"The Price of Eternal Love"

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

This past summer our family has had a number of appliances malfunction.  First we had trouble with our gas clothes dryer.  We do have a big family and the dryer has been well used.  In fact we had owned the dryer for about 10 years.  When the dryer started having problems we called Stan’s Appliance Repair.  The repairman had worked on this dryer before and been able to fix the problems.  But this time the problems were bigger.  The estimate was almost $500.00 to fix the various problems.  On top of this, the repairman was not totally sure the repair would actually fix the dryer so that it worked the way it should.

 

You probably know that when repairing something costs more than buying a new one, it is financially wise to buy the new one.   So we purchased a new dryer, trying to buy something that was simple and would last.  But, will the new dryer last?  In another store later this summer we heard a contractor say that most appliances don’t last more than 5 or 6 years any more.  I hope he was wrong.  However, it does seem that our world produces products that are expected to be replaced rather than repaired.  My parents and grandparents experienced the Great Depression and my memory is they fixed everything.  Engineering products to throw them away seems wasteful to me.

 

Recently my daughter ran into some appliance questions that made me realize that God acts in a different way.  God created the world and the people in it for lives of obedience and an eternal relationship with Him.  But, from the beginning human beings have been selfish, rebellious, proud, and lacking in love for others.  We are sinful and broken. 

 

The only way for God to act in righteousness while saving the people He created is for someone sinless to die and rise for sinners.  No person could do this because we are born with selfishness and sin as part of our being.  But, God could do this Himself.  When people were hopelessly lost, God the Father sent His own Son to live a perfect life.  As the Son of God and as a sinless human, born of Mary, Jesus could die to pay for the guilt of sinners like us.  In His resurrection Jesus won victory over sin and death.  God worked to save humans from their lost and hopeless state, but the price God paid was out of this world.

 

In Romans 5:8, we are told of the great price God paid to fix the broken, to save us from death.  We are told, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

Think, in today’s context, about the price God paid to save us.  We throw away our appliances and possession when it costs more to fix them than it does to buy a new one.  But, was it worth the suffering and death of the very Son of God, the Creator of all, to save His sinful creation?  If God acted the way we do, he would have thrown this world and it’s inhabitants away and created a new world.  But instead, God paid the unbelievable price of His Son, to fix us, to save us.  Amazing!  Unbelievable!

 

There are times we deny our brokenness.  But, there are other times that our failure is only too obvious, even to ourselves.  Because of our lack of obedience and our sin we are ashamed.  We often feel unlovable and worthless.  But, when we feel worthless, God assures us that we are precious and loved by Him.  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

I pray that when the trials of our world and our own failure oppress you, that God’s amazing love and the price He paid to save us will remind you how valuable you are to the Lord of the Universe.  May God’s love give you strength and joy and peace to go on.  If God loves you and me that much, then our lives are worth living, for Him!

 

A Child of God, Amazed by the Depth of God’s Love,

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  After applying for a permit to hunt bison for about 20 years, I was blessed to be drawn for a bison permit in the Delta herd this year.  I have saved two weeks of vacation for this hunt, and leave after worship this Sunday, October 20, to try to find a bison to harvest.  I’ll be joined and helped by Gerry Zellar and Harvey Kolberg.  I would appreciate your prayers for safety, and God’s blessings in the hunt.

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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Planning to Grow in Jesus, 10-12-2013

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

There is somewhat sad joke about two pastor friends who were talking with one another.  The Baptist pastor in a small town had found bats in his church.  He tried all sorts of remedies, including paying exterminators, but the bats remained.  He shared his problem with his friend, the Lutheran pastor. This Lutheran pastor offered to take care of the bats.  “Really?” the Baptist pastor wondered.  “Sure,” assured the Lutheran pastor.  A week later the bats were gone.  The Baptist pastor asked his friend, “What did you do?”  The Lutheran Pastor explained, “I confirmed them.  You won’t see them again.”  This joke is an overstatement.  But, sometimes after a young person has attended confirmation classes for a number of years and goes through the confirmation ceremony they become somewhat scarce.  The goal of confirmation classes is to encourage a lifetime of Christian growth.  But sometimes goals are not fully realized.

 

I share this sad joke because of a source of joy I have right now.  We have over 30 middle school students in 4 confirmation classes.  The early teen years are a time when young people are full of life.  These confirmation students are positive about learning about Jesus and working to become friends with other Christian young people.  While 20-30 middle school students can turn up the volume, these students have truly been positive and eager to learn.  To see young people who are full of life and excited about learning about Jesus brings joy to any Christian pastor.

 

So, thinking about the joke above, do you think that when a middle school student finishes confirmation classes they know everything they need to know for life?  I think we all know that the need to learn and grow does not end with a certificate or a diploma.  Christian learning is a lifetime need. 

 

Most professions and trades include expectations of continuing education because there are always needs to remember what has been learned and to learn new information.  That is not just true for professionals, or even for middle school confirmation students, this is true for all Christians.  There is always room to grow.

 

God used St. Peter to share the need for growth with the Church.  Writing to a church that had faced persecution and temptation, as a summary of his two letters Peter writes, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” ( 2 Peter 3:18) 

 

This growth Christians need is more than growth in knowledge.  We need to grow in maturity in facing the challenges of life with the assurance of God’s saving love in Jesus.  We need to grow in wisdom to live as a child of God.  We need to grow in mercy and forgiveness.  All of these needs are helped with increased understanding of God’s Word, which shares His love and His direction for life.  All of these needs for growth are helped by the work of God’s Spirit in the lives of people of faith.

 

But, when a professional person seeks to grow, they don’t just expect that they will learn without planned effort.  They enroll in a class.  When parents and young people seek to encourage growth at a vital time in the life of an adolescent, they take part in a planned confirmation class. 

 

Do you ever recognize a need to understand the Scriptures better?  Do you ever wish for a stronger faith?  Do you see a need in yourself for godly wisdom in times of life’s challenges?  What is your plan to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus? 

 

A Child of God, Seeking to Grow in Christian Grace and Knowledge,

Pastor Jonathan

 

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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Love One Another - A Helping Hand

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

Yesterday Harvey Kolberg and I drove to Delta Junction for the day.  I know, that is a lot of driving for one day!  We spent over 12 hours in the truck, driving there and back, just so Harvey could help me prepare to use my rare Bison Hunting permit.  However, on the way back, in dark and the snow on the road north of Paxson, we saw something surprising and somewhat troubling.   A car had stopped in the middle of the Richardson Highway.  The head-lights were on.  Someone was sitting in the drivers’ seat.  But the car was stopped in the snow right in the middle of this major highway.

 

We turned around to ask the driver if he was ok.  The young man from Switzerland had rented a vehicle in Anchorage, driven to Fairbanks through Denali Park, and was returning to Anchorage through Delta Junction and Glennallen.   The car he had rented did not have 4 wheel drive and the tires were worn.  So, he could not stay on the road in the snow unless he drove very slowly.  On top of that, in this area of highway the side of the road drops off into Summit Lake and Paxson Lake.  This young man faced some danger if he drove on, and danger if he stayed there.

 

After talking to the man, Harvey offered to drive slowly in front of or behind the man to get him out of this predicament.  He accepted.  So, we drove about 15-20 miles an hour until we reached Paxson.  By then the snow was no longer sticking to the highway.  But, there were still snow squalls.  So, we continued to drive in front of the man to Glennallen.  When we reached this town the man now had options and was safe.

 

Helping the man was not in our plans.  It added time to our trip on a day that was already a marathon.  But, with just a little time and concern, this man was helped from a place of danger to a place of safety.  It just took a little helping hand.  It may not always be in our schedule, but God calls us to offer a helping hand to those around us.  In fact, Jesus calls us to do more than that. He tells His disciples, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

 

We would all like to think we can make our way through life by our own strength and ability.  But in all honesty all of us have needed help at times.  All of us have benefited from the kindness of others, even if we don’t want to remember that help.  In fact, needing help is an ultimate truth of life.  None of us can make it out of this world to the eternal welfare of heaven without Jesus.  That is why Jesus left heaven for us and took on our suffering and death.  That is why Jesus overcame our enemies by His resurrection so that we might have a way to eternal life through the love of God.  As Jesus has reached out in love to help us he calls us to realize and believe in His love.  He calls us to believe His love for us and to help others.

 

Who are those in your life who need a helping hand?  Do you have friends or family in need?  Have you volunteered at MY House, or a Food Bank, or Mat-Su Regional?  Have you helped a person beside the road?  Consider where we would be without the love and help of Jesus!

 

Thanks, Harvey, for a lesson in Christian kindness, and for reflecting Jesus’ love.

 

A Child of God, Blessed by the helping hand of my Lord and His people,

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  Here are some pictures from yesterday’s trip.  Harvey’s friend, Scott, showed us around on his game farm!  https://plus.google.com/photos/114993745799525883148/albums/5931396086457110945?banner=pwa

 

 

 

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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