Sin Liveth In Me!

Hebrews 10:14-18; Romans 7:14-25; I do not do what I want to do for sin lives in me. Yet, it is by Christ's sacrifice on the cross that I am forgiven my sin.

Serve The One True God

Deuteronomy 6:4

 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  (Joshua 24:15 NRSV)

There are many gods. We will all serve someone or something. Some serve money; others serve heroes of this world; some serve their own ego. But, there is only one who is the creator of heaven and earth. There is only one God that can save us from the rest of these false gods. There is only one God who can save us from ourselves. Who or what is it that we serve?

In Jesus' sermon on the mountain he said: “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Matt 6:24)

It is much easier for me to understand someone telling me that they serve a god other than the Triune God; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit than if they tell me that they are Christians and serve the one true God and do not. The way one lives; the way one gives; the way one worships can be very good indicators of who or what each of us serves. if while one serves in the name of Jesus; but, it is their own ego that is in the limelight then I have to wonder what or who it is that they are really serving. Who or what is going to profit by their actions? Will it be the Kingdom or the person's ego or pocketbook? I am human and so I wonder about these things.

Jesus also said in his sermon on the mountain: 

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. 

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ 

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”  (Matthew 7:20-27)

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Son

He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!”
                                                                        Luke 20:9-16 NRSV

The tenants refused to give a portion of their harvest to the landlord to pay the rent. They assaulted the collection agents, so the landlord sent his son thinking they might respect his son. Yeah, right! They rejected the son, too. They killed the son! They killed him thinking that they would then receive the land as their inheritance. It just doesn't work that way.

God sent many prophets to help guide the people in loving and serving the Lord. They didn't want to hear it. They wanted what they wanted. They killed the prophets. God sent his only begotten Son. We killed him, too. Rejecting the Son doesn't get us what we want. It doesn't earn us any inheritance. In the end, anyone who rejects the Son will be crushed.

There is only one way to the Kingdom of God, into the inheritance promised by the Father through the Son and that is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

God's Peace - Pr. J 

Hide From The Lord?

   I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
   Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Rev 6:12-17 NIV)

The sixth seal is opened and the earth and skies are shaken. The world as we know it is devastated in the face of the wrath of God. Not only are the earth and heavens shaken; but, the people are shaken at the knowledge of the coming of the Lord. They would hide beneath the falling mountains if they could. They would rather be crushed to death than to face the Lord God in the day of His judgment.

John's visions are horrifying to those who do not worship the Lord; to those who know that they have turned their backs on God. There is still time. We don't know how much time. Turn to the Lord. Love and serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and soul and mind. The visions of the end can be terrifying for those who do not worship the one true God. But, for those who do, we know that all things are for the good of those who love Him; for His Kingdom comes

God's Peace - Pr. J

Slave Or Child

     When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”

     So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.  (Gen 47:18-20 NIV)

During the great famine, Pharaoh fed everyone in Egypt thru Joseph.  However; there was a cost to the Egyptians, everything they have now belongs to Pharaoh.  They trade their land and even themselves for food.  They now have to pay 1/5 of their harvests to Pharaoh in order to eat and live.  Every time I mention that scripture speaks of a tithe; that is, 1/10 of all we have should be given freely to the Lord's work, I get some really strange looks. Those looks are not usually pleasant looks. The tithe; however, is not demanded. Whatever is given to the Lord's work should be given freely and with joy. But, Pharaoh actually demanded more than 1/5 or 1/10 of the people.  Pharaoh made them slaves. We are not slaves to God. He has made us his own children. We are free to love and serve him. We are never forced or coerced.

All the gifts that God gives to us are freely given. But, sometimes (okay often) we neglect or ignore those gifts. We do not use them wisely. We fritter them away. Sometimes, we don't use them at all. It is sort of like giving some children really nice gifts. Often parents are not even thanked for the gifts that they give their children. It is just expected that parents will give generously because that's what parents are supposed to do. Since the children did not earn it, they don't take care of it and sometimes don't even use or play with it even if they may have begged for it in advance.  However; if they have to work for it; if it costs them something then it seems that the gift is a little more precious in their site.  Why is it that we think so little of the gifts give to us and so much more of what we earn with our own hands?  I am not suggesting that we should not work; just wondering why it is that so often we think so little of the gifts that God gives to us that we would prefer to sell ourselves into servitude to this world to get the things of this world. Will we trade our (abundant) lives as children of God to be slaves to those things that we think will give us temporary life (abundance) in this world? Or... will we receive the freely given food that will give us eternal life? Slave to the world or child of God? That is the question!

May God help us to receive the free gift of life given to us through Jesus the Christ and to share that free gift with others.

God's Peace - Pr. J

His Will; Not Ours

I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8

God's law is within the hearts of all who believe. But; we, being sinful human beings, sometimes let our own desires override the law of God. We would prefer to do our will rather than His and sadly, trouble naturally ensures.

We are not alone in this struggle of doing God's will and leaving our own wills behind us. St. Paul, one of the most faithful men that I know of, struggled with this as well. He wrote to the Romans (7:21-25 NIV) "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

The struggle between doing God's will and fulfilling our own egos will continue. But, for the sake of all of God's people, we ought not give up the fight. We pray often that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven so let us be confident that it will be done trusting in Him to help us on the way.

And, as we go on, let us always give thanks to God, who delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J