Can You Read The Signs Of The Times?
Good Morning Friends,
As Americans we celebrate our freedom on the Fourth of July when we remember the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And for Protestants there’s also Reformation Sunday, tomorrow, when we celebrate the nailing of 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg by Martin Luther. There are many similarities to these two events, and the freedom they celebrate. There are also significant differences that are highlighted in our gospel text today, which enable us to deepen our faith in Jesus Christ and broaden our experience of the abundant life. Honestly, I do not think of Reformation as a celebration. In church tomorrow we may only connect to the event by singing A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It is more than interesting that Pope Francis, just yesterday said that the times are changing and we Christians must change continually, freely but within the truth of the faith. He urged Christians to know that we must continually change. Sounds a bit like reformation to me. It is important to remember that our greatest partner in the world continues to be Great Britain. It is important to remember that Martin Luther did not want to break from the Catholic Church but instead to reform it. Do we really have much to protest against when it comes to the Catholic Church? Can You Read The Signs Of The Times?
Scripture: Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;
Romans 13:11 (NRSV)
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith. “The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Galatians 3:1-14 (NIV)
His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
Matthew 3:12 (NRSV)
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’
John 8:31-38 (NRSV)
Message: Too often we do not embrace prayer as a creative path to truth. For me prayer, like studying scripture, has become an art of discovery where I begin to hear who I really am and also begin to see who I might become. Here I discover my authentic self that awaits the fulfillment of what God has prepared for me. When Martin Luther confronted his life and the then practices of the church of buying indulgences for salvation, he realized that we cannot be justified by works. Unfortunately, I do not think he fully came to reconcile the scripture in James about faith without works being dead. Here Luther’s insertion of the faith “alone” theology is for me only the start and not the finish line. For what makes faith alive for me is God’s creativity in our lives and I think that at some level it was this same creativity of reformation that motivated Luther. There are, of course, pitfalls in this process of reformation, as today’s scripture makes clear, and yet I cannot deny what I experience. I hope you too have discovered, as I, that our lives can be a journey where faith and doing, love and grace that converge in the experience of the life that matters. I have come to the conclusion that God’s love and creativity shapes our souls and that a collective creativity in community worship can help to support that experience, but is no substitute for it. We all have had experiences that have changed and shaped our lives. I expect that most of them occurred outside Sunday worship. Some of them are fun and others serious but the ones that shape us are all powerful. It is here in these experiences of work and family and for me in prayer as well, that I have discovered that there is a difference between trusting and trying….human effort and God’s grace but that on occasion they do cross paths. Friends, there is no replacement for Jesus…there is no replacement for grace. The faith of Abraham had no law to encumber him. Yet still he too had to act and so must we. Friends, in the real life we too have been freed to experience faith without spiritual legalism…. worship without legalism…prayer without legalism. We are free to be saturated in a culture of God’s language and history that permeates the world like salt and light. We have been freed to have a faith that is alive. We have been freed to see how God works in history.
Pray we have been set free to live in freedom’s spirit. Pray that we understand our faith experience involving our mind, emotions and will in the act of doing. Pray we rejoice in the power of the Word made flesh. Pray we start right but not finish wrong. Pray we do not fall prey to legalism or to the institutionalization of Christ. Pray we do works of God but not add them out of context as an obligation on a path to sanctification. Pray we live in grace. Pray that the Holy Spirit helps us to live in grace. Pray we recognize the source of the supernatural work in our lives. Pray we see the powerful workings of God in our midst. Pray we never take credit for what God has done. Pray that we are united together because of the work of Jesus and not our own work. Pray our hearts are encouraged and strengthened by every good deed and word we do and say in and through the love of God. Pray we are not just hearers of the Word but doers as well. Pray that we experience life and worship as a collective prayer that shapes our souls in God’s continuing plan for His creation. Pray we discern what is happening within us. Pray we become more like Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 