Sunday Lectionary Devotions: Seeing Jesus

Lectionary verse: John 12:21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus."

This is one of my favorite verses from the Bible because it encapsulates the work of the church. Congregations can get caught up in building programs, financial campaigns, and missional projects, but in the end, if no one comes to see Jesus, then they’re busy doing nothing.

Churches exist to bring people to Christ. They have no other function. Christians can do as much good in their lives and strengthen their community through acts of kindness and well-being, but if no one comes to Jesus, then the deeds are empty of any eternal blessings. This is why it is so important to remember that our faith is missional. We seek others to tell them about Jesus. We try to fill our sanctuaries with those seekers of Christ, not to boost our numbers, but to get more souls into heaven.

Jesus was overjoyed when Andrew and Philip brought the Greeks to meet Him. It meant that His ministry was beginning to travel around the world. That’s why He says it was for this reason that He came. His ministry was to teach the world about God. His mission was to die for the world. On both counts, He succeeded, which is why He is elated at this point in His life. God’s plan of salvation is working. God’s Kingdom is being extended outside of Palestine.

So, the challenge for all of us today is this: what am I going to do or say today that will encourage others to seek and find Jesus? Who am I going to contact or meet today that needs to hear the Gospel? What am I going to do today to extend God’s Kingdom outside of my own personal world and bring it into someone else’s life?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You have called all of us to do Your bidding and to serve Your will. Grant us the courage to express our faith today to all whom we meet. Give us opportunities to talk about You, Your church, and Your mission, so that others may seek You, too. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. he writes the presbyterian daily devotional "Heaven's Highway."

Today's image is taken from one of John's stained glass designs depicting John Bunyan's great story, "Pilgrim's Progress." The image is called "Pointing the Way."

Sunday Devotional - Comfort and Joy

Lectionary verse: Jeremiah 31:13c I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

I love to sing the old Christmas hymn "God rest ye Merry Gentlemen" all year round. You'll sometimes find me walking down the church hallway whistling it to a jazz beat. Our band, Glenfinnan, even played it last Advent during the worship service, and I just delighted in the words and music.

The best part of the hymn is in the refrain, you know, the bit that goes, O Tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, etc."
I love those words and the feelings that they convey, and I always thought that they echoed what the angels sang above the hillside in Bethlehem, so I was really surprised this morning, to find those words in Jeremiah's prophecy.

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, the one who was always wailing and whining because of the harsh times he lived in. But in this passage, he is declaring that God will be able to turn things around; that all the calamities, which the people suffer, will one day come to an end; and that comfort and joy will replace mourning and grief.

It's a beautiful prophecy and one that a lot of people, including myself, need to read and hear again and again. No matter what we go through or all that we endure, pain and sickness, suffering and sadness will come to an end, to be replaced with gladness and love, comfort and joy.

Isn't God wonderful?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You came into the world to save it from suffering and to heal all our wounds. You saved us forever through Your own sacrifice and we are blessed with a great comfort in Your strength, along with a wonderful joy in Your salvation. Help us this day to share from our hearts all the blessings that You give us with the people we love and all whom we meet. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Stushie is the writer of the 4 minute daily devotional, Heaven's Highway.

Sunday Devotions: A Real Treasure

Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

It’s almost Halloween and the stores are full of costumes. I like the pirate ones that come out every year. They’re not as scary as some ugly ones which glorify gore and violence. Pirates are like your lovable rogues who say “ooooh” and “aaaargh” a lot. They might have once been the scourge of the seven seas, but these days pirates are funny and outrageous.

Ever since I read “Treasure Island” by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, I’ve been fascinated with pirates. And then when I saw Robert Newton play Long John Silver on the silver screen, that clinched it for me. I dearly loved his acting – it was way over the top.

In the movies and books, pirates are motivated by two things: plunder and treasure. They’re either battling it out with galleons filled with Spanish doubloons or looking for a deserted isle to bury their sought after treasure. I guess that we have R L Stevenson to thank for that! And all pirates are totally committed to protecting their treasure. It means everything to them and they will risk their lives trying to keep it.

But what’s all of this got to do with today’s verse? Well, it seems Jesus wanted us think of the kingdom of heaven as a great treasure that we discover in our lives, which has to be protected. It’s a gift from God that we should cherish and not take for granted. Far too often people think that the Kingdom of Heaven is a ‘given’ in their lives, something that will be bestowed upon them no matter who they are or what they’ve done. But it isn’t – the Kingdom of Heaven is a priceless treasure and unless we look after it, we can lose it.

Jesus wants all of us to find this treasure in our lives. He’s given us clues in the Holy Scriptures and Gospel teachings about how to find it. We have to dig it out for ourselves and discover His Truth, His Way, and His Life. If we think for a moment that we can make up our own truth, go our own way, and live our own life and then receive the Kingdom of Heaven, we haven’t been listening to Him or reading His clues properly.

To receive this treasure, we’ve got to give Christ our hearts. To enjoy His Kingdom, we’ve got to submit to His will and become His servants. Any other way is false and only ends up shipwrecking souls.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, grant us the priceless gift of Your Kingdom in our lives. Help us to look beyond our own thinking in order to take that leap of faith, that time of transformation which will lead us to Your treasure. Give us the courage to talk to our families and friends, so that they will also receive this eternal and exclusive gift. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Stushie is the writer of the daily devotional Heaven's Highway, which is also podcasted at www.stushie.libsyn.com.

Sunday Devotions: Sonrise

Autumn sunrises are beautiful to behold. They remind me of the power of God and the healing that Christ brought into the world.

Podcast version here

Malachi 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.

I love this time of year, especially at sunrise. The sun peeks over the horizon dressed in scarlet. The sky glows with a mixture of crimson reds and yellows, bathing the whole earth with a soft rosy hue. It makes me feel glad to be alive and as I watch the sun arc across the morning sky, I feel renewed and refreshed at the same time.

I guess the prophet Malachi must have experienced the same when he talks about the sun rising with healing in its wings. That’s a wonderful description of being re-energized by God’s power. In these uncertain times when everything is changing, it’s good to know that God’s presence is never taken from us. Even as I write this today, I feel His presence as if He’s watching me over my shoulder.

Generations ago, Native Americans used to get up before dawn and face east. As the sun rose, they felt the power of the Great Creator Spirit enter their bodies and souls. It was a good start to a new day. It was a powerful connection to God that even the Hebrew prophets like Malachi would have understood.

Perhaps sometime this week, we should all make time to get up before dawn and await the presence of the Lord. As Christians, the rising sun reminds us of the Rising Son, who overcame the desolation we call death, to open up an eternal opportunity to always be with God. To me, and to many other Christians, Christ is the Son of Righteousness, who rises to bring healing to a broken and sinful world. He arcs across the sky of our days so that when we come to the last horizon, He will be there to heal and restore us at last to the Great Creator.

Prayer: Almighty God, the skies declare the glory of Your works, and the sun reveals Your holy power. We are fortunate to see and experience these wonderful things. Refresh and renew us today. Heal us of all our weariness, anxiety, and pain. In Christ’s Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Stushie is the writer of the Presbyterian daily devotional Heaven's Highway

Sunday Devotions: True Confessions

Lectionary Verse: Matthew 18: 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

It’s called ‘church discipline’ and it’s usually only employed these days against misbehaving pastors. I wonder what would happen to the members of our congregations, if they knew that being Presbyterian means that the local Session has the power to question and rebuke them over their selfish actions and sinful lifestyle choices? There would probably be a riot in the pews and a couple of lawsuits thrown in for good measure. People would be offended and go join another denomination, unbeknowingly subjecting themselves to whatever ecclesiastical hierarchy or spiritual oversight that church practiced.

Way back in 19th century Scotland, a seat was set in front of the congregation where Saturday night rabble-rousers, drunken good ol’ boys, and brazen hussies were brought before the congregation to repent of their public sins. Usually, one of the elders read out a list of names and if the ‘sinners’ were present, they had to come down to the front, be publicly rebuked, prayed over by the minister, and sent back into the community of the faithful. Going to church on Sundays was sometimes like a public hanging; there was more glee in seeing neighbors properly chastised than in joyfully worshiping the Lord.

Those days are over – thank goodness – instead we offer prayers of confession and silent moments to ask God for mercy, forgiveness, and restoration. We are left to inwardly get things right with God by telling Him quietly about our mistakes and regrets, our selfish choices and unfaithful moments. Church then, becomes a safe sanctuary where we can come to the mercy seat of Christ and seek His pardon. It’s no longer a public execution of our wayward spirits; it’s an act of individual repentance within our hearts.

Perhaps, as a denomination, we should confess our self-righteous divisions and self-inflicted wounds to Christ each Sunday, asking for His mercy, grace, and healing. After all, if this prayer process is good enough for individual souls each week, surely it must be thousands of times as effective if we confess our parts in causing what hurts the PCUSA, and seek in turn what Christ offers to heal us.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we all are guilty of offending You and dividing the Church. We allow our pride to pander to our prejudices, and we permit our hard-heartedness to hinder our hearing. Forgive us for being fractious and foolish, arrogant and offensive. Teach us to tolerate one another and to celebrate our kaleidoscopic Christianity. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Out of Africa: The Massai Creed

My daughter Lauren is on a three month mission trip in Tanzania, Africa. Just north of her, are the Massai people, who have their own Christian creed.

Podcast version here

Most of you know that my youngest daughter Lauren is on a three month mission trip in Tanzania, Africa. She is working in a mountain town called Tabora, where she is leading a summer school program for orphaned children, whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS.

1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Tanzania is mainly an Islamic country, but north of where Lauren is, the beautiful and noble Masai people live. Some of them are Christians and have a very sincere faith. About fifty years ago, they wrote a wonderful creed that just captivates everything about their Christian beliefs. They are largely poor people, but they are rich when it comes to faith. I’ve written out their creed in this message and I am certain it will touch your heart, just as it did mine.

The Masai Creed

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Prayer: Lord God, we tend to think that our Western faith is strong and powerful throughout the world. You are teaching us, however, that the least amongst us and the weakest economically have a far greater hold of faith than we do. Help us to learn from the wisdom that You bestow upon Christian peoples of other nations. Open our hearts and minds to their simple, true, and devoted faith. In Christ’s Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart (aka Stushie) is the Scottish pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.