Salvation THEN Works

Ephesians 2:1-10
How is one actually saved by God through Jesus Christ? According to the writer of Ephesians, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:8-10). This may seem like a fine distinction but the fact is that the good things that Christians are called to do—justice, righteousness, compassion, hospitality, worship, and praise to name just a few––are not how we earn God’s love, they are how we respond to it. A life lived in faithful obedience is the thank-you note we write to God for the gift of grace that we receive.

But we are to have faith in Jesus Christ, right? That must mean we have to make some sort of decision or commitment to God’s will in order to be in relationship with God. Well, yes and no. As we have just read, faith “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…,” so yes, we must believe in God through Jesus Christ, but the only way that happens is when God makes it possible.

Does that mean that God is actively keeping some folks from believing? If that is true, it would not be as alien to scripture as one might think. The gospels of John (12:39-40) and Matthew (13:14-15) and the book of Acts (28:25-28) all quote the book of Isaiah which says, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend, keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed” (6:9-10). Ultimately, though, salvation is God’s decision and God’s alone, and not something we can readily determine about others. Those who do believe, who have received faith as a gift, must assume that a part of the Christian calling is to live and share the good news of Jesus Christ with the hope that others may come to recognize God’s activity in their own lives. But we are not entitled to make assumptions about who God is willing or unwilling to call to faith.

The writer of Ephesians looked at the world, the people who accepted the good news of Jesus Christ and those who did not, looked at Gentiles who believed Jesus to be the Son of God and at Jews who did not, and came to the Spirit-let realization that faith is a far more complex issue that some would suggest. Yet it is never something that can be won or earned or secured through our own works; it is, first and foremost, a grace-filled gift from God, one by which we may be amazed, but one for which we are led to say thank you by doing the will of God.

Prayer: Lord, in you alone rests our hope and salvation and from you alone comes the gift of grace. May all people come to know your love and to respond to your gracious work in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Whose Glory?

John 12:36b-43

Why did some of the leaders of the people refrain from opening confessing their faith in Jesus? According to John’s gospel it was because “…they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:43). This is a sad commentary but it is one that deserves careful consideration in our daily living, for we, too, run the risk of being swayed by our own need for approval or even praise. I think of dogs in particular who can be trained to act in certain ways with the use of praise. Human beings are a ways up the ladder from dogs, of course, but we sometimes find ourselves responding to the same forms of motivation.

God offers a form of glory that is not easy to appreciate in purely human terms. For one thing it calls for patience and hope because God’s glory does not come in the form of instant gratification. For another thing God’s glory is impossible for us to manipulate. By saying certain things or excelling in certain activities, humans can attract significant adulation. God cannot be swayed and certainly cannot be fooled by what we do or who we say we are.

Given the choice between human glory and the glory that comes from God, many will be led astray and choose what they can see and feel in the present life while disregarding the promises of the life of come. Even those who come to recognize the truth in Jesus may fall away when faced with the challenges of discipleship as opposed to what the world offers as normative. The choice is there to be made. Whose glory do we choose?

Prayer: Lord, guide us in our living that we may serve you and seek the glory you offer instead of falling prey to our own egos and our own sinfulness

To Live and Die With Jesus

John 12:9-19

There is an interesting point made in our reading from John gospel today concerning Lazarus. We have not traveled far in the story since Jesus brought his friend back to life, calling him out of the tomb. Now we read, "When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus" (John 12:9-11). These few verses serve to remind us that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to embrace life, but it is also to risk death. Jesus had raised Lazarus, now because of that very relationship there were others who wished to kill the brother of Mary and Martha.

Jesus, who offers eternal life, makes clear that following him also means taking up the cross, denying oneself, looking beyond the present and toward the time to come. Lazarus embodies this dichotomy and in John’s passage in particular he stands as a physical reminder of what Jesus is saying. Life in this world is transitory; death remains a constant feature. And while a relationship with the Son of God is eternal and everlasting it comes at a cost, the willingness to let go of our own desires and to trust the plan that God is bringing to fruition.

Lazarus had become a target because of his relationship with Jesus. Where do we stand? Are we happy to be healed and comforted by the Lord while shunning the weightier expectations of the gospel? Or are we willing to walk with Jesus despite the cost? At this point in John, Lazarus seems to have made a decision. I wonder if we would do the same?

Prayer: Lord, help us to follow you throughout our lives and to live according to your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

All In An Uproar

Esther 1:1-4, 10-19
Acts 17:1-15
John 12: 36b-43
Our three passages today offer stories of conflict or disagreement. A queen refuses a request from her king and is about to be removed. The earliest Christians can’t proclaim the gospel without severe opposition forming, no matter where they go. And even Jesus is met with tepid response or outright unbelief which, according to John, is to fulfill the words of Isaiah. So what’s going on and why the uproar? Isn’t the Bible supposed to be good news?

The Bible is good news. But the world isn’t always a settled, peaceful place. In fact, there always seems to be some source of turmoil somewhere. Illness, wars, disputes, broken homes, crime, economic woes, and worse are constants in our lives and it’s been that way throughout human history. So part of the relevance of scripture is that it, too, contains upheaval and unrest. The Bible isn’t just about still waters and places of rest. It is also about human frailties, about the effects of sin, about the horrors of war, about these and so many other problems that confront us. And while it may not seem so at first, if we pay attention we will see that God’s word is just as meaningful (and maybe more so) in the face of opposition and unrest as it is during times of calm. When I find myself facing turmoil in my life or in the lives of those I love, I can turn to scripture and be reminded that God never gets lost in the shuffle, that grace remains potent and that there is no shortage of love on God’s part.

So, if God is so powerful and grace-filled why is there unrest in the first place, why wars and death, why disagreement and divorce? That all comes from the human side of the equation, from our freewill and our poor choices. There are consequences to what we do or don’t do. And yet, through it all, God refuses to give up on us. A new queen, Esther, will rise to protect her people. Paul and Silas and Timothy move on to new cities and find people who are receptive to their message. Jesus is faithfully obedient, even unto death, that we might be saved from sins. No, God is powerful and grace-filled. So while life presents us with plenty of reasons to be angry, God remains even more steadfast in offering us hope.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the goodness that comes from knowing you and to trust you during times of unrest in our world and in our homes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mining for Wisdom

Job 28:1-28
John 12:27-36a
“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” asks Job (Job 28:12). That’s a question I suspect we all ask from time to time. In fact, I think I must ask it several times a day. Where can wisdom be found? Where is understanding? Why do things seem so mixed up in our world and why does no one seem to have the tools necessary to deal with it all? In his collection entitled Chicago Poems Carl Sandburg included the work “Happiness.”

I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness
And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though I was trying to fool with them…

And as recently as the late 70’s singer Elvis Costello asked, “What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?” He was speaking for a generation of people who had become very disillusioned.

This is why the first several verses from the Job reading today seem so appropriate to me. The struggle to find wisdom and understanding in our lives can be very much like mining for precious metals or gems. Sometimes we must go to out of the way places, or wrestle with difficult ideas, or strain our eyes (or the eyes of our minds) to see what is not readily apparent. But like miners, if we will continue to work and to struggle and to exert the energy we begin to find ourselves enriched by the results, and sometimes in very unexpected ways. The object, of course, is to be come faithfully obedient to God’s will. “While you have the light,” says Jesus, “believe in the light, so that you may become children of light” (John 12:36a). Keep working with scripture, mining the rich veins of spiritual gold and watching for precious gyms of insight. Continue to tread the familiar ground of “old favorites”: Psalms 23 and 121, Micah 6:6-8, John 3:16. But be willing to search in the places that are unfamiliar to you as well, for “all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Ultimately Job offers the answers to the questions. “Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). But to do these things, to learn to fear (or respect) God and to learn how not to do evil are both worth the effort.

Prayer: O God, give us minds to comprehend the depth of your word that it may guide us all our days and help and comfort us throughout our lives. Amen.

Teachable Moments

Acts 16:16-24
John 12:20-26
My son taught me a valuable lesson once when he was about 5. We were driving along when we saw a beautiful rainbow perched above our town. Being the dad that I am I began to explain to my son how sunshine passing through rain causes the light to refract and to display the various colors that it contains. My son grew serious.

“No, Daddy,” he said. “The rainbow didn’t come until the rain had stopped.” He was talking, of course, about the Noah account from Genesis 9, a lesson that he had studied in Sunday School. And while from a strictly scientific viewpoint he was wrong, in terms of faith he was exactly right. It was a teachable moment in which I was the student.

I thought about that conversation with my son when I read our passage from John. Some Greeks have come with the desire to meet Jesus. Jesus instead takes the opportunity to teach his disciples about the cost of discipleship and the events that are about to take place in Jerusalem (John 12:23-24). The whole world seems to be catching on, figuring out that Jesus is up to something special. But Jesus wants to make sure that the disciples at least get the correct message so that when his death and resurrection take place they can look back on his teaching and understand.

In the Acts passage for today Paul gets tired of being “called out” by a slave girl with a spirit of divination. So he drives the spirit out of her. At first this seems like a strange thing to do. At least she knows what she is talking about. She knows that Paul, Silas and the others “are slaves of the Most High God” (Acts 16:17). Is it really so bad to have her saying this? But Paul sees a teachable moment, “and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out of her that very hour” (v. 18). Now the words of the slave girl have been amplified by the actions of Paul, and any who had witnessed this will have a clearer understanding of the forces at work.

Teachable moments can pop up at any time. A 5-year-old boy may set you straight on rainbows and faith, or a Bible story may make things a little clearer for you. Pay attention. These moments are important, and they just may contain the answers to prayer.

Prayer: Lord, help us to learn from the teachable moments that overtake us. Pour out your Spirit upon us and open our hearts and minds to your truth. Amen.

The World Turned Upside Down

John 12:9-19
As an American I grew up believing that when British troops surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia they marched out to the tune “The World Turned Upside Down.” I’ve since learned that this story, like so many others, was too good, or perhaps too appropriate, to be true. No one knows what, if any, tune was played that day as the defeated soldiers put down their arms. John’s gospel, however, presents us with another moment in time when the song “The World Turned Upside Down” would have been almost too appropriate. Indeed, one can almost hear it in the background as one Pharisee turns to another and says, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him” (John 12:19). The “him” in this case is Jesus, of course, and the event to which the Pharisees refer is Palm Sunday.

At the moment the Pharisees needn’t worry. What on Sunday looks like a groundswell of popular support for Jesus will dissipate by Friday of that same week. But the sentiment is apt. What Jesus presents is so radical and stunning that it is difficult for many to accept as God-given. And yet it is God-given. Jesus is the Son of God and in his ministry, as in his entry into Jerusalem, we find a new understanding or retelling of God’s will. Everything God has done has led up to this moment, but the folks who should appreciate it the most are looking in a different direction. They are as surprised as anyone to see that “the world has gone after (Jesus).”

The Pharisees’ misunderstanding remains a danger for us today. Just when we think we know what God is doing and maybe even why, just when we have proof text-ed our way to a sense of righteousness or maybe complacency, we are likely to be shaken by a startling new understanding. How could we have missed it? we might ask one another. And suddenly we might hear the faint whisper of “The World Turned Upside Down” coming from somewhere in the distance. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to expect the unexpected, to allow for the unallowable. Otherwise we will find ourselves telling God what to do, and not the other way around. Things change, sometimes radically, sometimes slowly, but in any case God continues to challenge us and to surprise us. A baby in a manger, a Son on a tree, an empty tomb, the Spirit run amok…what’s next? Whatever it is we’ll probably feel a little dizzy. That’s what happens when the world turns over.

Prayer: Lord, help us to welcome the new things you do and to live in expectation and hope of your coming reign. In Jesus’ name. Amen.