aSacredRebel

despise

“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:10-14, NRSV)

Do not despise one of these little ones.

Who is a little one?

Wouldn’t we all be little ones? Not just little children, but all of us.

Jesus said else where that unless you enter the kingdom of God as a little child you will not enter.

So do not despise anyone, or be in the way of God coming to them.

Because God rejoiced when He found you, and He rejoices all the more when someone sees the life they can have in Him and they follow.

So do not get in God’s way, but let Him use you to find the lost sheep!

Who is greatest?

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:1-6, NRSV)

I’ve learned that you never ask a question you don’t want the honest answer to. And usually the answer to a question like the one the disciples asked is not going to go they way they hope.

I mean they asked that question to hear, “You will be.” That is what we all want to hear.

But we are not the greatest. Jesus told us, whoever wants to be first must be last. So we have to serve all and be humble about it. We can’t be last in order to be first.

We can not cause anyone of the followers or those who might follow to stumble. We must open ourselves to Jesus and be humble and follow where He leads. Allowing His light and grace and mercy to shine through us.

So don’t think you’re the greatest, but be humble and follow where He leads.

a helper

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:2-16, NRSV)

Is it lawful to divorce?

I have preached on this passage and the parallel in Matthew, that Jesus says it is a sin to divorce. Hard words to say, but it is there in black and white.

But does that mean the couple should always stay together?

And I know several divorced and remarried people who are living a wonderful life with their new spouse.

In fact I have married some people who have been divorced. And some of the couples I have married have gotten divorced.

I also know people who will not marry or be in a relationship again because they are divorced and do not want to cause others to sin.

But you see here is the thing, no matter how you read the divorce thing, this passage, all of it with the part about children included, says we are to be in a relationship.

We can not navigate this world alone. Even if we never get married we need to be in relationships with others. We are connected as God’s children in His body. We are one.

That is why the two become one. The relationship binds them together, and even through divorce, they are still bound to each other.

That is why I love this icon of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev.

If you look at it closely there is a huge amount of detail.

But it is first of all of the Trinity. Showing that God by God’s self is a relationship. Father to Son, Son to Spirit, Spirit to Father, and all to each other. There is a continual relationship happening there.

But then if you look at the bottom of the icon, between the Father and the Spirit, there is a slight opening. Now I’m not sure is Rublev did this intentionally or not, but I believe or see that opening as an invitation to you to join this relationship.

You see God as the Trinity is not complete without you, and you are not complete by yourself.

You were created by a God, who is perpetually a relationship, to be in relationship to Him!

And by being in relationship to Him, to all of His children. And therefore surrounded by a great cloud of helpers!

So go and be in relationship!

Integrity of heart

I will sing of loyalty and of justice;
to you, O LORD, I will sing.
I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
anything that is base.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
(Psalm 101:1-3, NRSV)

I will walk with integrity of heart!

Oh that all people would do things for others and not for selfish gain.

If we would be honest at all times and uphold the values God has called us to.

To love God and our neighbor.

To not set our eyes on anything other than Jesus, and to fix our gaze upon Him so that we will always follow God.

Oh to have a life of integrity of heart!

build up

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, for “the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.” If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— I mean the other’s conscience, not your own. For why should my liberty be subject to the judgment of someone else’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks? So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:23-33, NRSV)

Christ came and took our yuckiness away, and washes away our sins we do today. So does that mean we should continue to do things that draw us from Him, or tear relationships a part?

No. Because as Paul tells the Corinthians, all things are permissible, meaning you can do anything. But that does not mean we should. Somethings will cause more damage than being helpful. These are the things we should not do. If your actions tear away at the body of Christ, they are not helpful and should be avoided.

We should not do things that cause others to waver in their faith, and continually be building up the body of Christ.

Who rules you?

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. 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. (Romans 6:1-14, NRSV)

We know that Jesus died on the cross to take away our dirty sinfulness that keeps us from God.

So does that mean because His grace abounds we should continue to sin all the more so we can get more grace?

No! First of all we do not need to sin to experience grace.

Grace is freely given to all and grace that does not wash away sins is not better grace, but to those of us who receive it there is a pleasure in it. It is like the acknowledgement of a job well done by a trusted advisor or parent.

You see we get the choice each and every morning we wake up who we will serve. we have that choice each moment of our lives actually, to choose to serve Christ or to serve our own sinful nature.

I have read, “We’re not sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners.” You see sin is what turns us in on ourselves and makes us do things for the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. We do thinks for our own pleasure and gain.

When we serve Christ the need of the many out ways the needs of the one. Or the needs of our brothers and sisters are more important than ours.

So who rules you?

Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of Wittenberg Church.

It was the beginning of the Reformation.

The change of the understanding of who we are as the body of Christ. Martin Luther did not want to start a new denomination, or break away from the church catholic. He wanted to reform areas he knew were not aligned with the Holy Scripture in practices of Dogma in the church. He wanted to change the practices to match what was said in the Bible. Radical!

And is this a bad thing? To be inline with the Bible? How many things do we do today that are not inline with the Holy Scripture?

Ecclesia semper reformanda est is a Latin phrase first used by Karl Barth in 1947 and it means “the church is always to be reformed.” Barth derived this from a saying of St. Augustine an early church father. It means that the church must always reexamine itself, in order to maintain purity in doctrine and in practice.

A variation by Barth on his own phrase is Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda. This means “the reformed church (is) always to be reformed”. Meaning our need for change or evaluation is never down.

We need to not be complacent in the way we do things, but always evaluating the best practice. We must be willing to follow Christ where He is leading us, regardless of where we have been, or if we see we need to do thing differently.

So in this month of October, be ready to look where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. Ready to move and to do as Christ leads us always ready to reform!

Gracious Salty Language

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should. Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:2-6, NRSV)

I was drawn as I read this passage from Colossians to “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt”

Seasoned with salt. Your language should be salty!

And if you are like me that means salty language makes you think of stuff that would make your mother blush. Most sailors and truckers would be able to do this.

So does this mean we need to use language that would have gotten my mouth washed out when I was younger?

No that is not what that means. But our language should be gracious and understanding of the place the people we are talking to are. We need to answer everyone in a way that they will respond to, which means one size does not fit all.

We as Christians need to be open to the working of the Spirit and able to follow and answer as the Spirit gives us utterance.

Have gracious salty language!

hate not

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him,saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. “Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (Luke 14:25-35, NRSV)

Hate not your father or your mother or your brothers or sisters, then you can not come after me.

If you think of anyone or anything more than me, then you are not fit to follow me.

We think of the cross we must bear as a punishment.

We think thinking about Jesus above all else is not possible and so we are all doomed!

But with Christ all things are possible, and the cross we bear is a freedom into the life God has prepared for us.

So let go of all the things that hold you back from fully living in Him and take up the life He has for you and follow Him.

Salt and Light

Salt and Light
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:13-20, NRSV)

A lot of places I read about this verse talk about us living in such a way that we will be the salt of the earth and the light for the world.

If we can only do what Christ calls us to do, and follow all of the commandments and not lead any of our brothers or sisters away in sin, then we might be salt and light.

But read the passage again.

There is no hesitation. There is no you can be. There is no you will be.

Jesus says, “You are!”

You are the salt of the earth and the light to the world.

So go and show the world whom you follow and whose you are!