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Justification
"But
now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and
is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now
justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood,
effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in
his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it
was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he
justifies the one who has faith in Jesus."-Romans 3: 21-26"
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Shame
Genesis
3: 7-11
"Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. They
heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the
evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the
man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?
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Salvation
"The
word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with
your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is
justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved."-Romans 10:
8-9
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Swim with a Purpose
Salmon begin their lives in the fresh
water rivers of the frigid Northwest. Not long after they’re born
they begin a long swim downstream. Their destination is the ocean.
It is here that they spend the majority of their adult lives. Then
something strange happens. Scientists don’t even understand how, but
at some point the adult salmon begins to swim back home. Though they
may have swum thousands of miles from that original river location
they head back home. That’s right! They swim upstream, against the
current of the river. You’ve probably seen nature programs on TV
that show them leaping out of the water to overcome waterfalls and
other barriers impeding their progress.
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Renewal and Salvation
Short and sweet. Paul pulls no
punches, makes no qualifications, offers no refuge. Sin=death.
Think about what he is saying here. If we think of life as an
economy, as if it were a job itself, then we can see quite quickly
that everything we do has some sort of payoff, a wage. When I
sleep at night, the wage is energy in the morning. When I
watch baseball, the wage is escape. When I worship God, the
wage is joy. You see the relationship; nothing you do is value
neutral in your life. Nothing. Paul, recognizing this,
points out a simple truth. That the wages of sin, the value of
it in our lives, is eventually death. He pulls back the
curtain on our darksides.
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All That You Have
"In
the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a
formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from
God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’;
and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated
the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he
called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first
day."-Genesis 1: 1-5
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Happy Endings!
The teacher
was extremely enthusiastic. She looked at the class of
four-year-olds and asked this question: “Does anyone know what today
is?” A little girl held up her hand and said, “Yes, today is Palm
Sunday.” The teacher said, “That’s fantastic. That’s wonderful. Now
does anyone know what next Sunday is?”
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The Piano Lesson
The story has been told
several times through the years called, “The Piano Lesson!” Wishing
to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took
the small boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the
mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to
greet her.
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Christ's Body
"Listen, I will tell
you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we
will be changed. For this perishable body must put on
imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality."
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"Why Does this Happen?"
"But
the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil."-Genesis 3: 4-5
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God's Creation
"God said, ‘See, I
have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of
all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have
them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of
the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that
has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’
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The
Good Samaritan
"Jesus replied, ‘A
man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the
hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving
him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and
when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a
Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the
other side.
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The Best Way
It is
worth talking a bit about Mary since we, as Protestants, often sell
her short because we don't want to overdo things as our Roman
Catholic brothers and sisters tend to do. Mary is an absolute
model of faithfulness. God comes to her and tells her that she
will bear the Messiah and she just goes right along with it.
This fidelity is evident to her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant
with John the Baptist, and she tells Mary so. Surely
Elizabeth's words helped Mary through her pregnancy and eased any
lingering doubts she might have had, but it is her faithfulness and
her willingness to carry out God's Will that makes her so
remarkable.
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The King
As the Gospel of John winds down there seems to be a lot of
confusion about Jesus. Just prior to this passage, Peter, Jesus'
most trusted disciple, denies knowing who he is. Then Jesus was
brought before the Roman governor of the region, Pontius Pilate, and
was further questioned. Pilate, not a Jew by the way, was unsure why
the Jews sought Jesus' execution and so he started asking Jesus
questions including the question listed above. Jesus was evasive in
his answers but apparently he said enough to give Pilate some clue
as to his true identity. Nonetheless Pilate seems confused by the
whole event.
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Commitment Issues
The organ anthem fades
as the bride and groom draw together. The pastor announces that the
groom will now declare the vows that he has written himself. He
clears his throat and, looking deeply into his bride’s eyes, begins
to speak. “I promise to love you with all my heart, sacrificing for
you whenever you are in need, standing by you at all times,
providing for your every need. I will never leave you.” The bride’s
turn soon comes. “I will accept all that you have to give me. I
anticipate that I will always have a house and car, plenty of
clothes and 3 children, all healthy. When I want, I will clean and
cook, but you will be expected to do this at all other times. And
don’t forget to put the lid down.”
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Stewardship
Thanks to greedy charlatans parading as
pastors, talking about money and the Church in our culture is a
challenge. "Why should I give to the Church," we think, "God
doesn't need money." And this is true, God doesn't need any
money, but we should give for two reasons. First, giving is a
spiritual discipline. Just as prayer, worship, study and
service all draw us closer to God, so does giving in His name.
When we give of our money we embody the words of Christ above.
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Giving Credit
In case you have not forgotten, this is
the Psalm Jesus quotes as he writhes in agony on the cross. He
speaks only verse 1, "My God, My God, why have your forsaken me?"
But his intent is to call all of his followers to the Psalm in its
entirety. And the verse above is how that Psalm concludes. In
quoting Psalm 22 Jesus is quickly referencing the most complete
Psalm in its exploration of the human condition as it relates to
faith in God. All of us who are believers swing wildly from, "Where
are you God?" to "You are pretty awesome God!"
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Present Yourself Back to God
Ken
Read in his book Created to Worship tells us: “Another aspect of
worship is to actively respond to His nature and His deeds, by
presenting ourselves back to God. Romans 12 urges us, after taking a
good, long look at the mercies of God and the forgiveness that He
has given us, to turn the gift around and give ourselves back to Him
as living sacrifices, which is our spiritual act of worship.
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Rough Seas
The most powerful enemy of the Christian
is fear. Fear is the one thing which can most easily undermine our
faith and overwhelm our desire to serve and follow Jesus. We may
have a loved one who is behaving like a boor, but we won't confront
him. Why? Because we are afraid he will be angry at us. We may see
payday loan shops littering our town and functionally stealing from
our neighbors, but we won't challenge them.
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