Getting ready for Sunday - Luke 2:25-38

These days lines are long both in the check out and return line.  Some are still waiting for their UPS or FedEX packages to arrive in the mail.  Some are still waiting for their mail to arrive.  Nothing happens quickly or overnight.  Desire, however, is at an all time high.  The latest and greatest iPads, game console, and toys are hot ticket items.  The latest and greatest, newest and best have been rolled out - and if we didn’t get it for Christmas, we’d like to go out and get it now.

Will you wait as long as it takes to get through the checkout line, to get what it is you wanted?  Will you give up and leave the item there in line? Will you forget what it is you wanted or were looking for because you waited so long?

God’s people throughout the period of the Old Testament lived with both.  They lived with excited joy as they waiting with great expectation for the Lord’s Christ to come.  But then he didn’t come. And he didn’t come. And he didn’t come.  It was thousands of years from the time that God promised Eve a snake crusher from her family.  It was thousands of years of waiting - talk about waiting in line!

This Sunday, we move forward in the story of Jesus to the time when he was about 40 days old.  Yet, we move backward and imagine the expectation of Simeon and Anna.  They were both old.  They both had been waiting a long time.  What would they do?  What was it like for them when they met the Christ for the first time?  This Sunday we imagine and get into their sandals.  We’ll consider Luke 2:25-38.

Bring along your Bible and follow along as we dig into the Scriptures.  Bring a friend and invite them to share God’s Word with you as we meet Jesus in his house.

Get ready! A Bible Study on Matthew 3:1-12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSCihecvvfU&list=PLDCEC119C9647D0F9 (start at min 4:50 - verse references in bottom right are chapter and verse of Matthew.  Watch until about minute 7:45 (or verse 12).

Matthew 3:1-12

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "

4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Who is John the Baptist? What do you know about him? (For a few more details, read Luke 1:1-25).

What was his role to be? (Look at Matthew 3:3).

This last week as the storms rolled in and the weather drastically changed from 80’s one day to 30’s the next, from sunny and dry to cloudy and icy, we all were warned to get ready.  What did you do to get ready?  Maybe you went shopping to get some of the essentials.  You know, stuff like food, water, batteries, blankets, groceries, fire wood, salt, sand, shovels, water faucet covers.  Who knows when we’re going to get out safely.  Looking at the weather it may not be until Tuesday!  Yikes. Talk about cabin fever.  We prepared to be holed up for a few days, at least.

John the Baptist had one specific and major role.  He did for us what the weathermen did for us.  They told us, ahead of time, about the drastic weather change so that we could prepare.  John’s role was the same.  “Prepare the way for the Lord.”  Jesus was coming.  In fact, he was only about six months behind John the Baptist in terms of being born.  Jesus was right on his heels.  In fact, if you keep reading in Matthew (or keep watching), one of the things that John did during this time of preaching and baptizing was baptize Jesus.  Jesus was almost literally right behind John.  John’s role was to prepare the people for Jesus.  John’s role was to get people ready for his coming.

What did you do to prepare for the storm?

What are you doing to get ready for Christmas? What does it look like?

What are you doing to get ready for Jesus’s coming (not just his coming at Christmas, but his coming at the end of the ages)?  What does it look like?

In many ways, our whole home changes in its appearance as many people prepare for Christmas.  A wreath  may adorn the front door.  Lights may sparkle in the eaves of our home.  A tree may fill the space in our living room.  A manger scene rests in a prominent place.  An advent calendar hangs on our fridge. Perhaps, as we get closer to Christmas gifts will rest under the tree.  In our house, we hang the Christmas cards that we receive on the wall.  Each family has their own traditions as they prepare for Christmas.  Each house looks a little different.

But what does it look like as we get ready for Jesus, as we prepare for his coming at the end of the age?  When is that moment in your life when you can say, “I’m ready for you now? It’s probably that moment when we think to ourselves that we have our lives most in order, when we are most in line with what Jesus had done, when we feel like he would be proud of us for the way we’ve been living.  “Look Jesus! I’ve gotten my life and house in order.”  We, of course, will admit that there will always be things in which we can grow as followers of Jesus.  But we’ve done the best that we can.  We’ve changed our lives.  We’ve reformed our actions.  We’ve been rehabilitated.

The problem is - we’re still infected with sin and it has totally taken over our lives. What proof from your life can you give?

Look at the life of Adam and Eve. How did sin take over their life?

What happened to their relationship with God? (Look at Genesis 3:8-10).

What happened to their relationship with each other? (Genesis 3:11-12).

What happened to their lives on earth? (Genesis 3:17-19).

What happened to their bodies? (Genesis 3:19; Romans 8:22-23)

And the same has happened to us.  Sin has completely and totally infect our bodies and our lives.  It’s destroyed our relationship with God.  It ruins our relationship with other people.  Husbands and wives don’t live in perfect harmony with one another.  The head/helper relationship isn’t what it should have been.  Parents and children don’t walk together as God intended.  Parents don’t reflect the love of their Father in heaven; and children don’t honor their parents as they ought to honor their Father.  Sin makes life, in so many ways, miserable.  By the sweat of our brow we bring home the bacon.  Our bodies are subject to decay from the moment we’re born.  Skin cells decay and die.  We decay and die.  We return to dust.  And that’s just the effects of sin in our bodies and lives.  That isn’t to mention the sins that we still commit on a daily basis.  That isn’t to mention our sinful rebellion against God every time we don’t do what he has commanded or do what he has forbidden.

Here’s the problem. God doesn’t hang out with sin.  And so if sin is still hanging on to you, even a little bit, you can’t get in.  It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked to control your anger; it doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked to repair your relationships, reform your life, and rehab your thoughts words and actions.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve totally gotten rid of the effects of sin in your body.  

I want your life to change.  I want you to control you anger and the other sins you commit.  I pray that your relationships would be healed, that you would reform your life, and rehab everything about it.  I want your body to be whole and healthy.  But unless you totally evict sin from every part of your life, you can’t get in because God doesn’t hang out with sin or sinners.  God doesn’t hang out with sin.  God doesn’t hang out with sinners.

But, God does hang out with the repentant.

See, that’s part one of John’s sermon.  We have just a snippet here: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  In this one sentence we have a summary of his sermon.  In fact, in the one word “repent” we have a summary of his sermon, of every Christian sermon.

What does it mean “to repent?” What things does it include?  What things does it not include?

Repentance has two parts.  Part one of repentance is sorrow over sin.  Repentance means to confess we’re not who we should be; it means to confess that we can’t be who God wants us to be, not on our own; it means to confess we’re broken and crushed because of the sin that  infects us and the sin that we commit.  Part one of repentance is to be crushed and broken because of our sin.

That’s how David felt.  Psalm 51:17 - “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”  He said to God, “I can’t bring you a changed life.  I can’t bring you a changed heart.  I can’t bring you a sin free body or life.  My best offerings are filthy rags.  I’ve got nothing.  But I bring a broken heart and a crushed spirit.  I am a beggar at your feet begging for mercy, for grace, for love, for compassion.”

And that’s what John is calling for when he preaches: “Repent!”  He’s calling us to see our how broken and crushed we are by sin.  That’s where the Pharisees weren’t listening to his sermon.  They were pretty well convinced that their lives were pretty well in order.  They were in a bad place because they didn’t see how sinful, how broken, how crushed by sin they really were.  And if that’s where you’re at, if you’re not crushed and broken by your sin and your sinfulness, then listen to John’s call: “You brood of vipers! You’re not as good as you think you are.  You’re not as safe and as secure as you think you are.  The ax is already at the root of the trees!”  

Why is this a warning that each of us, especially those of us who have been in the church for a long time, need to hear?

John wants each of us - I’m praying that each of us - will be on the floor broken and crushed by the weight and condemnation of our sin.  But more than that, he wants us to be healed; he wants us to be redeemed and rescued from that condemnation.  He wants to lift us off the floor - not crushed or broken any more - but bound up and healed.

And that’s the other part of repentance.  To be healed, restored, rescued, redeemed by Jesus.  To believe that he is the Messiah who came to bind up the broken-hearted.  Part two of repentance is to believe that Jesus redeemed and restored us.  God will hang out with the repentant because they are redeemed by Jesus.  God will hang out with the repentant because they are restored by him.  God will hang out with the repentant because they are forgiven by him.

John’s message and the assignment given to him by God was simple.  It was the assignment given to Isaiah.  It was the assignment given to John.  God called him and said: Isaiah 40:1-2 “comfort my people…speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for…”  John was proclaiming the about-to-be-finished work of Jesus.  And what was Jesus about to do?  He came to bind up the broken hearted (Isaiah 61:1-3).

What does it mean that your sin has been paid for?  How does it relieve your conscience?

How does this make us ready for Jesus to come back?

We live in a country, in a society, in a world that demands remuneration and pay back. Sure, we can all find examples of people, of times and places when pay back wasn’t expected.  Yet, whenever anything happens, we’re all wondering when the other shoe is going to drop; we all wonder what the catch is; we all wonder what’s hidden in the fine print.

But that’s not forgiveness.  That’s punishment.  Punishment is eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.  Punishment is payback for a wrong that’s been done.  Punishment is retribution.  That’s what happened on the cross.  God paid back Jesus for all the wrong that we committed.  God paid Jesus for all the sins we did.  God paid Jesus for all the sins the world committed.  Did you catch it?  God paid Jesus back! God treated Jesus as your sins deserve.

And because the payback was made, forgiveness is yours.  The guilt is gone.  The debt is paid.  The sin is forgiven.  God will not treat you as your sins deserve.  You are forgiven.  You are healthy and whole.  You are ready for Christ to return.  But not because you’ve been rehabbed or because you’ve reformed your life.  That’s what’s next.  That’s the fruit that will come because you’re forgiven, because you’re repentant.  That’s what’s next.  But before all that - you already stand ready for Christ to come; you already stand ready for Christmas because your sins are forgiven.  Believe it because it’s true.

God grant to each of us a changed heart, a repentant heart, which is both broken and healed, both contrite and believing.  Amen.

Let’s pray:

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son.  By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The 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.

Thankful for...

What are you thankful for?  For what are you giving thanks this week or even this month?

This is one of the things for which I always give thanks: The people through whom God ministers to me and serves me with his Gospel.

The pastoral heart of Paul just oozes out (I was reading 2 Corinthians 6-13 when I gave thanks).  In so many different ways Paul makes his heart known to the Corinthians, whether he is urging them to grab the day of salvation now, whether he is showing them his love for them and opening wide his heart so they can see his love, whether he is encouraging them to finish the offering... again and again Paul shows the Corinthians his love for them.  Paul daily felt the pressure of his love and concern for the Corinthian Christians.  They were always on his heart and mind; they were always in his prayers.

So, often I read this section of Scripture and pray: "Lord, make me more like Paul.  Give me a pastoral heart like his."  I haven't stopped praying that prayer.  But today, my prayer changed just a little bit.

This is a great opportunity to stop and give thanks for those who have Paul's heart for me. I thank God for my wife, my parents, even my kids; I thank God for the members of AF congregation, for my pastors past and present, for my brothers in the ministry; I thank God for all who have a heart for me and long to support me and build me up into Christ.  Sometimes they bear with me in my weakness and foolishness.  Sometimes they correct me in my weakness and foolishness.  Sometimes they have to rightly put me in my place and call me to repentance.  But always they show me Christ and the cross.  Always they show me the strength and power of Christ.

Who is it that God has given you?  Who is it in your life who has a shepherd's heart for you?  Who is it that has your eternity at heart, an eternity that is yours only through Jesus' life and death?

Give thanks for them, for those who shared the Word of God with you so that you might be saved for all eternity.

Thank you, Father, for the ministry by which you care for me.  Thank you for the shepherds young or old, experienced or not so much, who have called me once again to hear your voice.  Let my heart be lifted up by the love and concern of your servants who care so much for me.  In your name, dear Jesus. Amen.

We will stay.

Dear Family and Friends of Abiding Faith,

As you perhaps know I received a divine call on October 27, 2013  to be the pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Salina, KS.  The leaders at St. Mark and in the Nebraska District gave me a clear picture of St. Mark, it’s hopes and its dreams.  As some of you noticed from my descriptions of the congregation and the city, I was and continue to be excited about the opportunities they have.  I was led to give thanks for so many different reasons.  Most importantly I give thanks that they know and trust their Savior.  By God’s grace through faith they will be standing around the throne of God in front of the Lamb praising him day and night.  They have a strong desire that God’s Word would be shared among them and in their community.  I also give thanks for their outreach zeal, which you know I share.  Though they are challenged as a small congregation in a smallish city, they have been bold in their outreach, starting a pre-school and taking on other aggressive efforts.  There is much to be excited about regarding the opportunities God is giving his people in Salina - a city of 50,000 souls.  In many ways, I am drawn to the challenge of reaching people in this community!

For many reasons, I also give thanks to God for you, my Abiding Faith family.  Most of all I give thanks for the faith that we share.  When Jesus returns we’ll get to stand firm and stand tall together before the throne of God.  One family!  Together!  Forever.  We’re a forever family through faith in Jesus.  And that is exactly what you are to Ruth and I, along with our kids.  You welcomed me in as a pastor still wet behind the ears and walked with us these last ten years.  We have shared many joys and just as many sorrows.  You loved me even when I frustrated you.   More than that, I also give thanks that we have worked side by side to develop a ministry plan that is exciting and inspiring.  Though we face challenges as a congregation reaching out into this community, that has not dampened your zeal or excitement.  More and more I see your desire to grow up in your faith, to grow together with your fellow believers so that you can support each other as we walk through life, and to reach out into the diverse, multicultural community into which God has planted Abiding Faith.  You have taken hold of the ministry which God has entrusted to Abiding Faith.

As I look back at the last 10 years (at least, almost!) at Abiding Faith I am in awe at God’s grace and mercy.  In spite of me, God has blessed my family and his church during our time here in Fort Worth.  Your comments and encouragements honestly left me on my knees in praise that God has used my time here to bless his flock.  I can’t believe that God would use me as he has!  Now, I am counting on his continued grace and mercy into the future because I have decided to remain serving here at Abiding Faith and to decline the call to St. Mark.  This much is abundantly clear to me: my heart is still with you and my desire to reach our community is still strong.  We have work to do!

I look forward to moving ahead with confidence at Abiding Faith under the shepherding of our Good Shepherd.  Ruth and I look forward to raising our children here.

I humbly ask for your continued confidence in me as your pastor.

I ask you to join me in the work that God has given us to do at Abiding Faith, to be involved in the ministry of Abiding Faith both as a recipient and as a servant.

I, for one, am thanking God that I get to serve you and our Lord here at Abiding Faith and in our community!

He is risen!

Pastor Nate

Rest!

It's amazing how constant activity is from dawn til dusk, from rising in the morning until going to bed at night and even beyond.  Text messages.  Phone calls.  Email pings.  Tasks list reminders.  Calendar alerts. Conversations.  Projects and jobs.  Soccer games.   Almost everyone is so busy, so distracted; their - really, our - lives are so full of activity when can we rest?  

Even at church we don't really get to rest.  Church has for so many become a place of work.  We come to serve other people - and rightly so!  We come to preach and teach, to serve snacks, to give of ourselves, to give our offerings, to teach the kids, to carry on the ministry of a congregation. Has Sunday morning become another day at the office?  We may put our phones on silent (maybe even airplane mode and "do not disturb"), yet we're still getting pinged by email alerts, messaged on Facebook, messaged by text, alerted by the latest tweets.  We've got projects and tasks at home that need our attention.  Cares and concerns about our life outside the sanctuary that are waiting for our attention.  We're harassed and harangued by work even in a place that should give us sanctuary.

I wonder how the people in Jesus' day (and even before) felt when the came to the temple.  They were coming to fulfill a command from God.  They were coming to worship the only true God, yet they were surrounded by the bleating of goats and the jingle of change.  There was no rest there. There was no sanctuary there.  But the problem that Jesus addressed had nothing to do with what was happening.  There was a  need for money changers and goat sellers to be in the temple.  God had told his people to buy what they needed for the sacrifices when they got there since many were traveling such a long distance to worship. 

Here's the problem - God's people were distracted from the primary reason for which they came to the temple; God's people were kept from the sanctuary and the rest that God wanted them to have in him.  And that could have happened even with the bleating of the goats and the jingle of the change.

Tomorrow, we're going to gather for worship in God's house.  Tomorrow - but, why wait, do it today! - we rest in God alone.  He's our Savior.  He's our God.  He's our refuge and strength.  He's the Creator of all things.  He's the Sustainer.  He's our Provider.  Take a moment to keep describing him and all his works, all his ways.  Find rest in him!

So, turn your phone off for just a moment.  Turn off your alerts, quiet your mind and think on your God!  Focus on his works not yours.  Focus on his activity not yours.  Not that you can leave your work on your desk, or leave your house chores undone - but that you can rest your heart and your mind, that you can completely rest from your labors just as God did from his!

Psalm 62:1-2, 7-8, 11-12 "Truly my soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.... My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge... One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: 'Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love."

Freedom!

Nobody likes rules. In fact, there is a certain pool, to remain nameless, that I don't like to visit because there are rules on top of rules.  If there was a rule against smiling, I think they'd have it.  You can't throw your kids.  You can't wrestle in the water.  You can't carry them on your back.  Now, I understand the need for rules.  I spent my summers in high school, college, and into seminary lifeguarding at pools and teaching swim lessons.  So I get the need for rules.  But this is too much!  It feels like every where you turn, there is another rule to followed, another thing that you can't do, another thing you must do.

That happens in the church.

On the one hand, sometimes people look at the church and say, "There are too many rules and regulations.  These commandments from God take all the fun out of life."  Sometimes people look at the church and think, "All they care about are my actions."

And on the other hand, sometimes the church will preach and teach that very truth, "All we really do care about are rules and regulations.  All we really do care about are actions."  There are Christian churches out there that really do preach and teach a message that says, "Your actions are what really matter.  In fact, you can save yourself by them."

The apostle Paul was writing a letter to a congregation who was starting to listen to preachers and teachers who were doing that sort of thing.  It started out simple enough, "Believe in Jesus AND get circumcised."  It grew from there.  These teachers were telling the Galatians that faith in Jesus was just the beginning.  They had to do something more.  "Your actions are what really matter.  In fact, you can save yourself by them."

What a lie!  Oh, it looks good. It sounds good.  But, as Paul says, if we're trying to be justified, if we're trying to be righteous and holy by what we do - then we're alienated from God, alienated from grace, separated from Christ!  Then we're doomed.

Here's the truth!  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!  (Galatians 5:1).  In Christ and through faith in him, the curse of the law for failing to keep it has been removed!  In Christ and through faith in him, the demands of the law have been met in us. In Christ, we have fulfilled the commands of God's law.  We're free!

Luther says it this way: A Christian is a perfectly free lord, subject to no one! (He says this in "On the Freedom of the Christian." You can read it here.)

Now what?  What next?

That's what we'll look at in Sunday (10/27/13) as we continue to look at Paul's letter to the Galatians, chapter 5:13-25.

Bonking? Fill up.

Last weekend I spent some time watching the Hawaii Ironman Championships.  They were streaming it live!  I only watched the last half of the marathon, but it always amazes me to watch these athletes and then to think about the planning and preparation that they've got to go through.  Someday... at least on my bucket list, I'll qualify and then go to do that race.

One of the things that I've learned about endurance racing is the need to eat and drink throughout the race.  Early on in my marathon racing I'd drink very little and eat only at the very end.  I used to think that I didn't need to drink anything if I was running anything under 90 minutes.  But here's what happened - at least, as I look back: I bonked!  It didn't matter what the race, but almost always at the end of a marathon, somewhere around mile 20-21 I'd just crash and have no energy.  Why?  Because suddenly my fuel for running had to come from body fats instead of from the sugars in gels or energy bars.  I bonked because I didn't have fuel in the tank.

It strikes that this is what happens to me as I serve my family, my church and my community.  I used to always think that I needed to cut back my activities (and maybe I do).  I used to think that the reason I'd get burned out was because I was doing too much (and maybe I was).  But it strikes me that the problem wasn't with the activities but WITH ME.

I mean look at Paul.  He was constantly on the move.  He taught people God's Word by day and made tents by night.  One night he preached all night and then went on a road trip when the sun rose.  If anyone was too busy with too much going on, I'd say it was him.  Yet, Paul - even in prison - overflowed with joy!

Or look at Jesus.  His ministry was one of constant movement.  Just take his activities on a Sabbath day as Mark tells the story. Jesus taught in the synagogue in the morning.  He went back to the house of Peter's mother-in-law where he cared for her.  When night came, the whole city came to her doorstep.  So, Jesus tired as he was went out to a mountainside to pray...but the crowd chased him down even there when he tried to relax in the arms of his Father and pour out his heart to him.  Another time, Jesus wanted to take his disciples away to rest after their missionary journey. Didn't happen.  A crowd of 5000 found out where they were and wanted Word service and food service.  Yet, Jesus - even when he and his disciples were exhausted - always served with joy.

When I'm tired, when I'm getting burned out and worn out, when I'm bonking in my service to God's people, the problem is with me.  And the same is true for you when you're bonking, when you're getting tired and burned out.  The problem is with you.

And maybe part of the solution is to cut back in some of the activities that you're doing.  It's good for us to remember the truth of God - we're not the savior of the world; the world won't fall apart if we don't get to this or that; it doesn't depend on us!  It depends on God and his power, his mercy, his love.

And that, dear family, is the solution.  When we get tired, burned out, and begin to bonk we're often depending on ourselves to get it done, to bring success, to figure it out.  But it doesn't depend on us.  It depends on God!  He's our Father who promises to care for us, to love us.  He's our Savior who did everything - and I mean everything - to rescue us from sin, death, and hell.  He's our Comforter and Guide - who will teach us everything and remind us of everything Jesus said.

The solution is REST, but not necessarily rest from work.  REST from working to save ourselves.  The good that we do in Jesus' name can't save us.  Our salvation is already won and done; won and done for us by the life and death of Jesus.  Of this there is no doubt.  God loves us and is pleased with us for the sake of Jesus and not because we've worked so hard or because we've done the right thing.

There is REST from working out of fear.  Sometimes people will jokingly ask me, "What are you running from? I only run from dogs."  We're not running from anything.  Satan has been crushed.  All our sins have been forgiven.  The total debt for all our sins has been paid.  There is nothing for us to fear!  Our salvation is sure and certain!

There is REST from working to save anybody else.  It is true that God has made us to be his chosen people, holy and pleasing to him.  It is true that God has called us to be his witnesses wherever we do and whatever we do.  It's good for us to get out there and tell people, invite people, comfort people. It is important for us to work.  BUT, it's not on us to work faith in their hearts or to save them.  The real work, the hard work, the saving work is God's to do.  And wonder of wonders, he let's us be part of the way he does it!

Are you bonking?  Fill up. Fill up with the good news about the saving work of Jesus.

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Lost? Set your GPS (The Story - chapter 6)

I hate being lost, especially when I'm supposed to be somewhere at a specific time.  I grow more and more frustrated with my GPS, her name is Siri, and frantically scan the roads looking for familiar signs.  I panic because I think I've missed a turn, because nothing looks familiar, because I think I'm being misled.  GPS is great, but as apple users found out a few years ago - Siri doesn't always take you where she is supposed to.

The Israelites felt like God was doing that. They were wandering around in the wilderness of Sinai and they complained about the food service.  They sent in 12 spies to get a sneak peak at the land that God was giving them and they complained that the enemies were too big.  They didn't like where their God Positioning System had led them.  They would have rather been in Egypt where they were slaves!  At least there, they said, we had food and drink. We knew what to expect!  "We can't go in and take over that land.  Let's go back to Egypt."

They had forgotten where they had come from.  And even more than that, they forgot what God had done to bring them out. They quickly forgot God's powerful works on their behalf. They forgot how God had showed himself to be their Savior and their Father.

And they forgot where they were headed.  They were headed to the promised land, a land that their spies told them was a land flowing with milk and honey.  And even more than the destination they forgot who was going to bring them there.  They took their eyes off of God's promise to bring them into this land.  They forgot that God could and would do what he had promised.  They forgot that God was still their Savior and their Father.

And they forgot why God was doing what he was doing; they forgot God's purpose in all of this.  They were God's chosen people with a purpose bigger than the inhabitation of the land of Canaan.  They were God's chosen people through whom God had promised, "The Seed will come from you to crush the Serpent's head."

They forgot God's past works for them.  They forgot God's promised works for them.  They forgot God's purpose for them and through them.

How does this happen to you?  How do you forget God's past works in your life?  When do the enemies of the land seem bigger than the God who saved you from sin?

How do you forget the promise of God's future to you?  When do the enemies of the land and the challenges before you seem bigger than the promises God has given you?

How do you forget your purpose in this world?  When are you tempted to forget that you too are God's chosen people to proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light?

It's so easy to do.  And so often it happen.

So, set your GPS to the works of God.  He's redeemed you from sin, death, and the Devil.  He's made you his own child, holy, chosen and precious to him.  Set your GPS, your eyes, on the promises of God.  He has promised, most of all, to rescue you from your bondage to decay, your bondage to the evils of this world and bring you into his eternal kingdom.  Set your GPS, your faith, on the purpose that God has given you.  You're here as a witness to the marvels of God's grace so that others will marvel at it too.

Set your GPS on the words, works, and promises of God's Word and you won't get lost because his Word is a lamp for your feet and light for your path (Psalm 119:105).

Here’s how you can get ready for Sunday's Bible study:

• Read The Story, chapter 6.

• And/or Read complete sections about the wandering of the Israelites in Numbers 10-14, 20-21, 25, 27; Deuteronomy 1-2, 4, 6, 8-9, 29-32, 34.

• Answer the study questions below.  Write down any additional questions you have.

• Listen to sermon podcast from Crosswalk Lutheran that is addressed to this chapter of The Story: http://www.crosswalkphoenix.com/worship/message-series/the-story.aspx

• Fill out the sermon notes as you listen to the podcast: (same web address)

Be who you are and do what you do...

From time to time someone will apologize to me about their offerings.  I think they think I know what they're giving, how much they're giving and that their giving has changed.  People have also expressed a desire to give more and apologized for not giving more.

On the one hand, I think that's awesome.  I think it's awesome - and more than that, it's a gift of God that they desire to give large gifts of grace to the work of Christ's church.  That is the work of God in their hearts to desire to give offerings, to support the work of the congregation.  When God's people express a desire to give to him, I give thanks to God for giving them that desire.  That was God's grace to the Macedonian congregations.

But on the other hand, I'm always a little worried because what I hear in the apology is a sense of guilt as if they were sinning by not giving more; I sense some shame because they're not giving like others give; I sense that they don't think they're that valuable to the church because they don't give more money.  I'm sad about this.

First of all, there is no guilt! We don't give offerings to God as if there was a transaction taking place, as if we were paying God, as if we were letting God down because we didn't give a bigger offering.  The whole debt of our salvation has been paid by Jesus, by his blood on the cross, by his holy precious, blood, by his innocent suffering and death.  There is no guilt because all our guilt has been atoned for on the cross.

Second of all, there is no shame or comparison in the body of Christ.  God doesn't ask us to give what we don't have!  Paul knew that and told the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 8:11,12): Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.  So, what's Paul saying to you as you give your offerings?  Consider all God's gifts to you and give to him from what you have!

On top of that, the reality is that Christ has bound you, the members of his body, to himself and given each of us different gifts, different abilities.  He has given some members of his body an amazing ability to support the work of the church.  A few people really can carry the work of the church with their offerings. That's awesome! That's God's gift to his people.  Thank God that he has blessed some members like that and has given them those gifts.

And then thank him for the gifts he has given you. He's given you gifts to pray for his people, to encourage him people, to serve his people in other ways in addition to your generous offerings.

Romans 12: 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

So, be who you are.
Do what you do.
Give from what you've been given.
It's all God's grace to you in Christ.

God is not a "sir." (Chapter 5 - The Story: The 10 Commandments)

I didn't always feel this way, but I don't like it when my kids address me and say, "yes, sir."

As I grew up and even in my normal interactions with those whom I consider my elder and those for whom I have respect, I address them as "yes, sir" or "yes, ma'am."  It's an appropriate and even a good way to address those whom we respect.  But when I heard my kids respond to me with a "yes, sir" I cringed just a little bit.  I'm glad they address their teachers in that way.  I'm glad for them to address a police officer in that way.  I'm glad for them to use Mr. and Mrs. in their regular conversations with adults.  But I don't want to be a "sir" to my own children.

See, I'm trying (and failing) to pattern the fathering of my children after God's fathering of me. And God isn't "sir" to me, nor does the Bible present him that way to us.  God is our Father, the almighty Creator.  God is our Redeemer, our Savior, Christ, our brother.  God is our Counselor, the Holy Spirit of God.  He is all those things.  He worthy of our honor and respect.  But he is not "sir" to us.

For me "sir" calls to mind images of servitude and maybe even slavery.  It calls to mind pictures of fear and terror.  It calls to mind fearful obedience not free service.  And that's not what our relationship with God is like.  He has invited us to walk in a relationship with him.  In fact, not only has invited us into that relationship but he has created a way for that relationship to exist through Jesus.  Yes, he has even created that relationship with us by giving us faith by the work of the Holy Spirit.

That changes everything for me. As God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he brought me out of bondage to sin, to death, to the devil's power.  As God brought the Israelites through the waters of the Red Sea and so rescued them from Pharaoh's arm, so God has doused all the flaming arrows of the Evil One with the waters of my baptism.  God is my Father the one who loves me.

And that's what God called to mind for Israel as they gathered at the base of Mt. Sinai:  Exodus 19:4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

God had already created a covenant relationship with his people through the promises made long ago to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob.  They walked in a covenant relationship with God - but not because they deserved it or had done a thing.  So, here, God makes sure his people already know that they, by his grace, walk in a covenant relationship with him.

And then, then he gives them the 10 Commandments.

God gave his people - and us - the 10 commandments not so that we could get into a relationship with him, not so that we could stay in a relationship with him.  No, our relationship with God is totally grace.  No, God gave us the 10 Commandments BECAUSE we were in a covenant relationship with him and as a Father he wanted to bless us and guide us as we walk with him in this relationship.

Yes, when we stumble and sin, God hates it.

Yes, God hasn't taken back the simple, clear statement: "The soul who sins is the soul who will die" (Ezekiel 18:4).

But for you and I - who know the good news of the saving work of Jesus, who walk in a relationship with God through faith, who have been brought into this relationship with God, we walk in freedom and joy - as the psalmist says, "I love to run in the paths of your commands for you have set my heart free!" (Psalm 119:32).  God is not a sir to us.

And that's why I cringe when my kids call me sir.  I'm not saying you're wrong if you want your kids to address you as 'sir' or 'ma'am.'  But here's what I want and pray as I father my kids.  I want to reflect and show my Father's love to my kids.  I want them to know that I'm their dad regardless of their obedience or disobedience, just like God does for me.  I do long for them to respect and obey me as we walk together toward heaven.  But not because I'm "sir," but because I'm "dad."  God grant that to us as we walk with our Father until we join him in heaven.

For the Sunday School teachers: 

There are a lot of ways to approach this section of God's Word and the challenge is this, even in just studying the 10 Commandments we have far more than can be covered in a 45 minute lesson.  Help the kids imagine the setting and the scene in chapter 19-20.  The scene and image is fearful and terrifying, yet at the same time when the people tremble God says, "Don't be afraid."

Perhaps, a focus on the first commandment can suffice here.  God demands that he is the only God in the signs he gives his people around the mountain; God commands that they have no other gods; but then they go and do it anyway when they worship the golden calf.  We studied the first commandment for three weeks at AF Kids - challenge the kids to see if they know it AND the what does this mean? (Do you know it?).  We've been doing the second command for the last two weeks - can they do that one?  The meaning is harder for that one.

Have fun with this one.  The sights and sounds on Mount Sinai and then afterwards are amazing.

God - a giver or a taker?

As we begin a conversation about giving and offerings, we have to be able to answer this question: Is God a giver or a taker?  If God is demanding, requiring, taking from us, then offerings will be difficult, painful, and hard to give. We will give them with a duplicitous heart because we’re holding something back for ourselves.  We’re giving with tight fists (when God told his people to give with open hands); then, we’re not giving with a single-mindedness.

Is God a giver or a taker?  All gods of this world, all gods that men have created are takers.  Mammon is a taker.  Ecclesiastes explains how Mammon and the pursuit of stuff is a taker.  It takes our every waking moment to gather it; it takes our every waking moment of desiring it; it takes every moment so that we don’t really get to enjoy it; and then, sometimes, it takes what we have away (think of recession - so many people thought that they had made it when things were good; they bought houses bigger than their wallets and those houses were taken from them.  Every god of every false religion is the same.

We can’t walk through this discussion without realizing that God's law does make demands of us.  To the one man who worshipped Mammon and found in that god is joy and pleasure, God demanded his life.  “This very night your life will demanded of you?  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself” (Lk 12:20).  And in that sense, God is a taker.  

But is he really?  Is he really asking anything of us?  No, because it’s all his to begin with.  Everything that we are and have is his.  “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1).  “The Lord gave and the Lord took away, may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job).

It is the very nature of God to give. He gave Adam and Eve his image in the garden.  He gave them the rule, control, and care for all of creation.  It was all given to them.  Even after they sinned against them, it was God’s nature to give them a promise of rescue from the demands for justice - the taking of their life.  He took life from Another in the place of their own life; he pictured that in the taking of life from a passover lamb, an innocent, blemish free lamb.  He did it in the person of his Son, whose life he demanded (Isaiah 53:10 - “though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin.”).  This is what God demanded.  This is what God took.

But that’s why he gave!  He GAVE his Son (John 3:16) so that he might GIVE eternal life to all who might believe.  God is a giver of the most extreme kind, crazy, extreme, overflowing gifts.  Even his own Son.  And then more on top of more.  “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16).

Deliverance - "The Story" (chapter 4)

Slavery had and continues to have a really negative connotations in our country.  Without spending much time to discuss that here, we could perhaps boil it all down to this: people, specifically slave owners, treated their slaves very unjustly, unfairly, and even extremely harshly.  This inhumane treatment of people is certainly not justified.  You can make your own list.  What does it include?  Why does slavery has such negative connotations?

Yet, it remains true that we all find ourselves trapped and even enslaved by sin, by temptations, by this vice or by that vice. There are all things, even sinful things, that we find ourselves doing - we wish we could stop but we find out that we're slaves.

The people of Israel found themselves as slaves literally as slaves! They father, Joseph, had literally been a savior for Egypt, but now they were slaves and in need of a Savior. Read chapter 1 of Exodus to discover how bad the conditions of their slavery had become.

God rescued them.  He sent Moses.  He sent plagues.  He showed his power.  He parted the waters of the Red Sea.  Pause to ponder God's rescue and God's salvation.  Keep reading from Exodus 2 - 18 and just list the ways that God rescued his people (even though and especially when they didn't deserve it).

Pay close attention because the way God rescued his people becomes a shadow of the way God rescued us.  The parallels to the salvation God worked for us through Jesus pile up in front of us.  

"Out of Egypt I called my son" - he was talking about his people, Israel; he was talking about his Son, our Lord Jesus whom he called out of Egypt after the threat of Herod was over.  

"Sacrifice a year, old, blemish free lamb and paint it's blood over the door so that the angel of death will passover" - he was talking about the way his people would be spared from the final plague, the death of the first born; he was talking about his Son, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" so that the angel of death passes over us too!

The Israelites were free from slavery. We're free from sin, from death, from hell.  Read John 8:31-32 and celebrate, yes, give thanks for the freedom we have in Christ.

Read Romans 8:1-4 and ponder the freedom from sin that we have, even though it still wants to enslave it every day.  How does this freedom from sin set us free to really live?

Especially for Sunday School teachers: What will you emphasize as you cover chapter 4 of "The Story," 18 chapters from the beginning of Exodus?  Let me suggest a few ways to focus so the kids can see God's deliverance - 1) Show them the slavery and then show them how God used Moses to set them free, how God used a person to be his instrument to free them; 2) Show them the slavery and then show them how God used the 10 plagues to show the Israelites and Egypt that he was the only God whom they should serve.  It can be a lesson that focuses on the first commandment.  Google this and do some research - each plague was aimed at one of Egypt's so-called gods. 3) Show them the destruction and power of slaver, but then highlight God's power.  See if they can identify God's power in this whole account.

This is an awesome section of God's Word that deserves our careful attention. God bless our meditation on it.