Luke 18 :: Everyone Has a Faith Story

Luke 18

In today's chapter, we read about faith - the kind of faith that caused Jesus to stop and take note.  First, the story of the persistent widow reveals a consistent, never-say-quit sort of faith that continues to trust even when things are not going our way.  The disciples understood this imagery well because it had been thousands of years since God had promised his people a Messiah.  The 400 year window of silence from God had just ended with the coming of Jesus, so generations had come and gone with no word from God at all.

The second story is about two men who prayed, one morally proud of himself and the other a humble tax collector.  The pride of the Pharisee can be a barrier for Christ to do his work in us.  When we think that we have it all together, we often don't need God.  The tax man understood who he was in light of who God is, and this pushed him to humility.

Luke then includes an incident that Jesus had with his disciples.  As people were bringing babies to Jesus and other children running up to him, the disciples tried to push them away.  I can imagine what was going through their minds, "We just need some adult time with Jesus..."  Jesus makes it clear that the children are very important in his kingdom, and unless we come to him in simple faith and trust like a child, we won't get it.

Most translate the question of the official as "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"  There was clearly an understanding of entitlement inferred in the question by the official.  Jesus asks him a question, which the man doesn't answer (clearly he doesn't understand who Jesus is).  Jesus turns to the man's understanding, which is all about rule-following and self-sufficiency.  The man was looking for the one thing he could do to ensure that he gets some of this eternal life Jesus is talking of, but he is not willing to do anything.  His want has a price that he is not willing to pay.  He isn't willing to give up his stuff.

Finally, Luke shares a story of Jesus' encounter with a blind man.  The blind man could hear Jesus coming and began to shout out to him - louder than anyone else.  His desperate passion gets the attention of Jesus and when asked what he wants, he simply says "Master, I want to see again."  At that, Jesus heals him and says that his faith has saved and healed him.  No prayer, no walk down an isle, no commitment to a church, no baptism, no confession, no "right understanding" of justification by faith alone, no nothing but a simple "Master, I want to see again."  There was nothing and no one else for this man, but Jesus.

What is your faith story?  How did you get to where you are with God today - good or bad?  These five people in this chapter wrestled with their decision.  Have you wrestled with yours?  How simple was your path to Jesus?  What obstacles did you have to overcome to be able to trust Jesus with your life?

Happy Hump-Day Everyone!

Romans 11:1-10 :: Method to the Mistakes

Romans 11:1-10


After listening to Paul for 10 chapters, it might be easy to think that God has no interest in the Israelites, His chosen people, any longer.  Paul assures us this is not the case though.  There have been a select few that have received their gift by faith.  As with any people group, there are some that embrace the gift of God-setting-things-right by faith, and some that do not.  Just because you may be a Gentile doesn’t mean that you have eternal security.  It’s not about race.  God’s grace is the determining factor.

When someone consistently tries to earn right standing with God through their pursuit of self-interest, God may eventually hand them over to those wishes.  They become thick-skinned toward God and begin to pick fights, they don’t hear or see what God is doing.  They only see what they want to see.

David’s attitude is much like those of us who have wayward friends or family members.  We know that nothing will change until they hit rock bottom, so we pray for them to hit rock bottom.  It may sound harsh to someone who has not been listening to all of our prayers, but really it is the best prayer for them in their current state of living.

Don't Spoil the Surprise...

Romans 10:11-13 (The Message and TNIV)

This Sunday, I will be teaching from the readings for the next two days.  I'm going to save most of my thoughts until Sunday, but I do want to highlight this verse:

“No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” (11)

What does this verse mean to you?  Whatever comes to your mind...  The TNIV puts it this way,

“Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (11)

Thoughts?  Comments?

Romans 10:4-10 :: What is Salvation?

Romans 10:4-10 (TheMessage and TNIV)

Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy - every detail of life is regulated by fine print!  But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story...

The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest.

It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go and work and set things right for us.  This is the core of all we do and teach.  Say the welcoming word to God - "Jesus is my Master" - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead.  That's it.  You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you.  That's salvation.  With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!"

What do you think?  Is it really this simple?  How do you trust God to shape the right living in you?  

Romans 8:1-8 :: Christians and Condemnation and Clouds

Romans 8:1-8 (The Message and TNIV)

Do you ever have times when you feel like there is a dark, ominous cloud hanging over you?  When you feel like nothing you do is the right thing and everything you touch turns out wrong.  We often beat ourselves up over our failures.  We also let others beat us up as well.  We don’t live up to other people’s standards and we get beat up.  We don’t respond to crisis the way someone thinks we should and they beat us up.  We don’t keep promises and we beat ourselves up.


Paul opens chapter 8 with an incredible pronouncement -  those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under that continuous, low-lying black cloud.  The TNIV may be more familiar: there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Isn’t that good news.  No condemnation, not from anyone, not from yourself.

You are now free from sin and death.  What the law couldn’t accomplish for you, Christ did.  God went all the way for you.  In Jesus, God personally took on our condition, so he could set things right with us once for all.

What condemnation do you fight as a Christ-follower?  From self?  From friends who aren't Christians?  From other Christians expecting you to be more or do more?

Romans 3:21-24 :: Facebook and Faith

Romans 3:21-24 (The Message and TNIV)
Romans Reading Plan

But in our time something new has been added.  I like this but...I cannot lie.  Okay, maybe that wasn't the way you wanted to start your Monday morning, but c'mon...laugh a little!  Seriously though, I have been waiting for this small three-letter word since day one of our reading through Romans.  This is where it all turns.  This is where we are introduced to hope.  This is where the bridge is built and reconnections are made.

Do you remember life before Facebook?  You know that life where you simply wondered what your friends from high school were doing, but didn't want to exert the effort to track anyone down.  FB made it easy to reconnect with friends that we have lost touch with over the years.  Reconnections are great (in most instances).  One of the things I like about going to see my in-laws is the fact they live in the town where I spent 6-12 grades.  I always see old friends when I go back and when I get to see that one friend I haven't seen or heard from in 20 plus years, it's really nice.

Paul is introducing us to an opportunity to reconnect.  For nearly three whole sections, Paul has built a case that no one is good enough to be reconnected to God.  We all start out in the same boat, at the same starting line, with the same problem - sin separates us from God.  Now we have a chance, though, to reconnect because "something new has been added.

The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us.  We have seen that the Law was given to show us our sin, but it didn't fix it.  The Law simply showed all of us that none of us are capable of "setting things right" between us and God.  We can't make a phone call or send an email on this one.  That said, God provided Jesus to do what we could not and cannot do.  We were "incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us," so He did it for us.  He put Jesus in our place.  No Jesus' rightness is accredited to us.  By putting our trust and life in Jesus, we can reconnect with God.

He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be.  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!  What a way to start my day and my week!  This is a reconnection that changes everything.  It changes me.  It can change you.  How did he get us out of the mess?  The work of Jesus Christ, while here on this earth, is the means for our reconnection and our trust and faith in him and his way for us is our way of receiving it.  At the risk of sounding cheesy, God has sent every one of us a "friend request" and it sits in our inbox waiting an action - to accept or to ignore.

In the next few days we are going to dive deeper into the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf and why that was the only option for our reconnection to Father.  For today, what is it about today's reading that makes you pause?  Does any of this make you smile?

Acts 3 :: Oh man...

Acts 3 - The Message and Today's New International Version

For 9 months, I watched a good friend fight cancer. A month ago, he lost the battle and passed away. Kevin was a worship leader, who moved to Colorado, to set up a ministry to other worship leaders and pastors. His life mission was to glorify God in how he lived and to lead others to a right understanding of their identity in Christ. As a modern day psalmist, he had a way of making everyone around him smile - the kind of person this world needs...really.

Now, I think I understand death and sickness. I realize that we live in a world that is not functioning the way the Creator intended it to function. Our bodies fail us, the creation reacts with volatility and disasters take lives and we have fellow humans who make horrible choices and lives are lost as a result. I am comfortable with knowing that when sin entered the world in Genesis 3, our world became messed up. I really think I am.

That said, when I read stories like Acts 3, I put my Bible down with a puzzled look on my face. You see, Jesus doing miracles and healing people was one thing, but then the Holy Spirit (the same one living in me) filled the disciples and they healed people, that feels totally different. Did those sick people have more faith than my friend? I don't think so. I'm just not sure I'm willing to accept the line any longer regarding the miraculous: "that happened then, but we now have the Scriptures to see God's power." I have too many friends that leave for other parts of this world where they see and experience things like this.

My resounding question right now is this: Is there something in our western culture that inoculates us to the miraculous? Have we "reasoned" out the possibility of the impossible? Are we missing something because we are "civilized"? Anyone have thoughts or experiences to share?

Acts 1 :: Drawing Straws

Acts 1 - text from The Message & TNIV

Yesterday, I taught from Acts 1:1-14, so I'll just give you the link if you want to hear that. Here are my high points from the teaching.

• For 40 days, Jesus appeared to the disciples at random times during face-to-face meals to explain what had happened and how it all related to the Kingdom of God.
• His promise of a baptism by the Holy Spirit was about to come, and when this consuming experience of the Spirit came they would be able to be witnesses to the Kingdom right where they were.
• The disciples were dumbfounded as Jesus left them and disappeared in the sky, staring at the blank sky. We cannot get caught staring at blank skies, wishing for a better day when Jesus felt closer. He is here now.
• The twelve and their families gathered together and committed themselves to the way of the Kingdom for good. They were completely together - in belief, in action and in purpose.
• The disciples were freed from their anxiety because things were right with God, with themselves and with each other.

Today, the stand-out for me was how the disciples replaced Judas Iscariot. They gathered the ones who had been with Jesus from his baptism to his ascension, made a nomination, prayed and took a vote...no, there was no vote. They drew straws! They're selection brought them two men, then they left it up to God to decide from their. They didn't spend a lot of time praying about it or weighing the options.

The question ringing in my heart this morning is whether or not I have enough trust in God to leave a big decision up to drawing straws, or flipping a coin. I can look back on my life and realize I got to two good options on some big decisions and some I think I made the right decision and others I'm not as sure. Could I get to that point and simply take a coin and say, "Okay God, you know me from the inside out. Make plain which of these two decisions you'd like me to make," flip it and accept the outcome as from God?

Is this something we should apply to our personal lives? How should this approach to decision making impact our church? Does it seem different than how you see churches making decisions?

Post a comment on this or any other thought you have about chapter one.