One Ring To Rule Them All

Okay, shameless quote from Lord of the Rings there.  As you read through Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul writes in there about Jesus being in the position of authority, where all things are under His feet, and where He is far above all rule and power and authority.  Jesus sits in the position of authority!  He is the one to whom all things will report, whether now, or when all things in the creation come to their completion.  Nothing happens without His oversight, which raises a lot of good questions for us Christians to ponder.

As we consider this, I would actually like to guide us back to another place in the earthly life of Jesus.  It is recorded in both Matthew and Luke's accounts of the Gospels.  Essentially, Jesus fasts for 40 days following His baptism.  Satan then comes to tempt Him.  In the course of the temptations, one of these involves bowing down to Satan and worshipping him, and in doing so, Jesus could have all the kingdoms of the world and their glory at His disposal.  In other words, Jesus could basically dictate the way this world would run and operate.  Everything could happen according to the pattern that Jesus would set. 

I've thought about this temptation a lot in recent years.  At first, I approached it in this way.  "No way would I want that.  How could that even be a temptation to Jesus?"  But then, I started thinking about what this temptation implied.  Jesus could arrange things where no one would ever suffer from injustice.  Jesus could create a world where things like the sex trade simply wouldn't happen.  Jesus could rule over the world according to His goodness and kindness, and legislate things according to His will and design for life.  What could be better, right?  Just imagine a world where we didn't have to worry about the wicked getting away with it, and the just being unfairly trampled upon.

Except that it would cost all of us our eternity with God.  And to think.  Jesus chose, for us, a life that would be filled with pain and suffering, all so that we could have the hope and possibility of being with Him forever.  It doesn't seem right.  After all, if Jesus has all authority now, couldn't He just do that?  Why doesn't He do that now?  And yet, it seems that He chooses a course that involves our pain and suffering.

The thing is, He knew that He Himself would bear all that pain and suffering.  Yes, sadly, some would be lost along the way.  But not all.  There would be those who would hear of what Jesus did for them, and who would believe, and who would then be part of His everlasting kingdom.  And that puts the pain and suffering of this world into a new perspective.  It's only temporary.  There is something much greater that lies ahead.  No, it may not make life in this world any easier to deal with, but we face that future with a great deal of hope.  Jesus is going to make all things right for us.

So yes, He can have authority over all things, knowing that, when they all bow down to Him, He will get to grant eternal life to some who come out of it.  And that is why we can rest in His hands, even when pain and suffering come along.  Jesus knew of what lay ahead, and has told us that He has gone there to prepare a place for us.  I don't know about you, but that's the kind of authority that I want someone to have, and in whose hands I want to be.

The Beautiful Bride

In Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul talks about hearing about the faith the Ephesians have in Christ Jesus, and in their love for their fellow saints.  Paul then also talks about how he is thankful for all of them, and how he constantly remembers them in his prayers.  And as I read these words, one thing has struck me time and time again.  Paul is writing these words about his fellow saints in Christ Jesus.  Paul is writing about the Church, that which, in other contexts, God calls His Bride, or the Bride of Christ Jesus.

That's a jolt for many of us as we think about God's Church.  I hate to say it, but there are way too many times that we don't see God's Church as the beautiful bride of Christ that she really is.  For those of us on the inside, we look at our fellow members and saints, and we see their ugliness.  We point out their faults and flaws.  We far too often talk negatively about them, more often than not behind their backs rather than to their faces.  And then, when they really mess up, we let them know it, regardless of who may hear what we have to say.  We fail to see the beautiful bride of Christ in our fellow saints.

Those on the outside of God's bride also fail to see the beautiful bride for who she is.  They see a group of people that, in recent years, they feel is best described as hypocritical, homophobic, bigoted, and the like.  They also see the warts and the flaws and the sins, and focus on those in their descriptions of the Bride of Christ.  (Sad to say, way too often we have given them cause for having these descriptions, but that's for another post on another day.)

That's why the words of Paul here should really hit us square in the forehead.  Paul is thankful for each and every one of them.  Yes, let me say that again.  Paul is thankful for each and every saint who is a part of the Body of Christ Jesus.  He is thankful for them, even as he knows that they are not perfect.  He is thankful for them, even though they come with warts and flaws and sins.  In fact, because they are the bride of Christ, he does not cease to give thanks for them.

As you consider your local Body of Christ, how thankful are you for those brothers and sisters, for those fellow saints?  Do you find it much easier to grumble and gripe about them than to be thankful for them?  Then maybe they aren't the ones who need the heart change.  Maybe it's you.  Yes, you should and can expect sin and fault and flaw in your fellow saints.  But that should in no way take away from your thankfulfness that God has made them part of the Body of Christ, as His bride.

If we looked at all of our fellow saints as the Bride of Christ, would our eyes be opened to seeing them in new ways?  Would we, perhaps, leave that lingering hurtful word unspoken?  Would we reach out a hand to help, rather than storing up judgment within?  Would we desire to speak the truth to them in love, rather than in letting them continue their hurtful ways, which are also destroying their repuation?  Isn't that what we would do if it were our bride?  How much more so if it's the Bride of Christ Jesus, the beautiful bride, that we are talking about?

A Little Comic Relief

Here is another little comic strip to go with the Bible readings we will hear this coming Sunday at Oak Road Lutheran Church, specifically, Matthew 10:21-33.

Just remember, you can speak God's truth without being a jerk about it!

YOLO, or YOLF?

Some of you who read the title of this post may know what the first set of initials means.  Others may not.  For those who don't, YOLO is a fairly new acronym that stands for, "You only live once."  It has become the byline for explaning why you do some of the things you do.  For example, someone may go skydiving, and caption it, "YOLO!"  Others may drive a speeding car down a windy mountain road at high speeds with the same caption.  In short, it can be used as a tagline to explain why you may do something risky, or even something that is just plain dumb.

After all, if you only live once, you might as well try to make the most out of it, right?  And if you happen to go out in a blaze of glory, well, at least you went out doing something you loved, or something you wanted to.  Believe me, there is a lot of that kind of thinking out there today.  It becomes the reason for not saving money, for doing careless things, as well as those bucket list kind of things.

But for those of us who approach the world from a biblical point of view, we also recognize that it is not, in fact, "YOLO."  Yes, God only gives us one life to live in this world, where we inhabit a body created by Him that nonetheless also has the taint of sin attached.  However, God also speaks about a new life, one which has its beginnings in us at baptism, and which comes to its full realization in the resurrection of the dead and when we are brought into the eternal kingdom, where death no longer intrudes.

In other words, YOLF!  Only, my acronym here is "You only live forever!"  Sure, that may mean that we can take calculated risks for God as we live our lives in this world, knowing that we have something even better in store ahead of us.  We don't treat this life carelessly; after all, it is still God's gift to us.  But we also remember that we have something better in store for us.

Here's the thing about YOLO.  The center of YOLO is the self.  YOU do what YOU want because it's YOUR life to do with what YOU want.  Do you see the center of that more clearly now?  It becomes fully focused on YOU, the self.  And for those of us who approach this world from a biblical perspective, we know that's not the one God calls for.

Our lives are lived to the glory of God's grace, to honor the name of Jesus, to following the leading and prompting of the Spirit that God has put in us at our baptism.  That life is lived in honor of God, in following His will and design for life.  And we find that the extention of that is a life lived in love for our neighbor.

In other words, our lives find their fulfillment, not in doing whatever we can to get the most out of this life, but in doing what we can to see that others get the most out of this life.  And, as those others do the same thing, they serve us in seeing that we get the most out of this life.  And then, we remember that we get to do this perfectly with God forever when the new life fully comes!  Wow!  That's an incredible thought to consider.  And I don't know about you, but it makes me want to risk for God, not just to please myself more. 

Will the Perfect Person Raise Their Hand?

One thing I have observed about us human beings is that we always want to have ourselves painted in the best possible light.  Even when we may point out our shortcomings, sins, and failings, we do so in a way, quite often, that seeks to show why we couldn't have done it any other way, or even, to make ourselves look better because we're the one who is asking forgiveness, and not the other person.  I've seen this play out in little personal conflicts between people all the way up to how a couple interacts prior to something as devastating as a divorce.

For a moment, I'd like to ask you to read Ephesians 1:1-14.  There is one thing in there that St. Paul writes that kind of bugs me as I read this short section.  He says that God chose us, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (Him being God).  Now, I think this warrants a little attention, as this can easily lead us to misunderstand exactly what Paul is writing here.

There are generally two prevailing truths that fall upon us as we consider God's words and commands concerning our behavior and life.  In Jesus, God has fully and completely made us perfect and sinless in His eyes.  When God sees us, He sees the blood-washing of Jesus on us, and since Jesus is perfect and sinless, that's what God sees.

At the same time, God also sees the reality that exists for us as we still inhabit the body with the sinful nature attached.  That body of sin doesn't line up with God's will and design and commands.  So, when Paul writes something like, be holy and blameless, it serves as a reminder to us in two ways.

First, we are perfect and right in God's eyes because of Jesus.  In our lives, though, the struggle with sin keeps us from being such.  That is why the life of the Christian is one in which we struggle to live up to God's standards and will and design and commands.  We do indeed aim to live perfect and holy lives, realizing that we cannot perfectly do it, and falling on the grace of God in Jesus because of that.  But that doesn't diminish our striving to do what God says, to live according to His will and design.

It is only by God's gracious, unmerited love that we are perfect and holy and blameless in His eyes.  Because that is how God sees us, that's also what we want others to see in us.  We want others to see God's work and grace in us, and so we do try to live according to His will and design.  That also means asking for forgiveness when we fail, and seeking to amend our sinful ways.  It means that we really do take seriously what God says in His will and design for our lives, and working to bring our lives in alignment with that.  We cannot do it perfectly, but our resting place is that Jesus has done it for us.  We're forgiven, even as we strive to live according to God's will and design.

So, in answer to our question, we can all raise our hands, because Jesus has made us perfect, and we can all keep our hands down, because none of us live according to God's will perfectly.  But may we strive, in our Christian lives, to be in line with God, and always be rejoicing that God has taken care of that which we cannot do, in Jesus. 

Adoptions, Inheritances, and Guarantees

First, it probably would be best to start off reading Ephesians 1:1-14.  If need be, you can always to the OakRoadLutheran youtube channel and watch the video from the message for this past Sunday.  It will lend a few interesting insights into the text.

But for today, let's focus on these three words that Paul uses in these verses.  They all speak of an element of God's relationship with us.  First, Paul uses the word adoption.  Now, I think that's a word that we are pretty familiar with.  Adoption gets talked about a lot in our day and age.  It's when a parent or parents decide to bring a child into their family.  Typically, the child is in some fairly unfavorable circumstances, and therefore, the move to this new family is seen as an improvement.

How is God adopting you as His child an improvement in your life?  Perhaps you haven't thought about that too much before.  From one standpoint, we start off life permanently separated from our God, destined to be condemned.  Therefore it's a great improvement that God adopts us into His family.  We might not regularly think about where we were headed prior to being brought into God's family, but when God adopted us, the most significant change to ever enter our life came into being.

Being in God's household means that we have an inheritance.  We are part of God's everlasting reign and kingdom.  Everything that belongs to God belongs to us.  That's because we are now His children.  Think of it, too, from this standpoint.  We spend so much time trying to acquire things to make our lives in this world better.  But, in essence, it's like trying to make the tent you stay in during your weekend camping into your permanent home.  It's going to have to be taken down, and there's something far better that lies ahead.  When we think of the inheritance that we have in store, it puts our need for the things of this world into a better perspective.  Are they helpful and nice?  Sure.  But they sure aren't the end goal of our lives.  And I do think we often need that reminder.

Finally, Paul writes that God has put His Spirit on us as a guarantee.  Since we have been adopted as God's children, we have the inheritance He has prepared for us, and God puts His guarantee into us.  His Holy Spirit lives within us as a guarantee of what lies in store for us.  When we were washed in baptism, God basically put His deposit down on you, and then said, I will claim this one, no doubt about it.  That's the guarantee you have in God.

In what ways do these words impact you?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

When Dark Is The Road Ahead

I recently read an interesting take on that most popular of Psalms, Psalm 23.  Many of you may know it, but it would be worth reading again before you read on in this entry.

Notice, as you work through the Psalm, about the relationship that David describes between himself and God.  At the first, things are good.  God is leading David to green pastures and still waters, and he speaks of God in the third person.  "He leads me...He makes me."  When life is good, so often God becomes third person to us.  He's out there.  He's doing things, but it isn't quite as personal.

But notice how the language changes as the valley of the shadow of death appears.  Though I walk through the valley, YOU are with me.  YOUR rod and YOUR staff, they comfort me.  When life was good, God was third person.  But then, when life gets challenging, when threats appear, suddenly the move is made to God in the second person.  YOU.  As though talking to someone walking along beside, not up there merely watching from above.

It's amazing how dark and difficult times bring out a much closer relationship between God and His people.  And it almost makes you think, especially when you read through much of what God, of what Jesus, tells us about life in this world.  You will have trouble.  Life will not always be good.  And you almost have to wonder if that's not actually some part of God's grand design.

If the dark times draw us closer to God, don't you think He might put them before us so that we become closer to Him?  What more fervent prayer is there than the one Jesus prayed mere hours before He was crucified?  It's hard to be closer to God than when you are walking down the dark road and all you have is Him to lean.

I face occasional dark times in my life and ministry.  What I have found is that they usually end up strengthening my relationship with God in Jesus even more.  I hate going through them.  They are wrenching to the stomach, they lead to sleepless nights, and the like.  However, more often than not, I find myself talking to God at those times even more.  Could it possibly be that He would actually want something like that, so that I would be closer to Him?

Maybe David was on to something.  Maybe the dark times pull us closer to Jesus, and that's where we find ourselves relating to Him even more.  Or, maybe, that's where He reminds us that the price was high that He paid for us, but He sees that price as one well worth paying.

So how do you explain that?

Yesterday I wrote about some of the worldviews that are out there, which seek to explain what happens in this thing called life.  Today, I want to dive in a little bit into what I have seen and observed from God and from His Word that truly seems to explain this the best, and which fits so much of our lives, even as we realize that there is far more going on than we can ever suspect.

Most worldviews struggle to answer the questions like, "Why do bad things happen to good people," and "Why do the wicked get away with so much and seem to prosper?"  These would seem to be anamolies in life, and yet, they happen with such frequency that we always seem to be asking the question.

Believe it or not, God reveals some things that truly do explain that situation far better than many others that I have investigated.  First, God tells us that He created us to be good, in His image.  We were created to perfectly love and care for others.  But then, God tells us that we lost that image by losing our relationship with God when the first man and woman disobeyed God.  Now, we became disconnected from God, and this thing called sin entered our human relationships.

This thing called sin now causes us all kinds of trouble.  We take advantage of each other, we hurt each other.  We want what doesn't belong to us, and we're not content with what we have.  Some of the problem is right there inside of us.  And then, God tells us that there are outside forces also at work.  Satan and his followers look to latch on to that inborn trouble spot and draw us even further away. 

Yet, the foundation of God's will and design for life were still alive in us.  That is found in the rules, or laws, of God.  Inherently, we know it's wrong to murder, or to steal.  Sure, the definitions of some of those rules may be different from one culture to another, but the essence of them is still the same.  You don't steal your buddy's wife, or stuff.  You don't just stick a knife into someone if they tick you off.  And there are times where we still respond appropriately to that design that is written into our lives.

Likewise, we also know that, if we tend to treat others one way, they will respond in somewhat of a like manner.  When we're kind to others, they have a tendency to be kind to us.  If we're a jerk to others, we probably shouldn't be surprised that they don't like us.  And yes, God does address all of these in His Word.

That's a big part of the reason why I hold so firmly to what God tells us in His Word.  It makes sense.  Sure, it's helpful that there are real places that correspond to what the Bible says, and it's great that archaeology has proven some of the Biblical facts.  But, in a sense, what God says just really does accurately describe life.  And that, at least for me, speaks volumes about why I should listen and follow in this particular way.

That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles

I find some of the worldviews out there fascinating.  I won't say that I'm drawn to them, but I find their particular approach to why things happen fascinating.  We all want to know why the things that happen to us in life happen.  We want to know and understand if there is some element of it that we can control, and if there are things out of our control, then who exactly is controlling them?  And I truthfully find such views of this fascinating, because they point out that we humans really do want to make sense of things.

The thing that I have noticed is that a lot of these views may sound appealing, but may not necessarily be the most helpful.  Let's say, for example, the worldview according to karma.  Karma says that what you do has an impact on what happens to you.  What goes around comes around.  So, if you are a very nice person, then that kindness and niceness will be returned to you.  Likewise, if you're a mean person, then mean things will happen to you.

Now, there does seem to be a rather large hole in this idea.  If you are a typically good person, then what does it suggest if something bad happens to you?  If you are a mean person, but good thing regularly come your way (likely because people are afraid of upsetting you), then how does karma explain that?  It doesn't really have an answer.

There's another view out there that basically says that what happens, happens.  The Muslim faith tends in this direction, saying that God will do what God will do, and there's nothing to be done about it.  Basically, God could be good to you, or God could be bad to you, but it's not worth complaining about, because it just happens.  But if that's the case, then why is it that you can work hard and change your circumstances, or on the other side of the coin, why can you be well off, but then be lazy and lose it all?  If it's just supposed to happen, then is there any sense in actually trying to do something?

Is that the way the cookie crumbles?  As you can see, there are some holes in these ideas.  Tomorrow, I intend to bring this back to the Christian faith, which seems to actually have an answer to these matters, even if it's not always one that might think. 

On The Lighter Side

There is a lot of joy that comes in ministering in the name of Jesus.  Far too often, we focus on the hardships, the sins of the people, and where the problems are.  But make no mistake, as God re-creates us in the waters of baptism, that new creation that emerges and arises before God also has a great deal of joy involved.

One of my particularly joyful areas comes when I get to work with kids.  In fact, I would even say, I really love working with kids before they reach school age.  Some of you may be surprised to learn that I actually worked at a preschool for about three years of my life, and they were some of the most fun times I have had in work and ministry.  Even today, I live for moments when I can surround myself with kids and play with them.

That's not just because I have a very joyful and exuberant two year old girl at home.  I honestly believe that God created me with some kind of gift for interacting with kids of a young age.  I love walking with them, talking with them, playing with them, and just simply being with them.  I often think that, if my career allowed, I would probably invite parents to just drop their young ones off in my office for the day and I would find a great deal of joy in that.  Of course, sermons might be about two minutes long if I were to regularly do that, but who knows, some might even say that would be an improvement!

There is great joy in children.  I don't believe that it was a coincidence that Jesus chose a small child to illustrate the kind of faith He seeks when He addressed His disciples.  Nowhere do you typically see more joy than in the face of a child.  That's the joy that I wish for all of God's people, even as we face the realities and struggles of life.

Can You Speak More Clearly?

Last week, I started a post about the importance of communication.  Life, as it is prone to do at times, got in the way, and prevented me from jumping in again until today.  So we're off once again.

Words carry a great deal of meaning.  In fact, words carry so much meaning that, at times, one word can actually mean several different things.  If you doubt this, go look in a dictionary sometime.  You will often find several different, though related, senses in which the word can be used.  And that right there points us to a communication challenge.  How are the words that I am using being understood by the other?

There have been many times in my life where I thought I was laying things out perfectly clear, only to have someone misunderstand what I said.  While there likely were ways that I hadn't thought things through clearly, I've noticed that it sometimes happens because the words that I used aren't the clearest, or can carry different senses that distract from what I am trying to say.  I try to make those words as clear as possible, but you simply cannot say something in such a way that it cannot be misunderstood.

Can you speak more clearly?  Truly, I think we all strive to do that.  I think we want others to understand what we are trying to say as clearly as possible.  And I have come to believe that our communication gaps often happen, not because we didn't express ourselves clearly, but because what we said was understood in a different way by the person doing the hearing.  If we say one thing, but they hear it as something different from what we intend, we have a gap in communication that needs to be bridged.