Follow Me

Jesus calls us “to follow me”…

Jesus here after being tempted by Satan begins his public ministry and calls Simon and Andrew and later James and John with the words “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

What does it mean to follow Jesus? Is it follow like a guide on path or in a museum? Or is it a walk along side and be pals on the journey.  One of my favorite blessings is “As you go forth from this place remember that Jesus goes before you to lead the way, Over you to shelter you, behind you to protect you, and beside you to guide you on your journey.” Is this how we think about our walk with Jesus, as two pals going out for a stroll?

Is that what is means to follow Jesus?  I always am interested by this passage, because the words used here by Jesus in the original Greek language are use a little later in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 8…

Mark 8:33 says “But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peterand said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”” The words Jesus uses for Follow me, are the same words he says to Peter, Get Behind Me…

Jesus tells the disciples to get behind him, just as he tells us to get behind him.  There is a proper place for us and it is not along side of Jesus, but behind him!

So as we walk these days of Lent and draw closer to God, remember that Jesus wants followers, not advisers.  So give up your life to Jesus and do not tell him what you want, but cheerfully take what it is he wants to give you.

Beloved

What does it mean to be beloved by God?

Or what does it mean to be beloved by anyone? Do you go around telling people they are your beloved? Well I had to look it up, www.m-w.com says beloved means : dearly loved : dear to the heart… So I would say there are people that are beloved to me. However I’m not sure if we understand what it means to be beloved by God, and if we do, if it is something we would want.

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is called beloved 2 by God once here and once on the mountain top at the transfiguration. At the transfiguration Jesus goes down the mountain headed towards Jerusalem and his death, and here at the baptism, he is immediately driven to the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days by Satan.

And right now you are saying we know this, but my question is, who drives Jesus to the wilderness? (short break – I heard a joke in the sermon yesterday, When Jesus was driven to the wilderness we know it was a Honda he was driven in, because the Bible tells us that the disciples were all of one Accord!…)

Ok who drove Jesus to the wilderness? The reading from Mark says the Spirit drove him to the wilderness. The Holy Spirit, once Jesus is named and claimed by God as beloved, drives him to the wilderness to be tested. The Holy Spirit, or God took Jesus to the wilderness. Maybe this is why we say “and lead us not into temptation…” in the Lord’s prayer. God sends Jesus out to be tested. Is this what it means to be beloved by God, to be driven to the wilderness to be tested, tempted, and see who it is you rely on?

Is this what we want when we are beloved by God? Or do we want Burger King, do we want to have it our way? God has us close to his heart and calls each of us dear, loved, child. And just like Jesus we can know that even if God leads us into temptation that he will always be there to deliver us from evil.

Praise the Lord with Trumpet sound!

Psalm 150 is a favorite of mine out of the Psalms. It is a favorite, because it is a wonderful praise song!

I remember singing it on internship…

Praise the Lord with Trumpet Sounds, Trumpet Sounds….

Praise the Lord with a Big bass Drum! Big Bass Drum….

Praise the Lord with Rocking guitar!

You could add instruments and ideas for ever, and each time you would run through the whole list each time, and do interesting motions along with each idea/instrument.

And this is what we also have to remember this season of Lent. While we are suppose to be examining ourselves, and our lives, and drawing closer to God, we are also suppose to have fun and praise God!  God wants us to praise him, with trumpets and harps and lyres, and guitars, and organs, and pianos, and our voices.  God said make a joyful noise! Not a pretty on or beautiful or intune, on key harmonious sound…. He said make a joyful noise.  Reminds me of something my pastor use to say, “If you sing well sing loud, because God loves to hear you sing, if you don’t sing well, then sing really loud to annoy the person standing next to you, but either way make a joyful noise.”

Make a joyful noise and praise the Lord!

Strength

This is one of my favorite verses, I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Jesus gives us the strength to do all things that He leads us to, calls us to. He also gives us the strength to endure the places we get our selves into.

But it is not just the strength… Paul tells us more, a contentment. “for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.”  How many of us can do this?  How many of us are content with what we have?  We struggle for more. We worry about tomorrow.  We want what everyone else has, we have to keep up with the Jones….  Even if we are under fed. Even if we don’t have everything we think we want, we still have reason to rejoice and to lean on the strength of Jesus. And that is the easy side to see in Paul’s writing, when we are down and out we can and should lean on Jesus. But Paul said that he has learned how to be content in all that he has, in little and in plenty!  Are we content and leaning on the strength of Jesus when everything is going good? Do we look for the strength of Jesus to see us through the good times? Through when we think we don’t need him, because it is exactly when we thing we don’t need him, that we need him the most.

And that leads us to another favorite verse of mine, Jeremiah 29:11 – For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. We have a hope in God through the strength of Jesus and that is a hope and a strength we need every day, good or bad!

Daddy God, help us to lean on you and live in the hope and strength you give us, guiding us in the life you have for us…

Peace

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The Peace of God will guard your hearts and minds… Doesn’t that give you a warm fuzzy feeling?  Our hearts and minds are guarded in Christ Jesus.  And how…

Just before this Paul urges the Philippians… “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”  The Philippians are to help Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. It doesn’t say we need to believe or understand the same thing. It does not say we have to agree on all the details. It says we have to be of the same mind in Christ. And this will guard out hearts and our minds in Christ.  Being of the same mind in Christ and agreeing we are together in Christ will allow us to Rejoice and seek everything that God wants for us through prayer and supplication. Agree you are one in Christ. Do not seek to believe the same thing, think the same thing, or thing agree on all of the details, we are one in Christ and in this we can have the peace the surpasses all understanding.

Gracious God, help us to seek to know we are united with each other through you and for your faithfulness to go to the cross and help us to not have to convince everyone we have to agree on the details, but allow us to live in the fact that your cross has already united us….

Straining Forward…

It would be so easy for me to worry about what has happened in my life. Up until last Wednesday I was a called pastor, and that was my reality for the last 5 years. You see yesterday was the first Ash Wednesday in 5 years that I was not leading a gathered body of worshipers in worship…  I have to say it was sad. I was very upset by all of the things that had happened. At all of the ways I had failed to lead the people of God.  I was moved to realize exactly how much I need a savior, how much I need the blood of Jesus to cover me, how much I need the 40 days that are coming… I was moved to wonder about all of the things I had done wrong and failed at during my time as pastor…

But then I read Philippians 3:12-21…  “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,” Paul tells the Philippians and us to not worry about yesterday.  What happened yesterday is not to be worried about, we need to forget all of the mistakes we made, forget all of the wrongs we have done, and strain forward… We need to be straining forward to what lies ahead, “only let us hold tight to what we have attained.” Not to let go of all that Christ has given us.  God is waiting to give us the prize that we strain for, that we press on towards. “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Press on towards the call of God… We are all called, and this day we are called to continue our 40 day journey with Jesus in the wilderness, to remember our mortality, to draw closer to God and find our selves in Him.  God has called us to journey with him…

And that is my good news. Yes I did make mistakes as the leader of the congregations I served, and I will make mistakes in my call(s) that is/are to come, but I can not dwell on those, I can ask God and those whom I have wronged for forgiveness, and press on towards the goal of the heavenly call, God has given to us all…

A Journey Begins…

40 days for a journey to bring us closer to God…

Many of us will be giving up something for Lent, I remember the one year I gave up all coffee drinks for Lent. Maybe not so hard, but the church I was attending worship at was a coffee shop… I felt that as others around me drank their coffee… Yet did it actually bring me closer to God?

You see that is the real question in what you give up or take on on this journey. Does this denial or extra act bring me closer to my maker, my creator? If the answer is no, then it will do you no good spiritually. Now it may help you lose weight or have a healthier life, if it is something like giving up chocolate, or caffeine, or carbonated beverages, or hamburger, or exercising more… There could be physical or mental pluses, but if it does not bring you closer to God, then it is not helpful spiritually…

That is where we intersect with Luke 18:9-14.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

It is not about looking like you follow Jesus and are dead on the inside. We can not judge the motivations or the inside life of anyone other than ourselves….

What motivates you? Is it a love of being noticed for doing all of the right things like the Pharisee in Luke? Or are you truly repentant of your sins, so much so you can’t even look to heaven like the tax collector? Do you seek the exaltation of others, or are you truly devoted to Jesus and follow Him where he leads you?

As we start our 40 day journey of Lent, I invite you to look at your motivations and to do things thee 40 days that draw you closer to God, and allow Him to work in and through you and you will be amazed at what happens in your life…

Fast for the Lord

“Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back-a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people-law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side. But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ “Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places-firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. “If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there – Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so! (Isaiah 58:1-14 MSG)

Ok. I know I’m a day early for fasting, but I wanted to remind all of us that while today is Fat Tuesday, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and the day we begin our 40 day journey that reminds us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, days that are meant to draw us closer to God…

We need to do a fast that shows forth the light in the dark places. A fast that gives bread to the hungry and a place to sleep for those who have none. We are to do things that draw us closer to God and shows His presence to everyone around us. Not because we are trying to puff ourselves up and draw attention to ourselves but to draw us closer to God. So get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins… Stop doing things for your own good, but love God and others, shining His light in the darkness….

And get ready for the journey of your life…

Son of God

This is the year of Mark in the lectionary…

Jesus is called the Son of God 3 times in the Gospel of Mark. One was at the baptism of Jesus which was earlier this year in Epiphany. One time was this past Sunday at the Transfiguration, and one time later in the Gospel…

These first 2 times it is the Father that proclaims Jesus is His beloved son, someone who is loved by God and should be listened to.

At the baptism, only Jesus hears this voice though as he rises up out of the water (read Mark 1:1-11). I wonder why Jesus needed to be told that He was the son of God and beloved by the Father? Did he not already know this? Or maybe we as he readers get in on the inside at the beginning, that there is something more to this Jesus…

The second proclamation of Jesus as the son of God, there are a few more witnesses. James, John, and Peter get to see Jesus standing and talking to Moses and Elijah… And if that wasn’t enough, he turns bright white, not like any white they had ever seen before, but shining… They see Jesus as he is, God! And again if that was not enough, the Father speaks to them and says that Jesus is His son and beloved by Him, and they should listen to Him. (read Mark 9:2-9) And why did Jesus tell the three of them not to tell anyone until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead? They just got proof that Jesus is God, and He told them to not tell anyone, why?

The third time Jesus is proclaimed the son of God, it is not by God the Father, and it is not by a disciple… Mark 15:39 Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” A Roman centurion! A gentile! Not someone on the inside who walked with Jesus for 3 years, or who should know that he is the Son of God, but a Roman guard, who witnessed His death and through this knew that He was God…

Do we see Jesus as the Son of God, and if we do, how do we live our lives so that others will know that Jesus is the Son of God?

Live the Gospel out loud – showing the world that Jesus is the Son of God and you are a disciple of Him!

A time for change

Last Sunday was my last Sunday at the congregation I was serving. Tomorrow is. New week and new possibilities and the first time in 5 years I’m not leading worship on a Sunday when I’m not on vacation.

In this time of transition and discernment if where God is leading me, I cling to the strength that God gives me. Philippines 4:13 says I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Jeremiah 29:11 says I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans for a future based in hope. God gives us strength to do the things that come into our lives. God has plans for each of us, plans for a future based in his hope.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. God is always with us and gives us strength to make it through.

I’m leaning on my Lord and I know he will see me through.