A Prayer for National Repentance

November 5, 2020

2 Chronicles 7:14 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

A Prayer for National Repentance

Please use the following prayer at least once daily until 31 days after the General Election is certified.

Almighty Everliving God, we – the citizens of America – come to You with humbled and contrite hearts. We repent of our tepid faith, our poorly-developed and fruitless works, and our indifference to You and to our neighbors. We are resolved to return to You, to submit to Your Will, and to become again “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” From the doors of our homes, from the gates of our communities, from the seat of our governments, and from the depths of our hearts we return to You for You alone are compassionate enough to heal and restore our Nation. Bless our civil and religious leaders and everyone in authority – including those who develop, enforce, and adjudicate laws – so that they serve with morality, compassion, integrity, wisdom, and justice so we can all live together in Peace. We stand against those who follow the ways of evil and anarchy, threatening to destroy our Nation and to set aside the blessings and wisdom You gave to our founding fathers. We will return to serving God, Country, and family so that Your Name may be glorified. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord. AMEN.

 

 

Aloha Friday Message – October 30, 2020 – What’s left is Right

October 30, 2020

2044AFC103020 – What’s left is Right

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

     Revelation 7:13-14 – 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

1 John 3:1 – 1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Matthew 5:9 – 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

Revelation 12:5-6 – 5 The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all nations with an iron rod. The boy was snatched away. He was taken to God and placed on his throne. 6 The woman ran into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days. (That is 180 weeks or 42 months or 3½ years.)

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow is Halloween, so I want to look at that for just a moment, and then I want to explain what that oxymoron of a title means.

Halloween is properly Hallowe’en, or Hallow Even or All Hallows Eve. It is the day before the Solemnity of All Saints, and two days before The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls). On All Saints Day – which this year happens to fall on a Sunday, November 1, 2020, we remember those who have left this life and have been favored by God to dwell with him forever. November 1 has been on a Sunday in the 20th century 12 times, and so far in the 21st century twice – 2015 and 2020. There is a full moon on 11/31/2020, and it is the second full moon in the month of November, so it is referred to as a “Blue moon.” The occurrence of a blue moon is known to be rare, hence the adage “once in a blue moon.” Because the full moon is on the thirty-first, some people associate that with increased “lunacy” (craziness during a full moon), and increased power and frequency of black arts – witchcraft and magick. Why the extra K? It’s there because Aleister Crowley – a 19th-20th century “mystic” and “occultist” (1875-1947) founded the religion of Thelema. He used the term allegedly to differentiate what he considered human-generated change that is not necessarily metaphysical. Those who dabble in (or are wholly lost in) occult crafting believe that it is possible to make use of metaphysical incantations, behaviors, signs, and symbols to manipulate spirits and nature; it is witchcraft, divination, and blasphemy. I mention this because at Halloween it is not uncommon for people to dress up in costumes that are based on witches, demons,  (including costumes appearing like Ἑκάτη, Hekátē who is the Greek goddess of witchcraft!) and monsters and therein we find a problem.

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires, make “Jack O’Lanterns” and wear costumes to keep evil spirits from affecting them. They believed it was possible to “outsmart” these wandering spirits, so they would put on masks when they left their homes after sunset so that the evil spirits would actually believe they were also spirits. You can find out more here. It is wise to remember that witchcraft, divination, sorcery, demonic activity, and similar imitations of cultic practices can potentially be dangerous. Satan has been working for centuries to make us unaware that all of that is NOT “merely” cultural tradition. One of his favorite tricks is to tell the same lie often enough that eventually we believe it. Just remember that God is in charge, Christ has conquered evil and death, and interacting with demonic spirits is likely to be eternally fatal. Now, let’s see what God has in store for us in the Scriptures for this weekend.

What do I mean by saying “What’s left is Right?” Another word for “what’s left” is “remnant.” A carpet remnant is a piece of carpeting that is left over when carpeting is installed. Fabric remnants, food remnants, and nation remnants are all smaller parts of the whole that are left when larger parts of the whole are used (or lost) elsewhere. Here are some passages about what’s left – the Remnant. This is not an exhaustive list, and we won’t get into the speculations about the 144,000. This list, however, gives us a glimpse of what God intends for the small part of Israel, i.e., Judah in some passages, as time goes by.

Jeremiah 23:3 – 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant* of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. * שְׁאֵרִ֣ית (sheerith) {sheh-ay-reeth’} left, remnant, rest, survivors, those who had escaped.

Joel 2:32 – 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors [remnant] shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Amos 5:15 – 15 Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 

     Micah 5:2-5a – This is the prophecy about God waiting until the time when “she who is in labor” brings forth the redeemer so that “then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.”

Zechariah 8:6 – 6 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people in these days, should it also seem impossible to me, says the Lord of hosts?

Romans 11:5 – 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

How does the Lord “carve out” this remnant? The last small part of the whole has a certain set of characteristics which set them apart from larger part(s) – they are the ones who are righteous, the ones who are fruitful, the ones who “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate.” They are the ones who are left because they are the ones who are Right. They are those who do more of what others do in what God has decreed in his Law. We remember that several ways.

By now these little aphorisms should sound familiar:

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? The right thing.
Do what you know is right.
Avoid doing what you know is wrong.
Ask God to bless that choice.

That sounds easy, huh? “Do what you know is right, avoid doing what you know is wrong, and then ask God to bless that choice.” To do that successfully, we need these four actions in our lives: Seclusion for prayer, meditation on teachings, feeding on the Word and the Christ, and going forth to share the Gospel. Otherwise we decline a portion of the available Good, the Good that makes the remnant Right. We in essence tell God, “I don’t want any more blessings.” It sounds silly, but earthlings are messy like that. We interrupt the flow of blessings so we can do what we think we should and avoid doing what God requires of us. And what does he require? He requires us to repent, to believe in the Gospel, and to share the Gospel to all the corners of the World.

The do’s and don’ts in this season are the same as in every other season. As we look toward Halloween, we are invited to set aside our masks – especially the ones we think God cannot see through – and to face the reality that we are, and always will be, tempted. Not surprisingly, we are most easily tempted when we forget that we are more blessed than we can be tempted. God always provides the power to resist temptation, but we do not always use that gift; sometimes we intentionally suppress our consciences. Even if we realize that we do not have unlimited resources for dealing with the Devil, I think all of us know in our inmost self that we are overly-confident about our own power of resistance.  We are the Children of God by adoption. If we must, we will survive “the great ordeal” and wash our robes in the Blood of the Lamb. We shall live as, and be as, the Peacemakers of God. What will become of us over the next 42 months is in God’s hands. IF we are the remnant, then we are Right to be all that is left.

Our ever-living, ever-loving God gives us the opportunity to seriously weigh those decisions we often make way too lightly. We can usually acknowledge intellectually that it is pointless to try to hide from God, but in our secretly sinful lives we foolishly believe we can get away with it. We fall into Satan’s original trap: “You can be like God and forgive yourself. You don’t really need Him!” Ah, Beloved! We know better, but we fall for it anyway! That’s the best way to avoid being in the remnant that is Right. Now, I must share with you something the Lord gave me in preparation for next week.

Please use the following prayer at least once daily until 31 days after the General Election is certified.

Almighty Everliving God, we – the citizens of America – come to you with humbled and contrite hearts. We repent of our tepid faith, our poorly-developed and fruitless works, and our indifference to You and to our neighbors. We are resolved to return to You, to submit to your Will, and to become again “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” From the doors of our home, from the gates of our communities, from the seat of our governments, and from the depths of our hearts we return to You for you alone are compassionate enough to heal and restore our Nation. Bless our leaders and everyone in authority – including those who develop, enforce, and adjudicate laws – so that they serve with morality, compassion, integrity, wisdom, and justice so we can all live together in Peace. We stand against those who follow the ways of evil and anarchy, threatening to destroy our Nation and to set aside the blessings and wisdom you gave to our founding fathers. We will return to serving God, Country, and family so that your Name may be glorified. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord. AMEN.

And finally this:

Sharing a few things I learned this week:

  • Vote for the platform, not the platitudes.
  • Vote for the Republic, not the Republican.
  • Vote for the Democracy, not the Democrat.
  • Vote for the mandate, not the man.
  • Vote for the future, not the past.
  • Vote for progress, not propaganda.
  • Vote for the results, not the rhetoric.
  • Vote for life, not death.
  • Vote for liberty, not liability.
  • Vote for continuity, not commotion.
  • Vote for execution of plans, not for excuses for schemes.
  • Vote for the privilege to be right, not the right to be privileged.
  • Vote for the right to be free, for there is no better alternative.

When it is all said and done,
VOTE!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – October 23, 2020 – Being Good in the Neighborhood

October 23, 2020

2043AFC102320 – Being Good in the Neighborhood

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

   Matthew 22:34-40 – 34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’† 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

    Leviticus 19:18 – 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor† as yourself: I am the Lord.

    † לְרֵעֲךָ֖ (lə-rê-‘ă-ḵā) from רֵעַ (rea) {ray’-ah} → friend, companion, fellow resident.

Exodus 22:21 – 21 You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien*, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. The term resident alien is often translated as sojourner.

Sojourner is translated from a term in Hebrew – גֵּר (ger) {gare} – and it connotes the basic idea that a person or group is residing in a community and place that is not their place of origin. Such a one is dependent on the conceded rights and privileges – the  “good-will’ – of that community as an accepted part of the whole. (See Oxford Biblical Studies: Sojourner) There is also question about how gēr should be translated into Greek (for example in the Septuagint), as προσήλυτος (prosélutos) {pros-ay’-loo-tos} – a proselyte, a convert required to participate and observe the laws and customs of the “adopting nation;” or as πάροικος (paroikos) {par’-oy-kos} – one who dwells in a place not of his or her origin, but – although accepted by the community – lives within the population while observing their own customs and rules of behavior within the boundaries of the local laws and customs.

This idea of treating strangers with dignity, courtesy, and respect was probably unique in the era during which the Jewish people were formed as a nation. The treatment of foreigners – outsiders – was (and is still) harsh. They are mocked, picked on, bullied, denied certain rights, shunned, ostracized, snubbed at every turn, and the butt of coarse jokes. Treating them with decency was quite a new and different idea. What can we learn about God’s purpose for such a rule? Let’s start with why God chose Israel to be his “peculiar” people.

As we know from Genesis 3:15, before the ink had even dried on our Death Warrant, God promised and provided for a Redeemer. There was much to be prepared to provide this Grace and that required waiting until the “fullness of times” (See Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10) to come. For millennia upon millennia before the coming of God’s promised Messiah, the Lord was preparing the Way for His appearance by teaching us earthlings all the Truth that would make understanding the Works and Power of the Messiah at the proper time chosen by God. God is Holy; therefore if God planned to live among sinful humanity, humanity must have a Way for being Holy as well. Rather than simply impose the orderliness required to achieve holiness, God chose to gradually install the framework for Salvation step-by-step until humanity could comprehend and implement into their own lives the framework of redemption prepared for them by God. This plan was the Way for restoration of Truth, Life, and Peace – the Peace between God and his Creation which was destroyed by sin.

We earthlings are incapable of accomplishing Peace through our own efforts. We soon discover that Peace is unattainable without including God as a partner in the covenantal Peace that reunites us with him. How could it be?

Peace cannot be achieved solely through human effort; yet, conversely, perhaps, peace cannot be achieved without God’s participation. Is it true that all we really need is Love? (← Check it out!) Yes, of course that is True. Is it true that the kind of love that supports Peace is in any way attainable through nothing more than human effort? No, that has never been the case, and – fortunately for us – never will be. It took the immense Love of God sending his own Son to us to be our Messiah, God’s Christ. It was the only way we could return to Holiness with and within God. In Christ we become part of his Chosen People, as described in these three Scripture passages: (Please use the links to compare the language of these texts)

     Deuteronomy 7:6 – 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Some translations read “a peculiar treasure,” as in Psalm 135:4 – 4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV) The meaning for “peculiar” is nothing at all like the way we think of it these day – someone or something a bit weird. It comes from another Hebrew term סְגֻלָּ֔ה (sə-ḡul-lāh) {seg-ool-law’} which means a special treasure set aside for only one person.

Deuteronomy 14:2 – 2 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured** possession.

**Περιούσιον  (periousion) {per-ee-oo’-see-on} of one’s own possession; costly, treasured, select, specially chosen; of abundant and surpassing value.

Titus 2:14 – 14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own [periousion] who are zealous for good deeds.

God created Adam to be a companion in the community that is God. Through sin, Adam divided that community. God immediately implemented his plan for restoration – the reunification – of that community. For all the descendants of Adam, that plan included free will – the freedom to choose whether or not we would be merciful, and just, and walk humbly in God’s presence. We might choose hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times a day, and to help us with that choice God has given us instructions on how to be Holy:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’† 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Christ’s Law of Love is the only Way to meet the requirements of the following passages:

Leviticus 19:17-18 – 17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:33-34 – 33 When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

We are held responsible for treating the alien, the neighbor, the kinfolk, and the earthlings with whom we interact with dignity, courtesy, and respect; we are to Love them even if they are our enemies. Now I know some are saying, “Well, that doesn’t mean I have to like them!” Yes, I suppose that is true – we can hate the sin but love the sinner, despise the act but not the actor. We are to be separate from the World as citizens of the Kingdom, yet God requires that the Kingdom be a witness to the World so that The World will see, and perhaps even desire, a place in the Kingdom with us. That is part of being “a light to all the nations.” (See Isaiah 49:6) The Apostle Paul put it this way in Philippians 2:3 – 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. No, that doesn’t mean Christians run around perfecting their inferiority complexes. It means we suspend our selfishness and treat our neighbors – native or foreign – as beloved of God. How simple that seems as a way to be good in the neighborhood, but how difficult it becomes when we set out to employ it! Even so, there is a simple little rule by which we may succeed. We find it in Psalm 37:3 – Trust the Lord and live right! The land [your neighborhood] will be yours, and you will be safe. Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – October 16, 2020 – Chosen for greatness

October 16, 2020

2042AFC101620 – Chosen for greatness

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    Isaiah 45:5a – 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. 

    Isaiah 44:28a – [It is I, the Lord] who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and he shall carry out all my purpose” 

    Matthew 22:20-21 – 20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21 They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Today is Friday, October 16, 2020. It is the 290th day of the year. There are 76 days left in 2020. I think all of us will agree this has been an extraordinary year so far, and it’s likely to get even more extraordinary before 2021 opens up before us. Many of us have had a difficult year. Some of us have had a horrible year. A few of us have had a great year. ALL of us have memories of 2020 that will last us for the rest of our lives, memories we will end up sharing with our grandchildren who will pass them on to their grandchildren. In my heart of hearts I hold the hope that somehow all this chaos will be resolved; but, that little man in the right-rear quadrant of my brain keeps saying, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

     Recently we’ve mentioned the “birth pangs” Jesus spoke of when describing the “end times.” If, indeed, what we are seeing now is just the birth pangs, then the pandemonium lurking just outside the door (see Genesis 4:7) is something I don’t want to see or endure. That’s kinda crazy, because if these days are the birth pangs, and if the next item on the program is The Tribulation (with or without the Parousia), then – as a person of Faith – I should be jumping for joy because everything is going as planned, and the Day of Resurrection is in sight. The World would judge me as just plain crazy, another religious nut. You’ve probably seen this little meme before, so you’ll understand why it is very important that we do not pay attention to the World’s judgments.

We know the way God works – he does everything perfectly! We don’t do that because we can’t do that. That’s why he’s God and we’re not (despite what certain Hollywood nuts say). This Sunday, we’re going to talk about one of the guys God stirred up to do what God had planned. It’s a pretty good story. We’ll hear about Cyrus, ruler of the Medes and Persians – the same guy who defeated Babylon and returned the Jews to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile there. Here’s the back-story on that.

One of our Key Verses today is from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah’s prophesies were made the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, all of which ruled in the closing years of the eighth century B.C. (ca. 740 – 701 B.C.). What’s really cool about this prophecy is that Isaiah specifically names Cyrus, who wasn’t even born yet! Cyrus was born around 585 ± 5 BC, around 150 years later! He was not a Jew, but rather a gentile. God refers to him as “his anointed” in Isaiah 45:1 – 1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him — and the gates shall not be closed. ALL the kings of Israel were anointed, and Cyrus was a Gentile whom God himself anointed with his Spirit. (See 2012AFC032020 – Anointed for Good for more information). After being whupped by just about every empire in history and carted off to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, I imagine the Jews looked at this new, young military leader as just another oppressor. “Here we go again. Now what?” They seem to have forgotten that God himself had chosen Cyrus and told them “Cyrus will do what I tell him to do. Jerusalem will be rebuilt and all of you will go there.” From Genesis to Malachi, God tells his people I am the Lord over 160 times. You’d think they’d remember! Another of our Key Verses says 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. So, what are we supposed to do with that?

(This is where I’m supposed to insert Micah 6:8 again. We should all have that memorized by now.) We should also be thinking about the two greatest commandments – love God completely and love our neighbors (including our enemies) the same way Jesus loves us. That’s God’s plan for us. It’s a pretty simple plan if you really think about it. Trouble is it seems to be “too simple for our complex minds and hearts.” The folks who manage to figure out how it works and get’r done are the folks we name as Saints. Now, of course, all of the people saved by Grace are “the Saints of God,” but the exemplary ones are those who “do small things with great love.” We are all called to that kind of greatness. We who are baptized are also anointed Priest, Prophet, and King. If we think it was amazing that God would have Cyrus named as “his anointed” 150 years before it happened, then how great is it that millennia before we came on the scene, God named us – each and every person reading this – as his anointed? If God has prepared that for us, what ought we to prepare for him? I am not a Priest like Saint Pope John Paul II, I am not a Prophet like Isaiah, and I am not a King like Cyrus; but, I am chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. (See Ephesians 1:4) I am, you are, we are chosen and anointed by God, in God, and for God. As we hear in the Eucharistic Doxology, it is our call to live this proclamation as a core value in our lives: “Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, forever and ever. Amen.”)

Everyone in our lives is affected by our anointing. For most of us, though, that’s no big whoop; that is, unless we are counting our burdens instead of our blessings. That sort of focused awareness is pretty depressing because we concentrate too much on what we don’t have and overlook everything we do have. If we are living in accordance with Christ’s Law of Love, we know, see, and understand how God’s Grace gifts us with extraordinary treasures. That kind of focused awareness gives us a predisposition to value God’s Love deeply and also inspires us to make a return on that love. God invests us – clothes us in Christ – so that when we return the love of Christ to God and to neighbor our blessings are increased. If we give whatever belongs to God to someone or something else in the World, we should not be surprised that our investing in the World does not produce spiritual blessings. Those investments only satisfy our liabilities to the law. Investing in the World is about the same thing as paying our taxes. That’s the lesson Jesus was teaching when the Pharisees plotted to entrap him by asking, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (See Matthew 24:17).Jesus told them, “Show me the coin used for the tax.” Now we recently said something about this particular coin. It was a Denarius showing the image of Tiberius Caesar, Emperor in Jesus’ day. It was a tribute tax, a way of paying Caesar for his “protection” (under his thumb!). Jesus held the coin so the Disciples of the Pharisees could see it and said, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21 They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Sometimes we earthlings have trouble sorting that out. Just what does belong to God? Let’s take a look at what Scripture says:

Psalm 24:1-2 – 1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

1 Chronicles 29:11 – 11 Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 – 17 Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

Job 41:11 – 11 I am in command of the world and in debt to no one. Contemporary English Version (CEV)

The short answer, then, is that everything belongs to God. He made it, and it’s his to do with as he pleases. If you’ve ever received a gift that was far beyond anything you could have imagined, that’s what God’s Grace is like. He gives us more than we can comprehend or repay, so he just asks us to share a little of it with him and with our neighbors. It may look like we have a house, a car, a deed to property, a bank account, but all of those things come from God, and if they are his, we should use them as best befits their purpose – to give God the glory, the praise, the thanks, the adoration, and all the Good that flows from his generosity. We can use God’s car to take a friend to work. We can use God’s groceries to feed a grieving family. We can use God’s living room in our home to host a prayer meeting or Bible study. Whatever we have, we can use it for something greater in the Kingdom than what it is in the World. In fact, whatever we do in the Kingdom, whatever we add to the Kingdom, whatever share to the Kingdom has come to us from and through God. (See John 1:3-4) Even so, we can “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The reason is simple: Everything belongs to God, ultimately even the things that belong to Caesar.

If everything belongs to God, then it follows that everyone belongs to God. Our life, our love, our worshiping, and honoring of God and neighbor belong to God. If we offer all that we have – body, mind, and spirit – to God and neighbor, what becomes of us and of our gifts? I believe the answer is in John 15:13 – 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. All Good things come from God, so whatever is Good in our lives comes from him, but who can repay him – and how? If we give him All That We Have (↔ Music Link), could it ever be enough? Could we give God and each other All That I am (↔ Music Link), and still come up short? We want to Love God for the Greatness of his Love, but in the Light of his Love ours is Only a Shadow (↔ Music Link). Still, I am certain you have felt moments in your life when you and God are very much in sync and you know firsthand that Great Things Happen (↔ Music Link) when God mixes with us!

Belovéd, we are chosen for greatness in and through Love. Isn’t that great?

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – October 9, 2020 – The Few and the Many

October 9, 2020

2041AFC100920 – The Few and the Many

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    Matthew 22:14 – 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Matthew 20:16 – 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen. World English Bible (WEB)  by Public Domain.

Matthew 20:28 – 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Today I ask you to look at The Parable of the King’s Wedding Feast. In this parable, Jesus tells about a King who prepared an elaborate wedding banquet. Many guests were invited. I described this a few years ago in “1343AFC102513 – Accountability?”, and I’m going to put just a few lines of that post here:

In the Parable of the King’s Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14, the King’s invited guests snubbed him, so he ordered his servants to bring in strangers, stragglers, and seat them for the banquet. Then there is a strange incident of a man who did not wear a wedding garment. How could he? He was drafted as an impromptu guest. Yet the other impromptu guests were prepared. What does this mean? How does one prepare for the Wedding Banquet of our King? What is our “wedding garment?” First of all, it is our repentance. The man had not changed his apparel before entering the feast and for that he was kicked out. He was called but not chosen because he dishonored the call. He had not changed before entering the feast; the unrepentant also have not changed and are not prepared for the Wedding Banquet in Heaven. There’s no excuse for being unprepared because Christ the King has given us everything we need to enter in. This was a longstanding tradition for the Jews. Weddings went on for days, included much feasting and dancing, many gifts (including little crowns), and a wedding garment.

The family giving the wedding gave all the guests a special garment to wear at the wedding feast. One guy in this parable showed up without the freely-given garment; this was a terrible insult, worse even than those who were the first invited and then later refused to come to the wedding at all. The point of the lesson is that God give us everything we need, every “good and perfect gift,” to make it easier to answer his call. Many are called; not all accept. Who are “the many” who are called?

In our Key Verse section we see “many are called but few are chosen,” and “… to give his life a ransom for many.” This is another of those passages we often gloss over and don’t ponder its meaning. Now, for many, many years I figured Jesus Christ died for everyone and that all the world would be saved. That was kinda dumb, because it is not scriptural. I had placed my logic – faulty as it was – in The Most Famous Bible Passage. You know it by heart probably, or at least part of it. It looks like this:

John 3:13-19 – 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

In my own “economy of the Scripture,” I thought, “Well, the whole World could be saved, but in actuality only those who believe will be saved.” Not everyone who hears the Word – and the Word is God’s call to repentance and salvation – will answer that call or respond to the Word by believing it. Those people will not be on the right side of eternity. But, why does Jesus keep saying “many?” Here’s another example, and a little better look at what “many” means:

Matthew 26:27-28 – 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many* for the forgiveness of sins.

* πολλῶν (pollon) from πολύς (polus) {pol-oos’} – signifies ‘many, numerous’; with the article it is said of a multitude as being numerous or abundant, plenteous; many, a large part of mankind. This is similar to the Hebrew word רַב (rab) {rab} – much, abundant, abounding, great or great in numbers. “Ah-HA,” he chortled with joy, “there it is!” There will be Salvation for all who believe, and there will be many who are saved. That is such GREAT news! Well, except for one thing. Those MANY, that multitude, that abundance of people is the group chosen, and they are described as “few.” Ooopsie. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” In the Good News Translation (GNT) for Matthew 22:14, it says “Many are invited but few are chosen.” If the chosen are a multitude, and “the last will be first, and the first last,” then what does that mean about the size of the group not chosen, not responding to the Word, not wearing the Wedding Garment for the King’s Banquet? If the many are the few, then all the rest must be … myriads? In Revelation 5:11 we read of “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” surrounding God’s Throne, the Four Living Creatures and the Elders. That expression is used to describe what cannot be numbered as in “billions upon billions,” or “gazillions and gazillions,” or a “googolplex with a googolplex.” (A googolplex is 1010 to the power of a googol. In other words, that’s 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 100. You could never write that down because it would take more time than the universe has existed and more paper than the universe could hold to write it down.) The multitude of believers is humongous, but compared to the group of nonbelievers, the believers are “The Few.” We could think of it like a math expression:

Many – Few = Myriads

The Many minus The Few = Myriads and Myriads

Well, that’s surprising. Or is it? In our society – the whole society of the World – we have a pretty lax view of what’s Good and what’s Evil. There’s a soft, wide, gray area between those opposites. Everything in Scripture tells us God doesn’t see it that way. From the moment Abram was chosen by El Shaddai-Olam to be the Patriarch of God’s Chosen People right up to the very second you are reading this sentence, myriads of souls have turned away from God. God chose Israel to be a light to the nations, a clear example of the power, the goodness, and the means by which God’s salvation will reach to the ends of the earth. (See Isaiah 49:1-6). The population of the Nation of Israel was few compared to the population of the many nations outside of Israel. It was and is the mission of Israel to demonstrate God’s lovingkindness – his Mercy and Grace – and to be the agent of God’s plan for Salvation – the Advent of God’s Messiah. What does this mean for “we few” who follow Christ?

We are called (invited? Yea, commanded) to carry on the mission of Israel. We must be the light that drives away the darkness and draws all to God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy and Eternal Salvation through Christ Our Lord. We are called to witness, to testify, to be Μάρτυς (martus) {mar’-toos}  meaning a witness; an eye- or ear-witness; one who testifies. You may recognize it as the root of the English word martyr. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to … .” To do what? To carry The Light to the Nations is just one thing – and there are few who take up that mission. Those who do so find they are carrying a cross of their own making to a death of their own choosing. The question before us, then, is “Will that death lead to eternal Life or eternal Death?” Can we be “the few, the humble, the faithful?” Are we ready, willing, and able to be Priest, Prophet, and King “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”? (See 1 Peter 2:9) We are the few, and we can be the chosen if we testify. What comes of that Nation who lives for and serves God? Look what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 11:2-6 – 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” 4 But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

We, the few, are called through Grace upon Grace (← Check it out!). That is enough. Let’s put on our gift of his Wedding Garment and head for the Banquet Hall. We Are Called. (↔ Music Link) Our best response is “Hear I Am, Lord.” (↔ Music Link) And meanwhile, let us also go out to the byways, alleys, and streets and bring in the many who are called but refused to answer. Who knows how many – or how few – of them will also accept a wedding garment? You are 100% correct! God knows, and he’s counting on us to make it happen.

READ THIS: Isaiah 59:10-15!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – October 2, 2020 – Think about these things

October 2, 2020

2040AFC100220 – Think about these things

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    Philippians 4:6-9 – 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, Belovéd, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

¡Que la bendición esté siempre con ustedes y que Dios los bendiga, Amados! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd!) Today will be another session that is mostly Scripture. The question to be dealt with is, “What can we do?” There is so much anger, turmoil, even outright evil happening today. What are we to do about that? What do we think about what’s happening? What are we doing to change it? Perhaps the most important question we should be asking is, “How did we arrive at this?!?! Let’s start with admitting that all of this is nothing new.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 – 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. As I researched this, I remembered a snippet from a sermon for long ago: “When Adam bit the apple, he got the bite with the worm in it – the worm of death.” We know that sin and death are inextricably linked. The sin and evil, the chaos and destruction, the hopelessness and anger by which we are surrounded are not unprecedented. Perhaps the only precedent we are experiencing is the magnitude of these things, a magnitude that is reminiscent of the 430 years Israel was incubating in Egypt while Canaan devolved into absolute putrefaction. When with America hit that mark? Are we there yet? Let’s look back to what the Lord said to Abram in Genesis 15:13-16 – 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; 14 but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” God says he will not drive out the Amorites until they become so wicked that all hope of repentance and redemption is lost and they must be punished. I know there are people reading this that think perhaps all of these goings-on are God’s punishment. I’ll not try to counsel God, so I’m just going to say that if that’s what he has in mind, I’m all for it. Even if this is “just the birth pangs” before things go completely destructo-mite, I believe and accept that none of this could happen without God allowing it. I do wonder, though, if we might be coming up on that demarcation-line where God says, “Well, that’s it. You’re done. There’s nothing new under the sun, you know.”

In that case, there’s a passage from the Prophet Micah that we might want to look into: Micah 7:2-7 – 2 The faithful have disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets. 3 Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5 Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your embrace; 6 for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household. 7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Does that sound familiar? It’s a bit like what’s going on today, I submit. It might sound familiar because Jesus quoted this passage referring to himself in Luke 12:48c-53 – 48c “Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given. 49 I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to receive, and how distressed I am until it is over! 51 Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division. 52 From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters, and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law.” Good News Translation (GNT)[1] As individuals, we know we are blessed with much, and hopefully we thank and honor God for all our gifts – our charisms – by accepting and using those gifts. We who love and serve the Lord should know that’s doing the right thing. It is those who do not love and serve the Lord that seem to be bringing us closer to the fullness of iniquity. Have the faithful truly disappeared? Are they just too silent, too hidden, too complacent perhaps? Some view the World as being afire with the Holy Spirit. Others say the Holy Spirit as left the World, left the Church, and left us to await the Doom ahead brought on by the godless heathens who are destroying all that is good. Where is the wisdom we need to turn this around?

I truly hope you are recalling the several times we have mentioned James 1:5 – 5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. Sometimes we are unwilling to pay the price for Wisdom. God does give it generously to all who ask, so how can there be a price for it? The price we pay is to use the Gifts with which God graces us. The Gifts are ours to use or lose. When we use those gifts, we profit by that. When we disdain those gifts … well, let’s just say there’s no profit in that. Here’s one way to look at it:  Sirach 4:11-18 – 11 Wisdom takes care of those who look for her; she raises them to greatness. 12 Loving her is loving life itself; rising early to look for her is pure joy. 13 Anyone who obtains Wisdom will be greatly honored. Wherever he goes, the Lord will bless him. 14 Wisdom’s servants are the servants of the Holy One, and the Lord loves everyone who loves her. 15 Those who obey her will give sound judgments; those who pay attention to her have true security. 16 Put your trust in Wisdom, and you will possess her and pass her on to your descendants. 17 At first, Wisdom will lead you along difficult paths. She will make you so afraid that you will think you cannot go on. The discipline she demands will be tormenting, and she will put you to the test with her requirements until she trusts you completely. 18 Then she will come to you with no delay, reveal her secrets to you, and make you happy.

So, Belovéd, what would Wisdom tell us in this current mess we’re in? Wisdom will tell us that patience is the virtue of the Wise. The Worldly will watch as the righteous’ lives end and believe they have triumphed. But see here what Wisdom says of that:

Wisdom 4:16-17 – 16 The righteous who have died will condemn the ungodly who are living, and youth that is quickly perfected [ended] will condemn the prolonged old age of the unrighteous. 17 For they will see the end of the wise, and will not understand what the Lord purposed for them, and for what he kept them safe. Is the Parousia just around the corner? Will there be weeping and gnashing of teeth where there is now rebellion and desecration? Belovéd, you’ve heard this before: “God knows, but he’s not tellin’.” What do we do? We live in the Promise. We trust in the Lord. We do the right thing. We test the spirits; which spirits produce things that are good, and which spirits produce things that are bad? We seek Wisdom and her discipline. We honor the Giver by accepting the Gift. We pray for the hearts and minds that are deceived. We discern what is good, and follow all that points to the Love of God in Christ Jesus. We never, never, never, never give up Hope! We place Faith as our mast, and Love as our sail, and with Wisdom as our rudder we follow the course laid out in Scripture. We stop all the worry, because Why worry when you can pray? (↔ Music Link). Here is the secret to finding that Wisdom:

     Finally, Belovéd, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. We know these things are true because We Have Been Told (↔ Music Link). Jesus has overcome the World, and the World cannot overcome us when we are in Jesus. Remember John 16:33 – 33 “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” Remember also that the Apostle John has told us in 1 John 4:1-6 – 41 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess* Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4 Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. *Literally dissolves, annuls, or severs.

Stick with the good stuff and you’ll be much better off. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is a lie. If it sounds like it’s not true, don’t go there, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Now that’s Wisdom!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

[1]  Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission

Aloha Friday Message – September 25, 2020 – Do Our Minds Mind?

September 25, 2020

2039AFC092520 – Do Our Minds Mind?

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    Philippians 2:5 – 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus 

    Colossians 3:2-4 – 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. My family and I thank you for the many comments of support made as we celebrate the Life of Paula Lee Belau-Todd. Such expressions of love and caring are deeply appreciated and demonstrate how we can indeed be like-minded in things that are important to everyone’s heart. Being like-minded can be pretty tough these days. There’s an old adage about not having too coins to rub together; it is an expression of extreme poverty. Today, I feel we can paraphrase that by saying some folks haven’t two kind thoughts to rub together. I heard another paraphrase regarding all the violence surrounding us that said something about two brain cells. It is very difficult in some places to find someone with whom we agree on virtually everything. I’d like to pursue that a bit today, so let’s start off with some of the ways we use “mind.” I was surprised at how may idioms there are that are based on that word. Here we go!

Mind – Noun

  1. Awareness of self to think, feel, choose
  2. Intellect
  3. Attention or attentiveness
  4. The seat of reason, remembrance, and imagination

Mind – Verb

  1. Care, object, careful
  2. Show concern; ascribe importance
  3. Express cautionary warning
  4. Obedience and/or remembrance
  5. Watch over
  6. Follow an inclination to act

And we all recognize these expressions:

  • Bear in mind – apply learned precepts to actions
  • Be of two minds – duplicitous, uncertain, indecisive
  • Be of one mind – concurrence, share an opinion, consensus
  • Closed mind – decline to acknowledge or consider
  • Come to mind – to remember or create a thought or idea
  • Don’t mind – accept an offer
  • A piece of mind – usually an angry castigation
  • Peace of mind – resolution or acceptance
  • A mind to act – an inclination to behave in a certain way
  • In my mind’s eye – imagined view or viewpoint
  • On my mind – reoccupied with someone or something
  • Out of my mind – crazy, loss of mental sense

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Do you mind? Why won’t you mind? Mind your manners. Make up your mind. Mind your P’s and Q’s. Mind the cat. Mind your parents. Don’t mind me. Mind if I cut in? Don’t you mind? My mind is blank. Keep in mind what I said.

That last one, for me, is a keeper because in it I hear Jesus talking to my heart and my mind. “Remember what I told you.” “Do this in remembrance of me.” And the most important thing he said:

John 13:34 – 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. And John 15:12 – 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

I’m going to pull up something from 1844AFC110218 – Me First that addresses that. I invite you to follow that link to see the full context.

Leviticus 19:18b – … you shall love your neighbor as yourself

Romans 13:8b – … the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Which is the above commandment in Leviticus.)

1 John 3:11 – 11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 Corinthians 16:14 – 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

1 John 4:7-8 – 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:16 – 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

2 John 1:6 – 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.

What, then, is the same mind – the same attitude some translations say – that was in Christ? “Love each other as I have loved you.”  When he says “as I have” it means just as, or in the same way as – in Greek καθὼς [kathos] (kath-oce) – in exactly the same manner, to precisely the same degree, to the complete extent, and in a way that is identical to HIS LOVE. We could go back to the identity expression we have used in the past when we said

LIGHT ≡ GOD ≡ LOVE ≡ TRUTH ≡ WAY ≡ LIFE ≡ FOREVER

We can therefore understand Jesus is telling us it should be

YOUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER ≡ MY LOVE FOR YOU

This is a tough one for anyone to deal with, especially one who takes seriously (or at least makes an honest effort to) the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” I am here to tell you that if I am to be the measuring stick of love, most of the rest of the world is not going to appreciate the way I love them; I’m not particularly fond of me most days, and that makes the folks around me come up a bit short of what love they deserve. I came to a little better resolution of this question – how do I love me – in C. S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity. In Book 3, Chapters 7 & 9,  Lewis discusses how this kind of love does not necessarily mean we view our enemy as a nice person. In fact, if we are going to lovingly forgive (or forgivingly love) or enemies, we have to lovingly forgive the main operator in this transaction: Us. If I cannot forgive me, cannot love me, cannot be in the same room as me without being completely irritated by being stuck with ME, then I can be pretty sure that genuinely loving someone else who irritates me is going to be such a big challenge that I will certainly see the value of “throwing in the towel.”

I cannot in good conscience do that because it means giving up on the Love and Forgiveness I have in Christ Jesus. This is because we must remember that Love is not a feeling – it is an action. I may not feel all that good about my own behavior or feel affection for some rioter tearing about town like a maniac, but I can desire to think well of myself for at least trying to do the right thing. That is loving myself by wanting what is best for my well-being – or to put it more clearly, I love myself best when I do things for me that make me well. If we think about that, we can love our neighbors in that same way – we work for those things which will keep them well. I don’t (probably won’t) claim an anarchist as a bosom buddy, but s/he can certainly be included in my prayers for Peace, for understanding among all persons and Peoples, and thereby be valued as created by God. If God values that person, so must I. Except, I forget that way too often!

When I forget to love others as Christ has loved them, always looking for the Good in and for them, I do not simply overlook their failings and run over to give them a hug. We know that, for some folks, that is the very thing they abhor because, as the Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, Titus 1:15 – 15 To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted. We think differently, and – wouldn’t you know it – the Apostle Paul covers that as well in Philippians 3:14-16 – 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16 Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Do you ever find that all the truly difficult things going on around the World just occupy your thoughts nearly constantly? Wouldn’t it be great if we had something or someone else to keep in mind? How about this? Colossians 3:2-4 – 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. We are, in these perilous times, assaulted from every side by evil, by natural and man-made disasters, by disease, war, famine, fear, and even by our own consciences. It can seem as if this is the worst the World has ever been, and that if it got any worse, it would surely trigger “The Last Days,” that eschatological event every Christian expects (and probably, because of conscience, dreads). I’m going to stick in another link here because it will lead you to a 16-verse passage I entreat you to read: Romans 1:16-32. I posted that passage to Facebook last week; it was pretty much ignored. Nonetheless, if you will (PLEASE) read it, you will recognize many of the things that are happening right now, today, right in our midst. The sort of people who do the things the Apostle Paul describes in that passage live all around us. Some of them are family members, some of them are friends, some of them are neighbors, and – most regrettably – some of them are us. What then shall we do, or what can we do?

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. “Love one another as I have loved you.” (↔ Music Link) We must not give our hearts over to feelings of compassion that stop just short of being love-in-action. Instead, we must and can press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Do you mind doing that for yourself? Would you mind doing that for me? Can we, together, mind what Jesus said about Love? Do our minds mind – do they matter, do they obey, do they love, do they help hope … do they? To master the question of how our hearts and minds can be held in that Peace which surpasses all understanding (← Check it out!), we can all benefit from this very powerful prayer which millions use every day to reaffirm the Love of God, the love of self, and the love of one another:

Belovéd, do you mind sharing this post with other minds? Thanks. Because  14 Let all that you do be done in love.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – September 18, 2020 – Truly Right and Just

September 18, 2020

2038AFC091820 – Truly Right and Just

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    Matthew 20:4 – 4 and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right*.’ So they went.

Matthew 20:13 – 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong*; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? (a denarius†)

* δίκαιον (dikaion) {dik’-ah-yon} dikaion Whatsoever is right; just and fair; correct, righteous, by implication innocent especially, just in the eyes of God; upright, virtuous, honest, especially, just in the eyes of God. This word in Scripture describes what is in conformity to God’s own being.

† 1 Denarius ↓ showing the image of Tiberius Caesar, Emperor in Jesus’ day. The coin was silver, originally the payment for 10 donkeys – decem (10) → deni (10s) → denarius nummus (ten donkeys) → Denarius. It was the common wage for a day’s work by a soldier or itinerant laborer. It was considered “the usual payment” sufficient for subsistence. Something like “an honest dollar for an honest day’s work.” This is the wage the first workers expected when they started working for the land owner in The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16. This could also be called The Parable of the Compassionate Employer. In many translations, there is an additional statement at the end of the parable that says, “For many are called, but few chosen.” (See Matthew 20:16 and search for “chosen.”)

If you remember this parable, you will recall the owner of a vineyard went outside his gate early in the morning to find laborers to work. He hired several who were nearby and told them he would pay them “what is right.” A little later he looked for more workers – around 9:00, and several more started working being assured they would be paid “whatever is right.” Then he made two more trips – one around noon and one at 3:00 – and sent others to help those already in the vineyard. As evening drew nigh, the owner called his foreman and told him to assemble the workers to pay them and to start with the last ones hired. To the great surprise of those workers, they received a full day’s pay for their work. They were likely expecting to be paid less on a prorated basis, but instead they got one denarius, the fair and usual pay for a full day of work. Next came the group hired at noon, then the ones hired at 9:00, and lastly the ones who started early in the morning. All of them received a full denarius. It was unheard of to pay people “more than they were worth.”

One of the laborers stepped up and told the boss he thought that it was unfair that he should get “only” 1 denarius when he had worked the full day while the guys who had worked the least – only an hour or so also got a full-day’s wages. The owner told him, “You agreed to work for a fair wage and I have treated you fairly. You got exactly what we agreed to. I told these others I would ‘pay them whatever is right,’ and I have done that. Are you angry with me because I choose to be generous? It’s my money, isn’t it? Shouldn’t I be able to use it as I see fit?” Jesus’ concluding statement is perhaps a bit cryptic: 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last. There was no prorated reimbursement for work done in that vineyard on that day. That’s also the way it works with God. He always rewards us with what is right and just; we never get too much or too little, but always what God’s generosity provides. And who can fault God’s generosity? The sun shines and the rain falls on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45) because God is generous. But he is also fair. The righteous receive the reward of life with God. The unrighteous do not. Our Responsorial Psalm for Sunday comes from Psalm 145. There we find Psalm 145:17-20 – 17 The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. 20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

In some of my research for these topics, I’ve read how certain scholars have figured out that those who live the most righteous life receive the highest rewards in Heaven. Maybe instead of a room they get upgraded to a suite, or instead of a suite they get a condo, or beyond that a real castle or palace. Whoever is most unrighteous receives emptiness – the Second Death. God knows what we do, what we say, what we think even before we do, and there is no one who can be more familiar with us than God is. We also know God is present in every aspect of life. Now, these laborers most likely knew the fellow who owned the vineyard. He must have been pretty flush with money because he had a BIG vineyard and hired “plenty people” to work in it. They knew who he was and what he could afford, and they trusted him when he said, “I’ll pay you what is fair if you come to work for me.” They knew he was good for the money because he had a good reputation in the community. These days, I think that is less true for God’s reputation! Too many people these days think like this: “God HAD BETTER give me what I want, or I’m going to destroy everything he’s done!” These are the folks who “conveniently overlook” that part which says “but all the wicked he will destroy.”

Belovéd, I confess I watch daily for that destruction to be carried out. Most of the people I love also love God enough to be obedient to his Word. Those who do not love God in that way are remembered in my daily list of prayers as I pray for “their deep and lasting conversion.” If you read these messages, you, too, have a thirst for souls, and you also know that the towering tsunami of evil washing over us now is a prelude to the massive suffering, pain, distress, fear, hardship, and misery that seems to be just days away. We believe God will protect us. We believe God will save us and destroy the evil. We trust that God’s mercy will shield us from his wrath. We place our hope in our God who always is and always does everything that is “truly right and just.” But, we need to be cautious about our certainty.

You may remember Mark 1:16-20 – 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. Hm. “For many are called, but few chosen.” Now, think about the guys loitering in the town square outside the vineyard. The owner came out several times to hire workers. He called for them. Several answered. Not ALL of them answered, and only those who did answer got paid. The reward came only to those who answered the call. Doesn’t that remind us of John 6:44? 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. What will Jesus say to those of us, to our loved ones, to the rioters in the street, to the haters and child abusers, to the murderers and rebels against Good if they will not turn to him and give their lives to God? You can get a pretty clear understanding of that if you will carefully read John 5:30-47. (Please DO follow that link!)

We who love the Lord should be able to see easily that God is always truly right and just. Honestly, I believe the people who do not know and love him also expect him to be right and just; however, they believe that “right outcomes” and “just reward” always mean “pleasant compensation” – trophies, sprinkles, free stuff, and no job requirements. Jesus has certainly made it clear that it will not always work out that way. Even if we respond late, it is always necessary to respond and accept the Gift so as to honor the Giver. We refuse God’s gifts of Grace, Salvation, and Eternal Joy at the peril of living eternity without any of those things.

Belovéd, if we are going to expect to receive from God what is truly right and just, it is only right and just that we give him all that is truly right and just from our own lives – a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship.” (See Romans 12:1-3).

In this time of great stress, confusion, and turmoil, we find ourselves longing for security, peace, and comfort. How shall we find them and to whom shall we turn? Belovéd, you already know the answer! You might have even memorized it already in Matthew 6:33 – 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, for “Whosoever Will May Come.” (↔ Music Link) See John 6:37 and Revelation 22:17. (Seriously. Go read those so you’ll know how easy it is to hear the call.)

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – September 11, 2020 – Memento Mori

September 11, 2020

2037AFC091120 – Memento mori

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

   Sirach 28:6-7 – 6 Remember the end of your life, and set enmity aside; remember corruption and death, and be true to the commandments. 7 Remember the commandments, and do not be angry with your neighbor; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults.

May Peace always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd! Perhaps you do not recognize the phrases in this image. The Latin translates as “Time flees, Remember You Must Die.” Well, that’s not a very cheerful way to start off your Friday morning, is it? Look at our Key Verse for today. It is part of the first reading for Sunday, September 13, 2020: Sirach 27:30—28:7. It speaks to us of resentments that are nurtured and fortified by the desire for vengeance. The writer is named Joshua ben Sira, translated as “Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem.” Ben Sira wrote in Hebrew, but his grandson later translated the book into Greek. The content of this lovely book is, in many ways, like the familiar Book of Proverbs, and is included in the list of writing called “Wisdom Literature.”

There is also Wisdom in the Epistle for this Sunday. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 14:7-9 – 7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Jesus lives for the living and the dead; he has been both, and he rules over both. If we are living in Jesus, we are living with the living and dying with the dead. Time flees and death waits. We’re not going to be able to change that. If death is waiting a little farther down the road, we can choose to fill our lives with Life or empty our lives with Death. Life is founded in Love – Love of God and neighbor; Death is founded in indifference – indifference to God and to neighbor. Why do I say indifference instead of hate? Hate requires effort, the effort of acknowledging the other. Indifference won’t make that effort. Hate does require some work. Take, for example, the bearing of a grudge, the nurturing of enmity.

I think most of us have read the story (← Check it out!) about the black wolf and the white wolf inside of us, fighting for control. The story ends with the promise that the wolf we feed is the one that wins. In everything in our lives we face the same kind of dichotomy – the conflict between good and evil, between carnal and spiritual, between conscience and consciousness of the effect of our choices.

Many of us know – either directly or indirectly – of someone who has carried anger or hurt and nurtured it until it became huge and vicious, a snapping, snarling, terrifying beast, a black wolf that endangers the person and everyone who comes near. It has been said that hurt and anger when caged and constantly provoked become bitterness and a blind grudge takes its place in our hearts and minds. Grudges are heavy, difficult to carry because they have no handles, and dangerous because they can suddenly grow teeth and claws and tear us to shreds. They are the most fearsome and deadly form of self-awareness and the cause of much suffering. Forgiveness is the anti-grudge, the “grudge-icide” if you will, and it is something that all of us have within us because all of us need it. It is part of the Image of God which resides in our souls.

We often recall that God has created us in his image, and that we are to be like him as much as possible. We are called to be holy – that is, wholly whole, complete, and prepared for every good work – as God is Holy. He forgives our sins. He removes them so far from us that we cannot grasp how far; he not only forgives, but he also forgets. (See Isaiah 43:25) Can you forget your sins? I cannot forget mine, and often that’s because I have forgotten they are forgiven by God. Perhaps, though, they have not been forgiven by me or by those against whom I have sinned. That’s not what God intends, and Jesus very carefully explains it to the Apostles.

Perhaps you will recall the passage in Matthew 18 where Jesus set out the parameters for fraternal correction (2036AFC090420 – Watching the Watchers) in the Church – privately between you and another member, then with 2-3 witnesses, then with the church. If they will still refuse to repent and reform, they are to be considered as living outside the fraternity of the Saints. Nonetheless, we must always bear in mind that repentance and reform are always possible, so we forgive them. Forgiveness can be a tough pill to swallow!

Immediately following the passage in Matthew on fraternal correction we read in Matthew 18:21-22 – 21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. There is a similar admonition in Luke 17:3-4 – 3 Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” If we don’t, we are faking our “holiness.”

We are held responsible for the ways we may mislead others. If what we show them in our lives leads them to sin, that is charged to us. How can this be? We have enough trouble managing our own holiness and our own sinfulness. How is it we can be held accountable for something someone else does? The “why” of it is simple: That is God’s plan. It is the law of love. If we know love, we know God, and if we love God, we must love one another. If we love one another we must not sin against them – that is also a sin against God – but if they sin against us we must forgive them. That is, as God forgives us, we forgive others. What is the requisite step to forgiveness from God? It is repentance, and repentance includes the intention of reforming one’s life so as to avoid sin and the desire to be tempted.

“But s/he made me so angry! I just want to make them suffer for what they did to me! I cannot and will not forgive them, ever!” That is God’s option; it is not our option. Leviticus 19:18 – 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. So why do we keep grudges? Is that not what God abhors? We cling to our anger and nurture it. Do we really need to carry that burden? When we remember to live up to that image, we realize we are not here in the World for our own gratification (which is a surprise to many these days); no, indeed – we are here for the sake of others. It’s not so much what we are to receive as we live out our lives, but rather what we are to give.

Belovéd, let us give Love, share Love, receive Love, be Love. Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift.

In another passage in Sirach 27:30 – 28:1 we read – 30 Anger and wrath, these also are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them. 28 1The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance, for he keeps a strict account of their sins. We all know about that Bible verse that says “Vengeance is mine.” (See Deuteronomy 32:35 and Romans 12:19). God’s vengeance comes only after whopping-long periods of Grace and divine correction. Being forgiven, therefore, is something that we desperately need and hope for; it also causes us to rejoice when it happens: Psalm 32:1 – 1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. That joy comes to us not only when we are forgiven, but also when we forgive generously (as does God) and not begrudgingly. Another way to think of this is “the Lord loves a cheerful giver,” so give forgiveness cheerfully!

The point most often missed is this: Be forgiving and become forgiven. Ask and offer. Always seek, and expect to receive, the greater gift: The gift of giving. Peace and Joy are the result: John 16:24 – 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. In other words, “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” In fraternal correction we love our fellow Disciples enough to help them meld with the community. In the Love of Christ, we forgive one another as he forgives us – as meaning “in the same way as” not “while.”

   This is what Jesus taught to the Apostles on that day in his journey to Jerusalem (and of course to us as well). We know that they learned that lesson because of what the Apostle Peter later wrote in 1 Peter 4:8 – 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. The hardships of forgiveness are minor compared to the blessings we have in Christ Jesus.

Do we recite The Lord’s Prayer, or do we pray it? What do we mean, what is our intention, when we say, as in Matthew 6:12-14 – 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. That little word “as” is so powerful! Do we want God to forgive us precisely the way we forgive others? Selah. How often do we have to forgive? The Pharisees in Jesus’ day said three times was enough. Peter was showing off in front of the others and tried to show that he would be more generous than the Pharisees in his forgiveness by forgiving 7 times; they said three, Jesus said, “every time.”

That term in Greek is ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά (hebdomēkontakis hepta’) { heb-dom-ay-kon-tak-is hep-tah’} and it means 70 X 7, 490 times. I’ve heard some scholars say it means 77 X 7; that’s 539 times! Seriously, who among us is going to keep track that long? And if so, how could keeping track for that long possibly be forgiveness as God intends? Jesus shows Peter – and us – that God never runs out of forgiveness. Remember, even if a mother could forget the child in her womb, God will not forget us; but he does forget our sins!

What about those who are not members of the Church? How often do we forgive them? They are our neighbors, and we are to love them as we love ourselves and each other, so 490 sounds about right for them, too. We need to stop revolting against God. How can he forgive our treason if we continue to fight against him? We need to repent and believe the Gospel. Do not think of your repentance as the cause of your forgiveness, but rather understand that forgiveness is the companion of repentance.

Time is flying and death is waiting. We can choose to make the journey peaceful or terrifying. Choose Peace, therefore, that you may live, and live as the Lord’s!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – September 4, 2020 – Watching the Watchers

September 4, 2020

2036AFC090420 – Watching the Watchers

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    Ezekiel 33:7-8 – 7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. (NRSVCE)

7 You, human one, I’ve made you a lookout for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear me speaking, you must give them warning from me. 8 If I pronounce a death sentence on wicked people, and you don’t warn them to turn from their way, they will die in their guilt, but I will hold you responsible for their blood. Common English Bible (CEB)

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. I want to begin by thanking all of you who have offered prayers for my sister-in-law, Paula. This week she was transferred from ICU to Hospice care. We continue to pray for her, for her husband and daughter, and her grandchildren as well as her siblings. We pray that God will be merciful as we watch and wait. We also have family in Lake Charles – my brother John and his wife Dixie and daughter Amanda – and other grandchildren, cousins, and siblings. Lake Charles was decimated by hurricane Laura. All of them suffered many losses. All of them also have health issues in addition to the COVID-19 VIRUS and the hurricane damage. Now, on with our lesson for today.

In today’s topic we have allusions to being on watch. With everything that’s going on across the world, we sometimes wonder who is watching over us and who is watching the watchers. It seems the concept and practice of accountability has been tossed out the window. It is as if no one is in charge despite there being so many people who claim to be in charge. This is happening in every aspect of human life including – but not limited to – religion, politics, government, law, production of every type of consumable (from food to fantasy to fiddle-faddle), family, ethnicity, and even life itself. It’s like the whole world turned into the persecutors and the persecuted worse than Rodney Dangerfield’s constant complaint of “I get no respect.” (← Check it out!) Even if we turn to God, there are those who will say it’s wrong, or try to corrupt our faith, or even oppose us with everything from heresy to hearsay. How are we supposed to know what to do?

Well, if you read these posts, you probably know what’s coming next. We are supposed to have faith, trust in the Lord, do the right thing, love God and neighbor, and keep an eye on the folks around us – especially our fellow Christians. Wha-a-a-a-a-t? Let me give you some examples. We can start with a quote from Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew 18. Jesus is telling the Apostles how to deal with “backsliders,” and folks who misrepresent the values and practice of Christian living. What Jesus tells them is too 1 – privately alert them, 2 – meet with them and 2-3 witnesses, and 3 – if all else fails, take the matter to the Church – the Fellowship of Saints to which you both belong. If the errant member will not accept the rule of the Church, that one is to be treated as “Gentile or a tax collector,” that is, as someone outside the fellowship of the Church. Does that seem inconsistent with our beliefs about “Christian values?” Hmm, maybe it is not only consistent, but also necessary.

Take another look at our Key Verse for today. What has God told Ezekiel? “I’m setting you as a watchman over the House of Israel,” … and he is charged with the responsibility of warning them when they are wrong. If he does warn them and they persist in being wrong, they will die (be denied Life in God) in their own iniquity, and he shall be credited with doing God/s Will. HOWEVER, if he fails to warn them and they persist in sinning, they will still die, but he will be blamed for their death. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

Do you recall the Judgment of the Nations in Matthew 25:31-46? It’s where Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats, the good and the evil, the faithful and the opposers of faith. It contains this stark prophecy: Matthew 25:41 – 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; and further, in Matthew 25:46 – 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

We have previously learned (↔ Click Link) what mercy is and how it has a role in our lives. What we learned is that works of mercy – being merciful – affects us body and soul. There are corporal works of mercy, traditionally seven.

  1. Feed the hungry, 2. Give drink to the thirsty, 3. Welcome the stranger, 4. Clothe the naked, 5. Care for the ill, 6. Visit the imprisoned, 7. Bury the dead

There are also seven spiritual works of mercy, six taught to us by Jesus, and the seventh added to affirm respect for human life.

  1. Admonish sinners, 2. Instruct the uninformed, 3. Counsel the doubtful, 4. Comfort the sorrowful, 5. Be patient with those in error, 6. Forgive offenses, 7. Pray for the living and the dead.

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus is teaching us how to admonish sinners and how to instruct the uninformed (in this day and age we might say misinformed). What Ezekiel was assigned, and what Jesus described, is – in a way – “combined” in James 4:17 – 17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. As Christians we are charged to love God and neighbor, and in that love we are required to be as sentinels – like a watchman – for the sake of the Gospel. The Word is jam-packed with admonitions about relying on the Lord and helping each other serve him. Here are a few that show up frequently:

Psalm 127:1-2 – 1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, and to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. New American Standard Bible (NASB) [1]

Ephesians 5:29 – 29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church

Hebrews 12:15 – 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

2 Timothy 3:1-8 – You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! 6 For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate silly women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires, 7 who are always being instructed and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people, of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith, also oppose the truth. (Jannes and Jambres were the sorcerers in Pharaoh’s court who contrived to imitate and confuse Moses’ message.)

Let me recommend a short but very valuable side excursion for you. Please find your Bible and open it to The Letter of Jude. It’s near the end of the New Testament. It’s only about 600 words and will take less than two minutes to read; however in it you will find directions for dealing with nearly every crazy, sinful, and distressing thing that is going in the World today. Pay particular attention to Jude 1:17-22 – 17 But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” 19 It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. 20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some who are wavering;

AND WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT WATCHERS? LOOK TO Daniel 4:13 – 13 I continued looking, in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and there was a holy watcher, coming down from heaven. These were/are holy angels who watch over every soul and nation. Why are we watching them? Because they do what is right and just. They encourage leaders, and everyone in authority (including judges) to serve with morality, compassion, integrity, wisdom and justice. That is how we must serve.

Beloved, this is the lesson I want you to take from this: We should know our faith, and that we should start by knowing when God is speaking to us. That is why we have the Bible, the inspired Word of God. Next we must learn to discern between false and true teachings, and there again we turn to the Bible in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews 4:12 we read that the Word is like a two-edged sword, so effective that it cuts right into us, differentiating between the soul and the spirit, between the joints and bones of our lives, and judges the content of our hearts. Paul calls the Word the Sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17. Get into the Word, get into your Bible, then get you and your Bible into Church and good, sincere, holy Bible study. Just keep a sharp eye and ear for those lurkers that proffer slander, hatred, lust, and self-serving greed. We are charged to watch for them because …

WE, too, are sentinels, set to watch the Church. Let me reiterate that much of what we read in the New Testament is directed toward believers in Christ Jesus, and not so much to the World. In the World, people all too often fail to perceive the power of the Grace that is already in them and they resist that Grace and refuse to repent. THAT’S WHERE WE COME IN. Do you recall what Jesus himself told us? Luke 17:3 – 3 Be on your guard! If another Disciple [ἀδελφός (adelphos) {ad-el-fos’} brother in Christ] sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. “Well, OK but I don’t really think I can call out someone else.” “Why should I warn them? I’m no saint.” “Isn’t that the job of the Pastor or Deacon?” “I wouldn’t know how to do that without causing a big stir!” “Everybody’s entitled to their own beliefs.” Belovéd, we are asked to watch each other in a loving way. Romans 13:10 – 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. This is our charge as sentinels: Restoration, adjudication, and reconciliation done individually, as a community of believers, and as the Church. We know what is right, so we must do what is right: 1 Peter 3:12 – “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Let us remember the promise related to us by James in James 5:19-20 – 19 My brothers and sisters [adelphos], if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, 20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. How will we know an adelphos is wandering unless we are watching as we have been told to do? Watch your adelphos through the lens of Love.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

 

 

[1] Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Pages Email Newsletter
Categories Archives Connect

  • Connct to us here