Getting to know you.

     Sometimes people are difficult to get to know.  Sometimes we don't make too big of an effort to get to know someone.  It can be scary or intimidating sometimes to approach others and just try to spark off conversation with someone you don't know, particularly if they "look" intimidating--that is to say, their appearance.
     Today I did a funeral service for such a man.  When I first came here to Peace Lutheran church in Rapid City, SD, I did not know this man at all. That remained true for quite a while as I began to get to know those in the church that I was working with and saw more regularly.  Even though I did not know this man initially, it was hard not to notice him.  He was a very tall and large man, who always walked with a cane and sat in the back.  You couldn't miss him.  By the same token he had a very intimidating presence.
     About a year ago, he went into the hospital for a few days, and I was a little nervous about going to see him, and wondered what our conversation might be like, or if we would even have one.  We had not said much more than hello and God's blessings to one another to that point.  Admittedly, it was a little strained that first day at the hospital, and I left not knowing what to think.  But the next day when I went for a second visit, he told me just about everything he could about himself and his history at Peace Lutheran--at least as much as he could in one hospital visit.  The next couple visits were more of the same.
     Shortly after he went home from the hospital-about a week or two later-he showed up at my office to bring me some very old catechism materials that he had stored away at his house.  He had gone digging through some old stuff to find it so that he could bring it to me. 
     I realized that it was his way of telling me that he accepted me, and that he knew I had accepted him as well....a token of appreciation if you will.  What I had not realized until then is that this man only let in  those who he wanted to, and that only when he felt that he trusted you.  By the same token, in my own intimidation, I had not attempted very hard to try and get to know him, until he was in the hospital.
     Relationships are so important in life, as in the church.  It is something that God desires for us--having fellowship and community.  I pray that God will help us get past our own stumbling blocks and the stumbling blocks that others place in front of us, so that we can develop relationships that please God and fulfill His purpose in our lives.
    This blog-post is dedicated to Roger Johnson.  I will miss you friend!  Praise be to God for the faith that He gave you in Jesus Christ!

      Until we meet again.....

Newness of life part2

2 Cor. 5:17
[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

   
  A new creation... IMPOSSIBLE?  Not at all.  In fact, that's what I want to be.  Oh but how our sinful nature struggles against this.  Paul writes about this struggle within himself in one of my favorite passages describing the daily battle that goes on within us...
 [15] I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  [21] So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22] For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23] but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:15-25

God, through His Son Jesus Christ makes this possible for all of us.
So what does this "new creation" look like?
For one thing, we live by the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit is guiding us, instead of the Old Adam(our sinful nature).  And not only that, but we are listening to the Spirit, and following Christ.  We desire to keep the Lord's commandments, and when we fall short (as we all do), we are repentant, and ask for and receive forgiveness from God.
The "new creation" in Christ is dead to sin, and alive in Jesus.  That's what I want to be!
There's a song that my family likes, from a Christian music group called Lost and Found.  It starts out, "I wanna be a new creation, formed from the fingers of God's right hand." 
Think of all that God has created.  Think about the fact that He also created you.  And though we are all sinful by nature, God-who created everything-is able to do something new with us, in us, and for us.  Praise be to God for His grace in our lives!
Thank you for reading, and God bless you!

Have we died to sin?

Romans 6:1-4
    What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [2] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? [3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
   
     What is this "newness of life" of which Paul writes?  And what does it have to do with sin?  The word "NEW" has really caught my attention lately with the new year beginning and everything.  I have been drawn to texts in the scriptures that tell us about God doing something new, or new creation, or us becoming something new or living a new way.
     The text above is Paul carrying on an imaginative argument, an argument that he would anticipate from those hearing his message about the grace of God.  "What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound?"  Sounds logical enough!  If God gives grace to those who sin, then let's sin all the more, so that we can receive more grace.  Is that kind of like--for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?  But isn't this how we think sometimes? 
     I think that the truth is, the Old Adam in us leads us ever toward sin, especially our favorite sin.  The truth is that so many people have convinced themselves, or let the world convince them, that there is no such thing as sin, and we can go on doing what we want.  For Christians this is truly a dangerous notion.  When Christians begin to think that sin is ok, because in the end we will receive grace and forgiveness from God anyway--so I can do what I want, then we can forget about "walking in newness of life."
     As I stated in my sermon yesterday, one of the things that God is doing that is new, is making us "new creations."  What that means is that we are now different.  The baptized life is a new and changed life.  It is not like our former selves, which were entirely sinful.  Now our life is different.  Now our path is a different path.  One that desires Christ, and resists sinful impulses.
     Does that mean that we no longer sin?  No!  And that is not what Paul is saying either.  He calls himself the worst of all sinners.  But it means that now our desire is to please God.  We are no longer slaves to our sin, but are slaves to Christ--by far a much better thing.  And if we desire to please God, that means we desire to be obedient to Him, even as Christ Jesus His only Son was obedient to Him. 
    So the question is....have we--as Paul puts it--"died to sin?"  I certainly hope and pray that we have, so that we may walk with Christ Jesus in this newness of life.
Thanks for reading!  More on newness of life and what that looks like tomorrow!