Greetings to you all. I know I have taken basically a month off. However, with finals week and then a two week break, that tends to happen. I did really well on all of my final projects and tests last quarter. I got all A's for the quarter, which thoroughly surprised me with some of the classes I had. Dr. Lessing really liked my exegetical and not only gave me a really high grade on it, but bragged it up in class. I was shocked because I knew my Hebrew was rusty and I never would have dreamed that simple old me could have impressed the great Dr. Lessing. The Lord was with me on that one I guess. Then I had an absolutely wonderful two week break. I spent the first week in Nebraska hunting, seeing friends, and relaxing. I got a decent four by four buck, the biggest buck I have shot yet, and our group got a couple of pretty nice ones. I got to spend some quality time with my old college buddies which is always fun. Then on that Sunday in the middle of break, Mom, JoAnna, and I took Dad to the chiefs game. He had never been to a professional football game and has been wanting to go for quite awhile. So we got really good seats for not that bad of a prices, being a terrible team isn't always the worst thing, and we had a great day of watching football. The best part of being at a game is always the surroundings and events that do not get shown on T.V. The national anthem and fly over was awesome, the people around us were really cool, and there was even a fight in our section that entertained us during the fourth quarter when the game was basically already over. It was a long day, but dad loved it and we all had a great day. Then I spent a day and a half in Iowa, before we took off for Illinois. JoAnna and I went Tuesday night, the parents came Wednesday, and Tim got in Wednesday too. The whole family was together for four days and it was a great time. We spent most of the time eating, drinking, playing cards, laughing, and just loving the blessed family the Lord has given us. We did take one day to do an "outing". It was this outing that made us realize how redneck we truly are. Our outing consisted of breakfast at a really neat little cafe, spending a couple hours in the gigantic Scheels in Springfield, and then going to a cemetery. In Scheels they have a full size Ferris wheel, three life size NASCAR simulators, a golf simulator, a bow range, and all kinds of other fun activities and options besides just shopping. Justin and Tim did the NASCAR race, I took dad to the golf simulator and helped him pick out a hybrid he liked and bought, and we all had a fun time taking silly pictures in different areas of the store. The cemetery we went to was Lincoln's tomb. It was actually pretty impressive and worth seeing once. Then on Sunday I went to church with the family, and then headed back to spend my birthday in St. Louis. It was another great birthday. Having a birthday that is almost always just a couple days from Thanksgiving is perfect for reminding me how truly amazing life really is thanks to the good Lord's abundant blessings.
The new quarter started Monday and I can already tell this is going to be the hardest quarter of my seminary career. However, good news is if I can survive this quarter, it is all down hill from there. I have five classes and four out of the five require more time than the typical class here. However, I know everything will get done and I will survive, it will just take all the focus and motivation I have in me. Other than that life is going so well right now I cannot imagine being anywhere else or doing anything else other than what I am doing.
My thought for the day is a trivia question. I am going to ask you the question and then leave a space so you have time to think about it before you see the answer. You can look below right away if you just want to know, or you can try to think about it and answer it yourself before you look. Are you ready? Where is the one place in the Bible where we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God after His ascension? There are several places we see Him sitting at the right hand, but there is one place where He is standing.
Need a hint.... it is in the Book of Acts.
Need another hint.... it is at someone's death.
Ready for the answer.... OK. The answer comes in Acts 7:54-60. It is the stoning of Stephen. Right before he is stoned to death, he looks up, sees Heaven open, and Jesus is standing at the right hand of the Father. Dr. Lessing stated it this way, "In other words, Jesus doesn't take this sitting down." Jesus sees Stephen, a man trying to spread the Gospel and knows he is about to be stoned to death by the very ones Stephen is trying to save. Jesus, who doesn't take this sitting down, stands up and allows Stephen to see Him standing there. Stephen in his final words asks God not to hold the sins of these people stoning him against them. This is the same as when Jesus asks the Father not to hold the sins of the ones who crucified Him against them. This is kind of a big deal that Jesus actually gets up out of His seat and allows Stephen to see Him right before he is about to die. Does this mean that this is the ONLY place Jesus has ever stood up? Not at all. However, this does show us that Jesus is not only watching over us, but He cares about us and sympathizes with the pain we go through. He knows what it is like to suffer in this world, and He knows when we are suffering. He may even be standing, watching over us when injustice causes us to suffer such as with Stephen. However, just as He knows we suffer, He knows the joys and glory we will have with Him one day in Heaven and even more in the new creation. He knows our destiny because He is our destiny. So now you know a fun trivia Bible fact, but you also should be reminded that Jesus is not just sitting in Heaven idling waiting for His second coming, He lives and reigns from His right hand seat in Heaven, always watching over us and caring for us. He is an active King who lives and reigns and has sent His Spirit to live and reign in our hearts until that day when we are joined with Him above. All Praise be to Him who lives and reigns as thee active King of Kings upon His throne.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank you so much for not only the daily, richly, and abundant blessings You so freely bestow upon us, but also for being our magnificent King who lives and reigns over us. Keep us close to You always, that we may know You, love You, and trust in You until our time comes when You call us home to You. We pray all of this in Your Son's most holy and precious name, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Sermon!
Greetings on this the day the Lord has made. As promised, I am posting my first sermon up here. Last night I had some of the craziest dreams I have had in a long time. I think my mind was trying to think of anything other than my sermon. Then this morning I woke up on my own at what should have been seven, but because of day light savings I had another hour before I had to get up out of bed. When we were driving through Highland, the closer we got to the church, the more nervous I kept feeling. It reminded me of the year I played in the High School state football championship. As the bus kept getting closer and closer to the UNI dome, the more I felt like I was actually going to throw up on the bus. When we got to church I felt alright, but was still trying to calm myself down. When I was sitting up front and pastor was leading us through the opening liturgy, I had the biggest lump in the back of my throat. At one point I coughed and thought to myself, "Do Not THROW UP!" However, I was able to say some silent prayers, and just kept telling myself that I have good news to tell and that the Lord will be with me. As I read the text there was still some nervousness in my voice, and I thought to myself, "This is going to be a long sermon if I am this nervous the whole time." However, once I got into my actual sermon, I just started talking and kept rolling with it. I got more excited as I was remembering the whole thing without looking down at my manuscript. The Lord definitely gave me His peace and allowed to me just go with it. I finished the sermon and realized that I was actually excited and kind of on almost an emotional high. I was ready to preach again. I hope I remember that excitement next time I go to preach again. Afterwards, when Pastor and I were in his office taking our robes off, I told him about how every year as a kid I used to throw up at the Christmas pageant. I told him about the lump in my throat and the fear that I was going to actually throw up at my first sermon. He chuckled with me. I praise the Lord that He was with me and that it went so well. I definitely still have room for improvement though. A few pointed out the fact that I when I was speaking of the saints I said, "those who have fought the good fought" instead of those who have fought the good FIGHT. I also used the term "parse" when I am speaking about the Hebrew language. I hear this word everyday and totally did not even think about the parishioners not knowing what it means to parse a verb. One lady joked about if I was teaching her how to cook potatoes when I said parse. Other than that, I got all positive comments and everyone actually seemed focused on me during my sermon too.
This week was also our final week and conclusion on my Galatians Bible Study. We will start a new Bible Study class in January, after all the holidays, and they all seemed really excited to come back and keep it going. One lady told me she feels genuinely sorry for anyone who hasn't come to hear my Bible Study. I give the credit to the Lord, because I am just a simple man who the Lord has decided to bless and work through. Here is my sermon, I wish all of you reading this could have been there this morning to hear it instead of read it, but I hope you still enjoy it.
Text: “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Father, and our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the Gospel lesson for today from St. Mark, we see Jesus discussing the law with the scribes. They ask him which is the greatest commandment. Jesus answers by quoting Moses from the scriptures of our Deuteronomy text. So we look at this text for today, and we see that Moses has already received the Ten Commandments and is giving them to the people of Israel. He has called all of Israel together and is standing in front of them, proclaiming the Law of their Lord to them. In chapter five he not only gives them the Ten Commandments but explains the laws to them as well. Then here in chapter six, Moses gives a beautiful summary of the Lord’s expectations. He summarizes all ten laws into one sentence. Hear this one sentence again, “You shall love the Lord your with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Now when you go to the Hebrew of this text, there are some very interesting details that cannot be seen in the English. The first two interesting points come from the verb of this sentence. As Dr. Gibbs says all the time, “parse or die.” When you parse this verb, it is second person “you” but the fascinating thing is that it is singular. As Moses is standing in front of the whole nation of God’s chosen people, you would expect him to use the plural form of this verb to make it you all. However, he simply uses the singular. He is addressing them as one people, the one chosen nation of God. By addressing them as one, he is showing them that they are the one true blessed nation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The second interesting point is from the rest of the parsing of the verb. Moses directly says the greatest COMMANDMENT is… so wouldn’t you expect the verb to be a command?! The command mood in Hebrew is the imperative, but this verb is not an imperative. It is a Qal Perfect. Now I assume most of you do not know Hebrew grammar or what in the world Qal Perfect is. But a Qal perfect is the most basic verb tense, the most fundamental parsing form you can know in Hebrew. The perfect tense has its use with the idea that this is something happening in the present with a continuing effect, on-going lasting result. If Moses were to have used the imperative form of this verb, it could be translated as “You must love the Lord your God”. Moses does not say you must love the Lord your God, because he knows we cannot love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. He also knows that this commandment is not the thing we “Must do” to be saved. In Bible class on Galatians the last couple weeks we have been looking at how Paul handles the law verses the Gospel. We saw that the promise of salvation came 430 years before the law did. God directly and personally gave the promise to Abraham, but used an intermediary to give the law to Moses. The addition of the law does not nullify the promise, says Paul. The law does not trump the promise, but is simply added as a guide so the people of God now how to live. The law is not a “must do”, it is a “you shall do”. It is also the very simple and fundamental way we should live. It is something we should be doing now, and continue to do with a lasting result.
The three parts of us that we are to love the Lord our God with also has a slight difference in the Hebrew. The word for the heart, does not mean our actual heart, the muscle that pumps our blood. My undergrad Hebrew prof explained to us that the ancient Hebrews believed that your reason and decision making all happened in your inner cavity, inside here. The old phrase, go with your gut instinct comes from here. When you make a tough decision you can almost feel it deep down in here and so they believed that’s where all of your logic and reasoning happened. So when Moses says love the Lord your God with all your heart, this doesn't have a 21st century, enlightened, romantic meaning. It literally means love Him from the very bottom of your guts, your entire insides and instincts. The second term in this command in the English is translated as soul. If you ever translate, nephesh, the Hebrew word used in this verse, as soul in Dr. Lessings class, you hear a very loud and drawn out “OH NO!” The use of this word is not our soul, but our very being, our entire self. It’s the whole person, everything that makes us us, body and all. And then the third word is finally translated correctly as might, but this might is not our physical strength or how much we can lift. It is the idea of strength as in emotional strength or our motivational strength that comes from within us. When the going gets tough and you dig deep to see what you are made of, it is this strength to keep going that is our might here. So the command literally is, “You shall love the Lord your God, now and continually as the fundamental way of living, with all of your guts, and with all of your entire self, and with all of your motivation and endurance.” This is the greatest command of God. So now we know exactly how the Hebrews heard it from Moses, but we still have to ask the Lutheran question, what does this mean?
Moses continues in chapter six, by explaining what this means. “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” What is Moses really telling the people when he says this? He is telling them that from the time you get up, until the time you go to bed, whether you are sitting, walking, or even lying down, the words of the Lord your God should be on your heart. Now again, this idea of heart is the idea of your guts being the part of your body that makes all logical decisions and is in charge of reason. So we who know we think and reason with our brain, not our guts, might replace this with the mind. Let the words of the Lord be on your mind, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed, whether you are walking, sitting, or even lying down. Constantly keep your thinking on the words of the Lord. And what specific words are we to keep on our minds, “Love the Lord your God.” If we successfully keep these words on our minds, we will love the Lord our God with all we have, and this will be easily seen. To love the Lord your God with all your guts, and with your entire self, body and all, and with all your might as one strength means you serve the Lord your God with all those things. You cannot just talk the talk, but you have to walk the walk. Think about it. If you love the Lord your God with all your guts, or all your reason, every decision made will be proof that you love Him. If you love the Lord your God with your entire self, body and all, every action or deed you do will show you love Him. And if you love the Lord your God, with all your strength, your trust in Him at all times prove you love Him. So every decision you make, every deed you do, and all your motivation being in Him, will all be out of love for Him. This is walking the walk. And the only way you would be able to do all of these things out of love for Him, was if your love for Him was present and active in your mind, body, and spirit at all times.
However, we cannot do this and we do not do this. Our sinful nature causes us to put our minds on other things. Maybe stress over your financials or the amount of stuff you have left to do at work. Maybe worries for the future of your family, or an ill friend. Maybe doubts about what you are doing with your life or the choices you have made. All of these things take our minds off of God’s word and effect the decisions we make on a daily basis.
Our sinful nature causes us to use our bodies for the pleasure of the flesh. Galatians 5 lists the works of the flesh and some of them are sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, jealousy, fits of anger, envy, drunkenness, and so forth. These things are actions that we do but do not show that we love God with our entire self. Rather they show that we love the pleasures of works of the flesh.
Our sinful nature causes us to feel weak or worthless. We feel that we are so dirty and filthy that the God who couldn’t look at His own Son on the cross burdened with sin, could never possibly bear to even catch a glimpse of us. These are all ways that because we are sinful beings and do not keep the words of the Lord on our minds at all times, we are not able to love Him with our mind, body, and spirit.
However, this is the very reason God does not give the law to Moses in imperative form. The greatest commandment of God is not a must do because He knows we are not able to do it. He knows we have all fallen short of His expectations, He knows we fail each and every day. But this is the reason He doesn’t command us that we must do it, instead it is the reason He did it Himself. He doesn’t tell us we must do it, because He has already done it for us. He had given the promise of salvation to Abraham, and the one nation of Israel that Moses is addressing still has that promise of God. And us, we have the fulfillment of that promise. We have the one who was promised from the Garden of Eden. God knew from the very beginning what His plan of salvation would be, and never once was it a command that we must do. It was always His plan that He would do it, He would send His Son to be born of the flesh, to live a life of tempting, pain, and suffering, to be falsely accused, beaten, spit on, mocked, and hung on the cross and left to die. However, just as Good Friday was a part of His plan from the very beginning, Easter was too. The empty grave, the message of why do you look for the living among the dead, the full resurrection of Jesus, body and all, is how God fully restored the relationship between us and Him. Something we could never do, so He did it for us, and gives us our salvation, won for us on the cross and in the empty tomb, completely free out of His love, grace, and mercy for us. He loves us with His entire being and has since the first day of creation.
So does that mean that because we cannot love Him with our entire guts, self, and might that we do not have to try to? Absolutely not as Paul would say! We still strive, by the power of His Spirit, to keep His words on our minds in everything we do, whether walking or sitting, or even lying down, from our rising to our sleeping, we keep His words on our minds, so that we are better able to love Him with our entire guts, self, and strength. We strive to keep this great command each and every day, but we do so knowing that when we fail, we are still saved by His grace and mercy for us.
So now that we know what Moses was really saying to the people of Israel and what that fully means for us, what does this have to do with All Saints Day? Well, All Saints Day is a special day in our church year where we remember those who have gone before us, have run the good race, and have been called home to our Lord in Heaven. We remember all of our loved ones who await in the peaceful rest of Heaven, waiting to be reunited to their bodies and with us as we all join in the Church Triumphant on that last day when our Lord comes again. Moses instructs parents in this text to teach these words to their children. However, it is much more than just our parents that we have here in this life helping us remain strong in our faith. That’s why this text is picked for all saints day. We do not just remember our loved ones, but we remember the example they set for us and the support they gave us. God has given us many loved ones, and on this day of remembrance, maybe you’re remembering your parents, spouse, siblings, children, neighbors, or just dear friends, they were all a blessing to us from the Lord our God. They supported us when we needed it the most, they uplifted us when we were feeling down, they reminded us how Christians should act, they reminded us to always keep the words of our Lord on our minds and strive to live our lives for Him. And as we remember the example they set for us, we are reminded of those whom we are setting the examples for too. We remember that there are our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who look to us for that witness and support. As we strive each and every day to love the Lord our God with all of our guts, self, and strength, we look to those who have gone before us for example, especially our Lord Jesus Christ who was the perfect example, and we set the bar for those who come after us, making sure the people of God never dies or withers out, but continues to grow and flourish. We do this each and every day until we join those saints we remember this day, all being called home into the one church triumphant, singing so loudly the glorious praises to our Lord and our God, as we live our eternal lives in the perfection of Heaven with Him. We have this salvation and our life in Him, because of what He has done for us out of His mercy and love for us. In the name of the Lord our God, Amen.
Now may the grace that surpasses all understanding keep and guard our hearts and minds in the one true faith, now and forever. Amen.
This week was also our final week and conclusion on my Galatians Bible Study. We will start a new Bible Study class in January, after all the holidays, and they all seemed really excited to come back and keep it going. One lady told me she feels genuinely sorry for anyone who hasn't come to hear my Bible Study. I give the credit to the Lord, because I am just a simple man who the Lord has decided to bless and work through. Here is my sermon, I wish all of you reading this could have been there this morning to hear it instead of read it, but I hope you still enjoy it.
Texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Father, and our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the Gospel lesson for today from St. Mark, we see Jesus discussing the law with the scribes. They ask him which is the greatest commandment. Jesus answers by quoting Moses from the scriptures of our Deuteronomy text. So we look at this text for today, and we see that Moses has already received the Ten Commandments and is giving them to the people of Israel. He has called all of Israel together and is standing in front of them, proclaiming the Law of their Lord to them. In chapter five he not only gives them the Ten Commandments but explains the laws to them as well. Then here in chapter six, Moses gives a beautiful summary of the Lord’s expectations. He summarizes all ten laws into one sentence. Hear this one sentence again, “You shall love the Lord your with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Now when you go to the Hebrew of this text, there are some very interesting details that cannot be seen in the English. The first two interesting points come from the verb of this sentence. As Dr. Gibbs says all the time, “parse or die.” When you parse this verb, it is second person “you” but the fascinating thing is that it is singular. As Moses is standing in front of the whole nation of God’s chosen people, you would expect him to use the plural form of this verb to make it you all. However, he simply uses the singular. He is addressing them as one people, the one chosen nation of God. By addressing them as one, he is showing them that they are the one true blessed nation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The second interesting point is from the rest of the parsing of the verb. Moses directly says the greatest COMMANDMENT is… so wouldn’t you expect the verb to be a command?! The command mood in Hebrew is the imperative, but this verb is not an imperative. It is a Qal Perfect. Now I assume most of you do not know Hebrew grammar or what in the world Qal Perfect is. But a Qal perfect is the most basic verb tense, the most fundamental parsing form you can know in Hebrew. The perfect tense has its use with the idea that this is something happening in the present with a continuing effect, on-going lasting result. If Moses were to have used the imperative form of this verb, it could be translated as “You must love the Lord your God”. Moses does not say you must love the Lord your God, because he knows we cannot love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. He also knows that this commandment is not the thing we “Must do” to be saved. In Bible class on Galatians the last couple weeks we have been looking at how Paul handles the law verses the Gospel. We saw that the promise of salvation came 430 years before the law did. God directly and personally gave the promise to Abraham, but used an intermediary to give the law to Moses. The addition of the law does not nullify the promise, says Paul. The law does not trump the promise, but is simply added as a guide so the people of God now how to live. The law is not a “must do”, it is a “you shall do”. It is also the very simple and fundamental way we should live. It is something we should be doing now, and continue to do with a lasting result.
The three parts of us that we are to love the Lord our God with also has a slight difference in the Hebrew. The word for the heart, does not mean our actual heart, the muscle that pumps our blood. My undergrad Hebrew prof explained to us that the ancient Hebrews believed that your reason and decision making all happened in your inner cavity, inside here. The old phrase, go with your gut instinct comes from here. When you make a tough decision you can almost feel it deep down in here and so they believed that’s where all of your logic and reasoning happened. So when Moses says love the Lord your God with all your heart, this doesn't have a 21st century, enlightened, romantic meaning. It literally means love Him from the very bottom of your guts, your entire insides and instincts. The second term in this command in the English is translated as soul. If you ever translate, nephesh, the Hebrew word used in this verse, as soul in Dr. Lessings class, you hear a very loud and drawn out “OH NO!” The use of this word is not our soul, but our very being, our entire self. It’s the whole person, everything that makes us us, body and all. And then the third word is finally translated correctly as might, but this might is not our physical strength or how much we can lift. It is the idea of strength as in emotional strength or our motivational strength that comes from within us. When the going gets tough and you dig deep to see what you are made of, it is this strength to keep going that is our might here. So the command literally is, “You shall love the Lord your God, now and continually as the fundamental way of living, with all of your guts, and with all of your entire self, and with all of your motivation and endurance.” This is the greatest command of God. So now we know exactly how the Hebrews heard it from Moses, but we still have to ask the Lutheran question, what does this mean?
Moses continues in chapter six, by explaining what this means. “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” What is Moses really telling the people when he says this? He is telling them that from the time you get up, until the time you go to bed, whether you are sitting, walking, or even lying down, the words of the Lord your God should be on your heart. Now again, this idea of heart is the idea of your guts being the part of your body that makes all logical decisions and is in charge of reason. So we who know we think and reason with our brain, not our guts, might replace this with the mind. Let the words of the Lord be on your mind, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed, whether you are walking, sitting, or even lying down. Constantly keep your thinking on the words of the Lord. And what specific words are we to keep on our minds, “Love the Lord your God.” If we successfully keep these words on our minds, we will love the Lord our God with all we have, and this will be easily seen. To love the Lord your God with all your guts, and with your entire self, body and all, and with all your might as one strength means you serve the Lord your God with all those things. You cannot just talk the talk, but you have to walk the walk. Think about it. If you love the Lord your God with all your guts, or all your reason, every decision made will be proof that you love Him. If you love the Lord your God with your entire self, body and all, every action or deed you do will show you love Him. And if you love the Lord your God, with all your strength, your trust in Him at all times prove you love Him. So every decision you make, every deed you do, and all your motivation being in Him, will all be out of love for Him. This is walking the walk. And the only way you would be able to do all of these things out of love for Him, was if your love for Him was present and active in your mind, body, and spirit at all times.
However, we cannot do this and we do not do this. Our sinful nature causes us to put our minds on other things. Maybe stress over your financials or the amount of stuff you have left to do at work. Maybe worries for the future of your family, or an ill friend. Maybe doubts about what you are doing with your life or the choices you have made. All of these things take our minds off of God’s word and effect the decisions we make on a daily basis.
Our sinful nature causes us to use our bodies for the pleasure of the flesh. Galatians 5 lists the works of the flesh and some of them are sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, jealousy, fits of anger, envy, drunkenness, and so forth. These things are actions that we do but do not show that we love God with our entire self. Rather they show that we love the pleasures of works of the flesh.
Our sinful nature causes us to feel weak or worthless. We feel that we are so dirty and filthy that the God who couldn’t look at His own Son on the cross burdened with sin, could never possibly bear to even catch a glimpse of us. These are all ways that because we are sinful beings and do not keep the words of the Lord on our minds at all times, we are not able to love Him with our mind, body, and spirit.
However, this is the very reason God does not give the law to Moses in imperative form. The greatest commandment of God is not a must do because He knows we are not able to do it. He knows we have all fallen short of His expectations, He knows we fail each and every day. But this is the reason He doesn’t command us that we must do it, instead it is the reason He did it Himself. He doesn’t tell us we must do it, because He has already done it for us. He had given the promise of salvation to Abraham, and the one nation of Israel that Moses is addressing still has that promise of God. And us, we have the fulfillment of that promise. We have the one who was promised from the Garden of Eden. God knew from the very beginning what His plan of salvation would be, and never once was it a command that we must do. It was always His plan that He would do it, He would send His Son to be born of the flesh, to live a life of tempting, pain, and suffering, to be falsely accused, beaten, spit on, mocked, and hung on the cross and left to die. However, just as Good Friday was a part of His plan from the very beginning, Easter was too. The empty grave, the message of why do you look for the living among the dead, the full resurrection of Jesus, body and all, is how God fully restored the relationship between us and Him. Something we could never do, so He did it for us, and gives us our salvation, won for us on the cross and in the empty tomb, completely free out of His love, grace, and mercy for us. He loves us with His entire being and has since the first day of creation.
So does that mean that because we cannot love Him with our entire guts, self, and might that we do not have to try to? Absolutely not as Paul would say! We still strive, by the power of His Spirit, to keep His words on our minds in everything we do, whether walking or sitting, or even lying down, from our rising to our sleeping, we keep His words on our minds, so that we are better able to love Him with our entire guts, self, and strength. We strive to keep this great command each and every day, but we do so knowing that when we fail, we are still saved by His grace and mercy for us.
So now that we know what Moses was really saying to the people of Israel and what that fully means for us, what does this have to do with All Saints Day? Well, All Saints Day is a special day in our church year where we remember those who have gone before us, have run the good race, and have been called home to our Lord in Heaven. We remember all of our loved ones who await in the peaceful rest of Heaven, waiting to be reunited to their bodies and with us as we all join in the Church Triumphant on that last day when our Lord comes again. Moses instructs parents in this text to teach these words to their children. However, it is much more than just our parents that we have here in this life helping us remain strong in our faith. That’s why this text is picked for all saints day. We do not just remember our loved ones, but we remember the example they set for us and the support they gave us. God has given us many loved ones, and on this day of remembrance, maybe you’re remembering your parents, spouse, siblings, children, neighbors, or just dear friends, they were all a blessing to us from the Lord our God. They supported us when we needed it the most, they uplifted us when we were feeling down, they reminded us how Christians should act, they reminded us to always keep the words of our Lord on our minds and strive to live our lives for Him. And as we remember the example they set for us, we are reminded of those whom we are setting the examples for too. We remember that there are our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who look to us for that witness and support. As we strive each and every day to love the Lord our God with all of our guts, self, and strength, we look to those who have gone before us for example, especially our Lord Jesus Christ who was the perfect example, and we set the bar for those who come after us, making sure the people of God never dies or withers out, but continues to grow and flourish. We do this each and every day until we join those saints we remember this day, all being called home into the one church triumphant, singing so loudly the glorious praises to our Lord and our God, as we live our eternal lives in the perfection of Heaven with Him. We have this salvation and our life in Him, because of what He has done for us out of His mercy and love for us. In the name of the Lord our God, Amen.
Now may the grace that surpasses all understanding keep and guard our hearts and minds in the one true faith, now and forever. Amen.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Spiritual Warfare
Greetings to you in the name of Christ. I have not been doing much of anything lately other than working, doing homework, and trying to get to some sleep. We did win our IM Frisbee Championship today, so that was a pretty good feeling. Especially since the only thing my team won last year was volleyball and I never played because of work. Tomorrow is my last day teaching and I did a project where the kids had to come up with a devotion on a text from the Old Testament. The assignment is to explain the text, explain the theme of the text, tell how the text points to Jesus, and how the text applies to us in today's world. I am curious to see where they pick out Jesus in these Old Testament stories and what kind of applications they come up with. I think it will be a fun last day.
My thought for the day comes from Psalms and Writings class. We discussed the theme of warfare in both the Psalter and the Bible as a whole. Now it was probably a twenty minute discussion with about a page and a half of notes, but I will give you the abridged version. We discovered there are two very important things we see on the theme of warfare. In the Psalter, a couple different places, God fights these giant armies with their horses and chariots. The people of God are outnumbered and surrounded, but God comes in to save them. However, God does not use horses or chariots. He uses His Word. He does not rely on human war strategy, but on the power of His voice, conquering all. Psalm 46 is a great example of this where it talks about God gave His voice, and the foreign sovereign territory melted away. He annihilates them, their multitude of horses, chariots, and soldiers all with His voice. The second theme we looked at was what the people of God did. They did not rely on horses or chariots either. Instead, when they are standing there starring into the huge number of their enemies on the opposite side of the battle field, they praise God and thank Him before the battle even starts. Psalm 149, verse 6 states that the high praises of God in their throats is like a double edged sword in their hands. Praising God with your voice is as good as a sword in your hand when it comes to battles and you know God is on your side. We can see this even more clearly in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas are in prison. They are in the prison cell, singing praises to God when the earth quakes and they are freed. (Dr. Lessing made the joke that this was the first real jail house rock). We can also see it in the beautiful example in Matthew 26 verse 30 when Jesus knows He is about to be betrayed, denied, and killed on the cross; He leads His disciples in a hymn of praise to God. He is staring death literally in the face and sings praises to His Father. This is how we are to live our life. We know God rules and conquers all by the mere power of His voice, and we know His praises in our throats is as good as a sword in our hands. We are to praise Him in the face of all troubles and temptations, knowing He is with us. So next time you are facing spiritual warfare in the face, stop and sing a hymn of praise to the God who you know is always with, always loves you, and has claimed you as His own out of His grace and mercy.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We sing Your praises louder than ever, knowing there is no foe or enemy we face that You do not have the power over. We know in the protection of Your hands, we can sing Your praises, trusting in You. And then when You deliver us as You always do, we can sing evermore the loud our Thanksgiving to You for all you have done, the protection You give us, the freedom You give us, and the salvation and eternal life You freely give us. In Your Son's most holy and precious name we pray, Amen.
My thought for the day comes from Psalms and Writings class. We discussed the theme of warfare in both the Psalter and the Bible as a whole. Now it was probably a twenty minute discussion with about a page and a half of notes, but I will give you the abridged version. We discovered there are two very important things we see on the theme of warfare. In the Psalter, a couple different places, God fights these giant armies with their horses and chariots. The people of God are outnumbered and surrounded, but God comes in to save them. However, God does not use horses or chariots. He uses His Word. He does not rely on human war strategy, but on the power of His voice, conquering all. Psalm 46 is a great example of this where it talks about God gave His voice, and the foreign sovereign territory melted away. He annihilates them, their multitude of horses, chariots, and soldiers all with His voice. The second theme we looked at was what the people of God did. They did not rely on horses or chariots either. Instead, when they are standing there starring into the huge number of their enemies on the opposite side of the battle field, they praise God and thank Him before the battle even starts. Psalm 149, verse 6 states that the high praises of God in their throats is like a double edged sword in their hands. Praising God with your voice is as good as a sword in your hand when it comes to battles and you know God is on your side. We can see this even more clearly in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas are in prison. They are in the prison cell, singing praises to God when the earth quakes and they are freed. (Dr. Lessing made the joke that this was the first real jail house rock). We can also see it in the beautiful example in Matthew 26 verse 30 when Jesus knows He is about to be betrayed, denied, and killed on the cross; He leads His disciples in a hymn of praise to God. He is staring death literally in the face and sings praises to His Father. This is how we are to live our life. We know God rules and conquers all by the mere power of His voice, and we know His praises in our throats is as good as a sword in our hands. We are to praise Him in the face of all troubles and temptations, knowing He is with us. So next time you are facing spiritual warfare in the face, stop and sing a hymn of praise to the God who you know is always with, always loves you, and has claimed you as His own out of His grace and mercy.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We sing Your praises louder than ever, knowing there is no foe or enemy we face that You do not have the power over. We know in the protection of Your hands, we can sing Your praises, trusting in You. And then when You deliver us as You always do, we can sing evermore the loud our Thanksgiving to You for all you have done, the protection You give us, the freedom You give us, and the salvation and eternal life You freely give us. In Your Son's most holy and precious name we pray, Amen.
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