²² “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

–Acts 2.22-24, 32-33 (NIV)

¹ But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

–Isaiah 43.1-3 (NIV)

If you have lived long enough, you surely have gone through dark valleys. Even those who are committed Christians know what it is like to feel keenly God’s absence, what St. John of the Cross referred to as “the dark night of the soul.” Moreover, we look around us and see all kinds of evil and injustices being committed. All this makes us wonder where God is in it all and what he’s doing about it. Why does God permit evil to continue and allow us to suffer?

I cannot answer these questions because God has not chosen to let the human race in on this joke. The Bible has precious little to say about why evil exists. It does not tell us, for example, why the serpent was allowed to be in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve in the first place. What the Bible does tell us, however, in its overall narrative is what God has done and is doing about the problem of human sin and the evil that exists. In today’s passages we are reminded that God is always with us, even when we cannot sense it, and that he has the power to turn evil into good.

In the lesson from Acts, Peter reminds the crowd that God has turned unspeakable evil (the crucifixion of Jesus) into unspeakable good–Jesus’ Resurrection and the promise of New Creation it foretells as well as the promised outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on his people. Not only has he done that, Peter reminds us that Jesus’ crucifixion was in God’s eternal plan for the redemption of his world from the very beginning. In Jesus, God took upon himself the punishment for our rebelliousness and pattern of sin, a punishment that only we deserve, so that our exile from God could be ended forever. In short, God did the impossible for us. He did this because not only is God a holy and just God, he is also a loving God who created us to have life and relationship with him.

If God can turn the most wicked plans of humans into good for our sake, what can God not do for us?

And as God reminds his people Israel through his prophet, Isaiah, they are never alone, even in exile, even when the unthinkable has happened to them. Why? Because God is a faithful God who will not let even our persistent and willful rebellion cause our relationship with him to be ruptured forever. Let me be clear here. I am not arguing a universalist position. Scripture makes it very clear that not everyone will be saved from God’s wrath. But those who will not be saved cannot blame God because they will have chosen to walk away from a real and life-giving relationship with God. God is the Source and Author of all life and those who choose to walk away from that Source can only expect death. This is not God’s intention for us but God also loves us enough to allow us to choose whether we want to have a relationship with him, a relationship between creature and Creator, not of equals. Sadly not everyone will choose life and that is heartbreaking. But this is the nature of the freedom God gives us.

The point, however, remains the same. God loves us and promises to take care of us, even in the worst of situations. Listen to God’s gracious words spoken through the prophet that he calls us by name. This means that God remembers us, remembers our weaknesses and fears as well as our hopes and dreams. God reminds us that he created us and longs for us, and the context implies that God wants us to feel likewise about him. Does this not go right to the heart of our deepest needs as humans? Ignore it as we do, we cannot help but remember that we are mortal and our days our finite. There is something deep seated in each of us, again whether we admit it or not, that longs for something more than just the living of our days, that yearns for One greater than us to know us, to remember us, and to care about and for us. We find all those longings met in today’s passage from Isaiah.

From my own personal experience I can vouch for all this. When I have failed to believe that God is firmly in charge during the dark valleys of my life, I have been prone to fall into despair and hopelessness because I am confronted by my own inability to fix even the simplest of problems in my life, let alone the massive ones that can beset me. But when by God’s grace, I am convinced that God is with me during the dark times of my life and will turn the evil that besets me into good, it has made all the difference in the world. Sure, even when I am convinced that God is with me I still felt afraid at times. But when I have taken seriously God’s promise to never forsake or abandon me and believe that God is powerful enough to help me overcome the evil in my life and turn it into good, I have found real relief and comfort and have been empowered to overcome my fears. And I am not alone in this. I join with countless other Christians who have found the same grace.

If you are one who is currently walking through a dark valley, think deeply on these things because here is a remedy for the despair you may be feeling. The God of this vast universe loves you, created you, knows you better than yourself, and calls you by name. He promises to be with you (not take you out of) the darkest of valleys and help you overcome them because he never forgets you. How could he? You are his creation and precious in his sight. You’ve got to do your part but if you do, you can count on not having to do it on your own. You can count on the very Power and Presence of God to be with you and to turn the darkness into light.

How do you know this? Because God has become human and suffered and died for you so that you might live. He has poured out his Spirit on you and if you are willing to invite him in to live with you, you will find strength and hope and perseverance to meet any and every situation. If you have not already accepted God’s gracious offer to you to have life in him through Christ, what are you waiting for?

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ¹¹ [W]e hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

–Acts 2.1-8, 11-13 (NIV)

If you have ever wondered why the early church was a game changer for its world, look no further than this passage because here we are told about the secret of Jesus’ first followers. They became game changers for their world because they had God’s Spirit living in them and this helped them become people they could not become on their own. Likewise for us who live twenty-one centuries later.

I have often wondered why I have not been more bold in my discipleship and by God’s grace have come to realize that one of the major reasons is that I have ignored this fact. There are many times when I do not acknowledge the Spirit’s Presence and Power in me and have deluded myself into thinking that I have to act on my own. Not so, says Luke in today’s lesson! This is a remarkable story in its own right. It is even more remarkable when we remember that right after Jesus’ crucifixion some 50 days earlier the disciples had been a group of sniveling cowards, afraid of their own shadow. So what changed for them?

One of the answers to this question is that they enjoyed the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit. In the context of this story we are told that their ability to speak about God in the native language of their listeners was an utterly amazing thing. But we limit the power and scope of this message if we restrict it to just the ability to speak in other languages. When we are open to the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit, we remember that we are acting on God’s power and God’s authority, not our own. God uses our individual gifts and talents that he has blessed us with but when we act on the power of the Spirit, we can turn heads and leave people amazed.

For example, when we bring the love of Christ to bear on broken and hurting people, others may ask us why we are doing that. Why would we put the needs of others on the same level as our own needs? Why would we live sacrificially for the sake of others? Why would we refuse to exact revenge on those who do us wrong? Why would we pray for those who are actively and openly hostile toward us? All of this is foolishness in the world’s eyes but it is not foolishness in God’s economy. It’s the active expectation for how we should behave in our relationships because we are doing what Jesus told us to do–deny ourselves, take up our cross every day, and follow him.

As Lord of this universe, Jesus has chosen to exert his sovereign power through his people who gather together as his body, the Church. We are expected to bring his healing love and redemption to everyone because as Jesus reminded us, God makes his light to shine on both the good and the bad. And so we who follow him must choose to be bearers of Jesus’ light for others, especially our enemies.

But we must remember that we are not called to do this on our own or by our own power. The thought of doing that would be quite overwhelming for most of us because God usually calls us to tasks beyond our puny ability to accomplish. Think, for example, of Jesus’ command to his disciples to make disciples of all nations. Talk about a daunting task! But nothing is impossible for God who has the power to raise us from the dead. Nothing. And so we go forth and love and serve in Jesus’ name, bringing his healing love to all with whom we come into contact. We do so with the confidence that God is with us and when we have that kind of active faith, we can expect God to use us to change the world.

If you cannot find hope, meaning, and purpose in that promise, I don’t think you ever will.

Here, then, is a self-check for you as you reflect on your discipleship (or lack thereof). What kind of fruit is your life bearing? Is it fruit of the flesh that will manifest itself in selfish, self-centered, and disordered behavior or is it the fruit of the Spirit that will manifest itself in love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, etc.? Most likely you will notice both fruits, at least in the beginning, because we humans are a disorderly and willful bunch. But as you allow God’s Spirit to work in you and change you, you will likely notice more fruit of the Spirit and less fruit of the flesh. And as today’s lesson reminds us, when that happens you will not be the only one who takes notice. Others will notice too and be amazed and bewildered because here is something breathtakingly new and fresh, something not of this world but something this world desperately needs more of.

When you have the Spirit of God living in you, you had better be prepared to buckle up because you will be in for the ride of your life. You’ll live beyond your human means but the neat thing is that in doing so, you will discover what it is like to really be human.

¹ Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

² “There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

³ “Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.

⁴ “The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
⁵ Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.

⁶ “The LORD brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
on them he has set the world.
⁹ He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
¹⁰ those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

–1 Samuel 2.1-10 (NIV)

The above prayer, Hannah’s prayer, has been called the Magnificat of the OT because it mirrors Mary’s prayer so well. Hannah prayed it in response to God granting her request to have a son and you can read about that in 1 Samuel 1. Hannah’s prayer acknowledges the absolute sovereignty of God and it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the kind of God that is revealed in this prayer. As you read it, is this the kind of God you want to be sovereign? How you answer this question will give you keen insight into the state of your faith and relationship with the living God.

The first thing we note about this prayer is its humility. Hannah clearly understood that God is God and she is not. This is the way all prayers are to be offered to God. So what attributes of God can we discern from this prayer? We note that God is a God who is concerned about justice for his people. He raises up the oppressed and brings down those who would lord it over others. God often does that through human agency and that should make sense to us, given the place of humans in God’s creation (cf. Genesis 1).

We are also remember that God is the source of all life. He has the power of life and death and this confronts each of us with a decision. Are we going to align ourselves with the Source and Author of life or are we going to decide to be willfully rebellious against him by trying to usurp his rightful position in our lives as God? We cannot escape this decision because even if we choose not to decide we have decided for death rather than life.

In Hannah’s prayer we are reminded that God is our rock. We can come to him in any and every circumstance in our life, especially the bad ones, and find strength that is beyond our means and ability. This means that we have God’s power in the Presence of his Holy Spirit living in us to transcend even life’s darkest moments. That doesn’t mean we will be made immune from the natural ordering of this world. We will still grieve over loss and still have our struggles, but we will have power to comfort us in our grief and to overcome our struggles. It is a wonderful promise and we have the witness of countless Christians who have found God’s promises to be true.

Last, we are reminded not to put too much hope in our own strength because that is ultimately bound to fail. We humans are finite, frail, and mortal. Unfortunately we are also quite idolatrous. Instead of putting our ultimate hope and trust in God we put it in lesser things that are bound to fail, things like money, security, power, and prestige. We try to mask our worries by becoming thoroughly wrapped up in our jobs or our hobbies. We rely on our youth or our physical or intellectual strength to get us through the hard times of life but these are bound to fail because if we live long enough, we are bound to lose them.

I cannot imagine what it would be like trying to live life on the basis of my own strength. Not that I haven’t tried, mind you, but time and again I have been hit in the face with the reality of how futile that is. This, of course, has the power to bring about hopelessness and despair. Hannah’s prayer reminds us to make God the foundation of our life because God does not fail. Not even infirmity or death can thwart God because he is the God of life and when we get this, it is the only real antidote to hopelessness and despair.

Here, then, is a comprehensive and grace-filled picture of God. God is big enough to handle anything we can throw at him. But he cannot do that if we are not interested in having a real relationship with him, the kind of relationship in which we are content to let God be God and we be his creatures. This relationship will not make us immune to the difficulties of life but it will help us transcend them and live in ways that will bring God glory. When we live by God’s strength, people will notice and some will ask us what our secret is. That is when we can share the Good News of having a real relationship with God and invite others to enter into that kind of relationship too.

God is our sovereign God and nothing will ever change that. How will you choose to interact (or ignore) your sovereign? How you choose will determine what kind of future you can look forward to having and the extent to which you will find meaning and purpose in the living of your mortal days. Choose life, abundant life, life that will never end.

⁶ Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. ⁷ This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” ⁹ Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house. ¹⁰ In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. ¹¹ And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” ¹² As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk ¹⁴ and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” ¹⁵ “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.

–1 Samuel 1.6-15 (NIV)

¹ In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

–Acts 1.1-8 (NIV)

One of the things that can drive us nuts (or even to despair) in our relationship with God is having to wait on his timing. We see this illustrated in both passages from today’s lessons. Let’s face it. It takes great trust to wait on God to give us what we need so that we can be his Kingdom workers. Much as we might like, God simply does not include us in on the joke entirely. He gives us what we need and are able to handle.

In Hannah’s case above, God used her great grief and agony over being a barren woman to prepare her to raise her future son, Samuel, in the manner that God apparently wanted. Had Hannah been a prolifically fertile woman (a sign of God’s great honor and blessing), she likely would not have made a vow to raise Samuel as a Nazarite. But Hannah had the faith and humility to persist in prayer and God equipped her in his good time to do the work he called her to do–in this case bear a son and raise him in a way that made him suitable for God’s service as his prophet.

In our NT lesson today, we see something similar. Have you ever wondered what changed the 11 apostles into bold and courageous men? Prior to where our story picks up today, they had been sniveling cowards who had deserted their Master in this greatest hour of need. What changed for them? As John tells us in his Gospel in the Farewell Discourses and as Luke implies in today’s passage, the disciples were not ready and able to hear all that Jesus had to tell them when he lived with them as a mortal. He had to spend time with them and teach them. They had to undergo to shock of his arrest and crucifixion, and their eyes had to be opened to his risen Presence where he could teach them further. It’s that old developmental thingy, but many of us want the prize now and we grow impatient if we have to wait for it.

All this took time and God had to prepare them gradually to fulfill his plan for them–to make disciples of all people, even to the ends of the earth. This was a massive task and had God presented his eternal plan to them all at once, they likely would have been overwhelmed and not answered Jesus call to them. After all, who feels equipped to change the world? Indeed, Matthew alludes to this very dynamic in his account of Jesus’ Ascension when he tells us that while Jesus’ followers rejoiced at seeing him, some doubted. The Greek for doubt can also mean to hesitate or be reluctant. If you were convinced God was calling you to do a task for which you felt unprepared, how willing would you be to answer the call? Me neither.

What both of these stories remind us is this. God is God and we are not. God has an eternal plan for us and our lives, a plan that existed before we were ever born, and each one of us is confronted with a choice. Do we believe in God’s power and good plans? Do we trust God enough to let him prepare us for the work he calls us to do? We won’t if we are not humble enough and/or do not know God well enough to let him use the events of our lives as well as our hurts and victories to prepare us for the work he calls us. But when we know (not know about, but know) God intimately through Christ and are willing to let God be God while we acknowledge that we are his creatures, good things can and do happen, even out of terribly bad things.

For example, I have a friend whose wife of many years has developed Alzheimer’s disease. It has effectively taken his wife from him and has been devastating to him and his family. How can God possibly use something as terrible as this to prepare my friend to be his Kingdom worker? Let me be clear. I don’t know what God has in store for my friend but one possible scenario is that God may be preparing my friend to minister to other spouses of Alzheimer victims. My friend has all the prerequisite tools to do this and unfortunately he knows first-hand the devastating consequences of this evil disease. If he listens to God’s voice and hears God calling him to minister to other hurting spouses, then God will likely use my friend’s terrible hurt to bring God’s love to bear on others who need it. In doing so, God will also bring comfort and peace to my friend because as Jesus reminded us, we find ourselves by losing ourselves. This couldn’t happen all at once, but it can happen in God’s time. Again, I don’t know if this is what God has in store for my friend but it is a possibility and illustrates how God needs to prepare us gradually and over time to do the work he calls us to do of bringing Christ’s love to bear on those who desperately need it.

None of this is comforting if we are trying to be the captain of our own ship. But in the final analysis, this is just a delusion because none of us has the power to captain the ship of our life. So the question becomes, what resources will we draw on to help us weather and even transcend the storms of our life? When we allow God to be that resource and have the patience, trust, and humility to let him prepare us for whatever he is calling us to do, we will find the key to living a happy, peaceful, and meaningful life. Why? Because we know that God will take even the worst things of our life and turn them into good if we will but let him and cooperate with him.

Are you ready for that kind of trust and faith?

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today marks the end of the Easter Season that started 50 days ago. Last Sunday we celebrated Jesus’ Ascension and looked at how it was connected to his Resurrection. We saw that in the Resurrection of Jesus, God has given us a preview of coming attractions regarding his promised New Creation, the time when God in Christ will return and finish the redemptive work that he inaugurated in his death and resurrection. This reminds us that there is work for us to do right now. Since God thinks enough of his created order that he has promised to redeem it (and us), we who profess to follow Jesus should want to do likewise.

We also saw that the Ascension was necessary so that Jesus could assume his rightful place as ruler of the universe, which is what the NT writers meant when they talked about Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father. We know that Jesus has chosen us to help him bring about God’s promised New Creation and even now he is interceding for us to help us become the creatures he created us to be so that we can help him in that work.

And we talked about the fact that Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit after he went into God’s dimension (what we call heaven) so that he could be present with each of us in ways he simply could not be as God the Son. That, of course, is what we are celebrating today at Pentecost because it was on this day that the promised Holy Spirit came to be with his people. This morning I want to look briefly at what that might mean for us today, both as individuals and collectively as the Church.

Have you ever wondered what changed for the eleven disciples of Jesus between the time of his death and the day of Pentecost? What changed them from fearful and timid cowards to the bold men we read about in today’s lesson from Acts? It truly is a remarkable story that demands our careful attention because each one of us knows what it is like to be afraid. Whether it’s about our health or our loved ones or our present or future or even about making new disciples of Jesus, we know what it is like to be afraid. We realize that our fear and timidity can paralyze us into inaction.

Part of the answer to the question about what changed for the eleven surely is in Jesus’ Resurrection itself. The disciples became convinced that he was alive and he spent time with them to help them understand who he really is and what it means to be his disciple. But surely another part of the answer is in the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit himself. As Jesus had promised his disciples in the Upper Room, when the Spirit came, he would teach them things they had previously not been ready and able to learn. And then as Luke reports in today’s lesson, the Spirit came just as Jesus promised and he made complete their transformation. Now the disciples were willing and able to speak boldly on behalf of Jesus. Now they were bold and eager to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission to them—to make disciples of all the nations.

But here’s the thing. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not some esoteric gift. We don’t have to be an apostle or some super religious person to receive it. No, as both Paul and the prophet Joel make clear, the gift of the Spirit is available to anyone who is willing to accept God’s gracious invitation to have abundant life in Jesus. When we believe that God really does love us enough to die for us so that we can be saved from his wrath and holy justice, it changes us. We open ourselves up to receive the gift of his Spirit and when that happens, the sky’s the limit.

The Spirit gives each one of us gifts to help us fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission. As Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel lesson, he is sending us out to make disciples just as the Father had sent him to make disciples for the Kingdom. This is our call as Jesus’ disciples and if you want to be a follower of Jesus there is no escaping this responsibility. But here is where we get tripped up and let our fear take over because if you are like me, we typically think we have to be something that we are not before we could possibly make disciples of others. We think we have to be some kind of unreal, super holy person to be an evangelist. Or we think we have to be super knowledgeable or a gifted preacher. And of course the Evil One is only too happy to encourage us in our fears so that we shrink back from our primary duty as followers of Jesus.

“Not so fast,” says Paul in today’s Epistle lesson. “Why are you afraid when each of you have God’s very Spirit living in you? It doesn’t matter who you are or what stage of the lifecycle you are in. Each one of you who make up Christ’s Body, the Church, has been given at least one gift by the Spirit to help you make disciples of people and to love and support each other as you do, because making disciples is both an individual and team effort.”

“So how does that all work,” you ask? Good question! We make new disciples of Christ, not by what we say but by what we do. When we give our lives to Christ and receive the Holy Spirit, it changes and reorients us. We have a different set of values than the world does and we play by a different set of rules—Jesus’ rules. For example, with the Spirit’s help, we resist the urge to make life all about us. That’s what Jesus meant when he told us we had to die to ourselves. Instead, we elevate the needs of others and make them as important as our own needs, if not more so in certain instances. We choose to be merciful instead of seeking to exact revenge when someone does us wrong. We have a keen desire to help the least and the lost in society. We resist the urge to make power, security, and prestige our gods. We stop trying to play God and let God be God, humbly acknowledging that we are his creatures. We therefore take the time and make the effort to listen for our marching orders each day instead of issuing them ourselves. We become keenly aware that we are part of a group of people who believe likewise and one of our primary concerns is to look out for their welfare. I’m talking about being part of Christ’s Body, the Church, of course, and that means we do not gossip about each other or treat each other with disrespect because the Spirit reminds us we are as broken as our fellow believers are.

When, by the Spirit’s help, we use his gifts and start to bring Christ’s love to bear on others outside the church who desperately need it, we can expect the Spirit to help us make those whom he calls into his disciples. For example, Christ’s love through us for the least and the lost might lead us to fight against drug addiction or senseless violence and/or to help others improve their lives so that they don’t need our help anymore, at least with material things. Our actions may cause those on whom we bring Christ’s love to bear to wonder why we are so willing to forgive or to respect their human dignity when most others do not. Or because we care for the lonely and are willing to spend some time with them when it would be easier to ignore them as others typically do, the Spirit can use us and our actions to speak to those who are not yet believers.

These examples just begin to scratch the surface. The list is endless because the human need and the brokenness are massive. You don’t have to look very far to see and act in Christ’s behalf on it all. You just have to look around in the context of your daily life—at home, at work, and in your neighborhood. More importantly, neither do you have to be an ordained minister or a professionally trained evangelist to do any of this. You don’t have to be eloquent in your speech or an effective preacher. You just have to act on Jesus’ behalf and in the power of the Spirit, and then trust the Spirit to use you in ways that will make disciples of all the nations.  And if folks ask you why you are doing what you are doing, you can simply tell them that you are acting on behalf of the One you follow because that is the primary way to show him that you really do love him. William Wilberforce and his followers did this. Wilberforce was not a clergyman but he and his followers went on in the name of Jesus to get slavery banned in England and in the process bring the love of Christ to countless folks who were living without it.

What makes us fearful or reluctant to follow the Great Commission is because we often forget that we don’t have to make disciples on our own. But it’s not about us. It’s about allowing God to use us to expose others to his great love for them. That’s the one and only key to living a happy and meaningful life here on earth. We have God’s very help and Presence living in us and empowering us to do the work he calls us to do. That was the secret of the first disciples success and it is the secret to our own. We simply have to use our Christian freedom to be real with other folks as we bring Christ’s love to bear on them and then allow God to work in and through us to use us in ways that are pleasing in his sight. He will take care of the rest.

Being a Christian is more than personal salvation. Salvation is a huge part of our faith but it should not serve as an end in itself. Rather, God’s great gift to us in Jesus should serve to motivate us to use our God-given gifts to bring Jesus’ love to those who need it most, both inside and outside the Church. When we open ourselves up to his Presence in and through us, he will use us to make disciples of all the nations. As we have seen, we don’t have to go to another country to do this because there are massive needs right here in our own backyard. And as disciples of Jesus who live in the hope and promise of New Creation, we are called to meet both the spiritual and physical needs of those who are in want to the best of our ability. Whatever it is Jesus is calling you to do, remember that he is also present in you and has given you gifts to equip you for the task of making disciples of others in the context of your daily life. When you understand that he is calling you to be his Kingdom worker and has given you his very Power and Presence to help you do the work he calls you to do, you will discover that you really do have Good News, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” ⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

–Luke 10.38-42 (NIV)

In our ever increasingly connected and frenetic world, we seem to be bombarded from all directions about how to spend our time and efforts. Demands of job, family, church, and other responsibilities seem to make us increasingly scattered and worn out. We see a similar dynamic in today’s Gospel lesson and our Lord reminds us how to best spend our time and efforts. For you see, where we spend our time and exert our efforts are good indications of where are ultimate loyalties are.

I can relate to Martha in this story because she gives every appearance of being anal compulsive, a trait I unfortunately have. She obsesses over the small stuff in life and in doing so risks missing the Big Picture. Not so with her sister, Mary, however. Mary gets it. She understands that life is more than bowing to our various obligations. Life is first and foremost about doing the things necessary to stay connected to the Source and Author of life because this mortal life is finite and temporary. It is not about accumulating stuff or prestige or power. It is ultimately about aligning ourselves in ways that are pleasing in God’s sight so that we can continue to love and enjoy him after our mortal death.

Sure, we all have responsibilities related to the living of our days. But in the final analysis if we do not align fulfilling those responsibilities with how God intends for us to live our mortal lives, we will always be scattered and never be able to enjoy God’s peace.

Now let’s be clear. I am not suggesting that you suddenly abandon everything you do, enter a monastery or convent, and devote all you time to pious activities. What I am suggesting you do is to follow Mary’s lead in today’s lesson. Make your relationship with God your top priority and work to align your life’s purposes with his purposes for you. That will give you the needed and proper perspective on which to make the daily decisions about how to allocate your time and other resources.

Of course, unless you are convinced that life really is about having a relationship with the Source and Author of all life, you will not be inclined to do what is necessary here and now to develop that relationship. But if we are really honest with ourselves we will quickly acknowledge that life is bigger than us and often gets the better of us. When we understand that, we will have the proper motivation to get ourselves rooted so that we can live happy, meaningful, and peaceful lives.

This is God’s desire for you. Are you willing to do what is necessary so that he can help you live that kind of life, a life that is Jesus-centered?

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

From Christianity Today online. Another stellar piece by Mr. Galli.

Most of those problems touch on the justice of God, and one of the most troubling questions is: How can God punish people eternally for sins committed in a finite life? I make no claim to be able to “solve” this problem, any more than the early church theologians could “explain” how exactly Jesus could be human and divine. But it doesn’t hurt to try to put this in a biblical, and, I would say, a realistic perspective. It begins by accepting conditions.

Read it all and reflect on it.

My reflection below dovetails nicely off Mark’s concept of accepting conditions. When you become a disciple of Jesus you accept his conditions for living and the main condition is to get busy and allow him to use you to help him bring about his promised New Creation. That means loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Sounds like a plan to me.

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” ²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” ²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ ³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” ³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

–Luke 10.25-37 (NIV)

If you are looking for the kind of love that can turn heads and change the world, look no further than today’s lesson. An expert in Jewish law asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. We remember immediately that Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God and his Messiah whom he sent (John 17.3) so we can hardly be surprised at Jesus’ answer because it summarizes God’s intentions for us and it is the best way for us to know God. Jesus not only taught about it; he also lived it by going to the cross for us.

Sometimes I think we make the Christian faith more complicated than it is. If it is so great, why is it not changing the world in the manner that the first century church did? Mainly because we have forgotten what the Great Commission (Matthew 20.18-20) is all about. When we go out to make disciples of Jesus it is not for the purpose of folks enjoying some privatized, introspective religion. Being a Christian isn’t all about being saved from God’s wrath, important as that is. It is about being a disciple of Jesus so that he can use us to change the world in the manner he did when he walked this earth.

When we become a disciple of Jesus we profess a desire to follow him. And how do we do that? By taking up our cross each day, denying ourselves, and following Jesus. This means that we give up trying to be the center of the universe. We forsake our selfish ways and self-aggrandizement with the help of the Spirit. We put others before ourselves, not in unreasonable ways where we never have any time or energy left for ourselves but to the reasonable extent we can give of our time, effort, and resources to help others in need. And we don’t do this just for our friends and acquaintances. We do it for everyone because everyone bears the Image of God.

We miss the point of Jesus’ story if we don’t understand that Jews and Samaritans hated each other. It would be as if Jesus told us that an American (think the most conservative, patriotic American that you can imagine) finds a known member of Al Qaeda lying on the road dying and he stops and does what is necessary to save the terrorist’s life. The offense that many Americans would take over hearing this story gives us a better understanding of how Jewish ears must have heard Jesus when he told it.

Jesus is telling the legal expert (and the rest of us who will listen) that love must transcend all known boundaries, prejudices, hatred, and selfish desires if it is to be real love, the kind of love that is pleasing to God. That’s hard for us because that is something most of us do not want to do. It’s easier to not get involved or to turn away in anger than it is to try to help someone in real need. This is not easy work!

But do it we must if we are to turn heads and change the world. We don’t do this on our own, of course. We do it with the very help and Presence of the Holy Spirit living in us. When the Bible speaks of love, it always has in mind action rather than emotion. We do not have to like a person to express biblical love toward that person. Rather, we must bring Christ’s love to bear on people who need it the most and we cannot do that if we are busy counting our money, aggrandizing our power, or looking up to heaven each day longing to be there instead of mucking around in the mud with the rest of the pigs.

Yes, we will be with Jesus one day and we will be with him forever in his New Creation. But it is precisely because we believe in the New Creation that we must get busy here and now in God’s current creation and allow Jesus to use us as instruments of his healing love and mercy. After all, if God loves his creation enough to redeem it, who are we to refuse to do likewise to the best of our finite ability? When enough Christians start doing bringing Jesus’ love to bear on those who need it and without exception, it will change the world, just as it did in the early church.

And by allowing Jesus to use us to bring his love to bear on those who need it most, we are telling him (and the world) that we do love him, that we do believe in his promise of New Creation, and that we are thankful beyond our ability to tell him for the immeasurable gift he has given us in his terrible and costly death for our sake. We didn’t deserve the gift nor can we ever do anything to earn it. We simply respond to God’s great gift of love by allowing him to use us to expose others to it who desperately need it.

Here, then, is the complete package for future hope and for living a meaningful and purposeful life right here and now. We find it by losing ourselves for God’s sake and the sake of others. It is costly but it is the only way to ever be sure you are enjoying eternal life as Jesus defines it.

What are you waiting for? Our Lord needs your help in his wonderful work of New Creation. He will have to finish the work himself because only he can do so. But that does not diminish the ways he can use each of us as we await the completion of his promised New Creation.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

¹⁴ The word of the LORD came to [Ezekiel]: ¹⁵ “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the LORD; this land was given to us as our possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷ Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ ¹⁸ They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. ¹⁹ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. ²⁰ Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

–Ezekiel 11.14-21 (NIV)

If you have ever labored under the false teaching that the OT is all about God’s wrath while the NT is all about God’s love and grace, this passage from Ezekiel is for you because in it we see the very heart of God, a heart that is full of love for his wayward people even as it is a heart that demands his holy justice be fulfilled.

A bit of background might be helpful before we look at the text. Prior to the fall of Jerusalem in August 586 BC, Judah had been invaded by the Babylonians and some of its people were carried off in exile to Babylon about 11 years earlier, Ezekiel included. True to the human condition, the survivors living in Jerusalem had deluded themselves into thinking they were special in God’s eyes because they had been spared exile. “Not so fast,” says God. “I am not finished with dealing with you yet. The worst is yet to come.” In the first part of Ezekiel, then, God is prophesying to his people in exile, warning them of Jerusalem’s impending fall and reminding the exiles that their unfaithfulness and rebellion had landed them there.

Yet in the midst of God’s judgment and wrath, we read this remarkable passage from today. Indeed, after Jerusalem fell, the whole tone of Ezekiel changes from oracles of judgment to oracles of consolation for his broken and despairing people. As is always the case in Scripture, we see God giving people what they need, good and bad, because God does not want to lose anyone permanently and continually calls his people to return to him.

Remarkable.

In today’s passage we get a glimpse into the very heart of God. At first blush the statement that God has been a sanctuary to his people in exile is not all that remarkable. But when we remember that the Jews believed God’s Presence resided in the Temple in Jerusalem, this is a quite remarkable promise for God to make. Imagine that. God is reminding his proud and foolish people living in Jerusalem that he is being a sanctuary to the very people they thought were under God’s curse. When we understand this dynamic, it is easier for us to understand the dynamic of God’s wrath and God’s mercy. The former is never the end but rather a means to a greater end–repentance and a return to life.

Yes, God’s people had been sent into exile because of their unfaithfulness. God had called them through Abraham to be his people and the solution to the problem of sin and rebelliousness. They were blessed so that they could be a blessing to others. But Israel had forgotten her calling and had sought after other things and other gods and people to be her god. They had become part of the problem instead of part of the solution and God had finally called his people to account by inflicting the unthinkable on them–exile and the very destruction of God’s dwelling place on earth, the Temple in Jerusalem.

But God did not abandon his people, even in their punishment. God was with them and promised to restore them. Not only did God promise to restore them, God also promised to transform and heal them so that they would not be stubborn and wayward anymore. For you see, God wants all of us to have life in him so that we can really enjoy living. Without life in God, it really is all futile because only in God can we find our source of all life.

So what can we take from today’s passage? One of the lessons we can learn is that God is a God who is faithful to his people even when they are not faithful to him in return. It does not matter who you are or what you have done. God continues to reach out to you, to invite you to have real life in him. He has taken on our humanity and resolved the intractable problem of human sin and the alienation it causes by dying for us on a cross. He sends his Spirit on us to heal and transform us, and make us into the very likeness of Christ so that we can enjoy life to its fullest.

And as today’s passage reminds us in such poignant terms, God promises to be with us through the good times and bad. How often we forget the latter! How often do we think God has checked out on us when things go terribly wrong for us, even when the bad things that afflict us are by our own making! But this is not the message of Scripture. God loves us and created us to have relationship with him. He wants us to live and love and succeed and prosper. But too often we do not want that for ourselves. Too often we pursue that which is ultimately not good for us and then we wonder where God is when it all collapses around us.

When life collapses around you (or on you), go back and read passages like today’s from Ezekiel. Have it remind you that God is faithful to you and is calling you to come back to him in the context of a proper relationship with him, a relationship in which he is God and we are his creatures. Even when bad things afflict us that are not of our own doing, God promises to be with us, to take us by the hand and walk with us in the midst of our darkness until we reemerge into his light. But to take advantage of this requires our faith and our trust. You likely cannot trust someone you do not know very well and so if you want to take advantage of God’s gracious offer to you, you had best do your part in growing the relationship with God in Christ.

None of this will make you immune from the hurts and heartaches of life. What it will do is give you power to overcome them and to bring glory to God as you do. You will only be able to do that if you know God’s love for you to be real and that God is completely trustworthy and true to his word. Your exile may not end immediately but as today’s passage reminds us, you will never be separated from God’s great love for you made manifest in Jesus. Why is this? Because as Jesus reminds us in John’s Gospel, he is the new Temple, the real focal point of God’s presence on earth because he is God made man, and Jesus is readily available in the power and Presence of the Spirit to anyone who calls on him.

When you really believe and accept that, don’t be surprised if you find a mind-blowing power to overcome your darkness that defies all logic and that helps you be the conqueror instead of the conquered. You have not only the word of God about this. You also have the testimony of countless Christians across time and culture to verify this wonderful truth.

Life is hard enough as it is. Don’t try to live it alone or by your own power because you will be defeated. Instead, ask the Lord of this vast universe to help you navigate through the waters of this life and count on his great love and power to help you do just that.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
¹⁷ Unless the LORD had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
¹⁸ When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought me joy.

–Psalm 94.16-19 (NIV)

¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. ¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

–Hebrews 6.13-20 (NIV)

In today’s lesson from the Psalms, the psalmist is lamenting the effects of evil and wondering how he is going to survive it. He concludes that unless God steps in to take care of him and calm his anxiety, he surely will not make. If we have lived long enough, we can surely relate to the psalmist’s feelings because each of us has had times in our lives when it feels like evil has surely triumphed and God has bailed on us.

But as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, this simply isn’t true. Looks can be deceiving and the mystery of evil and suffering will have to remain just that–a mystery. What Scripture tells us to do is to essentially stop asking the “why questions” about evil and suffering and concentrate instead on finding real help so that we can cope effectively when things go south for us. That real help, of course, comes from God and we can depend on it because God is not a liar. Now we can choose to effectively call God a liar by not believing in his promises, but that does not make God a liar. That says more about us and our pride and stubborn rebelliousness than it does about who God is.

So how does God help us when evil besets us? How does God’s unfailing love support us? How does he console us so that we might even find some joy in the midst of our suffering? Typically we make the mistake of trying to pigeonhole God by having certain expectations for how God can and should comfort and support us, and when God does not choose to act in the way or ways we expect, we are ready to accuse him of checking out on us.

It’s the same problem that Jesus faced when he walked the earth. The Messiah he was violated the expectations of most people of his day. Most refused to believe that he was God’s anointed and we all know what happened to Jesus. Likewise with our expectations for how God should comfort and support us. True, God can wave his hand, so to speak, and make everything better for us. But typically God does not work that way. Instead, God typically chooses to work through the ordinary people and events of our lives, just the way he did when he became human and walked among us as Jesus.

Accordingly, God may choose to bring us support and comfort through our Christian friends. After all, the essence of being a Christian is to bring Christ’s love to bear on people when they need it most and there is no reason for us not to expect God to do that for us in our time of need. How often do we miss God’s love and support for us expressed through our friends (and even on occasion, perfect strangers)? If we are not looking for God’s help in this manner, we are quite likely to miss it completely. That is why it is so critical for us to be part of a Christian fellowship so that we can learn to see God act in and through them and learn to open ourselves up to God so that he can use us to help others in their hour of need.

God can also use ordinary means of grace to comfort and support us. We can find both when we read Scripture. The more familiar we are with Scripture the better equipped we are to see God’s love and movement coming to bear among his people. We read the overarching narrative of God’s rescue plan for sinful humanity, to end our alienation and exile from him forever, culminating in Jesus. We read how God has brought comfort and support to his hurting people in the time of their great need, people like Abraham, Moses, Esther, and Paul. We read comforting words in the Psalms, like Psalm 23, and we are comforted by them. We also find hope and comfort in the promise of New Creation.

We can find support and comfort in prayer when God speaks to the very depth of our souls if we will but come to him and ask him for his help. How often do we fail to do this! It’s not unlike how things in this life go. Folks will typically respond to our level of expectation for them. If we don’t think they are capable of much, we don’t expect much from them and consequently won’t ask them to do something we really do not think they are capable of doing. How often are we guilty of doing that to God in our prayers? Or how often are we guilty of trying to make God bend to our will and expectations expressed in our prayers?

We can also find support and comfort through the fellowship of believers who assemble each Sunday to worship God and give him thanks and praise for all he has done and is doing for us. We won’t do this, however, if we really don’t think he’s done much to warrant our praise and thanksgiving. But that gets back to the trust thingy that the author of Hebrews talked about in today’s Epistle lesson.

Now let me be clear. Even when God brings support and comfort to us, that doesn’t mean that everything magically changes. If, for example, we are grieving the death of a loved one, our sorrow will not magically go away. What will happen is that we will find comfort in the midst of our sorrow and hope where there is none warranted by the standards of the world. In some cases we might find almost miraculous relief but we need to be humble enough and trust God enough to believe he is in charge and knows best for us and our lost loved ones. We also need to remember that Jesus is even now praying for us and guiding us through the power and Presence of his Spirit. He may be out of our sight but we certainly are not out of his mind!

As you struggle with your problems and the evil that besets you, remember these things. God typically chooses to work through the ordinary to bring you help and relief. He won’t make you immune from the problem of evil but he will provide you with everything you need to cope with. But you have to let him and you dare not try to pigeonhole him into acting according to your demands and expectations. Remember that God is God and you are not, and act accordingly.

When you do, you will find just what you need when you need it and it will in turn help you become someone God can use to help minister to his other broken and hurting people. We may not like how this all works but that really isn’t the issue. The real issue is this: Are we open to God’s love for us in our lives? Are we willing to say yes to the people and resources he sends our way to help us in our need? If you are, you will join with countless other Christians who testify that the psalmist’s words above are true. You will find the very comfort and support of God and in finding it you will find that you have tapped into a power Source sufficient for any challenge that comes your way.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!