never alone
Scripture: Acts 2:1-4; Romans 8:18-39
Fire is an interesting phenomenon. Of course over the last few weeks we’ve seen plenty of fires in Cape Breton as fire departments have fought all kinds of grass fires lit by misguided people who thought it was fun to play with fire. Every year I am amazed no one dies in spring grass fire.
Fire is not to be played with. Fire can be quite dangerous. Fire by it’s very nature consumes that which feeds it. It destroys homes, businesses, forests, fields, crops. Fire can cause a great amount of damage, both physically and financially.
Yet fire is also a good thing. You hear reports of how forest fires often are healthy for the woodlands. It burns out the old dead materials, making room for new growth to occur.
Fire also purifies. The heat it gives off can kill unhealthy germs or organisms which may harm us.
Fire also warms us. Campfires, fireplaces, furnaces, all use fire to produce heat. Fire is used to cook meals as we can prepare our dinners over the heat fire produces.
So while fire can be a very dangerous thing, it can also be used for good. If you are lost on a hike during a cold day, then making a fire is the most important thing you can do in order to survive.
On Pentecost, we’re told the disciples are touched by “tongues of fire” and they began to speak as the Holy Spirit guided them.
The disciples were purified when they received the Holy Spirit. Those tongues of fire cleansed their hearts and they were able to go and preach about Jesus Christ and what he has done as God among us.
That’s where it begins. That’s where we find God’s promise fulfilled when Jesus says, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” Or when Jesus told his friends, “I will send you a Helper.”
The receiving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is the fulfillment of those promises. Jesus returned to God and sent a guide, a helper, the Holy Spirit to be with us.
This is something we need to remember. Jesus has not left us alone.
It’s also something we remember when we look at our reading from Romans 8 today.
In Romans 8 we are reminded we are people who struggle. We are told by Paul that the whole world groans together waiting for God to redeem it. And we part of this waiting as well.
We live in hope that we are saved, that we have been drawn into God’s family as we come into a life of faith. As we come to God it’s like we are adopted by our Father in heaven.
I like what Paul says in talking about hope. He says, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
We don’t hope for what we can see. Hope from God is something we cannot see, but it sure is something we can experience. While we know it’s there, we wait for it. We wait for God to make himself known to us, however he wishes to do so.
We won’t see God while we’re on this earth, at least it’s not likely. Unless Jesus makes his return, there’s a pretty good chance we’re going to have to wait.
It’s in that waiting where we grow, as we seek to learn more about God, as we learn more about Jesus, as we pray, as we read the Bible, as we ask God to make himself known to us.
There’s also the experience of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us a bit of his interpretation of what the Spirit does for us.
“the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
We are a weak people. We don’t fully understand what God wants from us. We strive to be the best we can, but we often fail. But the Spirit… the Spirit works on our behalf.
When I moved to Ottawa for the first time for a work term, there were a few of us travelling together. We stopped just outside Quebec City for a meal. I had some high school French, so I thought I would take the opportunity to practice, knowing Ottawa was a bilingual city.
I decided to order my meal in french. I didn’t think it would be too hard, it was just a diner and all I wanted was a burger and fries. The words were all printed in french and english on the menu.
So I made my order. The… “lovely” waitress was so very helpful as she repeated my order back to me in an incredibly rude tone… in english.
So I guess in a way through my broken french I was able to convey my order as she gave it back to me in broken english. At least it was good enough she could interpret it.
I had thought I did a pretty decent job. I was initially proud of myself for making my order. But when she came back at me to confirm in english, I felt like my attempt was under-appreciated. Maybe I needed a translator.
Imagine the Holy Spirit interpreting perfectly for us. In our broken lives, the Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf perfectly with God. There’s no misunderstanding possible.
We probably use the wrong words, we get verb tenses wrong, we just don’t know what we’re saying. But the Holy Spirit, it knows what we need and asks for us.
We grow with the help of the Spirit. God uses the Spirit to not only hear our prayers, but God also uses the Spirit to lead, guide and form us.
Just like he used the Spirit to transform the disciples on the day of Pentecost, God too transforms us.
This is the depth of God’s love. He loves us too much to leave us as we are. He works in us through his Spirit, helping us grow, leading us, protecting us.
Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
This is a powerful verse. If God is FOR us, who can be against us?
God is for us!
This promise reverberates throughout the entire Bible.
From all the way back at creation, right through to the end of the book of Revelation, God’s promise is he will never leave us. He will never abandon us. Even in our biggest mistakes, God is right there with us.
Paul finishes Romans 8 with these words,
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Paul says it all, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God shown and offered in Jesus Christ.
No thing. Nothing.
My friends, Jesus has done it all. Jesus gave his life for our sin. Jesus rose from the grave to defeat our sin and the evil of the world.
And now Jesus gives the Holy Spirit so we may be in perfect relationship with our Father in heaven.
This is what our God has done for us.
In a world which groans for a deep relationship it cannot find, we have it.
We have discovered it’s right here. This incredible hope from our God, hope in a future far greater than we can imagine. Hope in a life lived in love and joy. Hope in God’s promise to always be with us.
A promise he fulfilled with his disciples on this day of Pentecost.
A promise God never walks away from. A promise once we discover, we too will never want to walk away from.
A promise to always, always live in His love.
What a gift.
What a God.
What a Saviour.
Amen.
free
Scripture Reading: Romans 6:1-4
A quote that is often attributed to Albert Einstein is “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Although it most likely wasn’t him. The internet isn’t the best place to look up quotes these days. But there is some truth to it, whoever said it.
Now for me, I wouldn’t mind losing a few pounds. It’d be nice to lose a bit of the spare tire that’s forming around my midsection. For some reason I’ve not been all that successful. read more…
therefore…
Scripture: Romans 5:1-11
Do you think you could ever pick up a newspaper and understand a lead story when it starts like this, “But since that is the case, we have to assume the following…”
It wouldn’t make much sense would it. It just jumps right in assuming you know something. But you might not. You need to know what the case is before you can buy into what is being said after. You need to know the story.
So, today our reading began “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith…”
“Therefore….” We need to know what the “therefore” is referring to. Therefore, let us look for what came before the “therefore” in our reading this morning.
Last week we looked at Romans chapter 1 and Paul introduced us to the importance of a life of faith. By living a life of faith we move towards living in righteousness, that being a life right with God.
Paul then spends much of the next 3 chapters explaining what this means. He talks of the challenges of living under the laws, and how under these laws we learn of our sins because we learn we are breaking these laws. He talks of the challenges of living a righteous life. And he also acknowledges no one can truly be righteous. He says plainly, we are all under the control and power of sin. He quotes from the the Psalms in Romans 3:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
If Paul is saying this, what are we to do? We can’t follow the laws, because we keep breaking them and keep sinning when we do.
Well Paul says we are to not live lives according to the law, but we are to live lives according to faith. He says,
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
It’s not about the laws, it’s about faith.
Paul also lifts up Abraham, seen as the Father of the faith. Abraham, chosen by God to give the world His chosen people, even though Abraham was an old man without children. And in the description of Abraham, he was not known as a man who followed the laws, in fact the laws didn’t exist yet, they came much later. Abraham was a man known for his faith. He was known as a righteousness man and God made a covenant, a promise, to raise up a nation from him.
With this same faith we are invited to enter into a life with God through the our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul says, “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. Therefore…”
And we’re all caught up to today’s reading. What we needed to know before the therefore was the importance of a life of faith and what that looks like. It doesn’t mean subscribing to a bunch of rules as if it’s a list of boxes to be checked off as we complete them. It means living a life of faith which forms how we interact with the world.
Remember Paul says you cannot separate faith from the works we do in the world. From our faith we do work in God’s name.
The first half of our reading today makes you wonder if we’re doing it right. We’re supposed to rejoice in our suffering? Well, I’ll be sure to tell that to the people I talk to in hospital, with cancer, with the families I meet during funerals… I imagine I’d be run out of town if that was my approach to pastoral care.
“Well, isn’t this wonderful! You’re in pain? LOVE IT! God is SO GOOD!”
Yeah, I don’t think that would go over well.
So what is Paul saying?
He starts by saying, “Through Jesus Christ we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. God’s glory is full of hope. So when we find ourselves in challenging times, Paul suggests we look to opportunities on which to produce this hope, to find this hope.
So when we are suffering, know that in our suffering we are building endurance. We are getting stronger. And in getting stronger we are building character. We are growing as a person. And as we grow as a person we begin to see more hope in the glory of God.
It doesn’t mean God will take away our pain. It doesn’t mean God gave us our pain. It just means God is here.
We need to remember God is active in all of this. What would be more comforting to you in a time of pain? Would it be a knowing about God, or would it be knowing God is walking in the pain with you?
This is what God has shown in the cross. God shows in the life and death of Jesus he knows our pain. The cross is crucially important for Paul.
He says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Notice Paul doesn’t say use singular pronouns, he says, ‘us’. He means all of us, himself included. In Christ’s death, we have been reconciled to God. And since we are reconciled to God in the cross, we will be saved by God through Christ’s resurrection life.
And there’s power in the words “While we were still weak…”
It means God didn’t wait for us to get our act together, because as Paul already established, it’s not going to happen. We can never put it all together on our own.
So while we are weak, God has already done it for us. God acted before we were even ready.
Think about that for a second.
God acted because we cannot do it ourselves.
In one incredible act of love and mercy, God drew us to Himself before we even knew it could happen.
I love having conversations with people who tell me stories of how they saw God active in their lives without even knowing Him. Sure they say they knew of Him, but they didn’t have a relationship. They didn’t know Jesus Christ in their hearts as they do now.
I enjoy these stories because it’s also my story. I’m not going to share details, but if I had been left to my own devices, my life would look very different right now. But I look back and see how God stepped in and protected me, guided me, without my even knowing.
I knew of God. I had heard of Him. But I didn’t know Him. I didn’t have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
I was weak. I was a sinner. But God acted in my life because he loves me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still weak, I still sin. But now I am stronger because Christ is in me.
God does the same for all of us. God works on our behalf because we cannot do it alone. It’s impossible. But God can do the impossible.
God can save us.
God WILL save us.
Paul says,
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
And we can add to that, salvation.
God saved us with His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross and in his resurrection.
We belong to God. Not through our knowledge of Him, but through our relationship with Him. A relationship which begins in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
A relationship, which shows us the hope we have in the glory of God as God shows His love for us in His Son.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The words of Paul ring true. Thanks be to God. Amen.
prayers continue
We at Cruxifusion are continuing to offer daily prayers for the United Church of Canada and it’s future.
Here is my offering for today.
Lord God,
Once again you have called us to be your people.
Once again we seek to be faithful to you.
Once again we gather our hearts in worship this day in our churches and celebrate the gift of your never-ending love.
Your love for us.
Lord we come to celebrate in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, the one you sent to give his life for our sin.
Sent so we may live a resurrection life with you.
We ask you to heal our sin-filled hearts.
Cleanse us from our guilt.
Heal us of our brokenness.
Forgive us and rebuild us.
Give us hearts full of your love.
Strong bodies to carry your yoke.
As you lead us forward.
Speak to us, O God.
Share with us your vision for your heavenly kingdom waiting to be unleashed on this earth.
Use our churches, use us, your children, to speak the truth and love you so freely give.
And if it is your will,
Prepare this church, the United Church of Canada, for a new life…
A new calling…
A new way…
To celebrate the hope we have in you.
Be with your church.
Be with your people as they gather for worship this day.
Be with us and all who call upon the strong name
Of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
soul camp
I’m back home this morning after a week away for two separate events. First was Youth Forum training weekend and then to our annual Cruxifusion conference.
I’ve heard Cruxifusion described as “soul camp” in previous years, and it truly is. This year was no different in that regard. We lived out our theme very well with “Rest. Reconcile. Revive!”
We rested in the arms of our Lord. We felt God’s healing touch. And we came out renewed in our spirits to continue the works God has set before us in our communities. read more…