Month: April 2017

 

The Lord hears our calls for help when in distress and he answers our prayers. Our spiritual enemies are troublemakers. Satan is a slanderous liar whether speaking directly in the mind or through other people in the world; he attempts to distort what others think of us or what we think of ourselves. Either way, he uses lies and distortion to contradict what God thinks of us, since He sees Jesus in us. God uses flaming arrows of Truth; the Truth: “I love you.”

Satan also is constantly attempting to stir up trouble and cause strife between people, and we all live among people like that. Lies and misunderstandings cause contentions among families, friends, churches, and community groups, which escalate to conflict and war; and wars you will always have with you.

Every single person considers himself a peacemaker, in that each wants to live undisturbed and avoid confrontation; every peacemaker becomes a troublemaker when his own selfish “pursuit of happiness” is blocked. I need to confess when I, who desire peace, am the one causing trouble. The warlike enemy has crept into my self and must be overcome through prayer and faith. This requires powerful conviction by the Spirit.

 

 

 

Psalm expresses the believer’s meditation on, love for, and delight in the Torah, meaning Instruction. The Torah is the five Books of Moses, the Law, and by extension, over time, it includes the Prophets, the Psalms, and the New Testament: the Bible. Eight different synonyms for the Word are used over 176 verses.

Intense love for the Gospel is understandable, but love for the Law and Commandments? What’s up with that? The Law (the Word of God) is loved because it expresses God’s will and His mind, and it God Himself that is loved and greatly desired: to know Him personally and live, really live.

“Quicken me according to your word” is prayed eleven times, often in response to affliction. My enemies are constantly seeking to destroy my life, at least to diminish the full enjoyment of life. Jesus comes to give life: “My words are Spirit and they are Life;” in the Scriptures you have eternal life, they testify of me; me has He quickened, who was dead in sins.

Affliction comes from one of the life destroyers (sin, death, devil). It is permitted by God for a purpose: to repent and believe the Gospel so Jesus can Give Life.

 

 

 

 

The Lord has given the king a great victory over his enemies, and he has returned to the people of God assembled in worship to give thanks. The power and love of God combined to save him from death and defeat the enemy. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous; this is the day…; save now (Hosanna); blessed is the king who comes in the power of the Lord.

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus is recounted in the same way, and with the same words, as this king who has returned from battle to give thanks for victory over death and the enemy. It is as if the victory has already taken place on the Sunday before the actual Friday battle. The Spirit of Christ has given advanced faith to the children and childlike followers of Jesus. The Victor was praised one full week ahead of the Proclamation on Easter. The scene does not appear like a victory celebration, but the eyes of faith see the power and love of God come together and settle on the man riding a donkey.

The same victory comes into our lives this day: God grant the faith to see, and sing “Hosanna” (Save now!)

 

 

 

 

All the nations, people groups, tribes and families, tongues and language groups of the earth are to be converted from enemies and strangers into friends and family. They will all praise the Lord when they see the mercy and truth of the One True God.

“Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.” So says John. Mercy and truth is a simple translation of “steadfast love and faithfulness.” Mercy and truth are mentioned together and praised together many times. “Mercy and truth kissed each other.” Mercy and truth are even seen as agents of God, or messengers, sent by Him to meet a person who prays for help.

“Mercy” is the essential character of God which moves Him to decide to send His Son, the Savior, into the world. “Truth” is the faithful, promise-keeping character of God that actually carries out that desire and will of God in real time and Christmas happens.

When the peoples of the world hear the Gospel and see Jesus they see that the merciful kindness of God is great and His faithfulness lasts forever; then they praise the Lord, like us, who have already seen mercy and truth in Jesus.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has conquered the last enemy, Death. Death and Hell are the last persons thrown into the lake of fire before the establishment of the New Heaven and the New Earth of the eternal state, in which Sin , Death and the Devil are no longer present at all. Life with God can be enjoyed forever to the full without interference.

Death = Separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body; spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God; eternal death is the separation of the soul and body from God forever.

Deliverance from death produces profusive praise and effusive thanks. First, deliverance from premature death brings relief: “Return to your rest, O my soul.” Then, appreciation: “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Finally, gratitude: “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?…I will take the cup of salvation…I will pay my vows unto the Lord.”

My death is “precious” to God, that is, costly and dear, because He desperately does not want to be separated from me, at all, ever. Therefore, He sent His Son to unite me to live with Him forever.

True believers proclaim and confess their unswerving fear, love and trust in the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. True believers can mock idols as lifeless and powerless. Idols are made with human hands and designed by human minds, while the true God reigns in heaven and He Himself made those human hands and minds.

Unbelievers, false believers and idol worshippers, in turn, mock the true believers, saying, “Where now is their God?” They will set up anything else as something to trust in and look to for good (usually it is Self). This “something else” is a rival, or enemy, to the true God; so true believers are intolerant of anything else as their Help and Shield; He is mindful of us and He will bless us. The true God, known only through Jesus the Messiah, has crushed all false gods and idols at the Cross and the Tomb.

We survive in an alien and hostile environment; we rise above life’s problems on God-given songs of prayer and faith. A real relationship with God resists rival human ideologies and creates a hope so certain that it’s prospect already praises the Only God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Every year at Passover the people of God replayed and relived the Exodus Salvation Event in order to appropriate it as their own by faith. Christians do the same thing with the Jesus Salvation Event every Easter, and every Sunday. “Were you there…?” In both cases the Almighty God showed His power in the utter defeat of the Enemy in order to establish a new relationship with His rescued People.

It is asked: “What happened that the Sea fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped, the earth trembled, and rocks turned to water?” What happened? God showed up! That’s all; no fight, no big battle, just the Presence of God (“the sea looked, and fled”). What happened at the Cross and the Tomb? God showed up: sin, death, and devil fled away.

Awesome, frightening, life-threatening Terror shows up when Awesome God makes His Presence known: Sin is judged and trembles, Death loses its grip, Satan is crushed and flees away. This happens when the Gospel is heard and the Sacraments received.

We can replay and relive the power of His Presence when we repent and believe the Gospel. By faith we see the enemy struck with terror, and we win again.

 

 

 

 

 

Our faith in god must always hold two contradictory truths in tension: He is both far off and close by. God is “way out there,” not just in heaven but beyond heaven and earth, outside the vast universe. Hr is so big and distant that He has to stoop down just to inspect a distant galaxy or supernova, much less little old me on planet earth.

But this great, far off God is also so close as to be always right next to me and even living inside me. Big God condescends to be involved in my petty personal problems. Faith says He is big enough to solve my problem and small enough care about it. Power and Love combine.

The mystery of the Christian faith is balancing the contradictions: holiness and Love, justice and mercy, sin and grace, law and Gospel, glory and grace, Almighty power and intimate compassion, big and small. The Incarnation resolves the tension and all becomes clear to us when we see Jesus, the God-man.

Now we can pray: “Our Father in heaven.” Is He able to answer my prayer and does he care enough to do so? He is God in Heaven = He can; He’s my Father = He will.

Blessings and good things come as natural consequences to those who keep the commandments and live a generally righteous life. Consequences are not rewards and punishments like getting a cookie or being put in time out (or going to heaven or hell). Consequences have to do with cause and effect, the natural beneficial or harmful results of thought and behavior.

Since we do not usually see unintended consequences God was gracious to give us rules. Break the rules and it ends badly; keep the laws and it turns out well. Life is that simple: “Blessed is the man that delights in His commandments.” It is Sin and Satan that make it complicated.

One would think that selfish desire would motivate humans to obey God’s Law since it brings blessings. The problem is that sinful man believes the Lie instead of the Truth. For example, lying and stealing appear to give immediate benefits: so lies the Enemy. Our Friend tells the Truth: such sins always, without fail, cause bad things; honesty and generosity always bring blessings.

Law motivation does not work because we live by sight not by faith. Motivation comes from the Spirit who gives faith in the forgiveness, love, kindness, compassion, mercy, and grace of God. The Gospel is the power.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord God is worthy of praise by all Creation for who he is; He is also worthy of the praise of His people because of what he has done; praise Him for His wonderful works.

Who He is: gracious and merciful and full of compassion, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. What He has done: delivered his people in the Exodus, protected and provided for them in the wilderness, given them his Covenant at Sinai, given the Promised Land by overcoming the enemies.

All His wonderful works are studied and meditated upon so that we praise God more and so that we are motivated and enabled to keep his laws better; for when we praise Him and keep His commandments our lives will be wiser and better.

All God’s wonderful works were done when the Son said, “It is finished!” Finished means done, accomplished, completed, worked out in full. What Jesus did: earned complete forgiveness of sins, defeated the Enemy, granted God’s righteousness, gave eternal life, overcame Death, opened Paradise, offered a continued life of love and peace and joy today, and gave many more blessings. Truly the wonderful works of Jesus are worthy of praise.