Competent?

Are you a self made man?

Ok ok… If you are a woman, are you a self made woman? Did you make yourself be the person you are today by the sweat of your own labor? Building up your life and making a name for yourself? And you’ve done this all on your own? With no help from anyone?

We all know that this is not true. No one has made their own way in life without the help of someone else. The question might be did you acknowledge the help of others or did you use them? We all have had people that have helped to get us where we are today.

Paul tells the Corinthians “Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,” (2 Corinthians 3:5). None of us are competent in and of ourselves.  We are only competent because of God.

So tell every one just how incompetent you are! But remember you can do all things through Jesus who gives us all strength, and the competencies to do what He needs us to!

Written on your heart!

A new covenant I will make with them, I will be their God and they will be my people and I will write my law on their hearts… The prophet Jeremiah tells us this is what God says in chapter 31. God writes His law on our hearts. He no longer wants us to teach each other but live our lives as we are inhabited by God. Not that His law is something we know, but is actually a part of us, and written in us.

Have you ever had something written on your heart? Been so in love with someone that you hurt when they are not with you? That you can not image your life without this person in your life. This is how God thinks about you! When the veil of the temple was torn, Jesus not only gave us a way to engage God in a relationship, He helped God tear the veil of our lives and have His law written on our hearts.

Live in the fact that God loves you so much He gave up His only son to be with you, and he has written His law and His name on your heart!

Wouldn’t you believe?

What if you saw a miracle would you believe? Would you forget about following that religion you were following if you saw someone do a miracle that professed to be a part of “another” religion?

That is what happened in our reading for today from John. John 12:10-11 says “So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.” Why were the people believing Jesus because of Lazarus? Well duh, it was because Jesus had raised him from the dead. Lazarus was dead, and Jesus made him alive again. It was a miracle! People were not listening to the Pharisees and the high council any more because they weren’t doing miracles… They were just ordinary people like you and me and they couldn’t do anything special like Jesus, so we have to follow Jesus.

But are we just that oblivious to the miracles happening all around us? Have we become so accustom to the miracles we see that we do not even see them as miracles?

Ask any father who has been present at one of his children’s birth. They will tell you of a wonderful miracle they witnessed. And what about people who have had a by pass surgery. Miracles!  We are surrounded daily by miracles that we just gloss over because they are second nature and happen all the time and are really nothing special.

Why do you believe? Is it because of the miracle, or is it because as Mary knows, there is just something about Jesus that I need to adore Him. Oh how I wish I could pour the nard and wash His feet with my hair…

Approach the throne with boldness…

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16 NRSV)

We have a great high priest that has been where you have been. He has seen heartache, he has been hurt by the pains of human life, scarred by death of a loved one. He knows what it is like to be you…

So the writer of Hebrews tells us that because of Jesus we can approach the throne of God with boldness. We can come to the place we do not belong because of our sin because Jesus has been there and been through the same things we have. Because He has sprinkled the altar and made the bridge to get us over the gap that separates us from God we can boldly come before the throne and ask for the things we need in times of trouble. We can seek mercy and grace because of the high priest that knows us better than we know ourselves.

So boldly go as Jesus tells us and seek mercy and grace from a God who loves you.

Create me…

Psalm 51:10-12 ESV

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Create in me Lord! Make me what you are and purge me of all of my transgressions and blot out all of the wrongs in my life. Make me as you are, pure and white as snow.

For all of my transgressions and the wrongs I have done are not to those hear whom I have hurt, but I have sinned against you. Lord you alone can wash me clean.

Think about that for a moment… when you are driving and some one cuts you off and you think a bad thought or think about telling that person they are number 1 you are doing that or thinking that about God. When you do something that brings someone down to raise yourself up, you have done that to God. Every sin you commit, even the ones against yourself are actually done to God. Because all of our actions point people to God, either closer to God or farther from Him. In everything we do and say we are showing our relationship with God. So everything we do is done for God and either shows His love or makes people wonder why they would want anything to do with God.

So I pray that God would create me and make me the way He is so that all of my actions bring glory to Him…

Where are you going?

Where are you going? I have been asking myself this question for a while now…

Where do I think my life is going and where am I leading my family? Do I have a clear picture of where I came from? Because the past is something that has helped to shape me, it in no way defines me, as my life is defined by Jesus, but my past and where I came from has shaped me and helped make me who I am today, and thus will have an effect on where I am going.

I remember a time when I thought everything was falling into place and it was all luck. Before I started attending worship regularly, after I had become disenchanted with the church my wife and I moved from Cincinnati to Gastonia. In this move we had a lease on an apartment we needed out of, and jobs to find. I had interviewed for a job in Cincinnati, I had to turn down as we were moving.

Well in the month before the move, I got offered a job in Charlotte, an hour from where we were moving, but they wanted me to start now. But we are not moving for a month. Not a problem was the response I got, we will fly you here and back for however long we need to, fly you in on Monday and home on Friday, give you a car and money for food. One thing fell into place.

The apartment was still under a lease with about 4 months to go. We went to the office and told them our current issue. They said they would list it as available but if they could not rent it we would need to pay through the end of our lease. That was a Friday.  Monday we get a call, we have rented your apartment and we need you out by Friday. Now a new problem – what to do with the stuff. We are out of our lease, but not moving for 3 weeks and our stuff has to go somewhere. My wife can stay with her parents, as I fly back and forth between Charlotte and Cincinnati…

Well around the corner from our apartment was a storage facility doing a special, first month for $1.  No minimum and you don’t have to rent a month to get a month for a $1. So we stored our stuff for 3 weeks for $1. I got a job, our apartment got taken out from under our lease, and everything fell right into place. We also found an apartment on our first trip down to Gastonia which is a miracle because we had a 50 lb Siberian Husky.  Not many places will take a big dog in an apartment. Everything fell into place, because as I look back now I can see God’s hand moving through that move. But before I worshiped regularly I could not see that…

Do you know where you are going? In John 8:12-20 Jesus testifies to himself as being the light of the world and the Pharisees mock Him. They say He can not testify to himself. Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” They do not know where he came from or where he is going, but we do!

And while in my life I may not know what the next step is, or my next destination, I know that Jesus knows where I have been, and He still loves me and He knows where I am going, so to me it doesn’t matter if my journey is clear. I know I am in good hands – nail scared ones!

Consider the steadfast love of the Lord

Psalm 107 is a wonderful psalm filled with things that have happened to people and how God has rescued them from the tribulation they find themselves in…

But what happens when you feel like God has not rescued you? Can you read psalm 107 and say, “But my issue is not listed here, does that mean that God doesn’t care about this?” Simply because they didn’t know about iPhone in biblical times and didn’t put down the malfunctioning of my electronic device does that mean that God does not care about this?

And what about the love shown by God in Numbers 20? The israelites are wandering and there is no fresh fruit or even any water. Remember yesterday’s reading had the water they found was bitter and God made it sweet with a plank of wood and then they found the 7 springs, but now there is no more water, so what do we do? We grumble and complain because that is our nature and our lot. If things are not the way we want them we moan and complain.  And when God does not give us what we ask for, like the cosmic vending machine we use Him as, we get upset with Him, and don’t listen and think we can do it our own way. This is what Moses and Aaron did in Numbers 20. God told them to go and stand before the rock and to call on His name and call for the water to come out of the rock. But instead of trusting God, they went, stood before the rock and hit it twice with the staff, and the water flowed. Now why did God give them the water when they obviously disobeyed Him? Because of His steadfast love…

Even when we are stubborn and hard headed and do what we want in spite of what God has told us to do, He still loves us and cares for us. It never said that life would be all roses and cheese cake… But God’s steadfast love will endure forever.

So don’t go to God expecting to get ever thing you always wanted. He is not a cosmic vending machine for your amusement. Go to God humbly and falling on your knees, expecting Him to love you, and He will and take you on a ride you can’t possibly image.

God is Good

How many times have you heard this?

You know you are having a bad day, week, month, year… It seems everything possibly that could go wrong has gone wrong and your world is falling apart around you. And someone in the midst if this will say, “pray and ask God for guidance because He is good and He will rescue you from the tribulation you are in.”

Psalm 107: 1-9 says

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; he led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town. Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind. For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.

Yes OK the Bible does say that God will deliver those who cry out to him and feed the hungry and give the thirsty water. But in Exodus when the Israelites started out the first water they found could not be drunk because it was bitter. (Exodus 15:22-27 – of course God fixed this too…)

But what about the times it seems like God has left us? What about those times we have prayed and there seems to be no answer? Where is God when it seems like He is not there?

Of course I could offer the answers that no answer to prayer is actually an answer. Garth Brooks told us to thank God for unanswered prayers, because sometimes we ask for things that would not be good for us, and therefore God will not give it to us. He will always give us what we need and is in His mission not always what we want.

And then there is Mathew West’s Strong Enough. A song about how we are not strong enough to do this life alone, and that we need to rely on the strength of God to get us through. And I can agree with this on an intellectual level always, but sometimes it disconnects with where I am. I know it is true, I’ve seen it several times in the past and I know God will take care of us and He is in control of every situation and His will will be done.

But that still does not eradicate the suffering. That still does not take away the confusion. That still does not help me where I am – disconnected from the creator I want to feel deep within me and surrounding me. Where is God when I feel like He is no where to be found? How can I get to Him? I feel like Jesus on the cross crying out, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me!” I’ve done what you asked and followed where you led me and did the things you told me to, and now I’m here all alone? Did you bring me here for what? Like the Israelites in the wilderness, brought out here to die of starvation in the wilderness?

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

Lifted up

There are many serpents in the Bible, one in Genesis that sets a lot of things in motion and many others…

However there is only one that seems to link to Jesus – and that is the serpent in the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites. This is the story we hear in Numbers 21:4-9.

I think it is interesting that this passage is partnered with John 3:14-21 where we hear tell of God loving the world so much that he gave His only son to die for us…

It is interesting in the passage from Numbers the response of God. And to that one could say which response of God…

You see the people are grumbling to Moses that he brought them out of Egypt to kill them off in the wilderness. So after their grumbling God sends poisonous serpents among the people to bite them and kill them. God does this, this is His first response to the situation. They start grumbling and God send poisonous snakes to kill them…

Then when the people get it and go to Moses, Moses goes to God and he tells Moses…

“Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”

He tells Moses to make a serpent and set it on a pole and allow people who get bite to look upon the snake that has been raised up and they shall live. Could not God have removed the snakes all together and gotten rid of the suffering of the people. He after all sent the snakes to them, so why didn’t he just get rid of them? Why make a snake and raise it up?

It is like something else that is raised up for people to behold and allow them to be healed. Jesus – the one and only Son who was raised up because God so loved the world that he gave His only Son so that who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, because God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. Look upon Jesus lifted up and be healed…

God never said our lives would be without suffering, but he has given us Jesus to behold and to heal us through our trials and tribulations…

Nicodemus – Man of Growth

John 3:1-13 tells us the beginning of the story of Nicodemus…

And while it is the beginning, it is a wonderful story and one that should be the basis for all of our lives.

What can we learn about Nicodemus from this passage?

He is:

A Pharisee (v. 1)

A member of the Jewish Council (v. 1)

Jewish religious Leader who believed Jesus

A Teacher of Isreal (v. 10)

Nic (I’ll call him Nic for short – takes a lot of time to type Nicodemus…) is a Jewish Pharisee, a member of the council and someone who believes in Jesus.

He has to come to Jesus under the cover of darkness because he can not be seen coming to Jesus or someone might turn him in as a follower and not worthy to be on the council or a Pharisee anymore…

we also know he is a teacher but it seems he still has a lot to learn.

What in particular did Nic not understand about Jesus’ teaching? Jesus said a man must be born again… And Nic had a hard time comprehending this. I wonder if we understand what this means? There is a lot of emphasis put on baptism and faith and being born again, but really what does all of this mean?

Is it necessary to be baptized to enter the kingdom of God? Martin Luther said yes, and so do many in the church today. Yet I ask you were the disciples baptized? There is no biblical witness to them being baptized. And what about the thief on the cross, to whom Jesus says, “Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise.” Was he baptized? We do not know, but Jesus told him he is going to be in paradise.

So what does it mean you have to be born again? Maybe the word is not born again…

The word translated again in the original Greek means of place from above or of future time, indicating repetition anew, again…

So maybe it is You must be born from above, or you must be born anew… It is what we Lutherans like to refer to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever…

Maybe when Jesus says you must be born of water and spirit this is what he is referring. All of us are born of water, there is water involved in our earthly birth and the spirit seals us when God moves in and through our lives with the gift of Faith that manifests itself in the way we live to point others to Jesus. Yet I digress… This is suppose to be about Nic and how he is a model fro us all…

Nic did not understand this, but he questioned and sought to understand.  But is chapter 3 of John the last time we see Nic?

No…

Where else is the story of Nic told to us? John 7:50-52 Nic asks a question of the Jewish council trying to arrest and put him to trial. He makes a stand for Jesus in the Jewish Council. He stands up for Jesus publicly. He goes from a person seeking under the cover of darkness to a person who defends Jesus.

And again Nic comes to us in John 19:39-40 Nic with Joseph of Arimathea go and get Jesus’ body from the cross to bury him Here he is risking a lot coming and doing this. He shows a steady growth over the story of his life in the gospel John.

And you see that is what God wants from all of us, to seek him under darkness if we need to, to showing our faith out load in our daily lives, to openly living out our faith and showing the world how much Jesus means to us.

God seeks steady growth and not instant perfection!