Religion

Religion. A buzzword. One of many buzzwords.

So often talking about “religion” or “politics” is not allowed, or viewed as divisive, something to argue about.

The Bible’s definition of religion however is clear: Pure and undefiled religion is this-to visit widows and orphans in their poverty.

This being the case all kinds of problems associated with religion become plain. Greed, opportunity, self-gratification, self-promotion, all such things are impure and defiling.

The religion Jesus is about is 100% giving without getting anything in return. “Sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven,”Jesus told a rich young ruler. The man went away sad because he had great wealth.

But Jesus practiced what he preached. When he told his followers that he would be betrayed and killed, one of his followers said, “Surely not Lord.” Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.”

It was in the mind of God to give to us, who were spiritually dead, who were his bitter enemies, life through his death and resurrection. It was not our idea. It was his idea. It was his work. By coming, teaching, living, dying, and rising from the dead, he visited us: spiritual widows, spiritual orphans who in our destitute state could give him nothing back. That is religion to Jesus.

Depending on who you are asking or who is answering, “religion” might mean different things and different things might be associated with it. I’ll stick with Jesus’ definition. I’ll stick with Jesus’ definition because I do not factor into it except as the recipient of it. And I am tremendously glad for that. I can’t pay him back. He has gained me. For that I am thankful.

 

 

Hurting and Healing

The hurts you feel and have experienced or are suffering from on a daily basis even now are real. The hurting you feel, regardless of the source has a huge impact on your motivation, your thoughts and your feelings. The hurting is real.

Whether self inflicted, inflicted by some opposition, the hurting well… just hurts.

But such hurt is not where God will leave you. God binds up the brokenhearted. God sets the prisoner free. God claims the world by his love. Hurting is part of the journey. Hurting is not part of the destination though.

Returning to God is not an easy journey. It is a hard one. It is one so hard that only he does the walking. And, he carries us. He carries us by the words of his promises, inspiring in us a faith, a trust in him, that takes a hold of him.

Jesus healed sick people, he raised dead people. But he even healed the maimed, the bodily incomplete. That’s right, some how, by his almighty power, he restored those with missing body parts to a complete and whole, functional body.

In the same way, God creates the ability for us to grab onto him. He creates the hand or arm that is faith with which we reach him, and we do reach him.

In spite of the hurting God is healing us, and somethings take a lifetime. Salvation took a lifetime, but not ours, rather, the lifetime of his Son.

All too many times in our hurting our focus is on ourselves. What then happens? The hurting only increases.

We are spiritually sick, we need a spiritual healing. This outside thing, this thing we can not find in ourselves God provides. When you hear God’s words, when you hear the words of the Bible, God is operating on you. It does not matter if you are motivated. It does not matter what you think or what you feel. God is doing the operation whether you are alert or sedated. It is merely the trick of the deceived heart to imagine we can help God along. We can not help God.

Jesus was clear about this to his disciples who wished to do the works of God. Jesus challenged them. They didn’t understand. Only God does the works of God. He explained, “The work of God is that you believe on the one whom he has sent.” With these words he refocuses his disciples off of themselves and onto another, onto him. Only hurting increases when we look at ourselves, if we look honestly. And only healing increases when we look to our Good Physician, the doctor of our soul, Jesus Christ, the Lord, God the Son.

If we set our eyes on Jesus, the author -and- the -finisher- of our faith (we do not finish our faith, he does), the healing will not just happen, it will continue. With his gospel he’s already found us. With his gospel he is healing us. He’s taking us out of our darkness and shining light where we found it impossible to enlighten. We should not be surprised by this. This is what it is to have a real God and not a god of our making. God comes from the outside, not the inside.

And the healing will not stop until it is completed. When he comes again, the Bible explains that those of us who still are alive will be changed with his coming. After that, eternal blessedness. There is not a single grave that will remain a grave when he comes. All the dead will be raised. Trust in him ensures that such dead will experience blessedness in the hereafter.

For now, there is hurting, daily hurting, daily aching, daily picking up one’s cross. But following him, there is healing, daily healing, daily relief, daily going not to our cross but his, where all that we did wrong was punished and done away with, that historical, irrefutable event, prophesied from the beginning of mankind and bearing fruit in the resurrection of the dead on the final day.

God is healing you. He is healing you from sin, your own sin, the sins of others against you, all the problems you face. His will that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth is unfolding in you and in the world.

Take your mind, your heart and your soul off of yourself. Direct them to Jesus Christ. He is the healing. For all your hurting, the healing is with him, and he is glad to give you himself. Healing is what he does. Healing belongs to him. He gives healing freely. He gives healing to you.

Daily Devotion, Matthew 1:21, September 19, 2019

Daily Devotion

When one thinks about a devotion one might think: ah, this is the time I devote to God, to hear what he has to say in the Bible. But perhaps the reverse is true: a devotion is the time that God devotes to you, so that you can hear what he has to say in the Bible. One might argue this second thing, after all, God ensured the continuation of the world at least three times: the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, and the Cross. God has devoted time for people to hear and read his words.

Today’s devotion is based on Matthew 1:21:

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

These are some of the words spoken by an angel of the Lord who appeared to Joseph, the one espoused to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The name “Jesus” means “Yah saves” (The Lord saves).

God devotes time, and here the Son, to man. God the Son, we know from John chapter one, is the Word of God. He became flesh and dwelt among us. Matthew also includes the name “Immanuel” from the Old Testament, literally “With-us-God”. (The subject often follows prepositions and objects in Hebrew).

Joseph did not have to divorce Mary. She had been and was still a virgin. Her child was of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had no human father, his flesh, was solely derived from his human mother Mary. This was in fulfilment of prophecy, specifically Isaiah 7:14. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed the coming of Jesus hundreds of years prior.

He will save his people from their sins. When he was born, shepherds saw angels who proclaimed his birth and following their instructions, found the infant Jesus. God’s favor was for all. And they made known what they had found. If it were not for God’s devotion of his Son to us, we would have no salvation. But because he spent the time to come, to teach, and to forgive by his life, his death, and his resurrection; we will spend eternity with him in blessedness. God is devoted. He is devoted to you.

Please join with me in God devoting his time to us. My hope is that I will be posting a short message several times a week, and I encourage you, if you read anything, read the Bible. It will refresh you, guide you and demonstrate to you the God who is devoted to you and the world.

Meditation: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

What Is Precious To God?

Luke 15:1-10

15 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

² And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

³ And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

⁴ What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

⁵ And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

⁶ And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

⁷ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

⁸ Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

⁹ And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

¹⁰ Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Beloved in Jesus Christ the Lord, today’s Gospel lesson includes that familiar parable of the lost sheep. The focus is the shepherd, whose focus is the lost sheep. He seeks until he finds it and rejoices when he does, with his friends he rejoices and Jesus explains that there is great rejoicing among the angels when a sinner repents, when a wrongdoer turns around to trust God.

Jesus had been the focus of the words about welcoming tax collectors and wrongdoers and eating with them. Jesus does not distance himself from these claims. He embraces these claims: He did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He did not come to gather the perfect but he comes to gather those in error.

               Too many times a view of God is allowed that is lofty, high and removed from this world and the problems in it. The divine is thought to be separate and apart, with human problems for humans, and God just can’t be bothered. This view is a pagan view of the divine.

               But our God here teaches that he seeks and saves the lost. He does not send others but goes himself. He goes into the wild places, he rescues the wayward “animal”, laying it upon his shoulders, along with the filth matted to its belly and carries it back to safety, back to shelter and back to food.

               And though the world does not allow us to have such a God, such a God has us anyways, such a God comes to us in our sins and greed and crimes and soon eats and drinks with us, being glad, rejoicing, to do so.

               For the sheep, it was not where it was, it was not where it had been found; but where it was going, being carried by another, being carried by its savior.

               The world will carry gods carved from created things and set them up in supposed noble places, or, exalt the yearnings carried in a deceived heart as gods. But our God? Our God will carry us into life everlasting. He is our maker and he is our buyer. He bought us back from our destruction with his own self. He carries us. You are precious to him.

               Speaking of precious, the lesson also includes a parable of a woman looking for one of ten silver coins. Who are these absent minded individuals Jesus is comparing to God? More likely though, these coins were not any old ten silver coins or spending money  but all together a gift given to the woman on her wedding day, like a wedding ring is give these days. Ten special pieces of silver indeed, why else light a candle and sweep the house until they be found.

               Precious, you are precious to God. The lost are precious to God and that is the point of today’s Gospel lesson. God looks for you because you are precious to him. Whether you think so our not, you are precious to him. He makes a thorough search, even in the night, in darkness, even exposing himself to danger, until he finds you. It is not about what you have done, it is about what he has done, what he does, and all that he will do for you. He has borne the darkness and the wild places and enlightened that darkness, those hours of darkness, at midday even, on his cross, for three hours, laying you on his shoulders and dying your death, so you might live his life, or rather, live in and through him, who laid down his life and took it up again.

               You are precious to God, so precious that God the Father looked away from God the Son, for a time, to get you back, to earn you back, to be just and to have mercy in one event.

               Now there is another thing regarding the Shepherd and the lost sheep. It can be translated from the Greek, the shepherd went “to” his house, but often the word is translated “into” the house. That’s right, when the shepherd calls his friends together, the sheep is most likely still on his shoulders! He’s not letting that sheep go. His fuzzy burden is easy to bear, so precious it is to him!

               Now saying “to” the house cannot be faulted, but, consider what perhaps the most famous psalm, Psalm 23 says, because it does not end like it begins. It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd…” but it ends, “…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Kind of odd for a sheep one might say, but not a precious sheep, not a sheep of God.

               And, Psalm 28 (verse 9) says, “Be their shepherd and carry them forever.” That’s right; carry them forever. God has you and he’s not letting go. God is seeking the lost, and when he finds them, he will not let them go. They are precious to him. You, are precious to him.

               There is great rejoicing among the angels when a sinner repents. An angel is a messenger. And the message is that your sins are forgiven by the work of God’s Son Jesus Christ, the Lord, who found you and who cares for you, and who is carrying you forever. Amen.

God Values You

Friend in Christ,

God values you. Whether you are very old or a yet to be born tiny infant, God values you. He was born of a virgin and laid down his short life, to take you up to be with him forever, along with his life, which he took up again.

God values your neighbor likewise. He is not impressed by the successes of men, rather his eyes are on his creatures to do them good. Indeed, God is love.

He lived an obedient life. He demonstrated obedience to the words he gave to Moses. Though not subject to the law given to sinners, he subjected himself, to trade his life for their lives. He traded his life for yours.

There is no difference between people when it comes to the grace of God. God wants people to be saved. He wants people to know him.

Are you special? Indeed you are. You are God’s workmanship. Furthermore, he loves you. You are a physical creature, but you are also a being, and with all people a child of one made in the image of God, the man Adam. And, you have been redeemed, with Adam, with all people, by God himself. You were bought from slavery to sin, and, in the gospel, given freedom. So you are with all exceptional. Despite wrongdoing, God bought you with holy blood and his death.

So your life and your blood is precious to God. He makes no mistakes. He makes perfect decisions. He chose to save. He chose to save you. Peace to you in him.

Your Shepherd Carries You

Christian,

Rejoice, you are one day closer to the coming of your Lord Jesus Christ in glory. Your merciful judge is coming from whom you will obtain mercy,  justice having been fulfilled in him.

No enemy will stand in that day to oppose you with any success. Salvation for those who trust Jesus will have succeeded on that day.

As for now, your hardships, your persecutions, your sufferings, even the brushes with death you face, are opportunities for you to glorify him who is the Savior of all men. Your life in Christ Jesus the Lord is not without fruit, but rather, the words of God told to this world edifies the people of the Kingdom that will remain beyond the world.

The Kingdom, the power and the glory that remain forever are your Father’s. Your Shepherd carries you forever.

God’s word that are the Holy Scriptures blesses and strengthens you. May the occasions of your hearing them be multiplied. Peace in your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the everlasting, living God, your Creator, the One who loves you like no other.

Forward

Brother in Christ,

Jesus your Lord, the Anointed of God, the everlasting Son of God, who by his life and death purchased you for his Father’s kingdom, peace to you in him, your Savior and your rest.

By being made sin for you that you might be made the righteousness of God in him, freedom has sounded. “It is done.”, he said from the cross of his suffering. If then God has so regarded you, you being spared by him, what enemy can stand against you who is of the body of Jesus Christ the Lord the living God.

Can a vessel of mud challenge you? You are redeemed, bought, paid for. You are not your own. Even Paul declared, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” God is not uncertain about his possessions. And does not all of Creation belong to him? Creation surely does belong to the Creator.

You belong to God: you were washed in his Name. You were cleansed of your sins. God regards you with grace.

There is only forward because God forgives. It is not forward in sins, but forward, following God the Son. He restores the soul.

You are a vessel as he determines. And he is gracious in his determinations. He chose to save. He chose to make alive. He chose to have his Name proclaimed. Grace is what God does to man. He does resist the proud, and he gives grace to the humble.

Peace to you in Jesus Christ the Lord.

Beloved in Christ

Beloved in Christ,

Jesus, your Life, lives and reigns at God’s right hand, proving the undoing of death and blessing this world of men through his saving words. Rejoice! Rejoice because he will come for you!

Getting down because of sins is all to easy to do. God does not want you there. Rather, your Father desires earnestly for you to know you are blessed in his precious Son.

God’s law makes conscious of sin. But God’s gospel reveals the Son of God who fulfilled the law. He is Savior. There is no shame in rejoicing on account of him. Sorrow must give way to joy. Repentance is met with forgiveness. The shadow of death fades away when life dawns. And life has dawned.

“Be not afraid” Jesus said. Perfect love casts out fear. And Jesus loves you perfectly.

There is only life in the gospel. Rejoice! Rejoice and be glad! Be glad that God has claimed you for his own. Peace to you in Jesus Christ the Lord.

Be Bold, Be Strong

Sibling in Christ, be bold, be strong, trusting in the Lord your God who through Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, has gained victory over death, whose glorious gospel edifies and leads and gives joy. You have been redeemed by him, his holy life and his precious blood. Take heart therefore and rejoice in him always.

Jesus taught, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven. Blesse are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Has not God moved you to mourn over your sins and what pride can there be in repentance? For scripture says “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” He is worthy for boldness and he is true strength.

Psalm 46 sings of God: “our refuge and strength.” No enemy can stand before him and death is undone with his saving work. It does not matter if you affirm him or not, children for Abraham could have been raised up from stones by God. When you affirm him you reflect his words like the glowing moon on an otherwise dark night. Shine, with the light that is not of you but of God’s Son, telling all that he has done for you.

There was the daybreak of his gospel told in your life, you were washed in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, you were absolved of sins for Jesus’ sake and you ate and drank his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. He has done these things for others. His is active in these things given to many. He is leading, producing and carrying and he cares deeply, beyond measure for all people.

Scripture says God’s word accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent. Scripture says of God that he “wills all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Grace includes those who exclude themselves. Affirmation of him is given by him. And he is good to all.

So when he says in scripture to his hearers to first remove the plank from their eyes before helping one’s brother with the speck in his, we can thank him for such instruction. Humility is a precious gift from God. And, in his humiliation, the humiliation of God, one learns of his character. God loves as no other. And God wants salvation for all.

He is doing his work. His words are here and there, producing, giving, guiding and teaching. Salvation is of God. God is bold. God is strong.

John Chapter One

Indeed, the first chapter of the Book of the Gospel of John is enlightening, refreshing and emboldening. It explains salvation, declares Jesus and sets the heart right. Hearing it read aloud is a very healthy thing.

God’s continued blessings to you as you reflect his light. You are his creature and he is gracious. Peace to you in Jesus Christ the Lord.