Love in Truth and Actions

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Live Justly in the Reign of God
Hear and Do the Word

1 John 3:14-20

The Message

^14-15 The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.
^16-17 This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

When We Practice Real Love

^18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

For Reflection

The standard for a transformed life in the Way is the expression of love.  No love, not fully Christian.  No compassion, not fully Christian.  No willingness to seek distributive justice, not fully Christian. All Christians from time to time will fall from the way.  It is our human condition.  When we do, however, we should acknowledge our errant ways, confess our shortcomings and learn from them. 

Pray

for a life transformed by ultimate love.  Pray that you will find strength in your failures.   Pray that you will grow into grace.

Denying God by Actions

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Live Justly in the Reign of God
Hear and Do the Word

Titus 1:10-16

The Message

^10-16 For there are a lot of rebels out there, full of loose, confusing, and deceiving talk. Those who were brought up religious and ought to know better are the worst. They’ve got to be shut up. They’re disrupting entire families with their teaching, and all for the sake of a fast buck. One of their own prophets said it best:

The Cretans are liars from the womb,
    barking dogs, lazy bellies.

He certainly spoke the truth. Get on them right away. Stop that diseased talk of Jewish make-believe and made-up rules so they can recover a robust faith. Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re real creeps, disobedient good-for-nothings.

For Reflection

Well, that's strong language.  Paul is speaking about early Jewish Christians who held strongly to the Jewish customs and argued that to be part of the new movement one had to become Jewish and obey Jewish law, as they interpreted it.  

Such notions, then as now, are off-putting.  When Christians insist upon holding others to narrowly focused views that exclude the compassionate justice that characterizes a life transformed by accepting the gospel, their actions are not consistent with Christ's teaching.  Because of  hypocrisy perceived by observing the actions of many Christians, God fearing spiritual people are rejecting religious affiliation.  The sin of hypocrisy not only separates the hypocrite from God, but also, separates God fearing people from the strength and growth in grace offered by communion with a community of God fearing righteous people. 

Pray

that you action will scream the righteousness of your faith.  Pray that your compassion and sense of justice will cut through the chaos of hypocritical Christian pretenders and show the truth in a life transformed by following the Way.

Neither Add nor Take Away Anything

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Live Justly in the Reign of God
Hear and Do the Word

Deuteronomy 4:1-10

The Message

4 ^1-2 Now listen, Israel, listen carefully to the rules and regulations that I am teaching you to follow so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, is giving to you. Don’t add a word to what I command you, and don’t remove a word from it. Keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you.

^3-4 You saw with your own eyes what God did at Baal Peor, how God destroyed from among you every man who joined in the Baal Peor orgies. But you, the ones who held tight to God, your God, are alive and well, every one of you, today.
^5-6 Pay attention: I’m teaching you the rules and regulations that God commanded me, so that you may live by them in the land you are entering to take up ownership. Keep them. Practice them. You’ll become wise and understanding. When people hear and see what’s going on, they’ll say, “What a great nation! So wise, so understanding! We’ve never seen anything like it.”
^7-8 Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation that I’m setting before you today?
⁹ Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don’t forget anything of what you’ve seen. Don’t let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you’ve seen and heard to your children and grandchildren.
¹⁰ That day when you stood before God, your God, at Horeb, God said to me, “Assemble the people in my presence to listen to my words so that they will learn to fear me in holy fear for as long as they live on the land, and then they will teach these same words to their children.”

For Reflection

Some maintain that because Christ died for us that the old commandments have been replaced and no longer are valid.  Because we are saved by the unearned grace of God we can do anything we please with impunity.  Not so!  Christ did not end the old rules.  Rather, Christ extended the rules and gave us wisdom to apply them in love with compassion.  In doing so, Christ places us in charge.  In order to fill that charge well, we are obliged to learn from Jesus life and teaching, scripture, and each other to live lives justly as God has intended. 

Pray

for the wisdom to follow Gods rule compassionately seeking justice in all that you do.

The Voice of the Living God

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Live Justly in the Reign of God
Hear and Do the Word

Deuteronomy 5:22-27

The Message

²² These are the words that God spoke to the whole congregation at the mountain. He spoke in a tremendous voice from the fire and cloud and dark mist. And that was it. No more words. Then he wrote them on two slabs of stone and gave them to me.

^23-24 As it turned out, when you heard the Voice out of that dark cloud and saw the mountain on fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders, and said,
^24-26 “Our God has revealed to us his glory and greatness. We’ve heard him speak from the fire today! We’ve seen that God can speak to humans and they can still live. But why risk it further? This huge fire will devour us if we stay around any longer. If we hear God’s voice anymore, we’ll die for sure. Has anyone ever known of anyone who has heard the Voice of God the way we have and lived to tell the story?
²⁷ “From now on, you go and listen to what God, our God, says and then tell us what God tells you. We’ll listen and we’ll do it.”

For Reflection

Sometimes it is difficult to listen to what God says.  Few of us have had God moments when we knew God was talking directly to us.  But, most of us have had the feeling that God was guiding our lives at one time or another.  For me, those times when even after I reject a course of action, the same rejected opportunity refuses to go away, I know God is trying to tell me something.  Sometimes it is only in retrospect that I see the hand of God at work.  Sometimes I see an action with such clarity that I cannot help but to follow it.   God presents to us in a variety of ways.  All we have to is be still and listen.  Whether or not we ever have a full glimpse of it, God knows the end game and we trust with confidence in God's goodness. 

Pray

that you will trust God to show you the way.  Pray that you will have courage to follow God's path opened to you.  Even if the path is difficult for you, pray that you will follow in hope that is fostered by your faith in God.

A Lamp to Lighten My Darkness

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Live Justly in the Reign of God
Hear and Do the Word

2 Samuel 22:26-31

The Message

^26-28 You stick by people who stick with you,
    you’re straight with people who’re straight with you,
You’re good to good people,
    you shrewdly work around the bad ones.
You take the side of the down-and-out,
    but the stuck-up you take down a peg.

^29-31 Suddenly, God, your light floods my path,
    God drives out the darkness.
I smash the bands of marauders,
    I vault the high fences.
What a God! His road
    stretches straight and smooth.
Every God-direction is road-tested.
    Everyone who runs toward him
Makes it.

For Reflection

Know the Way! Trust the Way!  Walk the Way! 

Pray

that you will obey the will of God as shown in the Life of Christ!  Pray that your life will be guided by the truths of compassion and justice.  Pray that you will have the shrewdness to work around obstacles so that your action is as God-driven as your intent.

Master of the Heart

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches Compassion for the Poor

Deuteronomy

Luke 16:10-18

The Message

God Sees Behind Appearances

^10-13 Jesus went on to make these comments:

If you’re honest in small things,
    you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things,
    you’ll be a crook in big things.
If you’re not honest in small jobs,
    who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
    He’ll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
    You can’t serve both God and the Bank.

^14-18 When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: “You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance.

What society sees and calls monumental,
    God sees through and calls monstrous.
God’s Law and the Prophets climaxed in John;
Now it’s all kingdom of God—the glad news
    and compelling invitation to every man and woman.
The sky will disintegrate and the earth dissolve
    before a single letter of God’s Law wears out.
Using the legalities of divorce
    as a cover for lust is adultery;
Using the legalities of marriage
    as a cover for lust is adultery.

15:7-11

For Reflection

The risk of following your heart transformed by the Grace of God is that you will be accused by the common folk as being hopelessly out of touch.  Is that so much to give up? 

Pray

that you will revel in the accusation that you are hopelessly out of touch in service to God.   Pray for the courage to face your accusers in your quest to answer God's invitation to struggle for distributive justice here and now.

Shrewdness and the Future

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches Compassion for the Poor

Luke 16:1-9

The Message

The Story of the Crooked Manager

16 ^1-2 Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. So he called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? You’re fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.’

^3-4 “The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do? I’ve lost my job as manager. I’m not strong enough for a laboring job, and I’m too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I’ve got a plan. Here’s what I’ll do . . . then when I’m turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.’
⁵ “Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
⁶ “He replied, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’
“The manager said, ‘Here, take your bill, sit down here—quick now—write fifty.’
⁷ “To the next he said, ‘And you, what do you owe?’
“He answered, ‘A hundred sacks of wheat.’
“He said, ‘Take your bill, write in eighty.’
^8-9 “Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”

For Reflection

This has got to be one of the most difficult stories to interpret.  It leaves most readers scratching their heads.  Me too!

Could this be sarcasm?

Those driven by accumulation of things, including wealth, are quite resourceful in satisfying their obsession.  We need to be as resourceful in our righteousness.  Not in wrong doing but in right doing for the expansion of justice in our world.  We need to be as obsessive about righteousness as some are obsessive with self-gratification.

It is not enough to sit back complacently, bathing in God's grace and ignoring what is going on around you.    Our personal good behavior alone is insufficient to manage resources in God's kingdom.  God wants us to live risky lives in God's service. 

Pray

that you will throw off your cloak of invisibility and clothe yourself in bright colors and draw attention to the risky business of God's work for compassion and justice.  Thank God for those who take risks for God's kingdom.

I Will Give to the Poor

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches Compassion for the Poor

Luke 19:1-10

New Revised Standard Version

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ² A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷ All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” ⁸ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” ⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

For Reflection

Zacchaeus was so moved by the compassionate grace of Christ that Zaccaeus's greed was transformed into compassionate and just action.  This is what God wants for us. 

Pray

that you will respond to the grace of God with thanksgiving and praise.  Pray for your transformation to take root in performing as a steward of God's kingdom.

False Concern for the Poor

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches Compassion for the Poor

John 12:1-8

The Message

Anointing His Feet

12 ^1-3 Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.

^4-6 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.
^7-8 Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.”

For Reflection

There will always be the poor.  There will always be pretenders to the Way.  In this case, Judas represents all of those who would use reference to a false compassion for the poor to further one's own agenda.  How many times have the poor been subject to a false promise, gratuitous conditional help, or the object of ridicule and pity when it is convenient to use them?  It is possible that so many of us need to keep the poor poor so that we, in contrast, can maintain a false sense of righteousness?  Are there unintended consequences of programs for the poor?  Yes, but why deny the poor because we are too lazy or lack the courage to tackle the hard questions?

Pray

Pray for compassion strong enough for you to respond to those in need.  Pray for courage to act on your sense of compassion.  Pray for the governments of the world to act compassionately to provide economic and social justice for all.

An Open Hand to the Poor

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches Compassion for the Poor

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

The Message

^7-9 When you happen on someone who’s in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don’t look the other way pretending you don’t see him. Don’t keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don’t count the cost. Don’t listen to that selfish voice saying, “It’s almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,” and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He’ll call God’s attention to you and your blatant sin.
^10-11 Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.

For Reflection

Why the concern for the poor?  The poor are always with us.  Perhaps one answer is hidden within the first line, "...this land that God, your God, is giving you."  We are the stewards of God's kingdom.  Those in need are as much a part of God's kingdom as are we.  As good stewards we are are to give freely and spontaneously with out regard to common expectations.  To ignore our obligation separates us from God and in doing so we sin.  In God's kingdom no one is to be ignored. 

Pray

that you will have the compassion to tend wisely to God's universe; as a shepherd attends sheep, as a gardener attends his garden, as a parent attends her child.

God Shows No Partiality

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches about Relationships

Romans 2:1-11

The Message

God Is Kind, but Not Soft

2 ^1-2 Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.

^3-4 You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.
^5-8 You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!
^9-11 If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

For Reflection

To what extent have we trivialized ourselves into silliness and confusion?  It is hard to call war silly.  It is difficult to see our collective action as silly when so much seems to ride on our decisions.  And yet when we are so arrogant that  we believe that only we can solve our problems confusion ensues. 

We all have splinters.  One would think we would learn that our ways are not the only ways or even effective ways.  When we ignore the guiding hand of God, we are truly master craftsmen of our own demise. 

Pray

Pray that you will place your life in God's hands.  Pray for the trust and courage to risk a God-centered life.

God Lifts the Poor and Needy

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches about Relationships

Psalm 113

The Message

113 ^1-3 Hallelujah!
You who serve God, praise God!
    Just to speak his name is praise!
Just to remember God is a blessing—
    now and tomorrow and always.
From east to west, from dawn to dusk,
    keep lifting all your praises to God!

^4-9 God is higher than anything and anyone,
    outshining everything you can see in the skies.
Who can compare with God, our God,
    so majestically enthroned,
Surveying his magnificent
    heavens and earth?
He picks up the poor from out of the dirt,
    rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash,
Seats them among the honored guests,
    a place of honor among the brightest and best.
He gives childless couples a family,
    gives them joy as the parents of children.
Hallelujah!

For Reflection

How is it that the wealthy can be poor, the well; sick, the high placed; lowly, the powerful; impotent, the hopeful; hopeless?  What is the essence of poverty, illness, impotence, hopelessness and wretchedness?

The most important questions in life are theological.  Not religion, but rather, the knowledge of God-centered theology is the residing place for answers which at first glance seem to be unknowable and for which there is presumed  little empirical evidence.  It is the residing place of a mystery so powerful that war is nullified, economic suffering is wiped away and justice abounds.  It is the study of wisdom and courage and allegiance  to a presence inherent in the core of our humanity; the essence of compassion. 

Pray

That you will displace your selfishness with selflessness.  Pray that you will judge you action by the standard of compassion exemplified in Jesus Christ.  Pray that you will be obedient to the will of God.

God Gathers the Outcasts

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches about Relationships

Psalm 147:1-11

The Message

147 Hallelujah!
It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God;
    praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.

^2-6 God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,
    who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles.
He heals the heartbroken
    and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
    and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
    we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again
    and pushes the wicked into the ditch.

^7-11 Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn,
    play music on your instruments to God,
Who fills the sky with clouds,
    preparing rain for the earth,
Then turning the mountains green with grass,
    feeding both cattle and crows.
He’s not impressed with horsepower;
    the size of our muscles means little to him.
Those who fear God get God’s attention;
    they can depend on his strength.

For Reflection

How often do you sing praises to God?  There is always time to do so -- in the car, after reading a heart-rendering story of survival, enjoying a calm sunset after a trying day, anytime you feel moved to recognize the healing power of God.  Worship begins with recognizing the power of the creator.   Worship is endorsed by God's love and compassion.  Worship is activated in the fear and pleasure of God's presence.  Matthew Henry comments, "Our fear must save our hope from swelling into presumption, and our hope must save our fear from sinking into despair; thus must we take our work before us." 

Pray

that you will awed by the majesty and power of God.  Pray that you will balance surprise and fear with wonder and acceptance of the mystery of God's grace.  Pray that your only fear is that you will falter in obedience to God.  Praise God for his majesty and power.  Thank God for the desire and skill  to serve Him.

God Gives Grace to the Humble

Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches about Relationships

1 Peter 5:1-7

The Message

He’ll Promote You at the Right Time

5 ^1-3 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.

^4-5 When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.

^6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

For Reflection

Remember Christ's humility.  Christ came as a healer. Christ performed as a compassionate servant to all who came to him.  Gather, in Jesus name.  Make obedience your vocation.  Touch each other with the hand of God's grace. Give and expect nothing in return. 

Pray

that you will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only.

Humble Yourself before the Lord

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches about Relationships

James 4:7-12

The Message

^7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

^11-12 Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

For Reflection

It is not enough to know about God.  It is not enough to profess your Christianity,  It is not enough to join a community of the faithful.  It is not enough to praise God and ask for forgiveness.  It is not enough to promise repentance.  God deserves action.  When you do more than pretend and you practice the way it is almost enough. 

 Pray

that you will work to fulfill the promise you made to God.  Pray for the stamina to follow your faith into action.

Blessings and Woes

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
How to Live as God's People

Luke 6:20-26

The Message

You’re Blessed

^17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

^22-23 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.

Give Away Your Life

²⁴ But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
    What you have is all you’ll ever get.

²⁵ And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
    Your self will not satisfy you for long.
And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
    There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

²⁶ “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

For Reflection

The cry of the revelers in the 1960's  was "drop out and tune in."  It was an age of discovering self and the importance of self was paramount.  In many ways we are still influenced by the elevated importance of the secular individual.  So much so that many have commented that the common good suffers from too much pressure to protect individual rights.

Those who dropped out to find themselves rarely did so.  The truth of the matter is that one can only find him self by losing himself in something superordinate.  Those who are ravenously hungry for a purpose in life were as blessed then as they are now.  The have the motive to seek their spiritual value.  Those who find purpose in life find it in being the person God has intended them to be. 

Pray

that you will follow the path God intends for you.  Pray to have patience and perseverance as you engage the obstacles that block the achievement of  your God fulfilling self.

Forgiveness and Mercy

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
How to Live as God's People

Matthew 18:21-35

The Message

A Story About Forgiveness

²¹ At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”

²² Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
^23-25 “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
^26-27 “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
²⁸ “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’
^29-31 “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
^32-35 “The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”

For Reflection

Signified by the phrase, "turn the other cheek," forgiveness and mercy have been institutionalize in Christianity.  Forgiveness and mercy are perhaps the first thing one thinks about when asked to characterize Christianity.  Yes, forgiveness is a good thing as is, I suppose, being merciful.  But, is that all Christianity is about?  Who asks for forgiveness and mercy?  Mostly, those who petition persons of higher power.  Does being a Christian elevate ones status to such an extent that one can choose to grant favors?

Look deeper into that which is the intent of Christ's answer.  Isn't  the motive for granting mercy and forgiveness compassion?  Perhaps the King granted the servant's wish, but the servant did not learn compassion.  God's forgiveness and mercy is motivated by God's overriding compassion for us.  It is the compassion we seek to emulate. 

Pray

That you will seed to be a person motivated by compassion.  Pray that compassion will drive righteous action.  Pray that the compassion reflected in Jesus Christ will humble you.

Living as God's Servants

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
How to Live as God's People

1 Peter 2:11-17

The Message

^11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

^13-17 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.

For Reflection

A child screams, "MINE!" A child refuses to share.  A child cries when a toy is taken from him by another child.  To the first child, mother says, "No, we must share!"   To the second child she says, "No, not yours --  now give it back,"  What does the child learn about ownership?

There may be an entrenched confusion in our culture about the role of ownership but, in God's Kingdom there is no confusion.  God owns it all and we are stewards of all that is owned by God.  As trustees, our most preeminent responsibility is to be stewards of humanity.

Pray

that you will treat everyone you meet with dignity.  Pray that you will love your spiritual family.  Pray that you will revere God.  Pray that you will respect common authority.  Pray that you will find ways to displace human frailty with the humble righteousness that is carried in your obedience to God.

Enslaved to God

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
How to Live as God's People

Romans 6:16-23

The Message

What Is True Freedom?

^15-18 So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

¹⁹ I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?
^20-21 As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
^22-23 But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

For Reflection

The Bible is full of paradoxes.  Not the least is this one--that you must loose your freedom to gain it in God.  What kind of freedom is this that inhibits all but Godly action?

It is the freedom to choose.  It is the freedom from the tyranny of our times.  It is the freedom to live the life God intended for you and I.  It is the freedom to err and not fear reprisal.  It is the freedom anchored in the grace of God.  It is the freedom that comes with voluntary enslavement to God. 

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving to God who provides perfect freedom to act as we were created to act, in service to God and to each other.  Pray for all those who are freed to be righteous.  Pray for those who mistake anarchy for freedom, who are enslaved to common culture, who do not yet understand the value of the freedom that comes from accepting God's call for reconciliation.

The Righteous and the Upright

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
How to Live as God's People

Proverbs 11:3-11

The Message

³ The integrity of the honest keeps them on track;
    the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin.

⁴ A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart,
    but a principled life can stand up to the worst.

⁵ Moral character makes for smooth traveling;
    an evil life is a hard life.

⁶ Good character is the best insurance;
    crooks get trapped in their sinful lust.

⁷ When the wicked die, that’s it—
    the story’s over, end of hope.

⁸ A good person is saved from much trouble;
    a bad person runs straight into it.

⁹ The loose tongue of the godless spreads destruction;
    the common sense of the godly preserves them.

¹⁰ When it goes well for good people, the whole town cheers;
    when it goes badly for bad people, the town celebrates.

¹¹ When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes;
    evil talk turns it into a ghost town in no time.

For Reflection

Think on these terms: integrity, principled, moral, good person, godly common sense.  Who do you picture in your mind's eye?  What does this person look like?  Where does he or she live? What are this person's favorite books, films, musicians, artists?  Is this person humble?  Is this person compassionate?  Does this person applaud and seek justice?  Can you find this person in a mirror? 

Pray

that you find deeply embedded in you the righteous, upright person God wants you to be.  Pray for the wisdom to follow the way as exemplified in the Christ event.

A Holy Day

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
Honoring the Sabbath

Jeremiah 17:19-27

The Message

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

^19-20 God’s Message to me: “Go stand in the People’s Gate, the one used by Judah’s kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘Listen, you kings of Judah, listen to God’s Message—and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!

^21-23 “‘This is God’s Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there. Don’t use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.
^24-26 “‘But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual. Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people. People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They’ll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings—animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks—into the Sanctuary of God.
²⁷ “‘But if you won’t listen to me, won’t keep the Sabbath holy, won’t quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I’ll burn the gates down. In fact, I’ll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!’”

For Reflection

Plainly, the Sabbath is not to be used as just another day.  The Sabbath should punctuate the week.  It should provide a respite from the commonplace.  Sabbath is not a day of inconvenient restrictions but rather a day of joy, festive meals and a time to celebrate love.  The Sabbath is a timeout.  What time do you set aside as your Sabbath? 

Pray

that you will take time out of time for the recreation of your soul.  Pray for the tenacity to guard your Sabbath against the infiltration of your common life.

A Holy Convocation

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
Honoring the Sabbath

Leviticus 23:1-8

The Message

The Feasts

23 ^1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of God which you are to decree as sacred assemblies.

³ “Work six days. The seventh day is a Sabbath, a day of total and complete rest, a sacred assembly. Don’t do any work. Wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to God.
⁴ “These are the appointed feasts of God, the sacred assemblies which you are to announce at the times set for them:

⁵ “God’s Passover, beginning at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month.

^6-8 “God’s Feast of Unraised Bread, on the fifteenth day of this same month. You are to eat unraised bread for seven days. Hold a sacred assembly on the first day; don’t do any regular work. Offer Fire-Gifts to God for seven days. On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly; don’t do any regular work.”

For Reflection

I used to think that rituals were old fashioned and a waste of time.  A faith based upon ritual, it seemed to me, was more habit than substantive.  I used to reject such foolish practice. 

Then I got older!  I realized that I had developed rituals of my own that anchored my life. Not all of those rituals were sacred.  I discovered that I really missed the old religious rituals. 

What rituals do you perform that anchor your life? 

Pray

that you spend time engaging in rituals that anchor your faith. 

A Day of Rememberance

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
Honoring the Sabbath

Deuteronomy 5:11-15

The Message

¹¹ No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.

^12-15 No working on the Sabbath; keep it holy just as God, your God, commanded you. Work six days, doing everything you have to do, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you. Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That’s why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.

For Reflection

Use the name of God wisely.  Invoke God's power for good.  On the Sabbath rest, and ask nothing of others on the Sabbath.  It is just that they should be offered rest and an opportunity to remember God's grace. 

Pray

remembering what God has done with and through you.  Thank God for the opportunity to be obedient servants to God's call.  Remember the promise made to Abraham and revel God's grace and freedom to support the pursuit of what is righteous.