light

Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. Sexual immorality, and any kind of impurity or greed, shouldn’t even be mentioned among you, which is right for holy persons. Obscene language, silly talk, or vulgar jokes aren’t acceptable for believers. Instead, there should be thanksgiving. Because you know for sure that persons who are sexually immoral, impure, or greedy—which happens when things become gods—those persons won’t inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. Therefore, test everything to see what’s pleasing to the Lord, and don’t participate in the unfruitful actions of darkness. Instead, you should reveal the truth about them. It’s embarrassing to even talk about what certain persons do in secret. But everything exposed to the light is revealed by the light. Everything that is revealed by the light is light. Therefore, it says, Wake up, sleeper! Get up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (Ephesians 5:1-14, CEB)

Live in the light knowing everything you do will be made known to all.

We should not be perverse or immoral. We should look out for others and not try to satisfy our own needs.

God knows our intentions.

Live for others and lift each other up.

Impure, greedy, immoral people will be made known.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Bread of life

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus responded, “Don’t grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:35, 41-51, CEB)

Do not grumble among yourselves…

This is the whole Martin Luther explanation of the third article of The Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe that I cannot come to my Lord Jesus Christ by my own intellegence or power. But the Holy Spirit called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with her gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as she calls, gathers together, enlightens and makes holy the whole Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus in the one, true faith. In this Church, she generously forgives each day every sin committed by me and by every believer. On the last day, she will raise me and all the dead from the grave. She will give eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. Yes, this is true!“

We can not come to God without God helping us come to God. We can not figure it out on our own, but need God to help us. When we think we have it all figured out we are getting in the way and need to step back and allow God to lead us.

Eat the bread and follow where you are being led, knowing it is not your own doing, but God working in and through you to show the world love through your life.

Loving People. Loving God.

Ask…

“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread? Or give them a snake when they ask for fish? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:7-11, CEB)

I have always had a love/hate relationship with this text.

Jesus clearly says here, “Ask, and you will receive.”

So when I ask for something and I don’t get it, what does that mean? Jesus just said ask and receive.

Also, Jesus said, “Search, and you will find.”

So when I look for something and don’t find it, what does that mean? He said search and find.

And again Jesus said, “Knock and it will be opened.”

So when I knock and it isn’t opened, what does that mean? He said knock, and it would be opened.

Other versions of this text say something to the effect, if it is in the will of God it will happen. I have heard it said there are three answers to pray, yes, no, and not yet/maybe…

This version just says ask and get, seek and find, knock and it will be opened. And I think we all know it really doesn’t work that way. God is not some cosmic vending machine giving us all our wishes. And sometimes maybe we get what we ask for, seek, or knock on but not in the way we thought we would so to us it didn’t happen. Maybe that is the real twist here. We always get it, just not to our expectations, which to us means it didn’t happen.

Know that the promise that God is always with you is true and you are never alone.

Sometimes though things don’t go our way or the way we imagined.

Live in love and know you are never alone.

Loving People. Loving God.

harvest

Brothers and sisters, if a person is caught doing something wrong, you who are spiritual should restore someone like this with a spirit of gentleness. Watch out for yourselves so you won’t be tempted too. Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are important when they aren’t, they’re fooling themselves. Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others. Each person will have to carry their own load. Those who are taught the word should share all good things with their teacher. Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the benefit of the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up. So then, let’s work for the good of all whenever we have an opportunity, and especially for those in the household of faith. (Galatians 6:1-10, CEB)

A person will harvest what they planted…

You can not yield good fruit when all you plant is rancid.

We need to lift each other up and not be haughty or self-centered.

God knows your intentions. Live for others and focus on their needs knowing yours will be taken care of in the mix.

Loving People. Loving God.

others

We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good in order to build them up. Christ didn’t please himself, but, as it is written, The insults of those who insulted you fell on me. Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures. May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice. (Romans 15:1-6, CEB)

We need to be on the lookout for helping others.

Life is not about pleasing ourselves, it is about helping and pleasing others.

When we have power we do not use that for our own gain or the gain of those who can help us, but for the gain of those who can’t repay or help us and need someone to lift them up.

We need to give to improve the life of all.

Loving People. Loving God.

feeding

In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they won’t have enough strength to travel, for some have come a long distance.” His disciples responded, “How can anyone get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy these people?” Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” They said, “Seven loaves.” He told the crowd to sit on the ground. He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them apart, and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they gave the bread to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said a blessing over them, then gave them to the disciples to hand out also. They ate until they were full. They collected seven baskets full of leftovers. This was a crowd of about four thousand people! Jesus sent them away, then got into a boat with his disciples and went over to the region of Dalmanutha. (Mark 8:1-10, CEB)

This is a different feeding from the 5000, this one in Mark is of 4000.

Still, the same thing where Jesus takes bread and blesses it and breaks it and multiplies it along with fish. A miracle.

Jesus doesn’t inquire if the people are worthy to be fed but feeds them because that is what we do as followers of God. When we see someone hungry we feed them.

When we see some one in need we help them.

We are called to love and give.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Are all???

You are the body of Christ and parts of each other. In the church, God has appointed first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, the ability to help others, leadership skills, different kinds of tongues. All aren’t apostles, are they? All aren’t prophets, are they? All aren’t teachers, are they? All don’t perform miracles, do they? All don’t have gifts of healing, do they? All don’t speak in different tongues, do they? All don’t interpret, do they? Use your ambition to try to get the greater gifts. And I’m going to show you an even better way. (1 Corinthians 12:27-31, CEB)

We are all the body of Christ. All of us together.

We are not all called to do and be the same. We all have gifts to make the body function and we are all needed.

When we say some are not good enough or don’t belong in the body we are hurting everyone. It takes all of us to be complete.

The image of God is not complete without all God’s children.

We all play a part and need to be present.

Love everyone as God loves you.

Loving People. Loving God.

follow

So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts. They are people who lack all sense of right and wrong, and who have turned themselves over to doing whatever feels good and to practicing every sort of corruption along with greed. But you didn’t learn that sort of thing from Christ. Since you really listened to him and you were taught how the truth is in Jesus, change the former way of life that was part of the person you once were, corrupted by deceitful desires. Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God’s image in justice and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24, CEB)

Do not give yourself over to selfishness.

Do not base your life on pointless thinking and disconnected from God.

You should not seek corruption and greed, but use the resources you are blessed with to be a beacon of hope to others. Show love and give grace freely.

Don’t look out for yourself, but always for others.

Loving People. Loving God.

Look for Jesus?

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.” They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?” Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.” They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:24-35, CEB)

Why do you look for Jesus?

Ok, maybe we aren’t really looking for Jesus. But why do you follow Jesus?

Do you follow God as fire insurance? Your get out of Hell free card punched?

Do you follow Jesus for what you get? Answers to prayers, help finding your keys?

These people in the reading were looking for Jesus because he was healing the sick and giving them food.

But it isn’t about the miracles or the feeding. It is about love.

Love is what we get from God and not because we follow or do something. Because we are created by God.

I follow Jesus because I know no matter what I do, I will be accepted and loved. I do not know any place else that will happen or with anyone else. All humans will let us down, but God never will. Follow and seek God because God will never let you down.

Loving People. Loving God.

A little yeast…

When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “We didn’t bring any bread.” Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “You people of weak faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed the five thousand and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? And the seven loaves that fed the four thousand and how many large baskets of leftovers you gathered? Don’t you know that I wasn’t talking about bread? But be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he wasn’t telling them to be on their guard for yeast used in making bread. No, he was telling them to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12, CEB)

Once you mix the yeast in, it is impossible to get it out.

Once you allow the false teachings to take hold, it is impossible to get rid of them.

Watch out for a little false teaching and how that will spoil the whole batch.

Follow God, even when those around you aren’t.

Speak the truth even when those around you aren’t.

Loving People. Loving God.