8-8-2015

Good Morning All!!

         Matthew 7:21; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

      Well the presidential campaign is underway in full now.  The first debate has occurred and the long season goes on.  We will hear a lot of attacks, criticisms, name-calling and personal slights.  We will most certainly hear one or more of the Republicans running for president accusing one of the other potential candidates of being a “RINO.” (One of the Democrats will accuse one of their fellow party members of being a “DINO”; we are nonpartisan here.)  Perhaps you are not familiar with those terms.  A “RINO” is someone who is a “Republican in name only.”  A “DINO” is a “Democrat in name only”.  This is an attack that accuses the other person of being a phony member.  He really doesn’t support the positions or ideology of the party.  He only uses the party to stay in office.

    We see the same thing in the church; you could say we have “CINOs.”  We have people who attend church but are Christians in name only.  One of my former pastors called them “atchins” as in “hatchin’ (baptism), matchin’ (marriage) and dispatchin’ (funerals)”.  There are many other terms but all tend to mean someone who is not a true believer but, because of community or societal traditions, belongs to a church.  They might never attend; they might attend once in a while or they might attend frequently; their body is present but their heart and spirit are somewhere else.  They say the words, they sing the hymns but their worship is void of faith.  They probably think they are fooling everyone but they are really only fooling themselves.

    They are the ones who will cry, “Lord, Lord” but Jesus will say, “I do not know you.”  We have to do the will of the Father but what is that?  The will of the Father is that you trust in his Word and know that you are saved.  In this knowledge, we give thanks to God.  In this knowledge we see our life changed; it is changed from one of slavery and servitude to gratitude and joyful thanksgiving.  We have the opportunity and the calling to live our life in thankfulness to God for the blessing of eternal life and the reconciliation that we have because of Jesus.  We are called to a life that Luther describes as “thank and praise, serve and obey him.” 

     Yet a life that is unchanged is a life that lacks faith.  Faith is the desire to trust in God’s promise; it moves us to act.  It moves us to do God’s will to focus on others and not on ourself.  True faith moves us to reach out to those in need; true faith moves us share the good news of Jesus’ saving sacrifice.  Live the life of a Christian with Christ in your heart and in your life.

Father, move me by your Spirit to live my life in service to you.  Lead me to walk in the path of your righteousness.  Lead me to be your hands, your shoulder and your voice in this broken and lost world.  Lead me to be bold for you.  In the precious name of Jesus I pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret