Tag Archives: Love

Getting the Inside Right

In contrast, Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:29-30), not because living the Christian life is easy but because we live it under grace not law.[12] The grace of God in Christ Jesus informs the entirety of the Christian life, and only by grace can we get the inside right. True life comes not from moral reform or religious zeal but through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ, we are justified as righteous and filled with the Holy Spirit, that he may cleanse us from the inside out, that we may shine with the radiance of his righteousness. Amen.

Me and My Neighbor

To love those who love you is reciprocity. To love those who don’t is grace. And just as God has bestowed the immeasurable riches of his grace upon us, loving us while we were yet sinners, so we must gratefully respond to this grace by bestowing it upon others, loving our neighbor as ourself, and may all that we do then be done in love.[14]

Peace! Be Still!

While Jesus had been ministering throughout Judea, he decided to take a trip to the land of the Gerasenes by direct route, across the Lake of Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Traveling with a select group of disciples by boat, Jesus boarded and went to bed. Perhaps telling of his fatigue, Jesus slept through what likely began with the serene sway of a rocking boat into a stormy squall, as the cooler air from the surrounding mountains collided with the warmer air of the sea. So fierce was the storm’s surge that the boat began to fill with water. If there were a time for panic, this was it—even for a crew of salty fishermen. Meanwhile, Jesus slept soundly in the stern.

The Family of Faith

When Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, from preaching throughout Judea, he didn’t receive what we would call a “warm welcome.” Rather than celebrating his ministry, the people wondered, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works?” (Matt. 13:54). To them, he was just the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Simon, Judas, and his sisters.[2]

The Sown Word

In the tenth chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul describes the necessity of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, as “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” One cannot believe the gospel if one does not hear it, in various ways and various forms, and one cannot hear it unless it is shared or proclaimed. Hearing then is necessary for salvation, but hearing is not enough. The gospel must be truly believed, yet not all who hear believe.

A Gospel Ministry

This is how Christ builds his kingdom, through the faithful preaching of the Word and sacraments, through the diverse use of our gifts in service, and through our tithes and offerings. It sounds remarkably ordinary, and it is, but God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; what is weak to shame the strong; what is low and despised to build Christ’s church, that in it and through it he might be glorified. All glory be to Christ!

How Great a Debtor

Jesus was invited to dine with a Pharisee. Perhaps surprisingly, he accepted. He who said that he came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10) would presumably have plenty to seek and save over supper. But as the party proceeded, it was unexpectedly crashed, by a woman known not by name but by sin. Luke records neither.

Who Made You Judge?

If there is an aphorism derived from Scripture best known and oft quoted in our day, surely it is, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”[2] Its use is typically meant to refute moral judgment on a particular sin, and its effect is typically the equivalent of “Mind your own business.” The source of the expression is our passage today, as well as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. And while I am all for encouraging quotes of Jesus in our culture, I’m not for taking Scripture out of context, for whatever reason. As we will see in our passage today, Jesus was no more dismissing sin than encouraging it, but he was confronting it, a sin that often hides comfortably in the church.

God So Loved

Connecting God’s love to our love, John goes on to say, “God is love,” John tells, “and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). Loving our enemies does not make us “sons of the Most High,” but it does reveal that we are. Doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse us, praying for those who mistreat us, expecting nothing in return, does not mean that they will love us in return, but God will reward us for it in conforming us more and more to the image of his Son, who in love laid down is life for us.