Category: Year A

1 Thessalonians 4:1-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            I ate a lot of food yesterday on Thanksgiving Day.  I watched a lot of football.  I slept.  I spent time with family.  And it was all good.  It was, in fact, holy work.  Sometimes we may get this misguided notion that purity and holiness only has to do with activities that take place in a church building, or special works like serving at a homeless shelter.  But in these verses from Thessalonians, as well as the whole of Scripture, there is really no secular/sacred dichotomy.
 
God has not called us to impurity, but in holiness in all of life in every activity we do. We have not been designed by our Creator to live in any old way we want, but we have been set apart and called by God to walk along the road of purity and peace.  The way in which we use our minds, wills, emotions, and bodies are of much interest and great concern to God Almighty.  In other words, God cares about food and whether I eat to his glory and give thanks; or, whether I have no interest in those that are hungry but just stuff as much turkey as I can in my distended stomach.  God cares about whether I take time for rest and Sabbath and whether I just isolate myself in mindless TV watching for hours.  God cares about the content of my conversations with my family and friends – whether my words are encouraging and building-up others, or whether they are slanderous, gossipy, and just not helpful.
 
Everything in all creation belongs to God – including me and everything I do.  God cares about all of life’s activities and leisure time.  Whether tying our shoes or teaching a Sunday School class, it is all to be done with a sense of holiness and connection to the God that makes it all possible.  Jesus will return someday.  So let us engage in all kinds of good works, whether little or large, with the time and talents God has graciously given us. 
Lord God, I belong to you – set apart and sanctified so that I may always walk in holiness and please you in everything I do.  Help my life today to reflect the purity you have given me through your Son, the Lord Jesus.  May he be glorified through me now and always.  Amen.

John 5:19-40

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            Christ the King Sunday is a time in which the church observes and recognizes the exaltation and glorification of God the Son as authority over every dominion.  Following the emphasis of that Sunday, these verses in John’s Gospel provide the words from Jesus as to the basis for such power.  Jesus is God.  God the Father works through God the Son.  The works that Jesus did bear testimony to the cosmic reality that Jesus is Lord of all.  Jesus lets us in on his relationship to the Father, and to his actual position and power.
 
            In the face of such biblical evidence as to the greatness and majesty of the Lord Jesus, the only valid and appropriate response is sheer submission to Christ’s authority.  Just as Jesus listened to the Father and obeyed the Father’s will, so we need to listen to Jesus and carry out his will.  Just as Jesus enjoyed his relationship with the Father, so we are to bask in our wonderful relationship with Jesus.  Since Jesus submitted to death on a cross and rose from the dead through God’s power, we now have access to that power by God’s grace through faith in Christ.
 
            We need not bend to any other master other than King Jesus, the rightful ruler of the universe.  Let us put away all others “gods” in which we depend upon for solace and help.  Jesus is a leader who guides us with grace into God’s will for us.
            King Jesus, I submit my life to you alone.  You are the object and desire of my heart.  Use me to work your divine will on this earth, to your own glory and honor.  Amen.

2 Timothy 2:8-13

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            C.S. Lewis once described God as the Hound of Heaven.  By that phrase he meant that God doggedly pursued him and would not let go.  Lewis came into Christian faith “kicking and screaming” as God’s faithful pursuit won out in his life. 
 
            The Apostle Paul reminded his young protégé Timothy of some basic sound theology that was to keep him on track and encouraged in a tough ministry.  Paul gave Timothy a trustworthy saying that he could easily remember and say to himself day after day, especially when the going got tough: 
 
            If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
            if we endure, we will also reign with him;
            if we deny him, he also will deny us;
            if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.
 
            The beauty, wonder, and distinction of God is his amazing grace.  He is not fickle, but loves and holds on even when we are unlovely and are trying to avoid him and jump out of his hand.  When God pursues, he finds; when he holds on, he will not let go.
 
            This trustworthy saying of Scripture is a good, short, solid expression of theological truth to memorize, meditate upon, and repeat to ourselves over and over again.  We belong to Jesus Christ.  God is with us.  The Hound of Heaven will always sniff us out and bring us to himself.
            Thank you, O God, for your great faithfulness to your elect, even to me.  I give unceasing praise and undying devotion to you for your grace of being the One who never lets up, through Christ my Lord.  Amen.

Matthew 12:46-50

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            There are several metaphors and images provided in Scripture that communicate a close connected relationship between God and his people.  Shepherd and sheep; head and body; cornerstone and building; and, in the Gospel lesson for today Jesus uses the opportunity of his mother and siblings showing up to say that everyone who does God’s will is his mother, brothers and sisters.
             This is not a deprecation of Jesus’ own family.  Rather, this is an amazing statement of a new order being established – a covenant not based on being a certain kind of person.  The religious elite, the wealthy, the ones having always had clean living do not have the corner on being God’s special people.  Any and all persons can come into a close familiar relation with God.  So, we see folks like prostitutes, lepers, the blind, tax collectors, and anyone on the margins of typical mainstream society becoming the center of a new Jesus movement.  One comes to God simply by doing his will – which means for Jesus that people acknowledge that he is the way, the truth, and the life.  In other words, belief in Jesus constitutes the true work of entering God’s forever family.
             You or I need not attempt to clean up our act in order to come to God.  Instead, we must come humbly to Jesus acknowledging our great need and receive grace – the mercy of entering into close relation with God in Christ.  Just as we did not choose our earthly family of origin, so we do not and cannot move in and out of God’s family as if it were based on our choice.  God makes outsiders insiders and vice versa.  It is all about God and his wonderful grace to people through Jesus.  This is truly good news!
             O God, thank you for your amazing grace to me in Christ!  I praise you for adopting me into your family and making me a part of your church.  I pray that this wonder will stick with me as I take advantage of all the family privileges and responsibilities I possess through Jesus.  Amen.