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.

light

“Now I am deeply troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, for this is the reason I have come to this time. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard and said, “It’s thunder.” Others said, “An angel spoke to him.” Jesus replied, “This voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours. Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” (He said this to show how he was going to die.) The crowd responded, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Human One must be lifted up? Who is this Human One?” Jesus replied, “The light is with you for only a little while. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness don’t know where they are going. As long as you have the light, believe in the light so that you might become people whose lives are determined by the light.” After Jesus said these things, he went away and hid from them. (John 12:27-36, CEB)

Jesus says, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” and the crowd responds that the Christ will remain forever. Do they think Jesus is the Christ? Then they ask about the Human One, that Jesus mentions a few verses before our reading today, when Jesus says, “The time has come for the Human One to be glorified.” Jesus has made the connection that he is the Human One but the crowd doesn’t get it.

Jesus is here to give us light and to help us dispel the darkness. We who are in the light can show the light to the world and need to be salt and light so the darkness doesn’t take over.

Follow the light and love out loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

Golden Calf

“This is the same Moses whom they rejected when they asked, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?’ This is the Moses whom God sent as leader and deliverer. God did this with the help of the angel who appeared before him in the bush. This man led them out after he performed wonders and signs in Egypt at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He is the one who received life-giving words to give to us. He’s also the one whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned to Egypt. They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him!’ That’s when they made an idol in the shape of a calf, offered a sacrifice to it, and began to celebrate what they had made with their own hands. So God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the stars in the sky, just as it is written in the scroll of the Prophets: Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? (Acts 7:35-42, CEB)

I know the calf is an idol and the people should not have made it, but really how did they make it?

They melted down gold that they had taken from Egypt. But they are in the middle of the desert and they are forming a calf out of gold. This is a huge undertaking of engineering. And we just look over it because it was wrong. They shouldn’t have down it, but seriously.

Moses was God’s chosen leader and the people didn’t want to follow him. Or they didn’t like where he led them.

We are all like this. We don’t want to go where God is leading because we think our way is better.

We need to let go and follow where we are led and know that God’s way is far better than ours ever could be.

Loving People. Loving God.

holy ground

“Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the wilderness near Mount Sinai. Enthralled by the sight, Moses approached to get a closer look and he heard the Lord’s voice: ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Trembling with fear, Moses didn’t dare to investigate any further. The Lord continued, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have clearly seen the oppression my people have experienced in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Come! I am sending you to Egypt.’ (Acts 7:30-34, CEB)

What would you do if you saw a bush burning but not consumed by the flames?

I would probably do what Moses did which was going closer to check this out. And then you hear a voice. I love how the reading tells us, Moses heard the Lord’s voice. Like how did Moses know the Lord’s voice? Had he heard it before? I do not recall a story before this in the Bible where God speaks to Moses. Or is this simply a writer’s tool telling us it is the Lord because the Lord says, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.“

Anyway, when the voice comes Moses stops. I admit I would probably have run like a scared person.

God has seen the oppression the people are undergoing. God knows our circumstances. God will rescue us.

As we journey these 40 days with Jesus to the cross, let us remember that God knows our struggles and is going to rescue us.

Loving People. Loving God.

Ash Wednesday

“Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may get praise from people. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you may give to the poor in secret. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you. “When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.

“And when you fast, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward. When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face. Then you won’t look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, CEB)

Most of us will gather this day to receive the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. We do this as a symbol of remembering we are created from the dust of the earth.

This is the traditional start to Lent where we journey for 40 days (plus 7 Sundays) to the great three days and to Easter. We prepare our hearts and minds this day to remind ourselves over the season of Lent of the lengths God went through Jesus to teach us to love. The sacrifices that Jesus made for us and the lengths God is willing to go to help us understand the depth of love God has for all of creation.

This text tells us it doesn’t matter how we look to others or what we think we have here. None of this matters in the grand scheme of things. We need to focus on God.

So this season of Lent, I invite you to focus on God. Don’t worry about giving something up, or taking something on. Just spend time focusing on God and where God is leading you. Let go of the things of this world. Let go of the things you think others are thinking about you. Let go of everything and focus on God.

Loving People. Loving God.