blessed

Happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD. The LORD bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel! (Psalm 128, NRSV)

Happy is the person who fears the Lord…

Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord…

do we think of fear as a good thing…

I mean it is October and we are seeing the decorations and commercials for all hallows eve…

Fear drives people…

But this fear is not the fear we have of the mad man with a chainsaw. The fear of the Lord is the fear every parent wants their children to have of them.

Not a fear that keeps them away, but a fear that inspires. A fear that helps us know that we are loved.

You see when we get right down to it. There is nothing God can not do to us. And there are many things He does not do to us that we deserve…

But He loves us and because of what He can do, we fear Him, not to stay away, but draw nearer to Him.

So fear and love the Lord, so your life will be filled with fruit and you will be blessed!

share

The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through them. But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; and there they continued proclaiming the good news. (Acts 14:1-7, NRSV)

Paul and Barnabas went about the region they were in preaching and teaching in the synagogues. They lived lives of examples and spoke of what God had done through Jesus and was doing through them, and will do through others who come to believe and follow the way.

But is wasn’t always smooth sailing…

Just like Jesus, the religious leaders sought to kill them.

Any time we speak a message that goes against the power structure or the way people were taught and raised, it will rub the wrong way.

But notice Paul and Barnabas didn’t stick around to be killed. They shared the message and then moved on.

Our job is to plant, or water, or nurture, not bring growth and change.

We need to share what God has done in us and for us, and God will bring the change in others.

growing

When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” (John 7:40-52, NRSV)

This passage includes one of my favorite characters in the Bible…

He appears only 3 times in the gospel according to John…

His first appearance is in chapter 3 and he comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness and asks Jesus questions. He gives us the verse about a person being born again, and the great verse of God so loving the world! And the verse that follows about why the Son came, so that the world could be saved…

Nicodemus is the man, who gives us a clear picture of what it means to grow in the life of a disciple.

His first appearance to Jesus is under the cover of darkness because he doesn’t want the other Pharisees to know what he is doing…

But in our reading here he is openly speaking before the leadership in defence of Jesus…

And his final appearance is when he helps Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body down from the cross and lay it in the tomb. From darkness, to semi public, to public profession…

That is what God calls for in each of us as disciples!

extended grace…

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.  So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:6-9, NRSV)

So what does a fig tree have to do with grace?

It is an indication of how God’s grace is extended to us…

You see for three years (or more) God has waited for Israel to return to Him, to give Him the fruit He made them to produce… But they haven’t, and we haven’t…

So He is coming to remove us…

But Jesus steps in and says, “Let me loosen their hardness, and expose them to my living water, and feed them the word and let them grow in us, and then they will produce…”

Let us give them grace upon grace, so they will know how much we love them and wait for them…

Grace is extended, allow His living water and word to flow in your life and feed your soul!

repair the breach

On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old;  in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, says the LORD who does this. The time is surely coming, says the LORD, when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps, and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:11-15, NRSV)

God will raise up the fallen, and restore what has been destroyed to what it was before…

He will rebuild it as it was, so that His will will be done!

Things will not go as we think they should, the plower will over take the reaper and the one who picks will over take the one who plants…

Everything will happen in God’s time and He will restore us to what He created us for, so His will will be done.

Know there is nothing you can do that God can not repair…

 

proper place

proper placeYour mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches from abundant water. Its strongest stem became a ruler’s scepter it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it stood out in its height with its mass of branches. But it was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off, its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it. Now it is transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land. And fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling. This is a lamentation, and it is used as a lamentation. (Ezekiel 19:10-14, NRSV)

I read this verse several times to say just what are you saying…

A branch will flourish if it is planted in the proper location. If a vine is planted in a vineyard and is connected to the branch it will flourish and grow and produce. It can become the strongest branch and be like the staff of a king!

But if it is dried up, or plucked from the branch or burned it will not produce fruit and will not be like the staff of a king.

When we are removed from the presence of out King, our Father, our Lord, we will be like a dried up plucked from the proper place, burned in a fire branch.

We will lament. We will not be worth anything if we are removed from the presence of God, but in that proper place… Oh the fruit we will bring…

Crazy…

Crazy Agape Love“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. (Matthew 21:33-46, NRSV)

I will admit it. I do not like this text…

However I read something this week that Martin Luther said. “Martin Luther once said that sometimes you have to squeeze a biblical passage until it leaks the gospel.”

This passage needs a good hard squeeze and some massaging to get the gospel out. This is one of those weeks I will have a hard time saying, “The gospel of our Lord.” Or “The good news of our Lord.” Just where is it.

I mean really, the tenants are just crazy! The kill the servants when they come for what rightfully belongs to the landowner. But think for a moment, if the landowner planted and dug the wine press, it take a while for the vineyard to produce, so maybe these tenants have been here for at least 5 years, because that is the amount of time from planting to pay out. So here comes the servants wanting the landowners portion, and these tenants are like, “what do you mean we have been busting our buts for 5 years and here you come to take it away from us?”

So the kill the first servants, and the seconds…

And then the son comes, and they think that maybe if we kill the heir, the landowner will die away and we can get the land…

Really?

Crazy!

But who is crazier, the tenants or the landowner?

I mean really if you were the landowner would you send more servants after the first ones are beat and killed? Most of us would call the police, or send in our armies…

But the landowner sends in 2 sets of servants to get what is His, and when they are killed, He sends His son. What did He really think was going to happen?

So then Jesus asks the leaders a question, “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” The leaders responded, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

So since God is the landowner and the leaders the tenants, they just condemned themselves, because Jesus asked the question and they answered it…

But this all invites us to not answer “What would the landowner do?” but “What did the landowner do?”

And what did the landowner do? The landowner sent his son, Jesus. To help us see how we have hoarded God’s blessings to ourselves, and given out what He gave to us to give away. And when we did not like what the son had to say, we killed Him, and when we killed Him, the landowner raised Him up from the dead, and sent Him back to us one more time.Still telling us how crazy in love with us His Father is!

So live in the crazy love that God has for you, knowing that He will give it as many times as you need it, regardless of what you do to Him. He loves you that much!

 

Help me!

Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. (Psalm 86:1-13, NRSV)

With all of my trust in you God, help me!

Hear me when I call and incline my heart to follow your ways.

Guide my steps and lead me down the path that you have set before me.

You are abounding in steadfast love and call us all to follow after you, hear me cry out to you and ask you to help me!

Guide my every step and help me to follow you so that my life may be a beacon to your love for me and for all!

You have delivered me and I trust you always will!

Mirror

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. (James 1:19-25, NRSV)

Have you ever done that?

Looked in the mirror and walked away or turned away and forgotten what you looked like?

I honestly never have…

But I can honestly say that I have heard the word of God and not done it…

And I think we could all say that if we were honest.

We are hearers of the word and doers of the word that are easy or convenient for us to do. When it comes to the hard stuff we shy away.

We say that is for some other part of the body and not me.

But we are called to be followers of Jesus and must hear the word and do it.

When it is convenient and when it isn’t!

We must show the world what it means to be loved by Jesus and to follow Him.