If we simply turn the page from last week’s passage where Elijah was calling down fire from heaven, we arrive at today’s passage in which Elijah is on the run. He fears for his life. The once mighty and confident Elijah is suddenly weakened and afraid. It is in this state of mind that he cries out to God because, according to Elijah, he is all alone. But the truth is otherwise. He is not alone, and neither are you. Elijah has people in his life he could lean on. And more than that, God’s presence is there with him. May we find God’s presence and allow that to be enough.
Revival by Fire
In today’s passage we read about Elijah, the prophet of Israel, who stood against the false prophets of Baal and called down fire from heaven to demonstrate the power and presence of God. Like CS Lewis said of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia, the presence of God in Elijah's fire is not safe, but we can know that it is good. Fire, in fact, is a symbol used throughout the Bible—from the flaming swords guarding Eden to the lake of fire in Revelation 20 and any number of places in between. The fire represents many things, but today, on this day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church, I want to focus on the fire as purification leading to revival. Let’s dive in!
Hope and Suffering
As we continue to think about the hope that we find in Christ’s death and resurrection, we turn today to an important topic for many of us, the topic of suffering. It is in our hardship that our hope is most challenged. We begin to ask why God would allow such difficulty. We sometimes begin to allow doubt to creep in. We might even lose hope and begin to despair that life will never be the same. Today we must address this issue head on and ask what we are to do when suffering strikes and how we can allow our hope to guide us through our hardest times. Let’s dig in.
Hope and Desire
For our third lesson on hope, we turn to the topic of desire. Scripture teaches us that one thing is necessary and one thing alone is the fountain out of which all desires must spring. The psalmist says it this way: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Jesus says it this way, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will be added.” What do you desire? For what do you seek? And from what does your hope spring?
Easter Hope
Christ Is Risen! Christ Is Risen Indeed! Easter is a day filled with hope and promise. It is the day on which the future hopes that we all await, resurrection and (more importantly) union with God, are made possible. It is the day when death is defeated and sin has been dealt with. It is the day on which history turns because we know how the story ends. Our faith in God’s future is a faith in a future that brings goodness and redemption out of that which is evil and fallen. Christ is risen! Let us rejoice!
Palm Sunday
This is a Palm Sunday service in which we sing praises to the king. A king who rides a donkey into battle. Who wields his body and blood as the weapon of choice. Who takes the form of a servant though Lord of all. Who sides with the powerless though all-powerful himself. This is king Jesus. The king no one asked for. The king everyone needed. Let us worship the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Galatians Week 10
In the second half of Galatians 4, Paul writes an allegory of the Sarah and Hagar story in which he contrasts competing visions of righteousness. Are we righteous because of what we do? Or are we righteous because of what Jesus has done? Paul reminds us that righteous union with God is already available through Christ’s atoning death, and there is nothing we can do to achieve it other than embracing the gift, the grace, that is being offered.
Galatians Week 9
Continuing our series through the book of Galatians, we now turn to chapter 4. Here Paul continues to beat the drum of “grace" without ever using the word. Righteousness, that is, right relationship with God, is not something earned or deserved. It is not possible through keeping the works of the law or doing enough right things. Right relationship, Paul argues, is only possible because God sent his Son that we might be sons of God too. We are not slaves or outcasts, we are sons and daughters of our “Abba” Father, with all the rights and privileges that come along with that. That is quite a gift, or as we usually call it: Grace.
Galatians Week 8
We are steadily working our way through the entire book of Galatians. In the third chapter, Paul finally turns his attention to a pressing question, one that has been hanging in the air this whole time. Why then did the law exist at all? Paul’s answer to this, in its simplest form, is that it is our instructor or teacher. But what does it teach us? Again, simply put, Paul uses the metaphor of slavery and freedom at this point, and he says that the law teaches us that we are—whether we realize it or not—enslaved. But the good news of the gospel is that we are no longer slaves but free. Through our purchase on Calvary, we have been set free from the law of sin and death! Amen!
Galatians Week 7
We continue with our in-depth study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Today we discuss Gal. 3:1-18 where Paul connects the dots between the pouring out of the Holy Spirit onto the Galatian people with the promises of God to Abraham. The thread that ties it all together is the cross of Christ where an outpouring of God's grace. It is the faith of Jesus at the cross that unlocks the promises of God, and we enter into these promises through faith in Christ.
Galatians (Week 6)
This week, let us take a second pass at Galatians 2:15-21, especially 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Today we must take a close look at three interrelated questions that flow directly out of this passage: Why must the messiah die in the first place? What is it that Jesus loves about us that would cause him to give himself for us? And why must we be “crucified with Christ”?
Galatians (Week 5)
Galatians 2 concludes with a story about Paul confronting Peter in his hypocrisy followed by a dense explanation of a core tenet of Paul’s theology: justification by faith. Galatians 2 and Romans 3 are the clearest and most compact explanations of justification by faith in all of Scripture. We will spend at least two weeks on this because it is such an important doctrine, not only for understanding Paul but for understanding the death and resurrection of Jesus, its implications, and what that means for us today.
Galatians (Week 4)
Galatians 2 continues with Paul’s biographical recollection of a time he took Barnabas and Titus to Jerusalem. This wasn’t just a bro-trip to see the sights and do all the touristy things. Paul was on a mission. After fourteen years of Jesus following, he went down to Jerusalem to meet the leaders there, to exchange ideas, to test his gospel message against theirs, and to walk away with the assurance that the whole Jesus mission was all on the same page. Today we discuss the importance of this event, what it meant for the Galatians, and what it means for us today.
Galatians (Week 3)
As we continue our journey through the book of Galatians, today we finish chapter 1. In it, we discover quite a lot about the man writing the letter. Paul’s biography is a remarkable one. Not only do we know of his life through his letters, but we also have the book of Acts to fill in some gaps. Perhaps no event is more consequential in his life than his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Today, let us remember Paul and the work done in him and through him. And let that spur in us a remembrance of the way God has worked in our lives too.
Galatians (Week 2)
As we turn again to Galatians to continue our series on the book, you might notice something. Paul is angry! Not just a little frustrated, he is upset and calling down curses upon anyone who distorts the gospel. What has Paul most upset is that outside teachers have convinced the Galatians that the death of Jesus is a minor part of the gospel story and that the law still in effect. Paul will say that, not only is the crucifixion central to the gospel, but through it, the world is being redeemed, that the old age is passing away and the new has come.
Gratitude
As we prepare for Christmas, we prepare for the incarnation of God—God putting on human flesh and dwelling in our midst. It is easy to overlook the radical nature of such a claim. Behind such a claim, however, sits three important truths. 1. God comes into this world because there is good in it worth saving. 2. God loves this world deeply like a father loves a child. 2. Sin is real and redemption is necessary, but praise be to Christ with whom salvation has come!
Anticipation
The third Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of “Joy,” and because of our shared devotional, we approach joy in terms of “anticipation”. Anticipations is a version of joy that makes promises, even if they are yet unfulfilled. It is a joy before the joy of fulfillment. Children experience this kind of joy every December in the days leading to Christmas, and adults would do well to watch and learn. The anticipation and joy experienced in Christ’s first coming is only heightened and fulfilled in the second coming when Christ sets the world right and establishes joy and peace as a way of daily life.
Preparation
On this second Sunday of Advent, we read about John the Baptist shouting in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Advent is a season of preparation in more ways than one. We are all preparing for Christmas morning, whether that is through buying presents, decorating the house, or as my kids do, creating a “paper countdown chain” where they daily tear off one link in the chain until Christmas finally arrives. How do you prepare? And, more importantly, what should we be doing with our spirit and soul to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ? It is these questions that we turn ourselves to today.
Expectation
The season of advent is upon us! Today is the first of four weeks preparing ourselves for the coming of Jesus. That’s what advent means: “coming” or “arrival". We prepare in retrospect, for the king who we know was born in a manger in a few short weeks. This is an act of remembrance, not all that different from eating the bread and drinking the cup at communion. We remember the birth of the savior, and we prepare our hearts for his advent into the world. But there is a second advent or second “coming” that we await too. The return of the king. When all things shall be put right in their finality. When all hearts shall be judged. When Christ will open the gates to the city of the New Jerusalem and people of all tongues and tribes in every nation shall enter in.
Thank God
It is the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and, therefore, it is only appropriate to talk about giving thanks. To possess a posture of thankfulness on a daily basis is many things. To be thankful is to be (gratefully) looking at what one already has rather than what one longs for or desires. To be thankful is to be thinking about others first rather than thinking about oneself. To be thankful in the context of your relationship to God means adopting a posture of praise and adoration for the goodness of God and the many and varied gifts he so often gives. Today, let us give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever.