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Today’s reading seems simple on a cursory reading.

It is not.

Let’s start with the concept of purpose. Salt’s purpose is to be salty. Light to give light. God’s commands to bring our will in line with His. Jesus: to accomplish reconciliation with us and God; saving us through faith in His; bestowing His mercy and grace because of His love for us; fulfilling of all the Law and Prophets. Us: to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to do His will.

You may quibble about the wording and include other aspects. That’s fine. But the point is there is point to the OT Law & Prophets; a point to Jesus; a point to why we, as His children, are here.

Some believe that the portion of our purpose of ‘doing the Law’ is the point. It is not. The point of that Jesus fulfilled all that was necessary on our behalf. It truly and fully is all accomplished!

All!

Now Jesus, who has done that and bridged the gap between God and us, gives us a new command; a new Law; a new purpose, which is to go well beyond righteousness displayed by the scribes and Pharisees: a Law of love our of response to His fulfillment!

Right after our reading today, Matthew goes into the “Sermon on the Mount” where Jesus tells us “you have heard it said” in the OT Law…but I tell you…” In other words, what they had heard about the Law, Jesus fulfilled and gives it back to us reclaimed with an emphasis on the spirit of the Law, given in love, rather than the Pharisaically-watered-down letter of the law minimized and ignored of old. Jesus gives us a joyful Law to live in response rather than a broken one done out of fear. He reminds us that He has already accomplished all for us, so that we can respond as the best salt, and light, and CHRIST-ians He has give us purpose to be!

Through Jesus, all is accomplished! Now live joyfully, in the glorious purpose He has given you to live and love!

“Lord Jesus, thank You for accomplishing all and fulfilling all the Law and Prophets of old on our behalf. Grant us Your Spirit to joyfully respond with Your Law of love; salting and shining with Your purpose so the world sees You through us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Scripture

• Matthew 5:1-13-20
• Psalm 112:1-9

Let week we discussed “the Confession of St. Peter” as well as our own confession – verbally and in life.

This week marks “the Conversion of St. Paul.”

Both are such giants in Scripture. Both can make it difficult to relate to or emulate in any meaningful way.

When we look at St. Paul, he has an amazing story of conversion and transformation; of mercy and grace; of boldness and faith. So much so that we talk about someone’s “Damascus Road” or “”Damascus experience” to signify a person’s colossal life change or coming to faith experience.

But therein lies a problem: the vast majority of us do not have an experience or story life Paul. If we are told to expect that (or if we do) and don’t have a story like his, we can feel let down or that somehow our faith or importance in the Body of Christ is diminished somehow. We fall victim to the fiction that God’s plan for us – our story or witness – is less important or valuable and, consequently, we must be less important or valuable!

Listen and listen well: You are the exact person God has chosen for a part of His plan and loves you beyond measure! He has chosen you before the creation of the world to be His; to do His will and serve in spirit and truth. Your story – however “un-Damascus” it is – matters! It is valid and important!

So, then, what is your story?

Scripture tells us honor Christ as holy in our hearts, “always being prepared to make a defense [of our faith] to anyone who asks [us] for a reason for the hope that is in [us]” (1 Peter 3:15).

My story began before I was born, as when I was conceived, I was already a sinner – dead throughout and separated from God. But on Sunday, May 4, 1969, my parents brought me to the saving waters of Holy Baptism, where God washed me clean, gave me saving faith, and made me His precious child. There were many, many failures and missteps along the way, but every time I sinned or was unfaithful, God remained faithful to His Word and promise for me through Jesus! He has used me, with all my gift and shortcomings, to know and believe in Him as well as serve and share Him in word and deed.

That’s some of my story. It’s not altogether complicated or by any means spectacular. It won’t be the subject of a screenplay or podcast. But God has saved me and used me in some small way to share with other His saving message of Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the Devil through His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension.

And the same goes for you!

Think about God’s plan through your story today, and thank Him for it; for through your faith in Jesus it – you – are remarkable!

“Thank You, Lord, for reaching into my lost, sinful, failure of a life and saving me through faith in Jesus! Thank you for giving me an everlasting story that matters and is focused on You for the blessing of others. Help me to rejoice in my story, live my story, and share my story in word and deed in every way that brings your glory and honor. In Jesus’ victorious name do we pray. Amen!”

Scriptures

• Acts 9:1-22
• Galatians 1:11-24
• Psalm 67

Perhaps this was how things played out.

You’re one of the apostles, sitting with the others and with Jesus. You’re “in class” and the Teacher is calling on all of you to give an answer to two questions. You can either raise your hand and try to go before others and get it out of the way or you can wait a little and use the time (and the answers of others) to formulate a better answer. Then it happens: someone goes and gives the perfect answer (and He the Teacher’s pet, too)!

What do you do now? Do you try to copy his answer in a different way or do you just resign yourself to the answer, “that’s what I was going to say!”?

But you know you can’t say it better. The answer given was perfect. Absolutely perfect!

I wonder if that was the feeling of the disciples when Jesus asked His questions, “who do people say that I am?” and “who do you say that I am?”

The first question seems pretty subjective and innocuous. The second one is different. There’s more behind the question; a seriousness. Something with weight. With import. There is more to the question. More behind it. But what?

If you were there with the others, what answer would you give – and why?

Jesus passed over the answers to the first question, “who do people sy that I am?” and gets right to the real, personal, essential question: “why do you say that I am?”

The question He has for Peter is for us, too. It gets at the heart of Faith.

If Jesus is just “one of the prophets,” there is no forgiveness. If Jesus is just a good person or teacher, there is no payment for sin. If He just showed us a way to live, there is no victory over death and the Devil. If He isn’t “the Christ” of God, all is lost.

That’s the Trust: “Jesus is the Christ of God,” He is the One  in Whome there is salvation, and in no one else! He is it!

But that Truth isn’t yet personal. It is true whether or not we believe it, but when we take it to heart and believe by the power of the Holy Spirit, it changes from The way of Salvation to my way of salvation. It goes from a true confession to my confession. It goes from the way of Life to my way for everlasting life.

Halleluiah!

“Lord Jesus, we confess that You are the Christ of God and the only that salvation is found in no one else but You! Thank you for not just being the Christ, but being my Christ. Send me Your Holy Spirit to move me every day from confessing and living in any way contrary to You. In Your holy, precious, and saving name do we pray. Amen!”

Scriptures

• Acts 4:8-13
• Mark 8:27-30
• Psalm 118:19-29

When tasked for items or even in life, there are often dueling philosophies:

1. do your best and
2. do the bare minimum.

We know we should strive to do our best and go “above and beyond” when we can, but often we are too beat, lazy, uninterested enough to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

In school we all know the folks (not saying I was one of them, even if I was) who spent a fair amount of time figuring out what the minimum grade I could get on something and still get the grade I wanted in the class. Had I spent less time doing the math for the grade instead of studying math for the class, I would have done better overall – and probably felt better about the result.

We are Called to believe in Jesus for forgiveness, for life, and for salvation. We are Called to follow Him and His ways; to live in obedience and using the gifts He has blessed us with. We are Called to live as best we can because we rejoice in the Gift of Salvation He has given us, not the minimum because we are already saved and we can just “ride life through.”

Jesus gave us the example: He was perfect and did not need to be baptized. Yet He did so, “to fulfill all righteousness.”

The goal isn’t just to be saved, but also to live as His saved!

One of the implications is that we do not go on living a life of sin “that grace may abound” (Romans 6:1). We are not to live in the sin that once held us, but let the life we live, “live to God” (Romans 6:10).

Instead of a mindset that says, “God has saved me through Jesus and has done everything, so all is good and I don’t ever need to worry” (a true statement), we should be living in the joyful reality that “God has saved me through faith in Jesus and has done everything, empowering me with the Holy Spirit to do all things to God and for others!”

We have been saved; fully and completely!

Respond to that free Gift by doing your best and living for God!

“Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for saving us and fulfilling all righteousness! Grant us a grateful and generous heart that responds to this gift by living our fullest to You and for others by the power of the Holy Spirit. And let us do so with the best of intentions and to the best of the abilities You have given us. In Your precious name. Amen.”

WE HAD NO POWER TODAY, SO NO RECORDING! Our apologies.

Scriptures

• Romans 6:1-11
• Matthew 3:13-17

I find the Gospel text for today to be humorous as an outsider and terrifying as a parent.

But beyond the implications for Mary and Joseph at the time, there are several things we can take from the lesson.

• Jesus is the Son of God and desires to be in His House.
• Jesus values learning the Word (even though He is The Word [we won’t get into that pickle of thought!]) and being in said House with others.

It started me thinking about setting some good habits for the New Year.

From the example this reading and other places Scripture gives us, I would humbly suggest making a commitment to the following:

1. STUDY & WORSHIP: like Jesus, be in the Father’s House as much as possible, surrounding yourself with other believers to grow in wisdom and knowledge of the Word and in worship to God.
2. READ: make a commitment to reading the Scripture daily. Use a Scripture app; set a daily reminder; make a daily habit to read without constraints or agendas, even if you don’t understand everything you read. Let the Holy Spirit enter, teach, and draw out from you.
3. PRAY: too often we think of prayer as the last resort instead of the constant resort. Scripture tells us to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17), meaning that it should be a natural part of our everyday lives. Commit to chatting with the Lord throughout the day every day. You will find it will make a world of difference, not just in your life but in the lives of others and even of our world. (See also James 5:16b).

It’s a new year with old challenges. But God is a God who has victory over all challenges and is with us through them.

We don’t do this just so we are “better Christians” (though we should certainly strive to be or best). We do this because we are amazed at the Gift the Lord has given to us through Jesus; His birth, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension and want to respond by study and worship, buy reading His Word daily, and by praying continually. We seek to do this out of a loving, humble, response in gratitude, not compulsion, fear, or obligation.

The Lord Jesus has come, and He has given us everything – including an example. May we seek this year to live and follow that example in Joy and thanksgiving.

Thank You, Lord, for showing us what a joy and blessing it is to be in Your House and in Your Word, by reading, studying, and praying with You as our heart. Send us Your Spirit so that we may daily and continually draw closer to You, grow in our faith, and be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ Name do we pray. Amen.”

Scriptures

• Luke 2:40-52
• 1 Thessalonians 5:14-25
• Psalm 119:97-104