Who’s driving your car?

Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah? I will come against the wayward people to punish them; and nations shall be gathered against them when they are punished for their double iniquity. Ephraim was a trained heifer that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will make Ephraim break the ground; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself. Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your power and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. (Hosea 10:9-15, NRSV)

What is it about our power to make our lives what we want that we put so much trust in?

It is kind of like riding shotgun after you have been driving for a while…

Have you ever grabbed for a handle above the window that wasn’t there?

Have you ever applied the brake, when there was no pedal?

We cringe and make faces and try to maneuver the car, but we can’t. We have to trust in the one behind the wheel.

Hosea tells Israel because they trusted in their own power and their own armies, they will have war and not peace. If we trust in our own power and or own armies we will have war and not peace.

So let God drive and trust that He will bring you peace, even in the wildest of rides!

Spit out

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3:14-22 ESV)

You are neither hot nor cold. You have no emotion what so ever.

Have you ever felt this way in life? Like you were not hot or cold, just kind of there?

Sometimes it is good to be just there, but where our faith is concerned, just there is not enough!

God gave His all for us, and asks that we do the same. If you are cold in your faith and actions you think you have it all together and don’t need God, and if you are hot you are seeking what God has for you. You will be living the way that God has in store for you to live and will follow where He leads.

So don’t be lukewarm, or cold. Realize the place God needs to be in your life and follow where He leads!

Satan falling….

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17-20 ESV)

Jesus tells the 72 that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning…

Satan was an angel, and thought he needed to be higher than God, so he was removed from heaven.

The 72 were amazed that the demons listened to them. But they shouldn’t have been, because all things are subject to God and if we actually have God in us then the God in us will make all things subject to Him.

The interesting thing in this passage for me is the original la gauge of the falling. Jesus really says I saw Satan fall over and over and over and over and over again… Satan falls, the falls again, then falls again… It is an action that happens over and over again.

So does that mean that Satan repents and is accepted back into heaven? And then goes off the deep end again?

Just like us…

So allow the God in you to lead you where He needs you and when you fall from heaven, repent and return to God.

Trust

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 146, NRSV)

What do you trust in?

Do you trust in your job?

Your money?

Your community?

Any of these things could be pulled out from under you at any moment. None of these things are sure and able to withstand time. Everything in our world will change but one.

To put your trust in anything but God is futile. It will not stand and is something that is fleeting…

Trust in God and follow where He leads, and rejoice in Him!

Saved by?

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 toward 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)

How do we secure our eternal salvation?

Can we be sure?

100% beyond a shadow of a doubt sure of our salvation?

We can because of the promise made to us, but we can’t because of anything we do.

You see we all deserve death and separation from God, yet because God is rich in mercy, He sent His Son to die for us and make a way.  Because Jesus was faithful to the promise and followed through on what God asked Him to do, we are made right with God. Because of grace!

You see the author of Ephesians tells them, and us, that we are saved by grace 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. We can do nothing to make it it is a gift.

So does that mean we do nothing?

Lutherans are real good at quoting verses 8-9 above, but we can not stop there…

“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.” You see God created you to do good things! That is why He gave you life, so live it giving and doing for others!

what you got…

I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have. I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, ‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’ (2 Corinthians 8:8-15, NRSV)

We do not do things to earn our way to the good graces of God, it can not be done that way. We do not do good works to earn our way to heaven. We do good works because of the genuineness of the love we have for Christ. We are so moved by the gift He gave us, by giving His life so we may have life, we are moved to genuinely love others and give.

You see we are all capable of giving and doing the mission of God. We have to give out of what we have been given. Not out of what others do. We can not judge ourselves against someone else, or judge what another gives or does not give based upon our gift. God judges the heart of the follower and knows if you are giving as you should. And that is all that matters. So give out of what you got and don’t worry about anyone else.

Be moved genuinely by the love Christ has for you and show that love and mercy and grace to the world.

 

All you got…

In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 20:45-21:4,NRSV)

Do you pray long prayers with big words?

Do you wear long flowing white robes?

I have to say as the pastor of a liturgical congregation, I take a step back after I read this…

I wear a long white robe and pray long prayers in public. Now I do not do this to get noticed, but because that is what the congregation I serve asks me to do. The robe takes away me and in a sense covers me in Christ. And I really don’t pray with long big words, unless I really know what they mean and I think most of those present will know them. God wants us to just talk to Him like we talk to everyone else.

So do not try to be a know it all, or to always sit in the seats of honor. God calls us to be humble and to place all of our hope in Him, not us, or our status. Because when the next life comes your status here will not matter.

So give it all you got, as the woman did, not because the system is abusing the poor and keeping the rich in places of power. But because Christ gave you His all and He asks the same in return.

tests the heart

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully, and will share the inheritance as one of the family. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue. Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 17:1-5, NRSV)

The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart!

You can be the perfect follower of Jesus in the eyes of those whom you worship with. Those around you and society may say that you have your life set in the right direction and you are a model for the rest of society to follow. Yet you could be as Jesus described the Pharisees,”White Washed Tombs”.

We can not look upon someone and know them as God knows them. Gods knows all of our thoughts and what makes us do the things we do.

So follow where He leads and take care of the poor, and love the world as He has loved you.

Cornerstone…

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand. The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:1-12, NRSV)

A house can not stand with out a cornerstone. It would crumble. And if the cornerstone is not a good stone and it crumbles the house will fall.

Peter and John and all of the disciples were able to do what they did because of the fact their lives are built on Jesus the cornerstone. A strong foundation.

So have your life filled with the Holy Spirit and live in the light of the love of God and do what Jesus is leading you to do.

Where is God?

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:1-13, NRSV)

The Gospel of our Lord!

If you are like me you had to read this passage more than once and you are still scratching your head trying to make heads or tails on what it means.

Jesus is praising a dishonest manager who throws himself on the mercy of his boss. By being shrewd he manages to secure his future in his unemployment by befriending those whom he had before cheated to make more money…

So where is God?

What do you have to do thus coming week?

If money did not matter and you didn’t have to be a taxi service what would you have on your to do list?

You see monks are taught to find God in the mundane tasks of life, in gardening and sweeping. Is God in your mundane tasks?

When you made your to do list, where was God?

Was He a part of the list?

You see that is what Jesus was trying to tell His disciples. That we have to be shrewd in coming up with ways to be with God. We have to make Him a priority and have Him a part of our life.

Eternity is not something we wait for it is something that starts right now. We need to rely on and throw ourselves on the mercy of God.

So I ask you to think about your to do list again, and to ponder just where is God…