5-27-2016

Good Morning All!! 

         Deuteronomy 32:36; “For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.”

     I was listening to the radio the other day and the reporter was interviewing a doctor who was working with “Doctors without Borders”.  She was talking to him about a little girl who was being treated.  She weighed less than 12 lbs. and was over three years old.  As she interviewed him, there was a call from the nursery and the girl was asking for water.  The next day, while continuing to interview the doctor, she and the doctor were told that the little girl had died in the night.  The interviewer’s voice broke as se reported the news and the doctor stepped away for a few minutes to recompose himself before continuing with the interview.  This was the doctor’s second time and the interviewer asked him why he came back given that the success rate was so low and conditions so abysmal.  His answer was that he saw people who had absolutely nothing and he was trying to give them a little hope.  The people they helped were so thankful even if their loved ones died.  The people knew their only chance at survival was with those doctors and without them there was no hope at all.

     While it may not seem like it, all of us are like this small child.  We are living without hope.  On our own, we can do nothing to pay for our sins, relieve the guilt of that sin, free ourselves from the burden of sin; on our own we are beaten and lost.  Many do not realize or want to admit that they are completely helpless.  Our foolish pride and arrogance often causes us to act as if we are in charge and in control.  Yet eventually, we come to a point in our life when it is clear that we need help.  It may be a death in the family, a severe illness, an addiction of some sort, a strained relationship or any one of a number of others and often times, it is a combination of events.  In it God sees our pain and our suffering and brings to us hope in Jesus.

    Martin Luther wrote; “God has surely promised his grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves.  But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, wills and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure, and work of Another- God alone.”  This is when we see God at his most compassionate; when we see the totality of our loss and inability to save ourselves.  When we recognize the complete hopelessness of our situation and that only God can avail; this is when God sends his Spirit of comfort and peace to give us hope.

    It might take more than one try; we are still sinners but God sends the hope, grace and mercy to us continually.  This is why we are encouraged to remember our Baptism daily.  We recall the washing away of our sins and the love of God poured out upon us.  In it we see God’s hand at work in our life.

Father, remember us as we struggle with life.  Send your Spirit to renew us and to build us up.  Comfort us with your mercy.  Enliven our hearts and restore our soul.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

5-26-2016

Good Morning All!! 

          Matthew 6:12; “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

     “Well, I might forgive them, in time, but I will never forget it!”  Have you ever heard someone say this?  Have you ever said it?  Have you ever had someone say this about and to you?  I have heard it said a few times and it is always a very sad situation.  I have known people who have carried this anger and grudge with them for many years and they always seem to be angry or sad and just have a bleak outlook on life.  They never seem to enjoy life.

     Yet it can be tough to forgive others.  The slights and the pain that other can cause, especially if we seem to lose ground and they seem to gain ground, can really bog you down with a sense of morose despondency.  Life is bitter because the sin we hold onto is bitter, almost like the bile of the body.  It leaves a bad taste in our mouths.

     Yet we come by this unwillingness to forgive others naturally.  For one thing, we like to have that list of “wrongs” that were committed against us.  We may even want to hold it so we can show God how much we endured here on earth.  We like to think that we truly are martyrs, even if it is in our own mind.  There seems to be a deeper reason that we do not forgive others and that is because we are so slow to forgive ourselves.  We spend a lot of time beating ourselves up remembering all the wrongs that we have done.  We then cling to the notion that if I am unforgivable than everyone is unforgivable.

    We have so much practice and not forgiving ourselves.  The devil likes to help us to not forgive.  As long as we do not forgive ourselves and we do not forgive our neighbors, reconciliation is almost impossible.  It is usually necessary that we forgive ourselves first.  We do this by repentance.  When we repent, we get rid of the guilt of sin.  The devil can no longer use that as a trump card in our life.  When we repent, the devil no longer has a hammer to beat us with; it is destroyed.  A life of repentance, where we continually see that our life exists only through God’s grace, frees us from the burdens and the guilt of this world.  When we lose that guilt; it becomes easier to forgive others. 

     This is part of the blessing that the forgiveness of sins has for us.  We can throw the guilt of sin, the sting of sin, out the door because Jesus has already paid the debt and God has already forgiven the sins.  We no longer have to bear the load of sin; the weight is no longer on our back.  God’s pure mercy gives us the victory to tell the devil to take a hike when he comes with his snide whining about how bad we really are.  We are God’s redeemed children.  That should always be a source of comfort to us. 

     That comfort should then help to provide the impetus to forgive others.  Hanging onto their sins is just as heavy a burden as hanging onto our own sins.  Let them go and enjoy the life which God has designed us for; a life of contentment and of reconciliation.

 Dear Father in heaven, to you alone belong all glory.  Too often, we fail to forgive others and we fail to forgive our self.  Help us, dear Lord, as we go forth in life and lead us to the true knowledge that forgiveness gives us peace in you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

5-25-2016

 Good Morning All!! 

        John 8:11; “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

     A man with a severe pain in his arm goes in and visits his doctor.  He goes into the exam room and waits.  As soon as the doctor walks in the man takes his arm twists it behind his back and says to the doctor, “ Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this.”  The doctor said, “Then don’t do that.”  Yeah, that is a very old joke but there is a ring of truth to it.  Often times, we do things that hurt us and then we wonder why it hurts.  Sin is this way a lot of times.

    Our verse is from the story of the woman who was caught in adultery.  There is an incredible amount of stuff going on in this story but we are going to look just at the end of the story.  Jesus tells her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”  Many people focus on the first part of what Jesus tells the woman.  This is one of the purest acts of forgiveness that we read about.  She was caught in adultery.  She was drug out into the street to be stoned to death.  She may have only had a bed sheet for cover; perhaps, not even that much.  She also does not ask for forgiveness; she doesn’t even acknowledge that what she did was wrong or sinful.  Yet a merciful Jesus forgives her sins but we can’t stop there.  He then tells her to go and from now on sin no more.

     Jesus is telling her to stop doing what hurts her.  Stop inflicting pain on yourself.  We as humans do this often.  We let our foolish pride and arrogance get in the way and we refuse to stop what is hurting us.  We continue to speak cruel words to those we love because we won’t back down even when we see the pain we are causing.  That is what Jesus means.  This is how we as Christians can apply the Law of God (10 Commandments) to our lives.  The Law shows us how to live.  It is a manual for how God designed us to live.  It shows us what is God-pleasing but it also shows us the way to live according to God’s design.

    It is also important to understand that when a loving body of Christ points out that some activity is a sin; it is not so much of a judgment or condemnation but rather it is a plea to stop hurting yourself; “Then don’t do that.”  This is what calling sin to be sin is about.  It is not about casting stones, looking down our nose at someone, thinking we are better than someone else.  Calling sin to be sin is about trying to stop the pain and start the healing and this is what Jesus wants.  He wants you to be healed, to be whole again.  Jesus desires that you may once again walk healthy again.  Jesus came to pay for our debts and then to empower us to go and sin no more so that we no longer carry the pain that sin causes.

Father, give me the wisdom to go and sin no more.  Lead me to stop the pain that I inflict upon myself.  Help me to control my pride, anger and jealousy.  Guide me by your Spirit that I may be healed by you.  Guard me with your loving arms.  Send your healing to those who are broken by sin and in need of your healing.  Restore them Lord, to your loving kingdom.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

5-24-2016

Good Morning All!! 

            Proverbs 8:30; “then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,”

      Yesterday, I was a carpenter, sort of.  My wife and I use raised garden boxes to grow our garden.  We grow tomatoes and peppers and a few cucumbers.  We decided to add another box this year.  Now, I am not the greatest carpenter in the world.  You would think I would be considering my grandfather, my father and my son are carpenters.  Yet from an early age, my job was to hold the tape measure; not use it, just hold it.  I understand the theory but for some reason my hands don’t do the practice.  Yet we commenced to building.

    Now my wife is a wonderful person but her carpentry skills are less than mine; add in the fact that we bought our lumber from one of the big box home centers and most of our boards looked like Bob Hope’s nose; the task was going to be daunting.  Fortunately we finished the task with all fingers and toes intact and we were still speaking to each other.  I am not much of a carpenter but most people don’t expect me to be.  Our verse speaks of Jesus as being a master workman as well.

    We don’t always think of Jesus as a workman or as a craftsman and yet he is.  Jesus is the creative power of God during the creation.  God created with his word.  “God said...” and creation occurred.  The Apostle John calls Jesus “The Word” and tells us that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  And here we see Jesus at work again, this time doing the redemptive work of paying for our sins so that we may once again be one of God’s children.  The task of creation was completed perfectly as God found it to be “very good.”  The task of redemption is just as great because it is the beginning of the restoration of creation to its renewed state of holiness.

    It is in this work that God finds great delight.  It is in the work of Jesus, both creative and redemptive that God finds “very good.”  It is this work that God the Father takes his delight in because it gives him joy that once again we are his children that we are no longer enemies with God.  We can again call upon His Name with joy and peace.  We can live with the certainty of eternal life with Him and we can live knowing that God takes delight in this.

    We can find comfort in this because we have a God that takes delight in us.  We are not his playthings or toys but rather we are his beloved children.  We are those whom he seeks to bless with his great gifts and with his love and mercy poured out upon us.  We know we can always turn to him at any time because of his great love for us.  God delights in your salvation; shouldn’t you?

Gracious Father, you find delight in me even though I am not worthy but because of Jesus you declare me holy. Lead me to live in the delight of your will and move me by your Spirit to bring about your grace and peace to this broken world.  In the precious Name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret