by grace through faith…

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. (Ephesians 2:1-10, NRSV)

This is the key verse for Lutherans, for you are saved by grace through faith! It is not our doing, and we can not earn it. We can not do anything to buy, bribe, acquire our place in the kingdom, it is a gift of God. And we can not boast that we did it ourselves, it was a gift of God.

You see though that is were we stop reading. That is Ephesians 2:8-9. We end there and I have had several conversations with many of my friends who are not Lutheran about that. And yes it is true, we Lutherans are good at the saved by grace through faith, not by works, so that means I don’t have to do works…

No that is not what it means, you see because 2:10 says “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” We were created for good works, good works that God prepared for us to do before we were here and that would be our way of life!

We are saved by grace through faith, yes it is a gift and there is nothing we can do to earn it, however that gift motivates us to do the good works God created us to do! We can not sit on our hands, because God loves us. The fact that God loves even a wretch like me should motivate me to show the world how much God loves them!

asleep at the sermon…

On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, ‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.’ Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted. (Acts 20:7-12, NRSV)

I have always thought that Paul would be a captivating preacher, a wonderful speaker that would hold an audience on the edge of their seats waiting for more. When I am asked the question of name one person that you would like to have time with to converse with, Paul is always in the top 5.

But here we have a story of Paul sharing so much because of his time table that one of those present falls asleep on him. Now truly I can see how this happens. How many of us have fallen asleep in the middle of a fast paced action movie or TV show?

Our lives are so caught up in the fast paced action of life, we fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but Paul’s day was not that way. There was no CSI, or SciFi movies. They gathered to hear stories, and share the things they had heard. They had to use their imaginations to see the moving pictures…

And yet still too much of a good thing can put you right to sleep…

So don’t think you are the first to fall asleep during the preaching. But try not to let our fast paced life make the preaching or discussing of the greatest story ever told to put you to sleep!

Dwell

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:6-11, NRSV)

The Spirit lives in you! You are the temple of God and He is always with you!

You see when you were names and claimed by God and He called you beloved child, He took up residence in the hole in your heart where only He can fit.

When we live in the flesh we are not showing forth the Spirit living us, but when we live in the Spirit and think of others first then we are living out the God given life we were created to live into!

Allow the Spirit dwelling in you to be the you you show forth!

Turn

But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they shall soon come home. See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown; and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt; and I will multiply human beings and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I will lead people upon you—my people Israel—and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance. No longer shall you bereave them of children. Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children’, therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, says the Lord God; and no longer will I let you hear the insults of the nations, no longer shall you bear the disgrace of the peoples; and no longer shall you cause your nation to stumble, says the Lord God. (Ezekiel 36:8-15, NRSV)

When it seems like we are cast away and God is not there, He is.

He has been with us all the time. And when we reorient our world, God’s blessings seem to flow ever more presently and more abundantly in our lives.

Ezekiel paints the picture of the people of God being blessed and having over flowing children, and animals and an abundance of life giving supplies! God says He will turn to them. In their sin God is with them, but is turning away, but because of His love He does not disengage…

You see sin and God can not be together, so God turns away from us, but never leaves us. He is always right behind us to catch us and hold us when we turn to see Him.

God’s justice

Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? And you, mortal, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not save them when they transgress; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, it shall not make them stumble when they turn from their wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by their righteousness when they sin. Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’, yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right— if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity—they shall surely live, they shall not die. None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right, they shall surely live. (Ezekiel 33:10-16, NRSV)

If the wicked turn and repent of their wickedness then their wickedness will not be their downfall.

If the righteous rely on their righteousness and sin, then that sin will be their down fall.

So where is the justice? If the wicked can just turn away from their acts and be accepted, but the righteous messes up once, and they are not accepted? That just doesn’t seem fair. It’s not how I would want it to go down.

But Ezekiel starts by saying that God has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked”. God wants every one to live! You see this passage lays out clearly what Jesus came and told the Pharisees and the scribes what the law said. It is not by works that you are saved. If the righteous depend our their righteousness to get them salvation they will fall. And if the wicked trust in God and give up their self centered ways then they can be saved.

God’s justice is based in His mercy that none should die! So live in the grace that He gives you and cling tight to Him and trust not in your own deeds, but trust in the Lord!