“Ooh, bad times for that guy.”  “He deserves being at the end of his rope.”  “Rock bottom is the worst place to be.”  “I’m so glad I’m not like them.”  “Well, just desserts to you, fella.”  We’ve heard or even said one or most of these comments made while seeing someone fall on hard times.  We are quick to judge and slow to respond to the real need.  I say “we” because “all have sinned” in this area of humanity. 

Granted, there are a few noble and wonderful people who work hard daily to help with resources that will aid people as they “get back on their feet” with meals, clothes, and rehabilitation so they can earn a living again.  But those who help the most are the ones who see and know the real need of lost people and also lead them to Jesus.  Jesus is the Way to being found for Life!  Firm footing can be found at rock bottom when we cling to The Rock of Ages—Jesus!

As we read the last story in Jesus’ lost and found trilogy, notice who is “lost” in this parable…

Luke 15, The Message

The Story of the Lost Son

^11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’

^12-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to feel it. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corn-cobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

^17-20 “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.

^20-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

^22-24 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a prize-winning heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

^25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’

^28-30 “The older brother stomped off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’

^31-32 “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Who are lost people?”  Here are some descriptors:

• Lost people do not know God and are not concerned about what God does. 
• Lost people like to be in complete control. 
• Lost people are distracted from who God is. 
• Lost people are deceived by the enemy who entices the lost to stay focused on observing all the laws, adhering to all traditions, doing what is necessary in a “this is the way we’ve always done it” habitual way—without developing relationships with God and people. 
• Relationship requires humility, giving of one’s heart with an openness lost people are not willing to extend. 
• Lost people avoid issues of the heart, mind and soul that lead to an intimately loving, growing relationships with God through Jesus, His Son. 
• Lost people are takers not givers. 
• Lost people demand fairness as they perceive what is fair and deserved. 

Who are “found people”?

• People found in Jesus really believe who He is and what He has done to save us from being lost. 
• Found people readily accept all He has done and given to us—love, mercy and grace so undeserved. 
• Found people discover a new life in Him and a new way of life with Him! 
• The found discover that Jesus’ unconditional love is contagious as it seeps into every crevice of our being and begins to transform us into a new way of thinking and processing life with others. 
• Found people realize that Jesus’ thinking causes new healthy habits to form because of Jesus now living in them. 
• All these wonderful transformations occur in found people because someone told them that Jesus didn’t come to gossip about them, point out all the ways they have failed at life, or judge them for being lost currently—only that Jesus loves and gave His life for us. 
• Found in Jesus revel in a love that is beyond our imaginations! 
• Found people don’t understand His mercy and amazing grace because of past lostness and feel undeserving of this generous demonstration of love—but they readily accept Jesus and give God praise for all He has provided for us.  God is for us, not against us?  Found people marvel at the thought!
• Found people are grateful for all that God has provided. 
• Found people thank God daily for Jesus who gave up His life so our sins could be removed now and forever. 
• Found people humbly walk with God and listen for His Voice to guide them in all they think, say and do. 
• Found people learn to act justly and love mercy so they can show the love of God to others. 
• Found people do not judge with arms folded but welcome others who need Jesus with open arms of His love in them. 

Both sons in Jesus’ trilogy of “lost, found, rejoice” were lost.  One was found; One remained lost. 

The Younger Son dreamed of “enjoying” his freedom far from home and away from his father and older brother. If the sheep was lost through foolishness and the coin through carelessness, then the son was lost because of willfulness. He wanted to have his own way, so he rebelled against his own father and broke his father’s heart.

The Father in Jesus’ parable pictures to us the attitude of our heavenly Father toward sinners who repent: He is rich in His mercy and grace, and great in His love toward them (Ephesians 2:1–10). All of this is possible because of the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. No matter what some preachers (and singers) claim, we are not saved by God’s love; God loves the whole world, and the whole world is not saved. We are saved by God’s grace, and grace is love that pays a price.

The Older Brother is a clear illustration of the scribes and Pharisees. The publicans and sinners were guilty of the obvious sins of the flesh, but the Pharisees and scribes were guilty of sins of the spirit. Their outward actions may have been blameless, but their inward attitudes were abominable (see Matthew 23:25–28).

The Younger Son repented and was forgiven.  He gains firm footing at rock bottom.  The Older Son was given all He needed (half the estate) he was entitled to and more; but he refused to celebrate his brother who he had disowned.  The condition of his heart is revealed as he declares his “Good Son” resume while walking a slippery slope of bitterness with no firm footing.  There is no joy, peace or contentment in harboring bitterness, jealousy, envy, from self-righteousness.

To summarize…“This is a story about two lost sons, not one. If the younger was an unholy mess, the older was a holy one. But which pigpen is worse—the one involving very public sins of the flesh, or the one consisting of deep sins of the heart. Do you see? Without ever leaving home, the older brother was miles and miles from his father!

Jesus’ parable reminds us that only those who admit their need for grace, and receive it, can ever really celebrate it.” —Max Lucado

Lord,

I love how you teach us through your multiple faceted stories that demonstrate your perfect, holy forgiveness.  Thank you for confronting and challenging me again today.  Thank you for helping me go to the next level of your unconditional love, marvelous mercy, and amazing grace with greater understanding of what it means to be lost but now found in You.  I was lost who is now found. I have not arrived but I am not where I was.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

About this time of year, the movie classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is aired or streamed on various platforms.  I’ve watched it the night before Christmas many times while doing last minute gift wrapping or putting something together for kids and then grandkids.  The movie, for me, is synonymous with something lost but now is found.   There may be some of you who haven’t yet taken the time to study this classic for it’s meaning and significance because of the hustle and bustle of the season, but it’s worth your time at least once in your lives.

Background:  It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas supernatural drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra. It is based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift self-published by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943.   The film stars James (Jimmy) Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams to help others in his community.  But when faced with a crisis of losing funds from the savings and loan bank where he is employed, thoughts defeat overwhelm him and he considers ending his life.  Thoughts of losing a life on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of George’s guardian angel, Clarence Odbody who appears in the physical form of a man. Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he did not exist.

George is lost.  He is caught up his emotions over losing money, void of meaningful significance because he has lost control as the “boss”, mentally exhausted with seemingly no hope on the horizon, and spiritually bankrupt (at least in my estimation of George). 

Clarence was sent to save George from self-destruction by showing him the way back home. George was lost but now he is found.  Watch the movie for yourself and evaluate the implications of lost and found.  It is a age old scenario of life.  Being found is a “wonderful life” to live.  George returns home to a party thrown in his honor.  All that was lost is found. 

Celebrating being found prompts a spontaneous party of rejoicing by the angels in heaven!  How do we know?  Jesus said so in part two of His trilogy about being lost but now found!

Luke 15, The Message

The Story of the Lost Coin

^8-10 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus was a master parable-teller; he loved to explain the deeper truths of God’s kingdom through stories. The trilogy of lost and found includes a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Through these illustrations, Jesus conveyed the immeasurable love of the Father for his children.  Whenever we’re ready to leave our mess, our heavenly Father is ready to accept us with open arms.  What is lost is found with celebration.

In fact, three words summarize the message of Jesus’ trilogy: lost, found, and rejoice. Jesus told these parables to answer the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes who were scandalized at His behavior. The Jewish religious leaders did not yet understand that the Son of Man “came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Even more, they were still blind to the fact that they themselves were among the lost. 

Luke makes it clear that there is one message of salvation: God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners.  These two parables help us understand something of what it means to be lost. To begin with, it means being out of place. Sheep belong with the flock, coins (of inheritance) belong on the chain, and lost sinners belong in fellowship with God. But to be lost also means being out of service. A lost sheep is of no value to the shepherd, a lost coin has no value to the owner, and a lost sinner cannot experience the enriching fulfillment God has for him in Jesus Christ.

The people who first heard them must have been shocked. Jesus was saying that God actually searches for lost sinners! No wonder the scribes and Pharisees were offended, for there was no place in their legalistic theology for a God like that. They had forgotten that God had sought out Adam and Eve when they had sinned and hidden from God. (Genesis 3) In spite of their supposed knowledge of Scripture, the scribes and Pharisees forgot that God was like a father who pitied His wayward children.  God knows us, loves us, and sent His Son to save us.

What kind of love is this?  Unchanging, never-ending, relentless, and forever. 

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.’) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39

Are you lost?  Are in search of a “wonderful life”?  Turn around and face our wonderful, awesome, relentless God of love!  Believe in Jesus who demonstrated the love of God by taking away our repented sins with his own life in exchange for our lives.  Come home to the One who knows you best and is, at this moment, looking “down the road” for your return.  “I was blind but now I see.” “I was lost but now I’m found” are the proclamations of the found!  And the angels in heaven party over each one found!

Still lost and need directions home?  Follow this road which includes important “rest stops” for thought and prayer:

• Rest Stop 1 | Romans 3:23. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
• Rest Stop 2 | Romans 5:8. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Come as you are.
• Rest Stop 3 | Romans 6:23. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  At this stop, we choose life or death.  If you chose life, then move on down the road to the Good News!
• Rest Stop 4 | Romans 8:1. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
• Rest Stop 5 | Romans 10:9. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
  That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
  Was blind, but now I see.

Angels, let the party begin!  I was lost but now am found!  Note:  I’m pretty sure this salvation party is never-ending as lost souls find their way home to our everlasting Father!

Lord,

You are Life to me!  The circumstances are not always “wonderful” here on this journey of learning, growing, and solidifying our faith in You.  But it is always full of love, mercy, and grace given as eternal gifts of Your Holy Spirit who lives in us to help us on the journey home.  When we seek you first in all we think, say, or do, we seek Life to the full with Love everlasting.  Being found in You brings peace that replaces discontentment.  Being found in you springs eternal, inexhaustible joy as your love flows through us.  As I define wonderful, I think only of You.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Have you ever put a precious item in a special place so it would be safe—then forget where the special place was?  Do you give up looking?  Sometimes.

Have you ever laid your keys down only to have someone else pick them up and put them back on the hook where keys are hung as a favor but forget to tell you?  Do you ask for help or give up?

Have you ever gone to shopping with your children and one of them stays focused in one area of the store as you continued gathering supplies?  And now you can’t find that wandering child?  Do you decide that you have enough children anyway so you leave without the lost child?

Have you ever walked into a room to find what you need only to forget why you walked into said room?  Do you stay there until you remember?  Or decide it’s not worth the time or effort?

Have you ever begun a conversation with another person, lose focus, derail, and begin a new conversation until the first topic comes back to mind?  I have many times. Losing focus is a disease most of the population seems to have!

Have you ever walked into a room of your beloved children wrestling in a brawl similar to WWE and lose your mind over what you see?  Do we give up and let the strongest one survive?

Have you ever had a child who once knew and followed Jesus to wander away, is now lost with little to no belief in the One who loves him/her most?

There are many ways to be lost but only one way to be found.  Jesus begins another trilogy of stories about lostness but with a twist—all are found!  Not only are the lost found—being found is celebrated! Don’t you want to be around a Person who always knows where the lost are with the Way to be found?!

Let us begin with part one of lost and found.  However, we must realize the attitude and posture of those listening in to Jesus’ stories. He is speaking to religious leaders who are not only appalled but disgusted at the “company” Jesus befriends with love and compassion— “the lost.”  We must also realize that these leaders are also lost but don’t know it—but Jesus knows.  

Jesus does not give up until lost people are found and brought back to God, the Father.  And I was one of them…I am so glad He never gave up on me? Can I get an amen?!

Luke 15, The Message

The Story of the Lost Sheep

15 ^1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

^4-7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Luke is known as the gospel writer bent on celebrating all the ways the Lost are found by believing in Jesus.  Dr. Luke is adamant in telling us that no matter who is lost, all are pursued by Jesus who relentlessly seeks lost people and forgives their sins.  All who believe are no longer lost but found!  Believing in Jesus reconciles no longer lost people to God, the Father! 

Found people are restored to a growing, loving, intimate relationship with Him.  Found people are given new life with purpose and significance. 

Found people are now called “children of God.”  “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”  1 John 3:1 

Found people are no longer lost but now belong to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves and never loses His love for us.  The apostle Paul, once a lost Pharisee like those Jesus is talking to in our passage, was driven to destroy believers in Jesus.  But Jesus found him on the road to Damascus and blinded him from his mission.  He then transformed his zealousness from death to life!  Here is his testimony:

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”  Philippians 3:7-12, NIV

 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus reminds and repeats often to followers and hecklers of His mission.  Jesus will say it again as he brings salvation to the home of Zaccheus, (another questionable sinner) as we will read later in Luke 19:10.

Our response?  Be found by Jesus, believe in Him, and be saved because of Him.  He knows us and knows where we are.  He is running after us with open arms of love.  Turn, run toward Him, not away from Him in fear.  Jesus not only saves us but is preparing a special place for all found people in God’s Kingdom!  So…

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:1-4

Lost but now found people might doubt like Thomas who said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  John 14:5-7

Only One way to be found—Run to Jesus!

Lord,

I love to tell your stories again for once I was lost but now I am found in you.  I trust you with all my life.  My hope is in You for you are Hope eternal.  I am so glad you never gave up on me!  I believe.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Your love never fails
It never gives up
It never runs out on me…

We make hundreds of decisions all day long.  Some are decisions are done without thinking.  We decide to get out of bed and stumble to the kitchen.  We decide we not only want but need that coffee we are now making as we yawn.  We then decide if eating breakfast is “really the most important meal of the day” thinking is it worth the time and effort to prepare.  As coffee is consumed, we decide what to wear from shoes to shirt.  We decide we need help in this decision so we turn on the news and weather to check what will be appropriate for this day. We make decisions and pick from options before us.  Whatever we choose will affect the agenda ahead of us. 

Whatever the situation or circumstance is before us—we gotta pick one or the other.  That’s life—making choices.  Mentally we count and calculate the cost of our decisions and choices. Emotions (how we feel that day) can sway our choosing.  Our physical abilities can play a huge part in our decision making as well.  At this point we think we are in charge as we make decisions in all the details of our lives. 

But have we stopped to consider the Spiritual implications of our choices?  Jesus says, we must “let it all go if we decide to follow Him.”  What is it?  It is life as we see it from our limited and sometimes skewed perspectives.  Relying solely on our own, decisions are merely human without the benefits of His holy plan, purposes, and presence in and for us.

“Are you listening, really listening?” Jesus asks as he leans in with love and compassion. Do you understand, really believe Me, and understand what I am asking of you?

Luke 14, The Message

Figure the Cost

^25-27 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

^28-30 “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

^31-32 “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

³³ “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.

^34-35 “Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it’s useless, good for nothing.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

As we make the decision to follow Jesus (or not) we must “count the cost”:

• There is no holding back any part of our being.  We do not “add” Jesus to our lives and agendas—He is our life.
• There is no putting one foot in step with Jesus while keeping the other foot in step with the world.  Imagine it—that’s actually physically and spiritually impossible!
• There is no giving a piece of us but the whole of us to Jesus. We are all in or all out.  No in-between.  “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.”—Jesus, Luke 11:23, MSG
• Once we decide—there’s no turning back.
• Life is Jesus or not—we gotta pick and stick with Him—at all costs!
• Not following Jesus is too great a cost.

Max Lucado writes—

“While these characteristics are all too common, Jesus’ stories explain that pride, laziness, and the desire for honor have no place among his disciples.

Being a disciple of Christ requires humility, commitment, and servanthood.

Make no mistake, Jesus saw himself as God. He leaves us with two options. Accept him as God or reject him as a megalomaniac. There is no third alternative.”

“When it comes to Christ, you’ve gotta pick. Call him crazy or crown him as King. Dismiss him as a fraud or declare him to be God. Walk away from him, or bow before him, but don’t play games with him. Don’t call him a great man. Don’t list him among decent folk. Don’t clump him with Moses, Elijah, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Muhammad, or Confucius. He didn’t leave that option. He is either God or godless. Heaven sent or hell born. All hope or all hype. But nothing in between.  Putting Christ first in all things takes practice and persistence. Day after day we learn to follow him.”

We are not perfect.  God knows that.  But through Jesus, we are perfectly forgiven.

We must choose this day whom we will serve.  Decide wisely.

Lord,

I have decided to follow you, through the good times and challenging times of this life, I will follow you.  Where you guide, you provide.  Where you lead, you protect.  You have provided all that I need in so many ways since making this decision.  When the enemy attacks, you have already won the war and this assures me of victory in my skirmishes with evil.  Yes, there is no turning back, seriously, no turning back.

In Jesus Name, Amen

As kids, how many time did we ask this question of our parents?  As parents, how many times did our children ask— “When’s dinner?”  Words like “soon, later, and when I call you,” come from our lips as we are obviously preparing the meal.  What is frustrating to me as the cook is when the meal is ready, the table set, you call them to the eat—and they don’t come!  Has this ever happened to you?  I’m pretty sure it has.  I’ve been known to ask the neighbor boy or girl playing with our kids if they’d like to eat when my own kids don’t come when called!

We did it.  Our kids do it.  We’re hungry, we want to eat, but when the time arrives to come to the Table, our focus is somewhere else, on the task at hand, mindlessly on a tv show rerun. We say, “just a minute” which truthfully means I’m not interested right now.  Or we might hear, “can I finish this first”? Excuses made to the one who is blessing you with a meal is not a good look for us. How frustrating to the preparer of the meal!  We wonder why the cook’s voice rises to a level of ear-piercing persistency, “Come now, or don’t eat”! 

In the final passage of the trilogy of Jesus’ stories about who God is with His desire to commune with us at His Table, we understand the frustration of God by those who refuse with lame excuses.  But God, replies Jesus, continues to call all when His chosen refuse to come the Table.  There’s room at God’s Table for each one of us who believe and follow Him when we are called. 

Today, many who say they know Him still refuse, making excuses such as “when I finish college, I’ll come”; “when I clean up my act, I’ll come”; “when we begin our family, I’ll come”; “when we have completed this work for my job, it will only take a few years”; “later, when I have accomplished my life goals”; the excuse list goes on and on. 

God does not desire to merely be a compartmental piece of our lives but the whole of our lives.  He is Life!  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows just what we need most when we need it.  He delights in us with all the details of our lives.  (Psalm 37)

Fortunately for all of us, God is patient, loving and compassionate.  “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NIV So, He continues to call…

Jesus is calling everyone to The Table of His love, mercy, and grace.  Just come, without excuses, to relate to the One who loves us most.  Come to The Table.  Eat the Bread and Drink the Wine that represents Jesus’ sacrifice for us.  All are welcome.  Jesus made room for everyone. 

Are you hurting and broken within?
Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin?
Jesus is calling
Have you come to the end of yourself
Do you thirst for a drink from the well?
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ

(Come to the Altar, by Elevation, written by; Wade Joye / Christopher Brown / Mack Brock / Steven Furtick)

Luke 14, The Message

The Story of the Dinner Party

¹⁵ That triggered a response from one of the guests: “How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”

^16-17 Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’

¹⁸ “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’

²⁰ “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’

²¹ “The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and down-and-out you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’

²² “The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’

^23-24 “The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The Master has prepared a feast to celebrate our relationship with Him.  The invitation was first to the Jews, His Chosen but is now for everyone of every nation.  “When’s dinner” is not the question to be asked but rather the question that only we can answer is, “Are we ready and willing to come no matter the time?”

Peter, one of Jesus closest friend and follower, helps us to understand through his letters to believers…

“I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” 2 Peter 3:2-8

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NIV

“When’s dinner”?  Only God knows.  Just be ready to come and take your place at His Table.  By the way, “There’s still room …”

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes
Come today, there’s no reason to wait
Jesus is calling
Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy
From the ashes, a new life is born
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood

Oh, what a Savior
Isn’t He wonderful?
Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen
Bow down before Him
For He is Lord of all
Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ …

Lord,

Thank you for grafting all nations into The Vine that gives Life eternal to all who believe in you.  Thank you for calling out to us. Thank you for leading us daily.  Thank you for cleansing our repentant hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls daily with your new mercies with continued joy and peace settling into our being from your work of salvation in us that prepares us to sit at The Table. Thank you for your love that teaches us to love in Truth.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn’s niece Katharine Houghton.  Does anyone remember this film?

The film was one of the few films of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in many states of the United States. It was still illegal in 17 states, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released, and scenes were filmed just before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.  The film was controversial but tastefully done in a world that needed to change.

The Plot:  In 1967, Joanna Drayton, a 23-year-old white woman, returns from her Hawaiian vacation to her parents’ home in San Francisco with Dr. John Prentice, a 37-year-old black widower. The couple became engaged after a 10-day whirlwind romance. Joanna’s parents are Matt Drayton, a successful newspaper editor, and his wife, Christina, who owns an art gallery. Though both of the Draytons are liberal-minded, they are initially shocked their daughter is engaged to a man of a different race. Christina gradually accepts the situation, but Matt objects because of the likely unhappiness and seemingly insurmountable problems the couple will face in American culture.

John’s parents, the Prentices, arrive. They, too, are shocked when discovering Joanna is white. At the Drayton home, various private conversations occur among the two families. All agree more time is needed to absorb the situation. The two mothers meet and agree this was an unexpected event, but support their children. The two fathers meet, both expressing disapproval at this unhappy occasion. The Monsignor advises John not to withdraw, despite Matt’s objections. John’s mother tells him she and Christina both approve. John and his father discuss their generational differences. 

He says although the pair face enormous problems ahead due to their racial differences, they must find a way to overcome them, and he will approve the marriage, knowing all along he had no right to stop it. The families and the Monsignor then adjourn to the dining room for dinner.

It has been suggested that a pair of contemporary cases of interracial marriage influenced Rose when he was writing the film’s script.  In 2017, on its 50th anniversary, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

I would like to say times have changed since this portrayal of prejudice 1967.  However, we humans are still judgmental, presumptuous, and truly arrogant as we consider who we will honor with an invitation to our table for dinner.  We choose people who are look and dress like us.  We invite those who go to the same places as we do.  We enjoy the company of those who think and behave exactly like us.  Even these statements are prejudicial assumptions based on mere presumptions of who we think others are in our limited estimation.  We simply size people up and put them in ranking order.  Sigh.

We can legislate many laws to correct the situation—and we have.  But until our hearts are transformed, our attitudes changed, and our behaviors toward each other are loving, merciful and gracious; nothing of significance is different in the way we treat each other.

This has been a problem longer than our lifetimes.  Over 2000 years ago, the ranking of people was an issue then as well.  The religious leaders who knew The Laws of God as well as the back of their hands—did not actually live out what God had intended.  Jesus came to earth to seek and to save the lost.  His mission was to reconcile (reconnect) people to God.  He also made time to reteach God’s people, along with the religious leaders over them, what God said and still says today.  Love God.  Love Others.  Treat each other as we would prefer them to treat you.  The religious leaders invited Jesus merely to debate and test Him by “planting” a human in need in front of Him on the Sabbath then preceded to climb all over each other to get to the Head of Table.  Sigh.

Yesterday’s passage began this trilogy by Jesus to teach humility to the arrogant from the perspective of Kingdom of God thinking.  Here is part two.

Luke 14, The Message

Invite the Misfits

^7-9 He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Embarrassed, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

^10-11 “When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around all high and mighty, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

^12-14 Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Poor, middle class, rich; young, old; black, brown, tan, or all shades of white; dressed up or hardly dressed; known as powerful or hardly known with no power; considered important and influential by the world’s standards or hardly noticed as valuable—ALL are invited to the Table of Love, Mercy, and Grace.  If fact, because of Jesus:  Love sets the Table.  Mercy throws open the Door.  Grace invites everyone to the feast of Life.  What a celebration that will be! 

Imagine Jesus at the Head of the Table!  Jesus invites and welcomes everyone.  We don’t need to elbow our way in or climb a ladder of success to get to a choice place at His Table, says Jesus in this passage.  I am reminded of what God does expect from us as we come to His Table: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 

Our response is to first come God with humbled hearts and grateful attitudes.  There is no need for posturing because all are equal.  But we still do it!  I don’t know about you, but I look forward to the day when the first thought that comes to mind is love not hate, assuming the best not the worst, devoid of judging because of the colors of our skin while seeking the content of hearts, concentrated listening, then responding with God’s love, mercy and grace.  Sound familiar?  Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous goal for the human race began: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”     

Friends, we still have not achieved it yet, but we press on as believers in Jesus to grow in His character as He cleanses our hearts, renews our minds, transforms our thinking, and restores the joy of His salvation at work in us. This is the only way to obtain what God wants to grow in all of us.

The two most important commandments according to Jesus are in this order:

1. Love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls.  God first. God always.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.  A behavior of this love is to treat others as you would want them to treat you.

Jesus said all the other commandments “hang” on these first two.  Our first thought should be God and God is love. (See 1 John 4) When the love of God leads us, our lives will look differently to the world of unbelievers. The enemy will be appalled by us and attack us with negative thinking to counter this love of God who lives in us.  “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Jesus came to save us from all our sins.  Since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) we all need a Savior.   God provided His One and Only Son.  All are invited to accept the gift of salvation as we turn back to God in Jesus Name.  God refuses no one.  Jesus forgives completely and remembers our sins no more.  We are accepted as God’s beloved.   We are His children.  How do I know, the Bible tells me so—over and over again!

Accept the invitation.  Our Host sacrificed His life for our place at The Table.  We must respond willingly, enthusiastically, knowing with confidence that the banquet table will be more than we could ever hope for, imagine, or dream.  We come running to the Father with open arms Who is beyond generous in His provisions and extravagant in His love for each one of His created. 

I’m so glad God invites the misfits of society—of which I am one of them.

Lord,

Thank you for your patience prompted by your relentless love for every one of us.  Cleanse our hearts of all that is not of you. Renew our minds, transform our thinking, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today.  Restore the joy of your salvation within us.  Lead us, dear Jesus, to love like you love us.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise
For it was grace that brought my Liberty
I’ll never know just why he came to love me so

… He looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs
I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary
To view the cross where Jesus died for me
And how marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul
He looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs

… I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary
To view the cross where Jesus died for me
And how marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul
He looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs

(“He Looked Beyond My Fault” written by Dottie Rambo)

As I read our passage for today, this old gospel song of my youth immediately came to mind.  I can hear the heartfelt harmonies of the quartets who would stand and sing this as a testimony to Jesus.  I am blessed by these memories these melodies bring to mind.  I am blessed still by hearing of those who had their needs met in full by Jesus and lived their lives telling the story of Jesus over and over again.  To God be  the glory!

Jesus, the One who is God was sent by God.  I know it is hard for our human minds to understand fully but it’s true.  Jesus came from heaven to walk the earth as the Son of Man born from the womb of a virgin.  Jesus embodied all the physical human nerves that God created in all of us that relay the signals to the brain, which interprets them as sight (vision), sound (hearing), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch (tactile perception). 

Jesus is also Son of God who has limitless power to see beyond what others see.  He sees the hearts of humans.  Jesus also embodies the compassionate love of the Father.  He knows exactly what people need when they need it and does not hesitate to deliver people from pain and struggle so that the glory of His Father God can be seen.  Jesus’ power, wisdom and discernment comes from being in constant communion and conversation with God who directs what He says and what He does.

“I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.”  John 12:49 NLT

“Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him”. John 5:19-23, NLT

Jesus is not fooled by schemers and deceivers.  Jesus is Truth who cannot be fooled.

Luke 14, The Message

14 ^1-3 One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. Right before him there was a man hugely swollen in his joints. So Jesus asked the religion scholars and Pharisees present, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes or no?”

^4-6 They were silent. So he took the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then he said, “Is there anyone here who, if a child or animal fell down a well, wouldn’t rush to pull him out immediately, not asking whether or not it was the Sabbath?” They were stumped. There was nothing they could say to that.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

I would not be hard to believe that the religious leaders “planted” the afflicted man at the Table over a Sabbath meal.  “No work on the Sabbath” says The Law.  Added to The Law by the religious who failed often to practice what they preached were specific details that created more burdens for people trying to adhere to The Law.  Some examples: “Do not drag your chair across the dirt floor of your home on the Sabbath.”  If you do you are “furrowing” ground as you would in farming. Farming is work. No work is done on the Sabbath.  Therefore, people will be fined for that would be in direct violation of God’s Law.  The more additions men in charge and power made to The Law meant to help and protect, the more the intent of God became unknown.  More rules took the focus from the relationship God wanted to have with His people.

Jesus comes to redefine the intent of God’s original Law as He fulfilled every part of God’s Law.

Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath is questioned and watched.  The Sabbath was meant to give rest on the “seventh day” as God did after creating the world and its inhabitants.  The Sabbath was a day to fully focus on God, being in communion with God, getting direction and guidance from God as we express our love for God in worship of Him alone.  The Sabbath was not meant to focus on all the ways man decided to enforce the Law as they saw and judged.  Only Jesus, who never sinned, has the right to judge, and He does not. 

Jesus came to save, heal and forgive.  Jesus is the only Way to reconnect to God.  Jesus is Truth and tells all who will listen who God is and what He wants for us.  Jesus gives all who believe Life eternal.  

Because God sees the hearts of men and women, Jesus also sees the motivations of the hearts of these religious leaders trying to be sly and cunning, “watching every move Jesus makes” so that they can begin documenting offenses to build a case against Him. 

Jesus also sees the obvious—the needs of the crippled man and the “bait” laid by playactors’ scheme. With wisdom, He asks, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes, or no?”  This loaded question exposed the false piety of the Pharisees and the scribes. They claimed to be defending God’s Sabbath laws, when in reality they were denying God by the way they abused people with their addendums to the Law and now accused the Savior. There is a big difference between protecting God’s truth and promoting man’s traditions.  Oh, the stories I could tell of God’s church today who rely more on man’s traditions than their heart of faith in Jesus. And I can be one of them.  Forgive us, Lord.

God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus,
He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future.
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Traditions of sentiment created by man are sweet but do not hold a candle to what Jesus did to reconcile us to God in a holy, intimate, loving relationship that is forever!

“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.”  2 Corinthians 5:1

“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, NLT

Believe Jesus and be saved forever.  Jesus saves.  We do not.  Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  There is nothing in us that God through Jesus will not forgive.  To God be the glory!  Thank you, Jesus!

Lord,

Thank you for reconciling us to God.  Thank you for taking the punishment I deserve for my own sins.  Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Thank you for daily cleansing my heart by removing all that offends you in me.  Thank you for renewing my mind with Kingdom ways to think. Thank you for restoring the joy of your salvation at work within me with compassion, love beyond our imaginations, full of mercy and grace.  What a gift!  I am grateful.  Thank you for being with us always in our pursuit of your wisdom and guidance in all the details of our lives.

In Jesus Name, Amen

I love to tell the story   Of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory,   Of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story,   Because I know ’tis true; It satisfies my longings   As nothing else can do.
	I love to tell the story, ’Twill be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story   of Jesus and His love.

“How can I help you understand?”  “Do I need to draw you a picture?”  As parents, we have probably said this more than once on more than one occasion.  As teachers, these questions drive our curriculum to be taught.  In training sessions for new employees, these questions drive the thoughts of the trainer who want to pass on their knowledge.  As trainers of volunteers in our churches, we want people to be motivated by God’s leading as they serve to welcome and help others find and follow Jesus, so we help them understand who God is and what God says about hospitality from His Word. 

After not hearing from God for 400 years, God intervenes and steps into a misguided world.  Jesus, God’s Son, was sent to earth to walk around the neighborhood of humanity and enter into the lives of people God created with ways to explain how God thinks.  Kingdom of God thinking and doing will not match what most humans think.  In fact, Kingdom-led motivations of God have been put aside and almost lost over the past centuries.  There will be push back.  Quite frankly, it has become easier to follow a rule you can see than build a relationship with Who you cannot see.  Therein lies the problem.  But God does not give up on us.  Instead, He created a Plan to save us.

The prophets told of Jesus’ coming with explanations of why Jesus, Messiah was sent.  But many still didn’t get it or acknowledge Him. People believe only in what they see, hear, touch, and feel for the moment.  So this prompts Jesus to help them (and us) to understand—“How can I picture God’s Kingdom for you?”  Hence the many stories that would relate listeners from what they already knew to Who they needed to know most of all.

Luke 13, The Message

The Way to God

^18-19 Then he said, “How can I picture God’s kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It’s like an acorn that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge oak tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it.”

^20-21 He tried again. “How can I picture God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread—and waits while the dough rises.”

²² He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.

^23-25 A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”

He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’

^26-27 “You’ll protest, ‘But we’ve known you all our lives!’ only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don’t know the first thing about me.’

^28-30 “That’s when you’ll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You’ll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God’s kingdom. You’ll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God’s kingdom. And all the time you’ll be outside looking in—and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.”

* * *

³¹ Just then some Pharisees came up and said, “Run for your life! Herod’s got your number. He’s out to kill you!”

^32-35 Jesus said, “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Besides, it’s not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets,
    abuser of the messengers of God!
How often I’ve longed to gather your children,
    gather your children like a hen,
Her brood safe under her wings—
    but you refused and turned away!
And now it’s too late: You won’t see me again
    until the day you say,
        ‘Blessed is he
        who comes in
        the name of God.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“How can I picture God’s Kingdom for you?” 

How awesome is our God to send a part of Himself to earth to explain His good intentions and plan for us that goes beyond our wildest dreams of what is best for us? 

God could have said, “If you don’t get it now, you never will—off with your heads”—but He didn’t.  He could have said, “If you don’t love me now, you never will.”—but He didn’t.  God could have sent Jesus to judge, condemn and destroy the world and its inhabitants forever—but He did not. 

Instead, God sent His Son to seek and to save lost people without Him.  God sent His Son to help people on their level of understanding with relatable stories that introduced them to the Truth of who God is while leading people to know how much He loves all people.  God gave His Son, born Son of Man, the power to heal and forgive.  God gave His Son power to clear the humans’ hearts, minds, and souls overtaken by the Enemy’s demons. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” –Jesus, John 3:16

Our compassion Master Teacher, Son of God, Savior, and Lord, who never gives up on us said, “How can I picture God’s Kingdom for you?”

According to Jesus, the Kingdom of God is…

Growing a faith that is strong and healthy with purpose.  A member of God’s Kingdom begins with faith in Him.  Our faith beings the size of an “acorn” or mustard seed but then grows providing us with purpose in His Kingdom. “It grows into a huge oak tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it.”

Waiting.  We wait as God does His work in us to mold and shape us into who He created us to be.  God is the yeast who works His ways into us to change us from mere dough into rising to be like Jesus who is the Bread of Life!  It is in the waiting that we are being prepared to do the work He has called us to be and do.  It is in the waiting that we let go of who we were to be all He created us to be! No doubt about it, we will be changed!  Jesus in us changes everything about us when we invite him to lead us.

Knowing.  “The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention.”  The way to know Him is to be still daily before Him and listen to Him.  “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) Jesus warns all of us of our lack of relationship with God that is only judged by how we think.  Just because we grew up in church, related to others who grew up in church, with focus on “being good” by becoming like those in the church does not mean our relationship with God is solid and growing intimately.  To be related to believers is not the same as believing in the One who save us. 

So, we must pause daily to answer, “Do I really believe what God says really real?”

“Do I really know God and commune with Him in all the details of life?”

Giving.  “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2 NLT

Lord,

There is so much to think about as we strive to understand your Kingdom ways of thinking, growing, knowing, waiting, and giving. Thank for teaching me this morning and reminding me to let go, for there is so much more I need to learn.  Help me to understand more and more each day as I lean into your wisdom for today.  Show the way to go with what I know for now by your leading.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” 

“Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.”

A few years ago, I had a cyst that formed on my lower spine that caused extreme pain.  I had injured it working but continued to work—with a cane in one hand to hold me steady.  At one point I went to the emergency room as the pain became intense as nerves paralyzed my left side down to my toes.  The emergency doctors filled me a syringe of pain killer so x-rays of my back could be taken.  The tests proved my pain’s source but they could only offer more drugs to “manage my pain”, a phrase I would learn to hate hearing.

After months of pain relievers that made me feel worse without resolving the pain, I continued to ask God, the Great Physician, to help me.  “Specialists” only wanted to “manage my pain.” My desire, of course, was the determination to eliminate pain and heal.  There must be a better way.  I called a highly recommended specialist but the appointment was months away as his schedule was full. 

The Great Physician showed up in the wait. As I was preparing supper after work one evening, the tv was finishing the news with guest doctors who talked about a condition called spinal stenosis along with physical exercises that would relieve that pain—without drugs!  I stopped what I was doing, noting the website to go to for help.  I browsed the site and watched every detailed video.  What can it hurt?  I’m in pain now. 

I spent the next days, easing into each exercise with caution, only to realize that the pain was lessening.  I also learned that to keep the spine healthy, I must do these five simple exercises every day to avoid the pain of swollen disks or cysts that could form if I did not.  After I few months, I no longer needed the cane.  I was back to “fast walking” which is normal for me.  Before specific exercising, I had stopped the harsh drugs that made me feel unbalanced and dizzy without relief.  I only took over the counter pain relief twice a day; but after daily committed exercise with prayer while exercising, I no longer needed any drugs.  I was healed.

Today, years later, I still do these exercises to maintain a healthy spine.  God caught my attention and guided me to help.  Oh, and the specialist?  I finally saw him four months later.  He took x-rays, of course, and compared them to the x-rays the ER took months earlier.  “I don’t know what you’re doing but keep doing it!  You’re healing well!”, he said.  My response to him was, “Praise God!  When everyone else wanted to merely manage pain, He answered my prayer to be healed.”

When the Doctor is in—listen to Him and follow what He says.  The Creator knows exactly what we need when we need it.  In fact, the Doctor is always in 24/7—especially on the Sabbath when our full attention is on God. 

Luke 13, The Message

Healing on the Sabbath

^10-13 He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. “Woman, you’re free!” He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.

¹⁴ The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”

^15-16 But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”

¹⁷ When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Imagine you are not well.  For some of you, this is not hard for you are in pain right now!  The sickness you have has grown into years of struggle.  No one can help.  You try this and that remedy offered by those who think they know what is best for you—but nothing works.  Go to the doctor, I’m not advocating avoiding doctors.  But pray first for God’s wisdom and guidance in choosing the help you need while God chooses how He will help you through it all. 

Continually praise God by submitting to His command to “honor the Sabbath.”  Imagine the scene.  The woman stopped her chores, put on good clothes, and went to the meeting place despite her constant pain.  She was probably excited because of the “guest speaker” that day.  She had heard rumors about how compassionate He was, how close to God He seemed to be, along with stories passed around of His miraculous healing.  She was so in awe of His teaching that it does not occur to her to ask for healing. It’s not the time.  She also doesn’t feel that she should ask given her past that she isn’t proud of and prefers to hide.  So, she just watches, listens, and learns. 

But Jesus, compassionate healer, is the God who sees her.  Jesus looks into her heart through her eyes and sees the not only the physical pain but the spiritual need of this arthritic woman.  Just like God saw Hagar, centuries earlier and helped her and her son, Ishmael through a desert time of banishment.  (Genesis 16)  Jesus demonstrated who God is to the congregants gathered at the meeting house that day.  They saw that God is unfailing in love and compassion.  They also saw God bend down to see pain and bring relief through healing and forgiveness in all kinds of ways.  God is in control of all that He created.  God is Lord of the Sabbath—not man. 

Jesus’ critics dismissed the miracle and missed the message!  Their first and only thought was how their own man-made, burdensome additions to God’s Law of “honoring the Sabbath” were being ignored.  After all, they intricately defined “cease your labors” and had debated what that looked like in their estimations along with appropriate punishments for disobedience.  So, while they try to school Jesus, Jesus schools His critics once more with what God really desires from us—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.  God first in all we think, say, and do.  This is the prescription from the Doctor who diagnoses, (sees our hearts) and heals, (saves and makes us whole).

Yes the Doctor is in to heal, teach, comfort, disrupt, and confront as He speaks Truth. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Jesus healed the woman for Life eternal.

We have two choices:  God or the Enemy

Who we choose to sit with and believe will determine our love for God and our trust in Him.  God sees our hearts and knows exactly what we need before we even know we need it! 

Pause to reflect, pray, meditate on what just happened here in this passage before “choosing this day whom you will serve,” love back, listen to, and follow. 

We can sit with the critics and miss out on the miracles of God which leads to eventual death. 

OR we can sit with the chorus of congregants who praise God when He shows up in our lives with Hope of Life eternal through Jesus our Lord.

The choice seems obvious; but it is up to each individual.  God desires to pour out his blessings of healing, forgiveness, and freedom to all who believe; but He is waiting on our decision.

Lord,

Thank you for being the Doctor who is in 24/7 for all who seek You and ask for Your help, healing, forgiveness, and mercy.  Your compassions truly don’t fail as it is written in Your Word to us.  Thank you for reminding me of how you healed me so I could work without extreme pain. Thank you for daily cleansing my heart, renewing my mind which transforms my behaviors. Thank you for your fresh, new mercies that fill my soul.  Thank you for restoring the joy of your salvation at work within me.  Thank you for saving me and making me whole again and again and again.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

The author of the above verse is Peter.  Peter the impetuous, spontaneous, act before you think, strike back quickly in defense person who has been taught by Jesus.  Jesus did his “best and greatest work” in Peter who Jesus nicknamed “The Rock.” For Peter to write about patience shows his change of thinking! 

Peter, The Rock becomes a foundation, as predicted by Jesus, upon which lives would be changed for eternity in the Name of Jesus!  The Rock would stand forever because the enemy cannot not penetrate the living stones that stand firmly cemented on The Rock with Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone.  This firm foundation, built upon the Solid Rock of Jesus will include generation after generation of people who turn to God, eager to trust and obey.

I once heard a pastor tell of a dream he had.  He dreamed he saw Jesus standing next to God.  God is the only one who knows the time of judgement day.  Jesus leans in and says, “Father, just one more day…there are still many who don’t know you and have not turned to You.  Please, just one more day…”  Whoa, imagine it!  Jesus is our Advocate in heaven for us.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Turn to God, through Jesus, and be saved!  Forever!

Why am I talking about Peter?  It occurs to me that Peter is always with Jesus.  So, when Jesus responds to the news of Pilate murdering worshipers, Peter is listening.  Peter’s first thoughts (like us) are most likely, given his noted personality, is to fight back and take revenge.  Peter listens, ready to defend, as Jesus tells the people simply; “Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.” 

Wait, what?!  Is that all?  Jesus’ words were unexpected and not the reaction the news bearers probably wanted to hear.  The people hated Pilate.  They were appalled at what he did to the worshipers.  They want Jesus to be the leader of a revolution to end this oppression once and for all!  Instead, Jesus says, “turn to God.”

Peter, mentored by the Son of God, is transformed by Him. His thinking changes his demeanor. Peter who used to be first to “fight to the death” will later teach what Jesus ingrained in Him—Life eternal through Jesus.  Peter realizes, through Jesus, who God is and what God desires most from His created humans—For all people to turn to Him and love Him back. 

Turning to God requires an about face from the dark side to Light.  Turning to God means turning our backs from the enemy of darkness to face Him in humbled repentance, bowed worship and joyful adoration which signifies our desire to trust and obey the One who created all and is in all that He created.

Yes, Jesus changes everything.  Jesus responds with Kingdom thinking.

Luke 13, The Message

Unless You Turn to God

^1-5 About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”

^6-7 Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’

^8-9 “The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus, the gardener, says; “Let’s give it another year…”  “Just one more day…” Oh how glad I am that Jesus, who took the punishment for our sins so that we may have life forever, stands in heaven as our Advocate to the Father!   Let that sink in—to the depths of our souls this morning!

I have read through God’s Word, His love story to us, many times in my life on earth.  What I have discovered with every word on every page is this—Our Creator, God the Father, loves us and just wants us to love Him back.  To do that, however, we must turn to face Him.

In all things, turn to God.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 Yes, even the small stuff becomes big, overwhelming stuff when God is not involved in the details of our lives.  And get this, God delights in the details!  “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37:23-25

There is no one like our God.  Turn to God.  Listen to God’s prophets…

• “There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and great is Your name in might.”  Jeremiah 10:6
• “There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.” 1 Samuel 2:2
• “There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours.” Psalm 86:8
• “Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.”  Deuteronomy 32:31
• “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me…” Isaiah 46:9

Turn to God who knows us best and wants the best for us!  The Psalms declare who God is for us—

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.”  Psalm 103:8-12, NLT

“…the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
 of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
    from there he rules over everything.”  Psalm 103:17-19

So, what are we waiting for?  Believe, repent and be saved.

Lord,

I pray David’s psalm 51:7-17 to you this morning…

“Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise.

^16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
    a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
    when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
    don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

In Jesus Name, By His Power working in us, For His Glory, Amen!  I believe.