Empty

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:
Though he was in the form of God,
        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
But he emptied himself
        by taking the form of a slave
        and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
        he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
        even death on a cross.
Therefore, God highly honored him
        and gave him a name above all names,
    so that at the name of Jesus everyone
        in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
        and every tongue confess
            that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:1-11, CEB)

We can not be full of ourselves.

This early hymn used by Paul here shows that even Jesus gave up being full of himself. Jesus humbled himself and asks us to do the same.

Be humble. Know though in your humility you are loved.

Love like Jesus.

Lovign People. Loving God.

Glory vs praise

The crowd responded, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Human One must be lifted up? Who is this Human One?” Jesus replied, “The light is with you for only a little while. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness don’t know where they are going. As long as you have the light, believe in the light so that you might become people whose lives are determined by the light.” After Jesus said these things, he went away and hid from them. Jesus had done many miraculous signs before the people, but they didn’t believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of the prophet Isaiah:
Lord, who has believed through our message?
    To whom is the arm of the Lord fully revealed?
Isaiah explains why they couldn’t believe:
He made their eyes blind
        and closed their minds
    so that they might not see with their eyes,
        understand with their minds,
        and turn their lives around—
    and I would heal them.
Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory; he spoke about Jesus. Even so, many leaders believed in him, but they wouldn’t acknowledge their faith because they feared that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. They believed, but they loved human praise more than God’s glory. Jesus shouted, “Whoever believes in me doesn’t believe in me but in the one who sent me. Whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I have come as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in me won’t live in darkness. If people hear my words and don’t keep them, I don’t judge them. I didn’t come to judge the world but to save it. Whoever rejects me and doesn’t receive my words will be judged at the last day by the word I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me regarding what I should speak and say. I know that his commandment is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I say is just as the Father has said to me.” (John 12:34-50, CEB)

Why do you do the things you do?

I was at a meeting the day I wrote this and someone asked me when I started wearing rainbow gauges and painting my nails. They were wondering if this was part of my call to campus ministry. And while I could say yes, the answer is no. Yes it is a part of my call because no it is just who I am. I do not put on a mask for any one. I do the things I do because I believe this is the way God made me. I hid part of that on calls in the past and that didn’t help me or the congregation I was serving.

We can not hide who we are. the reading said they believed but they loved human praise more than God’s glory. If you look for the praise of men, it won’t work out.

Be who God created you to be, and know that God has a plan.

Look to share God’s love and not to get the praise of humans.

Loving People. Loving God.

Not drunk!

Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
    Your young will see visions.
    Your elders will dream dreams.
    Even upon my servants, men and women,
        I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
        and they will prophesy.
I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
The sun will be changed into darkness,
    and the moon will be changed into blood,
        before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words! Jesus the Nazarene was a man whose credentials God proved to you through miracles, wonders, and signs, which God performed through him among you. You yourselves know this. In accordance with God’s established plan and foreknowledge, he was betrayed. You, with the help of wicked men, had Jesus killed by nailing him to a cross. God raised him up! God freed him from death’s dreadful grip, since it was impossible for death to hang on to him. (Acts 2:14-24, CEB)

Peter stood and told the crowd, did you not understand the words of scripture? Things are going to happen through the people who follow God that we do not understand. Dreamers will dream and their dreams will come true. People will speak in ways they have never spoken. God will do things we do not understand. That doesn’t mean you’re drunk or we’re drunk. It means God works the way God wants to work and we won’t get it.

We will put people to death because it seems like they have gone astray from what God wants when they are actually doing the will of God. We won’t get it because it doesn’t fit in our box and it isn’t the way we think God should work.

Know God works in mysterious ways.

Love like Jesus. Knowing you won’t always understand.

Loving People. Loving God.

qualified

This is the confidence that we have through Christ in the presence of God. It isn’t that we ourselves are qualified to claim that anything came from us. No, our qualification is from God. He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not based on what is written but on the Spirit, because what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life. The ministry that brought death was carved in letters on stone tablets. It came with such glory that the Israelites couldn’t look for long at Moses’ face because his face was shining with glory, even though it was a fading glory. Won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation has glory, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? In fact, what was glorious isn’t glorious now, because of the glory that is brighter. If the glory that fades away was glorious, how much more glorious is the one that lasts! (2 Corinthians 3:4-11, CEB)

We are qualified for ministry because God gave us the qualifications to do what needed to be done. It is not our own doing, and God gets all the credit.

And because of this, it is something that will last for all time. The Holy Spirit will work in and through us to do the will of God in this place and time.

We get the honor of tagging along for the ride and seeing what happens through us.

Enjoy the ride, and know it will be memorable.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

See Jesus

Some Greeks were among those who had come up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and made a request: “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Philip told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Human One to be glorified. I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor whoever serves me. “Now I am deeply troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, for this is the reason I have come to this time. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard and said, “It’s thunder.” Others said, “An angel spoke to him.” Jesus replied, “This voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours. Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” (He said this to show how he was going to die.) (John 12:20-33, CEB)

We want to see Jesus…

Would you like to see Jesus? Most days I think I’m ready, but some days I don’t think I want to yet. But why does Jesus go into this long answer that has nothing to do with some Greeks wanting to see Jesus, or does it…

The Greeks were not part of the Jewish religion and yet Jesus was becoming known across the known world so people who were not a part of the Jewish religion were taking note of Jesus and wanting to know who he was.

So Jesus answer to wanting to be seen was saying that people get it, so now is the time the world will know.

Jesus came for all. Not just Jewish, not just people who believe, all. And so these outsiders want to know more, so now is the time.

How can we show those the church sees as outsiders that they are also part of all, regardless of what they see insiders saying? How can we show the world, and the church, that all means all, and only God gets to decide who isn’t all.

Love like Jesus and include all!

Loving People. Loving God.

Nard…

Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters hosted a dinner for him. Martha served and Lazarus was among those who joined him at the table. Then Mary took an extraordinary amount, almost three-quarters of a pound, of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus’ feet with it, then wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house was filled with the aroma of the perfume. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), complained, “This perfume was worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would take what was in it.) Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone. This perfume was to be used in preparation for my burial, and this is how she has used it. You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me.” Many Jews learned that he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. The chief priests decided that they would kill Lazarus too. It was because of Lazarus that many of the Jews had deserted them and come to believe in Jesus. (John 12:1-11, CEB)

Pure Nard. Very Expensive…

Judas gets called out in the gospel of John for being a thief, but there isn’t any evidence of this beyond this passage that I know about. So was Judas a thief? Or was he looking out for the poor? Or does either of those matter?

Maybe the disciples didn’t get this because someone just put a year’s salary worth of perfume on Jesus. And this wasn’t done to the living. This should have been done to Lazarus before Jesus brought him back to life.

Being under the influence of God makes us do things that sometimes we do not understand. I recall a line from a sermon I heard recently on John 3:14-21 and the line started out as, “just when you think things can’t get any better, God says…” And my mind went to “hold my beer…” or you could easily say, “you just wait.”

When God is in control we will not always understand, but it is not really our place to understand, it is our place to follow and do what God is leading us to do. Understanding will come later.

Follow and love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

honor

Also, let’s hold on to the confession since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, who is Jesus, God’s Son; because we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin. Finally, let’s draw near to the throne of favor with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace when we need help. Every high priest is taken from the people and put in charge of things that relate to God for their sake, in order to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. The high priest is able to deal gently with the ignorant and those who are misled since he himself is prone to weakness. Because of his weakness, he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for the people. No one takes this honor for themselves but takes it only when they are called by God, just like Aaron. (Hebrews 4:14-5:4, CEB)

You do not take honor. It is given.

We are able to come close to God because of Jesus and what God did for us through Jesus. We do not presume to approach the throne of God without Jesus by our side.

God made a way for us to be able to be with God. It is a gift.

Show the world the love God has for them and help others see the gift God has given them.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

exposed

Therefore, since the promise that we can enter into rest is still open, let’s be careful so that none of you will appear to miss it. We also had the good news preached to us, just as the Israelites did. However, the message they heard didn’t help them because they weren’t united in faith with the ones who listened to it. We who have faith are entering the rest. As God said, And because of my anger I swore: “They will never enter into my rest!” And yet God’s works were completed at the foundation of the world. Then somewhere he said this about the seventh day of creation: God rested on the seventh day from all his works. But again, in the passage above, God said, They will never enter my rest! Therefore, it’s left open for some to enter it, and the ones who had the good news preached to them before didn’t enter because of disobedience. Just as it says in the passage above, God designates a certain day as “today,” when he says through David much later, Today, if you hear his voice, don’t have stubborn hearts. If Joshua gave the Israelites rest, God wouldn’t have spoken about another day later on. So you see that a sabbath rest is left open for God’s people. The one who entered God’s rest also rested from his works, just as God rested from his own. Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience, because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. No creature is hidden from it, but rather everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we have to give an answer. (Hebrews 4:1-13, CEB)

Nothing is hidden everything is naked and exposed.

Nothing we do will not be made known. And everything we do God already knows about.

We should live our lives so God’s love is shown and the good news is proclaimed in everything we do.

Love like Jesus and let you light shine God’s love for all creation.

Loving People. Loving God.

Where is your father?

Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.” Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.” They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come. (John 8:12-20, CEB)

Where is your father?

If they would have known whom they were speaking to they would not have had to ask where Jesus’ father is. They would have known.

But do you know where Jesus’ Father is? I would have to say yes and no. I understand that God is every where, yet if God is every where, where actually is God?

We don’t really know and yet we know God is always with us.

We have faith and hope that God is with us because that is what we are told is true. And I believe that.

And I believe you can believe that too.

Love like Jesus. Know God is with you.

Loving People. Loving God.

Temptation

These things were examples for us, so we won’t crave evil things like they did. Don’t worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play. Let’s not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day. Let’s not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. Let’s not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of time has come. So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall. No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:6-13, CEB)

Lead me not into temptation…

Oh, who am I kidding I know a shortcut follow me. Actually, none of us need help being led into temptation. We can make our way there all on our own. But God will always be with you to guide you from the place you take yourself.

Do not seek out things that pull us from God but live in a way that is pleasing and shows God’s love for all creation through your life.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.