A New Covenant for Humankind

And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, 

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Luke 22:20

Easter is the remembrance of Jesus’s great sacrifice for humankind. Through the risen Christ, believers have the forgiveness of sin and a new life. A second chance, that through our repentance, leads to eternal life. A life with a new covenant from God. The risen Christ sanctifies us and redeems us. On the cross, Jesus bore all of our sins and absorbed our pain. The cross granted us a new life and created the great gift for humanity called Easter. Through the trials of his final week, called the Passion week, Jesus modeled the life of the perfect disciple, one who walks without fear and serves humankind and not the self. Our destinies with God may at times require a similar and difficult walk, but fear not, God is with us. Through Jesus, God walked the path of life before us.

Points of Reflection

·     What does Easter mean to you? 

·     What sacrifices has Jesus made for humankind?

·     List three times Jesus changed or improved your life. 

2nd Corinthians: A Look at The Human Side of Paul

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2nd Corinthians 5:18 

Before we get too far in, I should explain that there were at least three letters written by Paul, with some help from Timothy, to the Corinthians. Perhaps even four. You could point out that there are only two in the New Testament, and that is correct. But it appears that the missing two are in both 1st Corinthians and 2ndCorinthians. So while this might seem a bit odd, it happened in other books of the New Testament as well, notably Philippians. 

While many will speculate why did this happen, I think that is the wrong way to look at these books, especially 2nd Corinthians. What the combining of these letters did was to create for us a very human Paul,  who appears both saddened and joyful, in 2nd Corinthians. To me, this is the bigger story of 2nd Corinthians. 

But for those who are curious, here are the four letters in order of authorship. 

·      Warning Letter; written to the Corinthians to caution them about sexual Immorality; referenced in chapter 5:9 of 1st Corinthians. 

·      Actual 1st Corinthians

·      Letter of Tears; written pre 2nd Corinthians, but referenced in Chapters 2:3-4 and it appears to be included in Chapters 10-13 of 2nd Corinthians.

·      2nd Corinthians

The reason this is important, is we get the full range of Paul’s emotions. After the writing of 1stCorinthians, which was intended to get the church back on track, more drama arose.  Paul visited the church in Corinth, prior to the writing of 2nd Corinthians, to resolve these new issues.  In this book, he referred to this as his painful visit. Spurred on by outsiders, his Apostleship and teachings were challenged, leaving him hurt and dismayed. Prompting him to write the letter of tears; which in part is included in chapters 10-13 of 2ndCorinthians. 

A Bumblebee of Faith

Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

Mark 5:36

When I was in Theological school, I would turn to my professors and fellow students for answers regarding theological questions. All wonderful resources to ask and gain insight. 

These were people who studied faith,  in prayer a lot and knew a lot. We were all being taught; what to say and how to say our opinions. We were being trained to be teachers of faith. 

For many their future roles were to become ministers and priests. Sent off to lead congregations throughout our world. A mission to help guide small and large pockets of Christians. 

For a smaller group, like myself, we left the world of theological resources to help carry on ministry in non-traditional ways. Some went to help the addicted. Others to work in non-profits to make a better world. For me, it was off to the internet to spread the word of God. 

The internet is a different world. No longer was a title or your education an automatic acceptance of what you have to say. A pure place, where ideas reign and not credentials. Folks on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram are tough judges. Each idea you float is either rejected or accepted. Millions of messages are spread every day. The ones that resonant get shared and liked. 

Faith and Reducing Coronavirus induced Panic

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

This Saturday, while having lunch at a local restaurant, the general manger came to our table to ask us how my wife and I were doing. We replied, very well; How are you? Our reply set off a lengthy explanation of his panic. He was afraid he might have to close the restaurant with his business off seventy five percent. In his eyes, I could see real fear. The kind of fear that unsettles our stomach, weakens our knees and causes us to labor on the easiest of tasks. 

With our friends and family, we also have heard and seen fear. Supermarket shelves are being emptied. Hand sanitizer is being sold on the street for fifty dollars a bottle. True panic seems to abound. 

A disquieting sense of being seems to be present in all that we see and hear. Panic caused by a lack of control of people’s lives and events.

Each announcement of school and store closings seems to raise the fear level higher. Watching television, you hear even more information that stiffens your body. The stock market is violently swinging in turmoil, causing people to wonder; how much will their savings go down? All around us fear seems to be growing faster than the Coronavirus itself, which is at the root of people’s fear. 

But our fear, is just that, fear. People are forgetting that fear breeds fear. Fear is not tangible or something you can touch. But a vicious psychological marauder that seeks harm. Not physical harm, but emotional. 

Panic causes bad decisions, when more than ever good ones are required. Panic causes unsteady steps, when the steps of life need to be sure. 

Christians, Get Along with Each Other!

Epistle to the Ephesians

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2

If I had to sum up the message of Ephesians, I would say that it is for Christians to get along with each other. Not just socially, but also in the church and with family. The starting point for why this letter was written is once again for the newly converted gentile Christians and Jewish Christians to get along. While this theme keeps getting repeated in Paul’s letters, it provides a great example that is more universal than just the dispute between these two groups. In a way these disputes acts as an example of how we should all get along. In other words, we shouldn’t just look at the dispute between the gentile Christians and Jewish Christians as isolated and act amused at their inability to get along. Rather, we should look at our lives and see where we have created barriers with others, just because they are different. 

3 Ways Being Like Jesus Will Help Your Career

The son can do nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.

Luke 5:19

This year when I was doing my speeches on college campus’s I wanted to try some different. Instead of preparing an intricately weaved message, I would focus on only three points and keep repeating them using different examples each time. My message this year was how to find a job and become a great employee. Simply, there are three ways, be positive, be trustworthy and pursue excellence. That’s it, no sophisticated weaving to make the point at the end, just keep repeating the same message. 

Well, it worked! When I got the feedback and reviews back from my college visit at Theil College in Western Pennsylvania, the students overwhelmingly repeated the message in their reviews and used the explanations to support their reviews. 

The message is simple, you only need to be three things to be a great employee. Yes, only three; being positive, trustworthy and committed to excellence. When I explained this to a friend, he said, But my employee appraisal given by my employer had forty three different measurements! I told him this wasn’t that unusual; many companies make the mistake of over-complicating evaluating employees. 

So, I asked him to give me his appraisal form. He did and we placed all forty three review items into one of three categories; Being Positive, Being trustworthy and Committed to excellence. And yes, everyone could fit into one of the three categories! 

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13

Near the end of Paul’s three journeys throughout the Mediterranean world, he wrote The Epistle to the Romans, or more commonly known as the Book of Romans. While this is the first of Paul’s letters in the New Testament, it is actually the last one he personally wrote, sometime in 57AD. This letter is considered to contain the most complete theology of all the letters in the New Testament. 

In fact, its message is so rich in thought, that I recently had someone tell me they are part of a Bible study group that would review the Book of Romans for a full year. Yes, every week for a full year! 

Every sentence in Romans is so deep in explaining our Christian faith, I can easily see how this would be possible. Even a year might not even be enough!

What’s more remarkable, is that while the letter is addressed to the Christians who lived in Rome, Paul had not been to Rome at the time of this writing. So you might ask, why did Paul write this letter? Well the answer is a little complicated. 

Galatians: We Are All Equal In Christ!

There is neither Greek or Jew, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Jesus. 

Galatians 3:28

A friend of mine came to me overwhelmed by the complexity of the Book of Romans. I suggested she should read Galatians first. Here was my reasoning, it was written before Romans and is considered a primer to Romans. Certainly less burdensome in its length and the deeply elegantly prose written by Paul in Romans is replaced with a simpler to the point prose of Paul. So while Galatians isn’t as theologically rich, it is far more accessible. By comparison, Romans has sixteen chapters and Galatians has six. But both contain many of the same thoughts. 

The letter was written to a church in Galatia, a region of present day Turkey. The date of the letter is late 40’s AD, maybe 50 AD. This one of Paul’s first letters. What I personally love about this letter is a verse in chapter 3-verse 28, where is says; There is neither Greek or Jew, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Jesus. 

I would call this a foundational statement by Paul. A statement that we can use to measure other writings or verses written by Paul. Here it is a well-crafted sentence written for the Galatians that tells all about how Paul thinks. He believes that All people, and I cannot stress ALL enough! His message is that ALL are equal and worthy to Jesus. It doesn’t matter where you come from, your gender, what you believed before you were born again, we are ALL equal. And we ALL start as Christians first and everything else second. 

A Closer Walk With God

“Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight.”

2 Corinthians 5:7

One day last week, three very good friends asked me to explain my ministry or what are you trying to achieve. Now when I get the same feeling or question three or more times in a day, I know God is up to something. So I thought about this question harder. 

This has been a persistent question to me for the better part of ten years. A good question, that at first I couldn’t answer. Always goal driven, I tried to search for my answer in numbers and results. I even have tried various ministry assignments to help with this discovery. Never fully getting the answer to this question. 

During my seven or so years in Theological school, I was always the outlier who couldn’t fully explain what I felt I was called to do for Jesus. Every attempt I tried never seemed right. I have given sermons, counseled the poor in spirit and fed the poor. All noble and worthy ministries. But I never felt this was what God called me to do. 

But at least I knew better than to just blurt something out to satisfy others. But this day I was able to clearly tell these three friends what my ministry was. 

As an outgrowth from my doctoral thesis, I set up a digital media company to test delivering messages to the world at large. Certainly not a local or tangible ministry. But a ministry in the ether of the internet. 

I never really intended this to be my life’s ministry nor did I know this is where I would find my place with God. 

Do Everything Through God; The Simple Message of Philippians

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13

The Apostle Paul sits in a Roman prison, after completing his three missionary journeys. During  this imprisonment he wrote three letters to the Philippians. Now you might ask, I thought there was only one letter written to the church in Philippi. Well, there were actually three and the book of Philippians we read in the Bible is a combination of all three. While all three letters were written by Paul, skillful editing by an unknown scribe many centuries ago created this great letter out of three. A wonderfully positive and uplifting book in the Bible that I highly recommend for all. 

And what makes this letter most remarkable, are the optimistic and encouraging sentiments, written while Paul was sitting in Jail!. A letter of thanksgiving written to the Philippians for their financial support and their positive growth as new Christians. 

Imagine ourselves, sitting in a jail in the first century, uncertain of our future and then crafting the letters that make up one of the most uplifting books in the New testament. And that is the point of Philippians, no matter how dire our circumstances, we can be optimistic because of our faith in God. Or as Paul says,  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.