Faithful

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. However, God was unhappy with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. These things were examples for us, so we won’t crave evil things like they did. Don’t worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play. Let’s not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day. Let’s not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. Let’s not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of time has come. So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall. No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13, CEB)

Even when we turn away and go after our own desires, God is faithful. We have not been seized by a temptation that isn’t common for all people. God knows what we will go through and God is always with us. God will guide us if we will only follow.

Do not rely on your own understanding but trust in God to lead you where you need to be.

Love always and show others how much God loves you and them.

Loving People. Loving God.

credited as righteousness

So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy? Because if Abraham was made righteous because of his actions, he would have had a reason to brag, but not in front of God. What does the scripture say? Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Workers’ salaries aren’t credited to them on the basis of an employer’s grace but rather on the basis of what they deserve. But faith is credited as righteousness to those who don’t work, because they have faith in God who makes the ungodly righteous. In the same way, David also pronounces a blessing on the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from actions: Happy are those whose actions outside the Law are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Happy are those whose sin isn’t counted against them by the Lord. Is this state of happiness only for the circumcised or is it also for those who aren’t circumcised? We say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” So how was it credited? When he was circumcised, or when he wasn’t circumcised? In fact, it was credited while he still wasn’t circumcised, not after he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that comes from the faith he had while he still wasn’t circumcised. It happened this way so that Abraham could be the ancestor of all those people who aren’t circumcised, who have faith in God, and so are counted as righteous. He could also be the ancestor of those circumcised people, who aren’t only circumcised but who also walk in the path of faith, like our ancestor Abraham did while he wasn’t circumcised. (Romans 4:1-12, CEB)

How do we get grace?

Is it by doing the right things?

Is it by being circumcised?

When you work you are paid for the time you put in. But Grace doesn’t depend on your outward appearance or the actions you do.

Grace is a gift of God, credited as righteousness to all.

We can not earn it. We can not do enough to get it.

So love people as God loved you and show them they are loved by God.

Loving People. Loving God.

Who told?

At that time, some Pharisees approached Jesus and said, “Go! Get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.” Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m throwing out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work. However, it’s necessary for me to travel today, tomorrow, and the next day because it’s impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. Look, your house is abandoned. I tell you, you won’t see me until the time comes when you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.” (Luke 13:31-35, CEB)

I always find this interesting that some Pharisees told Jesus that Herod wants to kill him. Didn’t they want to kill him too?

But Jesus is not worried about dying a physical death as neither should we be. We should stand up for what is right for everyone knowing that death is not the end of our journey but merely a step in it.

If we follow God and accept the care God gives us, at some point we will die, and then spend the rest of eternity with God. A great thing.

So love out loud and follow where God leads us, standing for those in need.

Loving People. Loving God.

What do we want?

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. Look, your house is left to you deserted. I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.” (Matthew 23:37-39, CEB)

What do we want?

God wants to gather us as a hen gather her chicks under her wing to care for them. And do we want this?

We fight the care God wants to give us. We don’t do what is best for us because it isn’t what we see as best for us.

So what do we want? Our way or God’s care?

Love out Loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

imitate

Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me and watch those who live this way—you can use us as models. As I have told you many times and now say with deep sadness, many people live as enemies of the cross. Their lives end with destruction. Their god is their stomach, and they take pride in their disgrace because their thoughts focus on earthly things. Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there—the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:17-20, CEB)

Paul is telling the Philippians to imitate him because he is imitating Christ.

If we live our lives as Christ did, loving all and pointing everyone to God we will have an abundant life. Not a life without hardship and pain, but an abundant life of love and grace.

Loving People. Loving God.

Boast

Watch out for the “dogs.” Watch out for people who do evil things. Watch out for those who insist on circumcision, which is really mutilation. We are the circumcision. We are the ones who serve by God’s Spirit and who boast in Christ Jesus. We don’t put our confidence in rituals performed on the body, though I have good reason to have this kind of confidence. If anyone else has reason to put their confidence in physical advantages, I have even more: I was circumcised on the eighth day. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. With respect to observing the Law, I’m a Pharisee. With respect to devotion to the faith, I harassed the church. With respect to righteousness under the Law, I’m blameless. These things were my assets, but I wrote them off as a loss for the sake of Christ. But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ and be found in him. In Christ, I have a righteousness that is not my own and that does not come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God that is based on faith. The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead. It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. (Philippians 3:2-12, CEB)

I have reason to boast Paul says, and then he gives us the reasons he can boast.

Paul says all of these things are loss in comparison to the value of knowing Christ. Paul has lost everything that counted for Christ. And in this version, he calls what he lost sewer trash. In other versions it is dung, refuse. The actual Greek word is σκύβαλα. It is the only time this word is used in the Bible and most other Greek manuscripts don’t have it. Scholars seem to think it is street slang for what we would say today as shit. Paul calls everything that counted in his life shit compared to knowing Christ.

Jesus is the best thing we could ever have in our lives and Paul tells the Ephesians that everything else in life is shit. And we say Christians shouldn’t use foul language. Well sometimes you need to get attention and make sure people are listening and colorful language will do that. All words are necessary for use at times.

We should boast about what we have “lost” to have Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Satan entered…

“Take care that your hearts aren’t dulled by drinking parties, drunkenness, and the anxieties of day-to-day life. Don’t let that day fall upon you unexpectedly, like a trap. It will come upon everyone who lives on the face of the whole earth. Stay alert at all times, praying that you are strong enough to escape everything that is about to happen and to stand before the Human One.” Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, but he spent each night on the Mount of Olives. All the people rose early in the morning to hear him in the temple area. The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the legal experts were looking for a way to kill Jesus, because they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. He went out and discussed with the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard how he could hand Jesus over to them. They were delighted and arranged payment for him. He agreed and began looking for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them—a time when the crowds would be absent. (Luke 21:34—22:6, CEB)

Do not be overtaken by the anxieties of life or have your hearts dulled. We need to stay focused on loving others around us.

I also like how Luke here and the other Gospel writers say that Satan entered Judas. Like what Judas did would not have happened if it wasn’t for Satan or something evil. Maybe it was all part of a plan that was to get Jesus’ message more heard.

Peter Rollins talks about this in The Fidelity of Betrayal. A great book that goes into maybe Judas was following the plan lais out by Jesus for Jesus to be handed over to the authorities and it went a way Judas wasn’t expecting and that is why he killed himself.

Maybe, maybe not, but I wonder why we feel the need to blame evil for this.

Satan made me do it. I remember my mom having a little statue that said this. Seems like an easy out for when things don’t go as we planned.

Maybe if we just focused on love and loving others we wouldn’t need to blame anyone else.

Loving People. Loving God.

light or prey?

God didn’t spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into the lowest level of the underworld and committed them to chains of darkness, keeping them there until the judgment. And he didn’t spare the ancient world when he brought a flood on the world of ungodly people, even though he protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others. God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to total destruction, reducing them to ashes as a warning to ungodly people. And he rescued righteous Lot, who was made miserable by the unrestrained immorality of unruly people. (While that righteous man lived among them he felt deep distress every day on account of the immoral actions he saw and heard.) These things show that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and how to keep the unrighteous for punishment on the Judgment Day. This is especially true for those who follow after the corrupt cravings of the sinful nature and defy the Lord’s authority. These reckless, brash people aren’t afraid to insult the glorious ones, yet angels, who are stronger and more powerful, don’t use insults when pronouncing the Lord’s judgment on them. These false teachers are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They slander what they don’t understand and, like animals, they will be destroyed. In this way, they will receive payment for their wrongdoing. They even enjoy unruly parties in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, taking delight in their seductive pleasures while feasting with you. They are always looking for someone with whom to commit adultery. They are always on the lookout for opportunities to sin. They ensnare people whose faith is weak. They have hearts trained in greed. They are under God’s curse. Leaving the straight path, they have gone off course, following the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the payment of doing wrong. But Balaam was rebuked for his wrongdoing. A donkey, which has no voice, spoke with a human voice and put a stop to the prophet’s madness. These false teachers are springs without water, mists driven by the wind. The underworld has been reserved for them. With empty, self-important speech, they use sinful cravings and unrestrained immorality to ensnare people who have only just escaped life with those who have wandered from the truth. These false teachers promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of immorality; whatever overpowers you, enslaves you. If people escape the moral filth of this world through the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, then get tangled up in it again and are overcome by it, they are worse off than they were before. It would be better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having come to know it, to turn back from the holy commandment entrusted to them. (2 Peter 2:4-21, CEB)

Do you lead people towards God or towards your self fulfillment?

We can either be a light to send people towards God or away from God.

We are either lifting others up or using them for our own gain.

Which do you do?

Are you a giver of light and truth and a beacon for those to find safe harbor in the storm, or are you one who preys on the weak and uses what you can to get ahead?

Share light and love out loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

don’t sin…

My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you don’t sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is God’s way of dealing with our sins, not only ours but the sins of the whole world. This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. The one who claims, “I know him,” while not keeping his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. But the love of God is truly perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know we are in him. The one who claims to remain in him ought to live in the same way as he lived. (1 John 2:1-6, CEB)

Don’t sin, but if you do Jesus will cover it.

But yet the one who says they know Jesus but don’t keep his commandments is a liar. So what are his commandments? The 10 commandments? The 613 Levitical Laws? Jesus broke down the 10 commandments in a way that no one can keep them, so then are we all liars?

Maybe the commandments are the easy ones, love God, love neighbor.

God loves you so much and wants you to love the world.

Love out loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

Since

Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving. The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.” Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.” Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.” After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity. (Luke 4:1-13, CEB)

This translation gets is partially correct.

Usually, in the NRSV we get the devil questioning Jesus, “If you are the son of God…” But here the CEB starts out, “Since you are God’s Son…”

Well I know I have written before, the Greek word here is εἰ and it means if, and since. And I have always believed that since the devil is a fallen angel, there was no doubt in the devil that Jesus was God’s son. Now the devil could have been saying if to make Jesus question that fact, but I am more prone to say that the devil said since you are God’s son, turn these stones to bread.

The devil doesn’t doubt who Jesus is, and Jesus doesn’t doubt who he is. Do we doubt who Jesus is?

Since Jesus is the son of God and stepped down from his throne to love us, can we not love the world?

Loving People. Loving God.