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Matthew 25:14-30 - Lectionary for Pentecost 24A

11/16/2017

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11/16/17
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 Gospel for this week is one of the more challenging passages in the Gospels. It seems to tie a reward to our activity. The servants who are entrusted with large sums of money make investments. Apparently they are good investments. They double their master’s money before he returns. We might assume from this, also, that he was really away for quite a long time.

What of the servant who simply hid his master’s money? Certainly the master received his money back, but with no gain. He condemns that servant as evil and lazy. He takes the money from him and banishes him.

First, we need to observe that this is not speaking of how one becomes a servant of the master. It doesn’t talk about earning our salvation in any way. Second, it doesn’t tell what would have happened if one of the servants had invested the money and, rather than doubling it, had only been able to return some 80% due to bad investments. We don’t know from this passage what the master’s opinion would be about that.

What do we know? We know that the evil and lazy servant knew his master’s habits. He knew that the master was always ready to make a profit. He knew that the master invested aggressively and did all he could to make gains. The servant, on the other hand, worked in the opposite way. He didn’t even choose a very safe investment. He simply hid the money away where it would probably be safe.

While I really hestiate to make too much application, I think some is appropriate. We know that God’s nature is to invest in this world. He already owns it all, but he pours out his life in many ways. He puts his resources to work for the good of his people. He even puts his resources to work for the good of those who are not his people. We have no idea how to measure the outcomes. They seem to defy logic. But they are pleasing to God. He gathers people into his kingdom. He gives them value. He makes them holy because he is holy. As we know God’s nature, whatever gifts He has given us, we can use them as He would use them. We won’t do it entirely well. But we don’t simply receive God’s gifts and let them sit, collecting dust. We invest in His kingdom.

That investment in Christ’s kingdom will look different from person to person and from time to time. It’s not very useful to try describing it. It is certainly not a good idea to prescribe specific actions for people. We know it’s related to doing good, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 2), evangelizing and making disciples (Matthew 28), and, in short, loving and serving our neighbors. But the individual details are going to be different for different people. We know our master. Let’s find out how to invest what He has given us.

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 5:1-11 - Lectionary for Pentecost 24A

11/15/2017

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11/15/17
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 Epistle for this week is from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. Here we find the controversial statement that “the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night” (v. 2b, CSV). Why is this controversial? Some theologians have affirmed this indicates that Christ’s return for his people will go unnoticed by most of the world. Some will be taken, some will be left behind. This even resulted in a series of fictional novels which have scared many Christians. Maybe they don’t believe well enough. Maybe their works are not good enough to be taken by Jesus.

First, we want to remember the close of the previous chapter. There will be an archangel shouting. God’s trumpet will blow. The dead in Christ will rise, bodily, from their graves. This is going to be noticed by all creation. Christ’s coming will be a secret to nobody.

How, then, is this like a thief in the night? I would compare it to the thief in the night who comes to the house, blasts through the front door lock with a shotgun, sets off the alarm system, turns on the lights, screams, and starts hauling things out as fast as possible. The homeowner just might notice it. The thief’s coming was unexpected. But the action is certainly conspicuous.

How are we to be vigilant? We hear God’s word. We know that Jesus is going to come. We pay enough attention to our lives that we will be aware of the wake-up call. We hold to Jesus’ word. When this is the case, we can have confidence. We will not be neglected. Jesus’ coming is for us. He plans to raise the dead. He will certainly be able to rouse us out of our night’s rest which is committed to his hands.

The end of the world is a message of encouragement to Christians. At the end of time, Jesus will put all things to rights. There won’t be any more people trying to break into our lives and harm us. He will restore everything by his own presence. It’s in God’s hands, after all.

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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Zephaniah 1:7-16 - Lectionary for Pentecost 24A

11/14/2017

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11/14/17
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.

Zephaniah was active about the time of the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. This destruction could easily have been seen as a sign from God that his day of vengeance had come. What specific problem is Zephaniah speaking to in our reading, from 1:7-16? It’s summed up in verse 12. The people have become comfortable in an attitude that God would never actually do anything, either good or evil. For that reason we see that the people have been disruptive. Verse 7 suggests that the people have been using times of worship and sacrifice to carry on their own conversations. Verse 9 suggests that they have turned the courts of the temple into a play place. The idea of reverence toward God has vanished.

The people will, of course, know that something is wrong when the city is falling. They will realize it when all their industry shuts down, when the invaders take their goods and money, when they themselves are delivered over to captivity and the sword. But at that time it will be too late. It will be a day of darkness, gloom, and destruction.

I think the concept applies quite well to our day and age, as well as to many other times and places in world history. Many have become too comfortable with God. They see him maybe as irrelevant, possibly as powerless, certainly as antiquated and poorly understood. Rather than seeking out definitive knowledge, many have simply chosen to dismiss God entirely. He never seems to be doing anything, he won’t do anything in the future, either good or ill.

This is certainly a dangerous attitude. What if there is really one God who created and sustains everything, and who has revealed his will in very clear terms? He reserves the right to bring this calamity to a civilizatio. He’s done it before. He could certainly do it again.

What’s a wise response, then? We look to the Lord in reverence, in respect, and we acknowledge his holiness and power. We pursue the conversation he is having. We try to find out what his priorities are. And we will find that his priority is to restore people to himself, by grace, through faith. May he turn our hearts and attitudes.

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 90:1-12 - Lectionary for Pentecost 24A

11/13/2017

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11/13/17
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.

This week’s reading from Psalm 90:1-12 points to the eternal perspective of God. It’s easy for us to think of long-lasting things as permanent. And some of them last a very long time. I have a friend with a musical instrument which is about 300 years old. I have a rocking chair that is 200 years old. I took a tour of a building last year which had parts that were more than 1000 years old. It seems a very long time.

God is eternal. He has no beginning and he will have no end. The thousand year old building, in comparison, is only momentary. Our mortal lives of about 70-80 years, and most of our actions in time and space, will quickly fade/

Where do we place our hope? Is it on that which comes and goes? Is it on the one who lasts forever? Certainly we should hope in the one who is from eternity to eternity, who created and sustains all, who has a true understanding of the perspectives of this life. This is the one God, eternally existent in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He has eternity in his hands. Certainly the affairs of our momentary life are also taken care of.

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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