live?

God told Jesus how to speak and what to show us.

Stop judging and love like Jesus.

grace

I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. For I will not be so bold as to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him shall see,
    and those who have never heard of him shall understand.” (Romans 15:14-21, NRSVue)

I can do what I do by the grace of God given to me.

I can boast in Christ but not myself, and am empowered to be a light to all so that God’s love is known in word and deed.

Mat all see and know that they are loved by the creator of the world and that Their grace abounds in everything.

Perish

All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged in accordance with the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight but the doers of the law who will be justified. When gentiles, who do not possess the law, by nature do what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, as their own conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God through Christ Jesus judges the secret thoughts of all. (Romans 2:12-16, NRSVue)

You are doomed. If you do not know the law you will sin and perish apart from the law, but if you know the law you sin and be judged by the law. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

Our conscience sets us to know we are not being or doing what we should be or do. Paul said it best I don’t do what I want to do and I do do what I do not want to do.

We will perish apart from God. Jesus will judge us, and yet still love us. We will stand is court for all we have done and failed to do, and yet we will be proclaimed unperishable because of the love of God.