reckoned

We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’ How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:9b-12, NRSV)

If we hold to a religious system we are trying to work our way in to the good graces of God.

Paul had to tell the Romans, that grace was a gift, not because of anything we had done. It was faith and grace that brought us to a saving relationship with God and not following a set of codes set down as a religious system.

You see Abraham did not receive his acceptance with God because of his circumcision. Abraham received his circumcision as a sign of the righteousness he received from God!

So the physical sign is not what saved Abraham, but the physical sign was a reminder to him and an outward sign of God’s inner work!

Do not be fooled by anyone that tells you that we must trust in the laws and systems of religion. Only God can save you, not following the system or trusting in any thing other than the grace we receive by faith through Jesus Christ!

Live

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. (Numbers 21:4-9, NRSV)

The people of Israel are a lot like you and I…

Have you ever complained about your dwelling/surroundings only to move and find you really wish you were back where you were before? Or you compare here and there, there and here… trying to see which one is better.

The Israelites were slaves, but when they had no food, and were wandering in the wilderness they started to compare here to there, and there seemed a lot better.

They got hung up in the here and now and were not focused on the goal, the end, the prize, the wonderful place we will all be with God. We can not get hung up on the here and now and compare what we had with what we have, because something will always come up short and we will be dismayed and discouraged.

But God will always provide. Just as He provided the bronze healing snake to cure the snake bites, He will always provide.

So rest in the assurance that the prize, goal and end will be better and is worth the changes, challenges and the wait.

Born from above…

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ (John 3:1-9, NRSV)

This is an interesting passage of scripture that has caused all kinds of discussions. How can a person be born again?

Well if you read the passage above, you might be saying, “it doesn’t say born again…” And you would be right. It says in the above translation, “You must be born from above.” That is not much clearer, at least we are not trying to climb back into our mothers to be born again.

Jesus says “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” We have to be born of water and of Spirit. For what is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of Spirit is spirit. I believe Jesus is saying here that we are all born a natural child birth, which any of you who have been through or witnessed happens with a lot of water. Born of water is when we were born into this world from our mothers. Even c-sections have lots of water. This is not baptism, then we are born of the Spirit, or from above, and that is how we enter the kingdom of heaven. As Lutherans we say that the one baptized is sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that is the birth from above.

It is not about being born again, but being sealed by the Holy Spirit, and being born from above.

So know you are marked with the cross of Christ forever!

Faith

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, ‘He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.’ And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.’ When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. (Luke 7:1-10, NRSV)

“Not even in Israel have I found such faith!”

We trust in things we can see. One of my favorite lines from Santa Clause 2 is “Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” We get hung up on what we see and that is what we trust in.

But the soldier knew that when Jesus said for it to be, it would be. Because he has trust in those he commands to do what he tells them, He has the trust in Jesus to do what He says He will.

You see trust, faith, belief in the Greek language are all one word and one concept. We get hung up in it, because they are different for us. But are they really?

Faith is the belief in things hoped for the trust of things unseen. We know Jesus can be trusted. So we have faith and believe.

Have faith and believe in Jesus like the Roman soldier did, trusting He will always be with you.

Compassion

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old. (Micah 7:18-20, NRSV)

Have you ever really thought about this?

I mean we love the fact that God pardons all of our transgressions, sins, wrong doings, but why should He?

I mean He is the creator of everything, why should He put up with us?

He puts up with us and forgives us because He is compassionate, and loves to love His children. Just like a father who loves to hold his child close to him and feel them breathing, that is what God loves to do with you, and if He did not forgive you, He could never do this.

God is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!