seeking wisdom

Good evening friends,
As we remember those who served their country in the armed services, especially those who lost their lives in that service, let us also pray for peace. Today's reading is from Proverbs, which is often attributed to King Solomon. The passage is a poem praising the virtues of wisdom. In the Bible wisdom isn't just smarts; it's ethically engaged, experience-based, intelligence. Solomon writes that knowing God is the root of wisdom. Seeking wisdom is a good goal in all we do as we try to grow in knowledge and faith.


God bless,
Sam


Proverbs 2:1-15

My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you,
2making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
3if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;
4if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures—
5then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
6For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
8guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones.


9Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;
10for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you.
12It will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely,
13who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
14who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil;
15those whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

God in creation

Good afternoon friends,
As we talk about evangelism in different cultures in Acts, we'll take a quick detour over the next couple of days to look at the gospel's call and power for all people in Paul's letter to the Romans. This is one of the most important letters in the Bible for clearly explaining the meaning of the gospel. In today's passage Paul explains that nature and the world itself testify to God enough that even without teaching, we should be able to recognize God. Instead of searching for the God of the universe, we tend to create our own gods and look to them to try to control our world. God is the only one who deserves our worship. We'll see where Paul goes with this argument tomorrow.

God bless,
Sam

Romans 1:16-25

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; ²¹for though they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools; ²³and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

knowledge of love and love beyond knowledge

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Tonight at 7 at Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church we will have an opportunity to worship with our neighboring churches for Thanksgiving. It should be a fun worship service and a great opportunity to get to know our neighbors. I hope to see you there.

Our reading today is Paul's prayer that the Christians in Ephesus would come to understand God's amazing love in Christ. He also prays that they would come to know that love even beyond the power of knowledge. Knowledge is important, but the most important thing we can know is that God loves us. The more we know that, the more we can trust God and the less fear can touch us.

God bless,
Sam

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

temptation

Good morning friends,
Sorry for the break in daily readings; I'm finding it challenging to put all the readings together in our new reading schedule. Once I get the hang of something new it will be easier. Today's reading is the known as "The Fall," the story of Adam and Eve turning away from God's one command in the Garden of Eden. Before this moment Adam and Eve didn't feel any distance between themselves and God. It's hard to even imagine what that would be like. It's interesting too that it only takes a few minutes of their new knowledge to learn to blame others for their mistakes. The feeling of separation from God is simply a part of our reality now. We can't give back the knowledge of good and evil, but we can seek unity with God and accept God's grace to bring us home.

God bless,
Sam

Genesis 3:1-13

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“ ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; ⁵for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. ⁸They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”

seeking maturity

Good morning sisters and brothers,
This morning we continue our reading from yesterday's service as Paul begins his letter to the Colossians. From my reading it seems that the Christians in Colossae were interested in astrology and angels and heavenly powers. Paul doesn't outright tell them they can't have these kinds of curiosities but he works hard in this letter to make sure their focus is on God through Jesus Christ. Twice in our passage for today Paul refers to the mystery of God, explaining that this mystery has now been revealed to the saints (in other words to his readers). That revealed mystery is Jesus Christ himself, and Christ is the heart of everything Paul preaches.

In addition to his emphasis on Christ as God's revealed mystery Paul also talks a good deal about struggle and suffering in terms of his ministry. This reminds the Colossians of Paul's efforts so they will pay more attention and it reminds them to expect some hardship as part of their discipleship. Wisdom and growth in maturity are the other themes Paul really hammers on in this section. While the mystery of Christ is revealed when we come to faith, our life after that is one of growth. We aren't finished when we accept Christ, so Paul wants to make sure the Colossians don't get too comfortable at their current level but keep making progress towards the goal of full maturity (Christ is our model for what that looks like). All of these hopes Paul has for the Christians of Colossae are good goals for our community as well as we work to gain more spiritual maturity and as we focus on Christ who even now lives in us.

Blessings on your week,
Sam

Colossians 1:24-2:5
24I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 25I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. 2I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.