We pick up where we left off last week. Again Jesus reminds us that we are to abide in him. Everything hinges on our being in Jesus. It all revolves around an intimate love relationship between the Father and Jesus, and Jesus and us. “As the Father loved me, so have I loved you.” Jesus invites us to abide in him because he loves us.

The first question that comes to mind is how. How do I abide in Jesus? It has to do with obedience and that brings us to the issue of sanctification. Saved by grace and grace alone we are called to follow Jesus, which implies that he will tell us what we are to do, and we will obey. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

No one would make the case that Jesus was in relationship with the Father because he walked in obedience. Jesus did not earn the right to be in relationship with the Father because of what he did. Jesus is the Son of the Father the relationship was already established. As an obedient Son Jesus obeyed the Father and so he abided in his love.

What Jesus purchased for you on the cross was the right to call God your Father. You have been adopted into the Family of God and so the relationship has been established not because of what you have done but because of what Jesus has done for you. That being recognized you are faced with the question, will you be obedient? If so you are abiding in him.

Obedience to the commands of Jesus establishes one’s joy. You want contentment? You want to feel the joy of the Lord? That comes with knowing that God is pleased with your life, that you are obedient to his call. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say you will have moments of joy but rather that your joy will be full.

So we have established that we are not made children of God through our works but if we are to abide in Jesus we must walk in obedience to his commandments. When we are obedient to the commands of Jesus we experience the fullness of joy. That’s sounds intriguing. Who doesn’t want a life that is marked by the fullness of joy that Jesus offers to those who obey his commandments? The next logical question then is what does he expect from us?

As usual Jesus cuts to the chase. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Well that is clear and direct. You want to abide in Jesus keep his commandments. What does he command us to do? We are to love one another as he loves us. Difficult but not impossible would be my initial reaction. Most people you run into are pretty easy to get a long with. There are some difficult people but I think this is do able. We all kind of get along here don’t we?

Jesus continues. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” No Jesus has crossed the line. Love as defined as getting along, I can deal with. Laying down one’s life, putting others needs above my own pushes this love idea to a whole new level. When we were enemies to God Jesus died for us. He commands that we love others as he has loved us. The bar is quite high. Following Jesus is not a walk in the park but is serious business. We are called to die to self and live to him.

Jesus has invited us into an intimate relationship with him. We are to abide in Jesus as Jesus abides in his Father. The walls the sin built up that keep us from God have all come down when Jesus got up on that first Easter morning. We are in an intimate relationship with him that requires obedience to his word. We are friends with Jesus, friends whom he died for if, and there goes that if again, we obey his commands. We are not servants any longer because servants are not in relationship with their master. They are not told the way of things. We are brought into the very purposes of God; we are in relationship with him.

We didn’t earn the relationship through good works. Jesus purchased our salvation on the cross. He invites us to abide in him, which we do when we walk in obedience. The promise is that if we abide in him we will experience fullness of joy. The commandment is a simple one; love others as Jesus loves you. It turns out that what we are asked to do is to lay down our life for others. When we do that we are no longer slaves but friends to God.

This is an unsettling place to be in. Sins paid for which gives us a feeling of relief. Invited in to a relationship with Jesus that carries the promise of the fullness of joy. I’m feeling it. Then comes the catch. All we have to do is to love others as Jesus has loved us and one begins to feel the tension. We were given the prize before we were told the cost. No cheap grace being offered. Following Jesus is absolutely free on one hand, but following Jesus will cost you everything.

So how did we end up in this place of such tension? Was this your choice? Again Jesus speaks clearly, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…” Jesus has called you into this relationship. You are his friend not through mutual consent but because Jesus wanted to be in relationship with you. Before the foundation of the world, when you were God’s enemy he called you to be his friend.

So the relationship has a bit of tension because of the demands of the relationship but remember you are here because Jesus has called you. This is his doing and it is very good.

Jesus chose you but he chose you for a purpose. He chose us to go. Sometimes you get the idea that Jesus called us out of darkness to hang out. Christians roll through life thinking that since they have been freed from sin they are freed from responsibility. We wonder why churches are struggling to survive when Jesus has told us the harvest is ripe and ready for gathering. We come to church to be built up in our most precious holy faith. We sing praises to God, hear his word read and preached, and we gather at the table and then we look out and wonder why no one comes to join us. Sometimes the answer to our question is obvious. Jesus did not call us to sit. He called us to go. “Go into all the world and make disciples.” Yet too often we sit.

Put are we just to go? Do Jesus call us into this relationship and send us out to keep busy until he comes back for us? “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go…” and here comes the good part, “and fruit…”

We have been called to bear fruit for the kingdom of God. The harvest is ripe. The Holy Spirit is at work preparing the hearts of people to receive the gospel. We have been called to go and the success of our mission is sure, if we obey.

There is a lot of talk in the church about what we are to do. Lot’s of talk about the opposition we face or appear to face. Yet we fail to look at ourselves. Could we be the problem? If we are called to go and we sit instead maybe we are to blame. The church of New York City has not had great success in spreading the kingdom of God here. Oh there are some big churches and many churches have been planted in the last decade but we have not grown much at all. Could it be that we are not going as we have been called to do? When is the last time you had a conversation about Jesus with someone? We talk about a sports, about fashion, about work, about all kinds of things but when was the last time you spoke about Jesus to someone?

We are called to go and the promise is that we will bear fruit. Do you believe Jesus? If we don’t go we will not bear fruit. If we see no fruit whose fault is that? Is Jesus lying or are we disobedient? Each of us has to answer that on our own.

And again I recognize the tension. We are called into a relationship and then given the task. A task that can seem overwhelming at times but Jesus does not leave us alone in all of this. He knows our every weakness and so he makes you and me a promise. “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”

What is it that you pray for? Do you pray for stuff to make you comfortable while you sit rather than go? Or do you pray for opportunities to obey Jesus command. Why not try this prayer, “Lord lead me to someone today that I might share with them the love of Jesus.”

We have been called by Jesus, so let us go forth with purpose to obey him and trust his promise that we will bear fruit and our heavenly Father will be glorified.

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” These are the words of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus bears fruit. No fruit and one’s standing as a disciple gets rightfully called into question. At another point Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.” A Christian is noticeable different than those who do not follow Jesus. Does this make you uncomfortable? It should.

As one person put it, there are those who are better Easter preachers than Pentecost preachers. They talk about the grace of God, but fail to speak about what comes after. The idea of redemption is trumpeted, but sanctification is avoided. Sanctification is about our new life in Christ. Luther tells us that Christ has purchased our redemption from sin and death so that the Holy Spirit might transform us out of the old Adam in the new. Christ not only earned for us grace, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit, not only forgiveness of sins, but also the cessation of sin by the power of the Holy Spirit. Luther writes, “Now he who does not abstain from sin, but persists in his evil life, must have a different Christ, that of the Antinomians; the real Christ is not there, even if all the angels would cry, ‘Christ! Christ!’ He must be damned with this, his new Christ.”

If we are to bear fruit as proof of our salvation how is that done. After all even our good works are filthy rags before the Father. Nothing we do brings us favor with God. If we say we have no sin we make God a liar. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Knowing all of this I cannot wake up in the morning and decide that I will live righteously this day and then on my own strength and determination go out and live a godly life.

When Jesus died we died with him. When he rose from the dead we rose with him in newness of life. We get that. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus. But as we all know we still wrestle with sin. Everyday we come up short. If this were not the case we would have no need for absolution and confession. The truth is that we do not love God with our whole mind, soul and strength and we do not love our neighbor as we do ourselves. We must return to God each day and seek his forgiveness acknowledging that without him we can do nothing.

Jesus addresses this question in our gospel text this morning. He tells us that he is the vine and God is the vinedresser. Life, all life, springs from Jesus. If we remain in Jesus we bear fruit. If not we will cut off. The vine bears fruit. When branches cease to bear fruit they are pruned so that the vine is more productive.

This is a compelling idea. Jesus, the body of Christ bears fruit. When part of the body ceases to bear fruit it is cut of so that the body yields more abundantly. We tend to think that salvation is only personal and it is all about me. Salvation is bigger than that. Salvation is about Jesus reconciling fallen humankind. We are saved into the body of Christ to be productive members of it. We have been called to bear fruit for the body of Christ. We have been saved for a purpose, to glorify Christ in our lives. When that ceases we are no longer bearing fruit and the warning is that we will be cut off. Some seed falls among the thrones. As they grow together the thrones, the cares of this world choke the good seed and it dies.

The question you are left with is are you being choked into uselessness for the kingdom by the cares of this world. Is your good seed so tied up with the values and cares of this world that you bear no kingdom fruit?

Jesus is clear. His death has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. He tells us that if we are going to bear fruit we must abide in him. Apart from him you can do nothing. Startling words from Jesus. Our only hope is to abide in him. What does that mean.

On the cross Jesus restored our relationship with God. He paid the price for our sin and opened the way into God’s presence. We can commune with God, as did Adam before the fall. The problem is too often we give God a passing nod and go about our lives as if he really doesn’t matter. We don’t think God’s thought after him, we don’t dwell consciously in his presence, we go through life with God as an add on. We live our life just as everyone around us and we tag God on the end by showing up at church.

What revolutionized Europe in the 15 hundreds was the reformation. Luther had is world changing idea. He translated the Bible into the common language of the people and placed it in their hands. All of a sudden everyone had access to the word of God to read and understand. The branches could draw life from the vine through the reading of the word of God.

We inherited that legacy. The word of God has been placed in our hands. I think I can safely say that everyone here today has a Bible in his or her home. If not we will give you one. The Bible is it was mass produced has been a best seller. Access to the word of God is not the issue. The question is do you read it?

When we abide in Jesus we bear fruit. We bear fruit by understanding the commands of God and walking in his directives. We draw strength from God by knowing his promises and resting in them. We only come to this place if we read and understand the word of God. We think God’s thoughts after him only if we understand how he reasons and think which we get through reading his word.

These are interesting times we live in. There are many changes taking place in our nation. Values that are not founded on the word of God are shifting sand. Houses built on sand eventually fall. The rock to build upon is Jesus and we understand him through the word of God.

Too many are Easter Christians. They rightfully celebrate the resurrection but they fail to realize that the resurrection is only the beginning. Readings from the book of Acts replace the Old Testament during Easter leading up to Pentecost. What we see is the disciples and the early church learning what it means to walk in resurrection life. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell and the church learned what it means to abide in Jesus, a lesson each generation has to learn for themselves.

The mark of the early church was that they were in constant fellowship, the studied the word of God at once, they partook of the sacraments and they prayed. Is that what marks your life this morning?

People who pray often and read the word of God on a regular basis live differently than those who do not. As Lutheran we are big on salvation by grace alone, it is the foundation of how we understand our relationship with God. But Luther understood that that is not enough and so he placed the word of God in the hands of the common people so that they could learn to walk with Jesus.

I am not saying that there is some rule about how much you need to read and how often you have to pray to be a Christian. We were grafted into the vine Easter morning. Jesus, not I, said that being grafted in is not enough because if you don’t bear fruit you will be cut off. I want to point you to Jesus warning this morning and encourage you to abide in him by spending time in his word and in prayer so that you can walk in a new understanding of Jesus and what he expects from you.

The road of the Christian that leads to life is narrow and runs in the opposite direction of the broad road that leads to death. If you are soaking up this world and pursuing all that it has to offer never challenging its presuppositions, if your life looks like everyone around you than you might want to stop and consider which road you are on.

This is a hard life we are called to in many ways but here is the catch. Jesus promises to be with us and he has given us the strength through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to follow him. If that is not enough he has given us the right to approach him in pray. If you abide in Jesus and his word abides in you, you can ask what you wish and it will be done for you. That is a big promise.

If you abide in Jesus and his word abides in you, you will see things differently. What you wish for will be different. The kingdom of God will be a priority in your life. You will understand that those outside of Jesus are in eternal trouble and you will understand that some of the things you pursue have no eternal value. Your prayers will change as your values align with the values of the kingdom. Your prayers will be geared toward eternal fruit not temporary gratification. Jesus promises that the Father will be glorified by your life as you bear fruit and prove to be a disciple of Jesus.

What is love? It is a topic talked about, written about, it is a theme for many moves and everyone wants to experience it but what exactly is it? For many it is an illusive feeling that we get when we are around someone we care about. I that strong desire we have when we are doing something we find great fulfillment in. It’s the emotional tie that we feel for toward our family and friends. Love is many things for us in our contemporary society.

Many of the ways that we define love have a certain level of truth. The word is used to describe the way we feel about and experience certain people, places and things. We love our homes, our neighborhoods, our pets, our jobs, our sports teams and most certainly our spouses. As far as it goes we can all agree that that is how we understand and use the word love.

Too often love is focused in on the self. We love the things, places, and people who give us pleasure. When we stop drawing pleasure from these things we know longer love them. The divorce rate has skyrocketed because people fall out of love. Once the person I marry no longer meets my expectations or gives me pleasure I can say, using the common understanding of the word, I no longer love them and therefore I am justified in breaking the covenant I made to them.

So we can say on one level we love the people around us but it springs from self-interest. When Jesus tells us we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves we immediately think of the people we care about. It is the basis for the question that led Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. The man questioning Jesus wanted a definition of neighbor show that he could focus his love on those who are worthy.

In response Jesus flipped the story on the man. The man who was beaten by thieves was a Jew. Those who refused to help him for whatever reason were Jewish leaders; a priest and a Levite. The man who came to his aid was at Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans did not get along. So who is my neighbor? Anyone I need. So loving my neighbor has little to do with my personal feelings and everything to do with the other persons need.

Jesus takes the idea of love further when he says we are to love our enemies. So not only are we to show love to those in need but to those who treat us badly. This truth is hinted at in the Good Samaritan parable. Jesus tells us that if we only love those who are kind to us we haven’t done anything note worthy, everyone does that. The sign of the Christian is that we love those not only don’t love us back but those who mistreat us.

At the recent workshop in Connecticut the idea of praying for one’s enemies came up. One person said that we don’t pray for our enemies because we don’t know what to pray for. He said we can’t ask God to bless them, can we? We in fact we can and we should. Do good to those who misuse you. Jesus forgave those who were nailing him to the cross and the thief who mocked him. Praying for the good of our enemies is showing them love. We are to do unto others what we would have them do to us and who doesn’t want people to pray that God would bless them. Christianity is not as hard as we make it. It is just distasteful at times.

So then how does Jesus define love for us if it is not about selfish desires on our part or about only being kind to those who are kind to us? We like to pass judgment and only show love to those who deserve it. And then along comes Jesus.

John writes, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us…” With all our talk about love it seems we have missed the point completely. Love is not about me, and my needs at all. Love is not an emotion or a feeling. Love is an action. We know love by what is done. We know the love of God because God showed us his love by sending his Son to die for us. It was John who wrote, “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

In our understanding of love we must start with Jesus. He gives us the working definition of what love is. He doesn’t tell us what it is because words cannot describe it and so he does the only think he can to bring us understanding. Jesus lays down his live for us. He goes to the cross and dies in our place. We the guilty sinners walk away guilt free because Jesus the perfect Son of God takes our place and dies that we might live.

Are you starting to understand what love is? Like the man in the parable of the Good Samaritan we have been beaten up by sin and left on the side of the road to die. Nothing can save us. Our people come by and see the mess we are in and have nothing to offer. Our religion can’t help us. We can’t help ourselves. We are as good as dead until someone stops to deal with our condition and his name is Jesus, He nurses our wounds and brings us back to health and then promises to take care of our future needs. This is love. There is nothing in it for Jesus. He doesn’t need you and you add nothing to him. He died for you because he loves you. And in this supreme act of unselfish, sacrificial love we understand its meaning.

Does that change things for you? Are you starting to understand what love is really about? It there a paradigm shift happening in your understanding? You don’t have to feel an emotional rush to love someone. You don’t have to feel cared for or fulfilled to love someone. You don’t have to receive anything back from someone to love them. It’s not about you. Jesus got nothing in return for loving you it is just his nature to love. When we died with Jesus and got up with him we took on his nature.

And now to John’s point, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” Jesus died and showed us love and now understanding what love is we are to love those around us in the same way.

John gets practical. I so rather live in the world of theories and ideas but the Bible always takes up residence where I live. “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does Gods love abide in him?”

Once we know what love is as defined by Jesus we are obligated to apply it to our lives. If you have been blessed with this worlds goods, and we all have, and you see someone in need guess what? You though God gave you what you have for your own selfish desires. E. V. Hill said, “God won’t give it to you if he can’t get it through you.” We are instruments of God’s grace. “Freely you have received, freely give.”

Here is how it works. I look out for the people around me and seek to love them in a Christ like manner. They intern look after me. I can keep my life and struggle to maintain and in the end I will be frustrated and eventually we lose the very things I strive for. The individualism of our society is pushing us to believe this lie. The more we draw in to protect our selves the further we draw away from one another. The result is the break down of community, which is completely opposed to our nature. “It is not good for man to be alone.” We are social beings. Or I can give my life in love for the people around me, sharing what I have for the good of others, and losing my life I gain it back plus. The community strengthens and instead of having only the things I can produce myself I have the resources of the community at my disposal.

We are saved into the body of Christ. We are each given gifts for the good of the whole. We find fulfillment in giving to others. The sign that we have the love of God dwelling richly in us is that we do as Jesus does. John’s words to us are simple, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

We are in the Easter season. The resurrection is on our mind. He is risen; Alleluia! Easter is packed full of benefits for the believer. Our sins have been paid for. Death and the grave have been defeated. All of this leads to the truth that John declares, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

We are children of God. Let that sink in for a moment. Before the resurrection, before we were born of water and the Spirit, before we could call upon the name of the Lord in faith we were enemies to God, separated from him, destined to eternal damnation, without hope. But Easter changed all of that. We died with Christ and were buried with him. Good Friday was good because our sinful self died with Jesus. On that first day of the week, after a long and lonely Saturday, the women went to the tomb and found the stone rolled away and the grave empty. Jesus died on Friday but on Sunday morning, he got up! When he got up we got up with him and everything changed.

We are children of God. Sin paid for. The wall of separation has been torn down. We are in communion with the Father. The effects of the fall are removed. We are children of God. What does that mean?

Honestly we don’t know. It is too wonderful to get our minds around. God is our Father and we are his children. How good is that? Too wonderful for words is John’s response. “What we will be has not yet appeared; but we know when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” We will be like Jesus. Oh there are the obvious things, no pain and suffering, no death, no aging bodies, no sin. But it is more than that. Those are the things we can think about, but we are going to be like Jesus who we can’t even really comprehend.

There is a down side to all of this. The world did not know, understand, Jesus and they will not understand or know us. So we live as strangers in the land. We no longer fit. We don’t share the same values as those around us. We march to the beat of a different drummer.

Once we were like the world, but no longer. Now we have become disciples of Jesus. On the narrow way at times it feels like we are bucking the crowd because we are. Our hope is no longer success in this world we aim for a higher standard. The things that once caught our attention no longer do. Paul tells us that the things that were once important to him he counts as lose in order to know Jesus. Do you have this same understanding? There is something higher than the things this world calls us to?

Is your hope to be like Jesus? Think about who Jesus is. Remember Jesus took on flesh to be like us so that we could be like him. He became the ideal human being. What mattered to Jesus? Things, he had none and they never seemed to grab his attention. A big house, foxes have their holes and birds there nest but Jesus had no place to lay his head. What mattered to Jesus? People mattered to him. You and I matter to Jesus. He came to serve others even to the point of laying down his life for our salvation.

What role do people play in your life? Are they important for who they are or for what they can do for you? It’s an important question. It’s all wrapped up in the sin question. Sin is breaking the commands of God. Jesus sums up the commands of God with to commands; love God with your whole being and love your neighbors as your self. Sin is a breakdown of these relationships. We sin against God when we put our own needs and desires first. We take the place of God in our own lives. And we sin against others when we put our own needs and desires first.

Is God a means to an end for you? Do you pray to God only when you need something? Do your prayers consist only of asking God for things? Does he exist to make your life comfortable? Do you serve God or do you ask that he serve you?

To put your self on the throne and to consign God second seat is idolatry. God demands our obedience. Not to do so is to say to him you know best what you need and what you should do. The world rejects God. Everyone desires to be gods of their own worlds, but our heavenly Father shares his glory with no man.

What about the people in your life, why do they exist? Do you enter every relationship seeking what you can get out of the other person? Are you looking for people to complete you, to improve your life in someway, to open opportunities for advancement? Do you seek your fulfillment and life purpose in other people?

We have been created in the image of God. We are to be like him and reflect his glory in all that we do. Our purpose is to reflect our Father to the world around us. Unfortunately sin entered the world and we no longer seek to glorify God in our lives because without the Spirit of God we can’t. We died spiritually when we sought to be like God by walking in disobedience.

God told Eve that if she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil she would die. Satan told her that she would but that in fact she would be like God. What was the temptation for Eve? She could be like God. What is the temptation for all of us? If we take charge of our own lives we will be like God.

Created in the image of God we are called to serve other. We see that in the incarnation. God so loved his fallen world that he sent his Son to die for our sins. Jesus came among us as one of us, to serve us. We see that through out his life. Jesus put people first and sought to serve them in any number of ways.

Created to serve and worship God we are also to serve others. Our hope is that we will be like Jesus when he appears. John says that if being like Jesus is our hope than we will purify ourselves in this life, we will start to act like Jesus in the here and now.

To practice sin is to live a life of lawlessness; a life outside the commands of God. When we live outside of God’s law we become a law unto ourselves and that is the way of death. The way of life is to follow after Jesus in all that we do. We die to self in order to live for God. This brings us back to the cross. Being dead in our sins prevents us from living for Jesus. The cross is the place where we die. From the cross we move to Easter and herein lies our hope and those with this hope purify themselves. To practice sins is lawlessness while those with Easter hope practice righteousness.

John gives us a gage to judge whether we know Jesus or not. It is not a question we can answer in the abstract. By your fruit you shall know them is what Jesus said about his followers. If we knowingly and consistently keep on sinning shamelessly we are walking a dangerous road. Those who abide in Jesus seek to refrain from sin. Those that don’t, those that act if it doesn’t matter do not know Jesus.

If you are caught up in the world and think it is just fine to gather with the saints on Sunday and to live like the world the rest of the week never questioning what you do you are in trouble. You are walking a fine line. You might be saying, “Lord, Lord,” only to hear back, “Depart from me I never knew you.”

It’s time to get serious with Jesus. Are you a disciple or not? To seek to purify yourself is not a means to your salvation, which is found in the cross. It is the evidence of your salvation. What you do matters. It reveals what is in your heart and where you allegiance lies. Serve God this day, go and sin no more.

The last word we heard from Jesus on Friday was, “It is finished.” All that Jesus came to do was accomplished. For this reason he came, to die on the cross to pay the price for our sins and reconcile us back to God. Mission accomplished.

He had told the disciples what he had come to do. Thursday night he told them that he would be arrested and turned over to the authorities, tried and put to death. It happened just as he had said. But the disciples didn’t understand.

Peter vowed never to betray Jesus and yet before the events of the night were over he had denied knowing Jesus not once but three times. The rest of the disciples all fled in fear when they came to arrest Jesus. When we get to the crucifixion it is only John and the women who are at the cross.

Friday night he died. In spite of what he told them for the disciples all hope was gone. Jesus bowed his head and died. Joseph asked Pilate for the body of Jesus which he laid in an unused tomb. They started to prepare the body for burial but because it was the Sabbath they could not finish so they sealed the tomb with the idea of coming back to finish it on Sunday, the first day of the week.

Saturday was a time of fear and despair. Jesus was dead, and all hope was gone. Nothing was happening. It was a time when God was not active among the people. Heaven seemed shut up. Nothing made sense. They put their hope in Jesus as the promised messiah. They expected him to usher in the kingdom as he promised. All their preconceived ideas of what that meant were dashed on the rock of despair; Jesus was dead.

Friday was the end of their dreams and Saturday was the period of time that they had to pass through because God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts.

Like the disciples we all have our own ideas about what God is doing and what it is he has planed for us. We have personal plans and plans for our church. We think about how things should unfold and we pray and wait for them to come to pass and then we are brought to the cross. On the cross we die with Jesus. Jesus tells us that we must take up our cross daily and follow him. We must die to self but self dies hard. We fool ourselves into thinking that we have died and are following Jesus. We think we know the plan.

Peter thought he knew the plan. He vowed that he was ready to die for Jesus even if no one else would. The rest of the disciples made the same vow along with Peter. Peter was so sure he was willing to die for Jesus that he took a sword to the garden with him. He even used it on the slave of the high priest by cutting off his ear. Before the night was over Peter ran away in shame. Saturday the all contemplated there own misunderstandings as to what was to happen. It was a time of despair.

God never does the expected. Our limited minds cannot comprehend his thoughts. Our plans are always small and self-centered. Saturday was a time of despair. Everything they counted on to happen didn’t.

Isn’t that the way it is? We make plans and God does something else. He has called us to die. Our goals and ambitions get caught up in him and he turns them as he sees fit. We lose or life in him so that we can live. We get caught up in Saturday. All hope is gone and the future is uncertain even though Jesus has promised us abundant life. Life only comes to us through death.

On the first day of the week some of the women rush to the tomb to finish the burial.

Jesus told them that he would rise from the dead. Their hopes had crashed down upon them on Friday and they lived the despair of Saturday and yet they pressed on with their own plans.

We are just like the actors in this scene. Even when things don’t go according to plan and it is clear that God has something else in mind and though we don’t know the future we press on with our own plans. Sometimes we even think it is an act of faith to continue. After all God has got to fulfill our plans as we understand them doesn’t he?

Mark is an interesting gospel. He continually shows the disciples of Jesus coming up short and not understanding what is going on. He lays out for us Jesus the messiah but one who is unpredictable. Jesus never acts like he is expected to act and yet he remains faithful to his mission and that is how Mark ends his gospel.

Jesus told his disciples he would die and raise again. On Friday he died openly in the sight of all. On Saturday the reality of his death had time to sink in. On Sunday the women went to the tomb to finish the burial and when they get there the tomb is open. They go inside and there is an angel who tells them Jesus has risen.

Most of the gospel writers end on a high not. Jesus is alive he appears to his disciples. It is a time of great rejoicing. Mark is different. Mark is writing to the church. He has a different purpose. For Mark the women leave the tomb afraid. How interesting.

I would argue if we understand the ramifications of what has taken place our world has been disrupted. Our plans have been dashed and we are faced with the risen Christ. Our sins have been forgiven but our live is no longer our own. The future remains for us uncertain and we are in the hands of the one who rose from the dead. We no longer have control of our future and it is not understandable to us.

No one can walk away from the empty tomb saying why of course. Jesus is alive. The disciples who walked with Jesus and heard him speak of the event, when the saw it, were afraid. No rises from the dead and if they do it changes everything.

Jesus is no ordinary man. If he is who is says he is and rising from the dead is the evidence that he is than he demands our allegiance. Easter is a time of life and change. It is a time of celebration but it is a time of uncertainty. You need to answer for yourself the question, who is Jesus? If he is who he says he is your life belongs to him and is no longer under your control. If that does not bring a certain level of fear and uncertainty you have not let go of your life.

Mark doesn’t wrap up his gospel because for the believer it remains an open-ended commitment. All we know is that Jesus is alive and he is in charge. What he demands from you is your all. The plea he makes of you this morning is the same one he always makes. “Come follow me.”

Palm Sunday, Holy Week begins. The life of Jesus has pointed to this week since his birth in Bethlehem. Jesus came to die and we are moving quickly to that day. This week will end with Jesus in the tomb and the disciples scattered and in hiding. Jesus came to die for our sins and to teach us to live the abundant life he won for us on the Cross of Calvary.

Last weeks gospel text was about authority. Who is in control and who gets to sit in the seat of authority? Mark’s gospel Jesus sets up that discussion just before he demonstrates for us what that means. The great ones in the kingdom serve others and the greatest in the kingdom is servant to all. That’s an interesting teaching but we learn best by example. Jesus goes on to show us what it means to be a servant.

God uses the weak to confound the strong and the foolish to confound the wise. Zechariah tells us that the king is coming and he will cut of the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses form Jerusalem; the battle will end and he will speak peace to the nations. This king of peace who will overcome those engaged in battle will come riding on a donkey. He will come in humility to defeat the strong and arrogant. Zechariah was looking forward to Jesus entry into Jerusalem.

The story is a familiar one to most people. Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with his disciples. He sends a few ahead to get the donkey he will ride upon. When they return they put a cloak upon the donkey and Jesus sits on it and rides it into the city. Along the way the people begin throwing their cloaks before him and cutting down palm branches and laying them before Jesus as well. They begin to shout praises to him, hailing him as the one who comes in the name of the Lord. The leaders of the Jews are incensed at the crowd and tell Jesus to silence them. Jesus replies that if they stop the rocks will cry out in praise.

Jesus comes humbly into the city but he in no way denies who he is. He understands his calling and his place. He does not deny that he is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

Our gospel text this morning fast-forwards to the events of Friday. Early in the morning Jesus is arrested in the garden, after prayer, and is bound and taken, after a mock trial by the Sanhedrin, to Pilate with the charge that Jesus claims to be the king of the Jews. To this Jesus replies, “You have said so.” He leaves the decision in Pilate’s hands. Other charges are brought but Jesus makes no defense. He is in the hands of his Father.

Pilate wants to get out from this dilemma he finds himself in; if he lets innocent Jesus go he could face a riot and if he puts him to death he is killing and innocent man. He offers to let a prisoner go. Pilate brings out a murderer and a rebel named Barabbas. Will it be Jesus or Barabbas is the question? The crowd calls for the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus. The guilty man goes free while the innocent one is condemned; the essence of the Gospel.

Throughout the events of the night Jesus does not defend himself. He remains strong and resolute but humble throughout. Jesus came to serve not to be served. He is in this situation for us, not for himself.

As the night goes on Jesus is mocked and beaten to near death. He is forced to carry the cross beam on which he will hang to Golgotha where he will face death. When because of weakness he can no longer go on Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry the beam the rest of the way.

On the hill he is nailed to the cross where he is left to die hanging between two thieves. All the while he is taunted to save himself if he is truly the Son of God. Jesus came for us not for himself. He humbly gives himself over to death in service to us. He even saves one of the thieves who repents while he is hanging on the cross. For Jesus it is all about everyone else.

Eventually Jesus dies and is taken down and laid in a borrowed tomb. Our text ends there this morning. We will pick it up again next Sunday at the Easter celebration. Jesus dies alone bearing the weight of our sin so that those who believe in him will live. Jesus said, “I come to give you life and that life more abundant.” Abundant life means that the question of sin needed to be addressed. Since the wages of sin is death Jesus had to go to the cross that we might find life. We gather here this morning to celebrate our new life in Jesus because he went to the cross.

Do you understand the ramifications of what took place on the cross? Jesus humbly went to the cross to die to pay the price for your sins. He died so that you could live. It is almost beyond comprehension. The just dies for the unjust the righteous for the unrighteous. You can come into the presence of God this morning because Jesus went to the cross as a servant, putting you first.

Paul picks up that theme in Philippians 2 and it is the message I want you to walk away with this morning. He asks if you have received any benefit from the death of Jesus on the cross you must take on the mind of Christ. Interesting thought. Bonhoeffer reminds us that truth must be lived. If the death of Jesus is true than that changes how you look at, evaluate and live your life. Because of the cross everything you understand about life is different. You were born into this world and learned to think as the world thinks, but the cross changes that. If you accept the cross you must put on the mind of Christ.

Jesus did not base his life here on earth on the privileges he had being in very nature God. We are so used to talking about our rights and privileges that we lose sight of why we are here. Jesus did not hold on to his equality with God but emptied himself taking on the form of a servant. We see that in the life of Jesus recorded in the gospels. The story we read this morning focuses in on the fact that Jesus came to serve us. Jesus became like us to serve us. Jesus’ thoughts were directed at us, and our needs. Have this mind Paul tells us; the mind of a servant.

Jesus was willing to give up all for us and we are to do likewise for the people around us. Lose your life and you save it. We were created to serve one another. How different that idea is from all we are told. We are programmed for fun and excitement. Our lives in spent on self-fulfillment. Saving our lives is top priority from the time we are little children. We are born selfish. Servanthood is learned behavior.

How do we learn to serve? The answer to that is simple. It starts with our understanding of truth. It begins by absorbing the truth of the cross. We are unworthy sinners for whom Jesus died. Understanding that we know that nothing good dwells within us. All the good that we do comes from the Father. Our life comes from him. Therefore we are free to no longer spend our time and energy upon ourselves but we are free to serve others.

When the cross becomes central in our lives we get caught up into Christ, and all of our needs are met in him. We think Christ’s thoughts after him. The mind of Christ becomes the center of our understanding of life. The needs of others take center stage.

Let me challenge you to pray each morning that the Lord would bring into you life someone to serve. The needy are all around us we just fail to see the opportunities.

On Tuesday nights a group meets in my home to ask that question, what is God at work doing in your life? A disciple is a follower of a teacher. Jesus is the teacher and we are his disciples. Our purpose in life is to follow him. If we do he will lead us to the lost and broken and ask us to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly.

What Jesus has done for us, he asks us to do for others. He served us will we in turn serve the people around us.

Lent was a time to reflex on our sinfulness and the need of a savior. Easter resolves the sin question and points us to a new life. The life we are called to, the abundant life is one of service to others. If you followed Jesus through the cross to the grave you died to self. Will you emerge from the tomb with the mind of Christ?

Those of us who have been around for a while remember Mohammad Ali asking that question before every fight. Who’s the greatest? Former mayor Ed Koch phased it a different way asking, “How am I doing? Both men were looking for reassurance and a pat on the back. Look at me and let me know that I’m okay and doing fine.

It’s the time of the Passover and Jesus is in Jerusalem. John places this event at the beginning of his gospel. For John this event sets the tone for Jesus’ ministry. Jesus enters the Temple, the Court of the Gentiles, and he finds them selling animals for the sacrifice. Now on the surface of things this is not a bad thing. One thing to remember is sometimes good things can trip us up preventing us from doing the right thing.

In Judaism the only place one could make sacrifice was in the temple in Jerusalem. There was only one altar on which to sacrifice, in the one city that God choose to place his name. Passover was a special celebration of the people of Israel. It was the celebration of the Exodus of God’s people from the hands of Egyptian bondage. Passover required the slaughtering of a lamb. The lamb needed to be slaughtered by a priest in Jerusalem.

You’re a devout Jew. You make the yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In order to celebrate the Passover you need to bring a lamb for the sacrifice. If you live close to the city this does not present much of an obstacle, but suppose you live in Galilee? There are no mass transit systems to get you to the city. If you are going to Jerusalem you are walking there. To celebrate the Passover would mean that you would need to walk to Jerusalem with a lamb in tow.

As a way to accommodate the pilgrim worshipers the temple authorities decided that it would be good to sell lambs at the temple site so that those coming to the Passover celebrate could travel light and purchase their lamb for the sacrifice when they arrived in the city. On face value this is a good thing. It supplies a service to the worshipers and revenue for the temple.

Jesus enters the court and is furious over what he sees. So furious in fact that he makes a whip of cords and drives them all out of the temple; sheep, oxen and sellers. Where’s the meek and mild Jesus who never offends anyone. What made Jesus so angry? Why did he act in such manner?

The temple was divided into different areas. There was the Holy of Holy’s in the center, where the High Priest entered once a year. Around that was the Holy Place where the priests slaughtered the sacrifice. There was a court for the men and one for the women. As one first entered the temple you entered into the Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles was the only place in the temple where the Gentiles were aloud to worship.

The Jews were called by God to live out there faith in such a way as to draw the nations to the Lord. They were God’s representatives to declare him name. The temple was the center of worship. It should have been the place where the mission of the nations was most clearly seen and experienced. The temple was to be a house of prayer for all people.

Jesus the light of the Gentile and the glory of Israel walks into the Court of the Gentiles and instead of seeing people in prayer he finds merchants selling animals for the sacrifice; a service to the Jewish worshippers and a disservice to the Gentiles.

The thrust of Jesus’ ministry, the very reason that he came to earth was to save lost sinners. For Jesus it is all about the mission. The Jews should have been accommodating the Gentiles, trying to draw them to faith in the one true God but they were doing the opposite. They, by their actions, were throwing a stumbling block in front of the Gentiles making it impossible for them to come to faith.

It is easy to see this as a desecration of a holy place. This is the temple and there should be no sales of any kind. But Jesus response to what he saw makes it clear that it was more than that. The temple was to be a house of prayer for all people, that is the issue. You can’t pray in the market place.

So I got to thinking about this idea. We are called to draw people to Christ. The church, our church, has a three-fold purpose for existing. We are to love God with our whole being, which includes worship. We are to love our neighbors, which is service. And we are to make disciples. Are we?

These three purposes seem to get different amounts of our energy. We focus on the worship of God. That for some becomes the be all and end all of why the church exists. Everything centers a round the worship service to the exclusion of everything else. The feeling is that if we worship and do it well we have fulfilled our reason for existence. Worship is important but there is more.

Some add service to worship. They do good things for their neighbors and support relief projects when disasters arise. Worship coupled with service seems for some to be the whole show.

Jesus tells us there is more. We are to go into the world and make disciples. Actually the idea is more as you go through your life, in every aspect of your life, you are to be making disciples. Unfortunately this gets the least attention and the church suffers because of it.

The rulers of the temple saw the worship as being the whole show. Selling animals for the sacrifice was providing a service for the faithful. In a way this was showing love to their fellow Jewish neighbors. Yet because they had suffered under the hand of the Gentiles and they were not interested in making accommodation for them. The Gentiles were of little or no concern to them. Obviously the Gentiles meant something to Jesus.

It goes without saying that worship is a priority. It is one of the things we do. We are to love God with our whole being and word and sacrament are a part of that.

We also need to serve our neighbors. We are citizens of this world and should be good ones. Caring for those in need is a big part of what we should and must be about as Christians and as a church.

We must be about making disciples and here is the point of the text. What are we doing to accommodate the unbelievers? How are we making it special for them? How are we leveling mountains and filling in valleys so that the way to the Lord is level and straight?

Selling animals for the sacrifice was a good thing. Doing it in a way that excluded the Gentiles from any kind of worship was a bad thing. Some times we run the danger of being so concerned about the purity of our doctrine and the sanctity of our space and the quality of our liturgy that we push the unsaved away for Jesus. We build mountains rather than leveling them. We dig valleys rather than filling them in. We make the way to the Lord difficult rather than simple. Instead of encouraging the unsaved to turn to the Lord in prayer we make it impossible.

It is all about the mission. When we get focused on the mission our walk with the Lord will improve. Jesus took twelve men who didn’t get it and sent them out to evangelize. The task created questions and obstacles that drove them back to God. We don’t get ready and than evangelize. We are salt and light, and so we do what we do imperfectly and then come back to the Lord for strength and help.

The Jews read each year in the prophets that the Gentiles would come streaming into the temple of God and all the world would be saved. Yet while reading that they were making it impossible for that to take place.

We talk about mission and we want the world to come but do we really? Do we make our worship user friendly? Do we make our liturgy understandable? Are we inviting when visitors show up? Do we go out of our way to bring them in? Our do we set up the things the make it easy for us and in so doing block their way?

Join us for worship each Sunday at 11pm at 417 West 57^th Street, New York, NY

On the Mount of Transfiguration the voice of the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” A command of the Father is to listen to Jesus. To listen is to obey. God was not asking us to process words but to hear what Jesus is telling us and to put it into practice. “Listen to him.”

One of the disciplines of Lent is prayer. Prayer is talking to God, communicating with him. Communication is both speaking and listening. We are told to pray from many things. “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you for whoever asks receives, whoever seeks finds, and whoever knocks the door shall be open to them.”

One of the results of prayer is a close walk with Jesus. Jesus communed often with his heavenly Father. He did only what the Father told him to do and said only what the Father told him to say. When Jesus needed direction he went to God in prayer. When he needed help and strength he went to God in prayer. Jesus communed with God often and he commanded us to do likewise.

We have many accounts in scripture of people who walked in close communion with God. Our text this morning is about such a man. Abraham walked with God and was in close communion with him. Earlier in Genesis Abraham was called out from his family and his homeland to follow God. He heard the voice of God because he was in communion with God. When God called him he obeyed. Later God spoke to Abraham and told him he would be the Father of a great nation and he would have many descendents and they would own the land that God would give to them. Abraham walked with God, spoke with God, heard from God and obeyed God. Our text this morning is proof of that.

Our text opens with the words, “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’” God calls out to him and Abraham hear God. We know he heard from God because his answered God back, “Here am I.”

This is pretty straightforward. A servant of God who is in communion with God hears and responds. Is that your experience? This season of Lent, are your recommitting yourself to the discipline of prayer, to hear from God?

Recently the Lord is challenging me about my own prayer life. As we face struggles as a congregation, as I have to deal with situation that are arising and as I have to deal with personal things in my life the Lord is calling me back to prayer. I am realizing that our planning alone will not solve all that we are facing. We are a talented group of people, but we lack the ability to solve some of our problems given the size of our congregation and our resources. We have only one option and I need to lead the way. That option is prayer.

Abraham prayed and Abraham heard from God. He was surprised at what the Lord said. “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Abraham had to be in close communion with God to even accept such a message. God told him to take the son he loved, the son of the promise, the son on which his whole future rest and to offer him up as a sacrifice. He had better be sure that what he heard was the voice of the Lord.

Reason would have told him to question what he heard. Isaac was the son of his old age. Isaac was the one on whom the promise rested. God never asked for human sacrifice. Was this the voice of the Lord?

Abraham rose early… Abraham knew the voice of the Lord because of years of communication with him. Abraham knew that the enemy would try to distract him and give him reason not to obey God’s voice.

When you don’t spend time with the Lord you fail to recognize his voice when he speaks to you. You can’t obey Jesus if you don’t know when he is speaking. When you don’t spring into action when you discern the voice of the Lord you run the risk of reasoning away obedience to him.

Abraham knew that if he didn’t spring into action he would not sacrifice his son and so he rose up early and left. He called Isaac and the servants, loaded the donkeys, took the fire, the wood, and set off. He had everything but the lamb for the sacrifice and Isaac noticed. They set off not knowing where they were headed and that just added to the stress.

Abraham was walking he knew not where with his son whom he was going to kill on the altar. The question he was answering with his actions was who do you love more, God or your son. The question is the same for all of us even if we are not given such an extreme test. We rationalize our lives in order to feel justified to love God and keep all the things we hold of value. God says to Abraham “decide.”

Eventually Isaac focuses in on the elephant in the room. We have the fire and the wood, but where is the sacrifice. This is the moment of testing for Abraham. When you seek to serve the Lord you get into situations that at times seems contradictory. “Did God really say…” is the word from the enemy. How do you respond?

Abraham throws it back on God the only place he can rest his faith. “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

When they arrive at the mount Abraham and Isaac go up alone. The build an altar put on the wood and at one point, against all reason, Abraham grabs his son ties him up and lays him on the altar. Staring into his son’s eyes he raises the knife to end his life. For a brief moment that must have felt like an eternity all hope was gone.

Sometimes as you walk in obedience it feels that you have made the ultimate mistake. You put your hope in God and it seems like it is all unraveling. It was a moment of decision for Abraham. He had believed God and found him faithful. Would God prove faithful still?

As the knife is about to fall the angel of the Lord tells him to stop. The test was over. Abraham would not have to kill Isaac. In his choice and act of obedience he proved his love for God. There was a ram caught in the bushes. God did supply the sacrifice.

On another hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem another Father took his Son to the top of a mountain to offer him up as a sacrifice. The promise was the same, God would supply the lamb for the sacrifice only this time it was different. No one was being asked to prove their love for God, but rather God was going to prove his love for us. Unlike in the case of Isaac where a lamb was supplied for the sacrifice, this son was the sacrifice. No one had asked this Father to sacrifice his son. This Father did it willingly.

The Father is God and his Son is Jesus. The reason for the sacrifice; our sin has separated us from God. The event is the fulfillment of a commitment God has made to us. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.”

God provided the sacrifice for Abraham and he has provided it for you and I. Abraham loved God and the proof was in the fact that he was willing to give up his son because God asked him too. God loves you and the proof is in the fact that he give up his Son willingly that you and I might live.

Abraham had faith in God. He took Isaac to the mountain. Do you have faith in God this morning? Come to that hill outside of Jerusalem and lay hold of the sacrifice God has provided. Jesus died that those who have faith in him and in what he has done will live.

Tonight begins Lent; a time for reflection on our sinful condition and our need for a savior. Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. It is a penitential season a time to refocus on the disciplines in order focus our attention on the Lord. This season will end with the celebration of the resurrection, but lets not get their to quickly. In our fast paced society we want to get to the end, to see the results without experiencing the process. We are goal oriented and the goal is the be all and end all of everything that we do.

Jesus warns us to beware of practicing our righteousness before others. For most people that means don’t worry about it. Don’t look to be righteous because you will only draw attention to yourself. Be like everyone else, it doesn’t matter what you do. Jesus tells us not to practice our righteousness before others lest we lose our reward. To the world we want to seem like one of the crowd. In church we want to come off as the only one. Jesus warns against both.

This chapter in Matthew’s gospel is about what became known in the church as the disciplines; the spiritual practices that were to help us focus on our Savior. The disciplines do not find us favor with God but if practiced correctly help to point us to the Savior.

Traditionally the three disciplines that are the focus of Lent are Giving, Prayer, and Fasting; loving others, loving God and denying self. As we enter into this season of Lent I would encourage you all to consider the disciplines. Maybe you used them in the past and just got lazy or maybe you never used them.

The disciplines present a challenge for the church. For some the risk is that if one pursues giving, prayer, and fasting that somehow God will be pleased and pour out a special blessing upon them. We know that nothing we do ever finds us favor with God. Our standing with God is based only on the merits of Jesus who took on flesh, dwelt among us and died on the cross for our sins.

For those of us who are sure that nothing we do can find us favor with God the danger is a different one. For us the danger is why bother. Since everything is a gift from God why worry about giving to the needy for the poor we will always have with us. And why pray because God knows what we need before we even ask. And why fast because God gives us all good things and knows our heart.

But here is the rub. Giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting are commands of the Lord that need to be obeyed. Sunday we heard the voice of the Father on the Mount of Transfiguration saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

After warning us not to practice our righteousness before men for their approval and praise Jesus turns to us and says, “When you give to the needy…” Jesus commands us to give to the needy. Have you every thought of charity as an act of obedience. God gives you what you have so that you can give to others in need. How contrary to our way of life is this idea.

By giving what we have to those who have less we are expressing to God and to ourselves that what we have has been given to us by God. When we hold on to our things we act as if they belong to us, and that we have control over them. When we live with an open hand we acknowledge that it all comes from and belongs to God. By giving to the needy we are loving our neighbor as our self and we are trusting that God will meet our needs as we meet the needs of others. It’s not a matter of if you give is but when you give.

The same can be said for prayer. Not if you pray but when you do. We are not to draw attention to ourselves when we pray. Prayer is seeking our heavenly Father and bringing all that we are and need to him. When you pray you have faith the God is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

When we pray we are saying to God that we can’t make in on our own. We are crying out to him for help. Prayer is a way of acknowledging that we are inadequate.

Prayer is hard. We have been trained to plan and set achievable goals. We spend time figuring out ways to get things done. Prayer is a way of saying to God and to ourselves that we come up short. We can’t do it on our own. Prayer is our heart bowed before our creator. Prayer is a humbling discipline. We are told to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Prayer says to God I can’t.

Jesus is our example in this. We saw in the early chapters of Mark that even Jesus refused to rely on his own planning and went off alone to seek the will of the Father. If Jesus needed to pray why doe we think that we don’t?

Don’t blow the trumpet when you pray to draw attention to yourself. When you pray, not if you pray, go into your room, shut the door and speak to God. He that hears you in secret will reward you openly.

Finally we come to fasting. Fasting is probably the least practiced of all the disciplines. Again when not if you fast don’t look downtrodden. Carry yourself is if you are not fasting. Fasting is an act of humility. In fasting we understand that all that we have comes from God. As we feel the effects of the fast we are reminded that our desires tend to control us. If fasting we do without in order to focus on God. So much of our lives are controlled by our desires. When we fast we subject our bodies so that we can focus on the spiritual.

These were disciplines that were practiced by the Jews of Jesus day and picked up by the early church. The early church would gather for prayer throughout the day. They prayed in the morning and evening but also at times in midday. The church would pick up this idea and it would evolve until it became know as the Daily Office or the Divine Hours. These prayer times were considered the work of the church.

Both Paul and Jesus exhort us to pray without ceasing and to pray always. The disciples went up to the temple at the appointed hours. We need to learn again to stop during the day to gather with others and to pray. Daily prayers continue to bring our minds back to God.

Fasting was a similar practice. There were days of fasting each week. Food did not control their existence. Throughout the week they denied themselves as they sought the Lord.

We fail to pray and fail to deny ourselves. We take no thought of the needy around us and then we wonder why the cares of this world press in on us.

Nothing we do finds us favor with God. Nothing earns us points with him. But when we live lives as if God is not present and we fail to seek him in prayer and deny ourselves, when the needs of others make no demands on us we have no power with God. We have not because we ask not. We worry and fret because what we have needs to be protected because we have not learned to give to God willingly what is his already.

Let us use this season to draw closer to God.