2-25-2014

Good Morning to All,

     Genesis 3:9; “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

    When I was very young I used to like to watch a TV show called “Car 54, Where are You?”  It was a comedy about the misadventures of officers Toody and Muldoon as they were policemen in Bronx, New York.  They would have run-ins with the Russians every so often.  Through most of the show, these two officers were never where they were supposed to be but always ended up in the right place at the right time.

    There is something to be said about being in the right place at the right time.  Seeing the breaking of a new day with the magnificent red and purple hues in the cold of a frigid South Dakota morning may not seem like being in the right place at the right time but once you’ve seen it, you know. 

    There is also something to be said for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Ask any pedestrian who gets splashed by a car at an intersection and see what they think.  It isn’t that much fun.  It isn’t much fun to be where you don’t want to be when trouble occurs.

    That is sort of what Adam and Eve felt when they were “hiding” from God.  They had sinned and knew they had sinned.  So they went and hid behind a bush hoping that God would not see them.  The thing about this verse that can be so confusing is that God actually calls out to Adam, looking for him in the garden.  Why would God, who sees everything, have to look for Adam?

    The fact is that God didn’t need to look for Adam but rather God was calling Adam to return to God.  This is a call to repentance.  “Where are you?” isn’t a physical question but a spiritual question.  God wanted Adam to see “where” he was; he was away from God, hiding from God.  Adam thought he was hiding from God’s wrath but what he really was doing was hiding from God’s grace.  He was hiding from God’s love and forgiveness.

    We do the same thing when we avoid repenting of our sins; when we try and hide some of those sins which we think are either too great to be forgiven or too small to be noticed or maybe we still kind of like them.  No matter how we measure them; when we hold onto a sin we are hiding from God.  So God calls out to us, “where are you?”  Where we are is missing God’s grace and mercy.  Where we are is listening to the devil’s lies about anger and punishment rather than to God’s Words of forgiveness and hope.

    “Where are you?”  Hopefully, you are at the cross where you can cling to God’s grace shown to us in its most definitive form.  Prayerfully, we are calling out to God offering our praise and thanks for the forgiveness which we have received.  Where are you?  You are in the arms of a loving God; trust in his promise.

Father, too often we are hiding from you and in doing do, we hide from your grace.  We ask that you continue to call us and to keep us close to you.  We pray for those who are continuing to hide from you.  Seek them out Father and bring them back to you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace

Pastor Bret   

2-24-2014

Good Morning to All,

     John 11:50; “Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

       It is always interesting when we look at history and see how someone’s comment or thought can be strangely accurate or incredibly off target.  For example, take Charles H. Duell.  In 1899 he was the Commissioner of the U. S. Patent Office.  He recommended that the Patent Office be closed down because “everything that can be invented has been invented.”  Given what the next few years brought in terms of new patents, well he might have missed it by a tad.  Our verse for today goes to the other extreme; it is very accurate.

    Our verse is part of a discussion that the Pharisees had in the Jewish Council that ruled the Jews at the time of Jesus.  These Jews, rich, powerful men, were worried about Jesus.  More to the point, they were worried that Rome was going to start paying attention to Jesus and see him as a potential troublemaker.  If Rome got involved that would mean soldiers, lots of Roman soldiers who would come to Judea, specifically Jerusalem, and simply destroy the place.  The Temple would be destroyed and everything that these men held near and dear would be gone.  They would go from a life of luxury, with money and power, to nothing overnight.  They did not want this.

    So the plan was easy, kill Jesus and the threat would go away.  The problems of a Judean revolt would go away, at least to the point that it would not be a threat to Rome and thus not a threat to these rich men’s lifestyle.  All they have to do is kill Jesus, one man, and the destruction of the nation, and their way of life, would be saved.

    Of course we know that this is not the way it worked.  Jesus’ death didn’t stop the Romans from coming to destroy Jerusalem.  This happened in 70 AD.  But that was never God’s reason for Jesus ministering here on earth.  Jesus came for one very specific reason and that was to die, one man, so that all could live.  His death covered the sins of the whole world.  So it appears that Caiaphas, the high priest, was far more correct than he could have ever imagined. 

    Because of Jesus, we, the whole nation, do not have to perish but rather we will have eternal life.  We have it because one man, Jesus, died for us.  We have it because God has given it to us.  We have it because God, with more love than we can ever imagine, chose to redeem us and bring us back into the family.  One man’s actions, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, saved us from certain eternal death and gives to us certain eternal life.  All because one man, Jesus the Son of God, died for you.

Father of grace and mercy, by sending Jesus into this world to die for us you have given us life.  By giving your only Son we have life.  Give us the courage to trust in this truth.  Be with those who are still struggling with the wonder and simplicity of this truth.  Give them the faith to trust in your promises.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

2-23-2014

 Good Morning to All,

     Psalm 47:7; “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!”

     We have a hymn in our hymnal entitled “Come, Thou Almighty King”. It was written in the 1760’s in England.  The author is unknown but is widely believed to be either Charles or John Wesley.  It was written for a purpose.  The newly written song “God Save Our Gracious King” was making the rounds in England and was very popular.  It was very popular with everyone except the Methodists at the time because it paid way more homage to the king of England than to God.

    During the Revolutionary War, a company of British soldiers went to a church on Long Island and there demanded that “God Save Our Gracious King” be sung.  The tune was the same but the words sung were “Come, Thou Almighty King.”  So a great hymn is little more than a protest song.  Yet maybe that is what we need to do; protest a little about phony kings and false gods.

    Now this isn’t a political rallying cry or a statement about our current government.  That is the easy way to look at it but sometimes that leaves us feeling a little too good about ourselves thinking “that sinner over there really needs to hear about it”; in reality we need to look at our own lives first and then see how we fit in.

    This hymn was written in an attempt to state, in a not so subtle fashion, that indeed it was God and not the king of England who was the one, true almighty ruler of earth.  While we may all agree with that, do we truly live like that?  Maybe not the king of England but what about our job or the money that we make from that job?  Maybe we like the attention and will do what we have to do to be popular.  Maybe we put things and stuff ahead of God in our life; not the king of England but something else may be king in our lives.

    It can be any one of a hundred things.  It might be money or fame or popularity.  It might be places on the internet that we should really avoid.  It might be someone else’s spouse that makes us wonder.  It might be one or more of many but they all take us from God.  They all pull us from his grace because we walk away.  We turn to our phony king and begin to trust it for our joy and security.  Yet when we need it the most, it laughs at us and crumbles into dust before us.  Then we are left to twist in the wind and suffer the pains of guilt and fear and loneliness as we suffer a little bit more.

    However, the true King calls us back with those tender words of forgiveness and redemption.   He grace gives us the boldness to ask that the Almighty King come and be our Lord and reign over us.  Keeping us in the benevolent kingdom of his grace until the time is perfected and we are in his kingdom of glory.

Father, you are the King of the world.  Lead us to have you as King in our lives and heart.  Guide us by your Holy Spirit to trust in your promise of love and mercy, salvation and eternal life.  Through you we have life.  Be with those who seek a different king.  Help them to see the error of this path and bring them safely home we ask.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret