We're covering adjectives today, which was met with less than enthusiasm. I agree that classifying sentence after sentence is a drag. My heart went out to the kids and the right side of the brain kicked into gear... may I present to you the Adjective Robot!Matthew 4:1-11 - Temptation of Christ
God sets a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Even here at this table Satan tempts us as he tempted Jesus. He distracts us from Christ by focusing on the physical. Is the bread crumbly? Tasty? Am I hungry? No, we pass the bread b/c He told us to, to remember Him. Satan tempts us to seek proof of our adoption by Him somewhere other than His Word. It’s because you haven’t missed church in 3 years that he loves you. It’s because we do weekly communion, with our children, that he loves you. No, He loves you by His free grace and has given Himself for you. Satan tempts you to receive for yourself here. To just store it all up for you and your family. But he means you to love the Giver, not just receive the gift. He means you to give as He has given to you. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Look less to the bread, the wine, the table; love the host above His table. Consider less your pride of position; love the prince Himself. Do not grasp the earthly power or position of His kingdom; love the king.
We are a kingdom of priests. We have been washed in our baptism, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and anointed with the Spirit. The OT priests also were washed, clothed, and anointed. Then they had the sacrificial blood placed on them to set them apart as priests. This goes deeper in the New Covenant, where living water flows from within us. We are clothed with our own acts of righteousness done by the Spirit. And we receive the blood of Christ into ourselves, united with His death, dying in His death to our sin. So we sit as priests, baptized, clothed and anointed by God, a new people.
All this can come to us because Jesus gave it up in His passion and death. He cleans us with water, but was thirsty and dry Himself on the cross. He clothes us, but was naked Himself on the cross. He gives us His life-giving blood, letting Himself bleed on the cross. The cross was the fulfillment of all righteousness, the fulfillment of His baptism.
All our lives must exude our repentance to God, and this supper is not an exception to that. We have been talking about repentance mostly in turning away from our sins. But repentance also means turning to the Lord Jesus in faith. He is the only one through whom we can be forgiven when we repent. His baptism at the cross reconciles us to the Father. Turn to Him in faith by receiving His baptism, His death at the cross, as your own death to sin. Receive His body and His blood, transformed from a sacrificial payment for our sin into life giving food for His chosen people. This receiving is also repentance. We reverse our rejection of Him. We accept what God gives, the Savior we need. God gives by grace. He gives us life by grace; physical sustenance by grace; His Law to live in holy joy, by grace; He gives promises of forgiveness and redemption by grace; He gives His Son to accomplish our redemption, by grace; He gives His Spirit to work salvation IN us, by grace; He gives us His Word and water and wine, His people, by grace; He gives us faith to believe Him, by grace; we receive all this, by faith, as we receive Him.
"Aleita Shell" - Interweave Knits magazine, Elsebeth Lavold "silky wool" 3 skeins
Mill End Mittens - these were knit from a ball of "mill end" yarn. The mill uses up their odds and ends of singles to ply very unique skeins with random color changes. I knit from both ends of the ball on these, and am somewhat disappointed in how long the orange/purple section was (but my VT Hokie friends will love me). Not the most stunning pair of mittens, but very functional. And yes, they fit me very well; my fingers ARE that long. :)If you hadn’t noticed before, our time of Communion follows immediately after our offering, and there is a connection. Part of the relationship we have with the Lord is one of giving and receiving. He gives us life and all that comes with it, we receive all these gifts that come with life, and thank Him, and sacrifice back some to Him. What we give back to Him, during our offering, He transforms and gives back again. Some of the OT offerings were given back to the worshiper to enjoy and eat before the Lord. So as we bring our offerings forward, our focus turns to the Table, where God gives back. We receive it and thank Him, and go to sacrifice back our lives to Him, as our spiritual act of worship. Melchizedek, God’s priest, gave to Abraham. Abraham gave to his concubines’ children who went east. The magi come back from the east to give to the seed of Abraham. Jesus, the seed of Abraham gave His life for us, symbolizing it with bread and wine. His Father gave Him His life back. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Jesus gave us the illuminating Spirit and all His gifts along with the Spirit.
Identifying distinctions and differences can lead to stinginess. If I know you are x and I am y, then I automatically think I have less obligation to you as my brother in Christ. I’ll just stick closer with my fellow y’s and we will all be happier. But Christ is all in all, and in Him there is neither Greek nor Jew, slave or free, circumcised or not. Because of this we don’t use such differences as a justification to wrong or shortchange each other.
This is a particular danger among us. We don’t tend to just shrug our shoulders at the issues, and we also as a church accommodate different positions on several issues. It is easy to identify differences between us on some things, and this isn’t a bad thing, in itself. As we are renewed together into the Triune image of our Creator, we remain different persons. But in our differences, we come to one like-minded intent – the glory and enjoyment of God forever.
It is also easy to identify differences between us and the world and even the worldly church, and become stingy toward the world. This would lead to Joseph and Mary slamming the door in the face of the wise men, not wanting to contaminate their home with those eastern philosophies. Such a stinginess leads us to condemn too quickly as wrong, something that is not clearly wrong in Scripture. It is difficult to hold open arms to the world - to receive them as they come to Christ – while also keeping ourselves pure from the world. We either become worldly or close ourselves off from the world. But this is our calling: generosity to the world, and remaining pure from the world.
Suspension of disbelief makes it possible to read Harry Potter without disobeying God’s Word, regarding magic. You enter a fictional world where magic isn’t forbidden by God, but is a secret, academic subject, to be used for good or evil. I don’t believe it is inherently wrong to enter that fictional world, as long as you keep the magic there, as long as your Biblical worldview of reality isn’t altered because of it. Séances and witchcraft are not cool, fun, much less right, just because Harry Potter did it. Going through 1 Sam 28 would be a good orienting point for your older children who read Potter. I’ve only read the first book, and I did see some moral lessons and Gospel parallels in it. There’s plenty better stuff to read, but it won’t be forbidden to my children when they reach the right age (able to keep the magic in the fantasy world).
Some say we have no business imagining a world that contradicts the Bible. In response, I would agree it would be bad to delight in a storyline where homosexuality is a celebrated norm. The catch is that magic isn’t the same kind of problem, because magic is the perfect literary device to allude to unseen spiritual powers, over which Christ has triumphed.
So, it takes a suspension of disbelief. I say if we can’t do this, we disparage the gift of fiction, and we are missing a great deal of rich, Biblical truth to be found in stories like Narnia and Tolkien’s middle earth.
I didn't earn my cookie badge. What you see is the sad, sad outcome of my baking abilities. They might qualify for the world's thinnest cookies: 3mm. And the funny thing is they come out this way EVERY time I bake them.
