Do You Serve The Lord ??
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Rev. Bob
Aug 21, 2009, 7:34:59 AM8/21/09
to Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Reflection
Do You Serve The Lord Your God?
Based on the readings from: Joshua 24:1-2,15-18, Psalm 33:2-3,16-23,
Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69
By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFD, Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus
Franciscans of Divine Mercy/ Reformed Catholic Church International
"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in
faithfulness…. Choose this day whom you will serve… as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:14-15)
Just as Joshua challenged the tribes of Israel to chose who they
desired to honor and worship, we today are being given the same
challenge. Do we choose to serve those human gods of Greed, power,
domination, discrimination, materialism and self-effacement or do we
choose to follow the way of the son of god, Jesus Christ.
Do we choose to live our lives according to the way Jesus taught by
being forgiving, compassionate, kind and generous to all God’s
children, especially those in need?
Throughout all of history, one idea has prevailed; it is that there is
a supreme being that governs all.
We find it in the histories of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans,
Aztecs, Mayans, Native American Tribes, in fact every known
civilization. Humans have recognized that there is something greater
than themselves throughout history.
We humans have sought this greater power out, as history has shown, in
every generation. They have given that acknowledgement to the sun,
volcano’s, lightning and other natural and sometimes human and
imaginary things. They have worship their “Gods” under the names of
Ra, Zeus, Apollo, Pele the Goddess of Fire, Mercury, Aesir, and
hundreds of other names.
When Almighty God made himself known with the words “"I am that I am.
Here is what you must say to the Israelites. Tell them, 'I am has sent
me to you.' "(Exodus 3:14) we were told who we should give honor,
praise and reverence to and whom we should thank for all things.
When Jesus Christ was transfigured, God informed us clearly who Jesus
was with these words; “"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matthew 17:4-6).
God has told us to listen to what Jesus was telling us. To listen to
the words and teachings of Jesus Christ, not some mere human
individual, but Jesus the son of Almighty God. When we read the
teachings of Christ, we find clear concise guidelines as to how we are
expected to live our lives. These are found in the Beatitudes of the
Sermon on the Mount, and in the “GREAT COMMANDMENT”, "The most
important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. There
is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-30)
Could Christ’s teachings be any clearer, yet so many try to make this
love and service to Almighty God so difficult by injecting a lot of
man made things in the way.
The have twisted to original writings of the ancient scriptures and
the writings of the apostles and early church fathers and in some
cases even rejected some of them because they did not “FIT THE
POLITICALY CORRECT AGENDA” of that time.
People found passages that referred to a specific kind of sin and
twisted it around in order to exclude some individuals from serving
God or even to participate in the worship of Almighty God.
When we choose to ignore the teachings of Christ, when we decide what
God means and we judge others as outcasts and deny them the
opportunity to worship Almighty God and acknowledge Jesus as the son
of God and the redeemer and Savior sent by God, then we are not
serving Almighty God.
Jesus, rejected no one, not even those who were to crucify him. Jesus
sat and ate with those that Jewish law forbade sharing a meal. Jesus
spoke with and treated women as equals.
If we believe that Almighty God created all things, and we believe
that Jesus was the Son of God made man, then we cannot even think
about acting like a god and making judgments that are the exclusive
property of Almighty God.
We can dislike the way another person acts, we can reject their
choices as not acceptable, we have the freedom to choose not to
associate with some people because they seem to be breaking the
commandments of God by lying, cheating, stealing, killing, committing
adultery, coveting another’s wife or property and act in an manner
other than that prescribed by God.
When we decide that power, money, prestige, fame, greed or sexual
gratification are more important to us that living according to God’s
way, we are not serving God.
We need to remember how we were taught in Paul’s letter to the Romans
14; “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you
regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the
judgment seat of God.” and Matthew 7; “Do not judge lest you be
judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your
standard of measure, it will be measured to you.“ In James 4 we read;
“Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a
brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the
law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a
judge of it.”
The law of God is very clear, we are not the ones to judge a person
because of how things appear “Do not judge according to appearance,
but judge with righteous judgment. Our Law does not judge a man,
unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does
it?” ( John 7:24, 51)
We need to judge a person by their deeds. Do they feed the poor? Do
they Clothe the Naked? Do they respect and love All of God’s
creatures? Do they give shelter to the homeless?
We do not have a right to deny anyone the same rights and privileges
as every other citizen.
The question poised at the beginning of this reflection was, Do you
serve the Lord ? You do if you live in a manner prescribed by Jesus
Christ and do not make judgments according to man made decisions but
only by the example and teachings given us by Christ.
“Christ went on, “This is why I told you that no one could come to me
unless the Father allows him…Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we
go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know
that you are the Holy One of God.“
Let us serve Almighty God not only by claiming to be a Christian but
by living out the teachings of Christ in our daily lives. AMEN
Do You Serve The Lord Your God?
Based on the readings from: Joshua 24:1-2,15-18, Psalm 33:2-3,16-23,
Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69
By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFD, Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus
Franciscans of Divine Mercy/ Reformed Catholic Church International
"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in
faithfulness…. Choose this day whom you will serve… as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:14-15)
Just as Joshua challenged the tribes of Israel to chose who they
desired to honor and worship, we today are being given the same
challenge. Do we choose to serve those human gods of Greed, power,
domination, discrimination, materialism and self-effacement or do we
choose to follow the way of the son of god, Jesus Christ.
Do we choose to live our lives according to the way Jesus taught by
being forgiving, compassionate, kind and generous to all God’s
children, especially those in need?
Throughout all of history, one idea has prevailed; it is that there is
a supreme being that governs all.
We find it in the histories of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans,
Aztecs, Mayans, Native American Tribes, in fact every known
civilization. Humans have recognized that there is something greater
than themselves throughout history.
We humans have sought this greater power out, as history has shown, in
every generation. They have given that acknowledgement to the sun,
volcano’s, lightning and other natural and sometimes human and
imaginary things. They have worship their “Gods” under the names of
Ra, Zeus, Apollo, Pele the Goddess of Fire, Mercury, Aesir, and
hundreds of other names.
When Almighty God made himself known with the words “"I am that I am.
Here is what you must say to the Israelites. Tell them, 'I am has sent
me to you.' "(Exodus 3:14) we were told who we should give honor,
praise and reverence to and whom we should thank for all things.
When Jesus Christ was transfigured, God informed us clearly who Jesus
was with these words; “"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matthew 17:4-6).
God has told us to listen to what Jesus was telling us. To listen to
the words and teachings of Jesus Christ, not some mere human
individual, but Jesus the son of Almighty God. When we read the
teachings of Christ, we find clear concise guidelines as to how we are
expected to live our lives. These are found in the Beatitudes of the
Sermon on the Mount, and in the “GREAT COMMANDMENT”, "The most
important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. There
is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-30)
Could Christ’s teachings be any clearer, yet so many try to make this
love and service to Almighty God so difficult by injecting a lot of
man made things in the way.
The have twisted to original writings of the ancient scriptures and
the writings of the apostles and early church fathers and in some
cases even rejected some of them because they did not “FIT THE
POLITICALY CORRECT AGENDA” of that time.
People found passages that referred to a specific kind of sin and
twisted it around in order to exclude some individuals from serving
God or even to participate in the worship of Almighty God.
When we choose to ignore the teachings of Christ, when we decide what
God means and we judge others as outcasts and deny them the
opportunity to worship Almighty God and acknowledge Jesus as the son
of God and the redeemer and Savior sent by God, then we are not
serving Almighty God.
Jesus, rejected no one, not even those who were to crucify him. Jesus
sat and ate with those that Jewish law forbade sharing a meal. Jesus
spoke with and treated women as equals.
If we believe that Almighty God created all things, and we believe
that Jesus was the Son of God made man, then we cannot even think
about acting like a god and making judgments that are the exclusive
property of Almighty God.
We can dislike the way another person acts, we can reject their
choices as not acceptable, we have the freedom to choose not to
associate with some people because they seem to be breaking the
commandments of God by lying, cheating, stealing, killing, committing
adultery, coveting another’s wife or property and act in an manner
other than that prescribed by God.
When we decide that power, money, prestige, fame, greed or sexual
gratification are more important to us that living according to God’s
way, we are not serving God.
We need to remember how we were taught in Paul’s letter to the Romans
14; “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you
regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the
judgment seat of God.” and Matthew 7; “Do not judge lest you be
judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your
standard of measure, it will be measured to you.“ In James 4 we read;
“Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a
brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the
law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a
judge of it.”
The law of God is very clear, we are not the ones to judge a person
because of how things appear “Do not judge according to appearance,
but judge with righteous judgment. Our Law does not judge a man,
unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does
it?” ( John 7:24, 51)
We need to judge a person by their deeds. Do they feed the poor? Do
they Clothe the Naked? Do they respect and love All of God’s
creatures? Do they give shelter to the homeless?
We do not have a right to deny anyone the same rights and privileges
as every other citizen.
The question poised at the beginning of this reflection was, Do you
serve the Lord ? You do if you live in a manner prescribed by Jesus
Christ and do not make judgments according to man made decisions but
only by the example and teachings given us by Christ.
“Christ went on, “This is why I told you that no one could come to me
unless the Father allows him…Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we
go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know
that you are the Holy One of God.“
Let us serve Almighty God not only by claiming to be a Christian but
by living out the teachings of Christ in our daily lives. AMEN
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages