Psalm 1

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Psalm one begins with three postures or positions of the believer. He doesn’t walk alongside the wicked. He’s not going in their direction. And the believer doesn’t stand in the way of sinners. They’ve stopped walking, now. They’re standing there. They’re discussing things. Maybe they’re planning, planning to sin, but the believer is not with them. And third, the believer doesn’t sit alongside, sit with scoffers. He doesn’t break bread with those who mock God, God’s way, God’s word. This doesn’t mean we don’t have friends, family members, coworkers who are unbelievers. It means we’re not participating in their sin.

Instead, the psalm goes on. It tells us what the believer delights in. God’s law. God’s word. More than just the commandments, all of God’s word. That’s his comfort. That’s her companion. Let’s look at an example from nature. A tree or any other plant, it needs water to survive. Back home in Washington, where I live, I can walk outside and I can see trees that are over 100ft tall. And I don’t have to be a great botanist, a great scientist, in order to know at least one thing about any tree that’s lived that long and that has reached that kind of height. It’s a tree that’s well watered well. Psalm one verse three says that the believer is like that. You don’t have to be a great theologian to look at someone, maybe someone that you admire, that you sort of look up to, maybe at church, a kind elderly person. You don’t have to be a great theologian in order to realize that person is well watered, watered with God’s own word, the water of life. Psalm one begins by telling us this is essential to spiritual life. God’s word is. Its essential to producing fruit, to growth.

And it contrasts that with the life of unbelievers, despite any seeming profit or success, that their sin may give them. Their unbelief and their sin have already determined their end. And so verse six, the last verse, it makes one last comparison, the comfort that the Lord knows the way of his people, and that means he knows where we are. He knows what we face. He knows what we struggle with and wrestle with in this life. In fact, the Lord is intimately aware of it all. In fact, we could even say he is personally aware of it. How? How can God, who is spirit, God who is perfect, be personally aware with all that that we wrestle and struggle with and as we try to produce fruit and at times we don’t produce the fruit, we should?

Psalm one is a perfect description of Jesus who did delight in God’s Word and who submitted himself to God’s law. But because of Jesus, because of him, his relative Elizabeth once called him the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb, because of him and that fruit all of God’s people are blessed. We’re blessed in him, and we are like trees that are living beside streams of water, trees that are well watered.

So Psalm one, have a read of it yourself, and in it, first and foremost see Jesus, your Savior, the Blessed One of the Book of Psalms, the Righteous One in whom we’re nurtured and in whom we grow. So it’s about him. And because it’s about him who took on our nature, it’s about us, our brother, our Savior. God bless you and we’ll see you again.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

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Many people have called me an optimist and I strongly disagree. Here’s why. When I think of an optimist, I think we usually mean someone who just always paints a rosy picture and pretends everything is good and they just kind of ignore the bad stuff. And I like to tell people I am not an optimist. I’m not ignoring the bad stuff or pretending these bad things don’t happen. I am a positive realist. It here’s what I mean: I’m not denying the bad, but I just don’t want us to forget the good, the blessings.

It’s interesting. We have this tendency, I think, to have things in our lives where we think that either have to be good or bad. This is a good moment or it’s a bad moment. But the reality is we can be in the middle of challenges, but also be incredibly blessed. And this isn’t just my idea. Let me read some words for you from Second Corinthians chapter four. So this is the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:7-12)

Do you hear all those things he has, we have these things going on. But look at what God has done. I mean, and that’s really the gospel, isn’t it? When Jesus goes to the cross, this is a terrible thing. People have rejected him. His own people have rejected him. There’s all this sadness, and yet we have a God who actually takes that sadness, that awful event, and he uses that as the way he sets us right with him. Through their rejection, we get redemption. Through Jesus’ death, we get life.

Death is a bad thing. The rejection was a bad thing. And yet in the midst of that, we see the greatest love. We see Jesus dying for our sins so he can rise again to set us right with God. So in the middle of all this, now, as people who know this gospel, we are people who are living, seeing that death was not part of God’s original plan for this world, that was a result of sin. But now death is a doorway to life. In the midst of challenges today, yes, it can be so difficult, but you have a God who is with you, who is for you. Think about the ways he has blessed you. Recognize the strength he will give to you. See the way he will provide for you. Acknowledge the bad, but also remember the good.

I think I’ve made my case, hopefully for me being a positive realist.

Ruth 1:16-17, 2 Corinthians 5:15

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You only live once. So the world tells us. So, get as much happiness out of this life as you possibly can. That seems to be the mentality of our world today. That if you’re not happy in your job, quit. If you’re not happy with your friends, well, find some new ones. If you’re not happy in your family life, in your marriage, get a divorce, because happiness is key. Because you only live once.

There’s a woman in the Bible by the name of Ruth that seems to be living in direct contrast to that concept of YOLO or You Only Live Once. Ruth is this woman who has lost her husband at a young age, and she yet cares for her mother-in-law, who has not only lost her husband, but also her two sons as well. Ruth’s husband being one of them. Yet, even though Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, gives her the right to go back home to her family to maybe find a new spouse, a new husband to marry and be happy and to have kids. Yet Ruth clings to her mother-in-law, Naomi.

It’s interesting to think about what she does that she’s willing to leave her family and her homeland. She’s willing to take on a life of poverty and difficulty. She’s willing to live with this woman, Naomi, who doesn’t want people to call her Naomi, a name that means pleasant, but instead wants people to call her bitter because the Lord has made her life bitter. She desires to do all of that. It seems to be the exact opposite of the concept of YOLO. You only live once. Live your life for your own happiness.

Why would she do this? Well, in Ruth chapter one we hear this about her. Ruth says this to her mother-in-law, Naomi.

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to abandon you or to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you make your home, I will make my home. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely and double it if anything but death separates me from you.” (Ruth 1:16-17 EHV)

We hear why. We hear why she would give up on her own happiness to serve her mother-in-law, Naomi. It’s because of a promise she made to God. To the Lord. She had come to know the Lord as the true God, but not only as the true God, but as her own personal Savior. The one who is sending the Messiah into the world, the one who would come to redeem her and make satisfaction for her sins. To give her life forever in his name.

You see, Ruth wasn’t living for the here and now. She wasn’t living for life here on earth and for her happiness here. But she was living for the one who gives her eternal life forever because of the Messiah, her Savior, the one that God was sending into the world. Saint Paul writes in the New Testament concerning this one the Messiah.

And he died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for him, who died in their place and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:15 EHV)

You see, God encourages us instead of having that attitude of living for our happiness or YOLO, you only live once. Maybe instead YLT you live twice, right? We live here and now, but we also will have life forever in God’s name, in eternity, because of the one who has purchased our redemption, who has paid for our sin and given us the certainty of everlasting life.

So let us not live our lives here and now for our own selves, for our own happiness, but instead to live for the one who has given his life for us, to guarantee us that we will live twice. We will live forever, eternally in heaven. (WWLTWWLFEIH) Amen.

Christian Freedom – What Is It?

Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-20, Exodus 12:1-28

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You have been set free in Jesus. But what is that freedom about? What does that freedom mean for your life? To help us think about that, it’s good for us to think about when Jesus chose to go to Jerusalem and when, according to God’s plan, he was handed over and betrayed and died. This all happened at the Passover feast. (Matthew 26:17-30, Luke 22:7-20, Mark 14:12-26) That’s not an accident. The Passover, and actually, when did Jesus institute the Lord’s Supper? It’s when he was celebrating the Passover. This is all on purpose. Which means, then, that the Passover can help us understand the significance of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

So let’s think back to the Passover. The people of God were slaves in Egypt underneath the power of Pharaoh. And when God calls Moses to go to them, he wants Moses to go to Pharaoh so that God’s people can be free to go and worship him and really become the people of God. All the things that Mount Sinai where the covenants established, and all of that can’t really happen until they are set free from slavery, from this power that was holding them back from going forward and being the people of God. And then the Passover comes because it’s at that 10th plague where after all of these plagues, with Pharaoh. And Pharaoh is adamant, no, you can’t go. And then he decides, yes, you can go. But then he change his mind, changes his mind. Finally, you have that that Passover where you have where God has him kill the lamb and have the blood over the doorposts. And then the angel of death would pass over so that no one would die in that house, but in other houses the firstborn would die. (Exodus 12:1-28)

It was that, the Passover celebrates that moment, remembers that moment, how God then had it, where they were finally sent out of Egypt to go and to be free, and to be the people of God.

Your freedom today is about the fact that you and I, we were all slaves to sin and death. We were held back from being what God created us to be, full of guilt and shame on a path towards death and eternity separated from God. But Jesus died to take away what separated you from God to free you from what held you back. Your sin is removed. Death is overcome. Jesus rose again to give you freedom to step forward now and to know that you are forgiven. You are loved. You are right with God. You are a child of God. You are part of the people of God. You have eternity ahead of you with God and you get to take hold of worshiping that God now.

You were held back as a slave, but you are free to be part of the people of God. That’s what your freedom is all about.

Matthew 14:22-33, Genesis 1:26-27, 2 Peter 1:4

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Is the Christian faith primarily a red light faith or a green light faith? Here’s what I mean. Is the Christian faith primarily about telling you what not to do, or inviting you into doing and living and experiencing something more? The more I dig into God’s Word, the more I see it is completely a green light faith. I mean, don’t get me wrong. There are things that Scripture tells us not to do. There are definitely things that the world very much endorses today that scripture would say, no, don’t do that. But the reason why it gives us a red light to some things is really to give us a green light to so much more.

Recently, I was studying the account of when Jesus’ disciples are out on a boat at night and Jesus walks out to them on the water, and we’re told that there’s the wind and the waves, and they’re walking out there. (Matthew 14:22-33) And Jesus disciples, when they see him, they freak out. They say it’s a ghost. And Jesus says, it is. I’d take courage, you know, do not be afraid. And then Peter, Peter says, one of the craziest things I have ever heard in my life. I just do not know what prompted him to say this, but he says, if it’s you, Lord, tell me to come out on the water. Like what? How do you go from everybody in the boat thinking it’s a ghost to the next thing, okay, tell me to come out on the water. If I was the other disciples, I’d be like, what? Are you crazy, Peter? But that wasn’t Jesus’s response. Jesus says come.

And so then Peter gets out and he actually walks on water. There comes a point where he does doubt and he does sink. But then Jesus is right there. And while we do see that, he did start to doubt and sink. We need to not skip over the fact that he actually walked on water like Jesus. In the original language, the word is it’s a compound word, which means it kind of amplifies things. It says he walked around on the water. He went on a water walk. Like Jesus. I’ve known for a long time that Peter walked on the water, but it wasn’t until recently that it dawned on me that it was Peter’s idea. It wasn’t like Jesus was like, hey, Peter, here’s a challenge. I want to see you walk in the water. Peter came up with it. It just seems wild and just audacious and just so bold.

And yet when I think about the story of Scripture, I realize maybe it’s not so crazy after all. If you go back to Genesis, we are told that God created humanity to be in his image and his likeness. (Genesis 1:26-27) Not that we physically look like God, but that we were able to live in a way that looked like God, live in a way that showcased his goodness and his greatness, his love, his character. So we’re here to do things and live in a way that looks like God. And so then when I think about Peter looking out at Jesus and saying, okay, you can do that, I want to do it too. Well, maybe it’s not so crazy after all. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all of us should try to walk on water like Jesus, but there is something to the fact that God created us to live in a way and do things that look like Jesus. To live in a way that looks like God.

Now, unfortunately, sin broke all that, and we don’t naturally live in a way that looks like God. And I wonder today if that reality has sometimes prompted us to not look at Jesus as boldly as Peter did. Do we say, Jesus, I want to live like you and I want to look like you? Or do we just stay in the boat? Sometimes realizing that we are sinful people and that we are going to sin again, we can actually kind of use it as a cop out. We can say, well, I’m going to sin again anyways, so we don’t even try to look more like Jesus. We just expect, well, I’m going to fail anyway. But I had this professor in seminary who had this great line. He said, don’t deny the miracle. The Spirit of God lives inside of you. Jesus did die for you. You are a new creation. You’ve been washed clean in the waters of baptism. If you are someone who’s been confirmed and you take the Lord’s Supper, you are connected to Christ himself. And so it makes sense to say, Jesus where you are. I want to be there too. I want to live like you. Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come. And what we see with Peter is Jesus loves to say come.

Then when we step out of the boat, are we going to start going down into the water like Peter? Yes, we will, but every single time we do Jesus is there to pull us back up out of the water. He died for you. He rose again. You’re forgiven. You are right with God. And invited by God now to look at Jesus and say, Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come. It talks in chapter one of second Peter, about how we get to be participants in the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) What? In 1 Corinthians 15 talks about how when we work hard, it’s actually God who’s working in and through us. We get to be part of what God is doing. We are being renewed in the image and likeness of God. God is working in us. So let’s step out of the boat. Let’s look and see. Jesus, I want to live like you. I want to love others like you. I want to live by faith like you. I know I’m not going to do it perfect, but every time I sink, you will pull me up. So, Lord, if it’s to you. And if you want me to come, say come. Let’s be willing to step where our Savior is today. Let’s see what happens.

Jude 4, Romans 5:6,8

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You’ve heard of driver’s licenses or pilot’s license or even liquor licenses. There’s a lot of license that we give out in our world, in our country. But have you ever heard about a license to sin? Maybe wonder what in the world is that? Well, Saint Jude talks about a license to sin in the fourth verse of his book, where he says this. He talks about the ungodly. He talks about people who turn the grace of our God into a license to sin.

They are ungodly people who turn the grace of our God into a license for sin… (Jude 4)

You might wonder, what is he talking about concerning this license to sin? Maybe first and foremost, it’s good for us to understand who he’s talking about. Who are these ungodly people? Well, he’s talking about Christians, or at least people who call themselves Christians. They call themselves Christians, they claim that they know the grace of God, they know his undeserved love for them, how he has come into the world to forgive them all of their sins. And yet they use that as an excuse to sin. They say, because God has forgiven all of my sin, it doesn’t matter how I live, I can do whatever I want. Who cares? God will just forgive me anyway.

It’s good to note, though, the term that he uses for them, the term that he uses is “ungodly.” He’s talking about people who are acting not as Christians, but as unbelievers. Have you ever had such an attitude when it comes to God’s grace? Maybe thinking that you have a license to sin? As you consider your own life, is there something that you are doing right now that maybe a pastor has told you this is wrong? Or a parent, or a friend or maybe your own conscience? Or maybe it’s a combination of all those that you’ve been told very clearly, this is wrong. And you know, deep down that it is, but you just keep on doing it. You maybe have told yourself, well, what’s the big deal? I’ll just ask forgiveness later anyway. Or maybe you’ve thought everyone else is doing it, so why can’t I also do this same thing?

God is revealing to you and to all of us in His Word today that ultimately having that attitude of it doesn’t matter if I sin, that that is an attitude of an ungodly person. It isn’t right. And really, it’s a faith destroying attitude because it can lead us to ultimately think that the thing that we are doing wrong really isn’t that wrong. So I’ll just keep on doing it. And I don’t really need a savior because it isn’t really wrong. It’s very harmful to us.

That should be a wake up call. That should be something striking for us to consider. Maybe if your conscience has been pricked, though, as you consider that thing in your own life, it’s good for us to also consider the words of the Apostle Paul from Romans chapter five, when he says this,

For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)

Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for people who thought they had a license to sin. People who took for granted the grace of God and said, I’ll sin now and I’ll ask forgiveness later. Christ died for those people. And it goes on to say,

But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

That’s amazing, isn’t it? To know that that God even forgives those types of sins, even though we knew it was wrong and we did it anyway, even though we were planning to repent later, even though that was a terrible attitude and terrible actions that we took. Christ died even for those sins. Let’s rejoice in that message and let us not want to ultimately live in our sin and think that we have a license to sin, but instead live for Christ, who has paid for that sin and taking care of it once and for all on the cross. Amen.

Ephesians 2:19-22

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One of the things my wife and I enjoy to do together is working on puzzles. We don’t do them all too often, but when we do, they are a challenge. Each piece has its own place in that puzzle, and sometimes as you’re working on the puzzle, it becomes so easy to just put piece after piece after piece without stopping. But other times, you get that one piece where you just can’t find where it goes. It doesn’t seem to fit in no matter where you put it. And so you get frustrated because you just can’t find it, and eventually you just have to walk away and come back again a different time.

As Christians, we look at the picture of the world and it has so many different pieces. But like that one puzzle piece, you just can’t seem to find where it goes, we sometimes struggle to see exactly how we fit in. We feel out of place in the world. We don’t believe as the world believes. We don’t think as the world thinks. We don’t want to live as the world lives. It seems as if we are in the puzzle box, but we just don’t fit in. Maybe we’re part of a totally different puzzle altogether. Jesus did say that. He said that we are in the world, but we are not of the world. And so where do we fit in? After all, every piece has its place in the puzzle, somewhere. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter two, verses 19 through 22.

So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

This is who we are. Each one of us is a piece that makes up the puzzle of God’s kingdom and his family. God the father placed each and every one of us in that puzzle, when the Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament, worked faith in our hearts to know and trust that Jesus is our Savior. He has brought each one of us together, each individual piece, to form a beautiful picture of his church. This is where we fit in. When my wife and I finally find where those tough pieces put together in that puzzle, the pieces that we struggle with for so long, there is much rejoicing. Sometimes that even opens up more pieces to be put in that puzzle. After all, like those puzzle pieces, we aren’t all the same on the outside, but we are all pieces brought into God’s kingdom and his family. We rejoice knowing that this is where we belong. This is where we fit in. Amen.

1 John 1:5-7, 1 Peter 2:9

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So imagine you are out in the woods, had a campfire with your friends, and you are getting ready to head back now to your cabin or your camper, and you have a flashlight and you get it out. You turn it on, but then you put it in the backpack. You put it away. Your friends, they didn’t think to bring a flashlight. You’re the only one who has one. And you put your flashlight in your bag and then proceed to walk back, complaining the whole time about why, why did nobody else bring a flashlight? Man, it’s so dark here. More people should be using flashlights today. That wouldn’t make any sense. If you did that, would it? That would be really strange.

And Jesus says something similar in Matthew chapter five. He says, you are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:15) And then he talks about how nobody lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Like that would not make any sense. So then here’s my question for you in this world today, where there’s a lot of darkness, what are you doing with your light? Are you shining it into the darkness or have you buried it? It’s really easy for us to just complain about the darkness of this world to say, man, look, you know, churches are shrinking. There’s less people who are honoring God. There’s things going on in our world and our nation that seem to be against God. And it’s just easy for us to just complain about the darkness. But we have a light that shines into that darkness. So let’s embrace it.

How do we do that? Well, first of all. First John chapter one says this. It says

This is the message we heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him but still walk in darkness, we are lying and do not put the truth into practice. But if we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)

So how do we embrace the light and live in the light? It starts by confessing our sins. Bring our sins out into the open. Lay them before the cross of Jesus. Be honest with the fact that sometimes we get caught up in the darkness of this world, and we get caught up complaining about that and missing what he’s done. Lay that before the cross. Be assured that you are forgiven, that you are right with him. And then, as someone who is forgiven, who has been brought out into the light, you get to now shine that light to a world around you that so desperately needs it. In first Peter two nine says,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

You get to declare the praises of God in this world. You get to tell the world about a God who created them, who designed them, a God who, even though we have sinned against him and turned away from him, who has pursued us relentlessly, you get to tell them about a Savior, Jesus, who came into this world to take our sin on himself, to lay down and to die in the cross and to rise again. You get to tell them about a God who gives us hope beyond this world, and a God who meets us in every challenge in this world. You get to proclaim the praises of him. You get to shine that light, shine that light today.

Romans 3:20, 1 Corinthians 6:11

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Why even try? Why even try to really live out what Jesus says? You know, in the Sermon on the Mount, some of the things he says, they just seem impossible. Why even try? I don’t know if any of us would say that out loud, but I get this sense that subtly sometimes we think that. I mean, after all, God’s Word says that none of us will be declared righteous by following the law. (Romans 3:20) We’re all going to sin, so why even try?

Do you ever think that? Do you ever feel that? And does it ever turn into almost an excuse to just go ahead and sin? Because, well, I’m a sinner anyways. If we ever feel that way, if we ever think, why even try? Scripture does speak to that for us and it gives us some reasons to try to live. No, we do not justify ourselves at all. But Scripture does tell us that we are justified, that we have been changed.

In 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 11, it says,

And some of you were those types of people.

So talking about all these different sinful behaviors,

but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:11)

Jesus lived the life we were meant to live, laid it down, and died on a cross. On that cross, he took the justice for everything you and I have ever done wrong. He paid for that. And when he rose again, he rose to give us a new life. And when you were brought to faith in Christ, you were connected to his death and resurrection. You have been made new. When you were baptized into Christ, you were washed clean. You have a new identity now before God, you were that other person, but now you are someone different and that affects how you live.

I remember when I was in fifth grade, I was dating, however that works in fifth grade, a girl, and I also at the time that I was dating her, I thought it was really cool to use a lot of profanity at school. Not a good idea. Well, I broke up with her and her way of getting back at me was looking up our number in the phone book. She called my pastor dad and said, Pastor Abrahamson, Nate is using bad language at school. And my dad came out, I was shooting hoops in the driveway, and he told me about the phone call and he goes, Nathaniel, is that who you are? Is that who you are? And then he just went back in the house and I stood there. I was like, shouldn’t I be in more trouble right now?

But that question rang in my mind throughout the rest of my school days. It still rings in my mind where I look at different things and I go, okay, is that who I am? Is that who I am in Christ? And if it’s not, why would I do it? Why would I go that direction? See, we don’t try in order to get ourselves right with God, we want to live out our faith because we are right with God. Because that’s who we are now. And not only is that who we are now, but we have the power of the Spirit working in us, and we have fruits of the spirit that do come out. And sometimes in some ways we do get to embrace, we do take hold of who we are in Christ. And whenever we don’t, whenever we don’t, we look back to the cross and we’re assured that we’re forgiven.

See, that’s the thing. It’s like when you clean a room in your house, that’s when you realize just how dirty it is, right? When you try to take hold of your faith, that’s when you realize just how much you do need Jesus. And every time you realize that you have sinned and fallen short, you are assured you are forgiven. You are right with him. And now you can go forward and live out, begin to live out more and more who you are now in Christ. Live out who you are.

Romans 12:3,6, 1 Corinthians 12:7,24

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I am better at some things than other people are. I am better at some things than other people are. And so are you. Did that make you uncomfortable, though, to hear me say that? It actually felt kind of uncomfortable for me to say I’m better at some things than other people are. But I am, and you are.

God created us unique with different gifts. Think about Romans chapter 12. It says that we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. (Romans 12:6) Let us use them. We are all gifted in different ways and we need to embrace that because how can you use them if you’re not honest about how you’re you’re gifted?

But I think part of why we get uncomfortable is something Paul said earlier in that same chapter in Romans.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3)

So you see those verses and it’s like, don’t think too highly of yourself. And so when I say, oh, I’m more gifted at this than somebody else is, it feels like I’m propping myself up. What do I what do I do with that? Well, the first thing I do with that, and the first thing we can do with that is if we have sensed pride where we are feeling too high about ourselves, we lay that at the cross of Jesus, and we confess that to him and be assured that we are forgiven, that we are right. You are right with him through faith, know that you are loved and right with God and chosen by him.

But then also look back to God’s Word. And in first Corinthians chapter 12, I found a lot of help with this. First Corinthians, chapter 12, it talks about how each of us is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:7) God the spirit shows up in every single Christian. He shows up in the ways that he gives us our gifts and those unique gifts I’ve been given the unique gifts that you’ve been given. But then there’s some other helpful verses that come in that section too. Because a bit later in verse 24, first Corinthians 12, it talks about how the more presentable parts do not require this extra special treatment in a way. But instead it says

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, (1 Corinthians 12:24)

In other words, the part that God honors is the part that maybe looks less impressive to us. Wait, there’s parts that are better than others. It’s a whole picture really pointing out to us that that what we might look at as being a valuable part of the body of Christ, God doesn’t judge by those same standards. Everybody has their gift for their reason, for their part. No gift is truly better than the others. Which means then I can be all in with whatever gift I have. Because whatever gift I have doesn’t make me better or worse than other people. And whatever gift you have doesn’t make you better or worse than other people. Because the gifts don’t change your value before Christ. Your value is found in Christ.

So acknowledge your gift. Go all in with your gift. Embrace your gift. Knowing your gift doesn’t change your value or your standing before God that’s already set in Jesus. Your gift is given to you to be used for his glory, for the building up of the church, and for reaching those around you. Embrace your gifts.

Ephesians 2:8-10

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Why do good? Why do good things? Do good works? Recently I was hanging out with some of my high school students from my church at an area Lutheran high school, and I asked them that question and they gave some good answers. They said we should do good because Jesus tells us to. We should do good because it’s a way of showing thanks to God. We should do good because it helps other people, and we should do good because, well, it helps us feel good. That’s a good thing. And those are all good answers. But as we were talking, I realized that we were actually missing the most fundamental reason why we want to do good.

When God created everything in the beginning, including humanity, he looked at it and said it was very good. He made us good. We were created good. To be good. And actually, God created humanity with a special, special purpose. He created us in his own image and in his own likeness. Not that we physically look like God, but that we were created with the ability and the vocation, the calling, to live in a way that looks like God. It’s this beautiful thing. How does an invisible God show what he looks like? It’s by creating people to live in a way that reflects his character, his love, his goodness.

He created us to do good. And as we were to take hold of his creation in a good way, we would image him, show what he looks like. Now, unfortunately, Adam and Eve stopped trusting God. And when you don’t trust your creator, you don’t live like your creator. And we’re all born now into that same rebellion where we don’t do good. Scripture says in many places that there’s no one who does good. And so we’re all stuck in this way where we naturally don’t do what we were created to do and don’t be what we were created to be.

But Jesus came into this world to be everything that we were meant to be but aren’t. And he laid down his life to take the justice for your sin and mine onto himself and to deal with it. And he rose again to set us right with God, but then also to send us now the spirit to give us new life, and to make it so that we can begin to live. Think about Ephesians chapter two. There’s this beautiful section where it says,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

And then it goes right into saying,

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Notice the result of being set right by God, by Jesus through faith is that we now get to do good works. Sometimes people think we need to do good works for God. That’s not at all in good works are the gift. Good works are the opportunity to be finally what we were meant to be. To begin to live the way we were meant to live. We’re not going to do it perfectly now. And whenever we trip up and stumble, whenever we live in a way that is less than what we were meant to be, we turn back to the cross and we are assured we are forgiven. And then we get to step forward in the spirit, begin to be who we were meant to be, and look forward to that day where we will live with Christ in paradise, or when he returns and sets it all right when we get to fully be everything we were meant to be.

That’s why we do good.

James 4:15-17

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All right, here’s one more thing to add when we think about how am I going to find and follow God’s will for my life? Determining what God’s will is, is relatively simple. We look at what His Word says, and we see if is this according to God’s will or not? We don’t look at our feelings and try and just feel out what I feel like must be the direction. But look at his word, and then if the options are according to his will, go and do that. Now, what kind of option should we be looking for? Listen to some more of these verses from James chapter four.

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. (James 4:15-17)

So we can see God’s law working in our heart as a mirror here. He shows us not just sins that we commit the sins of commission, but also sins of omission, that God gives us all these opportunities. And when we know good that we can do and we don’t do it, that’s sinful too. We need a Savior, and we have a Savior for that, even for our sins of omission, the good that we didn’t do. Jesus came and he looked at people. And the Bible says that he saw them, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He went and he rescued and saved and helped them physically and ultimately took their sins and our sins to the cross.

And that empowers us to also use these words as a guide for us, right? He says, if anyone knows the good they ought to do. They should do it. So what is according to God’s will? Well, look at all the stations in life that God has placed you in, and start there and look for good that you might be able to do.

Are you a mom or a dad? There are probably opportunities for you to do good in your family, your spouse, your children. Who can you help? Are you an employee or an employer? Look for good. Look for people that you can help as you go about your day to day life. Stop and listen and hear people’s story and see what they’re going through because there’s probably opportunity for good. He says watch out for arrogant schemes. And that happens because arrogance is when we’re mostly thinking about ourselves, he says instead, look to others.

As we look for ways to follow God’s will, maybe your prayer will be God, show me opportunities to do good. Show me your Son who looked for opportunities and was good already in my place. And then empower me to follow your will as I serve others.