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Matthew 22:34-46 - Lectionary for Pentecost 21A

10/26/2017

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10/26/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

All you need is love, right? Matthew 22:34-46 refines this idea quite a bit. What is the greatest commandment of God? We are to love the Lord, God, the one revealed in the Bible, with all we are and all we have.

Many in our world want to fixate on the idea of love. But they have a warped idea of what love looks like. Maybe it’s self-love. Maybe it’s love of some sort of idea. Maybe it’s love of their family, their planet, their educational institutions, their political parties, their favorite bands, their pets. But the love God calls us to in Scripture is love of Him. And he is no figment of our imagination God. There’s no room for that “God as you view it” sort of faith. This is one, very particular God. He allows for no substitutes.

What kind of love are we to have for God? It is unconditional, perfectly trusting, 24/7/365 love. That’s what God commands. How in the world are we supposed to do that? By trying really hard? That still won’t work. There have already been times in any life when we have not loved the Lord with all our being. We are all guilty.

That’s where the second great command comes in. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. On the surface, that simply convicts us more. We haven’t loved our neighbor as ourselves. Most of the time, even the most generous and kind of us will hold back privilege for ourselves. It’s perfectly normal.

What hope is there? There’s great hope in this passage. Jesus has perfectly kept these two commands, and He has done it on our behalf. He has loved God the Father perfectly. And he has loved us, his neighbors, as himself. This means that whenever we have failed he has given us his perfect obedience. Whenever we have fallen short, he has taken our shortcomings upon himself and replaced them with his love. In all things, Jesus has loved us, his neighbors, as himself. We are presented to the Father clothed in Jesus’ perfect righteous obedience. This is the great good news of the Gospel. God has given us an unconditional, perfectly trusting, 24/7/365 love for him, through faith in Jesus the Son.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-13 - Lectionary for Pentecost 21A

10/25/2017

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10/25/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

The work of a pastor or evangelist is exhausting. It really is. You are constantly on call, you are telling people things they don’t want to hear but which are more important to them than they can imagine. You may take a day off now and then, but it’s unclear what it means to have a day off. After all, you are always thinking about the needs, the troubles, the dangers of your people. You are constantly confronted by your own inadequacy and sinfulness.

Am I complaining? Not at all. I’m actually paraphrasing the message of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13, our epistle reading for this week. It’s a hard life. I freely admit it, and my family would agree even faster than I would. But there’s a great reward involved. At the end of the passage Paul speaks of the thanksgiving he has. The cause? The Thessalonians received the Word of God as a message from God, not as Paul’s opinion. And the Word of God is good news to all who believe.

Through God’s Word we are given the faith to believe that Jesus can release us from bondage to sin. It’s through God’s Word that we receive eternal life. It’s God’s Word which tells us about the hope of resurrection. It’s God’s Word which tells us our best efforts, which always fall short, are simply what God uses to love and serve our neighbors. This is a divine message indeed.

October is often marked as “pastor appreciation month.” Would you like to show your pastor some appreciation? Hear and receive the message of the Gospel gladly. Tell your pastor that you want to learn more of God’s Word. Visit with your pastor and ask for guidance in spiritual things. Show your pastor that you do really believe he is God’s messenger for your good. Put him to work with the very rewarding part of his job, hearing that the Gospel is workin in your life.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 - Lectionary for Pentecost 21A

10/24/2017

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10/24/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our reading this week from Leviticus 19 is absolutely great! I wonder how many people preach sermons about the demands of this chapter? Be holy as God is holy. Do so by treating others fairly, speaking well of others, guarding their lives, forgiving them, being straightforward with others about their sin so they will repent, and loving them. These are excellent descriptions of ways in which God is holy.

In this vein, I want to remind all three of my readers of the confession of sins which typically occurs at the start of a Lutheran church service. Before the holy and righteous God, we confess that we are sinners, that we have sinned before God in what we think, say, and do. We get specific by saying that we haven’t loved God with all our hearts and we haven’t loved our neighbors as ourselves. We admit that our failures condemn us and that we deserve eternal condemnation from God.

If we’re truthful with ourselves and with others, that’s the conclusion we must reach based on this reading. We’re all set to tell others they need to shape up and live right, acting these ways toward us. And we are perfectly ready to lie about ourselves, claiming that we do really well. Maybe not so well sometimes, but we’re only human, right?

It doesn’t make a difference to God. And God the Son, Jesus, was more human than you or I will be prior to the resurrection. It isn’t that we are only human. It’s that we are sinful.

Does the confession of sin leave us to perish? Not at all. At the end the pastor reminds us that as we have confessed, God is true to his word and forgives us all of our sin. We then freely return thanks to God, hear His Word, and receive the Sacrament, which is another act of forgiveness.

Be holy, as God is holy. And since we can’t do that, we look to the forgiving Lord, who has reconciled us to himself through his death on our behalf.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 1:1-6 - Lectionary for Pentecost 21A

10/23/2017

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10/23/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Psalm 1, our Psalm for this week, draws a sharp distinction between the righteous and the wicked. I had an interesting conversation about the central concept of this passage of Scripture recently. I found myself discussing the Gospel with someone of a shaply different background from mine. It was someone with whom I would not likely have much agreement in most social or political matters. This person had been rejected, sometimes fairly harshly, by some Christians who focused on their disagreements rather than on the truth of the Gospel.

Psalm 1, in its very sharp distinction, doesn’t use human terms to condemn the wicked. Rather, it points out that the wicked will eventually fall. They will not be able to survive the outcome of their decisions. It encourages righteousness as the way of peace, fruitfulness, and safety.

Here’s the striking difference between genuine Christian teaching and what has often masqueraded as a message of Christianity. At its heart, the Gospel of Christ for sinners is good news, especially for all who recognize themselves as sinners. It is only bad news for the self-righteous. The message of forgiveness, grace, and restoration is for all who believe. And that belief implies repentance. As we recognize our sin and failure, we look to Jesus as our redeemer. We look to God the Son as the one who has triumphed over sin, even our sin, and who has worked reconciliation to God.

This message of redemption is only offensive to those who are unrepentant in their sin. It never says, “You are too fallen, you stand condemned because your repentance doesn’t look like mine.” It always says, “You are fallen, like me. You can escape condemnation only through trusting Jesus.”

We pray that all people everywhere would be the righteous, the tree which is rooted by the water, stands firm, and bears wonderful fruit.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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    About Throwing Inkwells

    When Martin Luther was dealing with struggles in his life he once saw what appeared to be an angelic being. Not trusting that he was going to be informed by someone other than the God revealed in Scripture, he took the appearance to be untrustworthy and hurled his inkwell at it. The chipped place in the plaster wall is still visible at the Wartburg Castle, though apparently the ink stain on the wall has been refreshed periodically by the caretaker.

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