Jude’s Claim to Fame

Jude 24-25, CEB - Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.  All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

               

                The ending to Jude’s short letter is a passage that has been used countless times over the centuries as a benediction.  It is an absolutely gorgeous expression of praise to God and proclamation of divine provision for those who trust in God.  It has inspired many over the years and it continues to inspire me. 

                One of the powerful proclamations Jude makes here is the assurance that God is able to “keep you from falling away.”  I am drawn to that because I am all too familiar with my propensity to fall away.  It’s never on purpose, but the old hymn describes me well;  “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”  Most of the time, I’ve wandered quite far before I even realize it.  Maybe I’m not the only one who is like that.

                Good news . . . God knows I’m like that.  Even more than that, God is often the one who prompts me to come back and paves the way for me to do so.  Sometimes it is a “still small voice.”  Sometimes it is an unnerving jolt.  It is not always pleasant, but like a parent who is willing to be unpleasant in order to protect the child and bring them back into the fold, God is able and willing to do the same.  Obviously, there has to be a willingness on my part to be brought back.  But it is good to know that God is able and willing to do it when I am agreeable.

                There’s more good news.  Not only is God willing to bring me back when I stray, God is willing to treat me as if I’d never strayed in the first placed.  This is God’s justifying grace, the grace that treats me “just-as-if-I’d” never sinned.  No wonder Jude describes us coming back into God’s fold with ”great joy!”

                All this is because of Jesus Christ.  And because of that, All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen!

 

Question:  Instead of a question today, simply recite Jude’s benediction to yourself slowly a couple of times as a way to allow God to bring you into the divine presence.

 

Prayer:  Lord, you are awesome.  I praise You for your forgiving and gracious character.  I thank you for bringing me back so many times when I’ve strayed.  “Here’s my heart. Take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above.”  All the glory, power, and authority are Yours.  Amen and Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for flood victims today who have lost everything.

 

Song:  Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - Chris Rice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_aACQ9LjoM

The Power to be Faithful

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.      Zechariah 4:6

 

Like all the other fruits of the Spirit, our faithfulness proceeds from God’s faithfulness.  This is crucial.  I can’t sustain my own faithfulness.  When I’ve tried, I have always reached the moment when I decide that I’m done.  In my work as a Pastor, I have on multiple occasions gotten to the point where I say to myself, “I’ve got to find something else to do with my life.”  In each of those cases, I realized that I was trying to be faithful on my own power.  It may work for a while, but it is not sustainable.

In the above scripture, “by my Spirit” is the key.  To the extent that we are “present” with the Spirit that God has placed within us, our faithfulness becomes sustainable.  To be present with the Spirit is to be aware of and connected to the Spirit’s presence in us.  This is what the Psalmist means when he shares God’s encouragement to “be still and know that I am God.” (46:10)  The most important part of our day is the time we spend slowing ourselves down enough to pay attention to the presence of God with us.  When this becomes a habit, we have a growing sense of God’s faithfulness to us.  This makes our faithfulness a natural response, not drudgery.

What has God called you to be faithful in?  If you don’t have an answer to that question, be assured that what God is calling you to be faithful in is practicing being aware of God’s presence.  Other areas of obedience grow out of that.  If you are aware of even a small thing that God is calling you to do, do it. As you do it, notice how God shows up in your doing it.  That leads to the next step in your faithfulness.  We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

 

Prayer:  God, slow me down enough that I may notice your presence with me and your faithfulness to me.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Take some time to be quiet and still today, asking God to make God’s presence known to you. 

 

Song: Great is Thy Faithfulness – Chris Rice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1WhFtVp0o

Jesus’s Public Goodbye

 

Jesus’s Public Goodbye

 

Matthew 23:37-39, CEB - “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that.  Look, your house is left to you deserted.  I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”

 

                Jesus completes His address in the Temple with a lament.  This is the last time He will be in the Temple and the last time He will formally address the public.  He is aware that, in only a couple of days, he will be betrayed by one of His closest friends, arrested, tried multiple times, beaten and crucified on a Roman cross.  As he looks over those gathered, from Passover pilgrims to Pharisees, you can hear the growing sadness and foreboding as He wishes things could be different.  I invite you to read the above passage again aware of Jesus’s heart breaking as He speaks.

                Jesus’s words sound like a mother who has done all that she knows to do to bring her wayward children under her protection, but her children’s apathy and/or rebellion rebuffs the offer.  Accepting that things cannot be different, Jesus publicly says “goodbye.”  He informs those who hear Him that He will not return again anytime soon.  What Jesus knows is that the Temple itself will be reduced to rubble before He returns and this surely adds to His sadness.

                Too often, God’s demeanor towards rebellion is portrayed as angry and vengeful.  To be fair, some of those portrayals stem from Old Testament texts.  Without disregarding those scriptures, Jesus adds more insight into the heart of God when people ignore and rebel.  God is sorrowful toward those who will not heed spiritual guidance and wisdom.  God’s heart is to protect them, not smite them.  That is Jesus’s final public word. 

                I find comfort in this because I have been among the apathetic and rebellious at times.   That apathy and rebellion led to my own pain in some cases, something God would have helped me avoid if I had been more responsive.  Fortunately, those times of struggle have been instructive and serve as a constant reminder that I am prone to wander.  I’m reminded of the great hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” particularly words from the final verse:

Oh, to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be

Let Thy goodness like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, oh take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above

May this hymn be our prayer today as we hear Jesus’s heart for those of us who are “prone to leave the God [we] love.” 

 

Question:  Are you aware of any apathy or even rebellion towards God in your heart this day?

 

Prayer:  God forgive us for own insensitivity to Your Spirit’s call. Take our heart and seal it in Your mercy and love.  Quash any rebellion in us.  Help us accept your guidance this day and every day.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia today as war begins within Ukraine’s borders.

 

Song:  Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – Chris Rice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTCTzF5Yj8I