Here I Stand

"...knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." Galatians 2:16

It was on this date in 1517 that Martin Luther posted Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Sometimes that great story from olden times is lost a bit in amusement due to one of those odd quirks of language that happen in history. The Diet of Worms was an assembly called to deliberate an important matter. The group had a summons from the emperor and a serious charge. In modern American English the phrase conjures up an image of the latest fad eating restriction with a repulsive main dish. For Brother Luther, this assembly was serious indeed, and he would in time be excommunicated from the church. The title comes from three words of his answer given to the Diet refusing to renounce those 95 charges against the pope and the church, "Here I Stand."

It says something interesting about this Diet and those in charge of it that they wanted the messenger to 'take back' his message in place of, oh, denying it, answering the charges, or maybe giving them due consideration.

Of course the words from the Word that began this protest were in our verse for today. Justification by faith and not by a person's resume or a bit of loot handed to the pope.

Happy Reformation Day!

Bucky

So We Can Blame Them Of Course

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? Luke 13:4

Jesus asked the question in our verse for today to address a blaming issue. Why do we want to know the fault or sin of the victim? So we can blame them of course. Falling construction projects appear to be a problem in many ages and ours is no different than the one Jesus lived in it would seem. As the news method of the day told the story of the 18 dead at the Siloam tower, Jesus asked His question. It would be so easy if everyone who died in an accident would be kind enough to take Paul's place as the worst of sinners. If only the most public and, in our humble opinion, worstest and most heinous of sinners died in accidents or from diseases, then we would always know that everyone else who died must have done something wrong too. That we would be still alive to do this blaming would by default then let us off the hook for sin. The only problem being that it just doesn't work that way. Jesus excluded no one by letting those folks know back then that all of us need to repent.

And that is how salvation begins, with repentance!

Love to you in the name of Jesus the Christ!

Bucky

Don't Leave Your Joy Behind

Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. John 16:22

These disciples would see Jesus again quite soon, but does this promise continue for now as we await our Lord's return? Our Lord returned also in the form of His Holy Spirit. Therefore we have reason to rejoice right now too. In Philippians, Paul called us to rejoice in the Lord always. So, don't leave your joy behind when you go to work, to worship, to learn, or wherever you may need to go in this life.

We have joy in the Lord Jesus!

Bucky

It's A Mystery!

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Aww, these verses again? Paul was goofy. Nothing ever happens like this. Yes, what we call the Rapture from the Greek word Paul used for 'snatched away' tests our faith daily. It does not seem to have happened last night, and another birthday, anniversary, or holiday, has come and just nothing. We feel the ravages of older age with each passing year, and well, there seems to be a bit more ravage today without that escape Paul teased us with. Of course we may be looking at it wrong. Maybe the Rapture was never meant to be an escape cord for us to tug on, but a hope we keep in the ol' salvation traveling case to look at now and then. Each passing day is not then a disappointment that it didn't happen but another day to glorify God in the spreading of His gospel. Here comes another day for more lost sheep to be recovered by the Good Shepherd and brought back into the fold. Let us rejoice in this new day!

Whether we sleep with the dead to be raised incorruptible or remain awake with our fellow sheep to be changed, we will rise up to meet our Lord Jesus when He calls!

Bucky

And She Was

And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish.  1 Samuel 1:10

Do men and husbands make the same mistakes they did way back in ancient times? Let's just look at one little story for this morning and see for ourselves. Our verse for today speaks of Hannah, wife but not yet a mother of a son. A fellow would need to be a bit of a brick to not see a problem with Hannah in this condition, and her husband offers his own form of help. "Ain't I better to you than 10 sons," Elkanah says one night. The scripture is silent on how well his couch felt that particular night in Israel. 

Hannah turns to the One who she knows by faith can help her in this matter, but she does so not quite privately. While she does not speak aloud, she is one of those who like to move her lips as she talks in her mind. This may not be as common as it is today, but Eli the priest, proving that men of the cloth can be just as dense as other men, thinks that she is drunk. "Put away the bottle and go sleep it off, ya drunk," Eli does his religious and civic duty only to run smack into Hannah's quite lucid explanation. Only then does Eli the priest offer a blessing and an assurance. Hannah goes her way relieved and faithful, and the rest of the story brings to us one of the great servants of the Lord, her son, Samuel. 

The jury retires to deliberate for a world record 37 seconds, and the verdict is: Yes, men today are just as capable of being complete dunderheads as Elkanah and Eli were in their time. Perhaps with the intervention of our Lord's dear Holy Spirit we can learn the art of listening and not rushing to conclusions. Amen.

Bucky

That's Nuthin'

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.  Mark 16:14

Ah, Saturday! I got up late, did my stroll late, cut up some branches and lopped some little trees growing where they ought not to be, and then I had breakfast late. Now Uncle Arthur and Aunt Idis have stopped by for a visit. So, what better to entertain them than to try typing while they chatter on? If you suffer from the arthritis also, then you will understand my familiar terms to ease the pain a bit. Of course my case is minor compared to many, and I'm not speaking of the one-uppers whose brother, sister, aunt, or odd cousin Beauregard from Biloxi had such a case of it that no one can dare to compare.

We used to have one of those old coots come into the office to one-up every story heard 'round the coffee table until, in his firm opinion, my boss done him wrong. Back in the early days, this coot would even hear a story out and actually start his story with, "That's nothing..." Can you imagine the callousness it takes to hear a story of suffering and dismiss it immediately with that sort of statement? That describes the unbelief Jesus met with in His eleven remaining disciples quite well. 

Yes, the Lord rebuked these eleven men for their unbelief. It is this unbelief that keeps the unbeliever in condemnation. Hmm, unbelief to unbeliever, brilliant flow of words there. Hope you kept up with that! It must be Saturday morning. No blame from us though as we were born unbelievers too and only through the miracle of Jesus and His Holy Spirit do we come to believe Him and His story. We have discovered the grief God has with those who refuse to believe the story of His Son Jesus and the cross. Unbelief is one saying, "That's nuthin'! " to the greatest story ever told of our salvation and hope in Christ Jesus. 

And now, have a great weekend in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Longing For The Day

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.  Revelation 1:7

Whether the week has wearied me, or the night's sleep was interrupted too much, or a little sickly sickness has a hold of me, there are those days when I long for the return of my Lord Jesus. When this verse comes along in the Revelation though, I find it hard to understand the wailing. Whatever can be the matter with them? 

Of course we know that there are those who refuse to believe in our Lord Jesus and they do not look forward to the time of His return. Some go so far as to refuse to believe there even is a Him to look forward to or that He has a Father in Heaven. To deny such love and goodness as our Lord offers to us would certainly cause us to wail. So, perhaps that is the reason for all the wailing. 

Praise God that He is here right now, today, in the presence of His Holy Spirit in us!

Bucky

Parables Of The Kingdom

Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ Matthew 20:15

That one little question at the end there shows how different the Kingdom of Heaven is from us. We know from reading the parable that the landowner of the vineyard decided to pay those who had worked but one hour a full day's wage. Those who had worked the full day grew an expectation within themselves and then protested when the landowner did not do as they expected. This demonstrates that what we think of God when we read the Bible, may come from expectation arising from an evil eye. The question might be stated, "Or is your eye evil? Because I am good." Recalling as we read that the punctuation we see was added later. God's love and goodness are constants, and yet when we read the tales of war, battle, execution, punishment, and others in the Bible, we might judge God based on our evil expectations. That you or I do not understand all that God does about the world and what must happen does not make His actions or commands evil. And still, in order to see the love and goodness of God we must repent and be saved by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Right then we understand everything, right? Nope, then the journey toward understanding begins.

By faith we know the landowner of the Kingdom of Heaven is doing exactly right. No one said it would be easy though.

Bucky

That Guy Over Thar'

He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
  -- Deuteronomy 32:4

That guy over thar', he ain't perfect. Of course there are those in this world who will call out my imperfection due to misuse of the written language we share. There are others who will condemn me for using traditionally male terms. They need not worry, I have a great many imperfections beyond those trifling matters. I would list them for you, but you don't have that sort of time this week and I would likely mess up some of them anyway. Wouldn't it be just like me to list an imperfection only to find out that I am actually perfect in that one thing? I'm not sure what perfection even is in this world of the fallen humans.

However, it seems there is a person, a being, who is perfect in His work according to Moses, whose song provides us with this verse for today. Now it would appear to my meagre reasoning skills that in order for one's work to be perfect, the being would need to be perfect as well. But wait, wouldn't Moses be one of those imperfect fallen ones littering this world? How would he know perfection when he saw it? And now we see that faith was just as important in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament time we live in.

By faith we know that God is perfect and it shows in His Son too!

Bucky

Grace To You From God!

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  II Corinthians 1:2

How dare he! How presumptuous to speak for God and Jesus in the giving of grace! We might take this stance with one of our brothers, but what good would it do the church at Corinth or us for that matter to have grace from Paul? It would of course do you no good to have grace from me. Every one of us needs the grace of God obtained through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul, Peter, and all those who believe pass on to one another the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This grace is not for keeping to ourselves, though it is indeed how we live in Christ, but grows with the sharing one to another. And neither does it need to be one way between us but you can pass some of God's grace along to me and I to another person, and so on. 

Oh the wonderful sharing of the grace of God given freely to us through His Son and by His love! 

Bucky

Fulfilling His Law

These things I command you, that you love one another. John 15:17

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.  Romans 13:8

As for what love is and is not, Paul gives us much help with that in 1 Corinthians 13. We may wonder how to fulfill this law without messing up the least jot or tittle, but not for long as Jesus gave to us the commandment to fulfill it. Paul then passes this along in his letter to the Romans. The new-found love we have from the Spirit of God in us imparts to us a desire to love God and one another. How sweet it is that this also fulfills that rather large and complex thing passed down by Moses called the Law. 

Jesus is the way, and He shows us the way!

Bucky

Fingerprints On A Life

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.  1 John 2:18

Reading a book about a consulting firm, I had never heard of the name but I could see right away their fingerprints on my life. Specifically on some of the more emotionally painful moments of this life that is. Whether from an emulator or directly, the methods of their madness are all over the corporation that many of you know and shared with me in earlier days. These methods, as you have already figured out, have nothing to do with the Golden Rule or loving one another as our Lord commanded us. However, there are many other fingerprints on this life, some from brief touches of acquaintance, others the firmer prints of friendship, and one set from a pair of nail-scarred hands. It was this last set that upheld me when the painful marks were made on my life and these hands hold me still. You will know these same hands by your faith in Jesus the Christ. The most prominent fingerprints on this life are His. 

Yours in Christ our Lord,

Bucky

Don't Go Where Those Thoughts Go!

“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:19

Those thoughts come like evil bats swooping in the darkness. Where do they come from? Why do we endure them? Thoughts of lust, greed, pain, violence, and many others invade the peace of the mind. No problem, I'll go to the Bible. Samson? There was a violent fellow. David? Woof, that guy had a lust problem. Moses? Didn't he murder that Egyptian? Yes, the great names of the Bible struggled with those same thoughts we do battle with daily. We are even assured that Jesus faced the same temptations as we do. It seems to be a problem of this world. And then our Lord Jesus knelt in prayer and asked that we not be taken out of this world!

Faith says that all things are worked together by God for our good. Faith tells us that it is not our efforts, weak as they are, that save us. Faith by hearing the Word of God tells us that Jesus has this all under His sovereign control, even as He allows some to choose evil ways. It is beyond our understanding, but faith reminds us that Jesus saves.

Faith, the substance of things hoped for,

Bucky

When The Judge Comes

So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.  -- 2 Samuel 12:13

How often it transpires in the world that only after it is well-known to others that the guilty one will admit the sin? I finished a story this week about just such a man over in Great Britain. The man was in charge of managing entry to an event for the first time, he made mistakes, and then when tragedy came he lied about the cause of it. I was struck by how very like Adam and Eve he was when God found them hiding from Him. Adam pointed the finger of blame at Eve, Eve in turn blamed the Serpent. This man however rode the tale of his lie for 27 years through investigations, inquests, and trials before admitting his fault and his lie.  Adding to the suffering of the bereaved, the press ran with the lie and spread the story worldwide. As you might imagine from living in this world for a time, not everyone apologized sincerely or even at all when the truth finally came to light. 

When the Judge comes, and nothing is hidden from this judge, some will have believed in Him and already confessed their sin, others will cling to the lie that He does not exist, and some will trust that they are good enough. Of course, we know there will also be those who blame others for their sin. 

Confess and repent to the Lord Jesus. His salvation is a great way to go!

Bucky

The Sky Go Boom-boom

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power, who can understand?”
  -- Job 26:14

Thunder and the Lord are associated quite often in the Bible. Even in this age a loud thunderstorm can terrify or alarm us with its volume. With no control over the blast of sound, humans and beasts alike have been stopped in their tracks by fear. In 1 Samuel 7:10 some Philistines tried to sneak up on Israel during an offering until the Lord sent such a thunder that they were struck with confusion. A little baby talk in the title today does not wipe away our respect for the power of the Lord's thunderstorms. However, we also know that is but one of His creations, and that likening His power or voice to thunder is our poor attempt to compare the power we cannot measure with something at least familiar to us.

Great and awesome is the power of our Lord!

Bucky

Not Even A Breeze

After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Revelation 7:1

No wind, not even a breeze. I often think of this verse as the number of whirligigs whooshing through the sky grows in many parts of the world. No wind means a time of no wind power, but will it wait for the world to be only using wind power? What might be more interesting in this verse is the confluence of four's - four angels, four corners, four winds. What does it mean, this four, four, and four? Will the earth need to be stopped in its spinning for this to work? Of course the attention grabber is no wind, not even a breeze. Think just for a moment of the odors we hope the wind will disperse and blow away each and every day. How long will this last? What if that smell from the sewage treatment plant just grows outward in a foul cloud with each passing day? Wait, the four's, what about them? Another verse in the Revelation that blows up with questions the more we try to unravel it!

As always, let our faith in God be our comfort!

Bucky

Discerning Love

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. Philippians 1:9

Would discerning love that Paul prays that we have mean a time could come when I don't give something to one who asks? If a well-known alcoholic asks to borrow some money in front of a liquor store, then yes, that might be a time to refuse through discerning love. You have likely noticed that 'well-known' fulfills the knowledge part of that prayer from Paul too. Enabling a bad habit or addiction is but one of many examples we could think of where the urge we feel might not be the most loving answer. But refusing is so hard! Yes, it can be that the harder way is the one to take. I have seen my brothers and sisters in Christ struggle in this many a time. I have caved in to the urge a few times and thought later that I didn't do the right thing. Learning by experience can be a hard way to take too. Yes, I once bought a thing for someone that I should not have done. 

Praise God that even when we dumbly set aside the discernment He gives, He teaches us still. 

Bucky

Heaven Rejoices Over You

I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7

As the dawn breaks this morning... good grief, is it that late already? Yes, it is October and sunrise does not mean early for the remainder of the year. Have you stopped this Monday morning to consider the rejoicing in Heaven over each one who comes in repentance to our Lord Jesus? Once you and I were that one, the one who was rejoiced over by the heavenly host. As we have grown in the knowledge of our sin, we might even wonder who these 99 just persons could be? But then perhaps it is that beam in my own eye that makes those others look so wooden? Why would you or I be carrying that old thing around? Trust in the saving grace of Jesus! Look around with eyes made able to see by our Lord and notice the work He is doing all around us and in us.

C'mon sheeps! Let us follow the Good Shepherd!

Bucky