Lectionary for 2/28/09

Today's readings are Genesis 3.1-24 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+3.1-24 ) and Mark 2.1-17 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+2.1-17 ).

Jesus sinners doth receive;

Oh, may all this saying ponder

Who in sin's delusions live

And from God and heaven wander!

Here is hope for all who grieve - Jesus sinners doth receive.

We deserve but grief and shame, Yet His words, rich grace revealing,

Pardon, peace, and life proclaim.

Here their ills have perfect healing

Who with humble hearts believe - Jesus sinners doth receive.

Sheep that from the fold did stray

No true shepherd e'er forsaketh;

Weary souls that lost their way

Christ, the Shepherd, gently taketh

In His arms that they may live - Jesus sinners doth receive.

Come, ye sinners, one and all,

Come, accept His invitation;

Come, obey His gracious call,

Come and take His free salvation!

Firmly in these words believe: Jesus sinners doth receive.

I, a sinner, come to Thee

With a penitent confession;

Savior, mercy show to me

Grant for all my sins remission.

Let these words my soul relieve: Jesus sinners doth receive.

Oh, how blest it is to know:

Were as scarlet my transgression,

It shall be as white as snow

By Thy blood and bitter Passion;

For these words I now believe: Jesus sinners doth receive.

Now my conscience is at peace,

From the Law I stand acquitted:

Christ hath purchased my release

And my every sin remitted.

Naught remains my soul to grieve - Jesus sinners doth receive.

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Also I have been forgiven;

And when I this earth must leave,

I shall find an open heaven.

Dying, still to Him I cleave - Jesus sinners doth receive.

This is the theme of today's reading.  See how our Lord seeks out the man and woman in the garden.  See how he proclaims the curse and ultimate destruction of the serpent.  See how he curses the earth and observes that the man and woman will live and toil on this earth but they will not die for their sin - he has provided salvation.  See how those who flock to Jesus receive what they need, rather than merely what they ask for.  See how Jesus gathers people to himself, to serve him - even those who are outcasts in any good society.  See how Jesus knows that it is the sick, those like us, who need a physician, not the healthy.

Jesus Sinners Will Receive - text by Erdmann Neumeister 1671-1756, tr. The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941.

Lectionary for 2/27/09

Today's readings are Genesis 2.4-25 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Genesis+2.4-25 ) and Mark 1.29-45 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+1.29-45 ).

It isn't uncommon to hear people talk about "making Jesus your personal savior."  Today's readings help us to gain some valuable insight about this kind of statement.  What kind of a savior is Jesus?  How is his care shown to people?  We see in Genesis that the Lord is deeply and personally involved in his creation.  He visits it in specific places, causing things to happen.  He provides what all creation needs without the involvement of the man who has not been made yet.  We see in Mark that Jesus goes to various places.  He visits the home of Peter.  He goes to various towns.  He goes to desolate places.  Wherever he goes those who are in need of healing come to him.  So Jesus is visiting people with his healing love, both those people to whom he has gone and those people who come to him.  Jesus is personally deeply involved in the care of his creation.  He is personally involved in redeeming the world to God.  So what's questionable about the idea of making Jesus your personal savior?  In the Bible we don't see anyone making Jesus do anything.  True, he is taken and crucified, but that is part of the overall redemptive plan.  We cannot presume to interfere in that.  But the Jesus we see in the Bible is the Jesus who chooses from his own desire where to go, whom to visit, what people to bless and heal.  It is not our decision that matters, it is the decision of Jesus.  We don't make Jesus anything.

Let's try a better way to view this whole business of salvation.  Jesus has chosen to come and redeem the world.  He has died for the sin of the world, including the sin of Adam which is inherent in all of us, including the sin which you and I have committed in the past, including the sin which you and I will commit in the future.  In Christ, God has redeemed the world.  Jesus has become personally involved, and has made himself our personal savior.  So what do we do about that?  He has already come to us.  He has visited us.  He has taken our sins upon himself before we were able to choose to sin.  Does it matter then what we do?  Yes and no.  We can rest in the truth that salvation has come.  We can believe on Christ.  Looking at it from the view of a computer operator, let's just say that is the default mode.  Jesus has died for my sin.  That's the way things are set.  That's the default.  What must I do to be saved?  Believe on the Lord.  Don't change the default mode.  Jesus has already made himself my personal savior.  Jesus has already made himself your personal savior.  What is our tendency though?  Our tendency, as people who were born in sin, who live in a sinful world, who still have the sinful nature clinging to us, is to change the default, to disbelieve, to try to earn our salvation through our works, to reject the salvation Christ has purchased.  And our Lord, who has provided the way of salvation, lets us reject him.  He lets us disbelieve.  He lets us change the default setting so we are pointed to destruction.  That's what we are able to bring to the equation.

Believe in the Lord.  He has made himself your personal savior.  He is personally involved in your life.  Believe it.

Lectionary for 2/26/09

Today's readings are Genesis 1.20-2.3 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Genesis+1.20-2.3 ) and Mark 1.14-28 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+1.14-28 ).

We see today the power and grace of the Word of God.  The creative Word finishes his work of creation.  The fleshly Word, Jesus, asserts his authority over creation.  As we move into Lent, a time of participation in the sufferings of our Lord in his humiliation, let us remember this same suffering servant is the creator and ruler of the heavens and the earth.  As he took on humanity, as he assumed our death, we take on immortality and life.  We see that we are blessed not because of anything we have done, not even because of our obedience to his commands, for we are disobedient, but because of his might, grace, and obedience.  See how God's command is not without blessing.  See how when he commands us to do something it is pleasing to him and beneficial to us.  Here, in Jesus, Law and Gospel come together.  His command is that great grace which we need.  Let us rejoice then, even in this season of sorrow, looking forward to the consummation of Jesus' earthly life, his death, burial and resurrection.

Lectionary for 2/24/09

Today's readings are Job 19.1-12 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+19.1-12 ), Job 19.21-27 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+19.21-27 ), and John 8.1-20 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+8.1-20 ).

 

In the midst of his pain, fear, and doubt, Job confesses his confidence that his Redeemer lives.  He confesses the mighty sovereign love and protection of God who will not abandon his people under any circumstances.

 

Our modern evangelicalism has a tendency to downplay confessions, creeds, prayers written by old dead people.  We are told we need to pray ourselves out of a heart of trust and obedience to the Lord.  We, as Christians, find the resources to pray with confidence.  And our prayers are always to be new and fresh.  Yet over the years I have spoken with many people, coming to me for what they hope will be wise counsel.  The recurring theme seems to be that of frustration.  "Do you pray?"  "I try but I don't seem to know what to pray for." "I just don't feel like praying."  "What do you pray?"  "I can't figure out what to pray for.  I get discouraged, worry about my problems, and quit."  

 

Job had no idea what to pray for either.  He didn't feel like praying.  He  had no resources of his own.  But he knew what he had been taught, what he himself had taught his children.  He knew that there is a Redeemer and that he could cast his problems at the feet of that Redeemer.  So what do we pray when we are under pressure?  If you have no other ideas, if you need the words to pray, let me just suggest the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer.  In that brief confession and prayer we affirm what we believe about life and salvation in very brief terms.  We pray briefly for every need we have.  We proclaim God's glorious provision for us.  Even in the depths of our discouragement, here are some words we will do well to confess and pray.  And who knows?  Maybe we'll pay attention to the confession and realize how great the Lord is, that he is greater than all our circumstances and trials.

 

Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. 

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  He descended into hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.  From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. 

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

 

Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,

for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

 

 

 

Lectionary for 2/23/09

Today's readings are Job 18.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+18.1-21 ) and John 7.32-53 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+7.32-53 ).

Look at the controversy surrounding Job.  He maintains his innocence, his counselors maintain his guilt.  His wife has told him he is probably innocent but needs to give false testimony against himself, curse God and die.  He has probably entertained thoughts of giving up.  False accusation after false accusation has been leveled against him.

Maybe we feel like Job sometimes.  Maybe we find ourselves distressed by the events of this life.  Maybe we see news about us that we never dreamed was true (and that may not be true).  What do we do on those days?  Do we stand in the strength of our integrity, of our own testimony, against all odds?  That sounds a little too much like what the hero of an old Western movie would do.  It doesn't sound much like me.  I don't think I have that big of a white hat or a six shooter which never runs out of bullets.  And my horse isn't armor-plated.

How about looking to Jesus instead?  See in our reading how he is accused of all sorts of things which are not true, his words and intentions are twisted at every opportunity, and he stands in his righteousness.  He has no need to flinch.  He remains the perfect savior.  Let us look to him, not to ourselves.  When Jesus claims us, gives us faith, baptizes us into his name, promises to be with us forever, these are promises which we can trust.  If God is for us, who can stand against us?  Nobody.

Lord, thank you for your hand of protection and mercy.

Lectionary for 2/22/09

Today's readings are Job 17.1-16 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+17.1-16 ) and John 7.14-31 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+7.14-31 ).

Here's a challenge.  Ask a few people what they think or know about Jesus.  You can hear a surprising array of answers from Christians and unbelievers alike.  Jesus is the Lord, Jesus is an example, Jesus is the perfect man, Jesus is a myth made up by early priests, Jesus is a concept, Jesus is this, Jesus is that.  This should come as no surprise if we consider John 7.14-31 carefully.  How did the different people view Jesus?  Some knew there was a plot to kill him, some did not.  Some thought he was a great prophet, some thought he was a deceiver.  Some knew where he came from, and of those some thought one place, some thought another.  How then do we know Jesus?  We can know Jesus only as the Scripture describes him.  We have no other information.  We have no other documents from near his time which tell about him.  The supposed "lost and suppressed Gospels" were written much later, contain loads of fanciful tales, and deserve to be lost.  It's questionable whether they deserve to be suppressed, just lost.

So who is Jesus?  In John 7 we see Jesus as the one who has done great and mighty works, the one who is redeeming the world to God the Father, the one who alone is pleasing to the Father, the one who does understand why he is here.  Let us look to this Lord Jesus today in hope.  He knows exactly where we struggle.  He knows exactly what we need.  And he has provided exactly what we need in his work on the cross.

Lectionary for 2/21/09

Today's readings are Job 16.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+16.1-21 ) and John 7.1-13 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+7.1-13 ).

 

Job expresses the desire that we all have when we endure trials.  He really does want to know why God does not seem to be protecting him.  This is what we all wonder.  Our friends accuse us of wrongdoing, our circumstances are indisputably bad.  We thought we were trusting in the Lord our protector.  Why, after all, do bad things happen to good people?  We confess that we are not entirely good, that we harbor evil, but we think the bad things we endure are beyond the measure of reason.  They are really really bad.  Sometimes we are busy repenting and confessing but find "it doesn't work" the way we thought it would.  Maybe there's something wrong with our faith.  Maybe our repentance is not adequate.  Maybe we didn't confess well enough.

 

When this happens, if we step back and look at it carefully we see that we are entirely wrong.  God is in fact protecting his people.  If we received what our sins deserve for even one moment we would perish in agony, condemned to eternal suffering.  Christ's atonement on our behalf is what we need to look toward, not the quality or quantity of our repentance, confession, or faith.  The fact is that we didn't and can't confess well enough.  We do not have adequate repentance.  There is something wrong with our faith.  But that isn't why our lives don't seem better than they do.  Christ's work on our behalf is right and adequate. 

 

It is, in fact, our expectations which are wrong.  We expect God to move and work in the way we would devise, not the way he has ordained.  We expect our physical earthly life to be blessed in ways that seem best to us, particularly in ways that would lead us to eternal life on earth, rejoicing in the creation rather than in the creator.  We thing this is all there is.  Our Lord, on the other hand, is busy, day after day, showing us that to hope in this life alone is futile.  Our hope is in heaven, our reward is eternal, and we are living on a planet which is temporal and will pass away.

 

Let us look in faith to our Lord, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all.  Let us trust his promises, not our own promises.  In all our actions and attitudes let us see that he is just.

 

 

Lectionary for 2/20/09

Today's readings are Job 15.1-23 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+15.1-23 ), Job 15.30-35 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+15.30-35 ), and John 6.60-71. 

Once again, Job's counselor is right.  Eliphaz is absolutely right that all creation is fallen and subject to the curse.  Of course, he is also wrong.  When our Lord looks at his creation he sees it through the redemptive work of Christ.  It is therefore, once again, proclaimed "very good" just as it was at the close of creation.

Whom will we trust?  Will we trust ourselves, showing the fruit of sin, the darkened wisdom of a fallen mind, the frail and dying body of one under the curse?  No, rather, we will trust in Jesus Christ, the redeemer of the world, who has the words of life.  We look to him.  God the Father looks at us through Christ's redemptive work.  All that the Lord looks at is therefore clean and pure.

Lord, grant us to believe on you, to look to you, the redeemer of the world, the Lord our righteousness.

Lectionary for 2/18/09

Today's readings are Job 13.13-28 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+13.13-28 ) and John 6.22-40 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+6.22-40 ).

Our readings today harmonize beautifully.  Job wishes he could see God face to face, to know that he can have loving communication with the God he wishes with all his heart to trust.  Jesus, God in flesh, presents himself as the one with whom his worshipers can talk face to face.  He is indeed the Lord we can trust, who provides all our needs, who comforts us in all our affliction.

Lectionary for 2/17/09

Today's readings are Job 13.1-12 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+13.1-12 ) and John 6.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+6.1-21 ).

Today Job essentially says that he would like to give God a piece of his mind.  He understands what is going on and wants to have a heart to heart talk with the Lord about it in order to clear his own record.  This appears to be as close as Job goes to sinning.  We are told that Job does not sin, yet he is ready to tell God he is innocent.  How can this be?  What Job does here reminds me of the Prodigal from Jesus' parable.  When ill-fed, homeless, and defiled from living with pigs he comes up with a plan to return home, explain to his father what has happened, and ask him for his favor.  Yet we notice when the prodigal returns home he never does ask his father for his favor.  He pours out the trouble of his heart but sees his father's solution.  Job is ready to confront God.  He is ready to present him with a solution.  What will he in fact do when he God comes onto the scene?  He will pour out his heart before God and the Lord will speak.  Job does not need to present a solution to his woes.  God presents the solution.

Jesus does exactly that in John 6.  The people are hungry.  There is no evidence that they were complaining.  That wouldn't be polite.  But people without food predictably get hungry after a number of hours.  Jesus takes their lack of a solution and makes it into a solution - not only a snack to tide them over while they go home but a feast, all they want, then leftovers in abundance.

What kind of a Lord do we look to? Do we look to God to provide a solution of our making?  Should we not rather look to God to provide a solution of his own devising?  Thanks be to God, who can do above all we can imagine.

Lectionary for 2/16/09

Today's readings are Job 12.1-6 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+12.1-6 ), Job 12.12-25 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+12.12-25 ), and John 5.30-47 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+5.30-47 ).

Where do we find wisdom?  Where do we find understanding?  We often look to the aged, those with experience, and rightly so.  But we rightly turn to the Lord for ultimate wisdom.  Our Lord has given us true wisdom and understanding of this world, not through our own reasoning, not through our faith, not through the Scripture, but through the living Word of God, Jesus Christ.

Look at our Lord's dependence on the Father.  How much more do we who are tainted by sin, whose eyes are darkened to the truth, need to depend on our Father?

Father, let us know you.  May we be conformed to your image.  May we depend on you for all we need.

Lectionary for 2/15/09

Today's readings are Job 11.1-20 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+11.1-20 ) and John 5.19-29 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+5.19-29 ).

As with Job's other friends, Zophar is right on one level.  If we were to be confronted with the full weight of our sin, if we were to try to prove our righteousness, none could stand.  No doubt Job is sinful.  And he realizes that.  This is why Job had a long history of making sacrifices, praying, and ascribing glory to God rather than to himself.  If we were righteous we would not give glory and praise to anyone, for there would be none better.  

That righteousness which we have comes from our Lord.  We remember from Ephesians 2.8-9 that we are saved by grace through faith.  That's what is accounted to us as righteousness.  It is not our works.  It is not our goodness.  We need God to give us that righteousness.  

How do we see righteousness?  Surely not by looking at a person's faith, but by looking at a person's works.  Those works do not save us in any way.  They do, however, bring benefit to those around us in this world.  Frequently they bring benefits to us ourselves as well.  Jesus tells us that he does the works of God so people can see God and glorify him.  Unlike us, Jesus has no need for repentance.  He bears no weight of sin.  Yet he gives glory and praise to the Father.  How much more should we, with our faith, with our mouth, with all the works of our life give glory and praise to the Father.  Though it earns us nothing, it serves to benefit those around us.

Lectionary for 2/14/09

Today's readings are Job 10.1-22 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+10.1-22 ) and John 5.1-18 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+5.1-18 ).

 

There's a time for everything, right?  Including a time to forget to write up a daily blog post that you usually write up in the morning?

 

Job's time in today's readings is the time for singing the blues.  I can picture him sitting on the porch of the shack by the swamp, his friends with him, all of them holding their guitars or banjos, and Job launching into song.  

 

No doubt the man Jesus encounters in John 5 has had his times of singing the blues.  He has been lying around a pool, known as a place of healing, but he has been there for years.  Is anyone going to help him?  Maybe today?  But always someone else receives the favor of God and the healing the lame man wanted.

 

When we are at our low points, when it's our time to sing the blues, Jesus enters into the scene.  Christ, the sin-bearer.  Christ, the perfect Son of Man and Son of God. Christ, the one who knew no sin, come to earth because this is the way God loved the world.

 

So when you tune up your banjo, smoke the crawdads (do you put those in a pipe or roll them in papers?), and uncork that bottle of cheap red wine with your buddies on the porch, ready to sing the blues, remember the real nourishment we receive - the body and blood of Christ given and shed for us.  This is God's cure for those who are singing the blues.

 

 

Lectionary for 2/13/09

Today's readings are Job 9.1-35 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+9.1-35 ) and John 4.46-54 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+4.46-54 ).

If only . . .

Job calls out, near despair.  He has lost his children, his riches, his health.  Now if he heeds the less than comforting counsel of his friends he has a fine opportunity to ruin his reputation by confessing how evil he is or by denying that he brought this calamity on himself.  If only . . . if only there were a good way out of this mess.

We also are surrounded by trial in which we engage in our speculations.  I've endured a few of my own in the past few days myself.  If only this had worked.  If only I had been able to accomplish that earlier.  If only it were this time or that time.  But it isn't.  As a matter of fact, it's exactly the time it is now, I did and didn't do exactly what I did nd didn't do in the past, you did too, and nothing we do, say, or wish will change any of that.

What hope do we have then?  Maybe by chanting, "Yes we can" for a few hours we can figure out what the rest of the predicate of that sentence should be.  Maybe we can all just get along.  Or maybe not.  This doesn't seem too hopeful.  Maybe like Job we see we need a mediator between God ans man.  We confess God is the Almighty.  How does our concern get to his ear?

Thanks be to God, in Christ we have that mediator, the true Man, the second Adam, the one who bore our sorrows and took our sins upon himself.  He has heard our cries, he has spoken on our behalf before we ever knew we needed him.  

Unlike Job, we are able to look back in history to see the biblical accounts of our mediator, Jesus.  And like Job, by faith, every last one of us can look forward in faith and hope to the day when we will stand before the throne of God and see, face to face, the Lord who bears our sorrows.  Surely  we have a great and mighty Lord!

Lectionary for 2/12/09

Today's readings are Job 8.1-22 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+8.1-22 ) and John 4.27-45 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+4.27-45 ).

Job chapter 8 is a challenging chapter.  Aside from having an address by the shortest man in the Bible, we have to weigh Bildad's statements very carefully.  What does conventional wisdom say about people who endure suffering?  They must have done something wrong.   Before we are too quick to agree with Bildad, let's look at two important implications of his claim. 

First, we want to confess without reservation that all people except Jesus sin.  And as a corrolary to that, we confess that there is not one single person in the history of the planet who has not endured hardship.  Some people endure more, some less, but none is exempt, including Jesus.

Here we might become uncomfortable with Bildad.  An orthodox Christian cannot say that Jesus' suffering came about from Jesus' sin.  We might be able to grant it of everyone else but not of Jesus.  

Our second logical implication is that a lack of suffering is directly related to our doing good.  Yet many times good things happen and we cannot relate them directly to good we or anyone else has done.  

So we have at least two significant problems with applying what Bildad says.  How should Job receive what this friend says?  First he should remember that sin is real and that he may need to consider his heart, confessing sin to the Lord.  Yet he should also cast his care on the Lord, knowing that this affliction he is enduring may be for his sanctification and to show God's glory to others. Job may never know the impact of his suffering on the world.

Lord, don't let us waste our trials.

Lectionary for 2/11/09

Today's readings are Job 7.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+7.1-21 ) and John 4.7-26 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+4.7-26 ).

 

I'm going to post this early because I'm expecting a very full day, jam-packed with trials on the 11th.  The readings are appropriate!

 

Job gives us a good picture of ourselves when we are suffering.  When we endure pain the days seem amazingly long!  When we go to work but feel ill the day seems to drag on.  When we are having interpersonal struggles they seem to arise over and over again, never to depart.  What of our fears, rational or irrational?  Everywhere we turn something seems to be wrong.  When we undergo financial difficulty our houses, cars, or health seem to break down, normally at the same time that prices go up and our pay gets cut.  There's all sorts of suffering in this life and it is quite a challenge. 

 

What does our Lord think of our suffering?  We see Jesus, in the middle of a hot day, in foreign territory, sitting by a well from which he can't get a drink because he has no bucket.  It's past lunch time and he has no food.  He has been walking all morning.  And here comes a woman who has questions for him.  She doesn't have lunch for him.  And she's a woman.  Jewish men don't talk with Samaritans, particularly Samaritan women.  Jesus is enduring suffering.  His suffering is the same as ours.  

 

What is Jesus' reaction to his suffering?  God's grace is sufficient to bear him through any trials he endures.  What is his reaction to our suffering?  He is touched by it, understands it, cares for us, and will bring us through our times of suffering as well.

 

Suffering?  Jesus cares. 

Lectionary for 2/10/09

Today's readings are Job 6.14-30 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+6.14-30 ) and John 3.22-4.6 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+3.22-4.6 ).

There's a theme which runs throughout Scripture - a theme of redemption to eternal life.  Today in John 3.35-36 we have a summary of this.  First Jesus proclaims that the Father has given everything to the Son.  Jesus holds the power of redemption and the power of condemnation.  Salvation is of the Lord and it is through Jesus.  So how is this salvation manifested?  This is the second proclamation Jesus makes.  Eternal life is through belief in the Son, Jesus.  Notice carefully what Jesus says belief is.  See the parallel statements?  In the English Standard Version they show up very clearly.

  "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;

  whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life..."

There's a stark contrast made here.  And surprisingly enough it is between belief and disobedience.  Belief is obedience.  Disobedience leaves us under God's wrath.  Belief, its opposite, keeps us in eternal life.

How do we obey?  Believe.

Lectionary for 2/9/09

Today's readings are Job 6.1-13 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+6.1-13 ) and John 3.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+3.1-21 ).

The problems which Job and Nicodemus express in today's reading are the same.  See how Job doesn't understand what is happening to him in this world.  Nor does Nicodemus, though Nicodemus doesn't precisely express his question to Jesus.  Both are dealing with suffering and confusion.  We're here in this world.  On one level it seems o be a wonderful place.  On another level things just aren't so great here.  What do we do about it?  What can we do about it?  It's all so complicated and confusing.

Jesus' tone with Nicodemus is remarkably gentle.  It's the same tone he adopts when dealing with other sinners genuinely looking for God's answer to their struggles.  And Jesus understands that just because Nicodemus has five doctoral degrees and an IQ of 150 he won't necessarily understand God's provision.  In fact, the mercy which God has shown in Christ is not something that an intelligent and learned person can understand any better than someone with an intelligence barely great enough to comprehend that you can turn the doorknob either direction to open the door.  We even have lots of examples in modern American Christianity demonstrating that we don't understand what Jesus is telling Nicodemus.  

"You must be born again."  What is this being born again?  It's something I do?  No, not at all.  It's something God applies to you.  But I have to do something, right?  That's the Gospel - don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew, don't go with girls who do.  No, that's not the Gospel.  The Gospel is that Jesus Christ has taken upon himself all your sin and sorrow, that he has died as the penalty for your sin, and that he lives to bring new life and righteousness in eternity, applied to all who believe he has done that.  It's not about us.  It's about what Jesus has done on our behalf.  But how can that be?  Nicodemus asks the same question.  How can I enter that new life?  Jesus' answer to us is the same as his answer to Nicodemus.  By all your efforts, by all your desires, by all your striving you will never do it.  It is something that you simply cannot do.  It is something that God does.  And that's what is so Gospelish about the Gospel.  It is nothing we can do.  It is something God does.  He and he alone is the one who makes sense of this troubled world.  He does it on his own terms.  He does it without our participation.  And all the geniuses in the world have no more hope of understanding it or accomplishing it than all the idiots in the world.  Salvation is of the Lord.  It is not of our own design.  Like Job and Nicodemus, we simply have to leave it as God has revealed it.

"Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, is the heart and center of the Scripture" (Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation, answer #4).

Lectionary for 2/8/09

Today's readings are Job 5.1-27 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+5.1-27 ) and John 2.13-25 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+2.13-25 ).

In our passage from John's Gospel today there are two ideas which come to the foreground.  First, what is the temple of God?  Second, what is the appropriate use of God's temple?  John is clear that, at least by the time he wrote his Gospel, he understood Jesus to be referring to God's temple which was his own body.  When we consider the Athanasian Creed we recall this concept that Jesus is fully God and fully man, "without confusion."  The nature of Jesus is that the fullness of God is dwelling in the fullness of man.  In his humanity, Jesus himself serves as a temple of the fullness of God.  What should we take from this?  Surely those whom Christ has purchased are also the dwelling place of God on earth.  Surely we confess that all who believe on Jesus have him living in them.  We ourselves are temples of God.  He is really dwelling in us.  So what is the appropriate use of the temple which we call our body?  It is not a place for buying and selling God's blessing, but rather a place through which God's blessing flows.  God's temple is the place where the Lord delights in the obedient and faithful service people bring to him as well as the place where the Lord has appointed forgiveness and blessing.

Lord, may we see the chief end of our existence as being a temple where you show your forgiveness and mercy.  May you work through us in this world as you worked through the temple in Jerusalem, the place from which you reached out in mercy to your chosen people.  May the works of our hands be rightly seen as the works which you have appointed to bring the knowledge of your goodness to this lost and dying world.

Lectionary for 2/7/09

Today's readings are Job 4.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+4.1-21 ) and John 2.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+2.1-12 ).

Eliphaz, Job's comforter, says some things which are true and to the point.  He points out to Job that the Lord has never departed from him and that the Lord will not let the righteous perish.  Unfortunately he goes on to try to explain the suffering which Job endures, winding up accusing him of sin he didn't commit and not proposing any cure for sin.

In our reading from John we see that Jesus does quite the opposite.  He speaks few words, shows his power even over inanimate objects, and allows the onlookers to pursue him or not for an explanation.

Rather than be like Eliphaz, I'll stop here with a reminder that we can look to what our Lord says.  He is trustworthy and does know exactly what he is doing.

Lectionary for 2/4/09

Today's readings are Job 1.1-22 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Job+1.1-22 ) and John 1.1-18 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+1.1-18 ).

God tells Satan to consider Job.  Let's consider Job for a moment.  This man was clearly blessed by God in such a way that he had become very wealthy.  He and his family had more than enough to live comfortably.  Yet in all these riches he remembered as of first importance that all he had was from the hand of God.  See his righteousness and his understanding that when we have everything we need or want we are prone to sin.  He counted it a priority to make sacrifices for the sins of his children, even if he did not know what sins they might have committed.  We can safely assume he was doing so for himself as well.  And when adversity strikes he, not knowing why it struck, continues to trust in God, giving him the glory.  God gives all things to me.  He may take them away as well.  

What do we face today?  We don't know.  On one level we can predict what we will be doing today.  After all, work starts at the same time as usual.  We've heard the weather forecast.  We've heard the news.  We know what to expect.  But on another, greater level we don't know what the Lord will give us today.  We can be assured, though, that nothing in our lives today is outside of the loving care of Christ, the redeemer of the world.  Nothing that happens to us, and nothing we do, whether big or small, good or bad, escapes the notice of our Lord.

Is God pleased with Job? He is.  Why is God pleased with Job?  Surely he commits sin just as you and I commit sin.  God is pleased with Job because he has laid his good favor on Job and given him repentance and a desire to be reconciled to God.  And surely the Lord has done that for me and for you if we do believe that Jesus is the one who has laid down his life for our sin and has taken it up for our redemption and reconciliation.  

Lord, may we be a pleasing offering to you today.  May we see our sin and see your righteousness.  May we be quickly moved to repentance.  May we trust in the protection of your mighty hand and the good favor of your providence.

Lectionary for 2/3/09

Today's readings are Zechariah 14.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Zech.+14.1-21 ) and Titus 2.7-3.15 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Titus+2.7-3.15 ).

Even as we look at God's judgment on the earth - earthquakes, people fleeing, mountains splitting - we also see our Lord gathering a people to himself, a people he has chosen to be holy before him, a people he has chosen to redeem from death into life.  Titus 3.4-7 sums that situation up.  Our Lord has appeared, in the right time, according to his plan, and has saved us.  He has not done it with any regard to our works or our lack of works.  He has just done it.  And how has the Lord accomplished this salvation?  Again, not by any of our works but by his work, washing us with "regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (ESV).  This washing is also a gift of God, given to us through Jesus, justifying us, giving us an inheritance of a certain hope.

How are we to read the "washing" language in the New Testament.  The more I look at it the more I see the waters of baptism in the washing language that we see.  The term "baptism" as we see it used of Christian baptism is always a ceremonial application of water.  It is always done by someone else, so the person receives baptism rather than applying it himself.  And it always seems to have some sort of a concrete result linked to it.  The Word of God along with the physical element (water) is applied to the person and the Lord lays his claim on that person - a claim of faith, a promise of a life of righteousness, an inheritance of the Kingdom.

May the Lord always remind us of our baptism, that we have been washed, that he has renewed us.

Lectionary for 2/2/09

Today's readings are Zechariah 12.1-13.9 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=zech+12.1-13.9 ) and Titus 1.1-2.6 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Titus+1.1-2.6 ).

Paul commands Titus to put things in order, appointing elders in the churches.  Actually, he appoints elders in towns.  How might this inform our view of apostolic Christianity?  Notice that Titus is to choose people who are really just people.  They are to have maturity in their Christian character and their families are not to bring shame upon Christ.  But really he is not looking for people who are unusual in any respect.  They are just mature Christians, showing the character qualities we would expect of any believer after a while.

What does it mean to appoint elders in every town?  We can make several observations from this statement.  We see that the message of the Gospel had spread to places where there was no existing Christian leadership.  God's people, like a flock of sheep, do not function well in the absence of leadership.  But because we bring the Gospel to places where it has not been proclaimed before we will see there are groups of Christians with no elders.  Once the body of Christ is shaping up, once there are multiple believers in an area, assembling together for worship, it is necessary to appoint elders to serve the flock.  We also see that the elders don't just serve the flock of believers, but they serve their towns.  We are all familiar with the scenario of the missionary moving into a town with no known Christian witness and simply starting to serve the town for Christ.  That missionary serves as the pastor for the town.  It is all in his parish, so to speak.  This is a vision which I fear we have lost, in this age when the emphasis seems to be on recruiting people who are already Christians to gather together and make a sort of separatist and parallel cultural group, that group of Christian believers.  Why not proclaim the Gospel in real terms with the elders considering the town their parish and all the people living in the town to be part of the flock, just many of them unbelieving and rebellious members of the flock?

See also in our Titus reading that there is a time for rejecting false teaching and rebuking those who are teaching falsely.  That's part of the work of a shepherd also.  

May we always see the hand of the Lord in our efforts to minister to Christ's people.

Lectionary for 2/1/09

Today's readings are Zechariah 11.4-17 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Zech.+11.4-17 ) and 2 Timothy 4.1-18 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=2+Tim.+4.1-18 ).

 

Every day we live in this sinful world we are surrounded by temptation.  Sometimes our temptation is to take glory for ourselves, proclaim our own righteousness, exult in the creation rather than the creator.  But probably more often the temptation is to give up in our efforts to be steadfast, responsible, and wise.  When we deal with opposition and apparent failure it is easy to want to give up.

 

Let's look at the example we see in the apostle Paul today.  When writing to Timothy he is feeling old.  He's been engaged in Christian work through many times of persecutions.  He has gone here and there, sometimes seeing the Gospel received eagerly and sometimes seeing the Gospel rejected, along with himself and his companions.  They have been rejected, beaten, driven from city after city, and seen all too many situations where the work of the ministry has been disparaged.  What reaction does this saint have?  He does not give up.  He realizes he is near the end of his life but he is ready to push on, doing what remains for him to do. 

 

Are there times when we are discouraged?  Certainly.  There were doubtless many times when Paul was discouraged in his work.  May our response to such discouragement be like the response of the apostle - we take a deep breath, recover ourselves, and continue doing what our Lord has called us to.  There are flocks all around us, in need of good shepherding.  May we remain steadfast in the work our Lord has given us.