His way…

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord , that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:1-9 ESV)

My ways are not your ways… I can testify that God’s ways are not my ways. And let me be the first to say I am glad that is the case. If I always got what I wanted, and everything went the way I wanted it to I would be completely impossible to live with. God’s way is much better than my way and His thoughts are better than mine.

If I can seek Him and come after Him I will get the riches He has to offer for free. He will satisfy me in ways I can’t imagine. So follow after Him and know that His way is much better than your way.

Seek

O God, eagerly I seek you
O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:1-8 (NRSV)

What do you seek after?

Wealth?

Adoration?

Admiration?

Celebrity status?

Why do we seem to spend our time seeking things that will always be alluding us and if we get them never actually satisfy the longing that sent us seeking?

Follow this psalmists advice and seek after the Lord our God. Thirst for Him always and your life will be blessed beyond imagination.

Works…

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: “The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “”I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:1-6 ESV)

Have you ever done something because you believed it was something God wanted you to do?

Have you ever done something because you thought it was what the community around you thought it was what God wanted you to do?

You see good works do not matter in the eternal currency. What matters is good works done for the right reasons. To just do things to get you points will get you nothing. To do things to gain you points with the community will actually work against you. God wants your heart to be pure and to follow after Him. He knows the real reason you are doing things, so do not try to trick Him. Just follow Him and trust in His promises…

Fiery Furnace…

Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers,their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’ He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them. Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3:19-30 NRSV)

Do you feel like your life is under fire? Under pressure?

Have you ever done something that someone in power did not like and they set out to get you?

Can you trust God with all of your life like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

I am sure all of us have been or are under pressure and feel like the fire is burning hot all around us. And we have all probably upset the powers that rule over us. We are human we can not make everyone happy all the time…

But do you trust God enough to risk dying for Him?

Do you trust Him with your life to stand up for your faith? In the face of those who are not part of it, and with those who are a part of it and say you have missed the boat? God is calling us to new adventures which may mean new a different things. Why do we believe that God will do nothing new now? The Pharisees thought this way too, that God had done all the new stuff and now it would always be the same, and then Jesus came along…

God will do what has o be done so that all of creation will be redeemed and we have to be ready to follow. So do you trust Him with your life?

 

I know I do…

Presence

Oh give thanks to the Lord ; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, (Psalms 105:1-5 ESV)

Seek His presence continually…

Do you have a friend you call on in times of need? Does it take a while to explain to them what is happening and why you need their advice? What if your life was so connected to their’s that you didn’t have to explain what was happening and why you needed advice? Wouldn’t their advice and council be something deeper and and richer if you were deeply connected in the life you share?

Now image how much deeper your understanding of the grace God gives us of you were deeply and richly connected to Him. Be knows you better than you know yourself but how well do you know Him? How connected are you to Him. Seek Him and bask in the glory of His Grace.

Do for who?

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:23-33 ESV)

There is a scene from Tinkerbell where the head fairy dust fairy goes and talks to an owl about his problems. He talks about how the other fairies are always causing problems and they are doing things that really cause him problems. The owl always answers, “who?” And finally the fairy realizes that he can not blame his problems on someone else, he is the one that has to face up to them…

We always want to blame someone else for our problems. Seldom do we do things motivated for the other. But that is what Paul is telling the Corinthians here to do. If someone sets food in front of you eat it without worry where it comes from, but if someone tells you it was sacrificed to idols, then don’t eat it for that person who told you will be adversely effected by you consuming the food. Everything we do should be based on how it will effect someone else, not ourselves, because God has taken care of us, we are conveying the message of His love to others, and that is done through our actions as well as our words.

So do not for you, but for everyone else. Allow God to shine through you.

How are we made right?

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:1-12 ESV)

Is baptism necessary for someone to be right with God? As Lutherans we say yes. Baptism is necessary for someone to partake in communion. Right, we say all baptized believers are welcome to the table in the ELCA. I remember talking about this statement in seminary. I said it was an exclusive statement and my professor said it was meant as an inclusive. It is exclusive for those who have not been baptized, as they are not welcome according to the statement. But it was meant to say that all baptized believers, not just Lutherans, or ELCA Lutherans. If you were baptized you are welcome. Well it is both exclusive and inclusive. So is baptism necessary for salvation and for participation in communion?

Both communion and baptism are means of grace, places we receive from God. There is nothing man does in them except participate, we do not give anything, we only get. We receive God’s grace through both communion and baptism, so where is it recorded that baptism has to come first? Can’t we receive the grace of God through communion, then come to be baptized? Also who is not to say that we are not already sealed by God before we are baptized?

Abraham was made right then circumcised. So when are we made right?

Where are you from?

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:17-21 ESV)

Where are you a citizen of?

Many of us can say we live in a country, and city and possibly state… so we are citizens of multiple places. Some of us could even be citizens of different countries…

And that was the case in Paul’s time ans your citizenship was a badge of honor. To be a citizen of Rome meant something.

However Paul is telling us that our citizenship here and now is not important. What is important is our claim to another citizenship. We are claimed by God as His children and are heirs to the kingdom. We are claimed by God and therefore we have something to shout from the mountaintops!

So next time someone asks you where you are from tell them you are a citizen of heaven!

Do we want to be gathered?

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”” (Matthew 23:37-39 ESV)

Do you ever read this and wonder how people could not have known who Jesus was? With everything He was doing, healing the sick, healing the lame, giving the blond sight, and setting chives free, how could they not get it?

But look around at us today and see how as the body of Christ we are divided, and do not agree. Jesus came to show the church, the body of Christ, the people of God how to live a better way. A way that was not like what they had known. It was not a new way for God, but our humanness got in the way of us seeming and understanding what God had set up for us to do. Jesus did something different from what the religious systems of the day setup and was doing. Today we also can think there is not a new revelation and that we have seen it all. God has shown us the new way and that won’t change… However the factor of our humanness is still there and we are still messing things up.

If Jesus came back today and said that he wanted to gather us under His wings would we want to be gathered? Are we ready to give up our religious systems to follow where Jesus is taking us? The only thing that truly matter is Christ and Christ crucified. The religious system is our way to understand that and help us live that life… Are you ready to give up anything that gets in the way of Jesus and be gathered under His wings?