God is Faithful to His Promises

Jacob had a pretty big disagreement with his brother, Esau. Jacob had lied to his father to steal a blessing away from Esau, and now Esau was ready to murder him because his anger was so great.

Even though Jacob was guilty of lying and stealing God was still going to use him. In addition to those sins, Jacob did not even claim God as his own; just recently as part of the plot to steal Esau's blessing when Jacob showed up with food so quickly, he told his dad that it was because, "the Lord, your God, gave me success." Genesis 27:20 Jacob said it was Isaac's God, not my God; he didn't even say our God! However, God remained faithful to his promise to Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob would be blessed, but the road would not be easy.

Jacob would have to leave for a while. God didn't fix everything for him so that he could just walk back to his parents and brother and live happily ever after - Jacob went away. He was gone so long that he would not see his mother again, but God made a promise to Jacob the first night he was gone:

Genesis 28:15New International Version (NIV)

15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Jacob was gone for a while, but God was going to bring him back. It took more than a month, more than a year, more than a decade... Jacob would not return to that location for twenty years, but went he did come back it was with a dozen kids and large herds of animals that now belonged to him.

Maybe the times you are going through are pretty easy, and that is great - a reason to be thankful and praise God! However, try to remember in the hard times that God will not break his promise to be with you always to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20  He has a great future for you, even if it's hard to see in the midst of difficult times.

May God bless you with His Peace for the journey ahead.

Free

In a college class about money I was taught that nothing is free. The phrase that they used is, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Someone may give you a coupon for a free meal, but the person might have to buy the coupon. Maybe a friend would buy you lunch, but that friend would have to pay for it. Maybe the restaurant is having a big celebration, but even if the restaurant is giving out "free meals" someone is paying for that food and workers making the food (probably the restaurant's owner). Someone else has to pay for the food, so there is no such thing as a free lunch.

That word "free" (here in it's adverb form, freely) really stands out in this passage:

Romans 3:23-24New International Version (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Grace is completely free to us, but it came at a great cost to someone else. Because of the price Jesus paid on our behalf, we are all declared perfect in God's eyes through grace.  Jesus paid it all.

Your Mindset

A few years ago, an author named Carol Dweck wrote a book called Mindset. The book looked at how people learn, especially young people when they are students. The question hanging over her research was related to whether some kids are naturally smart, whether they work harder, or what type of combination is needed for success.

In one test she had two groups of fifth grade students and gave them all a series of tests with some of the questions being at their grade level while others were much harder. One of the groups was more successful and worked at the harder problems longer. Both groups were given feedback, but the type of feedback was different.  One of the most amazing things is that the group that was told, "You are smart! You must be really good at this!" in order to boost their self-esteem actually did worse.

It turns out that when kids are told, "You are smart." or "You are strong." or "You are talented." they believe it until it doesn't feel true anymore. At that point, it is easy for them to give up. They doubt that they are really smart, talented, strong, or any other quality; they would rather not disappoint the people around them by failing in front of them causing their praise to be untrue.

So what was the other group of fifth graders told? Their feedback was, "You must have tried really hard on those questions." When they felt like others noticed the effort more than the results, those kids were encouraged and continued to try while the others had stopped.

Sometimes there is a voice inside of us telling us that we are not smart enough or good enough. The tempter would have us look at our own inadequacies and become discouraged and give up, but God encourages us to look past ourselves for strength. Our trust should be in Him.

Proverbs 3:5-8New International Version (NIV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones.

Sometimes you may feel weak or insufficient for the challenges ahead; that is okay because it might be true that you are weak and insufficient. However, when you are able to look past yourself and trust in the One who empowers you, He will provide a way and the ability to accomplish what He has planned out for you. It might be helpful to try harder, but you won't be successful unless you Trust Him!

A Part to Play

Rebekah had a part to play; God was faithful.

God had made a promise to Abraham and Sarah about the child they would have, but the promise would not have extended past Isaac if he would not have been married to Rebekah and fathered Israel and the nation from him. The promise was not just that Abraham would be blessed, but that all people would be blessed because of what God was doing. This same message is repeated many times throughout Scripture.

Deuteronomy 7:9 New International Version (NIV)

⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Rebekah had faith to leave her home and marry Isaac at the request of a servant. God's story involved many different people, and it continues to involve many people all over the world.

Rebekah had a part to play, and so do you. God is faithful.

Saved by Grace, Not Works

The memory for this week is one of the passages that Lutherans treasure because it summarizes much of the changes that Martin Luther worked to demonstrate. Early in his life most people had a feeling that they needed to do enough good things in their life to make God happy. They imagined that God had scales and would measure out the good and the evil deeds - those with too much evil would go to hell, but those with a lot of good works could be punished until they could finally enter heaven. Martin Luther, himself, was very afraid that he was not measuring up to God's standards. These words were very encouraging to him:

Ephesians 2:8-10New International Version (NIV)

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We are saved only by the good that God does, but he allows us to do good, as well, Those good things do not earn heaven for us, but they help show our thankfulness for all he does for us!

God's Day

In the Old Testament, one of the characteristics that set the Children of Israel apart from other groups of people was the Sabbath - a day when they would take a break from all of their work and focus on God and rest. They typically rested on Saturday, the seventh day, the same day that God rested during creation - Genesis 1. After Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, Christians started making their day of worship on the first day of the week to celebrate the first Easter. In our country week have two days off (the weekend) to honor both traditions.

When Martin Luther was teaching this to young people, he wanted them to not just think about what they shouldn't do, but what they should do on the Sabbath - focus on God and His Word.

The Third Commandment

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

This is a great reminder to honor God's Word in how we live and also take time to gladly listen to His message for us, and try to understand it. A prayer that I grew up with says that when we are around God's Word, we should "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" it. That phrase has stuck with me many years.

A common question for students when we do worship attendance is, "Does watching church on TV or the computer count?" If you are not able to attend church in person, the livestream that St. John does is a great option, and I'm sure that some other churches do a really good job with this, as well. However, the hope is that you would be part of a worship community, not just be an observer. There is power in gathering in the name of Jesus, and having that worship community is important. If you are sitting near in me in church, I am blessed by your presence. It does not work the same for those who are watching online. So for us, part of holding God's Word sacred while gladly hearing and learning it happens because of the community of which you are a part. Where two or more are gathered in Jesus' name, he is right there with them - Matthew 18:20.

The Unexpected

What unexpected things have happened in your life? Were they blessings? Distractions? Frustrations? Miracles? Disasters?

It doesn't have to be something huge, but if you think about something that was unexpected in your life, you may feel a little bit of irritability around the situation, even if it turned out well. People naturally like to be in control, and they like to control everything around them as much as possible. The unexpected just proves how fragile our "control" is, even in our most familiar settings.

And yet those unexpected events may be the most tangible way that God is reaching into your life, getting your attention, and changing things from your idea of "good" to his idea of "best." Those unexpected events may be giving you a new opportunity that you would not have otherwise seen, or else it may be a test to your character and focus on your Creator rather than yourself.

No matter what the events are in your life are, we know that God is working for the good of those who love him, for the good of those people who want to be a conduit of God's grace.

Romans 8:28New International Version (NIV)

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God doesn't just work through bad situations, but he does work through them. God does not rid the earth of all mistakes, but redeems those mistakes for our good and his glory. It is not always plain to see, but it is a comfort to fall into the hands of the living God, the One whom we are to "fear and love" according to Luther's explanation of the commandments. We may feel tired and worn from the things that we go through this side of heaven, but we are reminded that ultimately we are victorious in Christ. We are conquering heroes, and even more than that.

Romans 8:38-39New International Version (NIV)

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What We Cannot See

Often there is a fear of the unknown. Once in a while there will be a mole in our lawn, and I try to trap the mole so it doesn't ruin our yard. I heard there is another animal that likes to tear up grass that lives in the south, but slowly this animal's territory is expanding, and it is almost in St. Louis - the armadillo. Right now, if I had to pick, I would rather have moles in my yard than armadillos for one solid reason - I know about moles, but I don't know much about armadillos.

Sometimes there is a fear of the unknown, but sometimes we are oblivious to in. Sometimes what we don't see is more powerful than the struggles that we are facing. When Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthian Christians, there was a powerful nation oppressing them making it hard to claim Jesus as Savior - the Romans. The Romans had power, prestige, armies, influence, and they were everywhere. Paul was trying to convince his readers that this is nothing compared to the power inside them, unseen power of Jesus that resides in the heart of Christians.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18New International Version (NIV)

17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Today you are probably not afraid of the Romans, but there might be some other threats that have you concerned - terrorists, deadly diseases, natural destruction, violence, anger, hopelessness... These struggles are real, but they pale in comparison to what great things lie in store for our futures, and the Great Thing that resides inside of us.

The Name

Your name is powerful. You can be in a crowd of people with many of them talking, and yet when someone in that group of people says your name, they can snatch your attention and suddenly you look to find the person who said it. This is the name that you hear more than any other name. When someone says your name, it can give you feelings of being appreciated - someone knows you and has called you by name.

God's name is even more powerful. The people of the Old Testament were very cautious about using God's name. Sometimes they didn't even say a name at all, but simply said people should respect "The Name" referring to their Lord. "The Name" was an acceptable way of talking about God.

The second commandment is about the respect we should have for God's name. It is unfortunate to hear people use it carelessly, saying, "Oh my God!" instead of, "Wow!" May God's name be kept holy among us!

The Second Commandment

You Shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.