by Sal Huckel
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Read Matthew 3:1–12
Today’s passage invites us to the banks of the Jordan, where John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry. His humble lifestyle and calls to repentance were already bringing the people to respond to their sins and be baptised by John in the river. Not surprisingly, also came the conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees.
John’s reprimand and call to repentance is stark. We might feel that it was well deserved. After all, we do know much about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their apparent hypocrisy. Paul himself was a Pharisee. While the Pharisees and Sadducees had doctrinal disagreements, they were united in their efforts against Jesus. Here, John’s warning is for them all.
What can we learn here today? We can study the baptism John was bringing, how Jesus’ baptism is the one we need and the meaning it has for us now to be baptised into Jesus’ baptism. We can also ponder what it means to ‘produce fruit in keeping with repentance’. How does that look? What do we need to repent of? We sometimes hear that Jesus simplified the Ten Commandments and that we don’t need to worry about all of those anymore; we are not ‘under the law’. However, Jesus said he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17).
Unless we understand God’s law, we cannot properly repent. We may feel the law is less prescriptive and onerous ‘since Jesus’, but if we begin to unpack the Ten Commandments and look at Martin Luther’s explanations – the Small Catechism is very helpful on this – we will see that they go further than we might expect. It’s a misleading idea that ‘Jesus replaced them’. Helpfully, rather like the ways in which it is best to teach children, Luther offers positive instruction to further expand on the negatives.
Start today with commandment number one: ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ We don’t have to look very far to see the things that compete for our attention, love and trust. How can you fear, love and trust God above all things today? To produce fruit in keeping with repentance, we need to follow through with this.
Father God, help me to more fully understand the law written in our hearts (Romans 2:15) and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is married to Pastor Matthew Huckel, and they live in Victoria with their six children, enjoying their ministry with Moorabbin–Dandenong Lutheran Church. Their two eldest children are excited to study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels during term time in Sydney. Theology, music, philosophy, literature and history are passions the family shares and explores together. Sal loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at every opportunity.
Shining like stars
by Jim Strelan
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So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life (Philippians 2:15,16a).
Read Philippians 2:12–18
With social media, the ease of taking and posting photos, and the popularity of Instagram and karaoke, it seems as though everyone wants to be a star these days.
If you follow football at all, commentators are quick to label someone a star, even if they’ve played only a handful of games. But when it comes to our Christian walk, it’s often hard to tell who the Christians are and who aren’t. I’m not sure many Christians want to stand out. We prefer to just blend in. What about you?
The writer to the Philippian congregation encourages these followers of Jesus to stand out from the ‘crooked and depraved generation’ in which they live. God is at work in them (verse 13), and when God is at work, something of him rubs off on those who acknowledge him as God.
God is at work through Jesus and his Spirit, and where Jesus is, there is light because he is the light of the world. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says, ‘You are the light of the world’, and goes on to illustrate how ridiculous it would be to hide a light under a bowl. You are light, so let your light shine.
How do we live as followers of Jesus in a world that largely ignores him? What do we do if we look at the signs of a world gone crazy and sense that Christ’s return might be soon? Do we gather in holy huddles, do we assemble on hilltops waiting for him? Do we become, as someone once said, so heaven-minded that we’re no earthly good? That’s not the message to the Philippians. Not complaining, not arguing, shining like stars because you have the light of Christ in you.
If you want to be a star, just be what and who you are. Apparently stars shine because of nuclear fusion happening deep inside their cores (thanks, Dr Google). What happens in your core when you are aligned with Jesus causes you to shine. Let it.
Light of the world, shine your light in me so that I can be like a star in the universe, reflecting the word of life which transforms and makes a difference. Amen.
Jim is a retired pastor living with his wife Ruth in Deception Bay, Queensland. He spends his retirement making space to add more Lions’ premiership posters to the six (3+3) he already has on his garage wall.
In or out?
by Jim Strelan
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Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last (Luke 13:30).
Read Luke 13:22–30
Have you followed Jesus all your life, been born into a Christian family, always attended church and regularly read your devotions, or have you only recently begun following him?
Have you noticed – if you are in the former category – that those who have only come to faith recently seem to have greater enthusiasm and passion for the gospel than you do? If you’ve always been a Christian, it’s easy to fall into patterns. Patterns aren’t necessarily bad, but they can become routine, something you take for granted.
In this passage, Jesus alludes to things without spelling them out clearly. He speaks of a narrow door and a locked door that, despite much knocking, is unopened. And then there’s the strange statement about the first being last and the last first. Compared to a wide door, the narrow one is harder to get through. Getting through it is almost unexpected; it can’t be taken for granted. And the locked door, with some inside and some outside, reminds us of the parable of the bridesmaids from a couple of days ago. Some weren’t ready, and the door to the wedding feast was closed.
In Jesus’ time, some were born into the faith, grew up in the faith and observed all its rituals and expectations. Others were outside that faith (Gentiles) and had only just begun to follow Jesus. And those with a long tradition of faith had their noses put out of joint by these ‘johnny-come-latelys’.
To those of the old Abrahamic faith, Jesus’ message is: You think you can just waltz in through the wide door? Just claim your label as the people of God? There will be many from the east and the west and the north and the south, many not of your tradition, who will come in, while many who presumed they had a right to get in will be excluded.
Jesus doesn’t tell us the exact criteria for entry or denial. But we can say that it begins with acknowledging Jesus as the one sent by God and recognising that our inclusion is an act of grace, not a right.
Long-time or recent Christian, Jesus calls you, claims you, invites you. Live in gratitude and trust in his goodness.
Lord Jesus, this is a hard thing to grasp. Will the door be opened or closed to me? I trust that you are gracious and that to exclude is not your first priority. By your Spirit, I ask you to help me live with continual gratitude, grasping the privilege you offer rather than claiming any right. Amen.
Jim is a retired pastor living with his wife Ruth in Deception Bay, Queensland. He spends his retirement making space to add more Lions’ premiership posters to the six (3+3) he already has on his garage wall.
Unfailing love
by Jim Strelan
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My unfailing love for you will not be shaken (Isaiah 54:10b).
Read Isaiah 54:10–17
How much can you love someone? We sometimes hear parents say to their children, ‘I love you to the moon and back.’ I’ve always thought that an astronaut who has travelled to the moon could say that to their child with more meaning than anyone else. In other words, ‘The love I have for you is immeasurable.’
When God says he loves his people, it is irrefutable. It is not dependent on anything. We know the history of the people of Israel in biblical times: turning away, coming back, turning away, coming back. But God loves with an unfailing love.
Earlier, in Isaiah 49, we have these words: ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?’ Hard as it is to imagine, that is possible. Children have been abandoned by their mothers. But God says, ‘Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands’ (Isaiah 49:15,16). Etched in. Irremovable. Permanent. Unfailing.
Not only does God promise to love his people unfailingly, but he also shows this by showering his people with gifts, signs of his love. A rebuilt city with stones of turquoise, foundations with sapphires, battlements of rubies and gates of sparkling jewels (verses 11 and 12).
This almost reminds me of the Prodigal Son story in Luke 15, where the returning son, who comes back with his tail between his legs, ashamed of how completely he had rejected all his father had to offer, is received by that father with the best robe and a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. That’s the way God loves.
Sometimes events in your life might leave you feeling as though the mountains have shaken and the hills have subsided. Sometimes you might feel alone, and the weight of what burdens you is yours alone to carry. Sometimes you might feel that you give and give and get very little back. Hear God’s promise to his people – that same God makes that promise to you. His love for you is unfailing. Whatever has happened, whatever your situation. Always. You can count on it.
What can I say, my God, when I contemplate your kind of loving? Nothing but thank you. I am overwhelmed and forever grateful. Thank you. Amen.
Jim is a retired pastor living with his wife Ruth in Deception Bay, Queensland. He spends his retirement making space to add more Lions’ premiership posters to the six (3+3) he already has on his garage wall.