honestly

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, 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. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly 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 useful 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, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:25-32, NRSV)

Always speak the truth.

Can you imagine if we were all honest with everyone all of the time?

We could say when we were angry and we could talk it out.

We would not take things that weren’t ours.

We would not have evil things in our thoughts and coming from our mouths.

We would all be tenderhearted and kind to one another. The world would be a better place.

And it has to start somewhere. I am willing to try, are you?

what do I wear?

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15, NRSV)

You’ve heard it said, “Dress for Sucess.” Or dress for the job you want, not the job you have…

But here the epistle writer to the Colossians says to clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

Be compassionate to everyone.

Be kind to all people.

Be humble all the time.

Be meek in all of your dealings, and don’t be haughty.

In everything have patience.

Can you imagine if we all dressed this way?

tie one on…

Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” (Luke 17:1-4, NRSV)

Have you ever thought about how big a millstone actually is?

If you were to tie one around your neck and throw yourself into the sea you would be dead.

And of course, that is Jesus’ point. It would be better for you to be dead than to lead someone astray from Him.

We will all stumble on our own, but if we cause another to stumble that is worse than stumbling.

You see our job is to make the path clear for others to see Jesus and to come to Him. Not by telling them what they have to do or how they have to live, but by showing them the love that Jesus gave to us.

So don’t tie one on, and don’t cause another to stumble.

Let Jesus love you and let the love spill over in your life.

fulfilled the law…

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:8-14, NRSV)

Have you ever wondered how you might fulfill the law?

Paul tells the Romans here how to do that and it is really simple.

Love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law! It is that simple. Then Paul goes on to explain the commandments and how by doing them you are really loving your neighbor. So if we can love each other, we will fulfill the law.

That is what Jesus came to show us. That we need to love as He loved us. Without exception and where we were.

So fulfill the law and love your neighbor!

Peace

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. (Matthew 5:21-26, NRSV)

Interesting this text comes up for 9/11…

Peace. If you have something against your brother or sister leave your gift and go and make amends before you bring your gift to the altar. First, be reconciled and then come before God.

This is why in the Lutheran order of service the sharing of the peace is before communion. Because if there is something you need to handle or an issue you have with a brother or sister, you go and make peace, or share God’s peace before you come before the altar of God.

So give God’s peace as he gave it to you!

Communication!

“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:15-20, NRSV)

If someone has done you wrong then go and talk to them. If they won’t listen to you, then go back and take another congregation member with you. If they still won’t listen bring the whole congregation along.

This is the way we deal with sin in the church. This is the way we are supposed to deal with others who hurt us in the church.

We are to communicate with them. Tell them they hurt us and seek reconciliation.

Let us practice this sort of love and communication and see how the world might change!

Self-righteous

Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites; I hate the company of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar, O Lord, singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides. Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with the bloodthirsty, those in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the Lord. (Psalm 26, NRSV)

I have to be honest when I read this Psalm I am struck by the hypocrisy of it. It sounds like a Pharisee who knows he is in the right with God and others around him are wrong. It sounds like a self-righteous person telling God that they are in the right and God should know that. I do all the right things, so do not cast me away for I am a saint and do not belong with the sinners.

I cry out to you o Lord, help me to put my trust in you and not to know that I am right or a saint. But to trust in the fact that even when I stumble and fall your mercy still makes me right with you. Help me to show my faults so that the world may see your love for me and know that your love is all encompassing.

rejoice in suffering

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?” Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good. (1 Peter 4:12-19, NRSV)

Do not be surprised people are putting you through a fiery ordeal. Or that the world seems to be against you.

You need to rejoice in suffering for the way for the way of the Cross.

Seems a little backwards, rejoice in suffering!

Be glad you are being persecuted?

For God’s glory is shown through this. He will give you strength to withstand. Because you are delivering His message of hope, mercy and grace to the world and they just can not take it, so they make you suffer. So rejoice that you are following after God and know that He will never leave you nor forsake you!

press on

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:7-16, NRSV)

I write this blog days after Harvey has finished dropping an exorbitant amount of water on Houston and surrounding areas of Texas. And after watching a video of a friend of my wife’s spouse talk about how a wall missing in their house will mean that everything in that room is just stuff and we will count it all as lost, but at least we are all still alive and safe.

I think of the massive clean up and efforts to restore life to normal. While most of us go about our days outside of Texas as if nothing happened. Not that it isn’t reality, but we are not there, it is not our restoration. We pray for them and send funds and items to help, yet do we get it. As a parishioner told me, I get in my car and come home as any other day. We can’t fathom the loss or the hurting.

Yet all those in the wake of Harvey press on. They press on knowing they are not alone. They press on with assistance from long time friends and family and from strangers. There are efforts of many people dropping in on areas hit by Harvey and helping families clean up and remove debris and restore what they can and rebuild what can’t be fixed.

Because stuff is only that, stuff. And life is about more than stuff.

Do not think of your things as gods, but follow Jesus and help others to see that He is the prize worth pressing on towards. And in that pressing on, others will see His love too!

costs of being a disciple

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:51-62, NRSV)

So what does it cost to be a follower of Jesus?

In this passage you have to:

Give up your home (foxes have holes and birds have nests, but I have no place to lay my head)
You can not bury your relatives
You can not say good bye to loved ones.

Are you ready to follow?

And here is the thing, you can not be a fan. You can not just be with Jesus when He is winning or doing what you want, and then when things turn and Jesus is calling for the hard stuff, you can turn away. It doesn’t work that way. We need to be completely committed followers of Jesus. Fully in.

But if you can be a completely committed follower, your life will change and become something you could not have possibly imagined.

The cost is high, but it is fully worth it!