be teachable

Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos from Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus. (Acts 18:24-28, NRSVue)

This passage shows us the need to be teachable. Apollos was an apostle who learned about Jesus, but not everything. And when he was approached by others who knew different things, he was open to their conversation and teachings and learned more and grew. He did not think that he knew everything there was to know, but was open and teachable.

We learn what we can from those who know and then when new knowledge comes we ascertain if this is of the Spirit and are open to the moving of God to teach us new things and not be stuck in the old ways and understanding.

Be teachable. You learned from those who had what they did, but new things could have been discovered.

Be teachable.

Stir the pot

That very night the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea, and when they arrived they went to the Jewish synagogue. These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there, too, to stir up and incite the crowds. Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and, after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him. (Acts 17:10-15, NRSVue)

When God’s word was shared, and people heard the truth, there were those who realized their gravy train was going away, so they came to stir the crap and make people question the truth.

Many people heard the good news of the truth of the love of God, and when people who would lose out because of this heard it, they decided to stir the pot and spread misinformation. We see this today. There are many who claim to follow after the love of God and still stir the pot and spread lies instead of truth.

Spread love and truth and do not stir the pot because the truth will take your power and privilege. Everyone is equal.

Compassion

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat, and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled, and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. (Matthew 15:32-39, NRSVue)

“I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have had nothing to eat.”

Jesus had compassion.

Jesus cared for those who followed him, even when he knew they were probably just following because they heard what he was doing and wanted some of that for themselves. Jesus has compassion even when our motives are not pure.

Jesus just cares.

And honestly, that is the answer. We just need to care for others.

Not what motivates them. Just care.

That their needs are met, that they are fed, warm, have shelter, and medical care.

We just need to care.

Who added?

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:37-47, NRSVue)

There is a thought in the church that we bring people to God. I remember when I was young, and I had joined an evangelical denomination, and we would go door knocking and ask people if they were to die tonight, where would they go. We believed it was our duty, our obligation to borrow the word from Paul in the opening of the letter to the Romans, to convert people or bring them to God.

We can be baptized, but baptism is God’s gift of grace to us. Even in evangelical circles, baptism is the outward sign of an inward work, a work done by God, not us. We can plant seeds and water and tend to a loving relationship with the world, but as Acts tells us above, God adds to the numbers of the church.

This passage reminds me of the story from a pastor friend of mine who talked about the neighbor he met when he moved into a new neighborhood. They met over the fence in their backyards, and they introduced themselves. When the neighbor asked what my friend did, he was honest and said he was a pastor for a Lutheran church in town, and the neighbor said, oh, I don’t buy into all of the religious stuff, and that was that. They were still neighborly and had conversations about life, family, kids, troubles, and highs as neighbors do over the fence. My friend never brought up the church or religion except maybe when talking about work, but never to force it on his neighbor. And one day my pastor friend said he was standing in the pulpit about to give his sermon for the morning, and when he looked up he saw his neighbor there to listen. He never invited him with the words, You should come to church, he lived in such a way that his life preached the love of God in and through a neighborly relationship, and when his neighbor knew he needed something more, he knew where to look from the time my friend had spent with him.

We do not bring people to God; God does that in and through us loving the world.

Love the world.

obligated

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as I have among the rest of the gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:8-15, NRSVue)

Paul tells the members of the congregation in Rome he is obligated to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish, and that is why he wants to come to Rome to proclaim the gospel to them.

We are obligated to share the gospel in all we do. Not always in word, but also in deed.

So live the quote attributed to St. Francis, “Speak the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.”

Let your life so speak the gospel to fulfill the obligation to share God’s love.

miracle or sharing?

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21, NRSVue)

This parable in John is a place where the sign or miracle gets watered down. A little boy comes and shares his lunch, which has been turned into a way to say that the boy influenced others to share their lunch and so it is not a miracle but a movement of compassion.

But here we clearly see Jesus took five loaves and two fish and broke them and distributed them, and all ate and had their fill, and twelve baskets of leftovers were collected. More leftovers were collected than there were probably when they started.

We wonder how we will do things. Sometimes we just need to have an idea and/or people to help to make things happen.

Hungry people are fed.
Hurting people are comforted.
Grieving people are soothed.
Lost people are given a way.

How do we do it? We just do.

Live in love and love in faith.

Ask, and you will get it.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11, NRSVue)

I have a real issue with this version of this teaching. Jesus here says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Ask and you will get it, look for it and you will find it, and knock and the door will open. Other versions of this say if it is in the will of God, but that is not present here. Ask and get, look and find, want in and get in. And I am sorry but that is not how the world works even in God’s kingdom. I do not always get what I ask for and sometimes I get the exact opposite of what I ask for.

God is not a cosmic vending machine to give us our every wish.

Sometimes we do not need what we ask for or seek, and that is when the will of God comes in.

Ask, seek, and try to get in, but realize sometimes life and God have a different answer for you.

Flesh is not family.

It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israelites, and not all of Abraham’s children are his descendants, but “it is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. For the word of the promise is this: “About this time I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac: even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.” (Romans 9:6-13, NRSVue)

Flesh does not make you family. Some would disagree with me on this, and yet some of you who are reading this devotional are my family. Not by flesh, but by choice. My choice and your choice.

I have a dear friend; my family went to visit him and his spouse a few years ago, and we went to a museum in his hometown. When we entered, he knew the person working at the information desk, and they asked him who we were. He stammered for a minute, and I spoke up and said we are family. Yes, he said, chosen family.

We do not have to be united by flesh to be family.

We do not have to be circumcised or of the right descent to be included in the people of God. We can choose to be a part by believing the promises and knowing that God has also chosen us.

Sometimes chosen family is better than flesh family.

Choose who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will believe in the promises of God and know we are God’s chosen family, and we will live that way.

a verse out of context

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I am referring to being in need, 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. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress. You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. (Philippians 4:10-15, NRSVue)

I have a plaque on my desk that has Philippians 4:13 on it. The plaque says:

I CAN DO ALL THINGS
For I can do all things through Christ,
who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

I thought about how that verse is used out of context when I put the plaque on my desk. It does not mean that God will give me the abilities to do whatever I think I should be able to do. This verse is used to say that we can do everything we think we should because the scripture says God will give us the ability. Nope, not even close, and not what Paul meant.

Paul said he knew what it was like to be in need, and what it was like to have an abundance. Through any and all circumstances, he knew he would survive because God would always be with him and guide him, not give him superhuman abilities to be able to do whatever was needed.

We need to not twist verses for our own desires, but listen to what the scripture actually says and live in that faith.

Smallest seed?

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples. (Mark 4:30-34, NRSVue)

Jesus is reported to have said in multiple gospels that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. A quick Google search shows this to be untrue.

The smallest seeds on Earth belong to epiphytic orchids (such as certain tropical orchids and jewel orchids), which produce dust-like seeds measuring as small as 0.05 millimeters and weighing only a 35-millionth of an ounce.

(Note: While the Bible’s Parable of the Mustard Seed refers to the mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds, that was a local agricultural reference for ancient audiences, not a scientific fact.)

https://www.google.com/search?q=smallest+seed+on+earth&oq=smallest+see&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyBggCEEUYOTIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiABNIBCDkyODJqMGo3qAIIsAIB8QW4vNJHZNKNU_EFuLzSR2TSjVM&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8

I would suggest reading some of the comments on the link above for the Parable of the Mustard Seed if you have time and need some good banter today.

Jesus made a comment based on what he knew. Were orchids known at that time and in that region? Jesus was speaking to what was common knowledge and using a seed to give an example of what the kingdom was like.

This example uses a small seed that grows into something big enough for birds to nest in. It shows that a small action can have big impacts on the world.

Your small actions every day are changing the world.