Tag Archives: Mercy

Being Thankful: We Don’t Get What We Deserve Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, November 13, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is second sermon in our series “Being Thankful.”  We talk about in this message how we are thankful that we don’t get what we deserve.  The text for this sermon is Exodus 32:1-14  Also by clicking on these verses you can see my notes from the sermon as a note in the YouVersion online Bible.   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking the link below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

CLICK HERE

We Don’t Get What We Deserve

How Do You React?

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There are lots of good Bible Songs we learned as children. I love seeing kids today, my kids in particular, learn the old songs that I learned when I was a kid.

Formost among them is Zacchaeus. You remember him, right? He was a wee little man and a wee little man was he? Most all of us know that song pretty well, and my deepest hope is that after reading the first line from the song just now, you’ll have the song stuck in your head the rest of the day 🙂

But I bet most of us remember more about the song than we do the actual story in the Bible. When we look at the story, there’s lots of things to notice.

Zacchaeus was tax collector, which means in this day he was despised by all, because he worked collecting taxes for the hated Roman government. It also mean that because of his power, he was a thief, he was able to rob from others under the cloak of tax collecting.

He was not a well-liked person.

Listen to the story, as found in Luke 19: 5-10:

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. “So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

And, so, it was very surprising when Jesus not only told Zacchaeus to come down, but told him that He would be coming to Zacchaeus’ home. Which is always a big deal. But in that day, it was more than a meal. Jesus is saying, but coming to his home, that he was worthy. He was loved. Jesus love him. Jesus saw his worth. In spite of all the rotten things Zacchaeus had done, Jesus still loved him.

That’s powerful. That’s awesome. Jesus loved Zacchaeus more than He disapproved of the things that he had done.

And then, we see the reaction of the people. They grumbled. They said why? Why would Jesus go there? Don’t they know that Zacchaeus is a bad guy? Not worth much? A liar and a cheat?

And Jesus responds that He has come to save the lost.

He came to forgive the ones in need for forgiveness. He came to save the lost.

How do we react to that? In our own lives? Are we willing to receive His grace? Admit our need? Find His love? It isn’t until we admit we need Him that we can find Him.

And in the lives of others? That person you don’t like? How do you feel when they receive God’s grace? The people grumped when Jesus showed Zacchaeus love. How do we react to grace?

Today, may we seek after grace in our own lives. And may we give grace to others.

The Simplest Command

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I was talking last night at Bible Study here as Asbury about the Bible and how we can get bogged down in certain passages or interpretations. We can get confused, worried, and upset about how to interpret certain passages.

That’s one reason I’ve always like something that John Wesley said – Scripture contains everything needful for salvation, and everything needful is made plain within. So, in other words, everything we need to know to be saved is found in the Bible, and if it’s so important that our eternal salvation depends upon, God will make it simple to understand.

There is so much simple truth in the Bible. So many simple things that are at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. The Christian life really isn’t that complicated. It’s pretty simple in the end.

Look at Romans 13: 8-10 says:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

We see it laid out here. All the commandments, the whole of the Old and the New Testament is laid out for us – love. Love each other. If you love, you won’t murder, steal, or any of other hurtful things.

Love sums up the law. It’s the simplest of the commands. Love.

Today, in our lives, is every action guided by love? Is every word, every action, even every thought, is it guided by love? That’s our greatest command as Christians. To love.

It’s the simplest command.

But before we can fully love others as God wants us to, we must first know the power of His love. For us to fulfill this simplest command, we must first be fully loved ourselves.

Today, may we know the power of God’s amazing love. And may we love one another in the same way.

The Puzzle – Mercy Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, July 31, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the fifth sermon in our series about Spiritual Gifts – “The Puzzle.” This series talks about spiritual gifts and this one deals with the gift of Mercy. The texts for this sermon are Luke 10: 29-37 and Micah 6:8.  You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

Be Careful

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Last night in my Small Group Connection (Asbury’s Small Group) we were talking about the end of Galatians 2.  In that passage it talks about how if we can earn salvation through our works or through following any law, then Jesus Christ died for nothing.

And we talked a little bit about the fact none of us are righteous.  None of us.

Just because we come to church, or pray, or read our Bible, or serve, or give, or “do” anything, these things don’t make our righteous, these things don’t save us.

Jesus saves us.

In fact, I argued that those of us that are Christian are actually a little more unrighteous than others. Because we KNOW right from wrong. We KNOW what we should do and not do. And we choose to wrong.  We choose sin. We know right from wrong and we choose wrong.

We know better. And we don’t do better.

So, as Christians today, we need to be careful. Be careful judging others. Be careful thinking you are righteous. Be careful thinking you are better.  Be careful thinking you are holier.

Listen to what happens today in Mark 2:

Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Let us not be like the religious leaders, who saw themselves as “better” than others. Let us realize today that we are in need of a doctor. That we are in need of a savior. That our sins are as great as anyone else’s out there.

And He loves us anyway. He loves us in spite of our sin.  And let us live a life seeking after Him as a joyful response to His mercy and grace.

Let us be careful that we never think that we are “better than” others. We are simply saved by grace through faith, so none of us can boast.  Let us live a joyful life in response. And let us seek to love others as Jesus loved us.

None of us are righteous, no not one. Thank God Almighty for grace, mercy, and salvation. May we show to others that same grace that Jesus shown to us.

Let us be careful to never become like the Pharisees.

God is Not Out to Get You

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As a pastor, one of the things that most breaks my heart, is when broken people, people who are truly hurting don’t want to turn to God for relief, support, love, and life.

I hate seeing people struggle and hurt over things in their lives, over pain they feel, and even over pain they may have caused.  And I have found, perhaps my just in my experience, the reason folks don’t want to turn to God in that moment is that they think God is mad at them.

God is out to get them.

Perhaps God is even the one causing their pain to get them back for whatever they may have done wrong in the past.

They feel like God wants to get them, punish them, destroy them.

Maybe this morning, that may even be you.  Maybe you feel that way right now. Maybe you think God is out to get you, destroy you, punish you.

If so, listen to what God says through Ezekiel this morning:

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.”

God is not out to get you. God loves you. God wants you to live. God wants you to know life. God wants you to know mercy and joy and peace and hope and life.  God wants you to know and experience the depth of His love and mercy.

He loves you.

He wants to know you.

And, He wants to forgive you and bring you home today.

He wants you to know the power of hope, life, and forgiveness.  God wants what’s best for you today. And, you can trust Him.

Let me say it again.  You can trust Him.  No matter what you’ve done, what you’re doing, what you’re going to do. He loves you.

God is not out to get you. He wants you to know life. Today, no matter where you are in your walk with God, and other people, know this.

God loves you.

 

Grace for us, Judgement for them

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One of the things that we see in the book of Jonah, that Jonah didn’t like, was that he knew God was a merciful and forgiving God.

He knew that God would forgive those that turned from their sin and turned to God.

He knew that was God’s character and God’s desire.

Which, sounds like a good thing. Until Jonah through about it.  We read in chapter 3:

O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.

He knew God would forgive the people of Nineveh.  He knew that.  But here was the problem in that.

Jonah really, really, really, really, really, didn’t like those people.

They were his enemies. They were the enemies of his people. They had harmed Israel time after time.

Jonah didn’t like them. He didn’t want God to save them.  He didn’t want God to forgive them. He didn’t want them saved.

He wanted God to judge them.

He didn’t want God to show them mercy.

He wanted God to show them judgment.

Who, in our lives, do we not want God to forgive?  Who do we want God to judge?

Sometimes in our lives, we want Grace for us and Judgement for them.

We want God to forgive us our sins, but judge them (whoever they are) for their sins.

Grace for us, Judgement for them.

That’s what Jonah wanted. That’s what he wanted God to do.

Is that what we want as well?

God is a God of grace.  He gives us grace, after grace, after grace.

We want that for ourselves. We don’t want judgment for ourselves.

Just like God shows us grace, He will show it to others.  May we understand that.  And, may we show grace to others, just as God has.

And may we see to love, forgive, and give grace.  In the same manner it has been shown us.

Amazing Love

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One of my favorite works by Charles Wesley is “And Can it Be?”  It has that awesome chorus “Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

We know God loves us. We’ve heard that from the time we were children. We’ve song the songs, read the verses.

We know God loves us.

But, I think we can forget, or maybe not really know, the depth of God’s love for us.

Listen to what happens in Luke’s Gospel today:

43 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her…. 47 When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’

She was sick, she had been bleeding for years. This made her unclean, according the Law.

Because of her illness, she couldn’t go to the Temple (church). She couldn’t go to the Market (Wal-Mart). She couldn’t even go to her family. For, simply touching someone that is unclean would make you unclean.

She was separated from all that she loved. She was cut off from everyone and everything.

Desperate, she sees Jesus walking in a crowd and she. . . . . touches him.

Probably the first touch she’d received in many, many years.

And in touching Jesus, she could have made Him unclean.  Not could have, would have.

He could have responded in anger.  The text said she was trembling. Why?

She knew what she had done. She knew the risk she had taken.  It wasn’t even a risk, it was a certainty.  In touching Him, she had risked everything.

She didn’t know what His reaction would be, or the crowd.

How did He respond?  Amazing Love – you are healed.  You are whole.  You are loved.

He responded to in amazing love.  In spite of her condition which had left her cut off for years.  In spite of her doing something, by the Law, she shouldn’t have, in touching Him.  In spite of these.

He healed her.  He loved her.  He made her whole.

Today, no matter who we are.  Jesus loves us.  He wants to make us whole today.

He wants to restore us.  He wants to love us.

Amazing Love, how can it be? That’s the love of Jesus Christ for you.

Today, may we each realize how much we are loved.

Not as Strong as We Think We Are

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My favorite Christian singer of all time was Rich Mullins. There are a lot of Christian artists that I really enjoy, but he was my favorite. At a time when I was struggling with the faith and what it means to really be a Christian, the words of his songs really spoke to me and really drew me into a truer faith.

Today’s reading from Psalm 78 reminds me so much of one of his songs “Not as Strong as We Think We Are.” The mistake we can make as humans is that we can think we are so much stronger than we are. We can think we can do so much, we get so prideful and think more of ourselves than we ought. And then we mess up, we fall down, and we are reminded just how weak we are.

The Psalmist writes this:

37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him, *
and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins
and did not destroy them; *
many times he held back his anger
and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, *
a breath that goes forth and does not return.

Man, I am so thankful for those words this morning.  The people’s hearts were not steadfast towards God. They turned away. They didn’t turn to Him. They didn’t seek Him. They chose their way over His way, their cravings and sin over what God wanted them to do.

And God was right to be angry with them. But, the text says, because of His mercy, He held back.

And remembered they are just flesh.

God knows we are not as strong as we think we are.  He knows we are weak and frail.  He knows we will get ourselves in trouble like lost sheep.

He knows that.

And loves us anyway.

In spite of all of our weakness.  All our frailty. All our faults. God knows. And He loves us.  In spite of ourselves.

He knows that we need Him for even our next breath. He knows we can’t do it without Him. He knows we bring nothing to the table for Him.

And He loves us.  Anyway.

Sometimes, all the time, really, we forget we are weak and frail. We are not as strong as we think we are.   We are not.

We really are not a big deal.  We really aren’t.

We are just a breath that will be gone someday.

And God still loves us!  In spite of what we’ve done, in spite of our frailty, we are loved. God knows we are weak. And He loves us.

Today, thankfully, we are not as strong as we think we. May we turn to Him. And in Him, we will find the strength we need. We can’t do it ourselves. Through Him, we can do all things.

Through Him.

His Mercy

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One of parts of the Bible that has always been the hardest to understand, hardest to wrap our minds around is that section of Romans from chapter 9 through 11.  In here Paul writes about things like election and predestination, for knowledge and hits upon free will.  It’s an area that has produced a lot of conversation, discussion, and yes, even arguments through Church History.

I will not attempt to explain this section this morning, don’t worry 🙂

But as Paul writes through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this text, he says something today that sums it at all up nicely:

33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him,
to receive a gift in return?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Paul says there are many things about God we don’t understand.  There are things about the mind of God that our finite human minds simply can’t grasp.  But, the one thing that we do know is this – God’s mercy.

What can we do to earn God’s mercy?  Nothing.

How can we seek to know the ultimate plan that He has? Nothing.

Is there anything we do to “make” God do anything?  No, He is an amazing, powerful, wise, loving, merciful God. He is above us, beyond us, strong and might.

He created everything.  Us included.

And, the mighty God chooses to love us.  Chooses to show us mercy.  Paul writes so much about the unknowable mind of God – but always reminds us of His mercy.  Of His love.  Of His grace.

So, instead of worrying about not being understand those mysteries, rely upon this – He loves you.  He shows you mercy. Rely upon that.

And let that knowledge call you to love God with all that you are. And love your neighbor as yourself.

For that’s the response He really wants from us.  The depths of His mercy know no limits.  May we see to love in the same way.