David Bahn - Reflections

God is the true healer of our body and souls. He heals sometimes miraculously. Sometimes medically. And sometimes mercifully – when he takes us from this veil of tears into the clear and gracious presence of Jesus. And on the Great Last Day we will experience that full and complete healing ourselves – forever.

When someone's skill and competence is not complemented by their character, dangerous things happen. If character is lacking, competent people can do great harm. God shaped Paul's character through his suffering and hardships. We can keep this in mind whenever we meet challenges and difficulties of any kind. God is at work not only in the times of glory and success, but also when we face trials and tribulations. For our good and the good of others.

We live under Christ in his rule and reign of grace and truth. His is the way of life and salvation, glory and joy. Jesus is Lord because he is Redeemer. When I was lost, he found me. When I was ensnared by sin, he forgave me. When I was dead he made me alive. When I was blind, he gave me sight. He did all this so that I may live under him in his rule and reign.

Paul spent months and years teaching, persuading, and reasoning with the people there about the rule and reign of God. That should tell us something. While I may be able to define the Kingdom of God succinctly (and I believe correctly), the implications, significance, and impact of God’s reign and rule are profound and far-reaching. This merits deeper study.

The validation of baptism is not in the pastor’s character who baptizes, nor even the name of the church in which one is baptized. (Don’t get me started by saying, “I was baptized Lutheran.” That’s simply not true.) The validity of baptism is found in the Words used and the confession of the Gospel held by the community of believers where one is being baptized.

Scripture instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, knowing the will of God and doing it (cf. Romans 12). Paul corrects the people on Mars Hill regarding their understanding of God's essence. He tells them that they "ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man." This was their way of thinking about God.

But we are called to think of themselves with sober judgement, and to think about God as one to be feared, loved, and trusted. This is a far better way to think.

Not only was Jesus vindicated by his resurrection, but he will come to judge the living and the dead. Our need for his salvation is exceeded only by his grace and forgiveness to all who repent and believe. “All people everywhere should repent,” says Paul. Luther said that the entire life of a Christian should be one of repentance. We drown the old nature by daily repentance and faith. That’s a good message for all people everywhere.

Godly contentment is a good thing. It is essential to living in the fullness of God's peace. We are soon paralyzed with anxiety if we live in a state of discontent. Paul tells the Philippians years later that he learned the secret of contentment. That state of contentment surely helped him to write those reflective thoughts to the church there. But for now he has a holy discontent that people do not know the source of true life, love, grace, and peace. Perhaps we should feel a little bit of that godly discontent whenever we encounter the broken world around us.

I once attended a workshop for pastors and church leaders. John Maxwell was the presenter and gave this advice to pastors doing ministry or mission, "Take someone along," he said. We're better together - whether that is a band of brothers or the body of Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ who partner with one another for the sake of the Gospel.

This is a corrected version of today's podcast. The correct word (not corrected in the recording - sorry - is apocryphal, not apocolyptic.

Here is a link to the passages I refer to in today's podcast:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A15%3B+Psalm+22%3B+Isaiah+53&version=ESV;NLT;NRSVA;SBLGNT

Paul and Silas taught that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die, and be raised from the dead. The little Greek word, ἔδει (edei) means it was necessary. Gotta happen. Plan of God. Promised by God. Delivered by Jesus. Necessary because of our sin and God's abiding love. He did not flinch from this rescue. He has done it. We have been saved. The seeds of that salvation were sown in the Old Testament. They came to full bloom in the life and ministry of Jesus. They will be fully harvested on the Great Last Day. This is the witness of Scripture.