sin
Faith in Action
By Linda Rex
September 8, 2024, Proper 18 | After Pentecost—In my personal faith tradition years ago, having the right theology or correct belief system was essential. In the extreme form of this belief and practice, exclusion of any group or person that did not agree with our faith tradition was the norm. Sadly, this meant that we were blind to how God was working with every person in this world and within other faith traditions.
Over the years, I began to see that there were huge flaws in what I believed and practiced in the name of obeying God and following what the Bible taught. Much of this was due to a desperate need for the Spirit to give me a new framework through which to view God and the Bible, a framework given to us by God himself. He gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, as the sole true interpreter and revealer of God and his will and his ways. When I began to see through the lens of Jesus Christ, everything changed, thanks to the Spirit’s gracious work.
When James addresses the issue of Christian faith and practice, he does so through the lens of Jesus Christ and all that Jesus is for us in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the gift of the Spirit. In order to read the book of James properly, we need to find the indicatives which undergird each of the imperatives or commands which the apostle gives us to follow. For example, in our New Testament reading for this Sunday, James 2:1–10, 14–17, the apostle James tells us that we are not to treat some people better than others when they join us in Christian fellowship. And he says that we need to be aware that our faith is empty or dead if it is not accompanied by actions which affirm its reality. These are the imperatives or commands James is encouraging us to put into practice.
But notice the indicatives or underlying spiritual realities behind these imperatives. He asks, “did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” The royal law expressed in Jesus Christ—the lens through which we view all things—is that God in Christ was willing to lay down his life for us so that we could be with him forever. This is the God, the Lord Jesus, who while on this earth spent much of his time with the everyday people of his land, ministering to the poor, needy, and afflicted, both Jew and non-Jew. James tells us that, because of Jesus Christ and because of his own law of love written on our hearts by the Spirit, we treat every human being with dignity, respect, and kindness. The person may be different than us, they may be struggling, but they are our equals—as the apostle Paul says, we are all one in Christ Jesus.
In the Gospel passage, Mark 7:24–37, Mark tells two stories within the context of Jesus’ harassment by the leaders of his people. One is about a woman who was “a Gentile [a non-Jew], of the Syrophoenician race”—someone who the Jewish leaders would have avoided having anything to do with, even though she needed their help in freeing her daughter from demon possession. And, even though Jesus reminds her that his immediate focus is currently on his own Jewish people, she counters his initial refusal with a humble, yet bold remark about how even the pet dogs get the crumbs off the table. Touched by her faith, Jesus heals her daughter.
The other story is about a man who is deaf and mute that some people brought to Jesus to heal. Jesus shows the man what he’s going to do and then says, “Be opened.” In that moment, the man’s ears are opened and he is once again able to speak. Jesus tells the people who brought him not to say anything about his healing, since it would complicate Jesus’ ability to continue to do ministry in that area. But they become more and more vocal about it. And Jesus knows that this will only increase his persecution by the leaders of his people. And Jesus knows that the Jewish leaders of that day needed a new lens through which to view the people with whom God had given them the responsibility to lead and care for. They needed to get out of their religious box and begin simply practicing the law they knew by heart, to truly love their neighbor as themselves. Their faith in their loving God needed to be evidenced in the actions they took day by day as they encountered the different people in their lives, no matter their background, history, circumstances, religious affiliation, or race.
So, going back to our passage in James, we see that the people James writes to have the same issues that Jesus was up against during his time here on earth. The human tendency to put some people lower and some people higher is at work in this fellowship, and James calls them back to the spiritual realities of their faith in Christ. In the Triune oneness of Father, Son, and Spirit, there’s unique personhood, yet equality and unity. In the same way, this group of believers needed to start acting like the children of God they were, treating one another as unique equals who were sharing in the oneness which is ours in Christ by the Spirit. And when someone came into their gathering who did not fit any human category of value and worth, they were to still treat them as a beloved child of God, for in Christ, that is what they are. And here we find the impetus to live this out ourselves today, as God’s beloved children, who God, in Christ, stooped down to include in his own life and love, both now and forever. Who might God want us to include who we have previously excluded?
Thank you, Father, for going to such extent to include us in your life and love through your Son Jesus in the Spirit. Thank you for raising us up out of our poverty of evil, sin, and death, and for giving us the dignity and worth of being called your very own adopted children. Grant us the grace to value others with the same grace and worth with which you value us, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. … What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” James 2:1–10, 14–17 NASB
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According to Our Design
By Linda Rex
April 14, 2024, 3rd Sunday | Easter—Many years ago, I sat in biology class and listened to my instructor talk about how a plant grows. One of the students raised their hands and asked, how does a leaf know when it is done growing? I wondered this too, thinking to myself, how does a leaf know when it is supposed to stop developing? How does the plant know to stop growing that leaf and to start growing another one?
Not being a biologist, nor a teacher, my understanding of these natural processes is quite limited. But the simple understanding I came to that day was that written into the very being of the plant was the blueprint of its design. Because the cells of the plant knew its design, what it ultimately was to be, that is how they multiplied and developed together, to create a plant uniquely like the design written into its very being. As stems were formed, leaves grew, flowers unfolded, and seeds developed, each fulfilled its original design—unless something interrupted or twisted that process. Then the plant would not grow properly and would be flawed.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 John 3:1-7, the apostle John says that each and every person on this earth has a unique design—to be the children of God. John says that not only, because of Christ, will we one day be God’s children, but that even now, this is our divine design. Created to live in right relationship with God and one another, humans were meant to love and be loved, to live in other-centered self-giving love within the divine fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just as the unique equal Persons of the Triune God live in oneness and unity, each of us as unique, equal human persons were meant to live together in union and communion with God and one another.
To live in any other way than that in which we were designed to live, is to live in the way the apostle John is describing here when he says “sin is lawlessness.” The law of love—for Jesus said this was his command, to love one another as he loved us by laying down his life—is the law we were designed to live. This is our spiritual DNA so to speak. Jesus Christ has lived our life, died our death, and risen again, restoring us to our original design as the image-bearers of God we were created to be. Now we are to grow up into the fullness of who we are in Christ.
In this passage, note that Jesus Christ is the pure one, into whose purity we live. Jesus Christ is the righteous one, into whose righteousness we live. The truth of our human design is found in Jesus Christ—the only human, perfected and holy, who lives in face-to-face intimate communion with our Father in the Spirit, even now. Jesus invites us into that glorious embrace, and gives us his Spirit so that we can participate fully in it even now as we trust in him. It is Christ’s life of faith, his life of worship, praise, and prayer we participate in. He is the One we will one day look like, when we see him in glory. What a great hope this is!
Until that day when Jesus returns in glory and establishes the new heaven and earth, our human existence will be in this place where we are fully broken and sinful, but at the same time fully pure, accepted, forgiven, redeemed in Christ—our true life is hidden with Christ in God, as the Scripture says. Caught in this place where, in Christ we are already-but-not-yet all that we need to be, we live each moment in full dependency upon Christ. We are beloved children of our heavenly Father—so we live into that reality, trusting Jesus to finish what he has begun in us by his Spirit.
The good news is that Jesus Christ has done all that is needed for us to live in right relationship with God and one another now and forever. This does not mean that we live however we want. What it means is that we begin, by the Spirit, to live into the truth of our original design. We begin to simply be who God, in Christ, has created us to be. We allow God to live in and through us, for the sake of others, just as Jesus allowed his Father by the Spirit to live in and through him for the sake of us all. Whatever road this may take us down—and Jesus ended up going down the road to death and resurrection, for our sakes—we follow Christ, and allow his Spirit to finish what he has begun in us. We trust in God’s perfect love, and that what he has designed and forged into our human flesh will be perfected in us, just as it was perfected in Jesus Christ, in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, and in the giving of his Spirit.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for including us in your life and love, through your Son and by your Spirit. Enable us to see and know our original design, to be those who reflect your likeness, the other-centered self-giving love you are in your very Being. Forgive us for all the ways in which we corrupt and disrupt this divine design—we receive your cleansing and renewal, in your Son Jesus and by your Spirit, and ask that we may live into the fullness of all you meant us to be as your adopted children. Amen.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; …” 1 John 3:1–7 NASB
“Consider the amazing love the Father lavished upon us; this is our defining moment: we began in the agape of God—the engineer of the universe is our Father! So it’s no wonder that the performance-based systems of this world just cannot see this! Because they do not recognize their origin in God, they feel indifferent towards anyone who does! Beloved, we know that we are children of God to begin with, which means that there can be no future surprises; his manifest likeness is already mirrored in us! Our sameness cannot be compromised or contradicted; our gaze will confirm exactly who he is—and who we are. And every individual in whom this expectation echoes also determines to realize their own flawless innocence mirrored in him whose image they bear. Distorted behavior is the result of a warped self-image! A lost sense of identity is the basis of all sin! (… Sin is to live out of context with the blueprint of one’s design; to behave out of tune with God’s original harmony. It is to be out of step with your true sonship! … The root of sin is to believe a lie about yourself, which is the fruit of the “I am-not Tree”. This was also the essence of Israel’s unbelief that kept them trapped in a grasshopper-mindset for 40 years. …) We have witnessed with our own eyes how, in the unveiling of the prophetic word, when he was lifted up upon the cross as the Lamb of God, he lifted up our sins and broke its dominion and rule over us! To abide in him in uninterrupted seamless oneness, is to live free from sin. Whoever continues in sin has obviously not perceived how free they are in him; they clearly do not really know him. Little children, do not be led astray by any other opinion; his righteousness is the source of our righteousness.” 1 John 3:1–7 Mirror
See also Luke 24:36b–48.
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Created for Fellowship
By Linda Rex
April 7, 2024, 2nd Sunday in Easter—Have you ever wished that you could move away to a remote island away from all the people in the world, and be by yourself? The thought of not having to cope with and sort through the tangled web of relational issues is an attractive one, though in reality, running away in this manner will not guarantee freedom from stress and difficulty.
The reason is that we cannot escape from ourselves. Often our issues with coping and sorting through our difficult circumstances and relationships are grounded in our own faulty and flawed ways of relating, thinking, responding, and acting. We often do not realize the impact we have on those around us, and don’t see how we are influencing or affecting the people closest to us.
In our New Testament reading for this Sunday, 1 John 1:1–2:2, the apostle John explains that there are two ways in which we walk as human beings—in the light or in the darkness, in the truth or in a lie, in life or in death. The reality is that everyone of us is fully capable of both at any moment in our lives, even after we have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Coming to faith in Christ enables us to begin to live into the truth of who we are in him, in his resurrected glory in face-to-face fellowship with his Father in the Spirit. But it does not guarantee that in this life we will never sin, or miss the mark of our true humanity or design.
John is clear about who the Source of our life, our truth, our fellowship with God and one another is—Jesus Christ. This is because we find in Jesus what it means to be truly human. We find that this is the One who eternally existed in the Godhead, and yet, took on our human flesh with all of its inherent weaknesses, frailties, and propensity to sin, in order to cleanse it and to turn it back into right relationship with God. The eternal life we long for—to know the Father and him whom he sent—is found only in Jesus Christ, for he took our flesh through death into the grave, and from there brought us up into new life.
We need to readjust our thinking when it comes to God, and quit focusing on getting everything right according to a particular standard we have come up with. Rather, our humanity and our way of existing finds its definition in the person of Jesus Christ. We quit being self-focused, even in seeing our faults and failures, and turn to Jesus and keep our eyes on him. Jesus Christ defines us—and he has made us right with God, bringing us up in to face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. Trust in this reality—put your faith in him and not in anything else. And begin to participate in this reality in a real way—through fellowship with God and with others in the Spirit.
To walk in any other way than in the way Jesus walks is to walk in darkness or to live a lie. This is because there is no other way to live other than that which Jesus lives even now in the presence of his Father in the Spirit—he is the perfected human, worshiping his Father in Spirit and in truth. The One through whom and by whom all was created, has taken on our human flesh, lived our life, died our death, and risen again—bringing our glorified, resurrected human flesh into union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. It is Jesus who offers our worship and prayer to his Father, and who gives us all the Father has for us in the Spirit.
There is only one way to live, and that is, to live “in Christ”. The reality is that every one of us, whether a believer in Christ or not, is going to fall short, to fail to live into the truth of who we are in Christ. That’s why it’s all up to Jesus and not up to us, to make sure we are growing and becoming all that God has created us to be. It is Jesus, the Judge and the One judged on the cross, who will ultimately decide our eternal fate. The issue now is fellowship—participating in the face-to-face union and communion with God through Christ in the Spirit right now and on into eternity. Will we live in the truth of this union and communion, and fully participate in Christ, in our new life in him? Or will we keep on living in denial of this reality, in a stubborn refusal to live in the Light, to walk in the truth of our existence? Will we insist on our own way, our own will, in spite of all Jesus has done to include us in God’s life and love?
Lord, we are so often clueless when it comes to relationship and living in healthy ways with other human beings. And we certainly have no ability to live in right relationship with you, God. Thank you for all you have done for us, Jesus, and all you are doing now, and will do to transform, heal, and restore us. Grant us the grace to die in your death that we might live in your eternal life, now and forever, as our heavenly Father’s beloved children in the Spirit. Amen.
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” 1 John 1:1–2:2 NASB
“… But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’ Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:19–31 NASB
“And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” Acts 4:32–35 NASB
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Bringing Life to the Dead
By Linda Rex
February 25, 2024, 2nd Sunday in Preparation for Easter or Lent—In my current studies with Grace Communion Seminary, one of my assignments was to read and write a reaction paper on the book Transformed by Truth by Joe Tkach. Having read this book years ago, it was interesting to see all the little nuances I had missed in the first reading, and to realize anew how profound the change has been in my life since the events of the 1990’s in my denomination.
So much of my early years were focused on trying to get everything exactly right so I could receive God’s blessing and his love. There was a realization that when I sinned (which seemed to be very often, especially with all the rules I thought I needed to keep) that I was under God’s wrath, due to be corrected, punished, or worse. Every little thing came under scrutiny—what I wore on Sabbath, what I did or did not do on Sabbath or holy days, what I ate or did not eat, what I read or didn’t read—to the point that I was crushed under the realization of how awful a person I was. I believed I was a failure and only worthy of rejection and condemnation.
I am so grateful that in God’s mercy, he brought me to grace, to the Lord Jesus Christ, into a saving relationship which has transformed and healed me and my life. I am still dealing with the consequences of so many years lived in a legalistic, life-draining environment, but now I have a closer walk with the Lord where every moment can be a life-giving conversation with him through the Spirit and an ongoing experience of love and grace.
In our New Testament reading for today, Romans 4:13–25, the apostle Paul explains that the law brings wrath. Due to having given ourselves over to sin and evil, we as human beings were returning to the nothingness out of which we had been created. Death was our future, but Jesus Christ brought us up into life. It is so essential for us to understand who God is as the One who spoke into nothingness and created all things. Apart from God’s merciful intervention in our circumstances through the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, and his giving of his own Spirit, all God had created would have returned to the nothingness from which it came. This same God is the One who by his Son entered into this place, our death, and brought us eternal life. It is God who gives life, and this is a gift given to us, which we receive and participate in by faith in Christ.
The apostle Paul uses the story of Abraham and Sarah to illustrate this in another way. Abram and Sarai were well beyond the ability to have children. Abram’s body was as good as dead and Sarai’s womb was essentially dead and unable to bear children. There is no way, from a human standpoint, that conceiving and bearing a child was possible for them. But God came to them and said that he was changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah—both new names pointing to the reality that one day they would be the father and mother of nations and peoples. In the place that was dead, God spoke life. And thereafter, as they addressed each other by their new names, they spoke that promise to one another (see Mirror Bible).
It took time, and a failed attempt through human means (Hagar and Ishmael), for Abraham and Sarah’s faith to grow. In time, they did have a son named Isaac, through whose lineage the Messiah eventually came. And from our Lord Jesus Christ have come many children of God, for he laid down his life for all, not just for his own people.
And this was the point Paul was making. It was not the law or the keeping of the law which saved the ancient Jewish people. And it is not the law or the keeping of the law which saves us. It is the Messiah who saves. He, as a descendant of Abraham and Sarah, is a fulfillment of all of the promises made to Abraham and Sarah. And, as the Son of God, he is the only one who could, and did, bring all of humanity back home into right relationship with God. It is Jesus’ own right relationship with his Father in the Spirit that every human being participates in, and we do that by faith, not by lawkeeping or works. We trust in Jesus’ perfect work, not our own perfect work. We allow his Spirit to live in and through us, and we find that we begin living life the way we were meant to live it—in righteousness, in right relationship with God and one another. We do not trust in our own righteousness, but in Jesus’ perfect righteousness, in his death and resurrection, and in his gift of the Spirit. It is his life in us that is life-changing, transformational, and healing. And in the end, God gets all the glory. Amen and hallelujah!
Thank you, Father, for all you have done to make us right with you through your Son and in your Spirit. Grant us the grace to turn away from our own futile human efforts to earn your love and acceptance, and instead, to simply trust in your love, to trust in your Son Jesus Christ and in his work in our place on our behalf. Enable us then to live the life you created us to live in the way you have determined—through Jesus Christ our Lord and by your Spirit. Amen.
“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, ‘a father of many nations have I made you’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, ‘so shall your descendants be.’ Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore ‘it was also credited to him as righteousness.’ Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” Romans 4:13–25 NASB
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Made Alive in the Spirit
By Linda Rex
February 18, 2024, 1st Sunday in Preparation for Easter | Lent—There are ways in which every generation resembles that which existed before the flood story which we read in about in Genesis 6-9 and in other ancient records. Whatever we may believe about how and if the flood occurred, the important thing to remember is that all of this is part of God’s story, and is fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. In other words, when looking at these texts, we need to observe it through this lens—Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
When we do that, we see a glimpse of what Peter meant when he indicated that the event of the flood was in many ways a baptism, and that it teaches us about what it means to leave our old life behind and be immersed in Christ, as those who die with Christ and rise with Christ, and live new lives centered in Jesus’ own life with his Father in the Spirit.
In our New Testament reading for this Sunday, 1 Peter 3:18–22, the apostle Peter reminds his readers that Jesus “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (NASB). In other translations, we read “the righteous for the unrighteous” (ESV, NRSV, NIV), which helps us to understand that Jesus, the only One in right relationship with his Father in the Spirit, died for every one of us, for we all have turned away from this face-to-face relationship with our God. The whole purpose for Jesus’ incarnational life—of becoming God in human flesh, living our life, dying our death, and rising again—was so that “He might bring us to God”. How beautiful is that?
When we read the flood story, then, we see a world drowning in sin, evil, and death, which desperately needs to be brought home to God. The Father’s heart is breaking at the sight of such destruction and ruin of all the glory he had given his creation, and he knows he has to do whatever it takes to free the world from its slavery to evil, sin, and death. So God immerses that world in water, to wash it and cleanse it, and bring it to a place where new life could emerge and once again fill the earth.
The only reason Noah and his family escaped this merciful inundation of the world was because Noah believed and obeyed God. He trusted in God’s word, that if he built the ark (large boat), filled it with animals as directed, and entered into it, he would be saved. It was not Noah’s efforts which saved him—imagine how difficult it would have been to build that large boat and save all those animals! No, it was God’s grace which saved Noah and his family. It was God’s love which enabled him to endure the floodwaters and emerge safely on the other side, to enter into the new, clean world.
In the same way, our human flesh has given itself over to evil, sin, and death, even though what God created was “very good”. Lost in our darkness, we are enslaved when we have been created for true freedom based in the love of God. No matter how hard we try, no matter what efforts we make, we cannot save ourselves. But God will not leave us in this place, for this was never his plan for us. We were created for relationship, for oneness with God and each other, to live in other-centered, self-giving love both now and forever.
So the Word of God, the Son of God, came and took on our human flesh, living the life we were meant to live, in right relationship with God and others. He was the truly righteous One, the Just One, living in our human flesh, so that he might bring us home to his Father. In Jesus, our human flesh was immersed in the divine life and love in such a way that he purified, cleansed and renewed all that we are. In living our life, dying our death, and rising again, Jesus made and is making all things new, and in his ascension, Jesus sent the Spirit so each and every person might participate in his new life. What Jesus did for all, by the Spirit we each can experience personally as we trust in his finished work.
Like Noah, we need to trust the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and do as he asks in order to fully experience the healing, cleansing flood of his Spirit, without it destroying us in the process. “Trust me,” he says. “Leave your old life behind. Turn, and get into the boat. The flood is coming.” Repent, and believe. Be baptized by the Spirit. Jesus, in his resurrected and glorified human flesh, now reigns over all, and is our intercessor and advocate with his Father in the Spirit. He prays for us and with us, and offers our worship, prayer, and praise to his Father on our behalf. He is our Lord and Savior. Trust him to rescue you from the flood of evil, sin, and death, and to immerse you the cleansing flood of his heavenly Spirit, receiving the gift of new life in him. And as a testimony to this amazing, glorious spiritual renewal, be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, we so desperately need the forgiveness you offer us in your Son Jesus Christ. Grant us the grace to turn away from all we have given ourselves over to which leads to evil, sin, and death. Grant us repentance and faith, and cleanse us by your Spirit. Immerse us the loving, living waters of your Holy Spirit, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” 1 Peter 3:18–22 NASB
“[From Adam till Noah to Now.] Christ died once and for all, in order to conclusively separate you from a distorted identity. Thus, restored righteousness [shared likeness] triumphed beyond the reach of any identity that is not in sync with innocence and oneness, [righteousness bringing closure to unrighteousness]—in order that he might lead you-manity to be face to face with God; his body was murdered, but he was made alive in spirit. Thus, through the doorway of death, his spirit entered the very domain where those who died before were imprisoned. There, he announced his message. His audience included all who died in unbelief, in the days of Noah when he built the Ark. Jesus is the extension of the patience of God, who waited for mankind at a time when only 8 survived the flood. There is a new baptism. Immersed in his death and co-quickened in his resurrection, mankind once dead and drowned are now made alive and crowned. Jesus emptied whatever definition we have of hell, and came back with the trophies [humanity] and the keys [Isaiah 22:22]. Oh, what an insult it is to the entire gospel, to continue to preach a defeated devil and an empty hell, back into business.” 1 Peter 3:18–22 Mirror Bible
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’ Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’ ” Mark 1:9–15 NASB
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It’s a Mystery
By Linda Rex
December 24, 2023, 4th Sunday in Advent, Christmas Eve—I don’t know about you, but I love a good mystery, the old-fashioned kind, like in an Agatha Christie novel. As you read the text, you try to pay attention to the clues and guess who the villain is before the author unveils the truth at the end of the story. A good author throws about lots of red herrings to distract us or divert us from the truth, and sends us down rabbit trails which keep us from seeing the true perpetrator of the crime.
I wonder if the reason we love mysteries so much is because God loves a good mystery. Indeed, God is the One who set us all in the middle of life’s greatest mystery, and the apostle Paul refers to this mystery in his letters. In our passage for this last Sunday in Advent, Romans 16:25–27, Paul refers to this mystery at the end of his letter to the church in Rome, as he closes with a doxology of praise to God.
Paul says that “the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past” has been revealed. The prophetic word gave us many clues about this mystery, but it was not fully disclosed until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Eph. 3:3–9, Paul calls it the “mystery of Christ” which the Spirit revealed to the prophets and apostles, and that it was for many generations, he says in Col. 1:26, hidden in God but was now made manifest to his holy people.
What is this mystery? In Colossians 1:26, Paul puts it this way: “this mystery among the Gentiles [non-Jews], which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This is why in Ephesians, he calls it “the mystery of Christ.” The “revelation of the mystery” was the fulfillment of the promise God made over and over, beginning in the garden and on through many centuries to his people ancient Israel, that the Messiah would come and save them.
Even though his people believed this salvation had something to do with land and an earthly kingdom, the Scriptures pointed to a Messiah who would usher in the age of the Spirit, when God would free his people from their proclivity to sin and turning away from him. What was overlooked as well was the many passages which pointed to the redemption and salvation of the nations—people from all nations would be saved and come to worship the Lord.
The mystery revealed to us in Christ is that Father, Son, and Spirit, before time began, determined that all humans God created would be able to share in the divine life and love, and that this would require the self-giving of the Son of God through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. This free gift of love and grace was always in God’s plan for every human being, and even though we as human beings did not know this gift was planned for us, God gave us lots of clues along the way, and when the time was right, fulfilled his plan in and through Jesus Christ. Looking again at our passage in Romans, we see that the ability to see this mystery is given to us as a gift. It requires a revelation that only God can give us, and he does this through Christ by his Holy Spirit. We receive it through repentance and faith in Christ.
What you believe about who Jesus Christ is, is important. To see and acknowledge Jesus Christ for who he is as both Lord and Savior opens the way for us to comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and enables us to grasp this greatest mystery: God has come to us in Christ, joined us in our human flesh, shared an authentic human existence with us, died the death we all die, and rose again, bringing our human flesh into the divine life and love, and sending the Spirit so we all can individually begin to participate in God’s life and love by faith in Christ. As we come to faith in Christ, which is a gift God gives us by his Spirit, we begin to see more clearly all the clues that led to the revelation of this mystery, and we grow in our understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom.
This Christmas season, my prayer is that you experience in a way you never have before, this mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory. May you have a profound personal revelation of this mystery and begin to share this good news with others. Merry Christmas!
Our Father, thank you for the gift of your Son and you Spirit by whom we may come to share life with you now and forever in your love and grace. Grant that we may see in a way we never have before that Christ is in us, and we are in Christ, and Christ is in you, by your heavenly Spirit. Amen.
“Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 16:25–27 NRSV
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The Heart of a Shepherd
By Linda Rex
October 29, 2023, Proper 25 | After Pentecost—As October comes to an end, we celebrate our pastors and elders, and all those who serve in pastoral ministry. Last week in this blog, I wrote about how we participate in the kingdom of God, growing in our close fellowship with God and one another, living right now by the Spirit in the reality of all God has done for us in Jesus. On our spiritual journey, we are often accompanied by those who God has called and gifted to be shepherds, who point us to Christ and offer the Word of God and prayer to us in some way.
In our New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Thessalonians 2:1–8, the apostle Paul makes pains to clarify his motives and efforts in his ministry to the believers in the church in Thessalonica. Apparently, there were people who were accusing Paul of greed, impurity, deceit, and using flattery to win people over. Paul felt he needed to defend his position, emphasizing that he wasn’t like the shady traveling philosophers who commonly preyed upon unsuspecting followers. Rather he had the heart of a nursing mother—one who tenderly cared for her own.
In explaining himself, Paul revealed how he had come to have God’s heart for the members in Thessalonica. He could have insisted on being paid money for his upkeep, but instead, he often labored to pay his own way. He could have thrown around his apostolic authority (whatever that might have been), but he didn’t. Instead, he was gentle, and at the same time, firm about the good news or gospel. He did not falter when it came to Jesus and his message of the kingdom of God, even if it meant he had to go through suffering and mistreatment (like he had in Philippi).
Paul was manifesting in his life and ministry the heart of Jesus, who had been willing to stoop to the lowest level—our sin, evil, and death—to bring us up with him into his intimate fellowship with his Father in the Spirit. This is the heart of the Great Shepherd, who did not think that it was beneath him to set aside the privileges of his divinity to join us in our humanity, so that we could be set free to love God and love others as was always intended.
Being a pastor or spiritual shepherd can be a very lonely experience. Pastors and elders often have to make difficult decisions, tell painful truths, hear agonizing and traumatic stories, and pray for people when it seems all hope is lost. There are at times the joys of new birth, of new converts, of weddings and family celebrations. But when things go wrong, it is often the pastor who becomes the scapegoat, and it is often the long-suffering elder who takes the midnight call simply because he or she has the heart of Jesus for those in distress or need.
I have known and met some amazing people over the years who are pastors. It used to be that I didn’t feel safe to even talk to a pastor—but that has changed. And now that I have been one, I understand more of the journey that a person goes on when they respond to the call to pastoral ministry. A pastor is a brother or sister who has been given a unique calling and gifting to care for others as a shepherd, in union and communion with our Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. They are people who often are just as weak, broken, and sinful as the rest of us, only perhaps a little more seasoned and road-weary, and a bit wiser, with a gift from God that enables them to share what they’ve been given with others.
First, I would like to thank every one of the men and women over the years who have invested in my life and have spoken truth and hope and life into me. I am also grateful for all the sermons I have heard and the lessons I have learned at seminary, and all the other ways in which spiritual shepherds have spoken into my life. And I am grateful for all of the church members who have shown me affection, blessed me, and included me in their lives over the years while I was their pastor. They touched my lives in many ways—more than I can name—and I’m a different person because of it.
In the few days left here in October, is there someone you may wish to thank or encourage or bless? It may be good to show appreciation to your pastor or someone who has cared for you spiritually. And it’s always good to give thanks to the Great Shepherd who endlessly, and gently cares for his sheep—all of us.
Great Shepherd of the Sheep, thank you for loving us so much that you would lay everything down for us so that we might be made free, well, and brought home with you to the Father. By your Spirit, we celebrate you in all your glory and goodness. Amen.
“For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness— nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.” 1 Thessalonians 2:1–8 NASB
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Putting Off and Putting On
by Linda Rex
September 10, 2023, Proper 18 | After Pentecost—What’s your early morning routine? Do you stumble out of bed, straight into the shower? Or do you grope your way into the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee before you start your day? Or do you groan, push the snooze button on the alarm clock and roll over to catch some more zzz’s?
It is interesting that the apostle Paul, in Romans 13:8–14, uses the images of night and day, sleep and awakening, bedclothes and work clothes, in his description of how we are to be living out our lives as those who are alive from the dead in Christ. His use of these contrasts gives us a vivid picture of the difference between living life in the kingdom of God or continuing to sleep in the darkness of unbelief and disobedience.
The context of this discussion, though, is God’s love expressed to us and through us in Christ by the Spirit. God’s love was poured out in the sacrificial self-offering of Jesus and in the giving of God’s Spirit, so that we all might be participants by faith in the union and communion of Father, Son, and Spirit. God first loved us, tremendously and mightily, and so, we love one another as he has first loved us. What does love look like? It looks a lot like Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for us, and who, today, gives his life to us in and through the Holy Spirit.
This is why Paul says that the law is fulfilled as we love our neighbor as ourself. What does this look like? We can find a description in the laws of the covenant (Ex. 20; Deut. 5), and in the many descriptions given in the epistles in the New Testament. We look at Jesus, and we see the embodiment and fulfillment of the law—for he lived it out as no other human has or could. When we look around and look at ourselves, we fail to see this kind of love being lived out or expressed in such powerful and self-sacrificial ways. But this kind of love is what we were created for—to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and being, and to love our neighbor as ourself.
For this reason, Paul instructs us to “put on Christ.” Putting on Christ has the sense of being what someone does when they arise from bed in the morning, take off their pajamas, and get dressed in their work clothes, ready for whatever they may face in the day. The night is over, Paul reminds us—Christ has come and fought the battle against evil, sin, and death, and won. The day has dawned in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so we live in a new day. We put on the armor of light, an expression Paul liked to use to describe the process of putting on Christ, who is the Light (1 Thess. 5:8; 2 Cor. 6:7; Rom. 6:13; Eph. 6:13ff). This armor, Jesus Christ, is essential to our new life in Christ. We cannot live in the truth of who we are in Christ apart from Jesus living this life in and through us by his indwelling Holy Spirit.
In Ephesians 6:13–20, Paul describes the armor of God. If we prayerfully consider what he says there, we will realize that Paul is telling us to put on Christ. For example, the helmet of salvation is Jesus, who is our salvation. The breastplate of righteousness is Jesus, who is our right relationship with God. The belt of truth is Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life (not to mention our Father the God of truth, and the Spirit of truth). The shield of faith is Jesus, who is the One with complete trust in his Father and whose belief in us has never wavered, even when it cost him his life. And the shoes of the gospel of peace—the gospel and our peace being Jesus, in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
In Gal. 3:27, Paul writes, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (NASB). We actively participate in our immersion in Christ by the practice of baptism, a one-time event showing our inclusion in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Being baptized is a tangible way we put on Christ, just as taking communion regularly is another way we “put on” Christ. And living in the truth of who we are in Christ—living in the “light” or the “day” where we practice Christlike ways of caring for ourselves and others in the way God means us to is another way we “put on Christ”. Our focus and attention are on Jesus Christ, on loving God and others (our risen-in-Christ life), and not on self-centered, self-willed ways of living or fulfilling the sensual desires of our flesh (which all died when Jesus died).
As we begin and end each day, we may want to attend to the spiritual realities by pulling our attention away from the things of our dead-in-Christ flesh, and concentrate on putting on the new-life-in-Christ ways of living and thinking. We can do this by spending time alone with our Lord, being focused on him, and by practicing spiritual disciplines such as prayer, listening, meditation, silence, study of God’s Word, worship, and contemplation to open ourselves up to his Spirit’s inner work. We live each day awake and fully alive, dressed in the armor of light and the robe of righteousness given to us by God through Christ in his Spirit. As we practice putting on Christ, we also are diligent to fulfill our obligation to love others, for as we practice other-centered Christlike ways of loving, giving, and serving others, we begin to live even now in the already-not-yet reality of the kingdom of God.
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us and so generously giving us your Son and your Spirit. Thank you, Jesus, for clothing us with yourself and including us in your own life with our Father in the Spirit. Thank you for filling us with your love, and causing it to flow from us to others. Grant us the grace to wake up from our slumber, to live alert and alive each day to your life flowing in and through us by your Spirit. Amen.
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:8–14 NIV
“Remain debt free; the only thing we owe the world is our love. This is the essence of the law. Love makes it impossible for you to commit adultery, or to kill someone, or to steal from someone, speak evil of anyone, or to covet anything that belongs to someone else. Your only option is to esteem a fellow human with equal value to yourself. Everything love does is to the advantage of another; therefore, love is the most complete expression of what the law requires. You must understand the urgency and context of time; it is most certainly now the hour to wake up at once out of the hypnotic state of slumber and unbelief. Salvation has come. It was night for long enough; the day has arrived. Cease immediately with any action associated with the darkness of ignorance. Clothe yourself in the radiance of light as a soldier would wear his full weaponry. Our lives exhibit the kind of conduct consistent with the day, in contrast to the parade of the night of intoxicated licentiousness and lust, with all the quarrels and jealousy it ignites.” Romans 13:8–14 Mirror
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Liminal Spaces
by Linda Rex
July 23, 2023, Proper 11 | After Pentecost—This week I have been thinking about liminal spaces and life change, and how we never know what life will throw at us. From what I have learned about liminal spaces, they are places of transition or change, whether real or metaphorical. We may be uncomfortable or feel anxious during seasons of change or transition, especially when they mean facing difficult challenges or dealing with stressful events.
Whether we like it or not, our lives are full of these experiences of transition. This week I learned that a dear friend and former ministry co-worker passed away. Even though I am sorry that she had to go, I am grateful that she is now enjoying what she always longed for, and that was being face-to-face with Jesus and her heavenly Father in the Spirit. She had embraced her life as God’s child and had looked forward to the culmination of all that Christ had done in her life. And she longed to be with those she loved who had gone before.
We never know what may occur in life, or where we may be in the next hour, the next day, the next year. We can make plans, but in the end, we have no control over the outcome. We struggle through life, difficult situations, and long for things to be better. In many ways, all of us are caught in a liminal space, for we are present in God’s kingdom even now by the Spirit, and yet we are not fully there, for it has not yet arrived in its fullness. We are caught in the already not-yet of the kingdom of heaven, and along with the creation groan and long for the ultimate redemption of our human flesh and this world.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Romans 8:12–25, the apostle Paul reminds us that how we handle this in-between time before Christ’s return in glory is important. In this in-between space, Paul says, we are under no obligation to serve our fleshly desires and will. Since the result of doing those things is a life full of fear, slavery to sin, and death, it is better that we, by God’s Spirit, put those behaviors and actions to death. The call is for life instead. And life in all its fullness is directly related to our connection with our Creator and Redeemer.
Living in this transitional space of the already not-yet of God’s kingdom is best done as a child. Accepting our being children of our heavenly Father through Jesus in the Spirit enables us to embrace God’s love and grace, and live in the truth of who we are. As God’s children, we were designed to live in God’s grace embrace, to love God devotedly and to love one another. God’s indwelling Spirit creates a resonance in our hearts which tells us that indeed we are God’s children—we hear Jesus’ own “Abba, Father” in our hearts and realize that in Christ we can see the Father’s gaze and know we are loved.
Even though we embrace who we are as God’s children, this liminal space of the already not-yet of God’s kingdom is one where we have no guarantees of an easy, comfortable life. Because God’s kingdom stands in direct opposition to the kingdoms of this world, it is more likely that we will struggle and suffer because we have embraced our kinship with our Lord. But the apostle Paul assures us that whatever we may have to go through, nothing can compare to the vast and wonderful majesty of what we are now heirs to and will receive in glory. This is why we can, in the midst of difficulty, have hope.
And held within God’s love and grace, our hearts filled with hope, we wait. While we wait there is much to do—most especially living right now the kingdom life we were created for. We don’t have to wait for Christ’s return in glory to live as adopted children of our Father. No, we begin even now to live in the truth of who God has made us to be in Christ. Because we are given the Spirit and are even now participants in God’s kingdom through Christ, we love God and love one another. We share the good news of what God has done for us in Christ, and we tell others about God’s love and grace. And we trust that what God has in mind for us is better than what we could ask for or imagine, because he loves us.
Dear Father, thank you for including us in your life. By your Spirit, enable us to hear Jesus’ own words of affection, so we can share in your life and love. Grant us the grace to live free from our old ways and live in the truth of who we are as your beloved children, through your Son Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:12–25 NIV
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