Hip-Hop Artist "Flame" Becomes Lutheran - Check out the lyrics!

No, I'm not a big fan of rap.  But you can't help admire the lyrics of this song by artist "Flame" entitled "Good Works."  Check out the story about him in the link below.

"Good Works"

Man I love how Luther emphasized that God doesn't need our good works
But our neighbor does
I mean that's so weighty when you think about it because all our good deeds
Our sanctification, our skill-sets, our responsibilities, and various roles
Are for the benefit of those around us
Our families, society, our neighbor, right?
But what makes us right with God, Paul says, is our faith
That's how we are made righteous
And how we remain righteous, in Christ
But when you blur those lines
And start looking at your sanctification for assurance
That you're right with God
A bunch of problems arise
First off, we end up filled with discouragement
From constantly missing the mark
We can also end up filled with self-doubt
From constantly applying subjective and arbitrary measures
To assess our level of sanctification
In order to determine whether or not we are justified
Or on the flip side
We could be filled with self-righteousness
As a result of fulfilling some criteria we created
And then in turn
Cast judgement on others who don't check our specific boxes
This is a common experience
Especially among Calvinists
Because it flows from functionally placing sanctification above justification
This stems from the fact that, in general, for Calvinists
There is a primary emphasis on God with obedience to the law
Which perpetuates this inward focus
Luther on the other hand
Places the perfect work of God in justification
Over the incomplete process of sanctification
We are to look Extra Nos, or outside of ourselves
Towards the righteousness of faith
Which is our justification for assurance
This is where we find identity, stability, objectivity, and security
Luther is committed to justification truly being Sola Fide
Meaning by faith alone
His primary emphasis is on serving your neighbor through your vocation
This emphasis helps to maintain the clear distinction
Between our identity being found in our righteousness of faith
Which we receive from God, aka passive righteousness
Versus our performance or our active righteousness
Which is righteousness we live out for the benefit of our neighbor
As Christians, we should see both kinds of righteousness
But the different purposes
We should guard our good works becoming the basis for our righteousness before God
And we should guard against our righteousness of faith
Being used to eliminate the need for good works
Our good works have value here on earth, Coram Mundo
But it does not justify us before God, Coram Deo
It is vital that we keep these separate

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2020/02/the-rapper-flame-becomes-a-lutheran/

The Bride of Christ

When God made Adam a bride, He put him into a deep sleep, and while he slept God took one of his ribs and made it into a woman.  He brought her to Adam and Adam said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called Woman for she was taken out of Man."  Finally, Adam was not alone, but had someone to help him make new life.  And so Adam and Eve were made in God's image in that like God they could make new life together.

The surprising thing is that God made the second Adam His bride in the same way.

Jesus, the second Adam, the new humanity, was also put into a deep sleep by God.  He was crucified, and while dead, and to be sure He was dead, the soldier pierced His side with a spear in the very same place where Adam's rib once was.  From that very place on Jesus poured forth two things: water and blood.  And the Bible teaches that through this water and blood Christ makes His bride, the Church.  

The water poured out of Christ and into the baptismal font where new Christians are born into the Church.  And the blood poured out of Christ into the chalice where Christians are fed and nourished in the Church.

In and through these God-given means we are brought to Jesus where He exclaims over us, "This at last is bone of My bones, and flesh of My flesh."  In Christ the image of God has returned to humanity.  We are not alone, but God is with us.  He is the groom, and in and through us He creates new life.  Thanks be to God that He wants to be so united to us, He would join Himself to us in our full humanity, and join us to Him in His divinity.

The Walking Liturgy

It was time for a hospital call.  I was sitting in my car in front of the building.  I put on my clerical collar and asked the Lord to accomplish His work through me, even overcoming all my weakness as a pastor.  And then He reminded me of something that is true for every Christian – collar or not – pastor or not – “You are my chosen servant.  I am always using you, whether you realize it or not.  You are a walking liturgy.”


Hunh.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I left the car and approached the hospital.  “You are a walking liturgy,” came the echo in my mind.  There were people coming down the other side of the sidewalk, and I found myself praying, “Remind them Father.  Remind them of Your grace.  Make my presence a reminder of Your gracious message to everyone who sees me.”  I noticed my attention was different than normal.  I cared about the people who passed me.  I looked them in the eye.  I greeted them with my presence.  Grace started and ended my perspective with each of them.  I received a lot of smiles.  Many more headnods.  And a certain number of verbal greetings.  I understood I was there on behalf of the Lord, and that I was there for whomever the walking liturgy brought me beside.


This is true because I’m baptized.  It’s true for every baptized believer.  St. Peter says believers are a holy priesthood who offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).  St. Paul says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”


The liturgy doesn’t end on Sunday morning.  It doesn’t end with the Benediction.  It continues in your life as you carry it out with your body wherever you go.  This is the liturgical life.  A life that flows in and out of the Divine Service on Sunday, but that carries that eternal kingdom into all the places you are.  


It is happening whether you realize it or not, so why not pay attention to it?  Why not remember it?  Why not benefit from it?  Enjoy it?  The Christian life, the life of faith, is one of growing with the Lord on this walk.  He is always ready to remind you this is what He is doing through you.  Always ready to hear your prayer.  Always ready to tell you, “You are a walking liturgy,” because His Son has created this new kingdom for you by His own blood.  It is a kingdom of grace, rooted in His Word and Sacrament, growing out into every waking moment in which you live and move and have your being.  This is what it means to be part of the holy priesthood.  You are His, and He gives you to others.

Father in heaven, don't let me forget Your promises.  Hold them before me all the time.  Give me Your Spirit that I may give attention to what You are carrying out through me.  Help me remember Your faithfulness in Christ and see those around me as You do.  Always bring me back to Your Word and Sacrament for rest.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Life is all about filters... functioning ones

We bought a fish tank.  You know the story.  The kids wanted to go to the pet store on the way home from the supermarket - and they'd behaved so well...  So off we went - certain - that we would never buy anything.

Hours later we left the store with a fish tank.  Did we know anything about keeping fish?  No.  Did we know anything about how to maintain an aquarium?  No.

It wasn't until we got the tank home and started looking into what we would need that the reality of what we had done weighed upon us.  Creating a healthy habitat for fish is all about the FILTER.  But not the kind of filter you have on your furnace.  Not the kind of filter you have in your BRITA for drinking water, although both of these are also used.  No.  The important filter a fish tank needs is its biological filter.

The biological filter are the beneficial bacteria living in the tank that process the harmful things that are toxic to fish.  Just like the beneficial bacteria we now know live in our gut and help with all sorts of things in our bodies.  It takes six weeks to start to develop these bacteria!

Then it dawned on me.  If this is true for our bodies, and its true for fish tanks - surely this is happening everywhere in living things.  I learned about marshes and how they filter river systems so that lakes don't get ruined (think Manitoba).  I learned about engines and how they require multiple filters to keep running.  I thought about Google and how one of the biggest problems we having so much information available to us is that we are having a hard time filtering.  Social Media needs more filters.  Filters, filters, filters.

The same is true for your soul.  Your soul needs a functioning filter.  Not a biological filter, a spiritual filter.  That filter is God's Word and your faith in it.  It processes reality for you.  It helps remove all the harmful things that are toxic to your soul and keep you alive.  Without it the endless amount of information that goes into your eyes and ears everyday will overwhelm you and carry you away.  God's Word is a living filter too!  It benefits you, and it benefits those around you - like in a fish tank.  It's critical for you to admit it - I need a filter, and I don't know how to make it on my own.  But take heart, that's your heavenly Father's job.

He sent His Son Jesus to be the filter of Sin and Death.  To absorb it all into His flesh.  To force everything in reality to be funnelled through Him and His death on the cross.  Everything harmful to you.  Christ is your filter.  He forgives you of all your sin.  And He shapes your eyes to see reality as He does.  He overcomes your death.  And He fills you with His eternal life.  He is your filter of body and soul.  Make Him your filter, and you will never lack what you need for life.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, use Your Son to cleanse me of all things toxic.  By His holy blood purify my soul.  Shape my view to be Your own.  Help me to process reality according to Your Word alone.  Make me a benefit to those around me.  Filter the thoughts of my mind that they might be pure and holy and beneficial to me.  Filter the movements of my heart that it might want what You want.  Filter my mouth that the only things I say glorify You.  And hold me safe in Jesus forever.  In His Name I pray, Amen.

The Two Facets of Love

A little girl had parents who gave her everything she wanted.  They didn't want to pressure her or limit her, so they rarely said "No."  They left her to set her own boundaries.  Even, left her alone during tantrums.  As the behaviour got worse, they retreated even more, not wanting to come down on her - until one day that girl - the one who had been given everything, and had been told "I love you" incessantly when upset - finally concluded "My parents don't love me."

How?

Love is expressed with a "No" and a "Yes."  It separates and it unifies, always for good.  But this little girl was disintegrating.  Her parents had provided no order to her life, because they didn't want to stifle her, but in so doing let her break into pieces and float away.  She would never have asked for this order - though some might say her bad behaviour was her way of calling for it - but she definitely needed it.  Love is a balance of "No" and "Yes."

Reality was created this way.  God created everything in Genesis 1 by unifying and separating - defining by gathering together, and distinguishing by setting boundaries.  Heaven and earth.  Land and sea.  Body and Soul.  Adam and Eve.  Creation was an ordered blend of separate things able to come together for life to thrive and flourish.

But there's more, this balance of "No" and "Yes" is also the way we humans understand what we experience.  There is no way for your eye/mind to process the near infinite amount of information that comes to you day by day.  You are actively engaged in this process of "No" and "Yes" in deciding what to pay attention to, categorizing what you are looking at, in forming the details you will remember in your memory, in understanding, experiencing and interpreting reality.  Humanity is created in the image of God.  And we, like Him, continue this process all the time, everyday.

Imagine if you, like that little girl, had one of these two - the "No" or the "Yes" - shutdown in your experience of the world.  You would look in the face of your mother, or wife, or child - and you wouldn't see their eyes.  You wouldn't know where to look, because you wouldn't be able to distinguish between their hair and their eyes and their skin.  All the boundaries would be mixed up and confused.  You wouldn't know if you should look at a single pore, or at them as a flat part of everything behind them.  You would immediately conclude, "My Creator doesn't love me, because this is chaos."

Your heavenly Father does love you.  Every part of your experience is ordered in this way.  From the least significant to the most significant.  From your bodily needs to your spiritual needs.  God separates and He unifies.  He gives and He takes.  He orders and He creates.  And all of it for you.  And though we mix it up.  Though much of what we do and say, mixes it all up - Christ was sent down from above.

In Christ, He has united heaven and earth - God and Man in One person - suspended on a tree with its roots in the earth and its branches in the heavens.  He has united you and Him.  Every syllable of His Word does the same, and provides you the pattern of reality for your life.  You are forgiven in Christ.  As a parent, you can balance the "No" and the "Yes" for your children.  As a husband or wife, you can balance the "No" and the "Yes" for your spouse.  As a son or daughter, you can balance the "No" and the "Yes" for your parents.

And in such a perfect, beautiful creation - as His wonderfully made child - you can say to your Father in heaven - "You are amazing.  You really do love me in Christ.  Keep me eternally in Him.  And make me part of your everlasting pattern."  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Stand or Not?

There I was sitting in a room with a group of adults.  Various conversations were happening, when all of a sudden "O Canada" came blaring into the room through the speaker.

I rose to my feet, came to attention as I was taught (and ordered) to do in the Navy.  And as I settled into place, I noticed that some of the other adults had stood, but some had not.  Certainly had these adults been in front of children or had they found themselves in a more formal setting - they would have stood.  But in that room - with that group of adults - they did not.

I don't tell you this story to reinforce the practice that Canadians should stand for their national anthem.  This isn't about what ought to be done.  I'm focused on the way it created a division in the room that day.

Whether you like it or not there are certain things upon which you must take a stand - but when you take your stand, there will be others who will not stand with you.  Reality is built this way.  As truly as heaven is different from earth, standing is different from not standing - yet we are forced into situations when we MUST choose.

If we stand - we are divided from those who don't stand.

If we don't stand - we are divided from those who do stand.  It is going to happen.

So the ultimate question is: for what will you take your stand?

Christ took His stand for you.  He lay it all on the line - that you might be forgiven and live.  But the way He did this is so incredibly important.

He united heaven and earth.  The standers and the sitters.  He came down from heaven, entered into our situation, and made Himself the One place where all may be One.  Christ - the greatest sinner - yet also the Lord of heaven.  He didn't sit on His throne and oppose us.  He joined us - to Him - and promises to carry us up to His throne on high.

Now, you are here - living day by day in a reality where you are forced to take a stand.  Will you stand with Him?  Stand up for Him?  Or will you stay seated because you aren't sitting in a pew at a church?  Will you stand for Him at work, at home, in public?  Or will you run from Him when He needs you (like the disciples)?

The truth is - you will do both.  But you know He will always stand for you - you know you can return to Him, kneel before Him - and ask Him to strengthen your legs to take that stand for Him.  And forgive you for when you don't.  Make me stronger Lord - don't let me be a coward anymore - but strengthen my faith in You and Your eternal joining of heaven and earth.  Use me to hold You out before those in need, that You may join them to this new humanity You are creating.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Coffee and Weeds

I stood there, coffee in hand, nozzle in the other, watering my grass.  The water sprinkled out over the green sprouts.  I relaxed into the moment as the sun sparkled off the mist and the morning breeze pleasantly played with the leaves in the trees.

Then it struck me.

Here I am watering my grass, hoping for it to grow and have the best life possible.  But even as I do it - I am watering the weeds as well.  I don't want the weeds, but as I water my grass - I am giving those weeds exactly what they need to grow and thrive too.

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)

The Christian desires to grow in faith - that is, grow in trusting in that grace revealed in Christ, and in knowing more and more about how all-encompassing that grace is.  But there is a problem.  The weeds are growing too.  Sin.  False desires.  False faiths.  And much like my lawn, there is nothing I can do about.

Oh - but wait - there is this guy I can call.  He comes with a truck and sprays my lawn and the weeds go away.  Likewise with my soul - there is this guy I can call.  I pray to Him.  I pour out my concerns to Him, and He comes along with His bloody hose and forgives all my sins.  He feeds my soul His promises.  He enters into my yard with His grace and clears the weeds away - so that I might marvel anew and grow in Him.

Pray to the Lord.  Ask Him to make you grow in His grace.  Ask Him to clear the weeds away with that same grace.  Ask Him to make the lawn of your soul a beautiful green carpet of perfect grass - one ready to host any hurting other person and show them the same grace He has shown you.

We don't deserve a weed-free soul, but Christ gives us one anyway.  We don't deserve to have Him hear our prayers and come running to help us, but He does it anyway.  That's grace.  God's riches at Christ's expense.  All of it - For You.

Is there anything better than this?

"No better life than the life we living"
"No better you than the you that you are"

These are the platitudes of Alessia Cara's "Scars to your Beautiful" where she insists you have nothing to change about yourself - let the world change for you - because there is nothing better than what you are right now.

I cannot think of a more depressing, demotivating message in all the world.  And it is utter nonsense.

My very problem is that I know I have squandered my potential.  I know I have not lived up to all that life has to offer.  I know that I could have done better.  But I have "halfed it" - I did it - Me - I'm responsible - and I've lied to myself about it.  I don't need Alessia Cara to help me.

Is there anything better than this?

Yes.  There is - and you've been made for it.  This is why you want it.  Why its transcendent beauty attracts you.  You were created for a far better life than this - one of truth - one of peace - and there is One who is working to bring it back to you.

He truly had no better life than the life He was living - up in heaven.  But for you and for your salvation He came down from heaven, entered your life, became human just like you - and faced all your troubles and enemies and failures and wasted opportunities.  He came to collect all the shortcomings and the lies and the guilt and the shame - and put it into death where it belongs...  but it cost Him.  It cost Him His life.

Jesus is the new humanity.  He is your new life of fulfilled potential.  Risen from the dead, He is all that life has to offer.  He is "the better" we all should have done - yet He is not your competitor - He is a gift - your ally - your champion and friend - who did all He did only for you, and not for Himself.  He is the One who has truly lived every human moment for other people, and even in His death gives the whole credit of His life to you - as a gift - for free.  You are forgiven.  Yes, you "halfed it," you are responsible, you lied to yourself - but Jesus forgives you - and gives you His truth - His honesty - His perfect life and promises you are free.

Free.

Free to walk with Him.  Free to pick up the heavy load in your life, and follow Him - knowing it matters - it is not wasteful - but will set the world straight as He guides your feet in truth's path.  I can admit it - I have failed.  But I can trust it - He forgives me, and sets my feet on the path of new life in Him.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

How do you love Jesus?

You hear it all the time.  "We're just trying to gather together with people who love the Lord."

But how do you love the Lord?  What does it mean to "Love the Lord"? 

Our first problem is that we think we know what love is.  Do we really know what it means to love - or does God have to teach us by giving us the Ten Commandments?  "Love is the fulfilling of the Law" (Romans 13:10).  The Ten Commandments are God's teaching on love.  Love for God, and love for the neighbour (Matt. 22:37-38).  It is the first table of the Law (Commandments 1-3) that teaches us how to love God.

But we think we know love.  We aren't looking to the Commandments to teach us - we're looking inside ourselves - to our hearts.  Have you ever got the impression from someone who says they "love the Lord" that what they mean is "He makes me feel good"?  I have strong emotions for the Lord.  I love Him.  Yes, so do I - but what about when He disciplines you as your heavenly Father?  What about when He doesn't give you what you pray for because His Will is different?  What about when He doesn't make you feel good - do you love Him then?  Is love for God more than warm feelings?

God teaches what it means to love Him - and it is not what we would first expect.

1. You shall have no other gods.
2. You shall not misuse the Name of the LORD your God.
3. Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

***According to God, Loving Him is entirely about how we treat His Holy Word, not about how He makes us feel.  Our love for Him is an action, one He describes in the first table.***

First Commandment:  Is God and His Word first?  The first thing we trust?  The first thing we look to when we want to understand and receive goodness? 

Second Commandment: Does God's Word and Name have such a place in our lives, our heart and minds, that its purity is primary?  Are we chiefly concerned with whether His Word is presented truthfully and faithfully?  Are we praying for this?  Studying diligently to be sure its happening in our midst?  Is His doctrine important?

Third Commandment: Is the hearing of God's Word the ordering principle of our life?  The thing upon which our lives are built?  Do we recognize that without His Word our day is unholy, but by His Word all things, even we, are made holy?

This is love for God - Jesus teaches.  It is about trusting, studying and hearing His Word.  It is about growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). 

Beautiful Savior is trying to gather together with people who love the Lord - in study of His most faithful and merciful Word and promises.  Come, learn, grow.  To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.

Are you a Rebel?

*This following post was written by Rev. Ted Giese and used with permission.

Are you a Rebel? There are two kinds of rebels. There are the kind who rebel against the World and its influences on society and culture, and there are the kind of rebels who rebel against God and His Word. Which kind are you?

In the Old Testament we are warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) While the World is currently castigating sexual abuse in Hollywood, the News Media and Government, it is a snake eating its own tail - for it was the World through these very agencies of power that gave licence and encouragement to both young and old to have sex before marriage, to live together before marriage, to live together without marriage, to seek divorce for “irreconcilable” differences, to downplay the effects of pornography and promiscuous behaviour, to fight one by one for the rights of every kind of sexual behaviour imaginable, to soften attitudes on adultery and abortion. For years they have said evil is good - To do what feels right - to be true to your own heart. Yet Jesus says “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:19)

In the last 60 or so years the Church has often failed to push back hard enough against the sexual revolution. We’ve talked a big game but have folded like a cheap suit for fear of losing you. But we have done you no favours. Forgive us. Permissiveness only helps spread the darkness. It hides the light. In the darkness you have experienced pain and suffering; you have sinned against others and others have sinned against you.

What would truly be rebellious today? What would make you a real Rebel these days? If you’re in a relationship and you’re living together, if you’re engaging in pre-marital sex … then ask yourself is this the person for me? Should I be getting married to them or should I be breaking it off? If the answer is yes then get married, have your common-law relationship blessed by God; the fee to purchase a marriage licence is $60. Come to us and we will help you. If you are having an affair break it off and fess up to it, face the music and seek forgiveness in Jesus. If you have had an abortion or you have coerced someone into having one and you feel the guilt of it and need forgiveness, come to us and we will help you with private confession and absolution. Maybe you want to have a big family but the World is pressuring you to be financially afraid of having children, to be afraid of global warming or whatever the fear of the day is, be encouraged; have your children, make a family for yourself and gather together here at Beautiful Savior.

This Christmas be a rebel, buck the trends and temptations of the World; turn to Jesus and to God’s Word. And remember in a dark World it is Jesus who says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) The World without Jesus is darkness. Come, gather around the Light. Come talk to us, we'd like to help.

As if no one is watching but God

Pressure.

It is all around.  Pushing you.  Pulling you.  Calling on you to prove yourself here, there and everywhere. 

Well - enough is enough - especially for the Christian.

Before God you don't need to prove yourself.  Christ has done that for you.  He is enough for you.  God is pleased with you in Him.  At peace with you in Him.  He has your back.  He has made you His own child, and promised that the only evaluations, judgments and opinion that matters is His!  And His mind is made up, because you are in Christ.  You are free to live your life before Him in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, knowing that Christ has ended the pressures.

But the world doesn't work that way.  It will never stop pressuring you.  The world wants to rob you of that peace.  It wants to put more and new pressures on you everyday.  What is the world to you?  How do it's judgments and evaluations and opinions matter?  Isn't the world coming to nothing?  Won't every mouth be stopped on the Last Day?

Yes.  It's true.  The only opinion that matters is God's.  You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.  You are free - to live as if no one is watching but God.  You are free - to live your life before God  - and not before the world.

Who cares what they say?  Who cares what their judgments are?  The only One that matters is God.

Stop and think about that for a moment.  Make it real practical.

How would your day be different if you lived as if God were the only One watching?

How would it change how you treat people?
How would it change how you see yourself in Christ?
How simple, how pure, how peaceful would your live be if you lived as if God were the only One watching?

On account of your trust in Christ, you seek His holy Will - as it is laid out in the Ten Commandments.  Christ has filled them up for you - and given you new desires to seek after them.  Walking with you as your strength each day.

So do it - picture yourself watched by One - by God.  And keep Him there before your eyes - as you live before Him alone - and see how He changes your day, your relationships, your walk with Him.

Use your words

If you've ever spent time with young children, you've probably had this phrase come out of your mouth: "Use your words."

It is a reminder young children need that you will not be able to most fully understand them if they choose to use grunts and whines and other sounds effects to communicate - but more than that, you are working to teach them to rise above their natural, selfish human desires and wants, and engage in conversation with other people.  Words are what allow us to do this.  Words are the best.

With young children, words are the antidote to unbridled feelings and wants.  The plain use of words brings control to the wild "Ugh. Ah. Wah and Uh" that naturally comes out of the human being.  This is taught.  We teach our children this - despite their best efforts.  They definitely do not "want" to be constrained to using words - they would much rather just cry and scream and flail and force our attention to give them what they want - even run all over "thinking we know" what they want - as they wriggle and demand from their throne.  They must be taught - at great loss of energy to parents - to control themselves and use their words.

Now imagine God's Word.  How much more will the heart of man need to constantly hear what God has to say?  We grow up and begin to think we've got it all figured out.  Meanwhile, God and His holiness are not something we could ever "figure out" - we need the Word - God's Word.  And we need it all the time.  We were designed this way, to be on the receiving end of that Word which gave us life.  It sustains us.  It teaches us.  It constrains our sinful human nature, and allows us to "engage in conversation with other people", that is, look to the needs of our neighbour instead of ourselves. 

And God is gracious in giving us His Word.  He sent His Word down into our flesh - made Him one of us - in order to take that sinful human nature and defeat its rebellion by His death on the cross.  Then by His resurrection, the Word of God in our humanity - now our new humanity - rose up and told His disciples to spread the Word.  God's Word is a gift - from His death and resurrection, to His preaching of it today - God uses His Word. 

So see yourself this way - a dear (and sometimes rebellious) child of your heavenly Father - one who must be taught - at great loss of energy to God, yes, even death on a cross - but by that action of His, you are being transformed for the age to come in the renewing of your mind in Christ Jesus.  May God's Word shape your mind this way now and always.

Trust is the opposite of Judgment

Mankind is a slave to "judging."

It is our thing.  We are such a slave to it, that we don't even realize it controls us.  We are not trying to free ourselves from it - we dance and scream and parade about how we have a "right" to it.

"I get to decide" - I want to determine and decide what something is, how it should go, why it exists - and I'll do it with my senses.  My reason.  My sight.  My feelings.  I will decide.

This was Adam's sin - the first one - original sin - thinking "I get to decide."  Good and evil?  Let me tell you.  I will be the judge of what is good and evil.  And since that day, we have been slaves to "judging" - thinking it is ours to do.  But deciding has never been ours - and it never will be.  Every problem we have in the world is born out of our twisted need to be the judge.  Every conflict you have ever had with another human being has come about because one or both of you have set themselves in the "decision chair."  God alone decides.  Adam knew it - and his departure from it has been our undoing.

This problem has eternal consequences, however, because we try to treat God this way.  We try to judge Him - with our human senses.  The foolishness of this should be apparent to us immediately - but in our "need to be the judge" we miss it.

How can you use your created senses - your reason, your sight, your feelings - to judge the Creator of those senses?
How can you order the One who ordered everything?
How can you hold God accountable when He holds all things in their place?
How have we managed (in our own minds) to put ourselves in a position where we are above God?

Things are not ordered this way.  You can't judge God - all you can do is trust Him.  And this is precisely what Adam lost when He reached for "judging."  He lost trust.

True trust in God is what mankind lost.  It is the thing Christ has come to bring back.  Because we need it to live.  There is no life in "judging."  Only punishment and death.  There is no life unless you are receiving it from the One who gives it and sustains it.  And you only receive something when you trust.  Trusting is receiving.

Let me say what you desperately need to hear:

Open your ears and heart, and hear what He promises.
He is not going away.
He doesn't want to run.
He is standing right in front of you - as near as He can be - and He is offering His whole fullness to you - and calling you to trust Him.

Think of what He says: "I've come for you.  I'm here for you.  I'll never leave you.  All those things you are afraid of - I have faced them.  I faced them for you - and I promise you, that in Me - I will get you through.  Stop judging and trust Me. 

When this Word of mercy and grace penetrates the heart and mind - it does so for freedom - and this freedom is not simply for you: it is freedom for those around you.

Judgment is done.  "It is finished," He declared from the cross.  And that means we are free from the slavery of "judging."  This freedom now comes out of our mouths for the sake of those around us.  No longer do we judge them - we free them, as we have been freed.

The Christian is set free so that they can speak freedom to all those they meet - leaving all the decisions and judgments to God (from whom they never departed).  But this freedom - the freedom God intended for us from the beginning - is restored by faith.  It is back baby! ...when we trust the Lord and take our hands off the fruit old Adam snatched.  When we relinquish "the need to judge" the peace, comfort, and joy of God find their place in our lives - and from our lives into the lives of those around us.

May God give you this faith - and through it release your hands from Adam's fruit, removing you from the judgment seat, and filling your mouths with promises of freedom to all those He surrounds you with.

I'm unhappy because I'm undisciplined

You've heard it before: "I just want you to be happy."

It's the way we say "yes" to something we might not do ourselves.  We say "I just want you to be happy," even though everything we've learned tells us that this person we want to be happy is going to be very unhappy later when their poor decision meets up with all its consequences.  It's like we know they will be unhappy, but hope we are wrong.  We're not, and we probably shouldn't say it if we really want people to be happy.

Happy now - unhappy later.  High - Low.  It is drug culture.  Getting "high" on whatever latest "pill" promises us we will feel happy in the moment.  Buy something.  Sleep with someone.  Treat that unhappiness with a quick dose of Canadian consumer culture and sex.  Only to crash in a huge downer of unhappiness later when the high wears off.

The old anti-drug slogan still rings true.  "Friends don't let friends do drugs."  Whether those drugs are illegal drugs - or cultural substitutes meant to make you "happy" for a while - only to disappoint you later.  We could all do a better job at warning one another of that huge crash coming around the corner.  We are not unhappy because we don't have any good things.  We are unhappy because we are undisciplined with our good things.  And we try to change that unhappiness by chasing new things, and ignoring the old undisciplined things.

Fitness.
Health.
Success.

Discipline anyone? 

Guilt.
Shame.
Fear.

Run.  Deny.  Ignore.

Aren't these the reasons for unhappiness?  And yet, when you take an honest look, none of our attempts at happiness involve saying "No" to ourselves.  They are all bandaids - something to throw on overtop the pain.

"I want" so I'm unhappy.  I struggle to say "No" to myself.  I wrestle with the reality that my desires are not good for me - in fact, the Bible calls them sinful. 

What do we do with this mess?

Repent.  Turn away from these chasings, and turn to the Lord.  He put Himself into our unhappiness and died.  He made Himself the man of sorrows.  He joined us in our cause in order to make a new humanity by His death and resurrection. 

Guilt? Shame?  Fear?  He took it all.  He carried it.  Bore it up onto the cross and defeated it in His own body there for you. 

You are forgiven, so that you can pursue self-control.
He gives you His honour, so that you can pursue prudent choices.
You are loved by Him, so that you can weather the ups and downs of life without having to turn to "drugs", but instead turn to Him again and again and again - and whenever you have need.
The LORD is my shepherd;  I shall not want.

I don't "just" want you to be happy.  You may not be happy much here on earth.  I want you to know Christ - who is with you - and will never leave you - until that Day when you see His eternal Paradise and learn what happiness really is.

Come on Mom, can't I play more video games?

As a young boy and teenager, it used to bug me when my mom would shut down the screen time.  "Turn it off," she would say.  Always the negotiator I would always ask, "Why can't I play a little longer?"

"You've been playing for hours already.  No more.  It's a waste of time."  Momma knows.

It is incredible how easily parents and society are able to recognize that overplaying video games is a waste of time.  Go out and make something of yourself.  Stop investing your time and energy in something that is temporary - that will be turned off and lost - that is merely a distraction/abstraction from reality.

Our heavenly Father says the same thing - except the "video games" are all those worldly things we invest in that mean nothing for our eternal reality.  On the Day we come into His heavenly mansion, every manner of worldly living - of passing glitz and glory - will be turned off and lost.  God hits the power button on this world, just as surely as my mom hit the power button on the TV screen.  Why are we distracted by these things?  Why are we so slow to recognize they are a waste of time?

We are like spiritual teenagers - eyes glued to the things of this world - even though we know its dying and in the end - only God's Word will remain.  Why can't we devote time to studying the only thing that will endure?  Why do we struggle to give time to our congregation and its duties here on earth, when these will be the things that won't be "turned off" on the Last Day?  It's time to turn away from these things - and turn back to God.  He calls us - as surely as my mom called me - He calls us by name, and bids us come and look into eternal things, heavenly things, His things.

The Father sent His Son to do His holy will.  To take care of our eternal welfare.  In His death and resurrection, we are safe - AND we are given a chance to "get off the couch" of worldliness and invest our time and energy in what will endure.  You are forgiven.  God has got your eyes off the "screen" of distracted discipling - NOW - go out and make disciples - study God's Word - be ready with an answer when you get asked - support and serve those in your congregation in their efforts to do the same - and know the Lord Himself will drive you and strengthen you and have your back along the way.

How clean should I be? A story about a fridge

It's spring.  You may have taken to cleaning out some of the spots you've been willing to overlook for the winter months - like the fridge.

You know how it works.  You don't clean your fridge everyday.  You let it build up until it reaches that "unoverlookable" point.  You are content to have a little grime here or there, because the amount of effort it requires to disassemble everything (especially those parts where the _____ spilled) is way too high for the benefit.

In many ways, we treat our souls the same way.  We let things build up.  We are content to have a little grime, as long as it isn't spilling out for other people to see (because then we would have to deal with it).  No, there is far too much effort needed to keep our souls clean - in fact, it is impossible.

I like the picture of "factory clean" - you know, the way the fridge looks when it arrives from the factory.  Before you've used it.  It is amazing how the moment we use something it will never be truly clean again.  No matter how hard you try, you can never get the fridge factory clean.  There is bound to some amount of spot, smear or grim that you have to overlook. 

The same is true of our souls.  We can't get them "factory clean."  There is no more "brandnewness" left.  And we know this is a problem.  We might overlook the crud, but we all know God doesn't.

God is not about appearances.  "Factory clean" is the only acceptable clean in His holy heaven.  Only perfectly clean fridges will find a place there.  So what are we to do?  Nothing.  There is nothing we can do.

But He can.  And He has.  Jesus is factory clean.  He is the brand new humanity.  Spotless, smearless, grimeless.  All He has ever done is love and forgive and "mercify" every around Him, and trust and obey His Father above.  He is God's renewal - God's way of making you factory clean.  Jesus was sent down here - in order to gift us with His newness - in order to pave a factory clean way back to holy heaven, for an otherwise dirty group of people.  He is the Only Way, and He gives your soul "brandnewness" in Him - for free.

May you rest from your vigorous cleaning in the One who is your newness - even Christ, God's own cleanness made your own.

Appearing before Heaven's Court

When people normally think of Judgment Day, we presume we are going to be standing before a court we can bargain with... that we will have something to offer.

But here's the problem: This is not a court we know.  Do you know who will gather for this proceeding?  All creation.  That means all the angels of creation will be in attendance.  Do you know how many that is?  It means you will stand before the One who sees all, the righteous One, a holy Judge who cannot err.

Everything will be revealed.   A terrifying thought.  Everything.  That means the things you did in private.  That means the thoughts you had in your head.  Yes, even your feelings.  Laid bare.  Evaluated before a righteous court of God and His holy, sinless angels.  Before everyone.

This would be terrifying enough, but the chief thing we ignore is this:  Sin is so evil in this court, that not all the good thoughts, words and deeds of all of fallen humanity could atone for even one sin of one person.  Not one.  They are not sufficient payment, because these so called good works would still be done by sinful humans.  They would still remain impure, because of what mankind lost in Adam's fall.  They would all, as a whole, fail to remove even one impure thought or word or deed.  Not even one.

Do we see our situation?  Do we comprehend now what Judgment Day entails?  What can we do?  What could we possibly do to change this?  Nothing.

But God can.  God has.  He sent His Son - to take up our cause - take up our flesh and our sin - and take it all to the cross.  Jesus was judged for all.  His Father poured out His righteous punishment on Him, and you can see - it was awful, real,true.  Jesus chose to suffer this for you, be shamed for you, step in for you to clear your record forever.  Christ atoned for the sin of the world with His innocence.  He gave His godliness and righteousness up as payment.  He died, rose and ascended to the heavenly courtroom where His own living blood forever cries for your forgiveness.  You are forgiven.  Cleared.   Free - from the fear and the guilt and the shame.  You are His- this One who gave Himself for you.

What will you say?  How will you respond to such devotion shown to you, such love beyond compare? 

Trust Him.  Lay hold of Him.  Wrap your arms around His blood promise and never let go.  Seek Him and His way ignoring all else.  Grow in Him.  Go deeper with Him by learning as much as you can about what He says and what it means for your life with Him.  You will be with Him forever.  Might as well get as close as you can as quick as you can.  Get to Bible class, read or hear His Word everyday - whether in your Bible or sermons on our website or whatever other promise filled place He has provided you. Study His Word with others and build them up in Him as they build you up in Him.

Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life.  And He is yours.

How Jesus overcomes Orlando

“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said.

Christ rules by His Word.  Teaching.  Not by bodily force, nor the State. 

Christ commanded His apostles to teach, to proclaim forgiveness.  He did not give them the power of the sword, the right to establish, occupy or bestow kingdoms of the world.

“The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,” Paul wrote.  No, of course not – they are - and always will be - the declaration of Christ’s saving work on the cross for the sake of all people.

The recent shootings in Orlando revive in our minds the dangerous and evil structure of false religions: the mixing of Religion and State.  Whenever Religion takes up the power of the sword, or attempts to establish control with anything other than humble teaching, it lies squarely in the realm of the Evil One.  Oh, it is a great temptation to reach for that power – no doubt – but Christ resisted even this.

Think about it.  Christ comes gently, humbly – by entreating people to see what He has already accomplished for us in His battle on the cross.  And His battle was not one of force the way we think of force – but true, undeniable victory – “dying” our violence, taking it in, absorbing it fully into Himself, that His Word of forgiveness might control all things.  This is love.  He has overcome all evil power structures in His death.  He has remade humanity in Himself.  Christ is the new humanity, and everyone who hears this and believes it shall enjoy His new kingdom forever. 

The devil wants to scare you so you put your trust in some kingdom of the world.  But these kingdoms will all let you down.  They will never save you.  Only Jesus will, who comes to you humbly, gently, mercifully by His Word alone.  Thanks be to God that His care for us is by Word and not force.

Sick of that Same Old Love?

The lyrics of pop music are usually fluff – but sometimes they are quite instructive.

Selena Gomez’s latest “hit” is called “Same Old Love” where she sings on and on about how she “is so sick of that same old love.”  Which should lead one to ask – what kind of “love” is she sick of?  What kind of “love” is she talking about?

“The kind that tears me up” she sings.  “The kind that breaks your heart.”  Ohhhhhhhh, you’re talking about the “love” Disney panders.  The stare-into-each-others-eyes-time-melts-away kind of “love.”  The chemicals rushing through the bloodstream “love.”  The high-like-a-drug “love.”

Pop music and Hollywood have been selling this kind of feel-good love as the “true” thing for decades, and according to Selena, it has finally caught up with us.  Because there is a huge deception in this “love” they are talking/singing about.  This “love” they boast of and teach everyone to search for – above all else – at the expense of anything that comes in its way – is not actually for anyone but you.  Just you.  You and only you, all by yourself, all alone.

Think about it.  They are not talking about what you do for someone else.  They are talking about the way you feel inside when you are with someone.  They are talking about how someone makes you feel.  If they make you feel good, then you are “full of love” for them.  But the moment they stop taking you to that “high”, the moment the feelings you are feeling inside are not as strong as they were before – do you still love them?  How do you get those feelings back? 

In an amazing twist that has sent us all on a search for certain feelings inside ourselves, we have abandoned real love that looks out at the other person.  We are stuck looking in.  Trying to know others by feeling them inside us.  Because we think this is love.  But it is lust.  Desire.  Not love.  In fact, love is entirely different.

God showed His love to us this way: He sent His only Son into our sin and death, that believing He did it for us, we might not perish. (John 3:16)  It didn’t feel good.  Jesus was not happy on the cross.  He gave up every good thing He had – for you.

That is love.  Unconditional, acting, committed love.  Not inside someone.  But out in plain sight – for all to see – lifted up that He might draw all people to Himself.  Not for Himself – but always and only for you. 

This is the kind of love that really tears me up.  This is the kind that breaks my heart of stone.  That our sinless God became our sin.  That He was crowned with our curse.  That He died our death – in order to save us forever.  That is love.  And there is no way one could ever be sick of it.

So if you are out there “looking for love,” don’t listen to the preaching of Disney and use your feelings.  Christ has shown you true love.  It acts.  Find someone whose eyes are looking at the exact same point on the horizon of life as you are – find someone who believes in your Savior God – and who wants to act, as you do, in His service all your days here and for all eternity.  I promise – all the chemicals and feelings – they will sort themselves out on their own.

What is this Ashley Madison thing all about?

Romans 1:24-25 "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!  Amen."

You may have heard in the news recently that a certain online adultery website had its database hacked and exposed.  The name: Ashley Madison - a site for married people to intentionally find other people to have affairs with.  Swaths of people were exposed in their adultery when hackers broke into the information database and leaked it all to the public.  Government officials, corporate leaders, all sorts of prominent figures have had their pants pulled down and a big spotlight shined on what they have been unfaithfully doing to their spouses.  Fetishes, sexual preferences that are not worth repeating, and a host of other shameful information was laid bare before the world.

Now, there could be any number of things you could say about such a ridiculous situation.  But perhaps the most important is what Paul says in the opening chapter of his letter to the church in Rome.

False sex is false worship.  It is idolatry.  It is what someone does when they think wrongly about the Creator - the true God.  It doesn't matter if someone is a Christian or not - unauthorized sexuality, or sensuality or attention given to sexual things even in one's mind - reflects an error in how they understand God.  God is pure and He desires for us to be pure, and when we convince ourselves otherwise we are deceiving ourselves - exchanging the truth about God for a lie.  We have fashioned for ourselves a god we can worship that lets us be fleshly, and lustful and dishonourable to our bodies.  And we are in grave danger.

Now, let me be clear.  ALL of us are included here.  We are all equally guilty of this perversion and falsehood.  It is the natural inclination of the heart of man.  False worship.  False sex.  To make matters worse, sex seems to be the devil's weapon of choice right now.  It is the main headline in the news every night!  Not war, or disease, or economy - but SEX!  Sex with this or that or whatever it is that makes you feel good (for a time).  The world is screaming: Sex is happiness!  Sex is success!  Sex is your identity!

And the world is not even trying to hide that sex is worship.  In Bruno Mars' latest song "Locked out of Heaven" he intentionally uses religious words to describe sex.  And in Hozier's hit "Take me to church" again we have the message - sex is church, sex is worship, sex is god and goodness and blessing.  These songs show what Paul says later in that first chapter, that we "not only do these things, but brag and approve of those who do them."

In other words, do not be surprised.  This is why judgment has been proclaimed against mankind. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And yet, this is also why God sent His Son.  Not to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  The groom has come to save His bride (humanity), and what do we do??  We cheat on Him.  We whore ourselves out to false gods, and false worship and falsehood.  All our sins are unfaithfulness - but still we have a groom who comes to make us pure.  We have One faithful to us despite our unfaithfulness to Him.  We have a God who comes to take our judgment.  We have One who is One flesh with us - to take our pain and our punishment and our death.  Even Jesus.  Christ is the One who carried our impurity to the cross - the groom dying for His bride.  The groom cleansing His bride.  The groom sacrificing Himself for His bride that she might live and be divorced from her adultery and sin. 

Thanks be to God that our purity is found only in Christ - as a gift.  Thanks be to God that we are not locked out of heaven.  Thanks be to God that when we get taken to church Christ proclaims His forgiveness to us - not His judgment or anger or wrath.  We have all sinned and fallen short, but Christ has come down in purity to take us home, to wash us clean in His blood and make us His own.  Sex will not save you, Christ will - and He calls you to purity as you wait.  And so the Christian strives and struggles against the world and the sinful nature inside - the Christian says no to unauthorized sex - the Christian looks in faith to Christ - the true God - the Creator blessed and finds rest in Him alone.  May the Lord shape your mind this way, and strengthen you with His Spirit to this end.