one thing you lack…

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18:18-30 ESV)

Don’t we all want to know what this ruler asked? What must I do to inherit eternal life? But as you see from Jesus message keeping the law is not enough. Even if you could keep the law, it would not be enough.

Then Jesus said to him, “sell your possessions and give the money to the poor.” You see Jesus knew that this man’s possessions were in the way of him following Jesus. So do you have to sell all your possessions to follow Christ?

Jesus knows what is between us and following Him, and that is what He would tell you to get rid of. So what would He ask you to give up? Take it to His feet and let go, because what is impossible for you is possible for God. So what do you lack?

godliness…

If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. These are the things you must insist on and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:6-16, NRSV)

It is good for us to be physically fit, and to train, but the advice given to Timothy applies to all of us, we must also train yourself in godliness.

Train yourself.

What happens when you train yourself physically? Ask any physical trainer or someone who has worked with a trained professional to train physically. If you do not know what you are doing you can injure yourself, and possibly kill yourself. If you are out of shape and trying to get fit you need to get the advice of a doctor and a physical trainer to get you started correctly.

But the advice to Timothy on godliness training is to train himself. Is this safe?

When we read the bible and train ourselves in godliness, we base all we read and know on what we have been taught or brought up in. This is not bad, but it is also not good. There is a reason we gather as a community, so we are not lone wolves. We need community, and where 2 or 3 of us are gathered there is Jesus, so to do it on our own could cause injuries to ourselves and to others.

Godliness is conforming to the wishes of God. By being one who upholds the law and always does what is in the rules, is that what God wants? Look at the life of Jesus and what He did and what His disciples did. They did not keep the law, they used the law to the benefit of the kingdom, and when it needed to be bent, it was bent.

We are to be followers of what God is calling us and leading us to do, not a specific reading of His word, that is what we have always been taught. We need to work together and become more like Jesus.

patience

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, NRSV)

The utmost patience in teaching…

Do we as believers take the utmost patience in teaching those who believe differently than us? We are to use scripture for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, but when someone disagrees with us what do we do?

Most people I know are taken aback and hunch down and get ready for retaliation. This is not bad, mind you it is our human reaction when our beliefs are under attack. We get defensive and want to make ready to defend our beliefs. They are usually ling seated from our childhood and therefore can not be wrong. What I learned has to be true and it can not change. But anyone who has spent anytime in education or has children in school knows that what we learned in school is no longer necessarily what is right. For instance, is Pluto a planet or not? Is Australia a continent or not? Things change. And while God does not change, even our translations of the biblical texts have changed, so the scripture we are to use for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness has changed over time… So are we patient with each other, in teaching, in reproof, in correction, and in training in righteousness?

Timothy is told to be patient with all, and we need to do the same. Do not turn and run, or become hateful to someone who is a part of the body that you disagree with, but listen and discuss with them the understanding God has laid on you and in patience work through this with them…

This is what we are called to be. Patience!

sacrifice

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Luke 14:25-33, NRSV)

Have you seen the preview for this seasons running of Survivor? It is about Blood and Water, how family members will turn on each other, or will they? Would you betray brother, fiance, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, daughter, niece, wife for $1,000,000? What do you think when you saw this, or read this? Reality TV has done some interesting things, and here we clearly see that family doesn’t matter…

But is this something new? Jesus in the above passage tells us we have to hate our family. In order for us to be a disciple of Jesus we have to:

  1. Hate
  2. Carry our cross
  3. estimate the cost
  4. give away all our possessions

Who can really do this? Jesus tells us though if we can not do this that we can not be His disciple. Specifically if we do not hate our family, carry our cross and give away our possessions we can not be His disciple. What does that mean?

Does that mean that unless I hate my mother and father, brother and sisters, spouse, children and all other relatives that I can not be a disciple? Or does it mean that I chose to not hate them, and therefore I can not be a disciple?

Or does it mean that I can’t carry the cross, or I chose not to carry it?

Or that I can’t give all of my possessions away, or I chose not to?

Do you see the difference? Do I really have a choice in this, are the requirements of discipleship something I can do on my own?  If I can’t chose to hate my family, carry my cross and give up all of my possessions, does that mean I can’t be a disciple of Jesus? Later in Luke (18:26-27) Jesus says, “What is impossible for man is possible for God!”

So what is Jesus telling us? He is asking us to calculate the cost of what it means to follow Him. It is not easy and will take sacrifice. But life with Jesus is suppose to be easy, right we have to schedule our church events around everything else in society and make it easy on people. We can’t ask them to sacrifice. But isn’t that what Jesus is telling us here? It takes sacrifice, and focus.

Plus sacrifice isn’t anything we are not all already familiar with. How many of you who are parents sacrifice your time on weekends and week nights for sports games and practices? Or sacrifice your evenings and weekends for dancing classes and recitals? Or how many of you are putting in long hours in jobs you don’t necessarily love to secure your futures or just make ends meet? How many of you are spending money to join a gym or to participate in a diet program so you can lose weight or get healthier? How many parents sacrifice their own wants in order for their children to be dressed appropriately and have what they need?

We are not unfamiliar with sacrifice. And don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the above sacrifices. But why do we do this? Why are we willing to sacrifice for our jobs, our livelihood, our children, our families, but not our God?

Here is a story from Mark Allan Powell in Loving Jesus

I remember talking to another Christian rock fan down in Austin, Texas. He was a Jesus freak, just like I used to be and still want to be, and I envied him. He was just living in the joy of the Lord, reading his Bible every day and praying to Jesus and speaking in tongues and playing Christian rock on his stereo. When I asked him abut church, he didn’t write it off, but he did say that he hadn’t been able to find a congregation where he felt like he fit in. “The church where I’m a member,” he said, “it’s like something out of an old back-and-white TV show. You know, Ozzie and Harriett or Leave It To Beaver. Everybody dresses up in suits, and they play this music that doesn’t sound like anything on the radio and the preacher talks about things that have nothing to do with my life, and, I don’t know, it’s just … boring!” So, he said, he didn’t go. I asked him about finding a different church, but he didn’t know about denominations and didn’t really want to get into all the different doctrines and stuff, so he just didn’t go anywhere. “Maybe when I’m older, I’ll get more out of it,” he said. “Or maybe the church will, you know, lighten up or something.”

Well, this time, I did give advice. I don’t know if it was good advice or not, but I thought about it overnight and then I got back to him:

“Do you love Jesus?” I asked.

“Yes, I do. I love him with all my heart.”

“Would you die for him?”

“Yes, I would.”

“You would die for him, but you won’t be bored for him?”

And so I said, this is what I think the Lord wants you to do: I think that Jesus wants you to get out of bed every Sunday morning and go to the Ozzie and Harriet church and just sit there for one hour, being bored. Do it for him. Call it “bearing your cross” if you like. Just do it. (pp. 128-130)

You see it is all about focus. Where is your focus?

Jesus invites us, to ficus on Him and put everything else in the world aside. Yes it takes sacrifice, but the life we will live is the life Jesus prepared for us. So what are you willing to sacrifice for God? What are you willing to do to follow Him?

Slow fade…

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalm 1, NIV)

This is a great psalm that tells us it is really all about focus and what we are focused on.

When we delight in the law of the Lord and keep it as the focus of our lives we will be like a tree that is planted by a stream of water. It is living water that refreshes us and feeds us.

And this psalm tells the difference between a person who is focused on the Lord or those who do not see the Lord or head His calling.

But we do not fall away from the Lord in an instance, as this psalm tells us. We start by taking our eyes off of Jesus and looking somewhere else. We focus on something different than what we should.

You see this psalm starts by saying blessed is the man who does not walk in the steps of the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers… He is walking, then standing and them sitting… He is slowly moving his focus from Jesus to that which he thinks will feed him and refresh him, when all it is really doing is taking his life away. The law of the Lord is not meant to hold captive, but to set us free to the abundant life that God has prepared for us!

Do not fade slowly from God, but keep focused on Him who truly sets you free!

 

Blessings for Obedience

If you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, the Lord your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors; he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you. You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock. The Lord will turn away from you every illness; all the dread diseases of Egypt that you experienced, he will not inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. You shall devour all the peoples that the Lord your God is giving over to you, showing them no pity; you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you. If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?’ do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the pestilence against them, until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed. Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great panic, until they are destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction. (Deuteronomy 7:12-26, NRSV)

If we are obedient and follow what God has asked us to He will bless us…

Sounds like the start of works talk to earn our way to heaven… But you see you and I both know we can not earn our way to heaven. We can do nothing that would make us to be worthy of being with God for all eternity. That price was paid for us, and the covenant was sealed through Abraham and the promise fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah! We can do nothing to earn our way into heaven, so that does that mean we do nothing?

We are to love and fear God and keep His commandments, not because it will save us, but because we are so moved by the love and mercy we have received, and because we need to show the world the love He has given to us. Not so we get, but so we can give! We have been blessed by God through the life He has given us, and so in return we are obedient to the calling He has given us and follow through. Just like Jesus who was faithful to go to the cross so that we might be reunited with our creator!

If we live in the faith that Christ has given us and follow what He has asked us to do, our life will be the abundant blessing He has prepared for us. And He will always be with us!

 

Is this bearing your cross?

Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house,she caught hold of his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to the members of her household and said to them, ‘See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’ When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, ‘This is the way your servant treated me’, he became enraged. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. (Genesis 39:1-23, NRSV)

This story in Genesis is familiar to most of us I am sure… But do you remember what led Joseph to being here in  Egypt? He was sold to a band of men by his brother, because he was the favorite and got preferential treatment from their father. (maybe a good story for parents to read about treating their children equally – yet that is another post all together!)

But Joseph has been through a lot. His family has deserted him, actually handed him over to slavery. Then an up tick and then slammed back down. He is going through a lot of bad times. Is this what we mean when we read and say, “You have to bear your cross?”

Yes it is true that Jesus bore a cross that led to His death, but is the cross we are suppose to bear from Christ suppose to be one of suffering and pain? Is that what Jesus meant when He said, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27) So we have to suffer in order to be a disciple of Jesus?

Bearing our cross has nothing to do with enduring pain and anguish. Going through some long dark trial. Jesus is asking us to maintain focus on Him and the Father. To be cross eyed, so we have our attention fixed on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

It is about focus. Bearing our cross is about living a life that is focused on Christ and where He is leading us. That is exactly what Joseph did. He maintained his focus on God and continued to serve him, in bad times and good. And Joseph is a model of how we should live, focused on God and what He is calling us to do.

Inked: Choosing God’s Mark to Transform Your Life by Kim Goad and Janet E. Kusiak

20130904-200016.jpgAll of us are marked in some fashion. Goad and Kusiak use stories to help us understand ow we should be marked.

You see we have a choice. If we are tattooed we have a choice of what we have inked on our bodies, and who will be the one to tattoo us. We also have a choice in life if we will live out the God giving life.

Goad and Kusiak use a wonderful imagery of being tattooed and how this is being handled in society and how this is paralleled by our life in Christ. A wonderful read for all!

Comfort

And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:14-21 ESV)

Where is God? Where does He dwell?

According to the author of third Isaiah, He dwells in the high and holy place, and also with him who is contrite and lowly spirit. God is in the holy place but also with anyone who is contrite or lowly spirit.

Contrite… What does that mean? I had an idea, but to be honest since it is not a word I use every day, I looked it up. According to Merriam-Webster online (m-w.com) contrite means “feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming”. It is a word that goes with lowly spirit, to mean humble.

You see God does not like unjust gain and is unhappy when people use the gifts they have been given to make gains that they shouldn’t. When His people are mistreated and used for the ill gotten gains of others He is not happy. But If we are contrite or lowly in spirit and humble before the Lord He will love us and comfort us. So be humble and treat others better than they deserve because that is what God did for you. And invite those who can not repay you so to show the love that God first gave to you.