Colossians 3:18-4:18
Many of us are familiar with the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” This may be no truer than in the life of the Christian community, especially at the time of baptism. Then it is common for promises to be made, pledges to assist in guiding the newly baptized—whether adult or child––as he or she grows and develops in the faith. One verse from our epistle reading for today, while not referring to a child, does affirm the role the “village” of faith plays in encouraging each of its members to live up to her or his calling. “And say to Archippus, ‘See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord’” (Colossians 4:17).
These words of instruction for Archippus would have been read aloud, meaning that he would likely have heard this admonition first hand. But of equal importance is that the wider community know that it has been called on to hold Archippus accountable. What was the task he had been given? We really have no way of knowing, but that really isn’t important at this point. Nearly 2,000 years after the fact, we may assume that the work––whether it was done or not––has long since passed from importance. What has not lost importance is the job given to the wider community. By grace, we are surrounded by women and men who have been charged by God in a variety of ways. Our job is to help them get that work done.
This past Sunday, three young women were recognized by the congregation I serve as they graduate from high school and head toward college in the fall. Part of our duty as a congregation will always be to remind young people to “complete the task that [they] have received in the Lord.” For some, this task will be to serve the church as a minister or other form of leader. For some it will be to respond to the needs of the world in faithful obedience to God. For some it will be as parents. For some, as teachers or as the sort of business people who function with integrity and honor. Whatever the case, the community of faith will always be integral to the growth and development of its members, if only by reminding them to be all that God has created them to be.
Prayer: Lord God, help us to complete the task set before us, that our faithful service may bring honor and glory to your name. Amen.
Showing posts with label Faithful Obedience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faithful Obedience. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
All Day, Every Day
Hebrews 3:12-19
Ask someone if it is Wednesday (for example), and they may answer, “yes, all day.” It’s just one of those things that people say sometimes. Ask the writer of Hebrews if we should encourage one another to live righteously at any given time and the answer might be a verse from our epistle reading for today: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Deuteronomy 3:13). Based on this verse it would appear that exhortation is a full time job for the Christian community. And frankly, it ought to be.
The typical work week for many is five days or about 40 hours (though for others the requirements are a good deal more). The “exhortation week,” as we might call it, is much shorter: one day. Only that one day is whatever we happen to call “today.” Is the writer of Hebrews trying to make a joke of the matter? I doubt it; the subject is far too serious for that. Instead, I think that the importance of the message is being underscored, highlighted, emphasized, lifted up in a manner similar to what I have just done by stringing a number of verbs together to help make my point. Our concern for one another should be an ongoing and constant aspect of life. Faithful obedience to God’s will is the bedrock of the faith and, so long as it is in our power, we must hold each other accountable and nudge each other along the path of true discipleship. It really does take a village to raise a child as the African proverb says, but within the community of faith that work is not done when the child reaches adulthood. The need for guidance remains, and one mark of our regard for each other should be that we take the time to offer such guidance whenever it is needed.
As a pastor, I ask congregants to tell me when they become aware of pastoral concerns even if they assume I already know. I would rather be told twenty times about the same matter than to find out too late that there was someone who needed my help. Exhortation works the same way. I don’t necessarily like having my faults or my failures pointed out to me, but I would really hate being left on my own to deal with my sinfulness without anyone taking the time to show their love and support. The Lord set aside one day out of seven of rest and charged us to use it. But even on that sabbath day we are called to offer encouragement and guidance to one another so that all may live in right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So, being a Christian is a full time job and being part of the community of faith allows for no down time. It is just that important.
Prayer: God of love, help us to care for one another and to encourage one other to live in faithful obedience to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Ask someone if it is Wednesday (for example), and they may answer, “yes, all day.” It’s just one of those things that people say sometimes. Ask the writer of Hebrews if we should encourage one another to live righteously at any given time and the answer might be a verse from our epistle reading for today: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Deuteronomy 3:13). Based on this verse it would appear that exhortation is a full time job for the Christian community. And frankly, it ought to be.
The typical work week for many is five days or about 40 hours (though for others the requirements are a good deal more). The “exhortation week,” as we might call it, is much shorter: one day. Only that one day is whatever we happen to call “today.” Is the writer of Hebrews trying to make a joke of the matter? I doubt it; the subject is far too serious for that. Instead, I think that the importance of the message is being underscored, highlighted, emphasized, lifted up in a manner similar to what I have just done by stringing a number of verbs together to help make my point. Our concern for one another should be an ongoing and constant aspect of life. Faithful obedience to God’s will is the bedrock of the faith and, so long as it is in our power, we must hold each other accountable and nudge each other along the path of true discipleship. It really does take a village to raise a child as the African proverb says, but within the community of faith that work is not done when the child reaches adulthood. The need for guidance remains, and one mark of our regard for each other should be that we take the time to offer such guidance whenever it is needed.
As a pastor, I ask congregants to tell me when they become aware of pastoral concerns even if they assume I already know. I would rather be told twenty times about the same matter than to find out too late that there was someone who needed my help. Exhortation works the same way. I don’t necessarily like having my faults or my failures pointed out to me, but I would really hate being left on my own to deal with my sinfulness without anyone taking the time to show their love and support. The Lord set aside one day out of seven of rest and charged us to use it. But even on that sabbath day we are called to offer encouragement and guidance to one another so that all may live in right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So, being a Christian is a full time job and being part of the community of faith allows for no down time. It is just that important.
Prayer: God of love, help us to care for one another and to encourage one other to live in faithful obedience to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Not So Different
Galatians 1:1-17
Our reading from Galatians today includes Paul’s reference to himself as one called, not by any human institution, by God to minister: “Paul an apostle — sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead….” Paul’s point is that he received his authority as an apostle directly from Jesus Christ in an encounter on the road to Damascus and not from any human source. Paul had reason to make such a strong statement. His confrontation with the risen Christ had wrenched him free from his previous life, one spent persecuting the church and imprisoning its members. And while Paul’s experience differentiated him from some like Stephen who had been ordained as a deacon by the early church, it also served to heighten the responsibility or sense of purpose that Paul must have felt. God had called him through the presence of Jesus Christ, and had led him to a new and challenging way of life.
On the other hand, when we look at the nature of the Christian faith, at the meaning of discipleship, we may find that Paul was not really all that different from any other believer. There is a traditional Cuban hymn text that underscores the importance of responding to God’s will in our lives, regardless of what that may be.
Sent by the Lord am I;
my hands are ready now
to make the earth the place
in which the kingdom comes.
The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain
into a world of love, of justice and of peace.
The task is mine to do, to set it truly free.
Oh, help me to obey; help me to do your will.
We all have been called, set aside, commissioned to serve God by sharing the good news of the gospel with the world. Throughout history, God has chosen men and women to minister in the world, to share the love of the gospel with those who are suffering or alone. We may not experience call in the dramatic fashion that Paul did, but God has continually set aide folks like you and me to live lives of faithful obedience, to do the work that angels can not, work that is ours and ours alone.
Paul had reason to point to his conversion to Christianity and his work as an apostle. But we, too, have work to do and we, too, are called to “make the earth the place in which the kingdom comes.” In this way we are not so different from Paul.
Prayer: God of grace, help us to serve you faithfully in all we do, that your will may be done and the entire world be filled with your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our reading from Galatians today includes Paul’s reference to himself as one called, not by any human institution, by God to minister: “Paul an apostle — sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead….” Paul’s point is that he received his authority as an apostle directly from Jesus Christ in an encounter on the road to Damascus and not from any human source. Paul had reason to make such a strong statement. His confrontation with the risen Christ had wrenched him free from his previous life, one spent persecuting the church and imprisoning its members. And while Paul’s experience differentiated him from some like Stephen who had been ordained as a deacon by the early church, it also served to heighten the responsibility or sense of purpose that Paul must have felt. God had called him through the presence of Jesus Christ, and had led him to a new and challenging way of life.
On the other hand, when we look at the nature of the Christian faith, at the meaning of discipleship, we may find that Paul was not really all that different from any other believer. There is a traditional Cuban hymn text that underscores the importance of responding to God’s will in our lives, regardless of what that may be.
Sent by the Lord am I;
my hands are ready now
to make the earth the place
in which the kingdom comes.
The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain
into a world of love, of justice and of peace.
The task is mine to do, to set it truly free.
Oh, help me to obey; help me to do your will.
We all have been called, set aside, commissioned to serve God by sharing the good news of the gospel with the world. Throughout history, God has chosen men and women to minister in the world, to share the love of the gospel with those who are suffering or alone. We may not experience call in the dramatic fashion that Paul did, but God has continually set aide folks like you and me to live lives of faithful obedience, to do the work that angels can not, work that is ours and ours alone.
Paul had reason to point to his conversion to Christianity and his work as an apostle. But we, too, have work to do and we, too, are called to “make the earth the place in which the kingdom comes.” In this way we are not so different from Paul.
Prayer: God of grace, help us to serve you faithfully in all we do, that your will may be done and the entire world be filled with your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Do We Feel the Need to Defend God?
Note: This post concerns a passage from the daily readings for January 15, 2013. Due to technical difficulties I was unable to post it until today.
Isaiah 40:25-31
I find myself wondering sometimes about the need to take up for God, to defend God, whether that’s a task that I as a minister or even as a person of faith should undertake. Does God need me to somehow defend or protect the divine name? On the one hand, I believe I have been called through Jesus Christ into a relationship with God and that I bear the responsibility to live in faithful obedience to God’s will. But on the other hand, does God really need my protection against even the most cynical and sinful aspects of our culture? Is that what faithfulness is all about? Is God really that vulnerable?
The prophet Isaiah has a word for us on the subject. “Have you not known?” he asks. “Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). For Isaiah there is no question as to the roles God plays: as Creator, bringing the world into being; as Sustainer, strengthening the powerless and empowering the weak; and as Redeemer, answering “those who wait for the Lord” with what they need in order to rise above their challenges. In other words, God does not need me—or anyone—to offer protection or to somehow safeguard the presence of God. Indeed, it is God who is at work in the world, who creates us, sustains us, redeems us.
The reason I bring this up is that from time to time I have become aware of Christians who act as though God is being beaten or overwhelmed in the public sphere. Their concerns often center around particular social views that they believe are in opposition of God’s will. They may very well be correct. Much of what happens in our world is ungodly. The danger is that when we build a wall around God and what we perceive to be God’s intentions we are really setting limits on our own spiritual growth, our own willingness to be led by God to a new understanding of what it means to be God’s people. That’s when we must seriously wrestle with the difference between where we think God may be leading us and where we feel certain God would never go.
This is not an easy problem to solve, but I believe it is made somewhat easier when we stop defining God’s limits, stop trying to defend God and what we feel God is all about, and instead allow God to defend us, and to lead us, and change us, and transform us. As Isaiah might say, once we decide to “wait on the Lord,” we will find God lifting us to new heights and new perspectives according to God’s will.
Prayer: Almighty God, lead us in your path according to your will and give us the strength to answer your call in our lives, wherever it may lead us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Isaiah 40:25-31
I find myself wondering sometimes about the need to take up for God, to defend God, whether that’s a task that I as a minister or even as a person of faith should undertake. Does God need me to somehow defend or protect the divine name? On the one hand, I believe I have been called through Jesus Christ into a relationship with God and that I bear the responsibility to live in faithful obedience to God’s will. But on the other hand, does God really need my protection against even the most cynical and sinful aspects of our culture? Is that what faithfulness is all about? Is God really that vulnerable?
The prophet Isaiah has a word for us on the subject. “Have you not known?” he asks. “Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). For Isaiah there is no question as to the roles God plays: as Creator, bringing the world into being; as Sustainer, strengthening the powerless and empowering the weak; and as Redeemer, answering “those who wait for the Lord” with what they need in order to rise above their challenges. In other words, God does not need me—or anyone—to offer protection or to somehow safeguard the presence of God. Indeed, it is God who is at work in the world, who creates us, sustains us, redeems us.
The reason I bring this up is that from time to time I have become aware of Christians who act as though God is being beaten or overwhelmed in the public sphere. Their concerns often center around particular social views that they believe are in opposition of God’s will. They may very well be correct. Much of what happens in our world is ungodly. The danger is that when we build a wall around God and what we perceive to be God’s intentions we are really setting limits on our own spiritual growth, our own willingness to be led by God to a new understanding of what it means to be God’s people. That’s when we must seriously wrestle with the difference between where we think God may be leading us and where we feel certain God would never go.
This is not an easy problem to solve, but I believe it is made somewhat easier when we stop defining God’s limits, stop trying to defend God and what we feel God is all about, and instead allow God to defend us, and to lead us, and change us, and transform us. As Isaiah might say, once we decide to “wait on the Lord,” we will find God lifting us to new heights and new perspectives according to God’s will.
Prayer: Almighty God, lead us in your path according to your will and give us the strength to answer your call in our lives, wherever it may lead us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Turns Out, the Older Brother Was Right
Luke 17:1-10
Remember the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son? Remember how, when his younger brother had come crawling back from a life of dissipation, their father threw the young man a party? The older brother was furious. “Listen!” he told his father. “For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” (Luke 15:29-30). If, like me, you have always felt a sense of solidarity with the older brother, then you will probably be challenged by Jesus’ words from today’s gospel reading. “Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'" (17:9-10). To me this sounds a lot like what was expected of the older brother. And this is where the gospel––good news that it is––becomes very difficult for some people––even Christians––to accept.
When have we done enough? Is doing what we are told the limit of God’s expectations for us? Well, as the people of God we are told to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give up our coats as well as our shirts (Matthew 5:38-41). The older brother may have worked like a slave, but that was his job description. And it is ours as well. To live lives of faithful obedience as disciples of Jesus Christ is to put all we are into doing the work of the kingdom, is to recognize that everything we have belongs God and to God’s purpose for it, is to accept the challenge of doing for others regardless of the personal cost. In short, it is hard work. But it is what Jesus did, and it is what our Lord challenges us to do as we follow him. Why would anyone accept such conditions? The simple answer is that we have been called to serve and set aside by God to do things that not everyone can or will do. We’d love to have the party, but it waits for another day. Now our joy comes from realizing that what we do serves the greatest purpose imaginable. We are agents of God’s word set to work in a world that desperately needs good news. We might think of it in terms of slavery, but we might also see ourselves as doing God’s work simply because it needs to be done.
The older brother was right in what he said to his father. But the father spoke a greater truth, one to which Jesus returns later in Luke. If we are to serve God faithfully, we must find our joy in that work. For that work itself produces greater joy than we could ever find on our own.
Prayer: Lord, give us the strength we need to serve you all the days of our lives with everything we are and everything that we have. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Remember the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son? Remember how, when his younger brother had come crawling back from a life of dissipation, their father threw the young man a party? The older brother was furious. “Listen!” he told his father. “For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” (Luke 15:29-30). If, like me, you have always felt a sense of solidarity with the older brother, then you will probably be challenged by Jesus’ words from today’s gospel reading. “Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'" (17:9-10). To me this sounds a lot like what was expected of the older brother. And this is where the gospel––good news that it is––becomes very difficult for some people––even Christians––to accept.
When have we done enough? Is doing what we are told the limit of God’s expectations for us? Well, as the people of God we are told to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give up our coats as well as our shirts (Matthew 5:38-41). The older brother may have worked like a slave, but that was his job description. And it is ours as well. To live lives of faithful obedience as disciples of Jesus Christ is to put all we are into doing the work of the kingdom, is to recognize that everything we have belongs God and to God’s purpose for it, is to accept the challenge of doing for others regardless of the personal cost. In short, it is hard work. But it is what Jesus did, and it is what our Lord challenges us to do as we follow him. Why would anyone accept such conditions? The simple answer is that we have been called to serve and set aside by God to do things that not everyone can or will do. We’d love to have the party, but it waits for another day. Now our joy comes from realizing that what we do serves the greatest purpose imaginable. We are agents of God’s word set to work in a world that desperately needs good news. We might think of it in terms of slavery, but we might also see ourselves as doing God’s work simply because it needs to be done.
The older brother was right in what he said to his father. But the father spoke a greater truth, one to which Jesus returns later in Luke. If we are to serve God faithfully, we must find our joy in that work. For that work itself produces greater joy than we could ever find on our own.
Prayer: Lord, give us the strength we need to serve you all the days of our lives with everything we are and everything that we have. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Is God Like Us, Or Are We Like God?
Micah 6:1-8
What sort of lives should we live as we seek to serve God in faithful obedience? That’s a very appropriate question to which the prophet Micah offers two possible answers. We might call the first a human response:
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7).
In other words, if we shower God with gifts won’t the divine favor be poured out upon us? Of course this option assumes that God is like us, susceptible to flattery and prone to self-interest, that God can be bought or influenced by gestures that ultimately cost us nothing. That’s the “God-like-us” option. But Micah offers another, more appropriate response to the question of how we are to live in faithful obedience to God:
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?” (Vs. 6-8).
Call this the “us-like-God” option, the path on which we strive to meet others with the same grace that God has shown us. In the first case, treating God as though God is human, we may as well worship ourselves. But when we allow God to guide us, when we live by what God desires of us, we will find ourselves enriched by the effort and will see the truth of God’s wisdom made manifest. The choice may not always seem obvious, but in so many ways it is crucial that we bend our lives to God’s will and quit trying to make God act like one of us.
Prayer: God of justice, kindness, and holiness, may we live in accordance with your will all the days of our lives and when we fail you, Lord, may we find in your forgiveness the power to try again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
What sort of lives should we live as we seek to serve God in faithful obedience? That’s a very appropriate question to which the prophet Micah offers two possible answers. We might call the first a human response:
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7).
In other words, if we shower God with gifts won’t the divine favor be poured out upon us? Of course this option assumes that God is like us, susceptible to flattery and prone to self-interest, that God can be bought or influenced by gestures that ultimately cost us nothing. That’s the “God-like-us” option. But Micah offers another, more appropriate response to the question of how we are to live in faithful obedience to God:
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?” (Vs. 6-8).
Call this the “us-like-God” option, the path on which we strive to meet others with the same grace that God has shown us. In the first case, treating God as though God is human, we may as well worship ourselves. But when we allow God to guide us, when we live by what God desires of us, we will find ourselves enriched by the effort and will see the truth of God’s wisdom made manifest. The choice may not always seem obvious, but in so many ways it is crucial that we bend our lives to God’s will and quit trying to make God act like one of us.
Prayer: God of justice, kindness, and holiness, may we live in accordance with your will all the days of our lives and when we fail you, Lord, may we find in your forgiveness the power to try again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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