Wednesday, April 28, 2010

April 29, 2010

John 13:33-35 "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

You see it in the movies and on TV, probably because it's true to life. A teacher needs to leave their classroom, for whatever reason, and when they leave, their normally well-behaved students get out of hand. What's the saying? When the cat's away, the mice will play. Jesus' students, his disciples, had been following their Teacher around for quite some time, and now Jesus was telling them that He would soon be leaving them - well physically anyway. Later Jesus told his disciples, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b) Jesus would still be with them, He just wouldn't be physically right in front of their faces. So it is with us today - Jesus is with us always, just not physically right in front of our face.

Jesus decided to get proactive, to keep the mice from playing. Paul tells us in Galatians that, "The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14) Instead of coming up with a whole book of rules, instead of coming up with a whole collection of 'when I'm gone, if this happens - then do this,' Jesus kept it simple and told His disciples to: "Love one another."

But here, Jesus doesn't just tell His disciples to love their neighbors as themselves. His direction is much stronger. Jesus told them, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." I remember for a while when I was a kid , I would get really creative when it came to coming up with a big number. For example, someone would ask me how many stars I saw in the sky, and I would come up with - 'a katrillion kajillion.' On a scale of 1 to 10 - with 10 being the most a person could possibly love, Jesus' love weighs in at 'a badillion katrillion kajillion.' Jesus is saying - love one another to the max. There is no love that trumps Jesus' love, and this is how He wants his disciples to love one another.

The words from our Lesson from this Sunday, from John, are re-worked in the book of First John, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (I John 4:19-21). Jesus loved us first and provided the example of how we are to love one another. Crack open the Gospels and get reading to get more of the details and a better grasp on how Jesus loved us - to get more of the details and a better grasp on exactly how we are to love on another.

So how are we doing? Are we loving one another just as Jesus has loved us? Jesus gave us a thermometer with which we can take our 'love-temperature.' Jesus tells us that if we are loving as He has loved us, then all men will recognize this outstanding love. "...that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16b) Do we as a church body stick out when it comes to loving others? Do we as individuals stick out when it comes to loving others? Or do we find ourselves blending in and following the world's format of loving me, myself and I the most, at the expense of loving one another? The command itself is simple. Making it happen isn't always as simple.

Thankfully, Jesus took care of the times when we fail to love to the max, by loving us to the max anyway. The Teacher who left His classroom will return one more time on the last day to take His students to be with Him forever. The students have the privilege of going with their Teacher, not because of how well they carried out His command to love one another as He loved them, but they have the privilege of going with their Teacher because of how well He loved them. Because He loved them enough to leave the comforts of heaven to live a perfect life in their place - Because He loved them enough to even die for them - Because of all that their Teacher has done for them, the students will want to show thanks to their teacher by following his command to love. First John tells us: "This is love for God: to obey his commands." (I John 5:3a).

There was another time when Jesus physically left his disciples - in the Garden of Gethsemane - when he instructed them to "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." (Mark 14:38) When the cats away, the mice should pray - they should watch and pray. We should pray, for among other things, the understanding, the strength and the ambition to follow Jesus' command to love one another to the 'kajillionth' degree, which is how much He has loved us. Let's pray now.

Dear Jesus,

You want us to love others as you have loved us. It's hard for us to really comprehend how much you have loved us. Expand our understanding of your love for us so that we may be filled with an extra dose of ambition to follow your example in loving one another. Amen.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

April 22, 2010



John 10:27 & 28 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

Have you ever looked at one of those how-to books that's part of a series - "The Complete Idiot's Guide To..." - to just about anything you can think of? For a while I think they were even in the grocery store checkout aisle. I was curious to know how many of these books are floating around out there, so I checked it out on amazon.com, and my search produced 2,684 book results! I didn't take the time to go through each and every results page, but taking a random sampling, it appears that each of the 2,684 results represent a separate title. On the first page were titles like: "Complete Idiot's Guide to Chemistry" - "Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory" - "Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Italian" - "Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching" -"Complete Idiot's Guide to Computer Basics." You get the point, there's a 'Complete Idiot's Guide' to just about anything.

John 10:27 & 28 could serve as the outline to the 'Complete Idiot's Guide to Jesus' Sheep.' In a way we are complete idiots, we are as dumb as sheep who would be completely lost without their Good Shepherd. But, we were also created in His image and are now the adopted children of the very Creator and Preserver of the universe, so I think we should switch the title of our book up a little bit. Instead of calling it the 'Complete Idiot's Guide,' let's call our book: 'The Complete Wise Man's Guide to Jesus' Sheep.'

"My sheep listen to my voice" Chapter 1 is titled: "Jesus' Sheep Listen to His Voice," and it explains how if you want to be one of Jesus' sheep you must listen to Jesus' voice. Jesus' sheep must go to where Jesus speaks to them. Present day sheep of Jesus can hear Jesus' voice in the Word and Sacraments. Jesus' sheep gather and commune in fellowship with other sheep in the fold. In Holy Communion they hear the voice of Jesus and hear the words of a Good Shepherd comforting His flock. Jesus' sheep also hear Jesus' voice in the Words of Scripture. It's safe to say that if you were to read 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chemistry,' that you wouldn't be able to call yourself an expert in Chemistry. These books are designed to just give the most basic information, and they don't even scratch the surface of the information available on the topic. So it is with our 'Complete Wise Man's Guide to Jesus' Sheep' based on John 10:27 and 28, which contains only the very basics regarding Jesus' sheep. If you were to find a book that was the resource on Chemistry, you might call that book the 'Bible of Chemistry.' We have the "Bible of Jesus' sheep," - we have the Bible and are able to hear Jesus' voice whenever we want to. We have the Bible that tells us all about the Good Shepherd and how His sheep should respond to what the Good Shepherd has done for them. 2nd Timothy tells us that the Holy Scriptures "...are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 3:15). This verse fits nicely in the first chapter of our "Complete Wise Man's Guide to Jesus' sheep."

"I know them" Chapter 2 is titled: "Jesus' Sheep are Known by Jesus," and goes on to explain that Jesus knows even more than just his sheep's names. Jesus knows more about each and every one of us His sheep than they even know about themselves. Maybe it gets easier for some of us guys when we get older and have less and less to count, but I wouldn't even know how to begin counting the hairs on my head. In the book of Matthew we learn, "even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:30) Jesus even knows how many hairs are on the head of His sheep, which is evidence that in the eyes of the Good Shepherd, each sheep is more than just a number to Him. Jesus doesn't just 'count sheep,' He knows His sheep.

"and they follow me" Chapter 3 is titled, "Jesus' Sheep Follow Him," and goes on to explain that Jesus' words to His sheep don't fall on deaf ears. No, Jesus' sheep hear Jesus' words and then they take action - they follow Him. Jesus' sheep will follow their Shepherd wherever He leads them, because they have found Him to be consistently trustworthy. The Shepherd knows the best path for His sheep because He has traveled it before. Jesus' sheep will follow the Good Shepherd wherever He leads them, even if it means they head in a direction that they wouldn't have chosen for themselves. If we were to 'Good Shepherdize' Romans 8:28, we would get, 'And we know that in all things [the Good Shepherd] works for the good of [His sheep], who have been called according to his purpose.' Jesus' sheep know this and because they know it, they follow their Good Shepherd, wherever He may lead them.

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish" Chapter 4 is titled, "Jesus' Sheep Receive the Gift of Life," and goes on to explain how Jesus gives His sheep the greatest gift ever - eternal life. This gift that Jesus gives to his sheep wasn't a cheap gift. The Good Shepherd had to leave his position and actually became like His sheep. John the Baptizer said this when he saw the the Good Shepherd in 'lamb form,' "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). Jesus the Lamb, lived the perfect lamb life. And then just like the lamb that was sacrificed at the Passover in Egypt so that the angel of death would pass over the bloody wooden door frames, Jesus the lamb was sacrificed on the wooden tree so that the angel of death would pass over Jesus' sheep when they fall asleep. Because of this gift, Jesus' sheep will never perish, they will simply fall asleep. And when they wake up, they will be at home and safe in the perfect pasture of paradise.

"no one can snatch them out of my hand" Chapter 5, the final chapter, is titled, "Jesus' Sheep are Already Safe in the Fold of their Shepherd," and goes on to explain how Jesus' guards and protects His sheep. I only know this because the guys in my office listen to sports-talk radio from 8:00 in the morning until quitting time, but in Las Vegas where it is legal to bet on sports games, the odds-makers offer a certain kind of bet for one-on-one competitions where you can take one athlete or take the field. This is common in golf where you can, for example, take either Phil Mickelson to win or you can take the field (which consists of all the other golfers in the field) to win. A betting man might say to the odds-maker, 'take the field, I'll take Phil.' Jesus' sheep, in the words of the hymn-writer, will always say: 'Take the world (the rest of the field), but give me Jesus.' (CW#355) The world will do its best to snatch the sheep out of the Good Shepherd's hand, but Jesus' sheep remain confident, because in the end they know they are safe in the hands of their Good Shepherd. This is more than just a safe bet, this is more than the safest bet, this is an absolute guarantee.

'The Complete Wise Man's Guide to Jesus' Sheep,' ends with a couple of verses from a hymn that many of Jesus' sheep learn when they are still little lambs (CW#432 v.1,3).

I am Jesus’ little lamb,
Ever glad at heart I am;
For my Shepherd gently guides me,
Knows my need, and well provides me,
Loves me every day the same,
Even calls me by my name.

Who so happy as I am,
Even now the Shepherd’s lamb?
And when my short life is ended,
By His angel host attended,
He shall fold me to His breast,
There within His arms to rest.

Because of what the Good Shepherd has done for His sheep, our book - even though it is a non-fiction, can end with - 'and all of Jesus' sheep lived happily ever after.'


Dear Jesus,

We are unbelievably blessed to be considered your sheep. We thank you for all that you had to do and all that you had to endure in order to be able to bring us into your fold. Help us to live more and more like the way you want your sheep to live, Keep us safe from all harm on this earth, and when the time is right - take us home to rest in your arms.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

April 15, 2010

When I was a kid, I had a really cheap toy remote control car. I mean the really-really cheap kind. The kind that had a 3 foot cord connecting the controler with the car, which actually made it a non-remote control car... This particular car was so cheap that there were only 2 directions it could go - you could race the car straight forward or straight backward. So it is with us in the human race. Each one of us is either going forward toward Heaven, or we are going backwards towards hell. On my controller there was an up arrow and a down arrow. Every single person roaming around on this earth right now has an invisible arrow that can only be seen by God, they either have an up arrow on their heart indicating that they are heading forward to Heaven; or they have an invisible down arrow on their heart indicating that they are, sadly, headed down to hell. There's no sideways arrow - you're either a believer or an unbeliever.

When our First Lesson for this upcoming Sunday picks up, we find Saul's invisible arrow probably pointing down. "Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples." (Acts 9:1) Saul was headed for Damascus going one direction, when, "...suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him." (Acts 9:3b) Saul still headed in the same direction on the map towards Damascus, but he was going in a different direction. His direction towards eternity was drastically changed - Saul did a 180° turn around.

Actually, Saul didn't do a 180° - a 180° was done to him. If you were in charge of nominating someone from your congregation to do some mission work on the streets of West Allis - maybe a door-to-door mission project - I am guessing that someone who was an accomplice to murder probably wouldn't make your list. If Saul didn't cast the first stone, or if Saul didn't actually throw any of the stones that hit Stephen in the head - killing Stephen, (this account is recorded a few chapters earlier in Acts) then for sure Saul was there helping out, giving his approval. Under Roman Law, Saul was an accomplice to murder. And this is the guy whom God chooses to become the greatest missionary of his time - probably the greatest missionary ever - a converted criminal! It's true what Isaiah tells us - that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways. (Isaiah 55:8) Later in his letter to the Ephesians, Saul, later called Paul, clues us in as to possibly why God chose him. (This was my Confirmation passage.) "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) The change of direction that Jesus gave to Saul on the road to Damascus didn't happen because of anything Saul did or didnt do- it was simply a gift - it was evidence of amazing grace. It was nothing Saul could boast about.

Saul's direction was changed when his head was hit with a flash of light that was brighter than the sun; as the Son of God appeared to him and changed his heart and changed the direction of the invisible arrow over his heart 180°. For many of us our 180° turn around may have come when our heads were hit with the cleansing Word and water of baptism, when we were baptized as babies. Sometimes it's hard for us to imagine that a cute cuddly baby who hasn't been changed by the Word, could actually be like Saul - that a cute cuddly baby could be an enemy of Jesus. In First Samuel we learn that, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16:7) We see only a cute cuddly baby, but the Lord sees in a baby - who hasn't been changed by the Word - a heart that is sick with sin, a heart with an invisible down arrow over it. We inherit a lot of good things from our parents, but faith is not one of them. We also inherit some bad things from our parents including a sinful nature. The Psalmist tells us, " Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5) Before we were changed by the Word, our hearts were just as nasty as Saul's 'pre road to Damascus heart.'

Our Lesson for this upcoming Sunday ends in verse 19 of Acts 9. In verse 20 - the very next verse we read, "At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God." (Acts 9:20) Saul's immediate response to the gift of faith that he was given, was to share the Good News with others. Our hearts with the invisible up arrows should also feel compelled to share the Good News. In a way you could say that Saul was a converted criminal. Do you know that we have a para-synodical WELS organization called Wisconsin Lutheran Institutional Ministries (WLIM), that is ministering and working towards bringng the good news to the criminal and to others who are institutionalized? These unbelievers who are institutionalized are going in the same direction that Paul was going before he got on that road to Damascus, they're going in the same direction that we were going before we were changed by the Word. Read the rest of Acts and the many different letters that Paul penned to learn potentially what, by the Grace of God, a converted criminal can do in God's Kingdom. If we are unable to support institutional ministries with financial gifts, then we can certainly afford to support them with prayers. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could someday join the angels in heaven in rejoicing over the fact that the invisible arrow over the heart of one of these institutionalized people did a 180° and was now pointing up towards heaven?

Dear God,

Help remind us that before we were changed by the Word, we were by nature infected with the sickness of sin, and we too were your enemies. Thank you so very much for turning us around 180° - for giving us the gift of Jesus - the gift of good news - the gift of hope. We want to share that hope with those who still have an invisible down arrow over their heart. We pray tonight that you would bless the work of 'Institutional Ministries,' as they share the Good News with people who are just like Saul before he hit the road to Damascus and was hit with Jesus, people who are just like us before we were changed by the Word.


In Your Son's name we pray,

Amen.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

April 8, 2010

Acts 5:27-29: Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!

'We must obey God rather than men!' This became a part of the apostles' mission statement. This mission statement didn't serve as some goal on paper that would just be nice to achieve. No, the apostles, these missionaries, actually executed this mission statement. And because they did, nearly all 12 of them were executed for it, as they died martyr's deaths. We will be remembering more about the Acts of the Apostles and how they carried out this mission statement as this passage from Acts not only serves as our First Lesson for this upcoming Sunday, but it is also a first in a series of Lessons that will be read on Sundays from the book of Acts.

In the strictest sense, not many of us have probably been in a position where we have had to choose between obeying authorities or obeying God. Many of us have been blessed with Christian parents, Christian teachers, Christian elders, and have lived in a society where there is still a decent separation between Church and State. In this era of 'change,' we would do well to pray that we would be able to continue to have the opportunity to simultaneously obey both God and our civil authorities.

This isn't to say however that we aren't going to find ourselves in plenty of situations, where we will have to choose between God and man. In fact, on a daily basis we are faced with the choice between obeying God and obeying man - between obeying God and obeying the conventional wisdom of man which is also known as the 2nd component of our trinity of enemies: the devil, the world and our sinful flesh. Sadly we often find ourselves deciding to obey man at the expense of obeying God.

Rewind, from the time of the Apostles back to the Old Testament, all the way back to Daniel, to one of the classic Old Testament examples of obeying God rather than men. Daniel 6: 11-13: "(the administrators and satraps) found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: "Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions' den?" The king answered, "The decree stands—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed." Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day." Daniel, like Peter and the Apostles, obeyed God rather than men!

There is no fine print with exceptions or caveats attached to obeying God rather than men. We are not to obey God rather than men, except when... (fill in the blank). Even when it means we might be fed to salivating carnivores. Daniel knew this. And because he not only knew it, but he also carried it out, he was forced into the den filled with lions. Remember what the king did when he sentenced Daniel to the lion's den: Daniel 6:17: "A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed." Fast forward, not quite as far forward as our Lesson for this Sunday - there's another stone that was placed over an entrance. A stone that was protected by armed guards so that the 'situation might not be changed.' But thanks to God and His miraculous touch, in both scenarios the situation was in fact changed. Daniel in the first story and our Savior Jesus in the second, were both spared from having this spot behind the stone seal be their final destination! In the first scene Daniel's life was spared. In the second scene our eternal lives are spared. Because Jesus lives, we too will live eternally!

The empty tomb and what it represents gives us all the reason to thank and praise God by obeying God rather than men. To say thanks to the one who throughout His life as our substitute, always obeyed God rather than men. To say thanks to the one who died on the cross for us, to pay for the times when we failed to obey God rather than men. To say thanks to the one who like Daniel, spent time behind a rolled stone which wasn't His final resting place. When we take time to ponder what men have done for us, and compare that with what God has done for us - we must agree with Daniel and with Peter and the Apostles, we must add to our own personal mission statements, and we must say for ourselves: 'We must obey God rather than men!' Even more than just saying and agreeing to it - we, like Daniel and Peter and the Apostles, must do it! 'We must obey God rather than men!'