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…

All she had

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44 ESV)

We have heard this story many times. How Jesus lifts up this woman for giving her last 2 coins to the temple offering.

We have heard how she trusted God enough to give everything she had to God.

And is this wrong? No. But is there something more?

You see everyone had to contribute. This woman has no choice, and the system made her give all she had. Yet even when our human systems fail us God never will.

You see we have to give all we have, because it was first given to us, to manage, to steward. We have to rightly manage what God has given to us to manage.

What can separate…

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39, NRSV)

How many things get in the way of you going about your daily routine?

Changes in the kids schedule.

Road work. Accidents.

Your usual machine at the gym being used or broken.

Someone stopping to talk to you as you get ready to work out.

The usual clerk at the coffee shop not being there and having to explain your drink.

Seems petty when we read it this way, but not when we experience it. If you are a schedule person and something throws that schedule off it gets in the way of your life.

But Paul tells us and the Romans that nothing can get in the way of our relationship with God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Not life or death.

Not rulers or angels.

Not things to come or things present.

Not depths or heights.

Not powers.

Not anything .

Wether you are alive or dead, God will be with you.

Neither a ruler or a messenger can keep you from God.

Nothing to come or that is already here can keep you from God.

No matter how far you think you are from God, He is right there.

No power good or evil can keep you from the love that God has for you.

Not anything can keep God’s love from you. Nothing can separate you from Him!

Good from evil?

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved! (Romans 3:1-8, NRSV)

Is it ok for the children of light to deal falsely in things that are not related to the church?

What about business dealings where it is not really hurting the other party, but is allowing your company to make a little more profit?

Can you charge one customer more and another less and just call it shrewd business practice?

Any of the above dealings in business are things that should not happen with a follower of Christ. We are to be above reproach and treat everyone fairly and equally. Now yes you may work a deal with someone for a bulk buying option, but should you not then offer that same deal to everyone?

You see in our world as sons and daughters of God there is nothing that is not church related or connected to God. Everything you do shows the world who God is and how He deals with people.

So think about everything you do everyday and wonder if this is how God would want you as His steward to manage His kingdom, and then go and be Jesus to the world!

Good company

“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, “Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:31-33, 54-62, NRSV)

Have you ever had a moment where you felt like you were on top of the world and you would be able to do anything? That is where Peter is at the beginning of the reading. He tells Jesus he is ready to go to prison and to death with Him. And yet just a little while later his preservation kicks in and he denies knowing Jesus. He looks out for himself rather than leaning on the faith he has in Jesus.

Have you ever done that? Let a religious tainted joke go by without a comment? Or let someone make a remark about another group of people without standing up for them? Maybe you’ve even told a religious slanted joke…

Peter, the rock, denied he knew Jesus. He was ready to die for what they were doing, yet he slipped. You my friend are in good company when you fall back into your human ways. That doesn’t mean we would not react as Peter did and weep over our sin, but even in our weeping God sees us, and had compassion for us. And just as Jesus restored Peter, He will restore you if you only turn and ask Him to forgive you.