30 Jun I love it when I agree with the Bible
30 June 2026
Happy End-of-June y’all! Can you believe we’re half-way through the year?!?!? And for our school-involved families that means holidays are at hand at the end of this 11th week of the 2nd term. Enjoy the respite & be careful out there!
I know that over the years you’ve heard me repeat myself…or at least noticed that I have certain ways of saying the things we know to be true about the gospel or about the apostolic witness of the Bible. Just like the letters of Paul carry some notable “Pauline” language, if you listen to me long enough you’ll hear ideas or expressions that are characteristic of me & my understanding & experience. But as I was reading Titus this week, one of the shorter letters from Paul in the New Testament, I was struck by how Paul agreed with me…I mean I agreed with him. 😉
After Paul was released from prison in Rome the first time, he received word that some undesirable characters had inserted themselves into some of the churches he helped plant. These so-called “leaders” were leading for their own gain or glory not for the purposes of Christ, for which Paul had suffered so greatly. To bring order to the chaos being unleashed among the early disciple communities, Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus & Titus to Crete to re-establish those fledgling communities of Jesus-followers in the truth Paul & his initial team of evangelists had taught. Paul was especially intent on re-grounding these disciples in the basics of the good news of Jesus, so he writes:
“For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living & sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, & devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, & to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is good.” – Titus 2:11-14
I know I’ve said it before, but the gospel always, always, always has a right now impact. Faith in Christ is not just for the world to come, but to make that coming world felt & seen & experienced in the world where you live right now. Look at Paul’s words… For the grace of God has been revealed. That’s past perfect continuous…Jesus has already died & risen, but he reigns now & forever. And we are instructed to turn… We should live in this evil world…Now that Christ IS the risen reigning Lord of All, we have the power to live differently than we could on our own strength & live with the expectation that we will do so. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, & to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is good. Again…Christ risen & dwelling in us by His Holy Spirit shapes not only our abilities but our desires & wills toward his good purposes now. The gospel always, always, always has a right now impact. That’s why I have started insisting you talk through some aspect of Sunday to “Take it Home” & put the gospel into practice in the coming week. It’s too easy to excuse ourselves from this crucial exercise in discipleship. Make sure you have a “right now” every Sunday…even if it’s just to pray for the openness when an opportunity arises…don’t go home without a “Take it Home.”
And then there’s this…same verse in fact. How do you hear me define “hope”? I always say, “Hope is a future certainty grounded in a present reality.” Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is not starry-eyed optimism. Hope, Biblical hope, is always in anchored in some fulfilled promise from God…some reality we can point to & on which we can anchor our lives. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, & devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. We know that the risen reigning Jesus will return in glory to wrap up this age & break open the age to come where the new heaven & new earth will emerge for our joy & dwelling in God’s presence forever. There it is…because God’s grace in Jesus has been revealed, & since we have died & risen with him through our baptism into his death & resurrection, & we are therefore obedient to his commands even now…we do all that looking forward to his return not with fear but with hope based on all that we have experienced through Christ Jesus. We are saved from sin & death & raised to walk now in newness of life toward two goals:
- Reveal the life of Christ through our lives now
- Live now in the hope of the life to come where we will dwell in the Father’s presence forever
You’ll probably hear me repeat that over and over again in the years to come. Why? Because they’re true & we need to carry out both of those purposes assigned us by Jesus.
Some opportunities to grow in that…
- Sunday July 5th – we continue our worship & teaching Series: The Sign – The 2nd of 4 weeks on the prophet Jonah. When people demanded “a sign for proof,” Jesus pointed to Jonah. A reluctant prophet. A pagan city. Three days in the depths. A message nobody expected & results no one imagined. But Jonah was only the beginning. His three days in darkness pointed to Christ’s three days in the tomb. His mission to a city far from God revealed God’s heart for people everywhere. The sign of Jonah reveals a God whose mercy reaches further than we imagine, whose love extends to people we might overlook, & whose call sends us well beyond our comfort zones to engage a broken world with God’s word.
- Sunday July 5th – is also a Morning Tea Sunday! AND – Giving Beyond Ourselves for CareVan! We know what those two things mean!
- Time for the next serving roster! Pam has put out the call for our next three months of helpers on Sunday morning. Every little bit helps. Have a go. We’re not looking for experts, just folks who’d like a chance to serve & learn in the serving. Even mistakes can be fun.
- Thursday July 9th – Ladies Fellowship – We’ll be looking at Romans 8:1-17. I think we’re at Mary’s house. We’ll firm that up by Sunday.
- Sunday July 12th – Living Water Fellowship Lunch @ The Tolland Hotel immediately after worship. Please let Liz know if you’re going to join us…the Hotel would like to adequately prepare for hungry Lutherans!
Looking forward to seeing you all in worship again this week!
John
No Comments