Saturday, November 29, 2014

"A Fine Balance;" Sermon for the 1st Sunday of Advent by Nicole Collins

6 For we have all become like one who is unclean, ceremonially, like a leper..., and all our righteousness, our best deeds of rightness and justice, is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away far from God’s favor, hurrying us toward destruction.”

 

The Prophet Isaiah relays some harsh Words from the punishing parent God of the Old Testament for us to contemplate especially in thinking about what is the “true” righteousness?  If we are in an age that is justifying the self over and above God…  How could we truly “know” righteousness?  We know how to condemn and place the scarlet letter of outcast upon our neighbor for “righteousness” sake… but aren’t we more or less filling in the mortar to the graceless wilderness’ foundation Satan would have us realize?

 

A Hardened heart toward God and the neighbor can be easily reached once we’ve journeyed down that road of justifying our sin as a righteous act. This time of year normally examples our human tendencies to be concerned the world of the self, being concerned with buying things, eating and what not.  I think the banter about “Black Friday” started two weeks before Thanksgiving.  This makes you wonder, what does being grateful mean since perhaps we have “adjusted” its true meaning? This is beside the point, yesterday on the news there were shootings in two Chicago locations.  One was a suicide and attempted murder in a Nordstrom store on the Mag-mile and the other was some sort of gang-related shooting on the south side spraying the streets with over a 100 bullets…

 

Conceal and carry could be considered the culprit here among other things…  However, the general air it left me with reflecting upon was that there is a lot of unrest in the world these days.  If we really saw all the world’s news, all the politics, destruction and what not… would we be awakened out of our lives’ “little bubble” of security and dealing with our own problems, to thus arise and err on the side of Grace?  Or would we be too hastily ready to add our contribution in the guise of “righteousness” to be that mortar towards building the graceless wilderness, “advent” of destruction?!

 

It’s a fine balance we would rather spiritually avoid.  We would rather avoid the challenge of living into the lifestyle of Grace and perpetuate the development of our own “justification!”  Righteousness is not an intellectual treatise of development as we’ve conveniently made it to be in rewriting or revising the Word to affirm our point of view.  Humanity wants the world to be a yes/ no reality.  Why should we bother with the middle?  We forget, however, most gravely…. Who IS in the middle after all, this would be Jesus!  If as a disciple of Christ, you cannot see Jesus at the center of your life, let alone as the reality of Grace realized for our benefit…  What is the point?

 

Wake up people!  The true righteousness in this world is not of this world and it came from Jesus! We cannot recreate it. There was a funny post the other day on a social media site that had someone debate a quote from a Reformation figure and basically their argument was centered on coming from everything but Christ.  The person in essence had developed a self-oriented theology that justified not only cheap grace or denying the need for any kind of accountability but even thought the reformer’s comments were breaking some sort of sexual ethic…  Please… 

 

If Satan is not real, hell is not real and we should make sure to have a politically correct “eunuch” version of God… I think you are gravely missing the point!  Then what does Grace mean if Christ doesn’t even really matter in juxtaposition to our “righteousness?”  Across the country there has been wave after waves of protests on the judge’s decision impact from the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri…  And this is not going to be a sermon talking about that or taking sides.  What about the latest with ISIS?  What about the working poor here and now? The point is; what is justice, if we justify over and above God and ignore the real places where death and destruction are truly reigning!?

 

Taking into account or becoming awake to where death and destruction are truly reigning is starting with ourselves.  We are those clay vessels created by God and filled with those filthy rags of self-righteousness, greed and indifference.  It’s a little known fact but the word for earth in Hebrew is Hadam or “Adam.”  When Luther had his epiphany upon the reality of God’s Grace active in his life; he penned that we are both saint and sinner!  The reality of growing or maturing as children of God, children of Grace is actively as my mentor would say: believing, receiving, incorporating and sharing.

 

We are saved by Grace to which we have received through faith.  Upon this reception is the natural unfolding of living into Grace which means volition.  Volition is one of those strange Words Lutherans, in particular, are perhaps scared of….  Because volition is another adjective or enhancer for the calling and commissioning for all disciples of Jesus to be accountable.  Accountability however does not have to mean “works righteousness…” for we must with a humble heart remember that we all fall short of the glory of God.

 

The beautiful attitude of Grace doesn’t take shape out of our own intellectual treatise of judgment…  It develops in, with, and through Christ who is our redeemer and example.  The New Nature planted by Grace is ready for us to tap into. Tapping into the New Nature is volition produced by Faith Alone from Grace Alone, Through Christ Alone and built by Scripture Alone.

 

St. Paul’s pastoral message to his “wayward” Corinthian congregation defines this: “4 I thank my God at all times for you because of the grace (the favor and spiritual blessing) of God which was bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, 5[So] that in Him in every respect you were enriched, in full power and readiness of speech [to speak of your faith] and complete knowledge and illumination [to give you full insight into its meaning]. 6In this way [our] witnessing concerning Christ (the Messiah) was so confirmed and established and made sure in you. 7That you are not [consciously] falling behind or lacking in any special spiritual endowment or Christian grace [the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating in your souls by the Holy Spirit], while you wait and watch [constantly living in hope] for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and [His] being made visible to all.”

 

Living into Hope could be the second name for these past few months concerning my own “little bubble” of time and space as Jesus disciple in formation.  Since July my husband and I have had more than half of our house packed up and ready to move...  This would include nearly all of our books, artifacts and whatnot stored away while we notice the dust collect and the strappling tape fail in holding our “belongings” together.

 

Being in transition in accepting the challenges or as they say “rolling with the punches” becomes a spiritual drain not only upon the faith but in wondering why and what for? It has more or less been like living in a storage unit wanting to break out and truly move forward!  A sense of urgency but oriented around my own plans and “needs…”

 

Six is an imperfect number Biblically speaking, but that was the years of study and field work I have “accomplished” in order to meet the “standards of the world” to become a pastor. Judgments have been made and we are still here.  Political righteousness served in the eyes of some but what about being missional minded, encouraging and enlightening neighbor for the Gospel’s sake, I ask?

 

Each and every “move” we make spiritually or otherwise coming from our own sense of righteousness never serves anyone yet alone the Sovereign of Grace—Jesus. In fact, it only examples the hypocrisy the Evil One would love for us to stumble over…  Moving forward spiritually or otherwise with Christ as our guide humbles us to His sense of time as well as to see and grow from His true righteousness, a saving, shaping and transforming Grace!

 

Our urgency and owning up to the task of living truthfully into the lifestyle of Grace is the “advent” of our spiritual rebirth.  This is one we cannot circumvent, yet alone deny for if we deny the very good that is within us—a process, life-time’s journey into holiness—wholeness… we build towards our own destruction.  As Jesus said to His disciples… “31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Words will not.” Allow the Living Word to be alive within you!

AMEN

 

First Sunday of Advent; Year B; November 30th, 2014; SOLA Lectionary Nicole Collins

Psalm 80:1-7; Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 & Mark 13:24-37




Saturday, November 22, 2014

"Marks of Grace;" Sermon for Christ The King Sunday by Nicole Collins

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where the disciples were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit… 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…”

 

What does the sovereignty of Christ look like to you?  How do you experience it?  Reflecting upon these texts this past week had me hear some scriptures outside of the texts beginning to tell me or remind me of the story of Grace coming into the world, facing the cross and resurrecting into a lifetime’s journey for each and every one of us who profess… “11b…Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 

Jesus is Lord was the first creed penned by Saint Paul in his letter to the Philippians. Christ the King Sunday is the celebration of why we call Jesus Lord. Jesus is Lord, IS the reason why we have considered in the beginning there was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  We are also told that the Word is formed by breath—spirit, fire and it is shared as well in this manner. Actions speak louder than words is the human response either shaped by Grace or shaped by sin. Gracious or graceless is my understanding of our call.

 

Today's Gospel challenges us to see the face of Christ in our neighbor to also see the face of Christ in ourselves especially when we are aware of our sins. These are sins of commission. We can however, all too easily become greedy and indifferent in our lives labors and reach to neighbor in fact Satan preys on it and makes it even more attractive to do so. These are the daily sins of omission.

 

Why is this creed, Jesus is Lord, so important for the modern disciple to say and think about and pray upon daily? I would say why it is critically important is that it’s not only reminding us but it affirms that profound and Amazing Grace, love that Christ indeed gave us from the cross to the resurrection.  We need to trust in not only the Lord but allow this trust shaped by faith through Grace to flow.

 

Lately our Friday night TV line-up has been sort of dismal… Ironic, since we have satellite!  But usually Phil & I enjoy our family ritual of Friday night pizza and hopping back and forth through various channels finding something interesting to see.  This Friday we decided to watch the oldies station which had of all things, “The Andy Griffith Show…”  The episode in particular was 50 years old!  It was funny and cute to see all the dated references in it.  Those Iconic early ‘60’s America pop culture references and so on.  This episode in particular, all humor aside, struck a fascinating cord for me literally!  Since the episode ended with Andy strumming and humming Amazing Grace.” 

 

Basically the plot of this night episode was Aunt Bea, going on gossip, goes out and buys a 150lbs of meat from a different discount butcher.  She feels guilty but again upon the prompting gossip from friends, she fires up the old freezer and stocks up!  Humorous stereotypes fill in the episode such as she prepares some of the meat, Andy & Opie complain it’s tough and so on…  Then the freezer starts conking out, flickering lights and basically burns out.

 

The very next day, Aunt Bea not wanting to have a 150lb loss of meat goes to the kindly butcher, her regular butcher and embarrassed as well as feeling very guilty asks if she could store her meat bought at the competitor’s store in his freezer…  Unlike our modern expectation of his response, he is very gracious and considerate.  Aunt Bea in return is very gracious and considerate to him in response.  When she returns home, she finds that Andy has forgiven her following gossip and her mishaps and has a new freezer waiting for her.  The episode closes with a family scene of Andy, Opie and Aunt Bea sitting back enjoying the peace of the evening while he then picks up his guitar and starts strumming and humming Amazing Grace.

 

Yes, this is from a simpler age, one where we’d probably find ourselves making fun of their innocence, somewhat silly expectations of behavior…. Since “we’ve arrived.”  Am I right though?  We’re in the 21st century, people don’t act so trusting, forgiving and gracious anymore do they really?  Wow, a 50 year old episode, all iconic pop-sensibility aside exampled to me anyway, the Gospel in action! 

 

Doing those do’s of the Gospel as Jesus’ disciples in this day and age has even more challenges to it than we have had before. God, however calls us to live into faith and trust in the Lord.  Trust is hard though, when we don the attitude that we’ve arrived intellectually and spiritually.  The ego feeds our denial of the TRUTH!  Faith is not an entity it is being and becoming accountable knowing renewed, and refreshed daily by the Gospel, that we are being judged.  Hear the Law not as fire and brimstone, but hear it as a beckoning from whom and why we live today: Christ Jesus, the crucified Lord!

 

The Gospel writer Luke continues in defining the sovereignty of Grace as Jesus the Christ: “10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”  Where does the saving aspect become real for us?  It’s more than the story beginning the marks of Grace in the world, but not of the world…. Being Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It is saving ourselves without ourselves becoming the stumbling blocks. 

 

What do I mean by this?  It is saving ourselves by denying ourselves and living into being and becoming children again.  Being and becoming the children of Grace by taking seriously the call and commissioning of each and every one of us to invest in our spiritual formation.  A spiritual formation that is actively obedient to being shaped by the Living Word of God and FAITH shaped gratefully by a love for God and neighbor that TRUSTS in God’s provision to where the journey will lead!

 

As a future pastoral leader, I understand where I am on the journey.  This is whether to be a pastor for Christ or a chaplain to culture…  Do I cater or cave into the purveying attitude of “cheap grace” and “go with the flow” to be denying basically the sovereignty of Christ and the marks of Grace? Or do I instead live into the unpopular discipline aspect of discipleship that we who profess Jesus Christ is Lord; is?  This is the painful process of spiritual formation to be transformed by the Living Word of God to be an agent of Grace in the world, but not of it!  It’s not easy, it is being blessed to be a blessing to others which I stole this statement from my mentoring pastor… but it’s true!  How do I realize being blessed is being a blessing to others?

 

The other day while I was sitting in a Starbucks doing my busy work on my computer a homeless man kept trying to elicit my attention and aid in seeking to help him get a ride up north to get public aid. It could be a very easy and natural thing for us to say I can't help you go to the library look up social services.  I did feel uncomfortable, but I thought about it for a moment as another human being to another…  I could divide my approaching this man with all kinds of intellectual judgments and labels and everything else that makes our society so entrenched with graceless behavior…. BUT I didn’t.

 

In fact I shared some time talking to this person and asking him how he got to this point and why he has not sought help sooner from the government or from his immediate family.  I could see by the way the conversation was going that he only really wanted to solicit a ride and I could've just ended it there in saying no… but I went out of my way to try to talk to him without judging him, without dismissing him.  I have to tell you that was very hard to do, it was not at all easy both socially and spiritually for we've all become mistrusting and guarded in these crazy and dark times we are in.

 

When our conversation came to a close I noticed in his eyes a sign of comfort or surprised that I didn't just dismiss him and I didn’t not at least listen and be concerned for neighbor. It is very hard to live into the Beatific commandments that Jesus gave us, that God the father gave us through Moses in the Old Testament... but the challenge of the disciple isn't an easy or a popular “choice.” It is however the calling of grace, the calling to live into the lifestyle of grace.

 

Jesus in today’s Gospel speaks once again to owning up to the reality of Grace and the reality of facing our sin—trusting in the Lord to “do the right thing.”  Jesus says: “40And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 

 

Jesus Disciples of course, were troubled by these Words but that was because they weren’t really living into them: “44Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Jesus however imparts this instruction to them as a loving teacher: “45Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

Christ the King Sunday is more than the close of the church year calendar or a “brick and mortar” statement of the cycle of “being/doing church together…”  It is a Living and breathing (Holy Spirit fueled) reality of realizing deeply introspectively AND outwardly that the Grace given was Amazing and that Grace, living into the lifestyle of Grace is Christ’s reign in the world, but not of it! AMEN
 
Christ the King Sunday; November 23rd, 2014; Year A; Lect 34; SOLA Lectionary
Nicole Collins
Psalm 95:1-7; Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Matthew 25:31-46
 

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014

A S.O.A.P. Series around St. Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians; 2nd Corinthians 4:1-12 By Nicole Collins

Scripture|| Observation|| Application|| Prayer

2 Corinthians 4:1-12
1Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Scripture: 1Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

Observation: Ours is a ministry centered in, with and through God; how could we become discouraged.

Application: What strengthens, encourages and enlightens us all in the things we do for the Love of God and neighbor is when we are disciplined to keep the Lord and His will and precepts at the center, heart of all we do within this priesthood of believers. 

Prayer:  Most Gracious Lord,
Help shape our hearts for ministry
All that it will entail—both good and bad
Continue to strengthen, encourage and enlighten our hearts
To remain disciplined to Your mission, vision
For the love of You and our neighbor
May we continue to grow as children of Grace, children of promise
So that the future will see the fruit of a transformed generation
One that most truly lives into the call and commissioning
Of Your Holy priesthood—
AMEN

Scripture: 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Observation: We have given up trying to alter God’s Word for our own purposes but look to the truth and apply the truth from the Word before everyone and of course God.

Application: It is an important aspect of our discipleship wherever we are and wherever we serve that we uphold the Truth and authority of Scripture Alone for Christ Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone. The moment we revise or “tailor” scripture for our own purposes or agendas we rob the Word of its transformative, timeless power to indeed enact living into the lifestyle of Grace!

Prayer:  Gracious & Loving God,
May we always be intentionally obedient
To Steward, serve and protect Your Living Word
For it is through Grace Alone that we are defined in purpose for this task
For it is Through Christ Jesus Alone that we are reminded
Of our commissioning and call into the priesthood of all believers
And it is most importantly through our Faith Alone
That motivates our hands and feet to the action of stewardship to Your Living Word
That it always remain, Your Living, timeless, authoritative Word Alone
In the World but not of the World, for the sake of the World—
AMEN

Scripture: 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

Observation: Even if our gospel is “hidden, covered up;” it is not knowable or seen by those who can only see the world for themselves—their curved-inwardness and idolatry will contribute to their spiritual death.

Application: If we live unto ourselves alone where Christ Jesus law and Gospel cannot penetrate; we are contributing to developing a graceless wilderness which is the beginning of spiritual death.  How can we be effective disciples if we are closed to the spiritual Work of His Living Word!?

Prayer:  Gracious & Loving God,
Help us to harbor and align hearts
To the Truth within Your Living Word
We live in a world, all too ready to persecute the faithful
Help us to remain diligent to upholding
The mission and goal of Your Gospel of Grace
For it is New Life, Your Living Word offers to all
May we live obediently and intentionally
Into the lifestyle of Grace
May we never not be grateful
For all heart knowledge received—
AMEN

Scripture: 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Observation: The godless are too blinded by their idolatry to see, yet alone know who Jesus Christ is, His Gospel and His glorious light.

Application: Idolatry is our great nemesis, temptation and evil from being faithfully obedient disciples of Jesus.  When we cave into the ruler of this world’s empty promises and empty transactions; we help to build the graceless wilderness, the reality of hell in the world.  This reality is a complete turning away from God, a blindness to His Grace and His Kingdom.

Prayer:  Dear Jesus,
May we discipline our hearts
To never go astray into creating idols from the World
May we be faithfully obedient
To turn a blind eye to Satan’s temptations
And open our eyes to see
Your Glorious light of Grace
Allowing this light to shape our hearts
To Love You and neighbor
With the fruits of faith
Love, Kindness, Mercy, Compassion, Selflessness and so on
May we be and become the children of Grace You need
To reveal Your Kingdom, here and now
For the whole world to see!—
AMEN

Scripture: 5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.

Observation: For we do not preach our own gospel; but we preach with great conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord as we are bound to as His servant leaders.

Application: It is an even more pressing reality that we preach, teach and live in example the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  It is all too easy to look away from the authority and power of the Living Word for our own purposes and desires.  As disciples of Jesus, it is our covenantal vow to be a servant to the Living Word as well as to the will and precepts of Christ Jesus the Lord.  To do otherwise is to destroy the message of grace and New life that the Living Word is to timelessly bring.

Prayer:  Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to remain faithful Stewards
Servant leaders to Your Living Word
Guard us against the temptations from the Evil One
To revise, contradict and soften the power and authority
Of Your Holy Gospel, we must realize its sacredness in our lives!
For when we stray, we become sacrilegious and destroy
The Efficacy of the Gospel’s input in, with and through our lives
May we as a divided church in the world thanks to Evil...
Come together for Your sake and for the love of neighbor
To return faithfully and obediently
To Your Living and TRUE Word
As our only model to live into the lifestyle of Grace—
AMEN

Scripture: 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Observation: When our hearts are truly turned to God; this heart knowledge reflects and radiates the light and glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, son of God.

Application: “Give me oil in my lamp and keep it burnin,’” That classic campfire, Cursillo song reminds us of when we are fed, we are led to be and become light-bearers of the Gospel for all to see. Bearing the light of Christ and His beautiful Gospel, starts through our conversion which begins the process of transformation.  All of this starts in the heart to then connect to our minds and then our hands and feet to then live into the lifestyle of Grace.

Prayer:  Dear Lord Jesus,
May we hear deeply: “Let light shine out of darkness”
For we are in very dark times
Where the knowledge of Good and evil
Are becoming blurred and distorted boundaries
The Gospel of GRACE that you challenge our hearts to KNOW
May we realize, become aware of our need to spiritually transform
For if we turn our hearts away from this
Regenerating light of Grace
We will only be perpetuating the darkness
The Glory of God is in our realizing
Our potential as a valued member of the Body
For Your Sake and truly for the Love of neighbor —
AMEN

Scripture: 7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

Observation: We must realize our capacity and place in regards to the Lord.  With a healthy humility, we can truly know and see the magnitude of God’s power—the glory of Grace flowing in and through the world we live.

Application: Being Christian is to know our role in the sense as St. Paul has said in a different letter: “We all fall short of the glory of God.”  We are indeed both saint and sinner, with a particular capacity and limitation to our intentional ministry in the world for the Love of God and neighbor.  When we fall prey to intellectual idolatry and become curved inward—selfish, greedy and indifferent... we will not see the magnitude of the power of God’s grace in our lives, yet alone have our hearts acknowledge His significance...  We need to embrace our roles within the priesthood of all believers with accountability and a healthy humility—where Christ Jesus is central!

Prayer:  Heavenly Father,
Help our hearts to know our roles
We are your children who will always be challenged and growing
May we never fall prey to the Evil One’s temptations
Where we become our own idols
And where the fruits of vice, indifference and evil overtake us
May we realize with a gracious and loving humility
Who we truly are and be accountable
To who we truly need to be and become for Your Glory’s sake
Through Your Son Jesus, the light of Grace has overflowed
May we learn and grow from Your servant Paul’s message
May every moment of every day be lived
With You at the center of our hearts
And the cornerstone of all we do and say as Your disciples
AMEN

Scripture:  8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

Observation: We are determined through our faith to persevere and be strong for others no matter what horrible things happen.

Application: As St. Paul has said in another letter: “The Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing...” Some people outside of the faith may never understand what drives and motivates a disciple of Jesus to persevere. The Greek word for witness is Martyr.  When we think of martyr, many of us see those pictures of people being violently persecuted in a physical way.  Perhaps we should re-think martyr in a positive and spiritual way as a drive to be spiritually Christ-centered (the vertical) and faith, grace and scripturally centered (using these internal focuses as tools in the world to love and serve neighbor—the Horizontal.)  Both dimensions—the vertical and the horizontal are aspects of living a cross-shaped/ transformed life. Christ Jesus gives us being and His mission defines our purpose in the world but not of the world.

Prayer:  Gracious and Loving God,
May our lives continue in all adversity to be grounded
In Your will and Mission for the world
May we be spiritually shaped by and for Your Grace
So that our efforts in the world but not of the world
Remain greatly motivated, intentional and accountable
To You alone for the Love of You and neighbor
The Evil One will try to make us despair and feel weak
May we always be encouraged by GRACE
Encouraged to live into it and for Your sake
May the fruits we bear be the tools and model
Of true discipleship
AMEN

Scripture:  9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Observation: As disciples of Jesus, we are indeed persecuted but God has not forsaken us.  We may feel struck down by evil and the world but we are not spiritually devastated by it.

Application: Perseverance should be a giant poster up in a Christian’s home. This is especially so when we take our challenge to live into our faith with full commitment and intentionality.  There will be many ready to strike your efforts down especially when it goes against the grain of the agendas in the world.  You must remember as children of Grace, Jesus Words when he said: “22 ... and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Prayer:  Dear Jesus,
May we always stand firm in saying
You are indeed Lord
May our faith be unwavering
In the face of many who actively persecute us
Because we dare to confess
That You are our sovereign Lord and crucified King
As a disciple and servant to Your will and Word
May I always endure my cross
With patience, kindness, obedience and mercy
Against the Evil One and the enemies to Your Gospel
Help my heart to be shaped and strengthened by perseverance
For Your Name’s sake
AMEN

Scripture:  10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.

Observation: We carry in our hearts the gravity and magnitude of the cross to live in Gracious response with the fruits of our lives lived in, with and through Christ Jesus, our crucified Lord and savior.

Application: The cross and resurrection of Jesus is what makes Him the Lord.  He is the Lord and font of Grace ever restoring and establishing His Gospel in our hearts as the New Life—creation; from the Living Word.  We are as His disciples intentionally grow and be shaped by the Gospel to truly and truthfully live into the Lifestyle of Grace—the language and reality of the Kingdom of God.

Prayer:  Dear Lord Jesus,
May we never stray from the Truth
The truth of the story of GRACE
Imparted by Your death and resurrection
Which freed us undeserving sinners from sin, death and the devil
We are still in bondage on account of our own failings
To Truly and Truthfully grow with the Living Word
To be empowered and accountable to fight for the Gospel
In a dark and fallen world
Continue to encourage our perseverance
For Your sake and out of Love for You and neighbor
Shape our lives to Your will and precepts
Almighty King of Grace
AMEN

Scripture: 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.

Observation: As disciples of Jesus, we are to live into that New Nature given to us through Grace, so that His example shines brightly through the fruit of our lives lived in Grace.

Application: Christ Jesus example of perfect spiritual development is something we, as children of Grace are to live towards being and becoming. If we are to realize, manifest the glorious truth of the Kingdom of God, we need to truly and truthfully live into the lifestyle of Grace, if not for ourselves betterment but out of Love of God and neighbor.

Prayer: Gracious and Loving God,
May our lives truly develop
To realize what living into the lifestyle of Grace
Really is—in, with and through You
The Holy Spirit our guide and transforming agent
May the work of our hands and feet
Be always shaped by and for Grace
May together as Your Body in the world, but not of the world
Live a life worthy of the Gospel
To Thine always be the Glory
AMEN

Scripture: 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Observation: We are striving to die to the Old Nature and rise to the New Life, Nature that is within us.

Application: We are radically challenged to transform spiritually and deny, put to death our Old Nature selves.  This means being and becoming intentionally obedient to steer away from Satan’s temptations, our selfishness and ways of the world that do not further the Gospel cause.  We need to live into the New Life planted within us by Grace through faith for Christ’ sake and neighbor in order to be and become truly children of Grace.

Prayer: Gracious and Loving God,
Help us die to our Old ways
Which bear fruit and victory only for the Evil One’s plans
May our lives be shaped and truly transformed by and through Grace
If not for our sake but out of love for you and neighbor
May we turn away from the graceless temptations of Satan
May our lives live into the New Nature
Bearing the beautiful fruit of Grace
For Your glory and Kingdom come.
AMEN

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