Thursday, May 29, 2008

Sermon Synopsis for May 25, 2008

“Living Stones” 1 Peter 2:4-12

The Apostle Peter wrote to Christians during a difficult time in history. Jewish terrorist groups (zealots) had active cells throughout the region. The Romans had built up a large military force in the Middle East and were preparing preemptive action to maintain control over the area. The early church had been fractured and spread throughout the world. Christians were persecuted for their faith. Peter wrote his letters to be circulated among the believers, to encourage them in the midst of difficult situations, to remember in whom they believe and what Christ has made them.

For Americans, this is Memorial Day weekend. For most Americans it marks the official start of the summer vacation period. The holiday was established just after the US Civil War and it used to be called Decoration Day. It was a day to decorate the graves of those who gave their lives in war. It is a holiday that can provoke strong emotions. This is the 7th Memorial Day that our Country has been at war. Hundreds of American Soldiers have died in Afghanistan; thousands in Iraq. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died. It is a sobering reminder of what war brings.

REMEMBERING IS GOOD

It is good for us to remember. It helps us to
- remember momentous events in the past
- see how far we have come
- avoid repeating the same problems

Memory is important: The loss of memory is considered a disease – Alzheimer’s.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (American Philosopher George Santayana, Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, page 284)

In spite of all the remembrance, in many ways, Americans continue repeating the past.
Monuments of stone are built to commemorate the wars, the fighting, the arguments, the disagreements – yet we continue to get into disagreements, arguments, fights and wars.

We are called to remember.

Families remember their past; we have photos, stories, grave markers (a memory set in stone)

MEMORIAL STONES

Masseboth, Hebrew for “standing stones,” were common throughout the ancient world (Stonehenge for example). Palestine and Israel has many of these markers yet standing (although for unknown reasons today). The Bible mentions masseboth (standing stones) 34 times. Often referred to in a negative way (Dt. 16:22), “You shall not … erect a massebah, which the Lord your God detests.”

Sometimes masseboth are referred to in a positive way:
- Jacob sets up a stone after he wakes from his dream of a ladder extending to heaven.
- Moses set up 12 stones at Mt. Sinai to commemorate the ratification of the covenant between God and Israel (Ex. 24:4)
- Joshua erected a “great stone” at Shechem (Joshua 24:26-27) that can be seen to this day.
- Joshua the the people of Israel erected 12 stones after crossing the Jordan River on dry land. (Joshua 4:1-9)

These were memorial stones – to remember an event, specifically something God had done in the life of humanity.

There are many classic gravestone markers
(See the post that follows)

SPIRITUAL ALZHEIMER’S

God’s people had a memory problem. (Spiritual Alzheimer’s)
They saw miracles – shortly thereafter they doubted God.
They experienced the grace of God – shortly they were making idols to other gods
They received God’s provision – shortly thereafter they were complaining of their needs.

Whydid they do this? Spiritual Alzheimer’s!

What does God want us to remember?
- God loves us and provides for us.
- God sent the Lord Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. (Salvation)
- God wants us to live as examples of God’s presence in this world: loving, caring, giving,

It’s when we’ve forgotten these things that we can repeat the mistakes of the past.

OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND THE CHURCH

Some of my free time in Bolivia was spent visiting Archaeological sites (known and unknown) – piles of stones that you know did not get there on their own. At some point in history, individuals gathered stones, shaped some of them, arranged them in a certain way and used them for a specific purpose.

Sometimes we would stumble across these stones.
From the stones we can learn (deduce) about how these people lived.

I remember my professor Michael Dever (during a dig in Israel) – he could see a pile of stones – in his mind he could transform them into a temple, palace, house, road, etc.

One thing is for sure – the people and cultures that occupied these sites no longer exist – we have to study about them.

Their existence helps us to understand the purpose they served.

LIVING STONES

Most important, we need to remember who we are! (Our existence)

Peter tells God’s people (2:5): “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.”

The church is no archaeological site – it is a living entity.

Soon after Peter’s writing, the Temple in Jerusalem would become a lifeless pile of rocks because of human conflict and war. (Josephus, Roman/Jewish historian, has a detailed account of the temple’s destruction) Peter wants the Christians to know that this is not what they are destined for. The Jewish temple became an archaeological site; God’s holy temple (the church) will never become an archaeological site.

We are to put our faith in Christ, the cornerstone of a new building – something that even the divisive energies of this world cannot destroy.

I introduced the children my pet rock, “Stony.”
Pet rocks were a fad in the 1970s (ask your grandparents).
Stony can do simple tricks like, sit, stay.
He needs help with the more difficult tricks like, roll over.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told his followers to build their houses upon the rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Jesus is that rock. (The foolish man built on sand, the wise man built on rock)

“Stony” reminds me to build my life on the Lord Jesus Christ (a living rock).

PETER’S PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

Peter knew about putting his faith in Jesus, he had some practical experience in the area.

Maybe you remember the story from Matthew 14. The disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus told them to go ahead; he’d catch up with them. Then in the middle of the night (rough waves, wind, etc.), Jesus came walking toward them. Peter recognized him, “It’s the Lord.” Jesus told Peter, “Come on out, walk to me.”
Peter tried – Peter sank – Jesus lifted him up.

Maybe things look bad (pain and disorder / war, conflict, hate, murders, etc.), but we shouldn’t concentrate on the waves around us.
Rather we need to keep our lives focused on JESUS.
To be God’s People, we need to keep our focus on Jesus.
Most of all, we need to remember Jesus.

Paul tells the church, they are something special. The King James Version (KJV) uses the words “A peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9).
It is Jesus who makes us “peculiar.”
We stand out in the world because of Jesus.

Our “peculiarity” can lead to peculiar actions.

BEING, NOT DOING

People have asked me – what should I do, what should our church do?

Here’s a story that has always moved me:
Back in the early 1940’s, after the Nazis had overrun and occupied Holland, there were some Dutch Christians who came to their pastor, a man named Hendrik Kraemer, saying “Pastor Kraemer we are terribly troubled by what is happening in our community. Jewish people, some of them our very own neighbors, are disappearing – taken away by the Germans to prison camps. We know we ought to do something, but we’re afraid. We could be the next victims, and we just don’t know what God wants us to do. You’re our pastor – tell us what to do......”

As I’ve heard the story, Pastor Kraemer was silent for a time, and at last he said something like this: “I can’t tell you what to do, but I will tell you who you are.”

And then he opened the New Testament to 1 Peter 2, the passage we read today. He began with the words “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house........” And he concluded by reading, “You are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

“I can’t tell you what to do,” he said, “but I’ll tell you who you are....... You are living stones built into a spiritual house. You are God’s people, called to proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.......”

The story continues … some of those Christians felt led to assist and shelter and hide their neighbors, at great personal risk and cost. Some of them lost their lives. No one could tell them what to do, but as they remembered their identity they were inspired to acts of courage and compassion.

People often ask me what they should do.

“Pastor, my marriage is in trouble, what should I do?”
“Pastor, my kids won’t go to church, what should I do?”
“Pastor, church people are talking behind my back, what should I do?”
“Pastor, there are divisive issues before the church, what should we do?”
“Pastor, my doctor says I have cancer, what should I do?”
“Pastor, my child has a disability, what should I do?”
“Pastor, my child died, what should I do?”

I can’t tell you what to do, but I can remind you who you are …

Peter tells us (1 Peter 2:9) – once you were nothing (sorry, the truth can hurt), but now you are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.”

Once you know who you are, I believe you will know what to do.

TOGETHER FOR A PURPOSE

We are LIVING STONES (v. 2:5)

We need to remember that it is God who puts us together. We have been built into a spiritual house. We are a community of faith, of living stones.

The Christ who said to Simon (Peter) – “You are the Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18), says to us – you are living stones, built together by God to be a reminder to the world that God is alive.

We do things because of who we are.
The things that we do, let others know who we are.

1 Peter 2:9b “that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Memorial stones stand as a remembrance (memorial) to a person who has died.

Jesus calls us to be “living stones.” We are to be a remembrance (memorial) to our living Lord.

I can be a living rock (a living stone), only because Jesus is the rock of my faith and life.

Happy Memorial Day

Enjoy your trip to the cemetery

Classic Gravestone markers

A dishonest man
Here lies a man who while he lived
Was happy as a linnet.
He always lied while on the earth
And now he's lying in it.

A stone in Oconto Falls, WI
Here Lies The Body Of A Man Who Died
Nobody Mourned - Nobody Cried
How He Lived - How He Fared
Nobody Knows - Nobody Cared

From Paris, France
Tired of this eternal buttoningand unbuttoning.

Cremated, Julian Skaggs of West Virginia
I made an ash of myself.

From Thurmont, Maryland
Here lies an Atheist
All dressed upAnd no place to go.

William Shakespeare, Holy Trinity Church; Stratford-on-Avon, England
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To digg the dust encloased heare!
Blest be the man that spares thes stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

From Burlington Vt.
She lived with her husband fifty years
And died in the confident hope of a better life.

From La Pointe, Wis.
To the Memory of Abraham Beaulieu
Born 15 September 1822
Accidentally shot 4th April 1844
As a mark of affection from his brother.

Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread
And the Lord sent them manna,
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.

Sir John Strange
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.

Sacred to the memory of
my husband John Barnes
who died January 3, 1803
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
many qualifications of a good wife, and
yearns to be comforted.

Ann Mann
Here lies Ann Mann,
Who lived an old maid
But died an old Mann.
Dec. 8, 1767

In Memory of Beza Wood
Departed this life
Nov. 2, 1837
Aged 45 yrs.
Here lies one Wood
Enclosed in wood
One Wood
Within another.
The outer wood
Is very good:
We cannot praise
The other.

When the great judgement day arrives
and Joshua Fenton Newton does not emerge from this hole,
you will know that someone made a mistake
and buried me in the wrong hole.

Here lies my wife:
Here let her lie!
Now she's at rest
And so am I.

Here Lies Mary Smith
Silent At Last

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sermon Synopsis for May 11, 2008

“Our Pentecost” Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Acts 2:1-21

God is Good … all the time
God is Love … all the time
God is with us … all the time

It’s Mother’s Day. Mother’s put up with a lot – they deserve one day.

The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin, Texas: "Things I've learned from my boys (honest and not kidding)":
1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke -- lots of it.
9. A six-year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old boy.
11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. The spin cycle on the washing machine will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.
25. 80% of women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kid.

Pentecost is known as the birthday of the church
The church is a group of God’s children (our heavenly parent).
We become God’s children through faith in Jesus.
I wonder what God’s list of “things I’ve learned from my children” looks like?

PENTECOST
Today the church calendar tells us it is Pentecost.
Pentecost is a reminder that God is with us.

Pentecost has its roots in the Old Testament. It’s a Jewish celebration.
It’s a word from the Greek – meaning the 50th day, 50 days after Passover.

There are various descriptions of Pentecost in the Old Testament, each with their own emphasis on how the holiday was celebrated.

THE ORIGINAL PENTECOST
Deuteronomy 16:9-12

Verse 9 – the first cutting of the grain is Abib 16 on the Jewish calendar, the 2nd day of the Passover feast. (hence 7 weeks = 49 days, plus 1 = 50 days after the passover)

Verse 10 – Every celebration on the Jewish calendar is marked by an offering, above and beyond the regular tithe.

For the Hebrews, you can’t think about God with out giving.

How much? “in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you”

Little blessing – little offering / big blessing – big offering (simple to figure)

Blessings back then were generally measured in material things; we have so many more types of blessings these days.

Verse 11 – Rejoice! It is a happy, festive celebration, not a solemn service.

Where? “At the place God lives.” That would be the Tabernacle – smoke filled when God showed up, and later the Temple. When the temple was destroyed, it was a terrible crisis for Israel – they had no place to celebrate (or offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins – no forgiveness). God didn’t have a place to live in their midst. A crisis.

Who does it say should celebrate? It looks like just about everyone.
Men and women
Their descendents
Employees / workers
Levites – religious workers (pastors joined in the celebration)
Aliens? Not extraterrestrials, but immigrants who live among them.
Orphans
Widows

Verse12 – remember where you came from. Don’t get proud and haughty with all the blessings you have. God set you free from slavery in Egypt. God did this for you; you didn’t do it yourself.

The Jews celebrated this holiday faithfully throughout history, except when there was no Temple, when they were in exile in Babylon.

About 2000 years ago, the Jews in Jerusalem celebrated in the customary way, but with a small group of about 120 men and women, in an upper room, in Jerusalem, things were about to change forever.

A NEW WAY TO CELEBRATE PENTECOST

All of the sudden, Pentecost became a Christian celebration. (Acts Chapter 2)

Pentecost is often referred to as the birth of the church. That’s when a group of individual believers in Christ became united into a common body – the church.

There are parallels between the Jewish celebration and the early Christian celebration.

It is a time to Rejoice!

This group included everyone: men, women, common folk, government workers, orphans and widows. And was being spread to the aliens (the foreigners in their midst)

It’s a time to remember where you come from – Israel was saved from slavery in Egypt, they were saved from the slavery of their sins through faith in Jesus.

The offering was their lives, because the Lord had blessed them in a special way.

Where does God dwell? Pentecost marks the coming of the Spirit of God into the lives of the believers. Before God showed up now and then, but that day, he showed up to stay.

Pentecost is still to be celebrated “in the place where God dwells,” which is in our lives,

Who is included? Acts 2:21 tells us, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Hill be saved.”

OUR PENTECOST – INVITES THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO OUR LIVES

Pentecost puts the presence of God right in the lives of believers.
When we accept Jesus to come into our hearts, we accept God (Jesus said I and the father are one). God isn’t divided; there is one God – when we invite Jesus into our hearts, we invite God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to dwell in us.

OUR PENTECOST – DEMONSTRATES THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR CHURCH

The church embodies the presence of God in this world. The Apostle Paul told the church, “You (all of you believers) are God’s Temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Our Pentecost comes when we invite God into our lives.
(Again, don’t try to divide God)

OUR PENTECOST – WE REJOICE
It is a time to Rejoice! (Phil 4:4 – Rejoice in the Lord always!)

Remember, in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came and went. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit came to stay (permanent) – this is a real cause to rejoice – always.

OUR PENTECOST – IS FOR EVERYONE
That first Christian Pentecost – the church shared God’s love to all who came to Jerusalem, in their own language.

They showed that God’s message, the Gospel was for everyone – “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” said the Apostle Peter. (2:21). It doesn’t matter who you are – Jesus came and died for you. You don’t need to become Jewish to become a follower of Jesus and celebrate Pentecost.

OUR PENTECOST – CALLS US TO REMEMBER YOUR PAST
Having God’s H. S. in our lives is cause for celebration. But we must remember where we came from – we were all unforgiven sinners – saved from the bondage of sin. There’s no room for pride – we were all saved by the “grace” of God. Not by anything we did.

OUR PENTECOST – CALLS FOR AN OFFERING
Because of our salvation - We offer our lives to God (finances, home, work, hobbies, etc. – all our lives).

In as much as we are blessed (with life / salvation), we make our offerings to God.

OUR PENTECOST – REMINDS US THAT GOD DWELLS IN OUR LIVES
Deut 16:11 “Rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling place for his Name” – that’s us – God dwells in us. God’s presence must be evident in our lives. God “chose” to live in our lives; we didn’t chose God.

EVEN THE “ALIENS” ARE INVITED
My Pop-pop, Andras Bolf – was one of those aliens (immigrants). He came to the USA (through Ellis Island) looking for a better life. The Bolsheviks were destroying his world (in Bohemia, later Czechoslovakia). His older brother (Ludevic) had already left.

Andras eventually got in touch with his brother, in Northern Philadelphia. My great uncle Ludevic had become a Christian through the ministry of a church in North Phlly. My Pop-pop went to see his brother – they could eat the food from the “old country,” talk in their native language, and most importantly, hear the gospel in their native language.

He came looking for a better life, and he found Jesus.

That church was being a New Testament church – inviting everyone, even the alien in their midst, to have Jesus come into their lives. That was my Pop-pop’s Pentecost.

Is God’s presence (ie. God’s Holy Spirit) evident in your life by those you come into contact with?

Does our church show evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in all we do?

God is Good … all the time
God is Love … all the time
God is with us … all the time

Monday, May 5, 2008

Sermon Synopsis for May 4, 2008

“Grace and Peace” Romans 5:1-5

Maybe you heard about the elderly lady was well known for her faith and for her boldness and talking about it. Each morning she would stand on her front porch and shout, "Praise the Lord!"

Next door lived an atheist who was so angry at her proclamations he would shout back, "There ain't no Lord!!"

This would go on every morning.

Hard times set in on the elderly lady and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted, "Praise the Lord!! God, I need FOOD!! I am having a hard time. Please, Lord, send me some groceries!!"

The man next door thought he would have some fun and prove a point to the lady. So he went a bought her some groceries, and set it on her porch.

The next morning, the lady went out on her porch and saw a large bag of groceries and shouted, "Praise the Lord!!"

The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Ha Ha!! I told you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries. God didn't."

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and saying, "PRAISE THE LORD!!! He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them!!"

I’m sure that didn’t build a peaceful relationship between the two; it’s not very graceful!

The Apostle Paul wrote a long letter to the Christians in Rome, people he hadn’t even met yet. He knew some of them from his missionary travels, but most of them were new Christians living in the capital of the world, Rome.

The world was controlled by the Pax Romana – the Roman Peace. Peace at a price – submission, you had to submit to the Lordship of the Roman Emperor: “Caesar is Lord” was the phrase inscribed in many places, including the coins they used for trading. As long as Caesar was your Lord, you would have peace.

Those were dangerous times. When they put their faith in Jesus and became Christians, they were putting their lives in danger.

Paul wrote a letter to the faithful who lived in Rome, yet proclaimed “Jesus is Lord”:

LETTER WRITING IS DIFFERENT TODAY

The internet has changed the way we write a letter. We used to write: “Dear (name). But in an internet communication our greetings can be almost anything (Hi or Hey), buy usually nothing. Where is Miss Manners these days?

The Apostle Paul started his letter by wishing the folks in Rome “Grace and Peace.” Almost every letter in the NT begins by wishing grace and peace to the recipients (some add love and mercy). The authors do not just wish “grace and peace,” but add “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is not a common letter writing practice in the ancient Greek/roman world. The traditional letter is written, “From (name) to (name), greetings (salutations) and (sometimes included) wishes of health and soundness. A few have “I pray you are well.”

For the great number of gods the Romans and Greeks had, they do not include or mention the name of a god in their greetings.

But Paul and the other NT writers have this habit.

It makes me wonder, why, for the early Christians, was “grace and peace” joined together as something wished upon others?

GRACE AND PEACE
Grace and Peace were the two basics of the faith that we receive by being a Christian.

Grace and Peace are the things we need most to get the most out of our Christian life, to live the Christian life in a world that doesn’t care about Jesus.

Rome was the center for Christian Martyrs during the late 1st and early 2nd centuries. At that time, in Rome, you could believe anything (they had a whole pantheon of gods) as long as it didn’t interfere with your allegiance to Caesar – “Caesar is Lord” is the standard for Roman Citizenship.

As the early Christians were hauled into court for treason, history tells us that they did not try to justify themselves – they were already justified, by their faith in the Lord.

Ultimately, it was better to be at peace with God than with this world.

If you are at peace with God, you can withstand anything this world has to dish-up.

Fox’s Book of Martyrs – gives account after account of the faithful who gave their lives simply because they believed in Jesus and lived that belief. Many accounts speak of those who died with a smile on their faces, content to suffer for their Lord. In the midst of tribulation and suffering, they were at peace. Many died forgiving their oppressors.

Martyr’s Mirror – tells of Anabaptist martyrs during the last 500 years. Many gave up their lives, praying for and caring for their accusers. That’s the peace of God working in their lives.

Paul writes to the Romans: “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

When we lived in Bolivia the “Shining Path” (Sendero Luminoso) sent threats to the churches we worked with. They threatened to burn their church buildings. When we have peace with God, such threats can only make us stronger in the faith. They also realized that adobe walls and tin roofs don’t burn very well.

Peace with God can get us through any difficulty this world has to offer.

But Peace alone is not enough!

Paul continues writing to the Romans (5:2): “through him (Jesus Christ) we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

BY THE GRACE OF GOD
By the grace of God we stand … and proclaim our faith (a little like the lady in the story I started with)

Grace is an undeserved, unmerited, gift. It includes mercy, pardon, favor, kindness.
We are to live by the grace of God:
- we wake up in the morning, by the grace of God
- we have food on our table, by the grace of God
- we have health, go to work, drive our cars, all by the grace of God
- we live each day, by the grace of God
- we face life’s difficulties, by the grace of God
… Because it is a gift from God

God wants us to have a life full of Grace; it’s the Grace that Jesus had and showed.

JESUS LIVED GRACE (some examples):
In the face of attitudes that only the clean could eat with the clean. Jesus was accused (correctly) of eating and fraternizing with sinners. Jesus was not made unclean in this process, but he made them clean. Jesus graciously welcomes sinners and other shady characters to his table.

The woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus in the temple court; the scribes and the Pharisees want justice served and want her stoned (death penalty) and want her ground into the dust for her actions; Jesus doesn’t. He graciously forgives her and bids her sin no more (John 7:53-8:11).

The Samaritan woman did not expect Jesus’ treatment and graciousness to her; the disciples couldn’t understand why Jesus is talking with her; Jesus knows her and bids her come to him. The prejudices of the day treat Samaritans like an dirt; Jesus loved her (John 4:1-38).

The Prodigal Son dishonored his father, took off with some of his father’s estate, and ruined it all with sinful living; the Older Son couldn’t comprehend why the father was so graciously forgiving when the prodigal returned home and why the father didn’t punish his son with the system of justice in play at the time; Jesus teaches that God is like that father and that is why he graciously welcomes prodigals and sinners to his table for fellowship (Luke 15:1-32).

In the parable of the vineyard workers, the astounding thing is that those who entered the labor force at the end of the day got as much as those who entered it earlier in the day; the owner paid them “what was right” (the Greek word is just); when the owner paid everyone, the early-to-work crowd protested, on the basis of justice, that the owner was unfair; they didn’t evidently care that the others made enough to make ends meet (Matthew 20:1-16).

Jesus seems to be teaching, Grace subverts what most think justice is; some demand justice anyway.

WHAT ABOUT JUSTICE?
Jeffrie Murphy, in his book Getting Even (Oxford University Press, 2003) argues that forgiveness is far too easy for far too many, and that a sense of justice must be maintained. Murphy’s book is sophisticated, intricate, and makes as good a case as anyone for a Christian theory of retribution. I think he’s wrong — but his study will make you think.

Jesus subverted this sense of justice and created an alternate system of grace and love. This system still maintains discontent with our sinfulness and repentance, but creates a world in which we love and forgive. That’s grace in action.

Jesus taught us to pray everyday, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

I find that I need grace because every other alternative doesn’t work.

WHAT IF, IN THE MIDST OF CONFLICT, GRACE AND PEACE BROKE OUT?

History tells the story …
Amid the horrors of World War I, there occurred a unique truce when, for a few hours, enemies behaved like brothers. Christmas Eve, 1914, and all was quiet on France’s western front, from the English Channel to the Swiss Alps. Trenches came within 50 miles of Paris. The war was only five months old and already over 800,000 men had been wounded or lost their lives. Every soldier wondered whether Christmas Day would bring another round of fighting and killing, but something happened: British soldiers raised Merry Christmas signs, and soon carols were heard from German and British trenches alike.

Christmas dawned with unarmed soldiers leaving their trenches as officers from both sides tried unsuccessfully to stop their troops from meeting the enemy in the middle of no-man’s-land for songs and conversation. Exchanging small gifts—mostly sweets and cigars—they passed Christmas Day peacefully along miles of the front. At one spot, the British played soccer with the Germans, who won three to two.

In some places, the spontaneous truce continued the next day, neither side willing to fire the first shot. Finally, the war resumed when fresh troops arrived, and the high command of both armies ordered that further “informal understandings” with the enemy would be punishable as treason.

With God every day is Christmas. Grace and Peace flows from heaven and will never cease. God will never take up arms against you again. You are no longer an enemy (see 5:10). You have been reconciled to God. There is peace in your relationship.

But it is more than the peace which ensues as a result of a truce. It is a peace that is founded on justification which we receive when we trust Christ. This ushers us into a place of grace with God. We cannot and did not earn it. It was given to us!

We receive grace and peace …
… so we can live graciously and peacefully in this world.

We live in a world that desperately needs grace and peace …

IT TAKES TIME
I told the children that I planted flower seeds, but when I looked this morning, there were no flowers. They helped me solve my dilemma. When they realized that I only planted the seeds yesterday, they told me I needed to wait and be patient.

Sometimes we’re the same way with God and our lives.
We pray and ask God for something, and when a day or a week has gone by, we get discouraged if it hasn’t happened. The Bible says that if “we hope for what we do not have, we must wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:25)

If we could only have a little more grace and peace …
…what a great difference it would make in our world.

It might be slow coming, but we can start with our greetings.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Welcome Morgan!

Announcing the arrival of
Morgan Sharayah Mangrich
Born April 30, 2008, 10:06 pm (USA Central Time)
8 lbs., 9 oz., 21 ¾ inches long.
Stephanie and Benjamin Mangrich are the proud parents.
This is their first child.

It’s great to be a grandparent. Even for the third time.
We're glad that Francesca was able to be with them.