Tag Archives: Paul

Perspective

tumblr_m7g58wbiHm1rukhkdo1_500Living in the Spirit
July 10, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. –Ephesians 1:3-14

Jesus Christ has been the most important influence in my life ever since I can remember. Raised in a Christian home, I had the examples of parents who were followers of Christ. I have also been under the influence of other followers of Christ from Isaiah, who seemed to know him before he was flesh and blood, to the writers of the gospels, and, of course, a complicated relationship with the writings of our author today, Paul. I am more recently learning that everything attributed to Paul may not have been written by Paul but by one or more of his students, which may help my understanding of this complex disciple’s teachings.

It is difficult, I think for anyone, to pull back and view the landscape of God from a more objective viewpoint when one has been steeped as deeply as I have in Jesus Christ. I take for granted my perception of Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and cannot appreciate that everyone else does not. The fact is, however, that more and more of my fellow Americans do not know this one called Christ. Many have actually turned away from knowing Christ because, I believe, he has been presented to them through the filters of his disciples, me for one, and like Paul’s students, we do not all get it right every time.

I believe it is worth our efforts to pull back and view the landscape of God more objectively as we discern with others God’s work among us particularly in the person and leadership of Jesus Christ. It will enable us to see more clearly the many facets of Christ we perhaps have missed in the past and to clean off the scum that have coated our lenses of insight distorting our perceptions of him. The result will be an enriching of our own relationship with and through him while it opens doors for new or returning seekers like Paul viewed the Ephesians in the snippet of his letter we read today.

Prayer: Lord create in me a clean heart enabling me to see you more clearly and thus share you more perfectly. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Children of the One True God

privilegeAdvent
December 19, 2014

Scripture Reading: Romans 16:25-27

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen. —Romans 16:25-27

What must it have been like on that road to Damascus when the light suddenly dawned on Saul that all people were the one true God’s children? He said it himself that he had been as good a Jew as anyone could have been. He followed all the rules, did all the right things unlike those heretics who were followers of the now dead man called Jesus. They were even saying this prophet was the long awaited anointed one, the Messiah. Could such a one come out of Nazareth? The impact of this Damascus road experience was so dramatic that Saul even changed to using his Roman name, Paul. He had become a new creation and led the way to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

It is ironic today that we, who call ourselves Christians, are being challenged to welcome this same truth that all people are the one true God’s children and we are to love them. Those of us who find ourselves living in what can only be considered privilege by much of the rest of the world’s standards are so used to that status that we take it for granted and, perhaps, even innately believe that for some reason we are more deserving than these others.

Yesterday I accompanied another member of my Sunday school class in delivering Christmas presents to a young single mother with two children, one of whom is tutored by a member of our class. The mother was, I think, a little overwhelmed, but very gracious. After we left I could not help but long for a world where she had the resources to provide for her own family. Where she could earn a living wage, her children could excel at school, and our knowing one another would be based on mutual friendship as children of the one true God. I have no problem with meeting immediate and remedial needs of people, but we are called to take the next step and assure that those needs are not the result of economic injustice. Is that not the light this baby Jesus brings to us today?

Prayer: God of all, shine your light on us. Open our eyes to see the world as you would have it be and show us the ways we can work to make that reality. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

 

Living Sacrifice

Living-Sacrifice3Living in the Spirit
August 21, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 12:1-8

 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. — Romans 12:1-2

Seared in my mind is the image of Dietrich Bonhoeffer with his back to the camera, naked, and all alone facing imminent death in the movie Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace. I also remember vividly when I learned that Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed. History is filled with people, including our Lord and Savior, willing to give their lives in service to God—Paul among them. So I am always rather taken aback when Paul calls for all of us to live with that same level of dedication—present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Paul reaches deep into his Jewish background for this illustration. Whatever was brought for sacrifice whether it was two pigeons or a might bull was to be without blemish.

Now, I don’t know about you but I have got some blemishes. Some days I have more than others. So I take great relief in the next segment of this scripture that God will take us as we are and if we are willing to work with God our minds will be renewed resulting in our being transformed.

It is really hard to break bad habits, but I have found it quite easy to break good ones. On the other hand it is really hard to make new good habits, but easy to pick up bad ones. When I was a child we did not learn to floss our teeth. I got the brushing part down but not the flossing. As an adult when the dental folks decided flossing was important, it took me forever to build it into my daily routine. I lost count of the number of times I tried to lose weight until I finally did.

While I think God wants us to take care of ourselves, I don’t think this is the primary focus of being holy and acceptable. God wants us to meld our will into God’s will. Not so much to control us, but because God made us, God knows what makes us tick and knows how we as individuals can rest most aptly into being ourselves. God also knows and can actualize what parts each of us individuals play in the Body of Christ.

Prayer: Lord, I am yours, transform me and make me a living sacrifice for you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Adoption

Living in the Spirit
July 17, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:12-25 

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. —Romans 8:14-17

Slavery as it is described in the Bible may have been the absolute ownership of another human being usually a foreigner perhaps taken in war, but, particularly among the Jews, it was more like what we called indentured servants in the early days of the founding of America. When someone could not pay a debt they were indentured to work for their creditor until the debt was paid. Many people came to the US via an indenture of work in return for their ship passage. Others, like one of my ancestors was indentured to learn a trade. He worked for room and board for seven years to learn how to operate a forge. He may have worked alongside the children of the forge owner who also were learning the trade and not getting paid but who would at some point inherit the forge, a subtle but very important difference.

Paul likens our relationship to God as being like a child accepted into a family as a family member with all the benefits that go with that status unlike slaves who worked until their debt was paid and then were released or worked until they were no longer able to work. They most likely then become the beggar in the street. Our homeless in America today are very much like these outcastes of centuries ago, only in most places here it is against the law for them to beg.

The interesting thing about such divisions by status is that Jesus opened the door to recognize all people as the true children of God that they were. Paul, following his lead and his command, extended the invitations throughout the known world. We should not miss what a radical concept this must have been for a society that was so comfortable with haves and have-nots that they accepted them as the norm. Is it still a radical concept in our world today?

Prayer: Lord, give us the spirit to take up the mantel of Jesus and Paul as we too open the door for all to be welcomed as your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rule One: Love God

Living in the Spirit
July 10, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:1-11 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death….To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.— Romans 8:1-2, 6-8

I have never once questioned Paul’s sincerity; I have at times wished he could express it in fewer words or perhaps shorter sentences and that the words he used had the same meaning for us today as they did for him. (As a writer, I could probably learn from that advice also.) Flesh for most of us is another word for skin. Indeed skin is the largest major organ in our bodies, but we view it in a more functional way than the word Paul sought to describe the state of people without Christ. “Human nature” might today come closer to describing what Paul meant by “flesh”.

Neither flesh nor human nature is a negative term or phrase but both can get us into trouble at times. We are told today that vitamin D is important for good health, and a really good source of vitamin D is the sun. We also know that too much sun on our skin can result in cancer. Just like our desire for the world’s greatest tan, under the guise of getting vitamin D, may have dire consequences, our human nature can otherwise lead us down paths of self-destruction. The people of God in the first century got so caught up in obeying the letter of those laws they failed miserably at living the spirit of the law, where loving God is the most important rule in their lives. The law had become the god they worshipped. If a little obedience to the law is good for us just think what a lot could do, no matter who it hurt or who it causes us to ignore.

We do that still today. God’s answer to them is the same answer for us.  God sent God’s Son to strengthen our bond with God, to let us know that God will always love us, and to again stress with us that our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the way to an abundant life. Everything else will fall into place when we commit to that level of loving God.

Prayer: O Love that will not let us go, draw from us the love that you planted in us at creation and make it radiate throughout the world to all your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.