Category: Year B

Galatians 5:2-15 – Faith Expressing Itself Through Love

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Faith, expressing itself through love, is the grace others need from us.
            I didn’t grow up committed to learning the Bible or following Christ.  I pretty much went my own way throughout my childhood, and especially my teenage years.  I still remember what it feels like to not be a Christian.
            I think that people who have a past where they didn’t live by grace but only looked out for themselves have a temptation to embrace strict rules when they become Christians.  They know what it feels like to not have Jesus in their lives, so they sometimes can go beyond Scripture and impose standards on themselves, and then others, to keep on the straight and narrow.
            If, and when, that happens, the Apostle Paul has something to say about it.  Embracing certain practices to obtain or maintain righteousness mean nothing in God’s kingdom.  Here is how Paul put it, for the church who went down the path of strict outward rule-keeping:
“You people who are trying to be made righteous by the Law have been estranged from Christ. You have fallen away from grace! We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit by faith. Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t matter in Christ Jesus, but faith working through love does matter.” (CEB)
 
            Christianity which ignores God’s grace in favor of controlling one’s own faith through certain rules is no Christianity at all, and Paul would have nothing to do with it.  His position was clear and pointed:
“You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love.” (CEB)
 
Grace is the currency in God’s kingdom, flowing freely through love.  God has your back.  His grace forgives, and never runs out.  His love endures and never withdraws.  When we get a hold of this essential and beautiful truth about God, the only rule we want to keep is the continuing debt to love one another.
            So, are there any practices, rules, beliefs, or doctrines which you hold to that you impose on yourself which are burdensome to you?  Why do you do them?  Do you expect others to do so?  What would change if you threw grace and love in the mix?

 

Gracious God, your love has extended so far as to give your one and only Son on our behalf.  Through Jesus, I embrace the faith and love gifted to me through his redeeming work.  Help me to daily die to myself and my propensity for outward rule-keeping, and to live the gracious life you died to procure for me.  Amen.

Jeremiah 29:1-14

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Whenever I’m in a conversation with a Christian, it’s common for me to ask them what their favorite verse or passage of the Bible is.  Hands down, the most often cited verse is Jeremiah 29:11 –
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)
 
            It’s a wonderful verse.  Yet, there is a distinct situation and context surrounding that verse about the future.  The verse is very much rooted in the present. The nation of Judah had been taken into captivity to Babylon.  Understandably, the people were longing to go back home; they didn’t want to be in Babylon.
So, Jeremiah (who remained in Judah) sent them a letter, and warned them to not listen to false prophets who would give them an easy answer about getting out of Babylon quickly. Instead, he told them to make a good life for themselves in their captive land.  He essentially told them to “bloom where you are planted.”
God said to the captives through Jeremiah the prophet:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (NIV)
 
            Another version says this in verse 7: “Pray for peace in Babylonia and work hard to make it prosperous.  The more successful that nation is, the better off you will be.” (CEV)
            Verse 11 only has solid meaning for us today when we:
·         understand that we are to work hard right where we are in a place we don’t want to be
·         pray for that place and its people and welfare
·         thrive in our presenthard circumstance.
Then, we can look to a bright future.  Our present sufferings do not compare to what glory is coming.  But that occurs only if we persevere and find ways of flourishing right where we are today.  How will you thrive in the place God has you right now?

 

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day.  Preserve with your mighty power so that I might not just wish for a different today and are not able to see what you have for me in this place.  May I not be overcome by adversity, but in all things direct me to the fulfilling of your purposes; through Jesus Christ, my Lord in the strength of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 7:32-40

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            We understand worry and anxiety.  Its part of the human condition in this broken world.  You may have even woken up this morning with deep furrows of anxiety about the state of your life – and maybe God was lost somewhere in your worry.  The Bible addresses worry many times, and the Apostle Paul brings it out here in our New Testament lesson for today.
            Throughout the letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul dealt with several issues effecting the life and spiritual (even physical) health of the church.  In chapter 7, he discusses the prospect of marriage for unmarried persons (sounds like Paul spoke at a lot of college campuses).  He goes back and forth as if he has a daisy in his hand giving a pre-marital counsel of “she loves me, she loves me not” as he pulls petals off the flower.
            Paul vacillates between whether to get married or not because he’s concerned for the larger issue of worry and anxiety.  “I want all of you to be free from worry.”  This, then, becomes a sage grid from which to make an important life decision: Does being unmarried create worry and anxiety within you, to the point that you can’t think about pleasing God?  Then drop the long engagement and get married; or, put yourself out there to connect in a relationship.  If not being married doesn’t cause you to worry, then stay in your current state and don’t pursue marriage.  Use your station in life to serve God freely, liberated from the worry of caring for a spouse.
            Pleasing and serving the Lord is Paul’s highest good.  If we are in life circumstances which make it difficult for us to serve God, then we ought to work to change the situation so that we can focus better on Christ.  This is one of the most simple and wise ways of making decisions for the Christian, and discerning God’s will.

 

God Almighty, you have brought me in safety to this new day.  Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into worry – forgetting to please you in every way.  Help me not be overcome by anxiety, and in all I do direct me to fulfilling of your purposes; through Jesus Christ, my Lord, along with you and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Psalm 35:1-10

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is.  There is a time to do your best in putting up a good face and dealing with people who don’t ever stop gossiping, slandering, and trying to get their way.  But there is also a time to call such behavior “evil” and cry out to God for help.
            Psalm 35 is a classic prayer in the category called “imprecatory psalms.”  The term “imprecatory” means to call down a curse on a person or group of people.  Maybe this surprises you that there is such language in the Bible.  In fact, there are 18 such imprecatory psalms which make a clear petition to God for him to turn the evil back on themselves that they inflict (or try to inflict) on others.
            I’m a believer in making simple observations about the biblical text.  Let’s observe a few things about such psalms:
1.      David asks God to deal with the evil behavior of powerful people.
Unlike most of us, David went through a time in is life where there were powerful people who were literally trying to hunt him down and take his life.  As much as we might speculate whether David wanted to take matters into his own hands, the fact remains that he didn’t.  David relied on God to execute judgment.
2.     David did not hold his feelings back in describing exactly what he wanted God to do.
There is nothing sanitized here in the psalm.  David was understandably upset.  He did nothing wrong, yet he was being chased like an animal.  David said it plainly to God: “attack my attackers;” “aim your spear at everyone who hunts me down;” “send your angel after them;” “surprise them with disaster;” and, “let them fall and rot in the pits they have dug.”  Whatever you might think about how a proper Christian ought to say and pray, imprecatory curses might not be your first thought.  But here they are, out there for us to read in the Holy Bible.
3.     The psalms are the prayer book of the church.
That includes the imprecatory psalms.  Yes, they ought to be prayed by us right along with psalms of praise, thanksgiving, and song.  I want you to think what might be a radical thought for you: We ought to include imprecatory prayers in our regular rhythms, routines, and rituals of prayer.
 
            Evil will not have the last word.  God opposes the proud and the arrogant who step on others to get their way.  But he gives grace to the humble, that is, those who look to him for justice and righteousness; are open about their feelings of hurt and upsetedness; and, lift-up imprecatory prayers which are biblically consistent.

 

Saving God, you protect the helpless from those in power and save the poor and needy who cry out to you.  Mighty God, turn back on those with slanderous tongues, gossiping words, and sinful actions the evil they intend to inflict on others.  Let them fall into a deep black hole for which they cannot get out and harm anyone again; through King Jesus, our Savior, in the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.