who do you serve?

Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:12-23, NRSV)

Who do you serve?

Do you serve Sin?

Or do you serve God?

You see we are free to do what we want but also when God has set us free from the bondage of sin we are a dutiful servant of all, as Martin Luther said in On Christian Liberty “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.” We are either a slave to ourselves or sin or a slave of the most high God.

So be free in the life of grace that God has gifted you with, and let go of the sinfulness that was your life, and live as a servant to God.

Faithful to the Lord

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. (Genesis 18:1-10, NRSV)

How do we entertain those who visit?

Do we give them our best, curds and cakes and the finest calf? Or do we give them a quick drink and some crackers we have lying around?

Abraham didn’t know these were angels, messengers from God, he could have assumed so, but the text doesn’t say he knew. And they didn’t say who they were. So Abraham didn’t treat them to the best because they were important. He treated them to the best because that is what he does.

And that is what God wants us to do. The blessing of Abraham and Sarah is because they are held accountable for what God has asked them to do. They are faithful to the Lord.

Are we faithful to the Lord?

surprise

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46, NRSV)

What is the thing that is the same with the sheep and the goats?

Both groups after hearing what will happen to them and why ask when did these things happen…

They are both surprised they did or did not do those things.

So how can we be sure we will be a sheep?

All of these people are outcasts, hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, in prison. They are people who have no family to care for them and need assistance where ever they can get it.  These are the people Jesus wants us to look after. These are the people who need the love of God shown to them. And by assisting them, we are doing it to Jesus.

So help all, even when you wonder if they need it because that is what God blessed you for. You are blessed to be a blessing.

Great with God

An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.” (Luke 9:46-48, NRSV)

Who is the greatest?

Don’t we all really want to be?

When you strip everything else away our human desire is to be number 1. But is that what God wants from us?

Jesus knew what they were thinking and arguing about, so He took a child and said welcome this child. Now just that child?

No. Every child. And was it just children? Or was it what children represent in Jesus’ day? Those who are not to be seen or heard? Those who do not belong in the company of the powerful?

Jesus is saying, to be great with God you need to welcome those everyone else doesn’t want to be around.

So go and welcome the outcast, and then you will be great with God.

Water

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:40-42, NRSV)

Whoever gives even a cup pf cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple will lose their reward…

Now we, as disciples, are not supposed to do things for rewards. We do them because we were welcomed by God, but isn’t that a good thing to know?

When you do the littlest of thing for someone in need you are showing them the welcome that God gave to you.

So go and do to the least of these, and give them God’s love!

Go but know…

“and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NRSV)

Summer is finally upon us and the time for travel has come!

So go out into the world, but remember when you go you do not leave your church behind because you cannot leave the church behind. You are the church. And you have been commissioned by God to go into all of the world. Luke tells the people in the book of Acts in chapter 1:8 that they will be God’s witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. In our times and here at St. John’s that would be, “you will be witnesses of God in all of Green Bay, in all of Door County and the UP and to the ends of the earth!”

Remember when you go places beyond your home, you are taking the light of Christ with you and you are His witnesses wherever you may go and whatever you may do.

We are the church and we take His message with us through the actions we do and the words we speak.

So go out into the world and have fun this summer, but remember St. John’s is still here waiting for you to return safely, and that you are the body of Christ going into the world as His messengers.

O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Trust

It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress—make haste to answer me. Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies. (Psalm 69:9-18, NRSV)

The Lord is trustworthy. He will deliver us from all that surrounds us and wants to take us down.

The Lord will lift us out of the pit and deliver us from our enemies.

The Lord is good to His promises and will hear our prayers.

Call out to the Lord and know you can trust in Him.

Signed. Sealed. Delivered.

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11, NRSV)

Signed. Sealed. Delivered. I’m yours!!!

So when we become God’s child, accepted by Him can we continue as we were?

It is the before and after pictures, you see all the time on Facebook and the internet. And sometimes I wonder if they are really pictures with no filters and if the change is there. I actually just read an article that talked about an Australian personal trainer that debunked before and after photos to sell products by doing a before and after change in 15 minutes!

But this change, the signed, sealed, delivered change of God, the change that Paul is discussing with the Romans, is not a fifteen minute make it look like something has changed. When God comes into your world, your world changes, and you can not continue the path you were on before.

You have been changed and the world should see it.

So be raised as a child of God and allow His light to shine in and through you.

whose

for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. (2 Timothy 1:7-14, NRSV)

We are not held under a spirit of fear or cowardice, we were given a spirit of power to boldly speak the truth of God to all around us.

We have been given power and grace to reveal His love to the nations through the testimony of our lives.

So speak boldly and in power, not ashamed of who you are but holding fast to whose you are.

Speak of the love you were given to the world so they may know that they are loved as you are loved.

abide in love

”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (John 15:1-17, NRSV)

Love one another and abide in me.

Jesus tells the disciples how they are connected to Him in a way they can understand. Some scholars even believe that Jesus was walking through a vineyard when this discussion happened, because there was a vineyard close by where they would have been walking that night, as you see this is part of the farewell discourse that happened the night He was arrested. Jesus is the vine that runs between us and connects us together and with the Father and when we abide in Him, we abide in each other and the Father.

So if we abide in Jesus we will bear fruit. We will bear the fruit of love.

So abide in love and bear the fruit which the world needs.