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!

Servant

While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.” Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:17-28, NRSV)

How many of us want to be a servant?

If we are honest, none of us probably want that. We would prefer to be served, to have someone else do the work. Now we probably all at some point would be bored of sitting around all the time and want to do something, but Jesus tells us here it is not about being served, but serving others.

You see, all of us who follow after Jesus will drink from the cup He drinks. But none of us get to chose where we sit, and we are all called to serve Jesus.

The way we serve Jesus is by serving others. We are called to give ourselves and the gifts He has given us to others. To not worry about our own needs but to see the needs of others and to give to them.

You see the Son of God came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. So we too must serve others.

So be a servant and follow after Jesus.

Love

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:9-21, NRSV)

Don’t pretend to love others, actually love them.

And what does that mean? How do we love another?

Help them to see God’s love for them?

Tell them all the things that are wrong in their lives?

Point out all the reasons they are going to hell?

What did Jesus do to the woman at the well? or the woman caught in adultery?

He asked them about their lives and told them to go and sin no more. He didn’t point out all of their faults. He told them that they were loved as they are and that they need to focus their lives on God.

He did not focus on the wrong. He moved above it and loved them.

So love others. Just as Jesus loved you.

ὀπίσω μου

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:21-28, NRSV)

I love this passage of scripture. For the response of Jesus to Peter.

You see Peter thinks he has all of this figured out. Just before this Peter was commended for saying that Jesus was the Messiah the son of the living God. And he was correct, but here he steps over the line because he seems to think he has the plan figured out and he doesn’t. Jesus has to remind him of his place.

And so Peter says, “Jesus you will never go to Jerusalem and die!” And Jesus turns to Peter and says, “ὀπίσω μου”

These words are important for knowing who we are and where we should be. These words are also important to Peter because Jesus said them to him back in the beginning of the gospel of Matthew. When Jesus was walking on the Sea of Galilee, He saw 2 brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew and He said, “Follow me…” Follow me is actually ὀπίσω μου which is really get behind me.

You see, when we lose perspective we start to think our ways are the right way. Well if you are not following Jesus or behind Him, you might not see clearly.

So follow the plan and look at the back of Jesus’ head!

preserve

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything. On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth. They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. (Psalm 138, NRSV)

When I pray God hears my cries and answers me!

God always loves me and protects me. He is my shade and my shelter.

His purpose for my life will be fulfilled, through the strength He gives me.

Trust in the Lord for His love will preserve you and He will deliver you from all harm.

Follow Him and do what He is leading you to.

G.R.O.W.

It is September and school is almost here. That means that learning will be starting…

But learning is not just for public and private education or to be done by just kids.

Learning is something we all need to do through out all of our lives.

We have confirmation which helps us learn the faith and helps parents teach the faith to their kids which is a promise they make to their child in baptism. And this year we are switching things up a bit in confirmation!

We have an online curriculum for our confirmation students to work through, and this year it is available to all members of the congregation! We are having our confirmation gathering called GROW – Gather & Reflect On Wednesday. This is confirmation time, for parents and confirmation students to gather. However, this time is also a time for all congregation members to Gather & Reflect On Wednesday. We are all still learning about our faith, I am constantly seeing different things with Bible texts and confirmation texts, hearing new ways of looking at passages from youth and adults. I am constantly learning and growing in our faith which is what being a disciple is all about. Learning from Jesus about our life in Him. Listening to Him and others to GROW in our faith!

So join us starting September 13 at 7:00 PM for our first GROW session this year.

We will be working our way through the catechism this year in confirmation and our first lesson will be Intro to the Small Catechism and it can be found at http://toolboxforfaith.org/catechism/intro-to-the-small-catechism/

All of the lessons can be found on http://toolboxforfaith.org/

I hope you will join us as we learn more and GROW in our faith!

transformed

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12:1-8, NRSV)

Do not be conformed to this world, where we look out for only ourselves, but be transformed by the renewing and opening of our mind to God. To see things His way. To see people as He sees them.

For life is not about us, but about others. We live to show God’s grace and mercy in all that we do. This is by opening ourselves to God’s understanding of His creation. Using the gifts He has given us in service to the world.

So be transformed by His love and show others that love so they might also be transformed.