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Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on August 15, 2015
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That Great and Terrible Day — Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

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August 15, 2015

“Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.”  Malachi 4:5-6

“The promise of the Day of YHWH does not come without its requirements, however. The day of the Lord is a blessing for the righteous because they “Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb…” As we wait for the Lord to make things right, we must remember that we are called to stricter obedience to God’s will. The obedience is herein described in terms of the Mosaic Law complete with its statutes and ordinances. Though we, as Christians, have a different relationship with Mosaic Law, we are not less obliged to “remember” that we have been called to a different set of values than those posed by our world. As Christians, we are called to live our lives by God’s system of rights and wrongs. Taking seriously personal morality and our commitment to justice, we are called to live out an example of God’s ways, rejecting the dangerous moral postures that hurt our brothers and sisters, and offering a new way of living out God’s forgiveness, truth, and light. We are called to express a new Law, the Law of Love that Jesus repeatedly commands of us as the testimony of our fellowship with him.”

(December 21, 2008, Rodney S. Sadler, Jr.)

Not too long ago I wrote about making promises to our children (and here I could include our entire family) that we will always be there for them. The point I was making is the fact that we make this promise knowing full well that we cannot guarantee that reality. The true fact of life is that we cannot predict to any great degree of accuracy, when we might leave this world. It may not be for three score or more — it may be tomorrow. And if we delude ourselves into thinking that we always have enough time to establish a relationship with Jesus Christ, that there is always plenty of time to get the “G*d Thing” down in our lives, it is a continuation of the delusion. As the parable of the man who built bigger barns to keep his stuff teaches us, G*d may come tonight to demand our presence in the Heavenly realm. So, if we believe that we have plenty of time to wait to work on justice and peace in this world, or if we believe that we have plenty of time to take obedience seriously, obedience to the ways that Jesus calls us to live, we had better begin to change our thinking now. There is no better time than right now to consider the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” — for it may be here before you know it.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on May 26, 2015
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Ch – Ch – Ch – Ch – Changes — Rev. David J. Schreffler

May 26, 2015

“Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:35ff

“If Luther himself, the excellent man, reappeared, without being recognized, and began to teach in many places as he once taught in the Symbolical Books, in his Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, he would be denounced as a Pietist and Enthusiast and chased to his fellows in hell. It seems as if the world does not wish to have anything to do with the whole of true Christianity; it wants either godliness without change of heart and faith, or faith without preceding change of heart…” Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711 – 1787) “For All The Saints” volume IV (p. 14-15)

It is my opinion that we have many concerns within Christianity today. The first would be, as Henry Melchior Muhlenberg states, people call themselves Christians but they have not been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel, the good news of Jesus must transform how we live, act, and love before we can say, truly, that we are Christians. Attending a church once in a while is not being a Christian. Always saying “I am too busy” to requests to be involved in ministry, or “I need my Sundays to sleep in” or “Those people must learn to help themselves” is not being transformed by the gospel, or having Christ abide in your heart.

Second, being transformed by the gospel does not mean saying one thing and doing something different. In 1 John 2:9 and 1 John 2:4, the writer says “Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness” and “Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist”. In other words, if you are going to be a true disciple of Jesus, you need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Actions speak louder than words. How we live, the decisions we make, the use of our time, the amount of time we spend in studying and praying on G*d’s word states whether we are living in the light of Jesus and obeying his commandments. It begins by being transformed by the Gospel – having our hearts changed to the point where it changes our actions, our thoughts, and our very lives.

Pastor Dave