Might

13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:13-17, CEB)

This passage is often quoted or shown on signs at sporting events, or at least one verse is.

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him won’t perish but will have eternal life.

Which means if I don’t believe in Jesus, I will not have eternal life and will perish. And if that was the end of the Bible or the text that would be true. But it isn’t the end.

Jesus continues with verse 17, which I think is way more important in the whole understanding of our lives.

God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus didn’t come to judge us for everything that we did wrong. Jesus came so we might be saved. Might. Not if you don’t believe you will perish, but the ability to be saved. Jesus came to save the world. Not to judge it.

We make the Bible out as a book we have to follow or wee will be damned to hell. No the Bible is a source to help us see who Jesus is and how Jesus wants us to live in this world. And it is a help to point us in the direction of Jesus who came so that we might be saved.

Jesus loves you as you are, created by God and beautifully and wonderfully made. Know that you are loved and Jesus came to save you.

Unforgiving Servant

21 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Should I forgive as many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said, “Not just seven times, but rather as many as seventy-seven times. 23 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, they brought to him a servant who owed him ten thousand bags of gold. 25 Because the servant didn’t have enough to pay it back, the master ordered that he should be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he had, and that the proceeds should be used as payment. 26 But the servant fell down, kneeled before him, and said, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ 27 The master had compassion on that servant, released him, and forgave the loan. 28 “When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred coins. He grabbed him around the throat and said, ‘Pay me back what you owe me.’ 29 “Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he threw him into prison until he paid back his debt. 31 “When his fellow servants saw what happened, they were deeply offended. They came and told their master all that happened. 32 His master called the first servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you appealed to me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 His master was furious and handed him over to the guard responsible for punishing prisoners, until he had paid the whole debt. 35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if you don’t forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35, CEB)

This reading is interesting on many leaves.

  1. The first servant begs for time to pay back a loan that is basically 164,383 and a half years worth of labor. Like even paying part of your wages toward that would ever make a dent in the amount owed. Yet the king forgave him!
  2. The forgiven servant finds another servant who owes him money and doesn’t listen to his friends pleading when he is owed a 1/600000 of what he owed and was forgiven. This amount is easily repaid over probably a couple to 3 years.
  3. And when the king finds out he throws the first servant in jail. and Jesus says if you don’t forgive, God will not forgive you. And not just saying you forgive them, God knows if you actually forgave them in your heart.

How does this help us forgive? It is more into scaring us to do what the right thing is. This kind of passage read the way I outlined it above is what keeps people in abusive relationships.

The story is supposed to be outlandish. It is over the top. With the amounts differing by so much. And show us how much God has forgiven us. And what not forgiving does to us. When we don’t forgive those who have wronged us it is as much or more a prison for us.

May we all see and know the love that God has for us, forgiving a debt that could not possibly be repaid. May we love those around us as God loves us, not because it will make God happy, but because of what we have received.

How to pray

7 “When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask. 9 Pray like this:

Our Father who is in heaven,
uphold the holiness of your name.
10 Bring in your kingdom
so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven.
11 Give us the bread we need for today.
12 Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,
just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.
13 And don’t lead us into temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.

14 “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:7-15, CEB)

This is a wonderful model for us to learn to pray from. But have you noticed we really don’t use this as a model, but we pray the words above. Jesus didn’t say, “When you pray, say these exact words.” He said, “Pray like this:”

So why then do we have to say these words each week win worship?

Why can’t we use them as a model?

Gracious daddy,
remind me of how different you are.
Help me see your presence all around me here and now
so we will do what you need us to do here.
Make sure everyone has what they need
Help us to acknowledge when we are wrong
and to forgive those who have wronged us
guide us down your path for us
and pull us out of the mud when we willfully walk in. Amen.

That is a model for how we can pray everyday!

Evil turned good

9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. God was with him, however, 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. The grace and wisdom he gave Joseph were recognized by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole palace. 11 A famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and great hardship came with it. Our ancestors had nothing to eat. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time. 13 During their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives—seventy-five in all—and invited them to live with him. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a certain sum of money from Hamor’s children, who lived in Shechem. (Acts 7:9-16, CEB)

Sometimes bad things happen because people think they know better than God. The brothers of Joseph didn’t like him because their father seemed to like him more than the rest of the kids. Now as a parent I try to make it clear to my children that I love them all the same and I can tell you that I fail at that every time. My hope is they know that I love them as much as they need to be loved because I can not actually love them, all the same, all the time. I will love one more when they need love, or maybe a better way to say that is I will show one more love at the moment they need it.

But how ever I love my children or Joseph’s father loved his children, his brothers did evil to him because they knew better what needed to happen than God. And when we take actions into our own hands and do what we know to be best for us and those around us, sometimes evil happens. But God works in and through all things. I have seen this and experienced it first hand.

Believe that God is always with you, and a seed is buried in the ground and uses that to grow!

Loving each other

11 This is the message that you heard from the beginning: love each other. 12 Don’t behave like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he kill him? He killed him because his own works were evil, but the works of his brother were righteous. 13 Don’t be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have transferred from death to life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The person who does not love remains in death.15 Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that murderers don’t have eternal life residing in them. 16 This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:11-16, CEB)

Love each other. Seems pretty simple. But obviously it isn’t and hasn’t been for a really long time.

The author of 1 John brings up the offspring of Adam and Eve as an example of how not to love someone. This is an issue that has always plagued the human race.

To love another when they do things that are not helpful or even hurtful to us is not in our nature. But isn’t that what God did for us?

Even when God could not be around because of our sinfulness, God still loved us.

So love the people around you, like God loves you. Faults and all!

Cursing the fig tree

18 Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19 He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, “You’ll never again bear fruit!” The fig tree dried up at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree dry up so fast?” they asked. 21 Jesus responded, “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen. 22 If you have faith, you will receive whatever you pray for.” (Matthew 21:18-22, CEB)

Ok I have a problem here. So if I pray and I don’t get it does that mean I don’t have faith?

Jesus said, “If you have faith, you will receive whatever you pray for.” So if I pray and I don’t get it does that mean I don’t have faith, or I don’t have enough faith?

Also Jesus said “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen.” So maybe it’s not that I don’t have faith but I’m just doubting.

And doubt is the opposite of faith, right?

Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Even though our reading seems to say that. Doubt is questioning, and wondering. I will tell you as a pastor there are many times I doubt my call. I doubt God can use me, even as I tell others that God will use their live to show love to the world. I wonder and question God all the time. But I still have faith in God. I still believe that that promises we have been give are true and God’s love is always there for all of us.

So what do we do this this passage. Well, number 1 it is out of context. We can read any passage of scripture and without the context or other scripture to help us know what it says we can get some scary and bad stuff.

Jesus said other places that you will receive your prayer if it is God’s will. So it might not be you doubted and it isn’t because you don’t have enough faith. In another passage, Jesus said if you had the faith the size of a mustard seed, which is really small, you could tell this mountain to move and it would move, which most people take as to say that we have a very little faith. Which could be true, but the faith you have is enough to make you though. It isn’t about you having the ability to move mountains, because honestly if I could move mountains, I wouldn’t do anything else. It is about you having enough faith to fully rely on God.

So know you have enough faith, and don’t worry about doubting, God can take it.

Authority

Every person should place themselves under the authority of the government. There isn’t any authority unless it comes from God, and the authorities that are there have been put in place by God. 2 So anyone who opposes the authority is standing against what God has established. People who take this kind of stand will get punished. 3 The authorities don’t frighten people who are doing the right thing. Rather, they frighten people who are doing wrong. Would you rather not be afraid of authority? Do what’s right, and you will receive its approval. 4 It is God’s servant given for your benefit. But if you do what’s wrong, be afraid because it doesn’t have weapons to enforce the law for nothing. It is God’s servant put in place to carry out his punishment on those who do what is wrong. 5 That is why it is necessary to place yourself under the government’s authority, not only to avoid God’s punishment but also for the sake of your conscience. 6 You should also pay taxes for the same reason, because the authorities are God’s assistants, concerned with this very thing. 7 So pay everyone what you owe them. Pay the taxes you owe, pay the duties you are charged, give respect to those you should respect, and honor those you should honor. (Romans 13:1-7, CEB)

We should submit to the authority of the authorities according to Paul in the snippet of Romans. We would need to read around it to see what else Paul says, and how we should interpret this.

Now in the days in the United States of America, where it seems that Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) are killed more by police or stopped more by police. I know lots of BIPOC who are worried every time they leave their home. This is not what Paul is speaking of above. He is talking about when everyone is treated justly, and equally. And when we get there, then we can say this, but until then I wonder what Paul would say to our time here now.

We should follow the rule of God and Love everyone and stand up for those who can not stand for themselves. I believe Paul would tell us a different story than he told the Romans.

What do you think?

Strangers

11 Dear friends, since you are immigrants and strangers in the world, I urge that you avoid worldly desires that wage war against your lives. 12 Live honorably among the unbelievers. Today, they defame you, as if you were doing evil. But in the day when God visits to judge they will glorify him, because they have observed your honorable deeds. 13 For the sake of the Lord submit to every human institution. Do this whether it means submitting to the emperor as supreme ruler, 14 or to governors as those sent by the emperor. They are sent to punish those doing evil and to praise those doing good. 15 Submit to them because it’s God’s will that by doing good you will silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Do this as God’s slaves, and yet also as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil. 17 Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Have respectful fear of God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:11-17, CEB)

So as I read this passage and think about what it says, I wonder how we should listen to Trump and the government that is now. According to this passage we should submit to the governing body because in doing so we bring honor to God. Because it is God’s will that by doing good we will silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. I wonder if we would all submit to this government if the foolish talk would stop…

But we should honor everyone regardless of our thoughts or feelings for them, because that is what God calls us to do.

So let s all honor all people and follow the ways of God, so we might show God’s love to all the world.

Conflict

15 “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and correct them when you are alone together. If they listen to you, then you’ve won over your brother or sister. 16 But if they won’t listen, take with you one or two others so that every word may be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. 17 But if they still won’t pay attention, report it to the church. If they won’t pay attention even to the church, treat them as you would a Gentile and tax collector. 18 I assure you that whatever you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. And whatever you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven. 19 Again I assure you that if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, then my Father who is in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.” (Matthew 18:15-20, CEB)

Actually this Bible passage could be the end to all conflict in the world.

The reason we have conflict or fights is because of lack of communication.

Well hold on just a minute there pastor, isn’t conflict caused by disagreement?

Well maybe, but if two people disagree about something, or one has wronged the other, then the one who is wronged goes and talks to the one that wronged them. They may not agree, but they can talk about the issue and come to an understanding and continue to move forward without conflict.

So many things in my life would have been different if this passage had been followed.

So here is my challenge to all of us. If you have a grievance with someone, or they did something wrong to you, go and talk to them personally. Suck it up and be the bigger person. That is what Christ told us to do.

Seek reconciliation. Show love.

Judgment

29 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 You say, ‘If we had lived in our ancestors’ days, we wouldn’t have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31 You testify against yourselves that you are children of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, complete what your ancestors did. 33 You snakes! You children of snakes! How will you be able to escape the judgment of hell? 34 Therefore, look, I’m sending you prophets, wise people, and legal experts. Some of them you will kill and crucify. And some you will beat in your synagogues and chase from city to city. 35 Therefore, upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of that righteous man Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. 36 I assure you that all these things will come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:29-36, CEB)

How we will be judged. And how we judge!

The people who killed Jesus, the powers that be of the religious order of the time who killed the prophets that God sent to warn them and show them how to live, and then wound up killing God’s Son.

But the interesting thing to me as I read this today was, “the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.” Between the temple and the altar…

Where is Between the Temple and the Altar?

The Altar is the place of sacrifice and the Temple contains the altar doesn’t it? Well here the Altar is probably the altar for burnt offerings which stood outside the Temple which contained the altar where sacrifices were done, which is the Holy of Holies. So they killed Zechariah in the place where God was worshipped.

Have we come so low that we do this?

How have we belittled God with our actions?