THE LUTHERAN WHITE LIE CAKE

Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Lutheran Church Ladies’ Group in St. Louis, but forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix & quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack up for Scout camp.

When she took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured and she exclaimed, “Oh dear, there is not time to bake another cake!”

This cake was important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of friends. So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake. She found it in the bathroom – a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect. And, before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 and to buy the cake and bring it home.

When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. Amanda grabbed her cell phone & called her mom. Alice was horrified – she was beside herself!  Everyone would know! What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed! All night, Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.

The next day, Alice promised herself she would try not to think about the cake
and would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a fellow church member and try to have a good time. She did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and not from the founding families of St. Louis, but having already RSVP’d, she couldn’t think of a believable excuse to stay home.

The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust Mid West and to Alice ‘s horror, the cake in question was presented for dessert! Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake! She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor’s wife said, “what a beautiful cake!”

Alice, still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, “Thank you, I baked it myself…”

Alice smiled and thought to herself, “God is soooo good.”

  This kind of question confounds us and can cause us lots of anxiety.  We want to know God’s will.  And why wouldn’t we?  We want to live a life pleasing to God.  I think we all strive for that.  Yet, so often we hear that our purpose is to make money, acquire things, gain more power, become respected in the eyes of others.  But is that what God is really after?

   As I thought about this question, I first thought about what God’s purpose is.  We see that in Psalm 57, where it says, “I cry to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.  He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample on me.  God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.”  God’s purpose is to save us, to love us, to give us refuge and strength.  It is not to dominate us, control us, or punish us.  Sending his one and only Son Jesus Christ to give his life for our sins is a true sign of just how far God is willing go to fulfill his purpose. And notice that God’s purpose is not focused on himself, but on the other.  His purpose is focused on those that need His love, His grace, His salvation.  It is focused on YOU. 

   I think that is a window to what God wants us to do with this precious gift of life that we have been given.  Our purpose is on the other, on the poor and the weak; on the least, little, and lost of this world.   If we are truly disciples of Christ, if we truly love God and want to serve him, than our purpose is always on the other, on the neighbor.  I find that these two scriptures most acutely put this into focus.

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Micah 6:8

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40

  Our purpose is to walk in faith with Christ, to realize that God is God and we are not and that life and salvation comes to us through Jesus Christ.  Because of this, we are moved to focus our lives on loving our neighbor as ourselves.  Our daily purpose is to spread the love and blessing we have received from Christ to others, to show them our love and kindness.   Our purpose is connected to our focus.  Is our focus only on ourselves or is our focus on God and our neighbor?  There is nothing wrong with being successful in life.  But does that success help us love our neighbor or is it about loving ourselves? 

   I believe that God’s will for our life is to see life as a gift, to see that we are loved and saved by God’s Son Jesus Christ, and to see life as an opportunity to love and serve the neighbor.  As you think about the direction of your life, as you sit and contemplate what God’s will is for your life, take a moment to think about where you focus is.  Is it on yourself, or on the other? Which was is your love flowing?  It is going to yourself or to the other?  Maybe then, just maybe, we can start to see the meaning and purpose of our lives.

   May God be with you this day and always!

   In those instances, I just start randomly opening the Bible to various places and start reading, wondering if something might pop into my brain.  It can be a very interesting exercise.  What I’m looking for is a phrase, an idea, a verse that pops out.  I’m a firm believer that as you read or listen to scripture who should be listening for that one thing that pops out at you, catches your attention, or makes you ask a question.  For when that happens, I believe the Holy Spirit is at work and trying to reach us and inform us.

  So today, I decided to share with you the four places I turned to in the Bible about five minutes ago.  I underlined the verses that struck me and that, with some time and thinking, I might have written something on. My challenge to you is: what verse or phrase catches your attention?  What would you have picked out?

  Below each passage I briefly write why I picked the underline verse.  Who knows? Maybe these will turn into something more.  I invite you to share what you picked out and any thoughts you have on these passages.  Email me at pastorpb@cltcomm.net.  I might steal your idea!!

“So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. ¹⁴ Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it, ¹⁵ yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. ¹⁷For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, ¹⁸ who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. ¹⁹ You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹ He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen”. Deuteronomy 10:12-21

What does it mean that God takes no bribe?  I wonder if that means that God will be our God no matter what and that he doesn’t love us because we worship him, but because He has created us.

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by. ²I cry to God Most High,to God who fulfills his purpose for me.³ He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample on me. God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness. Psalm 57:1-3

  One of the two things people most look for is purpose.  Yet we rarely see our purpose coming from God but rather from our own ambition.  The question is: what is our purpose from God?

“Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³² They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³ He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. ³⁴ Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.³⁷ They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Mark 7:31-37

  The work of Christ is so wonderful that is cannot be contained.  It cannot be silenced, even by his own command.  It compels us to share and proclaim it.  How does this happen in our congregation?

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. ⁹ For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”  1 Corinthians 3:5-9

  I love the imagery of this verse and of how the church is a collection of people working and serving the same God who has saved and redeemed them.  However, we need to be reminded that we grow in ministry not because of the pastor or because we have really talented people here but because of God’s action and direction.

Church Funnies

Our Church Today: “The lecture on religious history of circumcision has been cut from tonight’s program.” From “Church Chuckles”

   We make judgments on people, places, things, and ideas and nothing is going to change our mind.  They are bad, stupid, ugly, disgusting, no matter what.  We will not change our mind.  And sometimes, we think God acts the same ways as us, never changing His mind about anything.   

  And yet, here we have a reading from Jonah.  God had sent Jonah to the city of Nineveh to tell them that, due to their sinfulness, they were going to be destroyed in forty days.  God had seen their wickedness and decided, like Sodom and Gamorrah before it, it was going to have to go.  Yet, something strange happened.  As Jonah proclaimed God’s judgment, the people of Nineveh began to change.  They repented of their sins and asked for God’s forgiveness.  They asked God to change his mind and they backed it up with their actions and their hearts.

   Then something even stranger happened: God changed his mind.  He forgave them and did not destroy them.  God heard their cries, heard their pleas forgiveness and mercy, and he answered them. As it says in the reading, “God changed his mind about the calamity he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.”  God showed Jonah, Nineveh, and us his true nature: He is a God of deliverance and forgiveness.

     Thanks be to God for that! No matter how badly we might sin, no matter how far off of God’s path we go, we can always turn back to God for deliverance.  When we confess our sin, when we turn back to God, God offers us his mercy and forgiveness through his Son Jesus Christ.  After all, God sent Christ to show us that God loves us, that God will go to any length to save us, even sending his Son to die on a cross for our sins.  Though God had sent and laws to help us, God saw that we would never be able to save ourselves and so he sent Jesus to deliver us. 

  Others may look at us and declare judgment.  They may say we are stupid, ugly, disgusting.  They may see our actions and think, “God could never love them.”  But God does love you and when you repent of your sin, when you turn back to God, he is there to give you forgiveness and life in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.  For God is not quick to judge, but is quick to forgive.

   May we, inspired by the Holy Spirit, be quick to forgive in our lives as well.  That instead of living in judgment of others, we might live in the spirit of forgiveness and mercy.  For we have been forgiven of our sins and saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and for that we can say, “Thanks be to God!”  Amen.

  “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:43-46

You know when you get something really cool and you want to show it off?  Whether it is a new car, boat or snowmobile, new clothes, the mounted deer you shot during hunting, a flat screen TV, Muppets figures dressed as Star Wars characters, you want people to see this new thing that you have.  You want them to come and see, to check out what you think is so awesome.

In reality, that is really want evangelism is.  It is inviting people to come and see what Jesus is doing in our lives and in our church.  People ask me all the time why I think we have grown so much as a congregation these past couple of years.  My answer is always the same: people are inviting others to come and see what the Lord is doing in this place.  Whether it is Sunday School, confirmation, worship, circle group, Bible Study, Men in Mission, no matter what it is, you as a congregation are inviting others to come and see.  And when they come and see they feel God’s presence in this place and they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they come back.  And then they invite others, who invite others, and there you go.

But we must always remember that the invitation to come and see is offered to us every day.  The invitation is given to us by God to see how we are saved and redeemed by Jesus Christ.  We are invited to come and see what Christ will do in our lives when we make Christ a vital part of our life.  We are invited to come and see what Christ is doing in the lives of others, even those very different than us.

Maybe, what is most important is the invitation that God extends to us and we extend to others.  When we are willing to extend that invitation to others, we know that what happens next is up to God.  When we answer that invitation, we do so if faith knowing that Christ just might do something amazing in our lives.

After all, we have the most amazing thing of all, even more amazing than that new car or Gonzo the Great dressed up as Darth Vader: we have the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as our Savior.  May the Holy Spirit continue to invite us to come and see the awesome deeds of God and may we continue to extend that invitation to others.

“Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.”  Psalms 66:5

Christian Football

Quarterback Sneak – Church members quietly leaving during the invitation.

Draw Play – What many children do with the bulletin during worship.

Half-time – The period between Sunday School and worship when many choose to leave.

Benchwarmer – Those who do not sing, pray, work, or apparently do anything but sit.

Backfield-in-Motion – Making a trip to the back (restroom or water fountain) during the service.

Staying in the Pocket – What happens to a lot of money that should be given to the Lord’s work.

Two-minute Warning – The point at which you realize the sermon is almost over and begin to gather up your children and belongings.

Instant Replay – The preacher loses his notes and falls back on last week’s illustrations.

Sudden Death – What happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes “overtime.”

Trap – You’re called on to pray and are asleep.

End Run – Getting out of church quick, without speaking to any guest or fellow member.

Flex Defense – The ability to allow absolutely nothing said during the sermon to affect your life.

Halfback Option – The decision of 50% of the congregation not to return for the evening service.

Blitz – The rush for the restaurants following the closing prayer.