Hebrews 13:20-21 – Conflict and Peace

On May 5, 2020May 4, 2020 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

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May the God of peace,
who brought back the great shepherd of the sheep,
our Lord Jesus,
from the dead by the blood of the eternal covenant,

equip you with every good thing to do his will,
by developing in us what pleases him through Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory forever and always. Amen. (CEB)

These verses are the benediction, that is, the blessing given at the end of a long letter to a group of struggling Jewish Christians. In fact, things were so difficult for these believers that they were giving serious consideration to reneging on their commitment to Christ. So, the author of Hebrews sent them an exhortation and an encouragement to remain true and steadfast to the faith.

What is needed is not a shrinking back from faith but instead an enduring faith which is sustainable for the long haul of a person’s life.

The believers had both inner and outer conflict. They were experiencing hardship and persecution in the form of confiscation of their property and public insults. The Christians had started out well, facing such trouble with confidence through standing side-by-side with others who were suffering as well as holding on to their vibrant faith.

Yet, over time, their resolve began to break down. A slow drift occurred. Eventually, they started to retreat from the helping of others. They emotionally and spiritually inched their way to becoming despondent to the point of questioning whether all this Christianity stuff was worth it. The outer conflict worked its way inside their souls and damaged their spirits. By the time the writer of Hebrews comes along, a group of Christians are stuck in discouragement.

It’s one thing to deal with trouble and hardship on one day, even two. It’s quite another thing when that difficulty does not let up – when days turn into weeks, weeks into months, even months into years.

There are times when peace seems to have about as much chance of being realized as winning the lottery.

Yet, God is the God of peace, real lasting harmonious spiritually restful peace. It was achieved through the life and death of Jesus. The peace Jesus has brought is so much more than the absence of conflict. God’s peace is freedom from fear and anxiety. It is a settled confidence deep down inside that God will ultimately make good on all his promises and that things will not always be this way.

Until that day comes, God is not sitting in some divine Lazy-Boy recliner watching old reruns of the Angels playing baseball. Rather, God is active through carefully, deliberately, and, to our occasional consternation, slowly equipping us and developing us into spiritually fortified people who do the will of God and please Jesus in everything they do and say. Jesus is the Great Shepherd of the sheep who will not lead us astray but will settle us in green pastures.

The word translated “equip” is a rich word (Greek καταρτίσαι, pronounced “cot-ar-tids-ay”) which means to set something straight. Picture a bone which has been broken and needs to be reset and have time to heal. That is what God is doing in his people – repairing broken spirits. This divine healing is equipping believers for a lifetime of handling adversity with faith, confidence, and endurance. The process, frankly, hurts and requires patience before healing and health come.

If God can raise the dead, he can most certainly handle any earthly trouble we are going through.

God is in the transformation business. Extreme makeovers are his specialty. He uses hard circumstances, troubles, and torments of our lives and bends them into divine tools to form and shape his people to both survive and thrive in the world.

Complaining spirits, blaming and shaming others, and impatience borne of unrealistic expectations are the evidence of damaged emotions, wounded souls, and weak faith. This is the antithesis of God. He’s not overlooking humanity with a divine *sigh* in exasperation. That’s because he is the God of peace who is bringing all things to a conclusion in Christ. Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. The Holy Spirit is now and very presently active to heal damaged emotions, repair wounded souls, and strengthen faith.

In those times when God seems absent and prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling are the times that God is establishing peace and expanding our capacity for faith and patience.

Benediction, blessing, and doxology come through the dark night of the soul and not by avoiding it.

Soli Deo Gloria. To God be the Glory.

Almighty God,
all thoughts of truth and peace
proceed from you.
Kindle in the hearts of all people
the true love of peace.
Guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom
those who take counsel
for the nations of the earth;
that in tranquility your kingdom
may go forward,
till the earth is filled
with the knowledge of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
–From the Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland, St. Andrew Press.

Click It Is Well with My Soul by TenTwoSix Music and arranged by David Wise.

1 Peter 1:13-16 – Be Holy

On April 24, 2020April 22, 2020 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

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Therefore, your minds must be clear and ready for action. Place your confidence completely in what God’s kindness will bring you when Jesus Christ appears again. Because you are children who obey God, don’t live the kind of lives you once lived. Once you lived to satisfy your desires because you didn’t know any better. But because the God who called you is holy, you must be holy in every aspect of your life. Scripture says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” (GW)

This is the Christian season of Eastertide. It is a time with a focus on new life in Jesus Christ. God did not save us only for a future life; believers are delivered from sin, death, and hell to also be holy in all we say and do in the here-and-now. The life of the Christian is to be characterized by holiness.

Everything comes down to God. As God’s image bearers we are to reflect God’s character in all things. Unity, harmony, love, and peace always exists within the triune God. Therefore, we, too, are to be characterized with these same qualities. We are to be holy because God is holy. Just as God separates himself from evil, wickedness, impurity, and all that is wrong in the world – so, we are to live a holy life separate from everything that creates and fosters division, hate, abuse, oppression, violence, pride, greed, theft, gluttony, avarice, adultery, and the host of human sins which bedevil the world. God is not at all okay with racism, favoritism, gaslighting, bullying, selfishness, hubris, and all kinds of crimes against humanity which destroy both creature and creation.

Thus, holiness of life involves both a separation from immoral and unethical thoughts, words, and practices; and, a connection with integrity and righteousness which becomes thoroughly grafted into daily life.

The Israelites of the Old Testament had a clear understanding of holiness. In fact, an entire book is devoted to holiness of life: Leviticus. The Apostle Peter drew from Levitical law when addressing the expectation of a holy life:

“I am the Lord your God; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44, NRSV)

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2, NRSV)

“Set yourselves apart for a holy life. Live a holy life, because I am God, your God. Do what I tell you; live the way I tell you. I am the God who makes you holy.” (Leviticus 20:7-8, MSG)

The ancient Israelites, through a series of regulations about what to wear and not wear, what to eat and not eat, how to relate to one another, etc. were continually reminded of God’s holiness. The importance of a pure life free from the drag of unholy living is the Levitical aim. Rather than following the crowd into mob action that damages people and property, holy living goes against the grain of popularity to seek purity of life.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8, NIV)

We are not to slide away from our new life in Christ when the going gets hard. That means holiness involves Stay at Home orders, to be separate, even though it is a rough economic hit. It means maintaining social distancing, to have separation between each other, even though it goes against how we have always operated. Holiness means finding creative ways of connecting to one another, making a living, and promoting the common good of all persons. Holiness doesn’t involve impatience, tunnel vision, and allowing our shadow selves to call the shots. Holiness does involve expressions of love, peace, and unity – the very qualities that characterize God himself.

Confidence is born of trust in God’s kindness. Clarity of thought comes from immersing ourselves in God’s non-anxious presence. A holy life arises with the awareness and acknowledgment that God is with us.

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that all my thoughts may be holy, as yours are holy.
Act in me, heavenly Father, that my actions, too, may be holy, as yours is holy.
Draw my heart to you, Lord Jesus, so that I love only what is holy, as you love what is holy.
Strengthen me, Mighty God, to defend all that is holy, as you are just and holy.
Guard me, triune God, that I may always be holy, as you are always holy.
Amen.

Click Take My Life by Scott Underwood as we express our desire to be holy.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20 – Why Is Resurrection Important?

On April 20, 2020April 20, 2020 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

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So, if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. We are found to be false witnesses about God because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died. (CEB)

Christ’s resurrection is at the very heart and soul of what it means to be Christian. For followers of Jesus, the risen Christ is at the center of life. New life means freedom from sin, death, and hell. It means experiencing life without the shackles of our past indiscretions, present failures, and future anxieties. Christianity is grounded and dependent upon a very real physical rising from death. To put it another way, the new spiritual life which Christians experience in the here and now as a result of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection is a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection.

If you are asking yourself, “Does this guy believe we are going to walk out of our graves like Jesus did?” the answer is a rollicking, “Yes!” Although Christians have been granted deliverance, our salvation is not yet here in its fullness. We still need to deal with systemic evil in the world, our old habits of sin which occasionally rear their ugly heads, and an Adversary who seeks to exploit it all to undermine God’s redemptive work in us. There is a time coming when Christ will return and the dead will be raised; and, this will not be merely an ethereal going into the clouds to strum on a harp. It will be a bona fide physical resurrection with a new body. Thus, just as we have been given a new spirit within us, a new body will follow at the end of the age.

The Apostle Paul insisted that if there was no bodily resurrection, then our faith is a sham and its worthless. One of the simple observations to make about today’s New Testament reading is that our faith and life are inextricably linked to the life of Jesus. Christ has purposefully joined himself to us. That link is so strong and vital that, in other places, Paul uses the metaphor of a head and a body – Christ is the head and we the body. Just as one cannot separate head from body and expect to have life, so nobody can separate Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection. We will have a new body to go with our new life because of Jesus Christ’s redemptive events. That new body will be as much real as the one you have right now – just without the residual effects of the curse which so stubbornly cling to it.

So, what does this mean for us? Glad you asked. Christian spirituality is also very much sacramental, that is, we inhabit a bodily faith which is firmly grounded in material reality. God’s grace is communicated to us both spiritually through the unseen world and sacramentally by means of the physical creation. We are to be reminded of that sacramental nature of our faith each time we approach the Lord’s Table and ingest the very real bread and imbibe from the tangible cup. Touch and taste help us to know our faith is meant for the creation of our five senses, as well as to impel us to labor in this world for real causes of alleviating poverty, disease, social injustice, and a myriad of ailments that bog this old fallen earth. In short, both body and soul are of great value to our God, and so, ought to be for us, as well.

What’s more, we have both a spiritual and a sacramental inheritance which awaits us at the end of the age when Christ returns to judge both the living and the dead. For the Christian, this is the basis of our hope – a confident expectation that God will make good on his promises.

Almighty God, through your Son, Jesus, death has been conquered and new life unlocked for us. We pray that all who hold to his bodily resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up both spiritually and sacramentally; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

In this season of Eastertide, click Christ Arose and we’ll keep the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection coming.