a new self…

20130802-101746.jpgNow this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24, NRSV)

You must no longer live the way you use to live. What does that mean?

We need to live in the light and and be open and sensitive to those around us, not only looking out for our own needs, but more focused on the other than ourselves. We can not be deluded by our own lusts for self preservation and elevation, but sympathetic to the needs of the world around us. That is what Jesus did, and that is the new life we are called to.

So the beginning is here, follow Jesus and be more concerned with the other than you are with yourself!

Advisor

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36, NRSV)

We all want to serve God, only God does not need any advisors. He is the one who should be advising us, as Paul tells the Romans.

We do not know the mind of God, and we have not given Him anything that He has not already given to us. We are the stewards of His many wonders He has given to us. We can not give Him anything that He has not given to us first to take care of.

But don’t we all play God’s advisor or counselor. We all want to do God’s will and be a part of His mission, but only on our terms and in our way. But when God calls we are to come and follow, to take up our cross and give up our ways. We need to do what God tells us and not tell Him what we want to do, or change His plans to meet our needs. His plan is perfect the way it is and our input is not needed. We are not advisors or counselors but followers…

Love…

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48, NRSV)

How easy it to love those who love you? Sometimes, most times, it is easy. We can easily give as we have been given…

But think what God did for you. He loved you when He could not be near you.  He loved you when you were covered in sin and not able to be in His presence. And He loved you who were not able to be with Him.

So how much more should we do the same?

We must love those who are our enemies and pray for all people. This is what God has called us to do…

Righteous by faith

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30-33 ESV)

Do you know all of the rules?

Do you follow all of the rules?

Have you ever seen someone new to the community reach a status of someone who has been a member for all of their life, even though they can not possibly know all of the “rules”?

You see there are the written rules, then every community has their unwritten rules. We need to know all of these and follow them to be in right with those who control the community.

But Paul tells the Romans that in God’s community it’s not about the rules. Even if you know the rules and try to keep them, that will not get you in the right standing with God. You have to have faith and believe that God is going to do what He has promised. We can only get in right standing with God by believing and following God where He leads us not just doing what those around us say is right.

Worship how?

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:16-23 ESV)

How many of us think or believe that the way we worship is the right way and the only way?

There are so many different denominations and congregations and all of them worship God in a different way. Now it is true that many denominations will have many of their congregations that worship in a similar manner. It is true in most Lutheran congregations that worship will be in a way that if you are Lutheran you will recognize and feel it at home.

But is this way right?

The author of Colossians tells us that we can not hold anyone accountable because of the food they eat or they way they worship. These things do not have affect on the way we worship God. They get in the way of all of us focusing on worshiping God and fighting amongst ourselves. If what we are doing is feeding our relationships, then worship and help others know why it feeds your relationship. But hold no one at fault for not worshiping like you. Build up the body.

Prayer…

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and sit will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:1-13, ESV)

I believe I can easily say this is a passage of scripture that has most pastors running for the hills when we see it. You see the text says that is you ask for something God will give it, and if you seek something you will find it and if you knock it will be opened… Well we have all had those times we asked and we did not get what we asked for, and we sought, and are still seeking, and we knocked and the door seemed to shut even tighter…

But the point of the verses is Jesus teaching the disciples to pray, and it is a simple yet complex thing to have a conversation with the Father. But Jesus breaks it down for us, in a conversation and relationship builder.

Prayer is really simple, it is a conversation. Jesus addresses God as Father, or better yet, as Daddy. The word Abba is the very familial word for father and would be equivalent to our word daddy. Jesus tells us to call the Father Daddy! And then He tells us to ask Daddy to keep His name holy. We can not do that, only He can, and so we ask Him to work His holiness in and through all that we have and everywhere we go, that He would be holy in us and around us, that His kingdom would come and be made known here. And then He breaks it down to three easy to remember petitions:

  1. For provision
  2. For relationships
  3. For safety

Jesus tells the disciples to ask for their daily bread. Ask for the things they need in order to survive. Then He tells them to ask for forgiveness as they have forgiven. We need to keep the lines of communication open and seek to right our wrongs. We must constantly be in check of the relationships we are in and keep them moving forward. Then He tells them to to ask to not be lead into temptation. This is for our safety. We need to stay out of the place that will get us into trouble and we could all use assistance in this!

So it is easy. Simple. And the next part is Jesus did not say to pray these words but to pray in this way, so take His outline:

  1. Open the conversation: Daddy
  2. Ask for provision
  3. Ask for relationship help/advice/time
  4. Ask for safety

And when you do this, do it in your words, honestly what you are thinking and feeling in your heart.

And then comes the hard part and what I believe the text pastors like to stray away from deals with, Trust…

We have to trust that God will actually give us what we need. And be there for us as He has promised. In order for Jesus to show the disciples this is something they can believe in He tells them about a man who has late night visitors. He goes to a neighbor and asks for some bread. Now most of us today would see this as a huge inconvenience on the man who is asleep in his house with his children. Yet the word translated above as “impudence” is better translated shamelessness. Because of the man who did not have what he needed for his guest and goes shamelessly to his neighbor seeking help, the neighbor will get up and give it to him. Also because in the system of Jesus’ day, if the man did not rise and help the man who came knocking, the sleeping man would be the one who would be shamed for not helping his neighbor in need. And if this is how we humans do things, and help people around us, how much more can we trust in, believe in, have faith in Jesus and Daddy God to follow through on what He has promised. You see it is true that he will follow through on His promises. But He will not give us what we ask for, He will give us what we need. That is why answers to prayers can be, Yes, No and Not right now, Or my parental favorite: Maybe…

But is that all this lesson give us?

An easy outline for prayer. Jesus telling us to honestly tell our Father what we are feeling and holding dear in our hearts, and then to trust. Yes and no…

You see there is a connection between this text and the text of Luke 4:1-13. This is the text of the Temptation of Jesus, and the temptations are for Food, Power, and touching Heaven.

Satan tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread – He needs His daily provision. But Jesus says we have to live on the very word of God. You see, even though Jesus could turn the stones to bread, He needed to ask God to provide for Him, because God will give us what we need, not what we ourselves are seeking after or wanting.

Then Satan offers Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world. He offers Him relationships with subjects to follow Him. You see relationships treated in the wrong way leads to broken lives and hurt people. We need to hold the power in the right place and allow God to hold the place pf supreme power in our lives and all of our relationships, otherwise things could go astray.

Then Satan tells Jesus to go to the pinnacle of the temple and throw Himself down, because the Holy Angels will not allow Him to hurt Himself. You see in Jesus day, the pinnacle of the Temple was the place where Heaven and earth met. It was the highest place in the world, and Jesus could jump from here and not get hurt. And while this is true, we are not to go into places where we can be hurt.

So this simple prayer is a way for us to manage our temptations as well as maintain our relationship with God. So talk simply, honestly and trusting in what God has promised, for He will never let us down.

Trust?

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25, ESV)

Can you picture this scene?

Can you image being there? How would you have felt? Would you be the one racing to wake up the sleeping Jesus? We all have been there when life is coming at us from all different angles, and it seems like everything is going right down the drain. We then turn to see where Jesus is and what He is doing… How do you think the disciples felt when they saw Him asleep when they were about to die? How do you feel when you turn to see Him sleeping when your world is falling apart?

But isn’t the just what Jesus asked them? Where is your faith? We have faith in something we can not see, we hope in the promises of God which we might have experienced some of them, but have we experienced all that He has promised us? We have faith in a God we have not seen, we have sen His effects, and affects, but have we seen Him, yet we still believe in, have hope in, have faith in…

How much more should we have faith in Jesus who is here with us? Why does it matter if He is sleeping? He has promised to be with us and provide for our every need, and do we trust that?

Faith is not understanding, but trusting. We must not think it is possible for God, we must believe God will take care of us. Even in the darkest valley, even in the deepest most terrible storm our lives have seen, God will be there and He will protect us. In this we can trust, and we can have faith that no matter what happens He is with us and watching over us.

The Gift of Being Yourself by David G. Benner

“Spiritual transformation does not result from fixing our problems. It results from turning to God in the midst of them and meeting God just as we are.” (page 67)

David G. Benner opens up a topic most Christian think is taboo to show us it is the one thing we truly need to embrace to become the person God is calling us to be. In order to live the uniquely created life God has for us, we must first except ourselves as God has excepted us, just as we are. In order for us to this we must look at the darkness inside of us, and see who we are and acknowledge our sins and troubles. In order for us to change something we can not crucify it on the cross as sin if we deny we do it. We must accept who we are and work with God to use it for His glory!

The gospel is not a method book for sin management. It is not a guideline for avoiding sin and a way to deal with our guilt when we fail as we always do. The gospel is a way for us to understand who we truly are, who God created us to be, and move forward in who God created us to be. “Self-acceptance always precedes genuine self-surrender and self-transformation.” (page 58)

David G. Brenner helps us to look at who we truly are and accept that, and then move forward with God in being who He has uniquely created us to be!

If the Church Were Christian By Philip Gulley

What if the church took following the example Christ gave us to be in the world was actually the way the church was?

If we would take seriously the way Jesus lived and follow the example He gave us would we be able to contain the people seeking after God in the confines of the buildings in which we worship?

Philip Gulley writes with zeal and integrity using his beliefs to help us see who God is and how we are to live in life. He gives wonderful examples from his own story to help us see how the church might have gone astray from where God has called us to be.

If you are looking for a book that lays out a plan for you to be a good Christian, this is not your book. If you are looking for a book that helps you see the hard things that Christ has given us an example of and calls us to do, then Philip will help you see who Christ was and who we could be.

This book may push your thoughts and beliefs, but is a good read and will help you see who you are and help you possibly understand what you believe about God and how your faith is an integral part of your life.