“Jesus proclaimed the availability of another kind of life. It is a life marked by growing intimacy with the God whom Jesus called Abba, shared with others in community in which we discern our personal calling, characterized by our gradual inner transformation into God’s compassionate family likeness, empowered by God’s Spirit to overcome evil both within and around us, and most wonderfully of all, an indestructible life in which nothing can separate us from God’s enduring love toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Dear God, I think this was providential this morning. I sat down at the breakfast table, and I saw a newsletter from our friends who are missionaries with Greater Europe Mission, Lisa and Doug Mitts. It really resonated with me as I get my thoughts together about what I want to say to the men next Monday night at the Christian Men’s Life Skills Bible study. After eight weeks of building relationship with them and hopefully getting them more interested in studying the Bible and actually learning from the men and women in there you gave us as both good and bad examples–let’s face it, none of us are only good or only bad examples–I hope to guide them into a hungering, discipling relationship with you.
That’s what this is all about. These moments with you that I am having right now are what this is all about. Getting the fulfillment that comes from worshipping you and loving others is what this is all about. Knowing you and experiencing your love and grace is what it’s all about. Watching the fruits of your Holy Spirit grow within me are what it’s all about. Being comforted and guided by your Holy Spirit from moment to moment are what it’s all about. I am here because I need your love, I need to love you, and I need to love others. Everything else is nothing compared to having those needs met.
Father, thank you for my faithful sisters and brothers in Christ. Thank you for the people I was with last Sunday afternoon who were so obviously in love with you and discipling with you. Thank you for the inspiration you gave the people who started Christian Men’s Life Skills. Guide them and bless them. Bless them with your presence and the fruit of your Spirit. Make their path straight and smooth. Thank you for leading me to them for my sake. This has been so good for me. Help me now as I go into this day. Help me to love. Help me to represent you well. Help me to worship you with all of my life.
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 12:3-5
Dear God, here’s the line that really hits me this morning: Be honest in [my] evaluation of [myself], measuring [myself] by the faith [you] have given [me]. I recently took a DISC personality test and it was pretty accurate. I definitely leaned into one style over the other. But I think what pleased me the most about the test is the results of the three graphs it gives. One graph was the me others see. One was my instinctive response to pressure. The third was how I see myself. I was pleased by these three graphs because they were consistent. What others see and what I see were almost identical, and the only difference in the one with stress is that I leaned into my dominant style more. Yes, I have things to work on with my personality and how I handle things. Yes, I am flawed and I need to improve in a lot of areas. Yes, I am a sinner and I need your grace. But at least I am starting from a place where I think I’m actually okay at evaluating myself and seeing myself with fairly accurate eyes.
I think part of this comes from pain and struggle. Last night at the Bible study, the ice breaker question was what question would we ask you if we could. There were a lot of questions about the pain we experience. “Why cancer?” “Why did my dad die when I was 8?” Those questions were hard. And I could ask you why for some of my pain, but of of the men pointed out to the others that the pain is what develops us into the people we are. If my life had been perfectly free from pain and struggle, who would I be right now? No, I credit the struggles for bringing me to you and allowing you to work on my heart.
Father, I need to start putting together next week’s lesson for these men, but I want to do it differently than I did the last eight weeks. I want to be maybe a little more deliberate in my message to them. I want to love them with your love. I want to speak to them with your voice. I want to call them to follow you with your Spirit. And I pray for the men who will choose not to come after this week. Be glorified, oh, Lord. Be glorified in their lives. Be glorified in all of the lives involved with this class, including the leaders and teachers. Guide us all into the men you call us to be.
Dear God, I first heard this sermon six years ago. I remember being struck by it and thinking it was one of the best evangelical sermons I ever heard. Now, nearly six and a half years later, I am preparing a Bible study for nine days from now that is supposed to be more evangelical and “make-a-decision-to-follow-Jesus” in nature. I have some thoughts I’ve been considering and praying through, but I want to go back to this, take some notes, and see if there is anything here you would have me incorporate into what you’re leading me to. So with that said, I am going to listen to this real time and then take notes on the things that strike me along the way. I’m also going to consider them and think about them through typing my thoughts to you. Please, Holy Spirit, sit with me in this time. Guide me. Teach me. Comfort me. Lead me.
“I don’t know why everybody wouldn’t want Christianity to be true.”
Right off the bat, this is his first statement within 20 seconds of the video starting. It’s the one thing I really remember from this sermon. He’ll go on to say he can understand why people have a hard time believing the virgin birth, resurrection, and miracles in between and such are true, and he can see why people don’t want the Christianity lived out by a lot of modern American Christians to be true, but he cannot understand why someone would read the Bible, see the Jesus of the New Testament and everything he taught and offered and not want it to be true. That’s a great thought. So before I listen to what he says, what are the things about Jesus I want to be true:
I want to think that you loved me that much that you would sacrifice Jesus, a piece of yourself–your Trinity–to an earthly existence and horrible death–for me to be in relationship with you and made whole.
I want to be loved by others the way they love themselves.
You know, it’s funny. I think those are the two main things I want to be true about Jesus and what you gave me through him. Heaven? Sure. But that you loved me that much that you came for me. I want that. That I could move in a world or community where the people loved me like themselves? Sign me up. Yes, that’s what I want.
Now let’s hear what Andy says that stands out to me:
“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.” – Blaise Pascal (17th-century mathematician)
“Grace” The word that made Jesus and makes Christianity attractive. “Grace is what we crave most when our guilt is exposed.” Me here: What drew David to God wasn’t his need for power but his appreciation for who God was and his grace. “Grace is what we are hesitant to extend when confronted with the guilt of others. Especially when they’ve hurt me or someone I love. “Grace for me is extraordinarily refreshing. Grace for others is extraordinarily disturbing.” “GRACE IS THE UNSETTLING SOLUTION FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING.” Me here: Link to Sermon on the Mount, Lord’s Prayer, forgive me as I forgive others.
Definition for “grace” is undeserved, unearned, and unearnable favor. “We can’t recognize or receive Grace for what it is until we’re convinced we do NOT deserve it.” It can only be experienced when there’s an imbalance and you’re on the negative side.
Christianity is unique because of Grace.
God had to show up in Jesus. We would have never know the grace of God without the presence of God.
John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “Jesus never watered down the truth and he never turned down the grace.” He called sin sin and then he laid down his life for the sinners.
Matthew 9:11-13: And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Me here: I think I need to hold on to this for the lesson.
Terrified woman caught in adultery. Jesus: Truth and Mercy. “You are guilty (Leave your life of sin), but I don’t condemn you.”
If you never get there intellectually, you should want this to be true.
If the kingdom of heaven was only reserved for the righteous, we (including David) would have no hope.
“Does God hear the prayers of sinners? Yes, those are the only kinds of prayers there are.”
Like life, Grace is not fair. It is unsettlingly better than fair.
Great sinners who were extended great grace: Peter and Paul.
Jesus knew justice and consequences would crush us. That’s why he came.
Why wouldn’t anyone want this to be true.
Luke 16:16: The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. [seems a little out of context]
Grace is an invitation. “I know all about you. The good and the bad. And I want you to follow me. But be warned. If you follow me, I will lead you away from your sin. And, no, I have not forgotten about your sin. It’s better than that. I will remember all of it and I love you anyway. Now come. Follow me. Me here: I’ve got to use that as my closer.
Father, thank you for leading me to this sermon in the winter of 2018. Thank you for using all of these little things here and there throughout my life to prepare me for different moments. I offer all of this to you. I offer my life to you. I offer worship to you. I am grateful. I will follow you. I do follow you. Oh, I am so full of love for you right now. In this moment. Tears in my eyes. And I am normally wary of an emotional response to you because I am afraid it might be something artificial and not real, but this is just a moment where my emotions are high and I just want to lean into you. Thank you for being there for my leaning.
What Our Lord Saw from the Cross (Ce que voyait Notre-Seigneur sur la Croix) James Tissot
Dear God, my wife sent me this picture a few days ago, and this is my first opportunity to really spend some time with it. My first inclination is to look and see if I can identify the people who are there and what they are doing, but I think I want to work backwards and look for people I know should be there, either up close or way off in the distance.
You know what? That’s too hard. I can’t figure anything out. There are a lot of people, and I can’t figure out what most of them are doing.
Why are two guys on decorated horses?
What’s the one guy looking at? Did he notice the sky is going dark?
I guess those are Pharisees back on the upper right portion of the image. Some of them seem to be cheering. Even in the death of your enemy, is cheering really the sentiment one should feel?
I can’t tell if that’s John to the left of the three women grouped together. It kind of looks like a woman’s hair, but it also might be a light beard of a young man.
I wonder how this crucifixion compared with others. Was there a bigger crowd because of Jesus and who he was? Were there normally people gathered in the distance to watch? I wouldn’t think people would normally show up to watch a crucifixion–especially at Passover. And I don’t know that the crowd looked like this in reality, but I’m sure it was larger than most.
I’m guessing that is Mary Magdalene close to the cross while is mother is with her sister(s) in the group of three.
What’s with the guys with the long sticks? Were those the soldiers that hoisted up some vinegar for them to drink? They look tired.
There’s a tomb there. I doubt Jesus could really see the tomb from his vantage that day, but it’s there waiting for him.
Just let me stop and sit with the embarrassment of hanging there naked for a moment. With all of these people, including your mother, to see you.
Imagine looking down on this crowd and knowing something they don’t know. Knowing this is part of the plan. Knowing that they need this to happen. Knowing that it’s all for them. Loving them. Forgiving them.
I guess the one soldier who is dressed better than the others is the centurion who recognized Jesus’s deity.
This scene is where the “Jesus was a good teacher but not divine” argument falls apart. If this was the end for a good teacher, why do I care? If he wasn’t God he was delusional. He did it for absolutely nothing. If he is not God and there is not resurrection coming then he lost that day, and it’s a loss there’s no coming back from.
There are a lot of horses. Did the Pharisees all have horses? It’s an interesting thing for the artist to include. I count seven horses and one donkey.
Jesus, of course, Mr. Tissot has no idea what you saw from the cross. I don’t either. But I am confident in your knowledge of the plan and why you were doing what you did. You turned history in that moment. You tore the veil. You broke down the separation between us and the Father. You prepared the way for the Holy Spirit. You sacrificed yourself, set up your resurrection, and then taught us a new way. You validated all of the bizarre teaching you did the previous three years. You validated the weirdness and illogic of the Sermon on the Mount. And they were too ignorant (and I mean ignorant in the best definition of the world) to see what you were doing. In fact, if they had seen it they might not have done it. No, they needed to think you were delusional and crazy. They needed to not trust you. They needed to hate you. Some of them needed to think you had lost and mourn you. Even now, I need to really simmer in the idea of what you did so I can be here right now, in this moment, praying to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you!
I pray this in you and with the Holy Spirit you left me and all the earth,
5 “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’
John 16:5-15
Dear God, it’s Trinity Sunday, and I feel like I need to sit with you and just worship who you are. The psalm of the day is Psalm 8 where it includes the line, “What is man that you should be mindful of him?” Yes, who am I? Who am I that you should be mindful of me? Who are we that you should be mindful of us?
I like this line from Jesus in verse 12 that the disciples, in that moment, wouldn’t have been able to handle what they didn’t know or understand. You keep us on a need-to-know basis and we so seldom need to know. But part of our learning is having your Holy Spirit “guide [us] into all truth.”
Father, I need to be guided, even in this day. I need to be guided as I get ready to go to church. I need to be guided as I go out to work a fundraising event this afternoon. But to be guided, I have to first submit. You can’t lead me if I am out front. So I submit to you. I worship you. You are God and I am not. I don’t understand why you are mindful of me, buy you are. Help me to let go . Help me to know what that looks like. Help me to live and life and do things that bring other into complete relationship with you.
Painting: La Femme adultère “The woman Taken in Adultery” by Lorenzo Lotto
8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
John 8:1-11
Dear God, I don’t think this story gets enough time. It’s quite remarkable. My wife and I were talking about something last night and this story came up. I can’t remember what we were saying or the context in which we talked about it, but she mentioned this painting by Lorenzo Lotto to me. It gave me an interesting thought: What would it be like to follow this woman after she left Jesus that day? What was the rest of that day like for her? So I decided to take a little creative break from my 1 Samuel series and spend a little time with this woman this morning.
First, I want to back up and set the context. There was a festival going on in Jerusalem when this happened. It was the Festival of Shelters (John 7:1-10). I Googled that festival and found it was a seven-day commemoration of the years the Israelites spent in tents in the wilderness. That made me think of the book I read last year, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. I remembered he had done something that seemed to line up with this so I looked it up. He called in the “Feast of Ingathering–or Sukkoth.” His description seems to indicate it’s the same thing and he said Orthodox Jewish people still celebrate it by building huts and sleeping in them (he was in New York City so he had to build one in his living room). So that’s the context. An annual festival in Jerusalem where a lot of extra people are in town. In fact, this is part of the story when Jesus’s brothers told him to go to Jerusalem and show himself off and he told them he wasn’t going to go, but then he went secretly until starting to teach in the Temple halfway through the festival.
Now, back to this passage. After I read it this morning, I had some thoughts. Let me stress here that ALL of this is my speculation and there is a great likelihood that I’m completely wrong about it. With that disclaimer said, I wonder what the previous 12 hours were like for this woman and then what were the next 12 hours like. What were the circumstances under which she was caught? Who was she? Was she the one who was married to someone else or had she slept with someone who was married to someone else but she was single? Was she a prostitute? In that culture, if she was a prostitute, would they have cared? I believe there were a lot of prostitutes running around and sleeping with married men so my guess is that she was the on who was married and caught. Perhaps her husband caught her that night before and brought her to the Temple for punishment for stoning.
It occurs to me as I write this that this could have been Jesus’s own mother, Mary, when she was pregnant with him. Wow! What a thought. The husband could easily have been Joseph, taking her to the Temple for judgment and stoning. But “Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.” I wonder if Jesus had this same thought that morning. If this had happened to his own mother while she was pregnant with him, it would have been a disaster.
As I’m sitting here (and I think I’m going to have a lot of disjointed, random thoughts this morning), I wonder why stoning was the chosen method of execution for so many sins. Was it because it wasn’t a hands-on approach? Back then, I suppose their options were to physically touch the person and kill them with some sort of blade or do something from a distance like throw stones or shoot an arrow.
Now that I think about it, the Jews under Rome didn’t have the right to execute people (that’s why they needed Pilate to sign off on Jesus’s execution). Was there an exception for stoning? I just Googled that too. Apparently, to compare it with modern American law, there were federal crimes (crimes against the Roman Empire) and state crimes (in this case, crimes against the Jewish religious law). Jesus’s crime was a federal crime because he claimed to be king while adultery or Stephen’s crime in Acts would be against Jewish law and could be executed by the Sanhedrin.
So back to our story. There’s a festival. I’m guessing that the woman’s husband catches her sleeping with someone else during the festival (maybe in someone’s special tent?) and takes her to the Temple for judgment and execution. Lots of anger. Lots of fear. As I’ve heard said in movies and other places before, “Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” (City Slickers) So perhaps this woman had a reason to not be faithful to her husband. I don’t know. But now she’s here, and she must be both terrified and humiliated. Regretful too. What’s going to happen now?
Then Jesus shows up in the Temple and starts teaching halfway through the Festival. I won’t go into the days he spent talking and everything he said, but, suffice it to say, the Pharisees were none too pleased. Then, on the last day of the festival, what John describes in John 7:37 as “the climax of the festival,” Jesus did one last big provocation about being living water. The Pharisees apparently sent the Temple guards to arrest him but they didn’t. Nicodemus, one of my heroes, tries to defend Jesus with, “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” and he gets jumped on and accused of being a Jesus defender: “Are you from Galilee, too?”
So now our scene takes place on the morning after the festival. Everyone might be a little hungover. This woman might have gotten caught up in the revelry of the night. And now she is standing in front of Jesus. The men (there are likely few if any women present) are simultaneously indignantly ready to stone her and wondering what it would be like to have sex with her (let’s be real, some of them were thinking that–that’s probably the most confident I am about any guesses I’ve made this morning), and she watches Jesus through a bowed head out of the upper part of her peripheral vision. What’s he going to do. So he bends down to write on the ground.
Here’s a new thought. Maybe he bent down to write on the ground so that she could see what he was writing. Maybe he wrote it for her. We assume he was writing to her judges and accusers, but maybe her face was so downcast that he knew this was the only way to communicate love and a new life to her.
So we know this next part. He stands up and affirms they are right that she should be stoned according to the law of Moses. But then he makes an interesting statement that (and again, this is a brand new thought to me) indicates humans don’t have the authority to commit capital punishment: “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” This statement could be applied to any sin such as murder that we think deserves the death penalty. As sinful creatures, do we have the authority to take a life–even the most heinous life, as the result of a crime? Wars are different animals that I won’t get into right now, but in this area, I think it helps convince me more than ever that capital punishment does not align with Jesus’s teaching.
So now everyone eventually admits they aren’t able to live up to the standard Jesus has now set for capital punishment and walks away, leaving only the woman, to whom Jesus famously says, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” She says no, and he closes the scene saying, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” End scene.
So what happened next? That’s the first thought I had last night when my wife brought up this story. What was the rest of her day like as a forgiven woman? Was her husband one of the people who dropped his stone and walked away? Did he divorce her? Did she have to move in with a friend? And what was the state of her heart from that day forward? If it was a long-term affair, did she break up with the guy? Did she take her freedom from her sin and turn over a new leaf? Did she earnestly start to follow you? Who did she become as a result of this absolution from her sin?
Father, I am not without sin. I have no stones to throw. Jesus taught such a unique…what’s the word I’m looking for? He taught a unique perspective on who we are as humans and who you are as God. Oh, Father, help me to “go and sin no more” and to offer this same opportunity of your unique perspective on who we can be through following you to others. Help me to make this the evangelism that brings your kingdom into this world and drives the hell out of people.
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should [c]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
John 3:10-21
Dear God, following up on the impromptu prayer I did last night in the chapel, I want to talk a little about the book I finished reading: What is Jesus was Serious about Judgment? by Skye Jethani. I’ve been curious about Skye’s view of how Jesus would address everything from treating people fairly and forgiveness to heaven and hell and what the cut-line is for either destination.
And to be clear, I’m not sure how much stock I put into Jethani’s theological position. I think we are all wrong and none of us can know exactly what life will look like on the other side. Of all of the possibilities, Jethani’s view could be it. If I were putting money on a theological position given all of the options different teacher’s have, I’d put my money most closely to his. I tend to really agree with a lot of his positions. But the truth is, I simply don’t know. I simply don’t know. I am certain there will be a sorting one day. Jesus was clear about that in several parables. But what happens to the goats? It’s a hazy mystery to me. I hope they don’t really suffer for all eternity. As Jethani put it, that does not seem like proportional punishment for the crimes committed.
But I also think the temptation is to get too wrapped up in heaven, hell, the apocalypse, etc., and we forget to live in justice now. Jesus did care about justice in the here and now. And, frankly, although I read the book in order and didn’t skip ahead to the heaven/hell chapters towards the end, I was still distracted by their existence and looking back I don’t remember much of what his other real points were. So let me go back and look at the table of contents to see if that will help some thoughts stick out. Here are some elected chapter titles:
If Jesus was serious about justice, then evil empires will always misunderstand God’s justice.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then God hears the cries of the oppressed.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then experiencing oppression should give us compassion for others.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then evil will consume those who practice it.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then just laws will lead to community flourishing.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then true worship lifts up Christ by lifting up the oppressed.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then a heart far from God lacks mercy, not emotions.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then justice is about our identity, not the other person’s.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then God can be both merciful and angry.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then mercy and justice are partners, not enemies.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then justice alone won’t rescue us from our sins.
If Jesus was serious about justice, then God’s mercy comes with a condition.
Everything else starts getting into your wrath and how that will ultimately be handled, and I don’t want to go there this morning. I just want to sit with how I handle justice in my life. How I handle mercy.
I think the place to start is my own sinfulness and how I handle that. Before I can look at the speck in my neighbor’s eye, I need to look at the log in my own. And the more I truly address my own sins, failures, and foibles, the more empathy and mercy I have for others. To whom much is given much is required. I have been given a lot of mercy. Should I not give a lot in return?
Father, help me to find that line between mercy and justice. There should obviously be consequences for sin. David paid terrible consequences for his sin even though you loved him and cared for him. You forgave me. You even carried your path to Jesus through the woman he stole and murdered for. Maybe you did that more for her than him, now that I think about it. You had choices. You chose the victim to redeem through Solomon and his line. Nice. Help me to love victims, love sinners (who are sinners themselves–we all are), and carry your mercy into this world.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:16-25
Dear God, I was watching a video this morning, and I heard a man say something interesting. He said something to the effect that anger is always masking some other emotion. Maybe it’s sadness or fear, but anger isn’t the emotion itself. That’s a thought that’s going to fester. I thought of that when I read verse 20 of this passage: “…for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Assuming that wrath = anger, it feels like I should stop and think about this statement in this way as I consider this whole passage.
So let me go back and start at the beginning of this passage:
Verse 17a: Every good and perfect gift is from you. In the previous paragraph, James is saying that you are not a source of temptation for us. No, instead you bring good and perfect gifts to us.
Verse 17b: I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed this before. You are always the same. You are unchanging. As James describes it, you are the source of light so your don’t shift like shadows. What a beautiful analogy. I like that.
Verse 18: The whole “born again” idea is amazing. Taking us back to your original creation when you looked at us and said, “It is good.” Taking us back to Genesis 1 and 2, and not starting with Genesis 3. Thank you for this amazing opportunity.
Verse 19: This is a fairly popular verse for people to quote: “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” We usually leave out the rest because it’s not convenient. And here’s where I want to look at the other emotions that might be driving my anger. James tags onto the listen/speak part of the sentence, “…and slow to become anger…” When I am quick to wrath, what is the emotion behind it. As I sit and think of times I have held a long grudge, it’s usually betrayal. I am hurt because I cannot trust, and I usually lead with trust. And it doesn’t say I can’t get angry, but that I shouldn’t be quick to anger. So I’m not saying I shouldn’t be angry about the betrayals, but I need to be careful and prayerful about how I respond. No, maybe I need to sit and think about the times when my anger flares up quickly. I don’t think I can think of a pattern right now, but please help me be mindful of any time my temper flares quickly and to start to piece together a patters. Reveal this to me, Holy Spirit.
Verse 20: Anger doesn’t bring about a righteous life. Oh, how I see this displayed online. There is a woman who recently became a donor at our clinic, and while I don’t spend hardly any time on social media, whenever I’ve been there for a particular reason and happened upon a post of hers, it’s usually filled with anger. I wonder if she can see it. I wonder if there is some way that being involved with our nonprofit might bless her and help her to let go of her anger. If there is something I can do to bless her and others in this area, please show me how.
Verse 21: “…receive with meekness the implanted word…” I’m preaching later about the parable of the sower and how we need to make our hearts a place where your seeds can be planted and your fruit can grow. How do I give you good soil? Part of it is what James says here: “…lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness…” Then the seeds of your word can have space to grow.
Verse 22: Take the word you plant and be a doer of it. I heard some discussion yesterday about spiritual formation training and how it can have a tendency to steer into isolation for the believer and keep them from getting out and putting their love to use. And let the doing of what you have give us to learn be part of us really internalizing it and growing. Going back to the plant analogy, it reminds me of the peach trees for our region. The peaches need a certain amount of stress to be the best. They need X number of “chilling hours” while they are dormant in the winter to be good when they bloom in the spring. In the same way, I need to be challenged at some level in order to best internalize what you are teaching me. If I just sit in my home and think great thoughts, but I never put anything to work, what I have I accomplished. It’s like writing a parenting book after having never been a parent. I have some great thoughts, but until I’ve had my thoughts personally challenged, how can my counsel be of use to anyone else or even myself?
Verses 23-25: These kind of reiterate the point I just made about verse 22. If it’s just an intellectual exercise, then I will likely never change. But if the intellectual part gets challenged and refined through application then it will get woven into the fabric of my being.
Father, for the next three and a half hours, I need to be right in the middle of your presence. I need you as close to me as is possible. I am going to be preaching and I need it to be you. I need your Holy Spirit to simply flow through me as I get up to share your word with these people. Prepare their hearts this morning. Prepare my heart too. Make some good soil for us to receive your seed, and then help us to be doers of the word you plant in us. Holy Spirit, I need you.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
I'm the one with two left feet Standing on a lonely street I can't even walk a straight line And every time you look at me I'm spinning like an autumn leave Bound to hit bottom sometime
Where would I be without someone to save me Someone who won't let me fall
You are everything that I live for Everything that I can't believe is happening You're standing right in front of me With arms wide open, all I know is Every day is filled with hope 'Cause you are everything that I breathe for And I can't help but breathe you in And breathe again Feeling all this life within Every single beat of my heart
I'm the one with big mistakes Big regrets and bigger breaks Than I'd ever care to confess Ah, but you're the one who looks at me And sees what I was meant to be More than just a beautiful mess
Where would I be without someone to save me Someone who won't let me fall
You are everything that I live for Everything that I can't believe is happening You're standing right in front of me With arms wide open, all I know is Every day is filled with hope 'Cause you are everything that I breathe for And I can't help but breathe you in Breathe again, feeling all this life within Every single beat of my heart
You're everything good in my life Everything honest and true And all of those stars Hanging up in the sky Could never shine brighter than you
You are everything that I live for Everything that I can't believe is happening You're standing right in front of me With arms wide open, all I know is Every day is filled with hope 'Cause you are everything that I breathe for And I can't help but breathe you in And breathe again, feeling all this life within Every single beat of my heart
You are, oh, you are. Jesus, you are You are everthing
Songwriters Matthew West and Sam Mizell
Dear God, I normally copy and paste lyrics when I do songs like this, but this time I really wanted to sink into this song and worship you with the words so I typed them out. I need some worship time. I feel like I am spinning a little. With some personal struggles combined with preaching in the morning, working alongside my wife tomorrow afternoon with a couple about to get married, teaching a Bible study Monday night and then officiating a funeral on Wednesday, I have a all of these things swirling through my head. How will I manage them? How will I do you justice in all of this? The answer: Stop and worship. Make everything in my being about you. Worship you. Take my eyes off of all of this and just fall into you. Let you do it through me.
To be clear, what I am experiencing is first-world problems. You have given me so much. I was listening to a podcast earlier today and this pastor was talking about exhorting his congregation to make a practice of observing Sabbath, and he got feedback from some that they would love to, but they cannot because they are working two jobs to make ends meet. From his view of the world, choosing to observe the Sabbath was a choice that his “internal Pharaoh” would have to grant, but he realized that a lot of people live with an “external Pharaoh” that compels them to ignore Sabbath.
Another good thing I heard today as I listened to another podcast was the importance of not teaching the secondary benefits of Christianity as our motivation for worshipping you. And I’m not talking about prosperity gospel heresy, but even making the motivation to worship you and live a life of discipleship be attaining the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, that is a side-effect, but I’m here right now not for that. I’m here right now simply because I love you. I’m into you. I first followed you almost 46 years ago. I’ve been intentionally discipling in one way or another for 38 years. Can I see your fruit in my life? Absolutely. Is that why I’m here? No. I’m here because I simply love you.
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, inhabit me. Inhabit all of my being. I feel like I’ve been broken this week. I feel like you’ve been melting me and molding me. Now fill me to overflowing so that you might overflow onto those around me. All for your glory, oh, Lord. All for your glory.
13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
James 3:13-18
Dear God, the fruits of the Spirit are interesting. What do we do with them when we see them in someone who does not have faith in you? TV characters like Ted Lasso. Even an interview I saw with Jay Leno last night led me to see him as a kind person who tries to forgive slights and move on, although in Mr. Leno’s case I couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t a survival mechanism he developed over time.
But what James is describing here is kind of Paul’s Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. The first thought I had when I read this passage this morning is that this is how I know you are a loving God. Proximity to you brings about these fruits. The closer I get to you the more loving I am. The more patient I am. The more forgiving I am. If you aren’t these things, then I wouldn’t be drawn to them as I get closer to you.
Father, I am grateful for this time with you this morning. I plan to try to be in this moment with you as much as possible. Holy Spirit, walk with me today. Help me to know how to love the Father. Jesus, teach me. Thank you for everything. Father, thank you to you as well. I love you, my Triune God.
Emails to God 