1 Timothy 1:12-17

1 Timothy 1:12-17
English Standard Version (ESV)

  When an NFL team drafts a player, they want to pick the best of the best of the best, so that the player will bring their talent to upgrade a weakness in the current team so that the team will be better.  Scouts spend weeks watching film of players, breaking down every attribute to determine the factors that will be the most reliable indicators of success at the next level.  It is a high pressure opportunity.
  When God was picking an evangelist for the growing church, God picked a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent.  God picked the individual that was busy hurling insults and violence at the church.  It seemed like God picked the worst candidate possible.
  In doing so, God demonstrated God's power, God's mercy, and God's grace.  This wasn't about the talent that Paul brought to the table.  This was about the majesty that God brings to the table, and through the workings of the Holy Spirit, God transformed Saul into Paul and a broken and proud man into a powerful evangelist for the church, and all the glory was directed towards God.
  God saves sinners, not by their own merit, but rather by grace and love.  You have been selected and redeemed -- not because you deserve it, but because God chooses to shower grace upon you.  Revel in it, give thanks for it, and live as though you are completely freed and completely loved.  To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1-2 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  The problem with living sacrifices, someone once said, is that they keep crawling off the altar. 

  It's hard and yet easy to imagine one's life as a living sacrifice.  In some ways, it's our breathing in and breathing out.  We are always seeking to renew our minds, to grow in knowledge and wisdom about how we live as Christians in today's world.  We're seeking knowledge, to better inform our spiritual lives.
  In other ways, it's so hard to know what it means to live a life that is holy and acceptable to God.  How do we resist conforming to the world?  By what basis do we know what is good and acceptable and perfect?  Scripture guides us and the Spirit leads us, but we often end up in ambiguous places with uncertainty about what is right and wrong.
  Being a Christian isn't easy.  It means that we dwell in a land of uncertainty, never 100% positive where God is calling us, but always completely sure that God is calling us, that God is at work, that Jesus Christ is Lord and will be ultimately victorious over sin and death.  And because God is all of those things, then God is interested in our daily lives, and God is calling us to live in such a way that not only glorifies God but also draws us closer.  We all do this a little differently, and we have wonderful freedom in Christ to serve in the places we are, just as we are, uniquely and wonderfully different.  My call is different than yours, and we each are part of the body of Christ. 
  So let us give thanks for diversity in the church, and may we endeavor to listen a little more closely to how God is at work and calling us forward.

2 Corinthians 1:19-22

2 Corinthians 1:19-22 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture.  God has made countless promises throughout Scripture, and in Jesus, they all find their Yes.  Everything God has been doing points to the selfless love and sacrifice of Jesus, and Jesus' love for us points back to God.  All those questions we have about whether or not God cares for us and looks out for us, they all find their Yes in the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep.  All of our doubts and our fears and our steady anxieties, they find peace in the One who walks with us every day of our lives.  Jesus is the Yes, the affirmation of God's great love.
  Do you remember how in Romans it says that nothing in all of creation will separate you from the love of God?  Jesus is the affirmation of that promise.  God will never leave you nor forsake you?  Look to Jesus -- he is the Yes to that promise.  God is preparing a place for you?  Jesus is the Yes, his resurrection the affirmation of God's great power. 
  All of it -- in Jesus, we have the Yes!

Galatians 2:15-16

Galatians 2:15-16 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Whenever I work on my resume, I try to put the most meaningful things I have done on there, highlighting my personal involvement in these actions.  I want the reader to come away with the impression of a hard-working employee who is committed to the task at hand.  I want them to think that I'm someone I can trust to do the right thing.
  When it comes to faith, it's not about what we've done or what stands out on our resume.  It's all about faith in Christ Jesus -- no matter how perfect our live may have been up to this point, it's not good enough to get us into heaven.  Only the love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ can do that.  So we come before Christ with humility, trusting him to lead us closer to God than we could ever have made it based on our own works.

James 1:1-4

James 1:1-4 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  There exist certain shrubs in nature that produce seeds with such a tough outer coating that only a fire can create the conditions necessary for the seed to grow.  Other trees, such as the Jack pine, produce seeds in a cone that is sealed with a resin.  The seeds mature but are only freed from the pine cone (called a serotinous cone) when a fire that is hot enough melts the resin and allows for the seedling to begin life anew.
  Now, it is my hope that none of you ever endure the trials of life, but all of us encounter suffering in some shape or form.  Sometimes it is deeply personal, while other times it is swirling around us, touching the lives of those we love.  There are people who will say that God will never give you more than you can handle, but I think we often end up with more than we can handle, discovering along the way that the only way we can handle it is through the grace and power of God at work in the community of people that help us get through whatever we are facing. 
  When we encounter suffering, all we can do is persevere.  There is rarely a magic solution that eliminates it from our lives and the lives of the people around us.  In the opening words of his letter, James encourages his readers to count their trials as joy, for he believes that the trials of life bring us closer to Christ, and the outcome of our dependence on Christ draws us closer to full dependence on God.  Only by recognizing that God alone can truly meet our needs do we discover freedom, for we are unconditionally loved and declared perfect and complete through the power of Christ and his love upon the cross, but realizing and living into this truth is a daily challenge.  Suffering helps us see how fully dependent we are upon God and how feeble our efforts can often be in the face of trials. 
  So suffering and trials are never enjoyable, but they can produce joy, because they can help us recognize our dependence on the one who is always dependable, who delivers us through the trials of life and calls us into life eternal.

Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew 28:16-20 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  The highest paid public employee in your state is most likely a college basketball or football coach.  There are a few states where sanity triumphs sports, but mostly it's a tossup as to whether it's the basketball coach (Kentucky) or the football coach (Ohio).  But no matter how well that coach gets paid, and no matter how much they jump up and down and scream at the 18-22 year old men they're coaching, they can't play the game.  They don't enter the field of play -- they can only prepare the team and shout instructions from the sidelines.
  Jesus, however, doesn't only prepare and coach us on how we are to make disciples.  Behold, he is with us always, even to the end.  On the cross, Jesus demonstrates how far he is willing to go to abide with us -- even to death, and beyond, so that we are not separated from God.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus walks with us throughout our lives, in the sufferings and the joys, strengthening us and encouraging us and calming us and reminding us of the centrality of the Gospel.  The Holy Spirit calms our anxious souls and reminds us of what truly matters, so that we can be agents of grace in the world. 

Matthew 28:11-15

Matthew 28:11-15 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  All it would have taken would be for one of the disciples to confess that they had made the whole thing up.  Most of the disciples died violent deaths under persecution -- any of them, at any time, could have said that it wasn't real, that they hadn't really seen Jesus, that this story wasn't worth dying for.  The whole movement would have foundered.
  But none of them did.  I believe it was Pascal who said, "I believe the witnesses who get their throats cut."  The people willing to die for what they claimed to have seen and experienced are compelling evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, that he was who he says he was.
  If you're interested in reading more about the reasons why resurrection is the most likely answer to the questions about what really happened in those days, Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ series is a great resource for people wondering about the evidence (and counterclaims) for the historical reliability of the resurrection.  He takes a journalistic approach to the claims of Christianity and comes away with the conclusion that to believe that, in light of the facts, it's a stretch to believe anything other than the resurrection. 
  Now, as we're learning every day, the facts aren't always winning the day now, and I'm sure it wasn't terribly different back then.  Someone once said that a lie can make it halfway around the world while the truth was still putting on its shoes.  The chief priests were counting on this when they dispatched the soldiers with a fabricated story about the disciples stealing the body. 
  But the truth wins over time, and the power of the Gospel and the resurrection could not be contained by human hands.  The Good News of life emerging victorious had started to spread, and it continues to this very day!

Matthew 28:1-10

Matthew 28:1-10 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Here it is, the greatest story ever told, and the story that matters more than any other to each and every one of us.  On the first day of the week, God started to tell a new story, one that had echoes of the original creation but proclaimed a new creation, one that broke the bonds of sin and shame and rejoiced in the light that cannot be snuffed out by the darkness.
  There is darkness in all of our lives.  Some of it is seen in broken relationships, or in the shame we carry for past sins.  Some of it is revealed in terrible choices or dis-ordered priorities.  We all sin and fall short, and the first Easter morning declares that the brokenness of our past does not determine our future and does not shape how God sees us.  We are seen as forgiven and redeemed, rescued by the One who came to save, healed and destined for eternity with God because of what Christ has done.
   Your future is shaped by what God has done, and God loves you unconditionally and eternally.  Let that reality shape your heart and mind.

Matthew 27:62-66

Matthew 27:62-66
English Standard Version (ESV)

  What does it say about the power of God that the Roman army would be so afraid of a dead man that they would send soldiers to guard his tomb and ensure he stayed in there?
  What does it say about the power of God that even soldiers could not keep the Savior in the tomb?
  God is at work.  God is always at work, even in ways that we and the world do not understand.  On the cross, God was at work, and in the tomb, God was still on the move.  The powers of the world recognize that, even if they don't quite grasp exactly what God is doing.  They fear his power, because they don't understand it - God's power isn't dressed in an army with swords and clubs. 
  As the futility of soldiers guarding a tomb shows, God will win this battle, and God will win the war -- grace wins, and peace will prevail.  Nothing can restrain the mercy and power of God, and know this - God will use the entirety of God's power to pursue you with an unbreakable love!

Matthew 27:57-61

Matthew 27:57-61 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  When Jesus calls us to bring everything to him, he means it.  I doubt that Joseph ever imagined the plans that God had for his newly cut tomb, but that would be the place where God would defeat death with finality and demonstrate God's sovereign power over every force of the universe.  Joseph probably felt like it was this small, simple thing that he was doing.  Maybe Joseph felt guilty for not doing more, and he felt like this small act was too little, but it was what he could do in the here and the now.
  God has something in front of you right now.  I don't know what it is, but there's a chance that you may think it's something small, something insignificant, and you're waiting on something bigger.  We can easily brush past the small stuff if we're not careful.
  Whatever is in front of you, do that, no matter how small you think it may be.  No act of service in the name of the God of the universe is too small or lost in the whirlwind -- it matters.  Our selfless love matters, even if the sacrifice doesn't feel very big.  Who knows what God might do with your small act?  You may be putting it off, whatever it may be, because you feel like other things are more important. 
  Just take the step, however small it may be.  Let God lead you through it.  There will be another step on the other side of that one.  Who knows what God can do when you put your life in God's hands?

Matthew 27:45-56

Matthew 27:45-56 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  For some reason, this passage always makes me think of the beginning of a concert, that moment when crowds are lining up outside and the pit is still roped off.  Security lifts the rope and fans surge forward to the front, wanting to get as close to the band as they can, waiting with anxious cries to approach the stage.  There is such anticipation, joy and delight as they rush ahead toward the object of their desire.
  The tearing of the temple curtain is often lost in the midst of the action, but it's such a critical moment.  The curtain served to restrict access to the holy of holies, the holiest place in all the world, in the temple.  The tearing of the curtain signifies the removal of barriers to God -- in Jesus Christ, we have full access to God, for he has removed the barrier of our sins through his atoning death on the cross.  We are forgiven, restored, redeemed in Christ, and we can surge forward towards God, the object of our heart's true affection.
 

Matthew 27:32-44

Matthew 27:32-44 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Ebay is really a fascinating place - you learn the value of things by the price someone else is willing to pay.  Someone once spent $10,000 on two pieces of Luis Gonzalez's used chewing gum.  A New York Knicks fan recently sold his fandom for $3,500.  Someone once sold the meaning of life for $3.26.  A corn flake shaped like Illinois sold for $1,350 in 2008.  You might not think some of these things have value, but they do, because someone else was willing to pay money for it.  Your house, your dinner -- these things have value, because you're willing to pay money for it.  If they had no value to you, then you wouldn't offer up a single cent for it.
  So we learn what things are worth by what people are willing to pay.

  We learn that you are so valuable to God that you are worth the life of God's Son, Jesus Christ.  Such is the Father's love for you that God is willing to offer God's Son -- who is of infinite value -- so that your life might be redeemed from the powers of sin and death.  You are so valuable -- we learn this by what God is willing to pay, and God will pay any price, even the price of God's own Son.

  So do not listen to the lie that you do not matter.  Don't believe that for a second.  You are of infinite value to God, and every single person you meet today has that same value, because God loves you enough to send Jesus Christ into the world to die for you. 

Matthew 27:24-31

Matthew 27:24-31 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  9/11 is always an interesting day.  It's hard to think about all that was lost -- most importantly the lives that were claimed by the acts of terror, and also so much about our collective national sense of safety.  Something was shattered on 9/11, and I don't think we'll ever get that back.  It obviously led us deeper into a cauldron of violence, which in many ways we're still in.  9/11 is a day to give thanks for what we have, for our families and our safety.  I spent last night watching Caleb at soccer practice, and the notion of watching my child play soccer at a neighborhood park was something I was extra grateful for yesterday.
  9/11 is also a day to give thanks for those who rush toward danger.  Every time I hear a siren, I give thanks for those who have the courage to rush towards those in need, whether it is a police officer heading into an uncertain situation or a fire fighter running into a burning building -- what courage & selflessness and compassion for those in danger.
  In the story of the passion of Jesus, we have the ultimate sacrificial servant, the Messiah who enters into our danger, who does not shy back in the face of violence and death, because these tools are what must be embraced in order to secure the future and forgiveness for humanity.  Jesus enters into the darkness so that we may know that the light will overcome the darkness.  We have hope because Jesus did not turn back in fear or disappointment, but rather entered into the world and defeated death to give us hope and new life.

Matthew 27:11-23

Matthew 27:11-23 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 Let this passage be a warning against believing that the wisdom of the crowds is always best! 
  We spend a lot of energy trying to win the affirmation of the crowd.  Social media is filled with examples of people shouting into the crowd, looking for affirmation, hoping for positive attention, wanting to ensure that the crowds will like us, will support us, maybe even love us.  When the attention of the crowds doesn't come, many take that rejection as a statement on their character, turning inward in defeat.
  But the crowds are not always correct.  The crowds are manipulated in this case by the chief priests, who convince them to opt for Barabbas, rather than seeking the release of their Savior, their Messiah, the one who loves them enough to die for them.  No, they reject Jesus because the crowd doesn't hear the Truth.
  Rather than the affirmation of the crowds, be willing to be rejected by the many by choosing to be faithful instead.  Opt for what is right, rather than what is popular.  It won't be easy, and it may not seem like the right answer, but over the long run, when played out over eternity, it will be the wiser choice, for it will lead to life.

Matthew 27:1-10

Matthew 27:1-10 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Sin leads to death.  The first sin by Adam and Eve in the Garden introduced death into the world.  The Jewish sacrificial system was set up so that the sacrificial animals would be the atonement for sin.  Jesus came into the world and offered himself up as the final death, solving the problem of sin, breaking its power to determine our fate.  Where sin had led to death, Jesus leads the way to life.  It can be challenging to see that in the world today, considering the chaos and brokenness that surrounds us and makes it hard to see how the light is piercing the darkness, but just as surely as the tomb of Jesus Christ was found empty on that first Easter morning, his death has atoned for your sins and placing our trust in Him leads to eternal life.

Matthew 26:69-75

Matthew 26:69-75 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  How would you like to have your worst moment recorded and discussed for the next 2,000 years?  Here's Peter, scared and alone, feeling as though the walls are caving in and everything is falling apart.  It wasn't too long ago that he was telling Jesus that even if everyone else betrayed Jesus, Peter never would -- he would be the faithful one.  And yet here he is, pressured by the crowds, and Peter does the very thing he said he never would -- he denies Jesus.
  It's his lowest moment, and we pick it apart, identifying Peter's weakness and using it to teach ourselves.  Peter probably didn't expect that this would live on in the pages of Scripture, and I imagine he would have hoped that perhaps this would get omitted.
  Or maybe Peter realized how powerful it was later on.  Maybe Peter looked back and realized that Jesus had predicted this, and yet Jesus loved Peter anyway.  In spite of this, Jesus would use Peter to build the church, to proclaim the Kingdom.  Even Peter's worst moment could be used for good.
  So let's not be too hard on Peter, for we've all had terrible moments we wish we could take back.  And may we give thanks for the God who forgives us and uses our lives to proclaim his grace and love.

Matthew 26:57-68

Matthew 26:57-68
English Standard Version (ESV)

  In this era of #fakenews, how do you decide what is real and what is fake?  Do you scour the internet to try and find a website you trust?  Do you give up and not trust anyone?  What's real?
  For two thousand years, people have been examining whether or not to trust Scripture.  They've been pressing in, trying to determine if Jesus is who he says he is, if all of this can really be true, if the hope of the Gospel can be relied upon.  For two thousand years, people have been looking to see if there is testimony against him.
  In two thousand years, they have found none.  The message of the Gospel has not been disproven, despite the scrutiny and investigations of countless scholars.  The Bible has been more examined than any other book, and yet it still stands, reliable and trustworthy.  And one day, we will see him, seated at the right hand of Power, coming on the clouds of heaven!!

Matthew 26:47-56

Matthew 26:47-56 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  When you are threatened, you inevitably reach for the first available thing you have -- it's a reaction based out of fear.  The temptation here for the disciples is to revert to violence -- to try and fight off the Romans using the tools of the Romans, the sword and the spear. 
  Jesus, however, is always teaching.  He knows he doesn't have to use the weapons of the world to defeat the Romans -- he has the ability to call down legions of angels to crush the Roman army if he wants, but that's not his goal.  Jesus didn't come to score a military victory.  Jesus didn't come to set back any Roman conquests by a few years.  He came to show us another way to live, to invite us into God's Kingdom, where sword and spear are unnecessary, where fear does not reign, where violence is not the way to win anything.
  Jesus invites us into another way, and he calls us to live this way in the here and now, not just to wait until heaven to start living like this.  He points to heaven with his every word and action, and here, when the temptation is to opt for violence, he instead chooses the way of peace. 
  When we are threatened, may we remember this example and opt for the way of peace.  May we keep our vision fixed upon the Kingdom that has no end, the one that cannot and shall not be threatened by the sword.  May we put our whole trust in Jesus and embody the gracious selflessness that he lived every day and every way.

Matthew 26:36-46

Matthew 26:36-46 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Sorrow is lonely.
  Here is Jesus on the night before he is going to take the sins of the world upon his shoulders and be crucified upon a cross.  All he asks is that his disciples, with whom he has spent the previous 3 years, stay awake and pray with him.  And these, his best friends, what do they do? 
  They fall asleep.  Multiple times.
 
  I've been there.  You've likely been there -- in the depths of sorrow, it always feels lonely.  You think that you're the only one going through this, and even when you have close friends, they often don't know what to say or do, and sometimes even those with the best of intentions still may let you down. 
  Sorrow is lonely.

  The suicide rates are terrifying, further proof of how lonely sorrow is.  If I could say one thing to people, it's that God walks with you through the valley of the shadow of death.  When Jesus was alone and the disciples were asleep, he prayed his heart out to God, and God was with him, there in the shadow of his impending death, as the walls  closed in around him, as he was afraid and felt alone.  God was with him there in the Garden, and the disciples, with their good intentions, were not far from him, even if they were wonderfully imperfect.
 
  So if you are in the midst of sorrow, know that God is with you, and will listen to you as you pour your heart out.  You are not alone, no matter how lonely sorrow may feel.  There is a dawn on the other side of the dark night.  And there are friends -- they may be sleeping, not realizing the true depths of your sorrow, and you may have to wake them several times, but they are not giving up on you. 
  There is hope, because God is there, in the midst of the sorrow.  And where God is (and God is everywhere), there is light, even in the darkest of nights.