Greetings to you all in the name of our amazing and wonderful Lord and God. I am sure almost all of you know by now, but Call Day was yesterday. I am so excited to announce that the Lord who is in control of all things is sending me to Peace in Christ Lutheran Church in Hermantown, MN. I will be the associate pastor under the senior pastor, Pastor Ludwig. Pastor Ludwig planted the church 25 years ago and has been there ever since. Over the last 25 years, the church has grown to over 800 members on the books. They built a fellowship hall first, then built a sanctuary, and now have even built an education wing for the preschool they have. They have a DCE, two preschool teachers, and two part time secretaries. They worship an average of 300 members in three services on Saturday and Sunday. As associate pastor some of my focus will be in coordination with the preschool, starting more small group ministry for 20 to 40 year olds, starting a men's club, possibly campus ministry since there are five colleges or tech schools in Duluth which is only nine miles away, as well as preaching, teaching, and visiting. I will be busy, but it will be a wonderful busy.
Hermantown is about 9,000 but is only 9 miles from Duluth. It is very close to the banks of Lake Superior and is growing very rapidly. There are a lot of opportunities for service to the community, especially in Duluth.
I will be ordained up there one of the Sunday's in July. We are still working out the official details of that date. In June I plan to go up and visit and try to find a place to live since they do not have parsonages. I am so excited to go up and meet every one and begin my full time ministry in such a wonderful place.
Minnesota North District is the most rural district of the 35 LCMS districts, and yet very very little of it is farming or agriculture. It is a lot of mining and forestry. I will definitely get my fair share of winter, but I love that part of it.
For being my first call, it is exactly what I was hoping for. I wanted team ministry with a secondary focus of a school/preschool, possible campus ministry opportunities, and a busy atmosphere. I am also thrilled to hear Pastor Ludwig is an extremely hard working man who expects a lot of himself and will expect a lot out of me. I am more than willing and ready to step up to the challenge. I cannot thank the Good Lord enough for this opportunity and to putting me in the place where he saw fit for me.
There will be plenty of hunting, fishing, ice fishing, and winter sports opportunities for me. The people from the church who I have already met or been in contact with are all amazing people who are so friendly and welcoming.
Last night they told me that they had 100 people gathered at the church to watch the call day service. They watched the first part of the service on the big screen in the sanctuary. Then when it came time for the actual assignments, they gathered in the fellowship hall for ice cream and call day bingo. They made up their own bingo cards with the different districts on the cards. When each district was read along with each guy, they got to put a button on that space until they got bingo. Pastor Ludwig told me when they read my name and Peace in Christ the room went crazy. He said you would have thought the Vikings won the Superbowl with all the cheers and high fives. This just shows how loving and caring they are and how much they already support me. I was genuinely touched when he told me this and I thought about that many people being that excited over little old me. Today they posted pictures on my Facebook of different people holding up welcome signs for me. I am so blessed already and I haven't even gotten there yet. The Lord is good and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life.
Now I have to focus on school for a couple more weeks, finish my field work responsibilities, and make official summer plans. It is hard to keep from wanting to be there starting tomorrow, but I am trying to enjoy the time I have left with my friends and brothers here at the seminary. I was so excited to see where they will all be going as well, but am sadden that they will be so far away. I truly believe there is nowhere else in the world quite like this place. The last four years have been some of the best years of my life and I would not be here today if it were not for a family who raised me in the faith, family and friends who supported me the entire time, and so many generous, loving, caring people supporting me both emotionally and financially and praying for me the whole way. So to every one of you reading this, I know you have supported me and I want to thank you so much for that.
Please continue to pray for me as I finish up my seminary career, enjoy a few weeks of summer, and move to Hermantown to begin the rest of my life as a servant of the Lord through one of my vocations being an official Lutheran Pastor. one dilemma I am having is trying to decide whether I will continue with this blog after I graduate. I mean I will most likely continue to do a blog of some sort; however, the entire intention of this one was to cover my seminary career. I mean I won't be the "sem stud" (seminary student) after I graduate. So if you have any suggestions for a new name, new ideas of what you would like to keep reading in a weekly (possibly VERY short daily) blog, please, please, please let me know. My email is richterk@csl.edu and I am open to any ideas, comments, or suggestions. However, for the next couple weeks I am still THEE sem stud :) and will try to keep posting more frequent blogs. Thank you and may the Lord who has blessed me so abundantly all of my life bless each and every one of you even more richly through His grace and mercy.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Last Two Sermons
Greetings to you in the name of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. The last few weeks have been busy, but in such a good way. I have preached four times in the last four weeks. I preached in chapel which was extremely intimidating but actually quite fun too. If you have I tunes you can listen to that sermon on Concordia Seminary, Chapel Sermons 2014-2015. As intimidating as it is to preach in front of a bunch of preachers, they still gave me quite a few compliments. I then preached the exact same sermon at my field work church the following Sunday.
The next week was Holy Week and I had the privilege to go back to Brookings and preach one of the seven sermons for their Tre Ore service. We had Thursday and Friday off from classes so I went up north on Wednesday. It was fun to see everyone up there again and special for me to attend Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services back at Mt. Calvary. I love the Treo Ore service with all of the special music, to hear six different preachers, and to really focus in on each one of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. I will post my sermon at the bottom of this post.
Then I was able to be home for Easter and see the family. We shot clay pigeons on Saturday which is always fun for me. Then we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord with Easter morning service. We had dinner at moms with Grandma and spent our free time playing cards, playing outside with the boys, and relaxing. It was a great holiday.
The next week went very quickly as I continued my usual routine of going to my two classes, working for the farmer, and hanging with friends. Friday night was spring fest on campus which is always a great time. My bar in my room was extra busy and I even had the band Lost and Found in there. I have had quite a few famous (as in seminary-famous) people stop by for a drink in my bar.
Saturday I headed down to south east Missouri to my great-aunt's house. My grandma's family is still down around the Cape Girardeau area. I stayed with my great-aunt Verna but several of my family members were there to hear me preach and enjoy a lunch together Sunday after church. I thoroughly enjoyed preaching at both Shawneetown and Pocahontas. The family dinner was especially enjoyable afterwards. I love getting together and spending time with family, especially that side of the family that always has such a fun time together. I will also post that sermon below as well.
Now I am back to trying to keep up with homework, jobs, friends, sports, and all of the extra events coming up for our concluding class. We have several dinners and events coming up which is awesome, but also fills up the calendar very quickly. I will be finishing up my Romans Bible Study at field work church the next couple Sundays.
Tre Ore Sermon on John 19:26-27:
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
St. John shows us an interesting scene here in his Gospel. As Jesus is hanging on the cross, in pain and agony, slowly dying, two of His loved ones are standing at the foot of the cross looking up to Him. First is His mother, Mary. The second one is the disciple whom Jesus loved. These are two pretty special people to Jesus and they are standing with Him as He is in His most humiliating hour. Then Jesus, rather than complaining about the pain He is in, rather than be mad at the soldiers crucifying Him, rather than being upset with the rest of His disciples who have betrayed, denied, and abandoned Him, rather than any of these negative things, He speaks words of tender mercy. He speaks words of love and creates a new family. As He is dying He gives these two loved ones of His to each other as a new family as he says, “Woman, behold you son” and to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”
Jesus has created a new family as the disciple took her to his own home from that hour on. Jesus speaks these words of tender mercy, giving His two loved ones each other to have as family, to support each other, to care for each other, and most importantly to encourage each other in their faith in Jesus. He is not thinking about Himself or His own pain, but He is thinking about these two people who mean so much to Him and in His death, He unites them into one new family.
I have recently been working on my family tree because I recently meet some cousins that I had only met when I was a baby. Starting with grandparents and working down to kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, on both my mom’s and my dad’s sides together, I have been blessed with a family of 124 people. And it is still growing as three of those are expecting. As I told this to some of my friends, they were shocked because they come from rather small families. And I do admit that that is probably much bigger than the average American family; however, it does not even begin to compare to the size of my family in Christ. When I was baptized and made a child of God, I was given a whole new family of all believers in Christ. This is the same family that you were brought into at your baptism as well.
Jesus created a new family for His mother and His disciple at the cross through His death, but He created a new family through His death and His resurrection that united each and every believer in His name. This family is huge! Millions probably even billions of people who have received the Holy Spirit, believed in Christ as the true Son of God, and be brought into the family of God. St. Paul speaks about this in both Romans and Galatians when He speaks of son-ship and adoption as sons of God. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has united all believers and created a new family in His Son’s name. And you are included in that family.
This is not only good news because you are now a son or daughter of God, being made part of His family and being made an heir of His salvation and eternal life, which is pretty Great news in itself, but even more, He gives us our family of each other. Every other Christian in now our brother and sister in Christ, and these brothers and sisters are blessings to us just as Mary and John would be blessings to each other.
We support each other. We help each other with the physical necessities of everyday life. If one of our brothers and sisters can’t feed or clothe their family, we support them with what they need. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we make sure that our family is well provided for and tended to in our support for each other.
We care for each other. Both emotionally and spiritually, we are there for our fellow brothers and sisters. We step up to help them when they are in need, we lift them up in prayer, we come to their side in pain, we celebrate with them, and give thanks for them for being a part of our family.
But most importantly, we encourage each other to remain strong in our faith. We point each other towards the Lord who created our family through His death and resurrection as our Lord and Savior. We help each other cling to Jesus Christ and His faith, because it by His redemptive work alone that we are able to be this loving, supporting, caring, encouraging family.
Hear the words of our Lord spoken from the cross to His mother and His disciple, two of His loved ones as His tender mercy creating a family for them and be reminded that through His tender mercy He has created a new family for you and all believers that He loves so dearly, dearly enough to hang on that cross to redeem you and bring you into the family of God as sons and daughters, but as also as heirs who have received salvation and eternal life. And then being reminded of that good news yourself, go encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ so that they too may be strengthened by this good news.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours in the name of our Father and the Living Lord Jesus Christ!
He is Risen…. He is risen indeed, alleluia! Jesus is most certainly risen as we see in our text today. This is a pretty well-known text of Jesus appearing to His disciples in the upper room and then coming to appear to them again, but this time including Thomas. Now most of you probably know him as doubting Thomas. However, as I study this text I do now think St. John is trying to show us Thomas as doubting, but rather as being ridiculously dramatic, extremely stubborn, and overly defensive. Jesus appeared to the ten disciples and Thomas was not there. Not there are theories as to why Thomas was not there, but overall St. John doesn’t tell us that. He simply tells us Thomas was not there the first time Jesus comes to the disciples. Then when Thomas does join back up with his brothers, Jesus is no longer there. They excitedly begin to fill him in, tell them who they saw. But before they can get any further into the story than simply telling Thomas they saw Jesus, he stops them. He cuts them off and interrupts them. If he was simply doubting that they actually saw Jesus, he would have asked more questions, asked what he said, asked what they did while he was there, or asked what he looked like. But Thomas doesn’t ask anything, rather he makes this ridiculously dramatic, extremely stubborn, overly defensive statement.
Really, it is an ultimatum, if he does not see the wounds, if he does not thrust his finger into the nail holes, or if he does not put his hand inside the spear wound, he absolutely will not, no way believe that Jesus is alive. Have you ever thought about Thomas’ ridiculously dramatic ultimatum? Unless he sees and touches the most grotesque evidence of Jesus’ death, the wounds, the holes where the nails were driven through His skin, the slash where a spear was stabbed into his dead corpse, and unless he gets to do these almost violating acts to Jesus he absolutely will not, no way believe Jesus is alive. He is not doubting, he is actively disbelieving.
Why is Thomas being so stubborn, so dramatic, so defensive. Why is he so quick to cut his brothers off and throw this extreme ultimatum in their faces? Again, St. John does not out rightly just tell us this, but I do not think it is misusing the text to say that Thomas is hurt. Reading the way St. John wrote this passage, I think it is not that hard to see that Thomas feels let down, abandoned, and hurt by Jesus dying. He put all his hope and trust in this man who he followed as his teacher. He was beside him for so many miracles and teachings, eating with him, traveling with him, learning from him. And now this Jesus was gone, dead. Thomas is hurt and so when the disciples try to share their excitement about seeing Jesus, this is why Thomas cuts them off, interrupts them only to throw his extreme ultimatum back at them. He is being stubborn and defensive because he does not want to get his hopes up again. How can he trust and hope in this man again after he has already died once? He pushes them away, puts up his defensive walls, stubbornly denies they are telling the truth and is over dramatic to express how actively disbelieving he is going to be about this.
However, as ridiculously dramatic, extremely stubborn, and overly defensive his demand was, one week later we see Jesus show up again. He greets the disciples with the same words of peace that he did the first time, and then he turns and goes after Thomas. Jesus uses the exact same wording Thomas had in his ultimatum and tells Thomas “if that is what it is going to take to believe, then go ahead and do it. If you need to thrust your finger into my nail holes then here they are, poke away. If you need to stick your whole hand in my side, go ahead and do it already. Do whatever ridiculous, dramatic thing you need to do to stop being stubborn, stop actively disbelieving and start believing again. Stop this nonsense of disbelieving and start believing.” And it’s not too surprising that Thomas doesn’t actually need to do any of it. He drops his defensive walls, he stops being dramatic and stubborn and proclaims my God and my Lord. He confesses that Jesus is living and he not only believes, but puts his trust and hope back in Jesus knowing he will not be let down again. Dramatic, stubborn, defensive Thomas sees the living Jesus and the hurt is healed, his faith is restored, and his hope and trust is once again placed in the living Lord, Jesus Christ.
Who does this ridiculous, stubborn, defensive Thomas make you think of in your life today? I hope and pray you do not think of yourself. I am not trying to compare you to Thomas at all because I hope you all believe in Jesus. You came to church this morning to hear about Jesus so I am fairly certain you all are believers. You do not need to be told to stop disbelieving and start believing, you are not feeling hurt or let down by God and therefore have not built defensive walls around yourself to stubbornly reject your faith. No, I am not talking about you. So now that that is clear, can you think of anyone else in your life like Thomas? Maybe you can, maybe you can’t right off hand, but I am willing to bet we all know someone like this. I know several people like this. People who deny there is a God, or people who are stubbornly rejecting their faith, or people who are mad at God. These people exist all around us every day.
I once worked with a guy who claimed to not believe in God. However, after more and more discussion as our friendship developed, I finally began to see that he did believe in God, but he was mad at God. He felt betrayed by God because his newborn son had died only a couple days after he was born. This friend of mine was hurt that God would take his child from him. Because he felt hurt by God, he built these same defensive walls, he made ridiculous claims of what it would take for him to believe. So I did the only thing I knew to do, I tried my best to show Him the living Jesus that is present and offering peace. I shared God’s written Word with him, using Scripture to try to show him that the pain and suffering of this world does not begin to compare to the grace of God. I showed him how God’s Word points us to Jesus who died for us and our sins, but rose again to be our living Lord who is willing to do anything to show us He is the Son of God. I tried to show how Jesus’s death and resurrection is the victory over death and the grave. I also used God’s spoken Word of proclaiming the Gospel to Him that in Christ we have salvation and eternal life. I proclaimed to Him that even though he was mad at God, God still loved him, loved him enough to sacrifice Jesus, His own son, to offer peace to him. I also tried to show him Jesus by loving him as Jesus would. I was patient with his questions, honest with his sarcastic remarks, and tried my best to care for and genuinely love him. I sympathized with his pain and loss, but I also loving challenged him to see it through the lens of the cross. When Thomas was stubborn and defensive all it took was seeing Jesus present and living and he stopped disbelieving and believed. So when my friend was being stubborn and defensive I tried my very best to show him that Jesus is still living and present in our lives through the written Word of Scripture, through the spoken word of the proclamation of the Gospel and through me a caring, loving friend. Now my friend did not make the immediate 180 that Thomas did, but last time I talked to him he was going to church and even to Bible study. I continue to pray for him that he too will see Jesus as his Lord and God and will stop disbelieving and believe.
Every situation will be different, but Paul speaks about doing this very same thing. In 1 Corinthians 9:22 when he says, “To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means, I might save some.” See Paul understood what Jesus was doing to Thomas. When Thomas was dramatic, Jesus became dramatic so that by all means he would believe. Jesus was willing to do anything so that by all means some might believe. In fact, Jesus was willing to be put to death, even death on a cross, so that He could rise from the dead and pronounce peace to all people. Paul, an imitator of Christ, was willing to become all things for all men so that by all means some might be saved. Now the question is, are you willing to become all things to all men so that some might stop being stubborn and actively disbelieving and start believing? Are you willing to see what Christ was willing to do to help Thomas believe, and be like St. Paul, an imitator of this living present Christ?
I pray you answer yes to those questions. But even if you did, you may be asking yourself, how can I do that? You have the same gifts I used with my friend. You have the written Word of God in the Scriptures to share with people, to point people to the fact that Christ is living, He is present in our lives, and He wants all people to stop disbelieving and start believing. You have the gift of God’s spoken Word in proclaiming the Gospel to them. You can proclaim the good news that in Christ there is forgiveness of sins, there is salvation, there is eternal life, and there are loving brothers and sisters as we are united together in His name. And be sure to add that these amazing gifts are theirs through the grace of God alone. They have to do nothing to receive them. And finally you have the gift of your presence for them. You can be the presence of Christ in their life, by loving them, becoming weak for them if they are weak, or meeting them in whatever situation they are in. Christ Himself calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. St. Paul on several occasions commends us to be imitators of Christ’s love, to be children of God without blemish in the midst of a twisted and crooked generation.
By using God’s written word of the scriptures, God’s spoken word of the proclamation of the Gospel, and the presence of His love through your very own presence, you can become all things to all people so that by all means some might be saved. We can be the presence of the living Lord Jesus Christ who invites all people to stop stubbornly disbelieving and believe in Him as the Son of God who offers His peace to all mankind. We, who are believing, who have our salvation and eternal life in the living Christ Jesus, can be His presence in a world that desperately needs Him. Go out into the world, meet people, learn their story, build relationships, and when you meet the dramatic, stubborn, defensive Thomas’s of this world, show them that Jesus is alive and He is present in their lives so that they may stop disbelieving and start believing , start believing that He is risen... He is risen indeed, alleluia! Amen.
The next week was Holy Week and I had the privilege to go back to Brookings and preach one of the seven sermons for their Tre Ore service. We had Thursday and Friday off from classes so I went up north on Wednesday. It was fun to see everyone up there again and special for me to attend Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services back at Mt. Calvary. I love the Treo Ore service with all of the special music, to hear six different preachers, and to really focus in on each one of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. I will post my sermon at the bottom of this post.
Then I was able to be home for Easter and see the family. We shot clay pigeons on Saturday which is always fun for me. Then we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord with Easter morning service. We had dinner at moms with Grandma and spent our free time playing cards, playing outside with the boys, and relaxing. It was a great holiday.
The next week went very quickly as I continued my usual routine of going to my two classes, working for the farmer, and hanging with friends. Friday night was spring fest on campus which is always a great time. My bar in my room was extra busy and I even had the band Lost and Found in there. I have had quite a few famous (as in seminary-famous) people stop by for a drink in my bar.
Saturday I headed down to south east Missouri to my great-aunt's house. My grandma's family is still down around the Cape Girardeau area. I stayed with my great-aunt Verna but several of my family members were there to hear me preach and enjoy a lunch together Sunday after church. I thoroughly enjoyed preaching at both Shawneetown and Pocahontas. The family dinner was especially enjoyable afterwards. I love getting together and spending time with family, especially that side of the family that always has such a fun time together. I will also post that sermon below as well.
Now I am back to trying to keep up with homework, jobs, friends, sports, and all of the extra events coming up for our concluding class. We have several dinners and events coming up which is awesome, but also fills up the calendar very quickly. I will be finishing up my Romans Bible Study at field work church the next couple Sundays.
Tre Ore Sermon on John 19:26-27:
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
St. John shows us an interesting scene here in his Gospel. As Jesus is hanging on the cross, in pain and agony, slowly dying, two of His loved ones are standing at the foot of the cross looking up to Him. First is His mother, Mary. The second one is the disciple whom Jesus loved. These are two pretty special people to Jesus and they are standing with Him as He is in His most humiliating hour. Then Jesus, rather than complaining about the pain He is in, rather than be mad at the soldiers crucifying Him, rather than being upset with the rest of His disciples who have betrayed, denied, and abandoned Him, rather than any of these negative things, He speaks words of tender mercy. He speaks words of love and creates a new family. As He is dying He gives these two loved ones of His to each other as a new family as he says, “Woman, behold you son” and to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”
Jesus has created a new family as the disciple took her to his own home from that hour on. Jesus speaks these words of tender mercy, giving His two loved ones each other to have as family, to support each other, to care for each other, and most importantly to encourage each other in their faith in Jesus. He is not thinking about Himself or His own pain, but He is thinking about these two people who mean so much to Him and in His death, He unites them into one new family.
I have recently been working on my family tree because I recently meet some cousins that I had only met when I was a baby. Starting with grandparents and working down to kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, on both my mom’s and my dad’s sides together, I have been blessed with a family of 124 people. And it is still growing as three of those are expecting. As I told this to some of my friends, they were shocked because they come from rather small families. And I do admit that that is probably much bigger than the average American family; however, it does not even begin to compare to the size of my family in Christ. When I was baptized and made a child of God, I was given a whole new family of all believers in Christ. This is the same family that you were brought into at your baptism as well.
Jesus created a new family for His mother and His disciple at the cross through His death, but He created a new family through His death and His resurrection that united each and every believer in His name. This family is huge! Millions probably even billions of people who have received the Holy Spirit, believed in Christ as the true Son of God, and be brought into the family of God. St. Paul speaks about this in both Romans and Galatians when He speaks of son-ship and adoption as sons of God. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has united all believers and created a new family in His Son’s name. And you are included in that family.
This is not only good news because you are now a son or daughter of God, being made part of His family and being made an heir of His salvation and eternal life, which is pretty Great news in itself, but even more, He gives us our family of each other. Every other Christian in now our brother and sister in Christ, and these brothers and sisters are blessings to us just as Mary and John would be blessings to each other.
We support each other. We help each other with the physical necessities of everyday life. If one of our brothers and sisters can’t feed or clothe their family, we support them with what they need. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we make sure that our family is well provided for and tended to in our support for each other.
We care for each other. Both emotionally and spiritually, we are there for our fellow brothers and sisters. We step up to help them when they are in need, we lift them up in prayer, we come to their side in pain, we celebrate with them, and give thanks for them for being a part of our family.
But most importantly, we encourage each other to remain strong in our faith. We point each other towards the Lord who created our family through His death and resurrection as our Lord and Savior. We help each other cling to Jesus Christ and His faith, because it by His redemptive work alone that we are able to be this loving, supporting, caring, encouraging family.
Hear the words of our Lord spoken from the cross to His mother and His disciple, two of His loved ones as His tender mercy creating a family for them and be reminded that through His tender mercy He has created a new family for you and all believers that He loves so dearly, dearly enough to hang on that cross to redeem you and bring you into the family of God as sons and daughters, but as also as heirs who have received salvation and eternal life. And then being reminded of that good news yourself, go encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ so that they too may be strengthened by this good news.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sermon on John 20:24-29:
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours in the name of our Father and the Living Lord Jesus Christ!
He is Risen…. He is risen indeed, alleluia! Jesus is most certainly risen as we see in our text today. This is a pretty well-known text of Jesus appearing to His disciples in the upper room and then coming to appear to them again, but this time including Thomas. Now most of you probably know him as doubting Thomas. However, as I study this text I do now think St. John is trying to show us Thomas as doubting, but rather as being ridiculously dramatic, extremely stubborn, and overly defensive. Jesus appeared to the ten disciples and Thomas was not there. Not there are theories as to why Thomas was not there, but overall St. John doesn’t tell us that. He simply tells us Thomas was not there the first time Jesus comes to the disciples. Then when Thomas does join back up with his brothers, Jesus is no longer there. They excitedly begin to fill him in, tell them who they saw. But before they can get any further into the story than simply telling Thomas they saw Jesus, he stops them. He cuts them off and interrupts them. If he was simply doubting that they actually saw Jesus, he would have asked more questions, asked what he said, asked what they did while he was there, or asked what he looked like. But Thomas doesn’t ask anything, rather he makes this ridiculously dramatic, extremely stubborn, overly defensive statement.
Really, it is an ultimatum, if he does not see the wounds, if he does not thrust his finger into the nail holes, or if he does not put his hand inside the spear wound, he absolutely will not, no way believe that Jesus is alive. Have you ever thought about Thomas’ ridiculously dramatic ultimatum? Unless he sees and touches the most grotesque evidence of Jesus’ death, the wounds, the holes where the nails were driven through His skin, the slash where a spear was stabbed into his dead corpse, and unless he gets to do these almost violating acts to Jesus he absolutely will not, no way believe Jesus is alive. He is not doubting, he is actively disbelieving.
Why is Thomas being so stubborn, so dramatic, so defensive. Why is he so quick to cut his brothers off and throw this extreme ultimatum in their faces? Again, St. John does not out rightly just tell us this, but I do not think it is misusing the text to say that Thomas is hurt. Reading the way St. John wrote this passage, I think it is not that hard to see that Thomas feels let down, abandoned, and hurt by Jesus dying. He put all his hope and trust in this man who he followed as his teacher. He was beside him for so many miracles and teachings, eating with him, traveling with him, learning from him. And now this Jesus was gone, dead. Thomas is hurt and so when the disciples try to share their excitement about seeing Jesus, this is why Thomas cuts them off, interrupts them only to throw his extreme ultimatum back at them. He is being stubborn and defensive because he does not want to get his hopes up again. How can he trust and hope in this man again after he has already died once? He pushes them away, puts up his defensive walls, stubbornly denies they are telling the truth and is over dramatic to express how actively disbelieving he is going to be about this.
However, as ridiculously dramatic, extremely stubborn, and overly defensive his demand was, one week later we see Jesus show up again. He greets the disciples with the same words of peace that he did the first time, and then he turns and goes after Thomas. Jesus uses the exact same wording Thomas had in his ultimatum and tells Thomas “if that is what it is going to take to believe, then go ahead and do it. If you need to thrust your finger into my nail holes then here they are, poke away. If you need to stick your whole hand in my side, go ahead and do it already. Do whatever ridiculous, dramatic thing you need to do to stop being stubborn, stop actively disbelieving and start believing again. Stop this nonsense of disbelieving and start believing.” And it’s not too surprising that Thomas doesn’t actually need to do any of it. He drops his defensive walls, he stops being dramatic and stubborn and proclaims my God and my Lord. He confesses that Jesus is living and he not only believes, but puts his trust and hope back in Jesus knowing he will not be let down again. Dramatic, stubborn, defensive Thomas sees the living Jesus and the hurt is healed, his faith is restored, and his hope and trust is once again placed in the living Lord, Jesus Christ.
Who does this ridiculous, stubborn, defensive Thomas make you think of in your life today? I hope and pray you do not think of yourself. I am not trying to compare you to Thomas at all because I hope you all believe in Jesus. You came to church this morning to hear about Jesus so I am fairly certain you all are believers. You do not need to be told to stop disbelieving and start believing, you are not feeling hurt or let down by God and therefore have not built defensive walls around yourself to stubbornly reject your faith. No, I am not talking about you. So now that that is clear, can you think of anyone else in your life like Thomas? Maybe you can, maybe you can’t right off hand, but I am willing to bet we all know someone like this. I know several people like this. People who deny there is a God, or people who are stubbornly rejecting their faith, or people who are mad at God. These people exist all around us every day.
I once worked with a guy who claimed to not believe in God. However, after more and more discussion as our friendship developed, I finally began to see that he did believe in God, but he was mad at God. He felt betrayed by God because his newborn son had died only a couple days after he was born. This friend of mine was hurt that God would take his child from him. Because he felt hurt by God, he built these same defensive walls, he made ridiculous claims of what it would take for him to believe. So I did the only thing I knew to do, I tried my best to show Him the living Jesus that is present and offering peace. I shared God’s written Word with him, using Scripture to try to show him that the pain and suffering of this world does not begin to compare to the grace of God. I showed him how God’s Word points us to Jesus who died for us and our sins, but rose again to be our living Lord who is willing to do anything to show us He is the Son of God. I tried to show how Jesus’s death and resurrection is the victory over death and the grave. I also used God’s spoken Word of proclaiming the Gospel to Him that in Christ we have salvation and eternal life. I proclaimed to Him that even though he was mad at God, God still loved him, loved him enough to sacrifice Jesus, His own son, to offer peace to him. I also tried to show him Jesus by loving him as Jesus would. I was patient with his questions, honest with his sarcastic remarks, and tried my best to care for and genuinely love him. I sympathized with his pain and loss, but I also loving challenged him to see it through the lens of the cross. When Thomas was stubborn and defensive all it took was seeing Jesus present and living and he stopped disbelieving and believed. So when my friend was being stubborn and defensive I tried my very best to show him that Jesus is still living and present in our lives through the written Word of Scripture, through the spoken word of the proclamation of the Gospel and through me a caring, loving friend. Now my friend did not make the immediate 180 that Thomas did, but last time I talked to him he was going to church and even to Bible study. I continue to pray for him that he too will see Jesus as his Lord and God and will stop disbelieving and believe.
Every situation will be different, but Paul speaks about doing this very same thing. In 1 Corinthians 9:22 when he says, “To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means, I might save some.” See Paul understood what Jesus was doing to Thomas. When Thomas was dramatic, Jesus became dramatic so that by all means he would believe. Jesus was willing to do anything so that by all means some might believe. In fact, Jesus was willing to be put to death, even death on a cross, so that He could rise from the dead and pronounce peace to all people. Paul, an imitator of Christ, was willing to become all things for all men so that by all means some might be saved. Now the question is, are you willing to become all things to all men so that some might stop being stubborn and actively disbelieving and start believing? Are you willing to see what Christ was willing to do to help Thomas believe, and be like St. Paul, an imitator of this living present Christ?
I pray you answer yes to those questions. But even if you did, you may be asking yourself, how can I do that? You have the same gifts I used with my friend. You have the written Word of God in the Scriptures to share with people, to point people to the fact that Christ is living, He is present in our lives, and He wants all people to stop disbelieving and start believing. You have the gift of God’s spoken Word in proclaiming the Gospel to them. You can proclaim the good news that in Christ there is forgiveness of sins, there is salvation, there is eternal life, and there are loving brothers and sisters as we are united together in His name. And be sure to add that these amazing gifts are theirs through the grace of God alone. They have to do nothing to receive them. And finally you have the gift of your presence for them. You can be the presence of Christ in their life, by loving them, becoming weak for them if they are weak, or meeting them in whatever situation they are in. Christ Himself calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. St. Paul on several occasions commends us to be imitators of Christ’s love, to be children of God without blemish in the midst of a twisted and crooked generation.
By using God’s written word of the scriptures, God’s spoken word of the proclamation of the Gospel, and the presence of His love through your very own presence, you can become all things to all people so that by all means some might be saved. We can be the presence of the living Lord Jesus Christ who invites all people to stop stubbornly disbelieving and believe in Him as the Son of God who offers His peace to all mankind. We, who are believing, who have our salvation and eternal life in the living Christ Jesus, can be His presence in a world that desperately needs Him. Go out into the world, meet people, learn their story, build relationships, and when you meet the dramatic, stubborn, defensive Thomas’s of this world, show them that Jesus is alive and He is present in their lives so that they may stop disbelieving and start believing , start believing that He is risen... He is risen indeed, alleluia! Amen.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Life is good!
Greetings in the name of Jesus the Lord of all! The title pretty much sums up my life right now. Sunday I led liturgy at church and then taught Bible study on Romans 8. What an amazing chapter of the New Testament!! I explained it this way: I call John 3:16 the Gospel in a nutshell, very simple, easy to remember, but is the Gospel purely through. Romans 8 is the Gospel cracking that nutshell open and examining every beautiful crumb of the Gospel. Paul so elegantly lays out everything you could really want to know about the Gospel in this chapter. It is comforting, reassuring, hopeful, and quite frankly inspiring. If you haven't read it in a while I suggest you go read it again and let the Word of God fill your soul with the joy of salvation.
Then I left straight from church to go to work on the farm. I worked with the farmer's son to burn a bunch of brush piles. It was a fun day, but between the sun, the heat of the fire, and all the smoke it definitely wore me out. My legs under my jeans were black from all the ash, soot, and smoke. We almost had an emergency of the fire jumping our break and heading straight for the woods, but luckily I saw it as soon as it started and we got it put out. We had to get that done first though so we can start spreading fertilizer and lime this next week. I am finding myself so torn because I want to be on campus doing fun stuff with the guys but there is so much to get done at the farm and I love doing that too. I guess that is a good problem to have. These next two weeks are going to be busy. Thursday I preach in chapel so I have to make sure I am ready to do that and then next week is Holy Week already.
I am enjoying one of my two classes. My pastoral leadership class is looking at eight different areas of leadership such as spiritual, relational, etc. We read a book a week in that class but they are practical books. My other class is a drag and every one in it dreads going to it. The sad part is it is Isaiah and the prophets, an area of the Bible I am not very good with and would like to be better. However, they have four sections of the class that do about 3/4 of the classes plenary style all together with only one teacher teaching. The other 1/4 is when we break out with our actual sectional leaders. I got a really good sectional leader, but the guy who is leading the plenary sessions is painfully monotone and extremely boring. Even the other professors don't pay attention and actually one of them doesn't even come to the plenary sessions. I guess it is just one of those classes you have to get through.
I will post my sermon on here after Thursday but again it will also be on ITunes U. I am preaching the same sermon in church on the following Sunday. I hope you have all had a good devotional life as we journey through Lent and prepare for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. And again, seriously read Romans 8. Blessings in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Catch Up!
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus! I apologize that it has been almost a month since I have last posted on here, but a busy month it has been indeed. My final quarter of my seminary career has officially began. I finished last quarter still pretty strong for having six classes and zero motivation. I only had one test, but had quite a few big papers to finish up finals week which was already three weeks ago. Then in order to relax and unwind I headed over to Nate's for a fun weekend with him, Kari, and the boys. It was so good to see the nephews again and it always amazes me how quickly they are growing up right under my eyes. Then I came back to campus to pack up for my big road trip.
Tuesday, (February 24th) my friend Buck and I took off from St. Louis and headed towards Phoenix. We took two days to get there and stayed in Amarillo which oddly enough is exactly half way. We arrived to Phoenix on the 25th after two 11 hour days in the car. Buck's sister and her two boys live in Phoenix so we were able to stay with them and have free housing while we were there. It was fun to meet his family and wrestle with his nephews as well. We were in Phoenix for a three day church conference titled Best Practices in Ministry. It was an absolutely amazing conference. I highly recommend it to any church worker and I do hope to go back every year they have it. The conference is free, they feed you three meals plus unlimited snacks all day long, and there are such a wide variety of topics that are being presented. This is the fourth year they have done it. The first year they had barely over 200, this year they had over 1500. It was so encouraging to see that many church workers and dedicated Christians all in one place. It was also good to catch up with family and friends. I had several cousins there, saw some friends from college who are Lutheran teachers, saw guys who have graduated from the seminary the past few years, and was able to network and met a lot of new people as well. I also got to met one of my cousins and his wife who live there in Phoenix, and see my uncle too. I love spending time with family, especially when you do not get to see them that often. The whole three days were really encouraging and uplifting.
Then after Phoenix we made a 13 hour drive to San Antonio. Everyone complains about the drive across west Texas, but it was not what I had imagined at all. I thought it was awesome country, but then again I love staring at what most people call "nothing to look at". The vast emptiness of the desert to me is not emptiness but full of its own unique beauty. Also, it was funny because Phoenix to San Antonio is almost exactly the same distance in miles as Adair to San Antonio, but it took us three less hours because the speed limit across west Texas is 85 is some places and 80 in all the rest. It was fun to feel like you were flying down the road. We made it to San Antonio where we stayed with my aunt and uncle who live there and got to see another cousin who also lives there. They put us up for two nights and I enjoyed catching up with them again as well. Buck and I took one day to go do the Alamo, River Walk, and Mexican Market. He had never seen any of it, so even though I had been there several times, I took him down and around all the touristy stuff.
Then we drove over to New Orleans for two nights. What a fun city.... to visit! I don't think I would ever want to live there, but it was definitely fun to see once. We stayed in the French Quarter so we could do Bourbon Street and Jackson Square and all of that without driving. We did do a driving tour to see the Garden District and some other parts of the city, but it was nice just being able to walk to restaurants and tourist shops. I had a beignet and a Po boy as well as some cajun, jumbalaya, and crawfish. The food is definitely worth visiting for there! I have a friend from college who lives down there, so we met up with him. He was telling me that truly even after almost a year of being there, he is still just amazed by the crazy things you just randomly see. That city has a culture all of its own.
Then we drove over to Mobile, Alabama, for no other reason than to drive through Mississippi and Alabama. I have now been to 33 states in my life. It is my goal to be in all 50 states and Mississippi and Alabama were not on my list yet. However, the way we went worked out perfect because we missed all the bad weather farther north as we drove up to Tennessee. The roads went down to one of the two lanes on the interstates, but that one lane was clear and dry. We made it to Lynchburg and as soon as we pulled off the main roads into the hotel parking lot, it was one giant sheet of ice. The Lord was good to us with clean clear roads. We stayed there for the night and the next morning hit up the Jack Daniels distillery. We couldn't take the entire tour because it is an outdoor walking tour and the sidewalks were too icy. However, we did get to see the grounds and still do the tasting samples. We also got to see the town that is only there because of Jack Daniels, and we ate lunch at an awesome little BBQ joint.
Then we headed for Nashville which was our last stop before coming home. Nashville was not as exciting as I had hoped it was going to be, but after ten days on the road, seeing several different cities I think we were just tired. I definitely want to go back some time and do it again when it is a trip by itself, and I plan to go back for the full tour at Jack anyway. We made it safely home to St. Louis on Saturday (March 7th). I went to field work church and hung out with friends on Sunday and just like that break was over. We did cover 11 states and 4225 miles in 12 days though on our adventure. I let Buck drive about 200 and I drove the other 4000 miles and was ready to keep driving. I love road trips and love to drive. I do want to give a huge shout of praise to God for being with us, keeping us and my car safe, and blessing us with so many memories though. He is good!!!
Now as I said, my final quarter has begun. However, I only have two classes this quarter. Monday, I worked, went to my one class, went to the driving range, worked out, and worked supper and that was my day. Then yesterday I went to my one class in the morning and then worked at the farm for 7 hours. Today I worked at the farm for 6 hours and then went golfing. I almost forget I am even a student any more. The farmer I am working for is the coolest old guy. He pays me at the end of each day and gives me a hug as he hands me the check. I think he has been extremely impressed and truly grateful for the amount of work I have been able to do in two days. Yesterday, I planted 125 trees, helped move machinery around, oiled a disk, and stacked bales. Today, I finished stacking bales, cleaned up two sheds, moved a bunch of heavy equipment, oiled two more disks, and cleaned up a bunch of brush piles. It is just so good for me to be working outside again. The farm is about 45 minutes from campus, so it is a drive but it is worth it. Plus, the extra money will come in handy as I will soon be paying back loans.
I am on the golf team as well and we get free range balls any day of the week on top of playing two days. I hit the range Monday, but today was my first round of golf for the year. I played a lot better than I thought I would and even had a tee shot land a foot from the hole on one of the par three's. Softball starts tomorrow, so with golf and softball and working on the farm, it is definitely a good thing I only have two classes.
I had an interview on Monday with a church from Minnesota. The church is in Hermantown (right outside of Duluth). It is only 25 years old, but is growing like crazy. They have a pre-school with the church as well. This was my first and most likely only interview for team ministry, but I loved it. The pastor and the people he brought with him were fun and easy to talk to. I think I presented myself well, and they seemed pleased with me as an option. One of the questions they asked was if I could field dress a white tail deer and I said, "ABSOLUTELY!" They also at one point started arguing over which one of the two church's softball teams I would be on. It got me really excited thinking about call day, but I have to hold myself back again to keep from getting anxious. I know God will put me where He needs me, but I am ready to find out where that will be.
Well I have taken up enough of your time, but that pretty much covers the last month. I have three sermons due in the next month so I will be posting those for you as well. Blessings to you all as we continue through Lent and prepare ourselves for Easter! God be with you!
Tuesday, (February 24th) my friend Buck and I took off from St. Louis and headed towards Phoenix. We took two days to get there and stayed in Amarillo which oddly enough is exactly half way. We arrived to Phoenix on the 25th after two 11 hour days in the car. Buck's sister and her two boys live in Phoenix so we were able to stay with them and have free housing while we were there. It was fun to meet his family and wrestle with his nephews as well. We were in Phoenix for a three day church conference titled Best Practices in Ministry. It was an absolutely amazing conference. I highly recommend it to any church worker and I do hope to go back every year they have it. The conference is free, they feed you three meals plus unlimited snacks all day long, and there are such a wide variety of topics that are being presented. This is the fourth year they have done it. The first year they had barely over 200, this year they had over 1500. It was so encouraging to see that many church workers and dedicated Christians all in one place. It was also good to catch up with family and friends. I had several cousins there, saw some friends from college who are Lutheran teachers, saw guys who have graduated from the seminary the past few years, and was able to network and met a lot of new people as well. I also got to met one of my cousins and his wife who live there in Phoenix, and see my uncle too. I love spending time with family, especially when you do not get to see them that often. The whole three days were really encouraging and uplifting.
Then after Phoenix we made a 13 hour drive to San Antonio. Everyone complains about the drive across west Texas, but it was not what I had imagined at all. I thought it was awesome country, but then again I love staring at what most people call "nothing to look at". The vast emptiness of the desert to me is not emptiness but full of its own unique beauty. Also, it was funny because Phoenix to San Antonio is almost exactly the same distance in miles as Adair to San Antonio, but it took us three less hours because the speed limit across west Texas is 85 is some places and 80 in all the rest. It was fun to feel like you were flying down the road. We made it to San Antonio where we stayed with my aunt and uncle who live there and got to see another cousin who also lives there. They put us up for two nights and I enjoyed catching up with them again as well. Buck and I took one day to go do the Alamo, River Walk, and Mexican Market. He had never seen any of it, so even though I had been there several times, I took him down and around all the touristy stuff.
Then we drove over to New Orleans for two nights. What a fun city.... to visit! I don't think I would ever want to live there, but it was definitely fun to see once. We stayed in the French Quarter so we could do Bourbon Street and Jackson Square and all of that without driving. We did do a driving tour to see the Garden District and some other parts of the city, but it was nice just being able to walk to restaurants and tourist shops. I had a beignet and a Po boy as well as some cajun, jumbalaya, and crawfish. The food is definitely worth visiting for there! I have a friend from college who lives down there, so we met up with him. He was telling me that truly even after almost a year of being there, he is still just amazed by the crazy things you just randomly see. That city has a culture all of its own.
Then we drove over to Mobile, Alabama, for no other reason than to drive through Mississippi and Alabama. I have now been to 33 states in my life. It is my goal to be in all 50 states and Mississippi and Alabama were not on my list yet. However, the way we went worked out perfect because we missed all the bad weather farther north as we drove up to Tennessee. The roads went down to one of the two lanes on the interstates, but that one lane was clear and dry. We made it to Lynchburg and as soon as we pulled off the main roads into the hotel parking lot, it was one giant sheet of ice. The Lord was good to us with clean clear roads. We stayed there for the night and the next morning hit up the Jack Daniels distillery. We couldn't take the entire tour because it is an outdoor walking tour and the sidewalks were too icy. However, we did get to see the grounds and still do the tasting samples. We also got to see the town that is only there because of Jack Daniels, and we ate lunch at an awesome little BBQ joint.
Then we headed for Nashville which was our last stop before coming home. Nashville was not as exciting as I had hoped it was going to be, but after ten days on the road, seeing several different cities I think we were just tired. I definitely want to go back some time and do it again when it is a trip by itself, and I plan to go back for the full tour at Jack anyway. We made it safely home to St. Louis on Saturday (March 7th). I went to field work church and hung out with friends on Sunday and just like that break was over. We did cover 11 states and 4225 miles in 12 days though on our adventure. I let Buck drive about 200 and I drove the other 4000 miles and was ready to keep driving. I love road trips and love to drive. I do want to give a huge shout of praise to God for being with us, keeping us and my car safe, and blessing us with so many memories though. He is good!!!
Now as I said, my final quarter has begun. However, I only have two classes this quarter. Monday, I worked, went to my one class, went to the driving range, worked out, and worked supper and that was my day. Then yesterday I went to my one class in the morning and then worked at the farm for 7 hours. Today I worked at the farm for 6 hours and then went golfing. I almost forget I am even a student any more. The farmer I am working for is the coolest old guy. He pays me at the end of each day and gives me a hug as he hands me the check. I think he has been extremely impressed and truly grateful for the amount of work I have been able to do in two days. Yesterday, I planted 125 trees, helped move machinery around, oiled a disk, and stacked bales. Today, I finished stacking bales, cleaned up two sheds, moved a bunch of heavy equipment, oiled two more disks, and cleaned up a bunch of brush piles. It is just so good for me to be working outside again. The farm is about 45 minutes from campus, so it is a drive but it is worth it. Plus, the extra money will come in handy as I will soon be paying back loans.
I am on the golf team as well and we get free range balls any day of the week on top of playing two days. I hit the range Monday, but today was my first round of golf for the year. I played a lot better than I thought I would and even had a tee shot land a foot from the hole on one of the par three's. Softball starts tomorrow, so with golf and softball and working on the farm, it is definitely a good thing I only have two classes.
I had an interview on Monday with a church from Minnesota. The church is in Hermantown (right outside of Duluth). It is only 25 years old, but is growing like crazy. They have a pre-school with the church as well. This was my first and most likely only interview for team ministry, but I loved it. The pastor and the people he brought with him were fun and easy to talk to. I think I presented myself well, and they seemed pleased with me as an option. One of the questions they asked was if I could field dress a white tail deer and I said, "ABSOLUTELY!" They also at one point started arguing over which one of the two church's softball teams I would be on. It got me really excited thinking about call day, but I have to hold myself back again to keep from getting anxious. I know God will put me where He needs me, but I am ready to find out where that will be.
Well I have taken up enough of your time, but that pretty much covers the last month. I have three sermons due in the next month so I will be posting those for you as well. Blessings to you all as we continue through Lent and prepare ourselves for Easter! God be with you!
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Sermon Video
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. Here is the link to the video of me preaching my sermon this morning. The reason I don't have any hair is because I was persuaded into shaving my head for St. Baldricks. St. Baldricks is a national organization that raises money for research for childhood cancer. Over the last four years, the faculty, staff, and students of the seminary have raised over $30,000 for this cause. I did it my first two years on campus. I wasn't going to do it this year, until President Dr. Meyer asked me one question. He saw me and asked, "Do you want a call?" I told him I very much wanted a call and he told me I had better shave my head then. So there was an offer of $1000 to shave my beard and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't shave it off three months before my year mark. However, the lady who offered $1000 for the beard, still donated the $1000 for just shaving my head. I told her if I would have agreed to shave the beard, she would have just paid a lot of money to see a grown man cry.
We are down to two weeks left of the quarter and I am lacking all motivation to finish the final papers and assignments. The weather was so nice yesterday and today, I had to play tennis and basketball with the guys. I also preached Saturday night and Sunday morning. This link is taping og this mornings preaching. Enjoy!
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Lent Devotion
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. It is starting to snow here!!! I could definitely go for one more big snow storm before spring officially arrives. We had a Groundhog Get Down party Saturday. My friend with an awesome sense of humor has this party every year to tell the Phil the groundhog on groundhog's day not to see his shadow so there is not six more weeks of winter. He went all out with fun facts about groundhogs posted all over his house. He has a shadow photo booth and had the movie Groundhog's Day playing. Then tonight I went to two different friend's house to watch the Superbowl. Yesterday I spent several hours making a bunch of deer jerky and grinding up deer meat to make chili. I made a big batch of deer chili for the party Saturday and for the parties tonight. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the chili and the jerky came out awesome.
Only three more weeks of this quarter left. I cannot wait. I am excited for next quarter. A friend who is a pastor in Minnesota asked me to help him with a project for Lent. He is putting together a forty day Lenten Devotional book, so I wrote one of the devotions for him. I know it is not Lent yet, but to help you get ready for Lent in a couple of weeks, here is my devotion. Enjoy!
Text: John 19:1-6
Title: “Not Bad Enough!”
Have you ever heard people use the phrase, “Not good enough”? You try to win an argument by presenting some statistic or fact and the other person simply responds with, “Not good enough.” Maybe you were trying to really impress someone with a grand gesture but they were not impressed because the act was simply “not good enough.” No matter what the circumstance is, this phrase is used to state that the other person wants something more, something better.
In our text, the Jewish leaders have brought Jesus to Pilate to be tried for his “crimes”. Pilate tries Jesus by speaking to him and finds no guilt in him. However, Pilate can tell the Jewish leaders are outraged and furious. So in order to not upset them more in fear of a riot or rebellion, Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged. Pilate’s soldiers not only brutally beat Jesus with whips in the flogging, but dress him up in a robe and crown of thorns to mock him. Beaten, bloody, and humiliated, Pilate presents the frail and battered Jesus to the crowd. Pilate even tells the crowd that he found no guilt in Jesus, he found no reason to punish him at all, but he still had this brutal punishment carried out anyway. How do the Jewish leaders respond? Not good enough! They were not satisfied with merely torturing and beating this man Jesus. This heinous punishment was not good enough for the crimes they felt Jesus had committed.
And yet can you really say a beating and battering is a good thing? This horrible and gruesome punishment done to an innocent Jesus is definitely not a good thing. So really what the Jewish leaders were saying was, “Not BAD enough!” Flogging, beating, and mocking him was not a bad enough punishment. Their evil greed, their hate-filled hearts demanded even worse of a punishment for this man they loathed so much. Their unified cries of “Crucify Him” were really screaming out, “Not Bad Enough!” “They demanded a worse punishment, they demanded death! Him being a live, no matter how badly beaten, was simply not bad enough to satisfy their thirst for his blood.
Their demand would be satisfied as Pilate gives into their evil demands and sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion. It was not bad enough that our Lord had to die, but first also had to suffer the whippings, beatings, and mocking of men who found him innocent. He suffered pain and humiliation to try to appease he wrath of sinful men, but this was not bad enough! Only His death would be bad enough to appease evil. And yet, through His death, the very thing evil demanded, He was able to rise from the dead and defeat sin and evil once and for all. His resurrection conquered all of the sin and evil that had tried so hard to get rid of Him. Beating Him was not bad enough, but His death and resurrection was GOOD enough to give Him authority over all sin and evil once and for all. The crowd cried, “Not bad enough” on Good Friday, but now we cry, “It was good enough” on Easter morning and every morning since!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for sending Your Son to be GOOD enough to defeat sin, death, and the Devil once and for all. Thank you so much that by Your grace you claim us as good enough in the name of Jesus Christ to have eternal life in You. It is in the same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
Only three more weeks of this quarter left. I cannot wait. I am excited for next quarter. A friend who is a pastor in Minnesota asked me to help him with a project for Lent. He is putting together a forty day Lenten Devotional book, so I wrote one of the devotions for him. I know it is not Lent yet, but to help you get ready for Lent in a couple of weeks, here is my devotion. Enjoy!
Text: John 19:1-6
Title: “Not Bad Enough!”
Have you ever heard people use the phrase, “Not good enough”? You try to win an argument by presenting some statistic or fact and the other person simply responds with, “Not good enough.” Maybe you were trying to really impress someone with a grand gesture but they were not impressed because the act was simply “not good enough.” No matter what the circumstance is, this phrase is used to state that the other person wants something more, something better.
In our text, the Jewish leaders have brought Jesus to Pilate to be tried for his “crimes”. Pilate tries Jesus by speaking to him and finds no guilt in him. However, Pilate can tell the Jewish leaders are outraged and furious. So in order to not upset them more in fear of a riot or rebellion, Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged. Pilate’s soldiers not only brutally beat Jesus with whips in the flogging, but dress him up in a robe and crown of thorns to mock him. Beaten, bloody, and humiliated, Pilate presents the frail and battered Jesus to the crowd. Pilate even tells the crowd that he found no guilt in Jesus, he found no reason to punish him at all, but he still had this brutal punishment carried out anyway. How do the Jewish leaders respond? Not good enough! They were not satisfied with merely torturing and beating this man Jesus. This heinous punishment was not good enough for the crimes they felt Jesus had committed.
And yet can you really say a beating and battering is a good thing? This horrible and gruesome punishment done to an innocent Jesus is definitely not a good thing. So really what the Jewish leaders were saying was, “Not BAD enough!” Flogging, beating, and mocking him was not a bad enough punishment. Their evil greed, their hate-filled hearts demanded even worse of a punishment for this man they loathed so much. Their unified cries of “Crucify Him” were really screaming out, “Not Bad Enough!” “They demanded a worse punishment, they demanded death! Him being a live, no matter how badly beaten, was simply not bad enough to satisfy their thirst for his blood.
Their demand would be satisfied as Pilate gives into their evil demands and sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion. It was not bad enough that our Lord had to die, but first also had to suffer the whippings, beatings, and mocking of men who found him innocent. He suffered pain and humiliation to try to appease he wrath of sinful men, but this was not bad enough! Only His death would be bad enough to appease evil. And yet, through His death, the very thing evil demanded, He was able to rise from the dead and defeat sin and evil once and for all. His resurrection conquered all of the sin and evil that had tried so hard to get rid of Him. Beating Him was not bad enough, but His death and resurrection was GOOD enough to give Him authority over all sin and evil once and for all. The crowd cried, “Not bad enough” on Good Friday, but now we cry, “It was good enough” on Easter morning and every morning since!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for sending Your Son to be GOOD enough to defeat sin, death, and the Devil once and for all. Thank you so much that by Your grace you claim us as good enough in the name of Jesus Christ to have eternal life in You. It is in the same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Quick thought for the day
Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Not much is new with me. I am just taking one day at a time and trying to survive classes. We are down to three and a half week of classes left and I am down to about 11 assignments left. I am getting more and more excited for spring and especially spring break. I did officially get registered for my final two classes of my seminary career next quarter. My friends are quite jealous that I only have two classes in our final quarter.
I just wanted to share with you what I have been thinking a lot about lately. I normally pick one psalm to kind of reflect on for a couple days. Living with them individually for a decent length of time really brings them to life for me. The psalm I have been stuck on for almost two weeks now is Psalm 103. It is such a beautiful psalm. I have been especially fascinated with verses 8 to 12. God is slow to anger but abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with our sins or give us the punishment we deserve. Then there is this beautiful image of as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love for us. We have sent probes to Mars and still have not been able to reach the limits of where the heavens begin. His love is truly so great we can never even begin to fully understand it. And then He removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. No if you really wanted to be scientific, you could Google the circumference of the earth from the date line back around to the date line and that would I suppose be the technical distance between the east and the west. But I really think the psalmist here is being more poetic than scientific. The same way when you look up at the sky, you have no idea how far it really goes, we really have no idea how great the Lord's love for us is. And the same for the east and the west. Especially being a Midwest kid who has been in the open prairie, when you are standing there and you look to the east and then look to the west, you can't being to guess how many miles the eye can see before the horizon each way. And yet, if you started walking east, the horizon never gets closer, and if you start walking west again the horizon never seems to get closer. In each direction, east continues to go farther east and west continues to go farther west. There is no limit to how far east is from the west. We cannot imagine how great God's love for us is and there is no limit to how far He has removed our sins from us through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you see the true Gospel beauty in this poetic imagery of the psalmist, you really do want to say, "Bless the Lord, o my soul!" In Jesus name, Amen.
I just wanted to share with you what I have been thinking a lot about lately. I normally pick one psalm to kind of reflect on for a couple days. Living with them individually for a decent length of time really brings them to life for me. The psalm I have been stuck on for almost two weeks now is Psalm 103. It is such a beautiful psalm. I have been especially fascinated with verses 8 to 12. God is slow to anger but abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with our sins or give us the punishment we deserve. Then there is this beautiful image of as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love for us. We have sent probes to Mars and still have not been able to reach the limits of where the heavens begin. His love is truly so great we can never even begin to fully understand it. And then He removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. No if you really wanted to be scientific, you could Google the circumference of the earth from the date line back around to the date line and that would I suppose be the technical distance between the east and the west. But I really think the psalmist here is being more poetic than scientific. The same way when you look up at the sky, you have no idea how far it really goes, we really have no idea how great the Lord's love for us is. And the same for the east and the west. Especially being a Midwest kid who has been in the open prairie, when you are standing there and you look to the east and then look to the west, you can't being to guess how many miles the eye can see before the horizon each way. And yet, if you started walking east, the horizon never gets closer, and if you start walking west again the horizon never seems to get closer. In each direction, east continues to go farther east and west continues to go farther west. There is no limit to how far east is from the west. We cannot imagine how great God's love for us is and there is no limit to how far He has removed our sins from us through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you see the true Gospel beauty in this poetic imagery of the psalmist, you really do want to say, "Bless the Lord, o my soul!" In Jesus name, Amen.
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