An Exemplary Faith

A Living Faith
What is Faith?
Faith Calls for Perseverance

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

The Message

Convictions of Steel

 ^2-5Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you're in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father. It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions. ^5-6You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble.
 ^7-10Do you know that all over the provinces of both Macedonia and Achaia believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master's Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don't even have to say anything anymore—you're the message! People come up and tell us how you received us with open arms, how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.

For Reflection

The Thessalonians were known to Paul by their hospitality.  Their hospitality was a result of their faith.  Through faith they demonstrated the visible gift of community.  Have you ever had the experience of visiting a friend after being away for a long time and realized that the relationship was as if you saw them only yesterday?

I think we tend to underestimate the value of fellowship.  We sometimes tend to fill all time and space that we share with our need for delivering messages.  In doing so, do we crowd out the time for the Holy Spirit ?

The Spirit moves in the fellowship of others.  The message, as Paul points out, is not just words. In fellowship, we are the message.

Pray

for the wisdom to experience the joy of each other.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the fellowship of others; to cement the ties of our FAITH.  Pray that all find joy in the midst of their troubles.

An Enduring Faith

A Living Faith
What is Faith?
Faith Calls for Perseverance

Romans 5:1-5

The Message

Developing Patience

 ^1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. ^3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

For Reflection

"Passionate patience,"  how alliterative, how difficult!  Patience is difficult for one waiting for a soldier to return from a dangerous deployment.  Patience is difficult for one who waits for a potential life threatening diagnosis.  Patience is difficult when one waits for a child to return to faithful roots.  Patience is always difficult. 

Stumbling through the fumes of our modern times takes patience.   It is hard to wear the armor of faith.  Even though we stand within the sweet bubble of God's grace, our confidence, commitment and trust is challenged.  Wait. Those who do will never be shortchanged.

Pray

for patience.  Pray that you will be able to endure the pressures for self-reliance and exchange the impossible for the miracle of reliance on God.  Pray to keep your FAITH.

An Examined Faith

A Living Faith
What is Faith?
Faith Calls for Perseverance

2 Corinthians 13:5-10

The Message

 ^5-9Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won't show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we'd rather the test showed our failure than yours. We're rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn't possibly do otherwise.
   We don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.
 ¹⁰I'm writing this to you now so that when I come I won't have to say another word on the subject. The authority the Master gave me is for putting people together, not taking them apart. I want to get on with it, and not have to spend time on reprimands.

For Reflection

What (for you) constitutes a test of faith?

For me, someone with whom I disagree and who is adamant about taking disagreeable action tests my faith.  I fight the tendency to strike in my defense of such untoward action.  Holding my tongue seems almost impossible. Avoiding a death spiral of argument seems inevitable.  I pray for patience.  I wait, boiling inside, but holding by the smallest thread, an aura of calm.

Sometimes, the cooling off period results in my realization that the disagreement is not as important as I once thought after all.  Sometimes, I find the right question that will lead to a negotiated satisfactory settlement.  Sometimes, I just have to suck it up and realize that, for now, the cause is lost.

If I fail, relationships often suffer. and the loser loses more than the argument.  If my winning drives a brother or sister from the fold or does not endear him or her to the cross, what good is being right?

Pray

that in all that you do seek ways to express your confidence in, commitment to, and trust in the Lord that He will make all things right.

A Justifying Faiith

A Living Faith
What is Faith?
Faith Calls for Perseverance

Galatians 2:15-21

The Message

 ^15-16We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.
 ^17-18Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
 ^19-21What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
   Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

For Reflection

What is the difference between "the letter of the law" and "the spirit of the law?"  Is seems that the letter of the law refers to the literal interpretation of rules while the spirit of the law refers to its intent.  What happens when the "letter" and the "spirit" are in conflict?  As Christians, we are confronted with this question daily.  Paul suggests that obeying the letter of the law ensures that others see us as righteous, but, the appearance of righteousness is not always an indication of one's righteousness.  Being righteous is not about rule keeping, but rather, keeping obedience to God which, at times, may not be interpreted by "rule keepers" as righteous.  God calls us to be obedient to the spirit of the law.  He calls us to follow His lead with confidence and trust in His promise with out regard for what others may view as righteous.  Perhaps, in a Christian context, this is what is meant by the phrase, "Keep the faith, baby. Keep the Faith."

Pray

that you will keep the Faith.  Pray that you will have the courage necessary for righteous living.  Pray that you will live a life in confidence and trust in the promise of God.

A Great Faith

A Living Faith
What is Faith?
Faith Calls for Perseverance

Matthew 8:5-13

The Message

 ^5-6As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, "Master, my servant is sick. He can't walk. He's in terrible pain."
 ⁷Jesus said, "I'll come and heal him."
 ^8-9"Oh, no," said the captain. "I don't want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I'm a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
 ^10-12Taken aback, Jesus said, "I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God's kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up 'in the faith' but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened."
 ¹³Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, "Go. What you believed could happen has happened." At that moment his servant became well.

For Reflection

More than a noun that indicates a set of beliefs, faith is the window to our confidence, conviction and trust.  Our faith is both reflected in our action and reinforced by it. Not only does our faith guide our action, our action influences our faith.  In a real sense what we do cements or undermines our confidence, conviction and trust in God.  The captain's faith in the power, grace and identity of Jesus Christ motivated his expression of confidence in Christ.  This Roman, not of the chosen people, had undeniable faith built on obedience and  firmly rooted to his action.  The congruence of his faith and action will ensure that his confidence, conviction and trust in Christ will not decline.  In a very real sense, for good or for ill, we all become what we do.  What are you doing that keeps you closely aligned with God?

Pray

that your actions lead you to a greater strength in your confidence, conviction and trust in God.  Pray that your action will reflect your obedience to God's will for your life.  Pray for others whose lives are inconsistent with God's will and are caught in downward spiracles of ill-conceived action and spiritual decline.

I Am with You Always

God's Creative Word
God Calls For Justice:  Justice Enacted
God Promised to Be With Us

Matthew 28:16-20

The Message

 ^16-17Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
 ^18-20Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

For Reflection

Jesus is the human manifestation of God.  When he says "I will be with you," be assured that God is with you as you fulfill your charge as a disciple of  Christ.

Pray

that you will work for God's justice.  Pray that God's covenant will frame your judgment and hope.  Pray for the restoration of God's desire for a right and just balance of power in this world.  Pray for the realization of God's promise of a covenant of peace.  Pray for the desolate, ashamed and abandoned.  Pray that all will know that the Lord is present in this world.  Pray that all will find God's shalom.  Pray that you will entrust your life to God's promise.

I Am with You

God's Creative Word
God Calls For Justice:  Justice Enacted
God Promised to Be With Us

Haggai 1:7-14

The Message

 ⁷That's why God-of-the-Angel-Armies said:
   "Take a good, hard look at your life.
   Think it over."
 ^8-9Then God said:
   "Here's what I want you to do:
   Climb into the hills and cut some timber.
Bring it down and rebuild the Temple.
   Do it just for me. Honor me.
You've had great ambitions for yourselves,
   but nothing has come of it.
The little you have brought to my Temple
   I've blown away—there was nothing to it.
 ^9-11"And why?" (This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, remember.) "Because while you've run around, caught up with taking care of your own houses, my Home is in ruins. That's why. Because of your stinginess. And so I've given you a dry summer and a skimpy crop. I've matched your tight-fisted stinginess by decreeing a season of drought, drying up fields and hills, withering gardens and orchards, stunting vegetables and fruit. Nothing—not man or woman, not animal or crop—is going to thrive."
 ¹²Then the governor, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, and all the people with them listened, really listened, to the voice of their God. When God sent the prophet Haggai to them, they paid attention to him. In listening to Haggai, they honored God.
 ¹³Then Haggai, God's messenger, preached God's Message to the people: "I am with you!" God's Word.
 ^14-15This is how God got Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people moving— got them working on the Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. This happened on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

For Reflection

Do you set your most important ambitions on yourself?  Even if your self-centered ambitions have been realized, what of it?  Of human ambition, Carl Sandborg writes in Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind: 

"It has happened before.  
Strong men put up a city and got  
  a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women  
  to warble: We are the greatest city,  
    the greatest nation,  
    nothing like us ever was.  
   
And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened  
and paid the singers well  
and felt good about it all,  
  there were rats and lizards who listened  
  … and the only listeners left now
  … are … the rats … and the lizards."

Mankind's ambition is selfish and results in dust, to be blown away in the slightest wind. God's ambition results in substance. Is your ambition aligned with God's ambition? 

"And the wind shifts and the dust on a door sill shifts and even the writing of the rat footprints tells us nothing, nothing at all about the greatest city, the greatest nation where the strong men listened and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was."

Pray

that you are not carried away into selfish ambitions.  Pray that you will be aligned with God's intent for your life.  Pray that the consequence  of your life is not shifting dust.