)
Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If I should fall from grace with God
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me
Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
"If I Should Fall From Grace with God" written by Shane MacGowan, recorded by The Pogues on the album of the same name
The fear of all God fearing people, falling from God's grace. It's the ever present worry that we won't be able to live up to God's standard. When we we fear that, we fear we will lose salvation. We fear we will be buried 'neath the sod but the angels won't receive us.
Fear not! The cry of all scripture from God to the people, fear not! God love us, God loves us. God is so rich in mercy that while we were still living a life ripe with trespasses, life filled with sin, God is so rich in mercy that we were made alive through Christ, saved by grace through faith.
The wonderful thing about grace is that we cannot earn it by our works. Grace is a gift freely given. If we had to work for it then it would no longer be grace, it would no longer be a gift. It was given before we even had the opportunity to try to earn it. Let me say again, the free gift of God's good grace was offered before we had the opportunity to try to earn it.
Our good works aren't like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." If we open enough chocolate we won't find the Wonka Golden Ticket to get us beyond the factory gates. This is salvation by works, we are saved by grace through faith.
Yet we were created to do good works. God has made us in Christ Jesus for good works to become our way of life. So if our good works aren't for our salvation what's the use? Our good works reflect the light of Christ in the world. Our good works show God's light in the world.Our good works aren't for our glory, but project God's love onto a needy world.
Saved by grace through faith shows God's merciful kindness to creation. Merciful kindness, in the words of a famous theologian, God loves us not despite who we are, but because of who we are. Live into God's grace not because it will get us anything, but because we are thankful for everything.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Without Ceasing
)
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NRSV)
Pray without ceasing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've got to pray
Just to make it today.
"Pray" sung and produced by MC Hammer featuring samples from Prince and Faith No More from "Hammer, Please Don't 'Hurt Em"
For better and for worse, much rap music deals with personal success and bragging about it. This is different. Yes, a lot of Hammer's music boasts about making money and rhymes, but there is more to this 1990 hit. It also deals with the roots of the vine, not just the fruit.
Hammer says "I won't forget my people or my town or my ways, and on my knees every night I'm still gonna pray." Yeah, leaving poverty is great, but leaving poverty and leaving everyone else behind is worse. (While his heart may have been in the right place, the sustainability of how he took care of his friends' poverty was another matter.)
Pray without ceasing, this is Paul's command. This is how Paul wraps up his instructions in this, the oldest known piece of Christian literature. 1Thessalonians predates every other word in the New Testament, so when communities were considering what it meant to be Christian, this is the first word they received from any apostle of the Lord Jesus.
And Paul told the world to pray without ceasing.
Let every motion of your life be a living prayer. Dedicate every motion, every iota of being to the Lord. We can't live every moment on our knees, but when we are on our feet, we are to be remembering the one who gave us our feet. This is how to pray without ceasing. This is how we live our lives in remembrance of the one who gave everything for us. But not only are we called to ask, we are called to listen and respond.
Prayer works both ways, and as the old saying goes, we have one mouth and two ears and two eyes. We need to listen and watch more than we speak. Pay attention, then with two hands we can respond the the call of the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NRSV)
Pray without ceasing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've got to pray
Just to make it today.
"Pray" sung and produced by MC Hammer featuring samples from Prince and Faith No More from "Hammer, Please Don't 'Hurt Em"
For better and for worse, much rap music deals with personal success and bragging about it. This is different. Yes, a lot of Hammer's music boasts about making money and rhymes, but there is more to this 1990 hit. It also deals with the roots of the vine, not just the fruit.
Hammer says "I won't forget my people or my town or my ways, and on my knees every night I'm still gonna pray." Yeah, leaving poverty is great, but leaving poverty and leaving everyone else behind is worse. (While his heart may have been in the right place, the sustainability of how he took care of his friends' poverty was another matter.)
Pray without ceasing, this is Paul's command. This is how Paul wraps up his instructions in this, the oldest known piece of Christian literature. 1Thessalonians predates every other word in the New Testament, so when communities were considering what it meant to be Christian, this is the first word they received from any apostle of the Lord Jesus.
And Paul told the world to pray without ceasing.
Let every motion of your life be a living prayer. Dedicate every motion, every iota of being to the Lord. We can't live every moment on our knees, but when we are on our feet, we are to be remembering the one who gave us our feet. This is how to pray without ceasing. This is how we live our lives in remembrance of the one who gave everything for us. But not only are we called to ask, we are called to listen and respond.
Prayer works both ways, and as the old saying goes, we have one mouth and two ears and two eyes. We need to listen and watch more than we speak. Pay attention, then with two hands we can respond the the call of the Lord.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Run for the Prize
)
1Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'd better run.
"Run Like Hell" lyrics by Roger Waters recorded by Pink Floyd.
So, just what is the prize? It would surely seem easy enough to guess, it could be eternal life, the resurrected life of Jesus. But we're talking about the writing of Paul here, and fewer were more aloof than Paul in his writing.
My Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (volume 1, page 638 for those of you who want to look this up says that this is "the prize of conflict which a man can win only if he throws in his whole self and all his resources, namely, the resurrection to eternal life (this mention from Philippians 3:11). So yes, the answer is the resurrection to eternal life. To take another Pink Floyd title, have a cigar.
What is infinitely more interesting is the way the word used in scripture that we define as "prize" makes added reference to the way the runner in this passage has to train and has to race. The rest of this passage from 1Corinthians makes sure the point is made, to win you must train--you gotta work hard to win. But here, just in the description of the prize itself, to gain the prize you must, I say must, commit your whole self and all of your resources to the goal.
The faith, and the prize of the faith, is not something we can do for an hour a week and leave the remaining 167 hours for anything else. Life in the faith is more than just a way to kill an hour on Sunday before going to dinner with the family, or that thing you miss so you can see the game.
Faith is a 24/7 proposition. We have to live our life not just fully in the name of the Lord we have to commit to work harder to develop more to gain fruitfully to win the prize. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, Paul says this too, but we are called to do more than just wait on the bus of salvation. We need to take a walk.
I guess the only true way we can avoid the devil is to run like hell.
1Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'd better run.
"Run Like Hell" lyrics by Roger Waters recorded by Pink Floyd.
So, just what is the prize? It would surely seem easy enough to guess, it could be eternal life, the resurrected life of Jesus. But we're talking about the writing of Paul here, and fewer were more aloof than Paul in his writing.
My Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (volume 1, page 638 for those of you who want to look this up says that this is "the prize of conflict which a man can win only if he throws in his whole self and all his resources, namely, the resurrection to eternal life (this mention from Philippians 3:11). So yes, the answer is the resurrection to eternal life. To take another Pink Floyd title, have a cigar.
What is infinitely more interesting is the way the word used in scripture that we define as "prize" makes added reference to the way the runner in this passage has to train and has to race. The rest of this passage from 1Corinthians makes sure the point is made, to win you must train--you gotta work hard to win. But here, just in the description of the prize itself, to gain the prize you must, I say must, commit your whole self and all of your resources to the goal.
The faith, and the prize of the faith, is not something we can do for an hour a week and leave the remaining 167 hours for anything else. Life in the faith is more than just a way to kill an hour on Sunday before going to dinner with the family, or that thing you miss so you can see the game.
Faith is a 24/7 proposition. We have to live our life not just fully in the name of the Lord we have to commit to work harder to develop more to gain fruitfully to win the prize. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, Paul says this too, but we are called to do more than just wait on the bus of salvation. We need to take a walk.
I guess the only true way we can avoid the devil is to run like hell.
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