Active Loving

Saturday, March 24 / Luke 6:12-38

I see something new in this familiar passage this morning: a very active sense of “loving” my enemies.

In the past, I figured it was enough to just not retaliate, to adopt a live-and-let-live attitude toward those who hurt me. “Turning the other cheek” meant ignoring the hurt, avoiding the person. And oh yes, I could “pray for” my enemies—from a safe distance. Meanwhile, I'd spend my time with less difficult folks...

But this morning I see a call to a more personal and very active loving—a call to pray for my enemies, yes, but more. Do good to those who hate. Bless them as they curse. Offer the second cheek to be slapped. Give the thief more than he asks for. Lend without expecting repayment. Love without expecting return.

Treat others as God has treated me, with compassion, patience, forgiveness, and love-that unconditional love He offered, while I was yet His enemy.

“Be compassionate” rings in my heart this morning. Those “enemies” are not THE enemy, but victims of the enemy, just as I once was. Who knows which act of active loving will turn a heart or help open the door to faith?

Jesus says, “To those who are willing to listen…” Am I? In His strength and in His love, I prayerfully seek to obey.

Compassionate Savior, show me how and to whom this applies in my world and give me the courage to actively love my “enemies” today…

Unrighteous Indignation

Luke 5:29 - 6:11

As we meet Jesus today, we find him hanging out at a party with tax collectors, eating while others fast, letting his disciples “work” while others rest, healing where others judge. He surprises us again and again. And after these brief descriptions, these snapshots of Jesus’ ministry, we learn that “the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.”

Have you ever been surprised by God or circumstances and found yourself angry with God as a result? I have.

Have you ever felt like the religious leaders at Levi’s party – watching God do incredible things in the lives of others - and thought, “Why is he spending so much time with them? I could have used a blessing like that. I’m at least as deserving as they are.” I have.

Have you ever experienced a time in worship when, rather than experience the majesty of God and the power of his grace to minister to you, all you noticed was that the music wasn’t quite right, or the service was too long, or that somehow someone revealed that they don’t care about their faith quite as much as you? I have.

Have you, like me, read the Bible and been shocked to discover you’re not always so different from the Pharisees?

We like to think we’re in control, and we like to think we understand how things are supposed to work. We prefer not to feel broken. But Jesus tells us that he came not for those who think they are righteous but for those who are sinners and need to repent. Our self-righteousness reveals it’s ugly head in situations like these, and we’re reminded that our salvation is not the end of Jesus’ work of reconstruction in us.

Jesus Reached Out and Touched Him

Luke 5:12-28

I feel like I'm in round three of the story of Jesus' healing ministry.
Can anything new catch my attention, after reading Matthew and Mark?
Oh, yes, I definitely have a need to learn things more than once. I've
been painfully aware of this in the past. And now I discover that what
I'm about to write - Jesus touched him - was lifted up for us back on
February 16, when Brian Quade wrote "Able and Willing." Still, having
commented recently on the healing of the paralytic ("Such Great
Authority," on January 11), my focus today is on Jesus healing the
leper, Luke 5:12-14.

Recently, as I again read about the man with leprosy coming to Jesus, I
paused a long time as I came to these words, "Jesus reached out and
touched him." Not, the man touched Jesus. Jesus chose to touch one of
the untouchables. He didn't have to. He sometimes healed with just a
word. This man needed to experience once again what it felt like to be
touched. I picture Jesus stooping, raising the man up from where he
knelt with his face to the ground, then gripping the man's shoulders
and looking straight into his eyes. I hear him saying with a kind smile
and gentle voice, "Yes, of course I am willing."

I think back to a woman I once knew. I'll call her Laura. She lived
several houses up the street from me. I don't remember how we met. This
is strange when I think about it. It must have been an unusual meeting,
for Laura was a woman most people avoided. Some pretended she wasn't
there. It could be hard to carry on a conversation with Laura, for she
seemed slow in intellect and in social awareness. As I befriended her,
I heard rumors of abuse in her home and of children in trouble with the
law.

Sometimes, Laura would act as though she didn't know me. Other times,
she reached out for help. So, when her husband needed a ride to the
hospital for chemo treatments, I sometimes was the driver, even though
I was afraid of him.

One day Laura came to the church, expressing a desire to have God in
her life. She accepted my invitation to attend a women's Bible study.
Mostly, she didn't speak up. But I was impressed by her understanding
when we were studying a passage about Jesus' authority. She told us she
knew what authority meant - when her kids were warned by the local
policeman about some misbehavior, they did what they were told!

Laura didn't go out in public much. However, one afternoon I brought
Laura with me to a women's event. A person - who obviously didn't know
who Laura was - asked if she was my sister. Why would anyone think
that? Did we look alike? I quickly made introductions. That's all I
remember about that day. Except for my unspoken thoughts.

MY sister? Oh, no. My sister is a university professor. My sister has a
faithful, loving husband. No skeletons in the closet. My sister's
children are talented and well-behaved. They don't play hooky from
school. They wear clean clothes. No rags...

I had introduced Laura as my friend. But was she even that? No. My
project. This close and no closer.

Jesus, make me more like you. Thank you that you are already turning me
into a hugger.

Deetje Wildes

Fishing

Regarding the healing ministry of Jesus – haven’t we all wished to see more of that in our day and among our loved ones?  Yet, we must remember that even in the days of the Gospels, not everyone was healed everywhere!  There are so many things that we do not fully understand now, but as one of the hymns puts it, “We’ll understand it better by and by”.  But is it not also true, that when we don’t get the answers to our requests and prayers, yet we are to continue to believe . . .to have faith in our Lord?  Trusting (having faith) is not always easy – how well we know!  Someone has said it well, “Being a Christian isn’t always easy, but it is always possible!”  Jesus, as traveling Preacher… reaching people with the Good News.  What an example for all of us as His followers!  About that service held by the Sea – have you ever attended a time of worship by a lake somewhere . . . and pictured Jesus as being there!  What a great thing to experience!  (Just now, hold a vision in your mind of what that could mean to our lives, worshipping Jesus with others by a lake.  Not catching any fish?  Jesus told them what to do.  Note: one lesson for us to learn well is that we should obey Jesus even if we do not fully understand.  Can you? Can we?  Can I?  Sing the hymn, “Trust and Obey”.  Fishers of Men!  Consider some of the parallels between fishing for fish and fishing for people on behalf of Jesus!  Words come to mind like – preparation, methods, desire, persistency, patience, etc.

 

Donald E. Pardun

Luke 4:1-30

Greetings,

 

I would like to pass on to you some commentary I received from Dr. Timothy Ysteboe, Director of our LB Seminary Extention.  I am not really sure about blog etiquette and citing sources but I was blessed by his comments and I don’t think I could say things any better.  The following is commentary received from a weekly email sent to all LB Pastors. 

 

“The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are. Is that true? This lesson could be used to show Jesus as our example, but it seems that the themes of Lent are bigger than good example. In order to be our Savior, Jesus was tempted like we are tempted, showing himself to be human.

 

The first temptation is one of trust—“If you are the Son of God” sort of questions whether or not Jesus really is the Son of God, but the major issue is “command the stones.” Take things into your own hands rather than to trust God’s care. To be tested like us, Jesus used the same resources that we have available to us…the word of God. Jesus was content to let God run his life—ready to let the Spirit lead him into the desert to be tested and content to let God feed him. Whatever God has in store for us, are we ready to accept it? When we are in the middle of it, can we still trust God’s care?

 

The second temptation is one of shortcuts, the lie—this is the easy way to your goals. Why go through the difficulty of studying for a test when you can probably pass by some other means—cheating. Why go to the cross when you can have all this by a simple act of worship? It will only cost you your soul. Cheating won’t achieve your goal—it is an illusion of shortcut. Your goal may be to avoid the pain of study, but the long term goal is to become a competent, responsible adult—and cheating won’t get that for you. Immediate gratification is such an American temptation.

 

The third temptation is the temptation to presume on God’s grace and promise. If God promises to provide for all your needs, just sit home in the recliner and watch the fish and bread multiply. If God promises to protect you from all danger, drive without your seat belt (okay, this trivializes it). This almost seems like the opposite of the first temptation. Instead of taking everything into our hands, sit in idle, irresponsible presumption.

 

I think it is Brian Stoffregan (crossmarks.com) who said that in all of this, Jesus shows that he is a man of the Word and that his life is directed by the Word and that he is reliant on that Word.”

 

Grace and Peace,

 

Pastor Adam

 

 

The Legacy

Luke 3:23-38

My aunt is the genealogist on my father's side of the family, and she has been able to trace back about 8 generations. The farther back we go, the less we know about some of these people, except for their names and their professions. In looking at the data my aunt had collected, I was pleased to learn that there are at least two pastors in my family history. (Lutherans, too!)

I am glad to know that "my people" have such a history, but I wish I knew their stories. Did they have a strong, vibrant relationship with God? Did they remain faithful throughout their lives? Did they wonder how their legacy would live on? In the same way, I wonder about the children of my children. And the children that will follow them. What will be the legacy that I pass on to them?

Today's reading lists about 75 generations of names in Jesus' family tree stretching right back to Adam (and from Adam to God). Some of these people are little more than a name on a list, but much of the list is a veritable "Who's Who" of the old testament. It's quite a legacy that they pass down.

Adam, who walked with God in the Garden of Eden.
Noah, through whose righteousness God preserved the human race.
Abraham, with whom God made an everlasting covenant.
Ruth and Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer.
David, who was a man after God's own heart.

But we also have Adam, through whom all of humanity has fallen.
Jacob, who stole the blessing intended for Esau.
Tamar, who disguised herself as a prostitute to have a child by her father-in-law, Judah.
David who had a man murdered and took his wife for his own.

This is a legacy of the faithful, the faithless, and the fumbling. I suspect "my people" aren't much different.

What really stands out to me in this list is God's faithfulness. God made a promise and he had a plan to redeem his people. It is a great comfort to know that even though we are fallen and fumbling, God remains faithful.

This is God's legacy, passed down from generation to generation, made manifest in Jesus, . . . and it will continue.


Drew Clausen

Sunday - Luke 3:1-22

Little baby John who's birth was celebrated in chapter one is all grown up and active in the ministry God set out for him. This ministry was explained to his parents before his birth saying he would "...pursuade many Israelits to run to the Lord their God. (1:16) and ...precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival (1:17)." In chapter 3 we find John doing these very things. He is calling the people of Israel to "be baptized to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven." (3:3)

I wonder at the type of person who would be willing to head out to the Jordan River to hear and even obey a man who talks of their condemnation. We see varieties of people asking questions of John. The crowd, tax collectors, and soldiers. John seems to have a big truth stick and yet the people want to know what they should do to right their life, instead of thinking he was just a crazy man.

Why is it that John's ministry was so powerful? Here are some things that stuck out to me. 1:15b says that John, "will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth." John wasn't speaking to people because it was a fun thing to do on a Sat afternoon. He was being obedient to the very words and actions the Spirit of God was calling him to do. During a time when the Spirit hadn't been given to every believer yet John was being filled with God Himself. 3:4 says "Isaiah had spoken of John when he said..." John's life had been prophesied all the way back in the time of Isaiah. He was fulfilling what he was created to do. 3:16, "...someone i coming soon who is greater thatn I am..." John knew the supremacy and work of a coming Savior. He knew that his ministry was only to set up the ministry of the true King of Kings. He lived his life in surrender to Christ.

These very things can be applied to our life. We are blessed with the filling of the Spirit. We can ask the Lord what He has for us to be to live for Him this day. We can live our lives in surrender to Christ. No, we aren't John the Baptist. He played a very specific role in the redemption of God's people, but in a way the same can be true of us.