trust
We Know Love by This
By Linda Rex
April 21, 2024, 4th Sunday | Easter—The other day I was in a supermarket looking for a few items which we had run out of and which I needed for a special family gathering. While I was standing in the dairy section, looking at the items in the refrigerator box, I noticed someone I had seen earlier elsewhere in the store. In fact, I had seen this person four or five times, gathering items and putting them into a grocery sack.
In my mind, I questioned whether or not they intended to pay for the items. Then I realized that this person looked very familiar, a lot like someone I had seen in another locality entirely—on the streetcorner, holding a sign. Was this someone who was homeless who happened to have been given some funds with which to buy some food?
At this moment, I was called away by my shopping companion, and had to leave. But this story came to my mind as I was reading the New Testament passage for today, 1 John 3:16–24. The apostle John was speaking regarding our care for brothers and sisters within the body of Christ, but our expression of the love of God in Christ is meant to cross all barriers, and not be restricted only to those who are believers in Christ.
I find one of the greatest challenges as I write this blog is to live out what I believe to be true. However difficult it may be to write honestly and openly about what I believe to be true (and it can be very difficult at times), it is even more so to live out the ideals I write about. The truth which I have in Jesus Christ and have been given by the Spirit is profoundly wonderful. But as one who is fully redeemed, restored, and accepted by God, and at the same time, broken, wretched, and so far from being what I ought to be, I realize that too often, what I say isn’t always backed up by my actions.
The body of Christ, the Church, has a lot to answer for because too often what we have preached about the love of God in Christ has not been backed up by our actions. True, at times people expect unreasonable things of believers—as human beings, we do have limits to what we can do. But at the same time, Jesus said we would be known as his followers, by our love for one another. And the love Jesus was talking about was the same love he showed for every human being when he laid down his life, took up his cross, and died for each of us.
If, as John says in our passage for today, that we know love by the way in which Jesus laid down his life for us, then the truest expression we can give of God’s love is to lay down our own life for someone else, especially when they are a fellow follower of Christ. What are some ways in which we can lay down our lives for one another?
Our minds often go to the ultimate sacrifice, which our brothers and sisters in the military or police force do on a regular basis (for which we are so grateful). But there are many other ways in which our everyday lives are full of opportunities to lay down our lives in tangible ways. In our job, we may risk our life daily by caring for sick people or by having to work in a job situation which isn’t safe. If we are next in the grocery line, there may be a person behind us who only has one item and looks to be in a hurry. How difficult would it be to lay down our need to be first and allow them to go ahead of us? Or, as we are getting on the interstate, to allow others to merge onto the interstate by slowing down for a moment, rather than competing with them for a position? Attending one more mid-week event or meeting, or inviting a small group over, may absolutely ruin our schedule and disrupt our household—but what if doing this would make a difference in the life of someone who is lonely or struggling?
As you can see, our everyday lives are full of opportunities to express self-giving, sacrificial love. This is especially true within our own households as we interact with our family or within the household of God, with our spiritual family. It is God’s Spirit who pours the love of God into our hearts and enables us to love as Jesus loved us. We trust in Jesus and in his love, and by his Spirit love one another, and do so in tangible ways by living sacrificially in a spirit of service and giving. As we live in this way, God’s love spreads out from us into the world, enabling others to see and experience God’s love in ways that are lifechanging, healing, and restorative.
Dearest Father, thank you for pouring out your love through your Son Jesus and by your Spirit. Enable us to receive the love that you give, and in receiving your love, offer it to others as freely has you have offered it to us. Lord Jesus, grant us the grace to live in other-centered, self-sacrificing ways as you did and do. Pour your love by your Spirit in and through us to all those around us, in your name, Jesus. Amen.
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” 1 John 3:16–24 NASB
“Love is known in its othercenteredness; just as Jesus laid down his life for us to free his love within us for others. The indwelling love of God compels one to live sensitively aware of people around us, and not to exclude those in need. My darling children, let’s not deceive ourselves by paying lip service to love while we can truly live the dynamic of love in our practical daily doing! In this we know that our beingness is sourced in that which is really true about us; our doing good is not phoney or make-belief; this is who we are in God’s sight! So, even if our own hearts would accuse us of not really being true to ourselves, God is greater than our hearts and he has the full picture! His knowledge of us is not compromised. Beloved when we know what God knows to be true about us, then instead of condemning us, our hearts will endorse our innocence and free our conversation before God. Now, instead of begging God, we speak with confident liberty as sons. We also treasure the conclusion of his prophetic purpose [in redeeming our sonship] and fully accommodate ourselves to his desires and pleasure! Knowing the warmth in his eyes inspires poetic freedom in our every expression. And this is the ultimate conclusion of his intention and desire that we would be fully persuaded concerning the name of Jesus Christ who has successfully accomplished his mission as the son of God to rescue mankind’s authentic sonship! Our love for one another completes his joy! Everyone who treasures this final conclusion of God’s dream, abides unhindered in seamless oneness in him and he in them. His gift of the Spirit is to endorse our awareness of his abiding within us!” 1 John 3:16–24 Mirror Bible
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By Grace Through Faith
By Linda Rex
March 10, 2024, 4th Sunday in Preparation for Easter or Lent—During this season as we prepare to celebrate the events of Holy Week, it seems at times as though I am experiencing afflictions and temptations similar to those Jesus experienced during his forty-day wilderness experience. Even though we know that Jesus arose triumphant from all that afflicted and crucified him, we often face events, circumstances, and sorrows in this life which challenge us, grieve us, and tempt us.
It is good to take some time to reflect on the spiritual realities which are true in Jesus Christ, as well as our deep need for all he has done, is doing, and will do in us and for us by the Holy Spirit. What a blessing that we have hope in him!
This is what the apostle Paul points out in our New Testament reading for this Sunday, Ephesians 2:1–10. There is incredibly good news in this passage, for Paul reminds his readers that every one of them, whether a Jew like himself or a non-Jew, had at one time, like each and every one of us, been dead in trespasses and sins, having fallen short of the mark of those who were meant to reflect the image of God we see in Jesus Christ. As a result, every human being was facing the consequence of God’s immeasurable love poured out in redemptive correction and restoration. Then he uses those two beautiful words which change everything: “But God…”
Here the apostle Paul reminds us of the nature and character of God. God is rich in mercy. God has great love towards humankind. God is gracious. And because this is who he is, he reaches down into the death in which we found ourselves to bring us up in his Son Jesus Christ, seating us with and in him in the heavenly places where our Lord now sits in face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. Because of who God is, we have been saved by faith, are being saved, and will experience our full salvation when Jesus returns in glory.
We are reminded too that our efforts to do the right thing, our actions of service or helping, do not save us. We are only saved by grace through faith. And we discover in Jesus Christ that we as human beings have a way of being we were created to live into—the way of other-centered, self-sacrificial, giving love, the same kind of love that is essential to God’s being as Father, Son, and Spirit, three Persons in one Being. As his beloved, adopted children, we were meant to be loved by God, to love him in response, and to love one another. There is a way of being which is ours, which we were created to live out, which Jesus recreated in his incarnational, cruciform self-offering, resurrection and ascension. Our new life is in Christ, and reflects his own way of being, as he lives in us and through us by his Holy Spirit.
As God’s beautiful masterpieces, we daily bear witness to the transformational healing work of Jesus Christ as we live out the kingdom life given to us in him. This can be challenging in a world that is given over to the ways of God’s adversary and to the lusts and desires of our human flesh. And it can be difficult, for we are each easily tempted, distracted, and overwhelmed by what we face day by day as we go through life. What struggles are you facing right now? Is there something pulling you down? Are you finding yourself caught up in unbearable circumstances? Do you see everything that is wrong with the world, yourself, and/or others and wonder how anything will ever be any different?
Here it is important to humbly go before the throne of grace to find help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). We need to be reminded of who God is—the God who loves us so much that he gave us his Son. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, John 3:14–21, we are reminded that God’s Son did not come into this world to condemn the world, but to save the world. God’s intention, his motivation, his driving force is love and grace. So, to go before Jesus in our humble need is the best possible thing we can do, for there is where God meets us to draw us to himself, to give us by his Spirit his healing, renewal and restoration. What is keeping you away? Why not stop right now and open yourself up to your heavenly Father’s love and grace, and simply trust in Christ. Let God be who God is—your Savior, your Redeemer, your Lord—the One who loves you, forgives and accepts you, and welcomes you back home.
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us and for being so gracious toward us. No matter how hard we try, we cannot get it right. No, indeed, it seems that all we can offer you is our brokenness, sinfulness and falling short. Grant us anew your grace, and form Christ in us that we may effectively bear witness to your glory, love, and grace through Jesus by your Spirit. Amen.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1–10 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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The Grace of Joy
By Linda Rex
December 17, 2023, 3rd Sunday in Advent | Joy—Sometimes this time of year, we have a hard time coming up with any sense of Christmas cheer. It doesn’t help that our budgets are tight and we’re concerned about possibly catching one of the viruses going around at school, work, and the supermarket. This season may bring to mind significant losses or changes in our lives, and we may sense hovering over us a raincloud of grief, sorrow, pain, or even anxiety at having to cope with family issues as we gather with others.
On this Sunday of Joy in the season of Advent, we look at what the apostle Paul has to say about this in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24. He tells the believers at Thessalonica to “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks” and goes on to say that this is God’s will for each of us who are in Christ Jesus. If we are in the midst of a snowstorm of grief and loss, it can be really hard to rejoice, much less give thanks. We may even find it next to impossible to pray—the words get stuck in our mind and heart, and nothing comes out. We can only weep.
So how do we respond to this imperative or command given to us in God’s Word? When reading the commands or imperatives in Scripture, we must always first look for the indicatives or foundational spiritual realities on which those imperatives are based. In this case, notice the phrase, “in Christ Jesus.” This is important to pay attention to. Also, when we look a little further on, we see, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” Notice who is doing the sanctifying and who is bringing to pass our being without blame. Our wholeness is grounded in the God of peace who sanctifies us in and through his Son Jesus Christ.
Our joy isn’t in the circumstances we are experiencing, though at times we may have joyful and happy experiences with family and friends doing things we enjoy. No, the source of our joy is our faithful God of peace, who has given us his Son and his Spirit. As we come to faith in Christ, trusting in God’s grace and love, we are united with Christ and receive from him the Spirit. The Spirit of God pours into us Christ’s own love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, and other fruits of the Spirit.
This means we are able to receive and experience Christ’s own joy, even though at times our circumstances and experiences may be less than joyful. We are also able to be thankful in less than blessed circumstances, because we have already received the greatest gift possible, the gift of Christ in us by the Spirit, who enables us to be thankful in all circumstances.
Going even farther, being in union with Christ by the Spirit means that we share in Jesus’ own life of joy and thanksgiving in his face-to-face fellowship with his Father in the Spirit. Our life of prayer is grounded in Jesus’ own life of prayer with his Father so that he offers the things of the Father to us in the Spirit, and offers our prayers to the Father in the Spirit. When we cannot pray, for our hearts are too broken, Jesus prays for us and the Spirit intercedes for us, already knowing what is in our hearts which so yearns to be spoken.
This offers us great comfort in times when we find it hard to rejoice, pray, or give thanks, even though we know this is God’s will for us. Our faith isn’t in our ability to hang in there and do what is needed in our relationship with God. Rather our faith is in the One who is faithful and will do all that is needed to sanctify us and keep us blameless before God. We can rest in him and trust in his perfect love and grace. What a precious gift!
Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank you for holding us in the center of your love and grace. As we go through this Advent season, remind us anew of your compassion and tender love, and fill our hearts with joy and gratitude so we may do your will. Blessed Jesus and Holy Spirit, let your prayers fill our hearts, not just for ourselves, but for all those you bring to our minds, that we may fellowship with you and one another as a communion of faith throughout this sacred Advent season. For our Father’s glory, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24 NASB
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Confirming the Testimony of Christ
By Linda Rex
December 3, 2023, 1st Sunday in Advent—I was reminded this morning of the blessing and gift we have been given of fellowship in our Lord Jesus Christ. Last Tuesday when I woke up, I was greatly challenged with being able to write and post this blog and to provide Sunday’s sermon on video, because I was very sick and my head was filled more with congestion that it was with any coherent thought.
I put out a prayer request for those who participate with me in Our Life in the Trinity, and was so blessed to have the Lord’s mercies in clearing up by noon almost completely the congestion and fuzziness of brain I had been experiencing. I was able to post both the blog and the video by evening, and I can give no credit anywhere but to the Lord Jesus Christ, and my gratitude to the believers for their faithful prayers on my behalf.
I believe this is what the apostle Paul was describing in his passage for this week, 1 Corinthians 1:3–9. I do give thanks to God concerning every one of you who support me in this ministry, for the grace of God has not been without effect, and the testimony of Jesus has been confirmed over and over in all of you. As Paul reminds us, this is the work of our God, who is faithful, and who has called us together into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ.
Paul was wise enough to realize that whatever gifts he had been given of speech and knowledge were gifts of the Spirit from our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that the believers in Corinth valued skills of human rhetoric or speech and knowledge, but what Paul focused on in his letter was fellowship with our Lord. The Spirit generously showers spiritual gifts upon us, but it is Jesus who confirms in us the grace of God by his Spirit, making us blameless. Our identity is in Jesus Christ and as we trust in him, dying in his death and rising in his resurrection and ascension, we participate in his own face-to-face intimate fellowship with his Father in the Spirit.
This is meant to be most evident within the context of spiritual community, where those who trust in Christ are joined together in the fellowship of the Spirit, sharing in their common faith in our Lord Jesus. The gifts of the Spirit showered upon the Body of Christ are not meant for personal glory or aggrandizement, but for the equipping of the saints, to aid in our growing up into the fulness of Christ. Together, we live as those who trust in Christ, reflecting the divine perichoresis or koinonia in our relationships with one another. This is evident testimony to the reality of our living Lord Jesus Christ by his Spirit at work in and through us.
As the psalmist says, apart from what God has done, is doing, and will do through our Lord Jesus Christ and by his Spirit, we are at the mercy of our sins and brokenness (Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19). The prophet Isaiah reminds us that apart from the mercy and compassionate intervention of God, we are not able to live out the covenant life God has called us into (Isaiah 64:1–9). But God is, by nature, merciful and compassionate, so he did not leave any of us in the state of bondage to evil, sin, and death. No, in Christ, he has set us free, and invites us to participate in that freedom by faith in Jesus.
The good news is that, as God in human flesh, Jesus lives in face-to-face relationship with our Father in the Spirit, and he enables us to share in this union and communion by faith in Christ. It’s not all up to us, thankfully, but all up to him, even though he honors our personhood and allows us to say ‘No’ to his ‘Yes’ in Christ. Our Triune God’s ‘Yes’ to us stands in spite of our ‘No’, but if we insist, in spite of and in the face of the consuming fire of his love, we will experience the results of that resistance to God’s love. It is hard for me to imagine someone so forcibly resisting God’s love, but we are persons who at times can be quite stubborn in our resistance against what is beautiful, loving and good. I am grateful, as ever, that it’s not up to me to decide any of this, but up to our loving, gracious Lord Jesus, who is both the judged and the Judge. May his Name be praised evermore!
Our loving, heavenly Father, thank you for your faithfulness by which we are saved and brought, in your Son, into face-to-face fellowship with you in the Spirit. Grant us the grace to allow you to finish what you have begun in us, by fully participating in your saving work, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 NASB
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Not Dead, But Asleep
by Linda Rex
June 11, 2023, Proper 5 | After Pentecost—Have you ever noticed how there are times when the people you love and care for are the ones who hurt you the most? Think about Hosea, the prophet who was invited by the Lord to marry and care for a woman who was inevitably unfaithful to him, as a witness to his nation’s repeated unfaithfulness to their covenant God. Deep in Hosea’s prophetic word, though, we are given a taste of the underlying theme of death and resurrection: “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him” (Hosea 6:2 NASB). Ultimately, the salvation of Hosea’s nation was solely dependent upon the goodness and faithfulness of their covenant God, the One who would come himself to redeem and save his people.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see brought forth this same theme of our human need for redemption, and Jesus’ descent into death, and his resurrection and ascension into glory, in order to raise us up into new life. In the gospel passage for this Sunday, Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26, Jesus engaged the religious leaders of his day in conversation regarding his relationships with those who were considered outcasts and sinners. He told these leaders, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. … for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 12, 13b). His acceptance and calling of Matthew, the socially and religiously excluded tax collector was a case in point.
Jesus then went to a synagogue ruler’s home where he found a group of people loudly mourning the death of a young girl. He told them that she wasn’t dead, but was asleep. They scorned his hopeful assurance. After making the scoffers all leave, he and her parents entered the girl’s room to see her laying lifeless in her bed. Jairus’ daughter was beyond any human help. Nothing could be done anymore to save her. But then Jesus took her by the hand, and raised her up. This young girl had nothing to do with her healing and restoration to life. All she and her parents could do was respond in gratitude to the gift of new life which was given.
In the New Testament reading, Romans 4:13–25, the apostle Paul showed how Abraham and Sarah were given a promise of a son, but were powerless to bring the promise to pass. Abraham was too old and Sarah was incapable of bearing children. They believed, albeit faultily, that God would keep his word, but found themselves utterly dependent upon God’s love and grace for it to be fulfilled. Like the little girl in the story who lay lifeless in her bed, due to their barrenness their dreams of holding a son in their arms lay lifeless and empty in their hearts.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he showed how Abraham did not receive his promised son because of anything he did, but simply because of his faith, because he trusted in the faithfulness of his loving God. lt is God’s goodness, God’s love, and God’s power which is important here. Abraham could only have hope because of the God of hope who had given him hope by giving him a promise—a promise God was well able and perfectly willing to keep. Abraham’s participation in the process was simply faith—believing in the goodness and faithfulness of his God and trusting him to keep his word.
In the same way, we receive our salvation, our new life, not because we do everything exactly right or obey every law perfectly. Rather, we recognize that we are powerless and unable to do what is needed, that only God can bring something into existence from nothing, and only God can raise up to life what is dead and lifeless. All of us, like the little girl in the story and like Abraham and Sarah facing their inability to have a child, are unable to save ourselves or restore our relationship with God on our own. But the Son of God came, took on our human flesh, to live our life, die our death, and rise again, so that we could have what we otherwise could not have—eternal life, life in face-to-face union with Father, Son, and Spirit, right relationship with God and one another.
When it comes to situations and relationships where there seems to be no hope, no life, no expectation of deliverance, we need to turn to Jesus. When it seems that the church today is dying and nothing we can do seems to be able to lift it out of that place, we need to turn to Jesus. When we are facing death and sickness in any form, we need to turn to Jesus. For he has entered and will enter into our place of residence here on earth, to take us by the hand, having become flesh like us and died as we die, in order to raise us up. God’s promise to us is sure—we see it fulfilled in Jesus. He calls us to trust him, to believe—to allow him to be the God he is, the One who is faithful, loving, and good, and who has and will heal us, reconcile us, restore us and bring us safely home.
It is significant that the sacraments which we practice in the church today point us to death and resurrection. Through baptism (a one-time event) and communion (an ongoing practice), we participate anew with Christ in his death and resurrection, being reminded both of our need for healing, rescue and deliverance, and of our gratitude for his finished work in our place and on our behalf. Together, as we are gathered at the table, we eat and drink anew of the divine gift, with humility, gratitude and praise. We celebrate the goodness, faithfulness, and love of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Holy God, thank you for your faithfulness, your goodness, and your love, expressed to us in the gift of your Son and your Spirit. Today, we see so many places where death, sin, and Satan seem to have the upper hand. We have no hope or life apart from you. Lord Jesus, turn us back to you. and by your heavenly Spirit, restore our faith. Fill our hearts and lives with your hope and love. In your name we pray, amen.
“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’ But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Romans 4:13–25 ESV
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Engraved With Christ
by Linda Rex
May 7, 2023, 5th Sunday in Easter/Resurrection—Yesterday I was wearing a necklace given to me years ago by one of my children. It is a polished stone, smoothed into a pastel pink disc, hanging on a black string. In the center, the stone slopes of into an off-sided hole through which the string is woven. As I held the stone yesterday, I realized it must have taken great patience and skill to smooth that stone into a disc with a hole in it without causing it to shatter or crack.
When reading the New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Peter 2:2–10, it occurred to me that in many ways, our Father has done this very thing with all of us as his children. He has, in his Son, engraved upon each of us as living stones, the very nature of Christ, the Living Stone. We are meant to be reflections of God’s image, and Jesus Christ is this very image we reflect by the Spirit, as we respond to him in faith. He has carefully forged into our human flesh, the likeness of God, enabling us by the Spirit to live and walk in right relationship with himself.
In John 14:1–14, Jesus told his disciples that he was going home to his Father to prepare a place for them. Now I understand that this is often understood to mean that Jesus was building, as a good carpenter does, actual buildings for us to live in when we get to heaven. That is a lovely thought, which is quite appealing. However, it is more likely that what Jesus meant was that he was creating a place for us within the life and love of Father and Son in the Spirit. Apart from Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, we in our broken human flesh would have remain alienated in our hearts and minds, and unable to see or live in the truth of who we are as God’s beloved, precious children. This isn’t what God wanted for us, so he sent his Son to do what was necessary to make our oneness with him possible.
In the very special tools of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus forged within our human flesh an ability to participate in his own face-to-face relationship with his heavenly Father in the Spirit. In our human flesh, Jesus lived the life we are to live, in dependency upon his Father, led by and filled with the Spirit. He died the death we deserve to die, becoming sin for us and giving us his righteousness in that amazing and thrilling exchange. In Christ, the Father polished off all the sharp edges of our sinful flesh, making us living stones who, by faith in Christ and in the gift of the Spirit, can begin to bear witness to the grace and goodness of God wherever we go. Jesus raised us up in his resurrection, bringing us all up into a new place in the ascension, and sending the Spirit as promised, so we each can participate individually in this wonderful gift of eternal life.
Our response to Jesus Christ and whether or not we believe this truth about God and ourselves is reflected by how we live our lives. In Acts 7:55–60 we read the story of Stephen, an early Christian martyr. He believed that Jesus was the Son of God in human flesh, who had died, but had risen again. As he spoke with the religious leaders of his day, he shared with them the vision he was given of Jesus Christ, once human, who was standing at the right hand of God in glory.
Stephen knew to the core of his being that this was the true reality. But those who heard him believed that he was out of his mind. They could not and would not believe the truth about who Jesus Christ was. And even though they were people who were trying to obey God, they could not get past the stumbling block who was Jesus Christ, the God-man. They could not see the truth of who Jesus was, and therefore they could not see who they were as God’s beloved children. So they stoned Stephen to death.
Standing there, present in this moment, was a man named Saul, to whom they gave their coats while they were busy stoning Stephen. This man was in full agreement with them, and he would soon be dragging believers into prison and forcing them to deny Christ. What he didn’t know at this point was that the resurrected Jesus had his eye on him, and one day soon, while on the way to Damascus, Saul himself would encounter the Living Stone, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that happened, he would never be the same again.
When it comes to Jesus Christ, there can be no middle ground. He calls us to faith, to trust him and believe in him—to accept him just the way he is, surrendering ourselves to his lordship, his goodness, and his love. Our lives are no longer our own—they are his, to be lived as reflections of the love and goodness of God himself, as we participate in all the blessed things God is doing in this world to bring about his kingdom in its fullness. Will we stumble over the Rock, Jesus Christ, or will we surrender to God’s work of engraving him on our hearts and lives, making us true reflections of our God who is Father, Son, and Spirit?
Thank you, Father, for the life you have given us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for you Spirit, who is ever at work in us and in our lives, transforming our hearts by faith. Grant us the grace to participate in this process of transformation as we pay attention to your story, Jesus, and what your Spirit is teaching us and asking us to do. And move us to share with others the good news we have come to see and believe in Jesus Christ. Amen.
“… like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner’ stone, ‘and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, ‘the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense’; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are ‘a chosen race, a’ royal ‘priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession,’ so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were ‘not a people,’ but now you are ‘the people of God’; you had ‘not received mercy,’ but now you have ‘received mercy’.” 1 Peter 2:2–10 NASB
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The Father of Our Faith
by Linda Rex
March 5, 2023, 2nd Sunday in Preparation for Easter or Lent—During my studies with Grace Communion Seminary I have learned about the different times in history when God by the Spirit brought about a spiritual awakening which led to the transformation and renewal of communities and churches. Many people here in America have been asking God for such a spiritual awakening, and have been encouraged and comforted by the recent movement of the Holy Spirit at Asbury University.
We are reminded anew that the beauty of God’s creative spiritual work in human hearts and lives does not come about by human effort and striving. Spiritual renewal and transformation is something only God can do, and is something that he chooses to do and orchestrates, not because we get everything exactly right and because we deserve it, but simply due to God’s love for us, and his desire to restore, reconcile, and renew us.
In the gospel reading for this Sunday, John 3:1–17, Jesus tells the Pharisee Nicodemus that the only way a person can see or participate in the kingdom of God is if they are born from above. Then he begins to describe how the Spirit moves in unseen and unbidden ways that can only be recognized by their resulting effect on those who have been touched by the divine wind. Our part in this whole process is trust, allowing God to be who he is in every situation, placing ourselves fully at his disposal, allowing him to be who he is as our Savior, Healer, and Redeemer.
The kingdom of God, as the reign of our sovereign King in our hearts and lives, is real and active even today, and we participate in God’s kingdom right now as we yield to and obey the Spirit, following Jesus as he leads us to do our Father’s will. We are reminded that Jesus’ attention was often drawn to the widow’s small gift, the thief’s last cry on the cross, the tax collectors and sinners who didn’t deserve any attention at all. We fall in love with God when we experience the profound reality of his love for us, and his love fills our hearts as the Spirit pours into us, enabling us to know and be assured that, yes, indeed, we are God’s beloved children.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Romans 4:13–17, the apostle Paul takes this even further as he shows that God is the true Source, the Father of all, from whom we receive grace and salvation by faith. Abraham and Sarah were beyond the ability to have children when God promised them a son—and he kept his promise to them. And this son, Isaac, was a descendant through whom our Savior, Jesus Christ, came. Our God calls as real and substantial those things which do not yet exist, and in the speaking of his Word, they become real and substantial.
In the same way, God has called everyone of us his very own, the promised descendants of Abraham millennia ago—and here we are, children of the Father, through Jesus Christ his Son, by his heavenly Spirit. Abraham, our forefather, “the father of us all,” is a reflection or picture of our divine Father, the One who made us and sustains us all—the same Father, who, even when we fell captive to evil sin, and death, drew us all to himself, bringing us back into right relationship with himself, giving us his righteousness, through his Son Jesus. The Spirit calls us even today to embrace this true reality by faith, and to experience the wonder of it through prayer, contemplation, and worship. The Spirit reminds us to place our faith in Jesus Christ, who laid everything down so we could know our Father’s embrace in the fellowship of the Spirit, now and forever, as his beloved children.
Father, thank you for loving us so very much. Thank you, Jesus, for bringing us back home to the Father, to be held in his loving embrace. Thank you, heavenly Spirit, for enabling us to experience and know God’s love. Show us even now how much we are loved and cared for, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 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.” Romans 4:13–17 NASB
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Do Not Be Afraid
by Linda Rex
February 19, 2023, Transfiguration Sunday—What might God do if you were willing to let him take you somewhere you don’t want to go or ask you to do something don’t believe you were able to do? Is it possible that God might do more than you could ever ask or imagine? (See Eph. 3:20.)
Think of how Jesus was thrust into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. In the midst of that dramatic confrontation, Jesus was pushed beyond human limits. But in the end, he stayed true to his heavenly Father in the Spirit, and all of us as those who share his flesh. And he experienced an amazing victory—a victory we all participate in today by the Spirit. (See Matt. 4:1-11.)
I don’t know about you, but I tend to choose things that I’m certain I can do or can at least figure out and do. When I’m asked to do more than I am capable of doing, the “fear of failure” monster creeps in and removes any confidence I may have that I can accomplish what God is asking of me. The problem with this way of living is that there is minimal room for the Spirit to work great things in and through me, and life ends up often being about me walking in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. And it also means that I am walking by sight rather than by faith.
What about that “fear of failure” monster? I’m caught by the lyrics of the song by Zach Williams which came out a while back called “Fear is a Liar.” Here’s a part of the refrain:
Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear he is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
‘Cause fear he is a liar
“Fear is a Liar” by Zach Williams
How often do we refuse to follow Jesus simply because we’re afraid—afraid of failure, afraid of looking different, afraid of what people might think, and so on? We may even discover that we are afraid of God—of what he might do or not do, and believe that our heavenly Father doesn’t really love us (though Jesus seems to). How often do we let fear get in the way of seeing things as they really are?
Today is Transfiguration Sunday on the Christian calendar. Our reading in the gospel, Matt. 17:1–9, reminds us of and moves us to reflect on when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain, and was transfigured before them. In that moment, Jesus’ external form began to reflect the true essence of who he was on the inside—God in human flesh. As eyewitnesses of this fantastic event, these men could not forget the powerful experience of seeing Jesus in this way, and remember the fear and awe which overwhelmed them and drove them face down to the ground in response.
Jesus was not appalled by, nor was he put off by their response. No, he tenderly touched them and told them not to be afraid. He had specifically chosen them to be eyewitnesses of his glory in this moment. It was never his intention to frighten them or to overwhelm them. Rather, he believed this experience was an essential part of their spiritual development and preparation for what they each were going to face in the years ahead when he was no longer present on earth in his human flesh.
Peter was deeply touched by the words of our heavenly Father, who spoke of the belovedness of his Son. Not only was Jesus beloved of his Father, but his Father was well-pleased with him. In that great pleasure of our Father in his Son, we find ourselves swept up, for Jesus was bearing in that moment our human flesh in his person. How is it that our heavenly Father could be well-pleased with his Son, when his Son was bearing our human flesh?
I believe this says something about who we are as those who are meant to reflect the image of God in our persons. We have a divine dignity given to us by God, which was marred by our turning away from God to ourselves and this world. Blinded by the lies we believe about God and ourselves, we struggle to see the truth that God loves us, is committed to our best interests, and desires to live in face-to-face relationship with us now and forever.
It is Christ, coming and taking on our human flesh, to live our life, die our death, and rise again, who brings us into the midst of the fellowship of Father and Son in the Spirit. We can take comfort in the reality that God isn’t opposed to us, but is opposed to evil, sin, and death, and has taken and will take every step needed to once and for all eradicate them from us and from our world. He will not stop until he had finished what he has begun in us—this is our comfort and peace.
What about our fears, especially our “fear of failure?” God’s perfect love expressed to us in Jesus Christ reminds us we have nothing to fear. Jesus, who is God in human flesh, has personally come to us and has touched us, telling us, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus has done, and will do all that is needed in this moment and in the next, as we turn to him in faith and trust him, allowing his Spirit free reign in our hearts and lives. May we trust in God’s perfect love and allow him to do what only he can do—save and redeem us, through Jesus our Lord and by his heavenly Spirit.
Dear Father, thank you for your faithfulness and love, expressed to us in the gift of your Son and your Spirit. Grant us the grace to turn to you in faith, to trust in your love and grace. May your perfect love cast our all our fear, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’—and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Peter 1:16–21 NASB
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