1 Peter 5:10 * April 20, 2014

Alfred Shropshire     

1 Peter 5:10 *       

April 20, 2014

EASTER SUNDAY

Our Lenten Study has covered our thoughts and ideas about grace.  We have contemplated:

Saving grace (Eph. 2: 8, 9)

Serving grace (1 Cor. 15: 9, 10)

Sanctifying grace (Rom. 5: 17; 6: 17)

Sacrificing grace (2 Cor. 8: 1-9)

Singing grace (Col. 3: 16)

Speaking grace (Col. 4: 6)

Strengthening grace  (2 Tim 1: 9)

Suffering grace (1 Pet. 5: 10; 2 Cor. 12: 9)

In his Willimington’s Guide to the Bible, Dr. H. L. Willmington says that “All Bible prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is summarized in 1 Peter: 11, ‘the suffering of Christ, and the glory that would follow.’”  Dr. Willmington also states that Christian suffering, “justifies the sinner, purifies the saint, unites the church, and glorifies the savior.”  

* “But  after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share his eternal glory in  union with Christ, will himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and  sure foundation.”  We are assured that because Christ was crucified and because HE IS RISEN, we are recipients of

God’s

Redemption

At

Christ’s

Expense.

I Peter 4:10 April 19, 2014

Greg Lund                    

I Peter 4:10     

April 19, 2014

As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold  grace of God.

Holy Saturday is a strange day.  Nothing is said about it in the Bible.  It is the day sandwiched between Jesus’ death on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday.  Holy Saturday is the day when nothing appeared to be happening.  The body of Christ was still in the tomb.  His disciples were still huddled behind locked doors, terrified and grief stricken.  Jesus’ followers had no doubt prayed that God would protect him.  Instead, Jesus was dead, and the silence of heaven was deafening.  

This day reminds us of the many times when God appears to be doing nothing.  What happens in the times sandwiched between our prayers and God’s answers?  My neighbor is a master gardener.  I saw him, a few weeks before the snowstorm, planting bulbs around his mailbox.  That garden plot still looks dead, but we know what happens to bulbs in spring.  They carry life.

On Holy Saturday, the faith of the disciples was bruised, but not dead.  When God seems silent and our faith runs dry, that is when God’s people grace each other.  There are times when I need you to have faith on my behalf, when my tank runs dry, and vice versa.  “As each one has received a gift, employ it for one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  Grace sprouts from each of us in different forms:  generosity, teaching, compassion, wisdom and more.  

Even when nothing seems to be happening, God’s grace is growing.  

Ever-present God, give us grace for the times when we cannot hear You.  Grant us patience to wait for answers to prayer, and eyes to see them when they arrive.  Through the Risen One we pray, Amen.

I Peter 1:13 April 18, 2014

Greg Lund                      

I Peter 1:13               

April 18, 2014

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

GOOD FRIDAY 

Faith is often seen best in the rear view mirror.  Today is Good Friday.  On the day Jesus was nailed to the cross it looked like dark Friday, brutal Friday, hopeless Friday.  Now, looking back through the lens of Easter Morning, we dare to call that Friday “good.”  

Peter reminds the young Church that the prophets predicted the grace that would come through the suffering of the messiah (v. 10).  In the rear view mirror, texts like Isaiah 53 show that the rigged trial and execution of Good Friday are God’s victory, not a defeat.  Christ was bruised for our iniquity.  His wounds make us whole.  

Think back on hard times in your own past.  Recall how God provided, guided, and grew you through those dark days.  When we recognize God’s grace in rear view mirror, we can look down the road ahead with hope.  “Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  

The word Peter chose for “revelation” is apocalypse.  It means to take the lid off, and reveal what is inside.  If your friend is a wonderful cook, and you’re invited for dinner, you don’t need to see what’s inside the stew pot to know it will be good.  Your mouth waters even before the lid is removed.  Whatever our hidden future holds, we know what Christ did in the past, and so we know our future will be seasoned with grace.

Loving God, help us to see signs of Your grace in our past, both the joys and the hardships.  Teach us to hope in that same grace as we face the future and await Your return.  Amen.

Hebrews 13:9 April 17, 2014

Marshall Jenkins       

Hebrews 13: 9       

April 17, 2014

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them.

MAUNDY THURSDAY

Belief in salvation by works takes a defensive posture.  It asserts that if one eats, worships, socializes, or does anything else by the rules, by the thou-shalt-nots, one can hold up both hands, palms forward and chest high on judgment day and say, “Hey, you can’t touch me.  I did nothing wrong.”  This is the most pragmatic, natural form of religion.  It is based on the cynical assumption that by doing nothing wrong, we do the best we can.  If we invented our own religion, it would look like this, and Christians for 2000 years continuously distort Jesus’ religion into this form.

Belief in salvation by grace goes on offense.  It asserts that if one eats, worships, socializes, or does anything else for the love of God, one can hold out both hands, palms upward on judgment day and say, “Hey, I don’t know how God did it with a guilty fool like me, but somehow God took my stumbling, confused acts of love and turned it all into a beautiful dance.  It sure made some folks mad, but it felt great to be free.”  We couldn’t dream this up in two million years.  But those who follow this way already live in heaven on earth.

Gracious Lord, give us the courage to risk mistakes for love and the faith to expect you to turn them into something good.  Amen

Hebrews 12:28 April 16, 2014

Dan Sweitzer          

Hebrews 12:28             

April 16, 2014

Since we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

We seem to live in a world with no permanence, no consistency, and no predictability. We are subject to the whims of government, to the fluctuation of economics, even to the ailments of our own bodies. We try to prepare ourselves to manage this inconsistency by increasing our knowledge and making contingency plans. However, as a hospital administrator, I know that with the stroke of a pen, a President or a Governor can significantly alter the healthcare system in which we operate and through which we serve our community. No human institution offers us the reliability and harmony we crave.

Through the grace of God, unearned and certainly undeserved, we also live in a world created by Him for us, and through the teaching and example of Christ Jesus, know that His kingdom is available to us, a kingdom that is eternal, constant and joyous; a kingdom where the rules never change, because the Ruler never changes.

So we feel we live in two worlds, one in service of the ordinances and institutions of Man, while we strive simultaneously to live in the world created for us by God’s grace. On Sunday morning and Wednesday evening we find it easier to open ourselves to Christ’s love and teachings, but come Monday morning our jobs, our schools, our secular world make demands that are difficult to ignore. But as this verse teaches us, we are only able to serve God and His plan for our world when we our living our lives in His kingdom, not ours.  

Father, help me find the way to Your kingdom, so that through Your grace, I may become worthy to serve You.

     

Hebrews 4:16 April 15, 2014

Marie Carlisle        

Hebrews 4:16        

April 15, 2014

Let’s be brave, then, and approach God’s throne where there is grace.  There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.

The first question that comes to mind is - who wrote the Book of Hebrews?  Opinions vary, but the most commonly held opinion is that Paul wrote Hebrews.  The author was well known to the Hebrews, knew Timothy and was very knowledgeable of the Old Testament.  The book focuses on the priesthood of Jesus and urges the Hebrews to rely upon the work of Christ on the Cross.  It is believed that Hebrews was written some time before 70 AD (CARM website).

Now, with the basics out of the way, let me focus on the particular passage quoted above.  The Lenten “theme” word of grace appears twice in this verse.  However, the phrase that drew me at first to choose to write about this verse was “Let’s be brave, then . . . ”  Other interpretations choose the word bold in this introductory phrase.  Either way, this is a quality that I can possess only through my faith that God strengthens and guides me in my quest through life.  In turn, I can take that “bravery” that God provides, approach His throne and seek to attain that grace that He gives so freely and mercifully.  Clark’s commentary defines grace (to paraphrase) as that by which the soul is supported after it has received God’s mercy.  What a wonderful thing is that!

Grace is there for our receiving of it.  All that we have to do is to ask sincerely and prayerfully for God’s grace, and (I am counting on this!) it will be there to help just when we need it. 

Prayer - Heavenly Father, thank you for the grace that you pour so freely upon us.  May we strive to be worthy of your mercy and goodness here at Westminster Church as we seek to do your will.  Amen.

Hebrews 2:9 April 14, 2014

Pam Bibb                  

Hebrews 2: 9                   

April 14, 2014

But, we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, so that through God’s grace he should die for everyone.  We see him now crowned with glory and honor because of the death he suffered.

When we think of Jesus, we normally think of Him as we know Him today, sitting in glory at the right hand of the Father.  This verse from Hebrews reminds us that for a time He was “made lower than the angels.”  We don’t like to think of Jesus as lower than anyone or anything.  But it was in God’s divine plan that for a season, Jesus would  become human and walk among people where they were and live among them as one of them.  During this season, Jesus was humbled below the angels in heaven, but at the appointed time, He suffered death, as do all humans.  Herein lies our hope.  After the suffering of His death, Jesus, by God’s grace, was raised and “crowned with glory and honor.”  And because of God’s grace and Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, we also, who are certainly lower than the angels, will one day be raised to eternal life.        

Prayer:  Father, we thank you that Jesus humbled himself to walk among us.  And we thank you that by your grace, He rose from the dead to reign with you in glory and honor in heaven.  We thank you that because of this, we also have the promise of eternal life.  Amen.