Wednesday, April 30, 2014

4-30-2014



Good Morning All,
        Galatians 4:5; “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
     Do you remember S&H Green stamps? I remember them from many years ago.  You used to get them when you bought stuff.  I remember it mostly from gas stations and a few grocery stores.  I can remember the sales clerk putting her finger in the right number and then spinning the coupon dispenser and you would get a handful of stamps.  Then you would go home, lick the stamps, put them in a book and then look at a catalog to see what you could get for a certain number of books.  It seemed like it took a million stamps to fill a book.  (No, it wasn’t that much but when you were 5 or 6 and trying to figure out if you could finagle a toy out of the deal it did.) 
    I remember looking at the catalog and wondering how on earth anyone could possibly save that many stamps in order to redeem that many books of stamps and get some of that stuff.  It could take a hundred or more books for some of that stuff.  How on earth could anyone do that?  What did they buy that gave them that many stamps?  Of course, I was uninformed about “double stamp” days and promotions like that but still; that was a lot of stamps.  Yet the basic concept was good.  The retailer gave you stamps as a reward for shopping at their store.  After you had enough stamps, you could trade them in (redeem them) for something you wanted.  It could be a fancy set of steak knives or stainless steel mixing bowls or a bow and arrow set or any number of things.
    This is what God did for you.  He redeemed you.  He traded Jesus’ life for yours.  He gave up the life of his only Son so that you can live.  Rather amazing if you stop and think about it.  Jesus, the king of kings, the Word Incarnate, the active creative agent of the Father, was traded for you and for me.  Yet this shows us how much the Father loves us.  He traded so much for us; he must value us greatly and he does.
    The great thing about this is that our salvation was complete with that trade.  You and I don’t have to make it work anymore than that salad bowl or fondue set did when the green stamps were exchanged.  It is the value that the redeemer places on the item that matters and when God redeems us he places an extraordinary value on us.  His desire is to have us live with him in eternal life.  His desire is for you to live in his loving kingdom.  His desire is for you to be his own dear child.  So he traded the life of Jesus for yours.  He redeemed you from the consequences of sin. He freed you from eternal damnation and he gave you life.  So you have been traded for, you have been redeemed.
Gracious Father, you sent Jesus to redeem me, a lost and condemned creature.  Through the wonders of your mercy, you chose to save me from my earned punishment.  Give me the strength to live as a redeemed child, trusting only in your grace.  Guide me and keep me safe.  Be with those who do not experience the joy of this redemption.  Bring them to the saving knowledge of your love.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen savior, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret  

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

4-29-2014



      Good Morning All,
       Genesis 3:9; “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
     So over this past weekend, we babysat our grandson.  He will be two in a month or so.  So each time he comes, something new comes as well.  This time he decided that he likes to play “hide” as in hide and go seek.  So he hid and I counted. He usually runs to the bedroom and hides behind the side of the bed.  But one time, he did something different.  He hid behind a chair in the area where the TV is.  He went behind it and sat down; you actually couldn’t see him.
     So I started wandering towards the bedroom, “Where’s Blake?”  He doesn’t quite have the theory of the game down as he was giggling and laughing the whole time but we looked.  As I came back into the TV area, I picked up a stuffed dog that Grandma got him because it is the dog from one of his favorite books “Charlie”.  Charlie is a basset hound who sniffs out critters on the ranch.  So we had Charlie sniffing for Blake.  He really giggled then and got out and tried to run away with Charlie in “hot pursuit”.
    Now I could have walked over to where he was right away, he can’t really hide from me in my house but where is the fun in that?  Yet in his mind, he is hidden.  I had a nephew who thought he could hide by placing a towel over his head.  Everyone in the room could watch him but he thought he was hidden.  In many ways, just like my nephew or grandson, we think we can hide from God and it just doesn’t work.
    God comes looking for us.  Now he could just come up to us and pick us up but that would probably scare us to no end.  So he calls out to us.  He calls us by his Gospel, that message of salvation that we receive because of Jesus death and atonement.  He calls to us through this Word and he calls to us in his physical Word, the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion.  He calls us with his love, “Where are you?”  He seeks us out in order to bring us back into his loving presence.
    “Where are you?” is out of God’s favor because of our selfishness or greed, our inward desires for our own pleasures.  So we try and hide from God either because we think we have to or want to but we try to hide and God sees us the whole time.  “Where are you?” is really in God’s loving arms we just don’t always see it.  God is holding us much like we hold a small child trying to calm them down.
    So the next time you wonder “where am I?” look to the empty cross and know that you are in the loving arms of your forgiving Father.  Look to the open and empty tomb and see what glory waits us.  “Where are you?”  You are in God’s grace so rest in his assurance of his mercy.
Father, there are so many times that I want to hide because of fear or pain.  Yet if I could hide, all I would feel is the pain.  Thank you for finding me with your love and for keeping me safe in your loving mercy.  Be with those who feel the need or desire to hide from you.  Give them the calming peace by your Holy Spirit.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret                             

Monday, April 28, 2014

4-28-2014



Good Morning All,
         Deuteronomy 5:15a; “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”
      “We are slaves to no one!”  That was a comment made by the Jewish leaders to Jesus when he called them slaves.  The fact that their country was occupied by the Roman Empire at the time was just a matter of perspective I guess.  As we read that section of Scriptures, we often chuckle at this; how can they possibly say they aren’t slaves?  Now maybe technically they weren’t but they paid onerous taxes to an occupying force and were required to ask for permission of this occupying government to do just about anything.  That sounds like slavery, a time when you do not get to make your own choices.  It is either slavery or prison; take your pick.
     That is the good thing about living in the good ole’ US of A.  We are free; we are slaves to no one; almost.  Unfortunately, we are among the poorest slaves because we are not only slaves but we willingly became one.  We have abandoned God in favor of what we call being tolerant of others.  Now on the surface this sounds good; except it has become the code word for “don’t speak the truth.”  We are slaves to consumerism and think that we have to buy more and more.  It always amazes me how everyone has a smartphone, even kids, why?  Usually the answer is “because everyone else does.”
    We are truly slaves.  We are slaves to sin, to greed, to a pluralistic consumerism that demands that we “buy” into anything.  We believe that our personal wants should supersede the needs of others.  “I want, I want” is enough of a mantra for us to turn our backs on the needs of our fellow man because we are slaves to our own selfish foolishness.  But we don’t need to be that way.
    Just as God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, so God has freed us from slavery to sin and our own selfish foolishness.  We are free but just like the Israelites often times wanted to go back to Egypt and live in slavery; we too want to go back to slavery to sin.  We want to go back because our sinful nature wants us to believe that this is the best life we can have.  Yet God calls us to a better life.  He calls us to a life of freedom from this want.  We do not have to be slaves to this want; we are free from being slaves to this want.
   God, by his grace, will give us peace and contentment if we trust in him.  He gives us so much to enjoy, the time with family and friends, the beauty of nature and the freshness of his Word.  Jesus stretched out his arms to free you from slavery; don’t go running back.
Gracious Father, in your great love and mercy you have freed me from the slavery to sin.  Give me the wisdom to maintain that freedom.  Help to overcome the slavery to wants that only hurt us and separate us from your love.  Grant us the wisdom to seek your peace and your peace alone.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret