Monthly Archives: October 2011

Reformation: Rediscovering God’s Promises, Salvation, and Faithfulness

Readings

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Psalm 46

Romans 3:19-28

John 8:31-36

Devotion

Peace be with you!

In an instance, your world can change: having a baby, being paralyzed from a car accident, hearing the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time, or [whatever “it” is] that changed your way of thinking for better or worst. It is a moment, which changes the way you think, behave, and interact with others.

God has a moment while leading the Israelites back to the Promise Land. The old covenant does not allow the Israelites and God to have the relationship he wants. It is too resistive and does not take into account the Israelites live in the world where they are tempted by sin. God realizes he needs to make a new covenant with Israelites, which will provide them with forgiveness to take into account their human nature.

God finds a way to love the Israelites again, even though they sinful nature has gotten in the way before when having a relationship with him. God rethinks how to go about having a relationship with the Israelites. In a sense, God learns to love the Israelites again to restore his relationship with them.

To be holy, God gave the Israelites laws, including the Ten Commandments, to follow and to keep. Because the Israelites are human, which are a broken race, God realized he could not keep the Israelites to such high standard. If God wanted to be in a relationship with the Israelites, then he had to change the old covenant.

The new covenant offers forgiveness to the whole nation of Israel, though it still has the laws and the Ten Commandments of the old covenant. By doing so, God is writing the laws on the Israelites’ hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:33) to make them his people again.

The new covenant is also a promise of the future as God will lead the Israelites back to the Promise Land from the exile. God realizes he has not kept his promise to protect Israel from its enemies, because the Israelites kept breaking laws, and therefore they broke their relationship with him.

Once the Israelites are back in the Promise Land, God promises to create a new covenant with them. The promise is in the present: God has not abandon the Israelites forever and will continue to protect them. God will be the loving God he promised to be and will love his children despite their faults. The promise is also for the future: God will create a new covenant with the Israelites upon back in the Promise Land (Schifferdecher 2011).

As Christians, we understand the “already and not yet” promises. For instance, God promised forgiveness through the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are forgiven of our sins by having a relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And God promises that Jesus will come back to deliver us from this world to his kingdom. We will see the Triune God again.

So as we celebrate the Reformation – in remembrance of Martin Luther boldly nailing the ninety-five thesis’s to the door of the Catholic Church, we also remember God renewing his relationship and his promises with us. Luther started the Reformation to restore the church and reintroduce the members to the doctrine of salvation by faith through grace. He rediscovering a treasure the church seemed to have lost (Schifferdecher 2011).

In a sense, Luther wanted to reconnect the church with God of grace through a new but old promise of forgiveness, love, grace, and salvation through faith. His boldness is why we have an understanding of God’s grace, love, and faithfulness to us as his people. Let’s us not forget that God loves us unconditionally.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for renewing your promises with the Israelites and us. Help us to remember your love, grace, salvation, and faithfulness. Thank you for Martin Luther for rediscovering your promises. Amen.

Works Cited

Schifferdecher, Kathryn. Jeremiah 31:31-34. June 5, 2011. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/30/2011&alt=2 (accessed October 31, 2011).

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. Which of God’s promises mean the most to you?

2. How do you rediscover God’s grace on a daily basis?

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost: The Community becomes the Church

Readings

Joshua 3:7-17 and Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

Micah 3:5-12 and Psalm 43

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Matthew 23:1-12

Devotion

Peace be with you!

I love older architecture from the early 1900’s. The craftsmanship of the wood trim and the elegant woodwork for the pulpit and baptismal fond is amazing and feels worthy of God more so than modern day church buildings. Oh, and the stain glass windows always take my breath away.

While doing my masters at Luther Seminary, I loved going to daily chapel. There is a big pipe organ, which just captivate us as we enter and leave chapel. My favorite part is the baptism fond with its grand size and water fountain, which you cannot miss when entering chapel. Our professors would take turns preaching in chapel; their sermons were always elegant, captivating, and true to gospel. Chapel at Luther Seminary has a special place in my heart.

Then I read the gospel reading for this week, and I find myself feeling guilty for loving Luther Seminary’s chapel and the professors so much. In Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus challenges the Pharisees and their scribes for their practices, even when the Jews give them the authority to interpret the Torah for good reason. Jesus is pointing to the Pharisees’ “Do as I say, not as I do” practices.

For Jesus, the biggest issue is that Pharisees expect to be wined and dined in their fancy robes with the highest honors at banquets and in the synagogues (Matthew 23:6). They expect to be greeted with respect in public (Matthew 23:7). Jesus admits the Pharisees speak the truth about the Torah, but their actions do not always match with what they do. For instance, there is one rabbi (or teacher) according to the scriptures, which they preach, and yet they expect to be called rabbi. Jesus points out we, even the Pharisees, are all students to God the Father (Matthew 23:8), and we have one father in heaven (Matthew 23:9) and one instructor who is the Messiah (Matthew 23:10).

Can you image the Pharisees reaction? Wait, we have studied the Torah and have been given authority to teach in the synagogues. How dare you call us students? We have done our masters and received honors for our research and our thesis papers. We deserve the title rabbi as ones who have the knowledge to interpret after doing all of our studies.

I wonder what Jesus would say about us adding “pastor” or “reverend” in front of our names and PhD, MA, etc behind our names. We use titles as a way to distinguish ourselves. I inform individuals who I meet in public that I got my MA in New Testament from Luther Seminary, so they treat me as an able adult and not as an a child or an individual who is mentally challenged. My MA title also entitles me to hold conversations with other Biblical scholars.

Maybe it is the feeling of entitlement that Jesus is speaking out against. As a college student, my marketing professors taught that learning never ends, especially since the marketing field is always changing. As a Biblical scholar, I understand there are always new and different ways to interpret Bible passages, and the meanings change over time, culture, and context. Scholars are always reading commentaries and talking to individuals to stay on top of new scholarship. So would Jesus speak out against our titles? (Please discuss through the comment box.

The second issue Jesus seems to be speaking out against is the Pharisees’ presuming expensive and fancy robes (Matthew 23:5b). Jesus seems to think the Pharisees are sticking their noses in the air and acting as if they are better than others. Jesus says the first shall be last and the last shall be first (Mark 10:31; Matthew 19:30, 20:16; Luke 13:30; Revelations 22:13).

I wonder if Jesus would speak out against our fancy sanctuaries. Would he view the sanctuaries as honoring God the Father? Or are they too showing? This leads us to the question: What do we really need to worship the Triune God? (Again, please discuss through the comment box.) In my humble opinion, all we need to worship God is Bibles, belief in the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and community of individuals share our faith and support our personal faith journeys.

Jesus said, “For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20). Therefore, a church is the individuals who gather together to worship and to honor the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The community is the church, not the building, the stain glass windows, or the African handmade communion cups. The community of believers in the Triune God is what defines a church.

In Philadelphia, the community of the Welcome Church gathers outside with just a table, communion cups, and sometimes a cross. The individuals create the church as they gather for worship. Reverend Violet Little started two years ago by going to bus and train stations to do ministry in the world. Reverend Little even provides shoes for the homeless and works with different churches to provide the homeless with a meal and a safe place to gather. The homeless feel welcome to join in the worship service, because the Welcome Church has a “come as you are” policy. In the past two years, Reverend Little has married homeless couples, seen a community of Christians form with unlikely individuals, and worked with church, which have walls, to provide meals for the homeless weekly. It is truly amazing what a community can do when the individuals rally together.

So I challenge you to go out this week and look for ways individuals worship God in public.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the ministry Reverend Violet Little does in Philadelphia. Help us to become the community of believers that can carry on the church. Thank you for your ever-lasting love for your community. Amen.

Works Cited

Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. Would Jesus speak out against our titles?

2. What do we need to worship the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?

3. How do individuals worship God in public? How does it transform the way you want to worship

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: To Keep the Law is to Love

Readings

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 and Psalm 1

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Matthew 22:34-46

Devotion

Peace be with you!

As a child, I use to love spending time in our small “orchard” (by small I mean six apple and peach trees and my grandpa came out in the spring to spray them and in the fall to pick the apples and preaches) with our family dog, Daisy. My dad had cut me a short trail through the tall grass, which allowed me to go to the orchard in my wheelchair. Even as a young child, I enjoy the peace and the stability the trees gave me each time I went back there.

Psalm 1 uses the imaginary of a big tree, probably a big majestic oak tree, to God the Father’s love for us as his children. An oak tree uses it roots to reach water deep in the ground, so it can survive the harshest winters. An oak tree stays the test of time and becomes a testament to us who only live on the earth a short time.

Like oak trees, God reaches deep into the darkness and pulls at our hearts to turn us towards him. God has been our answer time and time again. So when one of the Sadducees, lawyer, ask Jesus, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Matthew 22:36). Of course, Jesus understands the question is a test. Jesus answers, “The first is love your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Now many Christians, including myself, believe Jesus is giving the Sadducees new commandments. But Jesus is repeating laws in Deuteronomy 6 and 19; laws the Jewish community, especially the Sadducees, should know. And by putting these laws above all others, Jesus is stating that loving God means to love others. This means following God’s commandments demonstrates love to others through our actions and relationships. And out of love we choose to follow the laws, which God gave us. Because we follow the laws, we tend to others’ well-being.

The last six commandments of the Ten Commandments give us structure to live by honoring our parents, not killing each others, keeping our relationships hold, not take what is not yours, not to lie, and to be happy with what you have (Exodus 20:12-17). And we choose to follow these laws, because we love God and each other.

Just as oak trees are grounded by their roots, we grounded by our love for God the Father and each other. This love is what keeps us grounded in our relationships and as Christians. Our life’s mission is to carry out God’s plan by being his instruments.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for loving us, even though we are broken and need forgiveness. Help us to love each other as you love us. Thank you for giving us the law and for the chance to love you, our Triune God, and each other by keeping the law. Amen.

Works Cited

Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. What does it mean to love through the law?

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Being in the World & Belonging to God

Readings

Exodus 33:12-23 and Psalm 99

Isaiah 45:1-7 and Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Matthew 22:15-22

Devotion

Peace be with you!

Being a Christian is difficult because we are torn between two realities: our world and God’s world. We spent our days in a society, especially if you are in America, where the word god is almost prohibited in public spaces. As Americans and Christians, we have [at least I do] a fear of offering individuals who do not believe in our Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

When questioned if we should pay taxes to the emperor (Matthew 22:17), Jesus says, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21). God understands we live in the world, and in order to survive we need the participant in the world on a sub-toxic level.

In Westmoreland, Tennessee, coaches are not allowed to bow their heads during student-led prayers before football games (Morgenstem 2011). The coaches respect the school district’s decision to have them not bow their heads during student-led prayers. However, the coaches should know that bowing their heads during any prayer is not needed to participate in the prayer. Their presence during student-led prayers still gives honor to God while still respecting the government.

In United States of America, the Supreme Court ruled the Ten Commandments could not be displayed in public schools or in Kentucky’s county courthouses, but they could be displayed on Texas’ capitol grounds. Each case of displaying the Ten Commandments is reviewed individually and determined if the purpose is religious or non-religious. The First Amendment does protect the display of the Ten Commandments on the private property. The government cannot appear to have any religious bias (Anti-Defamation League 2011). And honestly I love how we have the freedom to worship as we wish privately. I am proud to be an American who exercises her religious freedom with honor and respect.

We have all heard about the high school students not being able to pray at the graduation, so one student sneezes and they all say “God bless you.” In Texas, the State Supreme Court ruled high school students could say prayers during their graduation, if they changed it to a “statement of faith” (Ball 2011).

I am proud to be an American who enjoys her religious freedom and respect the other faith traditions. I enjoy inter-faith conversations and think they should happen more often. I also enjoy the fact that God allows us to live in the world. We are allowed to take part in our government and be involved in its decision process.

Yet God also calls us to be faithful to him. Even though we are allowed to live in the world, we are not to idolize anyone or anything but the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the benefits of only idolizing God are amazing. First, God promises to never forsaken us, which was demonstrated to us through Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. The world (friends, family, the government, etc) have a tendency of forsaking us during difficult times. But God promises what seems like the impossible, yet he demonstrates his loyalty and love to us on a daily basis through Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection (Schmit 2011).

Second, since we belong to God, we belong to the people of God – the body of Christ (Schmit 2011). Through our baptism, we are born into the fellowship of the body of Christ. Any alienation is due to our own fault when we turn our backs on God. And when we return, God is always there with open arms. Third, we give ourselves to the Triune God because we belong to him. We give ourselves through worship when we go to church, when we pray privately, and when we do service during our daily work. Our lives are for God’s purpose; he lives through us.

We belong to the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for allowing us to be apart of the world. Help us to remember we belong to us and not to idolize anyone or anything but you. Thank you for allowing us to belong to you. Amen.

Works Cited

Anti-Defamation League. The Ten Commandments Controversy: A First Amendment Perspective . 2011. http://www.adl.org/religious_freedom/resource_kit/ten_commandments.asp (accessed 2011 йил 2-October).

Ball, Linda Stewart. Court Rules Prayers Can Be Said At Texas High School Graduation. 2011 йил 3-June. http://www.urbanchristiannews.com/ucn/2011/06/breaking-prayers-to-be-allowed-at-texas-high-school-graduation.html (accessed 2011 йил 2-October).

Morgenstem, Madeleiene. High School Coaches in Trouble for Bowing their Heads during Student-Led Prayer in Tennessee. 2011 йил 25-September. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/high-school-coaches-in-trouble-for-bowing-their-heads-during-student-led-prayer-in-tenn/ (accessed 2011 йил 2-October).

Schmit, Clayton. Matthew 22:15-22. June 5, 2011. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/16/2011 (accessed October 16, 2011).

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. How to you participant in the world?

2. How do you belong to God?

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: Being True Christians

Readings

Exodus 32:1-14 and Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

Isaiah 25:1-9 and Psalm 23

Philippians 4:1-9

Matthew 22:1-14

Devotion

Peace be with you!

One of my husband’s favorite movies is The Replacements, which is about a football team coach, Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman), hiring replacements during a pro football strike. Of course, the replacements are a bunch of want-to-be pro football players who missed the mark during college for whatever reason and some individuals who never played football before.

Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves) is a former quarterback at Ohio State University who choked in the Sugar Bowl in 1996. Right out of college Falco was drafted by Seattle and pushed into the spotlight without preparation, which blew his professional career. Jumbo Fumiko (Ace Yonamine), a Japanese sumo wrestler, was hired as an offensive tackle. Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones) is a stockboy at a mini mart who cannot catch anything but sure can out run anyone (The Replacements (film) n.d.).

McGinty believes in his players and works with them to make them into a real professional team. It takes the players a few games to get in sync with each other and trust their fellow teammates. Once the players became a team, the Sentinels became unstoppable and had a chance at the playoffs. Eddie Martel (Brett Cullen), the regular first-string quarterback, crosses the picket line to play the last regular season game, which leaves Falco on the sidelines (well, he does not show up).

At half-time, the score is 17-0 with little help of the Sentinels winning, because the replacements (who are the real team) are not gelling with Martel who blames them for his mistakes. A reporter asks McGinty what it will take for the team to win and he says, “Miles and miles of heart.” This causes Falco to race to the stadium, and the rest of the replacements kick Martel out of the locker room. Amazingly, with the leadership of Falco, the Sentinels win the game (20-17) and go to the playoffs.

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus tells a parable of the wedding banquet. The king goes to great lengths to invite his friends to his son’s wedding by sending his slaves (Matthew 22:2-3). The invitees refused to come, so the king sent other slaves to remind them about the wedding (Matthew 22:4). Again, some of the invitees went about their day, while others mistreated and killed the king’s slaves (Matthew 22:5-6). This enraged the king who sent his troops to burn the homes of the ungrateful invitees.

In the movie The Replacements, the pro athletes would be the ungrateful invitees. The owners of the Sentinels wanted the pro athletes to come play for him, but they were holding out for more money. The pro athletes want for themselves.

In the Christian world, the ungrateful invitees are those of us that refuse to hear the good news. We all have days when we are deaf to good news and just want to go about our day in the world. In Jesus’ day, these individuals would be the Jews who refused to hear the good news.

The parable goes on by the king sending his slaves out yet again, but this time he instructed them to invite anyone willing to come to his son’s wedding (Matthew 22:9). The slaves gathered all sorts of individuals – good, bad, and indifferent – to fill the banquet hall. The king could finally give his son a grand wedding.

The attendees represent those individuals who listen attentively to the good news. These individuals would be the Gentiles in Jesus’ day. God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to give the good news of forgiveness to Jews who rejected him, so he went out to give the good news to the Gentiles. The Gentiles take the good news to heart and welcome God the Father into their hearts.

Now there is one attendee that refused to wear a wedding robe (Matthew 22:11-12). The king has the individual bind at his/her hands and feet and thrown out to the darkness (Matthew 22:13). These verses are more law than gospel and are difficult to put nicely. The attendee who refused to wear a wedding robe, even the one that was provided, represents the individual who pretends to be a believer of the good news. However, God will not allow those individuals who pretend to enter his kingdom. If you only kind of believe in the good news, you will not enter the Kingdom of God. You have to believe with your whole heart in the good news in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

In the movie The Replacements, the attendee who refused to wear a wedding robe would be Eddie Martel who only wanted to play until the team had a chance at the playoffs. But the replacements did not welcome Martel into their circle. Martel felt he was better than the replacements, but in the end he was interrupting the team’s flow and was not a part of the team. Once Falco came back the second-half, the team players were able to work together again.

God is inviting us to the wedding banquet in the Kingdom of God. We just need to choose to be true Christians.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for telling us this difficult parable. Help us to be true Christians and a strong community. Thank you for inviting us to the wedding banquet. Amen.

Works Cited

The Replacements (film). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Replacements_(film) (accessed October 8, 2011).

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. What does it mean to be a true Christian?

2. Are there individuals in your life that pretend to be Christians? How do they make you feel?

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Pressing into the Future

Readings

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 and Psalm 19

Isaiah 5:1-7 and Psalm 80:7-15

Philippians 3:4b-14

Matthew 21:33-46

Devotion

Peace be with you!

As Americans, our lives are defined by where we have been and what we have done. The past defines who we are. As a result, we continually look over our shoulder. We want to see where we have been and what we have done as well as who has seen us. Susan Eastman uses the analogy of a runner in a race. The goal of any race is to reach the finish line. When runner looks behind him/her, he/she looses track of where he/she is going to look at where he/she has been and who is behind him/her; therefore, the runner looses track of where he/she is going.

As Christians looking back on their Jewish heritage, we look back to the Old Testament for the Ten Commandments and other laws to see how we are to live. A few of the Ten Commandments we, Christians, find easy to follow, but most of them we fall in the traps:

1. Shall not have any other gods (Exodus 20:3).

a. simple enough, we only need one God.

2. Shall not make any idols (Exodus 20:4).

a. We only need one God

b. Where we fall in the trap is when we value material items – money, computers, cars, [whatever “it” is] – more than God the Father.

3. Shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God (Exodus 20:7).

a. Again it sounds simple enough …

b. Until we get upset and slips out – opps!

4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-9).

a. Sweet, God the Father demands we take a day off.

b. But than the boss calls and demands you come in or he/she will fire you, so you go in. Or you need to catch up on your household work. Or your husband/wife/child(ren) needs your help. Or [whatever “it” is] that demands your time.

5. Honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12).

a. We never truly want to go against our parents.

b. But what if they do not value the same things? What if the disagree with our career choice? What if they say you cannot go by your best friend but you really want to? What if [whatever “it” is] that you and your parents disagree on?

6. Shall not murder (Exodus 20:13).

a. Pretty simple rule – do not harm others.

b. But your brother hit you first, and you hit him back. Or another individual seek to harm your family. Or an individual threatens to take [whatever “it” is] you have that he/she wants. Or jealousy boils over. Or [whatever “it” is] that causes individuals to harm others.

7. Shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14).

a. No one goes into a marriage thinking it will not work out.

b. But there are reasons – not comparable, individuals grow apart, trust issues, [whatever “it” is] – that individuals go a strain.

8. Shall not steal (Exodus 20:15).

a. Again pretty simple rule – do not take what is not yours.

b. But my friend has hundreds of [whatever “it” is] that they will not miss if I take one. I could never afford [whatever “it” is] and look it fits in my pocket or bag. Or I’ll bring [whatever “it” is] back before they notice it is gone, yet you never bring it back.

9. Shall not bear false witness (Exodus 20:16).

a. Again pretty simple – do not lie.

b. But do you really want to tell [whoever “they” are] [whatever “it” is] they just asked you about? Like, do I look fat?  Or isn’t this the best [whatever “it” is] meal you ever had? As a society, we say it is all right to tell white lies to protect an individual’s feelings. But what if you are protecting yourself?  Or you are hiding [whatever “it” is] from an individual who wants to know but the information will destroy them. Or [whatever “it” is] causes you to lie.

10. Shall not covet your neighbor’s: house, wife, slaves, ox, donkey, or anything else (Exodus 20:17).

a. Again pretty simple: do not want what others have – be happy with what you have.

b. But the Jones have a bigger house. The Smiths have a nicer car. And lets not forget the Johnson’s big flat screen television. Most of us, if not everyone, want something that we do not have.

Dang it! I do not know about you, but I know I fail to keep at least five of the Ten Commandments on any given day. I guess I should just accept I will never enter the Kingdom of God. So why should we even attempt to keep the Ten Commandments? I mean, if we cannot keep half of the Ten Commandments, why should we even be faith to God the Father?

Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:7-9 that this is the exact reason why Jesus Christ came into the world: so we can have new life. Jesus gives us a new future in his crucifixion, death, and resurrection in that we are forgiven by his grace and love.

So instead of looking to the past, we are to look to the future – a future with Jesus Christ by his forgiveness, grace, and love. We look towards the resurrection of the dead (Philippians 3:11) when we, the living and the dead, will enter the Kingdom of God.

The past says we are not able to enter the Kingdom of God because we cannot keep the Ten Commandments. As the human race, we are flawed, broken, and undeserving. But with Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, made whole, and deserving. Therefore, we are let go of our broken past and given an amazing future.

We are to press on to our new future, because Christ has made us his own (Philippians 3:12) and given us a new identity, just as God gave the Israelites a new identity when he gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The new identity Christ gives us the opportunity to press into the future, because our pasts are rewritten (Jacobson, et al. 2011) with forgiveness.

In the end, we do have a reason to believe in God the Father, because we are given a pass into heaven through Jesus’ grace. Even though we fail to keep the half of the Ten Commandments on any given day, we are forgiven on every given day, because God the Father loves us so much that he sent his only son to die for our sins.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for our new identity through Jesus Christ. Help us to press into the future as we are going to heaven through Jesus Christ. Thank you for sending Jesus to give us forgiveness. Amen.

Works Cited

Jacobson, Rolf, Karoline Lewis, David Lose, and Matt Skinner. “Brainwave 196: Lectionary Texts for Oct. 2, 2011.” Brainwave. St Paul, September 25, 2011.

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. Which of the Ten Commandments is the hardest for you to keep?

2. How do you press into the future?