New?

When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Human One has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify the Human One in himself and will glorify him immediately. Little children, I’m with you for a little while longer. You will look for me—but, just as I told the Jewish leaders, I also tell you now—‘Where I’m going, you can’t come.’ “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13:31-35, CEB)

Was this commandment really new? Jesus and all people knew they were to love God and love neighbor. These are from the law.

Love each other wasn’t new, but I believe it was Jesus telling the disciples, this is what is most important. Love.

The world will know you follow me if you love.

Loving People. Loving God.

Do good…

“When it was time for God to keep the promise he made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly expanded. But then another king rose to power over Egypt who didn’t know anything about Joseph. He exploited our people and abused our ancestors. He even forced them to abandon their newly born babies so they would die. That’s when Moses was born. He was highly favored by God, and for three months his parents cared for him in their home. After he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and cared for him as though he were her own son. Moses learned everything Egyptian wisdom had to offer, and he was a man of powerful words and deeds. “When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his family, the Israelites. He saw one of them being wronged so he came to his rescue and evened the score by killing the Egyptian. He expected his own kin to understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t. The next day he came upon some Israelites who were caught up in an argument. He tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘You are brothers! Why are you harming each other?’ The one who started the fight against his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge? Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he lived as an immigrant and had two sons. (Acts 7:17-29, CEB)

Do good, even when others don’t want it or accept it.

But wait, was killing an Egyptian good? Well no not really, however, we do not have all the details, but killing or murder is against the commandments. Well, it could have been an accident. We don’t know. But the Israelites thought Moses might kill them too.

So he fled. Because he felt the crime would need to be paid for and because his own people didn’t want him. Sometimes doing right isn’t accepted. Do right anyway.

Love always. Help lift the downtrodden up.

Loving People. Loving God.

Love wins…

Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good. If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people. Don’t try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. It is written, Revenge belongs to me; I will pay it back, says the Lord. Instead, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head. Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.

Don’t be in debt to anyone, except for the obligation to love each other. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, Don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t desire what others have, and any other commandments, are all summed up in one word: You must love your neighbor as yourself. Love doesn’t do anything wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is what fulfills the Law.(Romans 12:17-21; 13:8-10, CEB)

Do not seek revenge but leave space for God. Love those who hate you and persecute you. Feed them, give them a drink, for in doing so you pile burning coals upon their head. Do not let evil win, but overcome evil with love.

The commandments can be done by loving your neighbor.

Love is what fulfills the law. Love is all we need!

Loving People. Loving God.

Which Commandment?

One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:28-34, CEB)

“Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Love God. Love neighbor.

It seems easy, even the legal expert in this passage gets it. “To love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.”

Follow all the rules you want if you don’t love people it doesn’t mean anything.

Loving People. Loving God.

prove

A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?” He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?” Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37, CEB)

Who is my neighbor? The legal expert asked this question to prove he was right.

The legal expert asked this question to show that they could treat those they didn’t like or thought didn’t fit as scum, second class, not worth the time things.

He wanted an excuse to be who he already was when he knew that neighbor is everyone beyond yourself.

Do not look for proof to dehumanize God’s children. Love neighbor, Love God.

Simple.

Loving People. Loving God.

stinky

When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They replied, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to cry. The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” Jesus was deeply disturbed again when he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.” Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.” Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” (John 11:32-44, CEB)

“Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” Jesus replied to Mary about Lazarus who had died. Jesus never said, “If you believe, nothing bad will ever happen to you again. You will live a peaceful life forever and never suffer or die.”

And when those bad things happen and we come out of them, the community needs to be there to help unwrap or unpack what happened.

Life is stinky and messy sometimes we need to help those around us unpack their stuff. Community relationships are the basis of love and understanding.

Be in relationships and make community better.

Loving People. Loving God.

Reformation Day

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, in order to shut every mouth and make it so the whole world has to answer to God. It follows that no human being will be treated as righteous in his presence by doing what the Law says, because the knowledge of sin comes through the Law. But now God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the Law and the Prophets. God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, during the time of God’s patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous. What happens to our bragging? It’s thrown out. With which law? With what we have accomplished under the Law? No, not at all, but through the law of faith. We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law. (Romans 3:19-28, CEB)

The Law can not save us.

Our good works can not save us.

We all fall short of the mark God has set for us to hit. We all seek our own lifting up and forget about others.

Jesus stood in the gap and taught us how to live

Do we live that way?

How can you love like Jesus and make the world a better place?

Loving People. Loving God.

Why?

As Jesus and his disciples were going out of Jericho a large crowd followed him. When two blind men sitting along the road heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Show us mercy, Lord, Son of David!” Now the crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, “Show us mercy, Lord, Son of David!” Jesus stopped in his tracks and called to them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. “Lord, we want to see,” they replied. Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they were able to see, and they followed him. (Matthew 20:29-34, CEB)

I have always wondered why people or the disciples would stop people who wanted to be healed from crying out to Jesus.

Now I assume it is because they were outside the city because they were diseased and if someone came close to them they could get the disease and people or the disciples didn’t want Jesus to get the disease. But the disciples saw all the healings Jesus did and the people if they didn’t see them had heard about them, so this excuse only works so far.

Why didn’t they want others to be healed?

Do we not want some to be healed, or a part of the community?

Who would we stop from calling out to Jesus?

Don’t stop anyone.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Miracle

As Peter toured the whole region, he went to visit God’s holy people in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas who was paralyzed and had been confined to his bed for eight years. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and make your bed.” At once he got up. Everyone who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. (Acts 9:32-35, CEB)

I would say that the miracle was probably more that he made the bed, but we don’t get confirmation that he did! Just kidding.

Why don’t we see miracles like this anymore?

I would actually argue we do, we call it medicine. Or you hear the story of the person who has some disease and they go to the doctor for an update and the disease is gone.

Miracles happen all around us, we just choose not to see them.

Help people see the love of God.

Loving People. Loving God.

desire

Therefore, get rid of all ill will and all deceit, pretense, envy, and slander. Instead, like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good. Now you are coming to him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God’s perspective it is chosen, valuable. You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Thus it is written in scripture, Look! I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, chosen, valuable. The person who believes in him will never be shamed. So God honors you who believe. For those who refuse to believe, though, the stone the builders tossed aside has become the capstone. This is a stone that makes people stumble and a rock that makes them fall. Because they refuse to believe in the word, they stumble. Indeed, this is the end to which they were appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:1-10, CEB)

What do you desire?

The author of this passage tells us to desire the pure milk of the word. To live our lives based on the word we get from God.

We should put aside all deceit, pretense, envy, and slander, and seek only what God has for us. We should not focus on our wants and what would fulfil us and us any means necessary to get that, but we should focus on what God is leading us to be and do and do that.

We will be building the kingdom of God when we desire to follow God.

We will build the kingdom of God, when we see like God, love like Jesus, and desire the pure milk of the word from God.

Loving People. Loving God.