love one another

Love-One-AnotherWhen he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:31-35, NRSV)

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Love one another all the time.

Not only when you agree.

Not only when you get along.

Not only when you get your way.

Not only when people do what you want them to.

There are no conditions to Jesus commandment.

Love one another.

It is that simple.

Who are you?

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 15:9-17, NRSV)

Who are you?

It is a question we get asked all the time. And how do we answer that question?

Well I am a pastor, a father, a husband, a brother, a friend, a musician, a blogger, a social media junkie…

But do these really say who I am?

We can use all kind of words to describe who we are, but there is one identity that is where who we are really lies.

In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus is telling the disciples that they need to abide in Him so their joy will be complete. Now remember that Jesus is saying this hours before He is arrested, put on trial, beat, and crucified. And also before He knows what will happen to the disciples. That their joy would be complete! And they may know that Jesus loves them. They did not choose Jesus, but Jesus chose them. Just like you. Jesus chose you. So abide in His love.

Philip Yancey writes about identity in What’s So Amazing about Grace?:

Not long ago I received in the mail a postcard from a friend that had on it only six words, “I am the one Jesus loves.” I smiled when I saw the return address, for my strange friend excels at these pious slogans. When I called him, though, he told me the slogan came from the author and speaker Brennan Manning. At a seminar, Manning referred to Jesus’ closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, identified in the Gospels as “the one Jesus loved.” Manning said, “If John were to be asked, ‘What is your primary identity in life?’ he would not reply, ‘I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels,’ but rather, ‘I am the one Jesus loves.’”

What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as “the one Jesus loves”? How differently would I view myself at the end of a day?

Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible’s astounding words about God’s love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?

Brennan Manning tells the story of an Irish priest who, on a walking tour of a rural parish, sees an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road, praying. Impressed, the priest says to the man, “You must be very close to God.” The peasant looks up from his prayers, thinks a moment, and then smiles, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.” [pp. 68-69]

Could you answer the question who are you with “I am the one Jesus loves!”

Because you are! It is not for anything that you have done, or will do, and in spite of all the things you have done and will do, Jesus loves you.

Jesus is very fond of you, because you are the one Jesus loves!

 

planted by streams

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
(Psalm 1:1-3, NRSV)

A tree is good for fruit and to help produce oxygen and to provide shade.

If it is not doing these things it will be cut down or blown down.

If it is not getting what it needs a tree will not grow the way it needs to.

So if it is planted by streams of water, it will get fed.

So plant yourself in the bible and a community that studies the word and lives in communion with God, and grow and produce the good fruit that God intends for you to produce.

praying

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, NRSV)

I love this thought, that there is someone out there who is always praying for me.

This could be your job. Not to pray for me, but for our brothers and sisters.

We are told by Paul to be praying without ceasing, and we see how he prayed for others.

How can we do this?

Pray for others?

How about you carry a list with you and pray for those people throughout the day.

Or if you have a smart phone or tablet, make a list on that. Or better yet search the iTunes store or Play Store for an app, there is an app for that!

Make it your undertaking to pray, and then know that someone is probably also praying for you!

Fruit of the Spirit

fruit-of-the-spirit-are-you-son-rippenedLive by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26, NRSV)

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But wouldn’t that be fruits of the spirit?

I mean fruit is singular, or is it. I live on fruit, means I don’t eat anything but fruit, but does it mean I only eat apples? And then is that only one type of apple?

Don’t all of these things love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control kind of have to do with the one thing we are told to do by Jesus and the Hebrew Scriptures: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and love you neighbor as yourself.

Love.

If there is love there is joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All of these things could be attributes of love.

So is the fruit of the spirit  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, or is it Love, and all the rest are attributes of love?

Yes is the answer. If you are living a life filled with the Spirit you will care more for the other than you will for yourself, so there will be all 9 of these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

So live filled with the Spirit, and care for the other.

Fear, anger, hate, suffering

path to the darksideThus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the LORD.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed are those who trust in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:5-8, NRSV)

A tree planted by water does not die, but sends it’s roots out to feed on the water from the stream…

Cursed those and dying trees are those who trust in themselves or others.

When we turn in on ourselves. That is when our hearts move away from God.

We can see in the quote from Yoda, that path to our demise and following the darkness is a slow spiraling one.

We look into our selves and fear the world around us.

That leads us to anger over the things we can not control.

Anger leads to hate, hating those things that will not bend to our whims.

And hate leads to suffering…

So don’t be Anakin, but follow the light, and plant yourself where you can abide in Jesus.

good tree

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, NRSV)

You will know a tree by its fruit.

And yes you can tell an apple tree because it will only produce apples. And a pear tree will only produce pears.

You won’t see oranges growing on a banana tree.

But are all of our actions good?

We as Lutherans believe we are both saint and sinner. We do both good and bad things.

So is it easy to tell the wolf in sheep’s clothing human?

Now it is true that you can tell a lot about a person from their actions. More how do you act the 167 hours you are not in worship? Do you act the same in the congregational building as you do outside of it?

Your nature shines through, and if you let Jesus in, He will help you produce good fruit.