The Trinity

This past week my computer became infected with a virus. Because this had happened before, I immediately saw the problem begin, but had no idea how to stop it. When I contacted Matt McDowell to help me fix it (well ok, to have him fix it) we were talking about these kinds of viruses or spyware and I told him I really don’t understand how these things work. How can a computer in Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia literally highjack my computer and begin to either shut it down, or make it do things I don’t want it to do? While Matt tried to explain how it all worked, it was just beyond my ability to comprehend. (Now maybe if I first understood how computers worked that would help, but I don’t really understand how my computer does what it does, I’m just thankful that most of the time, it works.) What was really frustrating was after my computer was cleaned and additional anit-virus and anti- spyware programs were installed, the same virus or program attacked my computer a second time. One thing has become clear to me this week, while I may not understand how these kinds of computer viruses work – my life has been affected by the reality of them and the activity of them.

We may not fully understand how God is three in one, but our lives have been affected by the reality and the activity of a triune God. One of the basic foundations of the Christian faith is that God is three in one. We believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons but just one God. Sometimes I am amazed at how many people really struggle because they can not wrap their minds around the concept of the Trinity and so it becomes a stumbling block to their faith. Personally, I’m ok not understanding how God can be three and yet one, actually I’m ok not understanding all the fullness and power of God because if I could understand all of God, then God would not be very big. If we could wrap our minds around every aspect of God’s being and nature and if we could figure God out completely and understand how and why God does all that He does, then we would not have a very big God.

I love how God himself talks about this very thing in Job 38-39, in response to some challenges to God by Job and his friends. (read these 2 chapters for some great questions God asks us!)

Of course the answer to all of this is no, we don’t know how God created the world or how God keeps in spinning in such perfect balance, and the truth is we don’t know how God can be three and yet one, but God is, and we know God is because while the word Trinity is never used in scripture, the idea of God being three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is made clear throughout scripture.

First let’s remember that the Bible is clear that God is one. In Deuteronomy 6:4 it says the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This verse was the centerpiece of the Jewish morning and evening prayers. While all the nations around them worshipped many God’s, the people of Israel worshipped one true God. The Lord is still our God and the Lord is one, the Bible never wavers on that point, and yet all the way back into the creation story we get a sense that God was going to be talked about or experienced in different ways. We have God creating the world by simply speaking a word, but then we hear about the spirit of God moving over the waters. God then says, let us make man in our image, and there are some who see this as a reference to the different persons of the Trinity. So we have God in different persons, and yet clearly there is just one God.

Jesus is the one who really articulated the concept of the Trinity because he said clearly that he and the father were one. In John 10:30 Jesus says, I and the Father are one. Jesus also says, if you see me – you have seen the father. If you hear me – you have heard the father. So Jesus and the Father are one, and yet they are not identical because there are some things that only God the Father knows. In Mark 13:32 Jesus is talking about the day and the hour when he will return and he says, no one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. So while God and Jesus are one – they are not identical. While Jesus walked this earth, there was still a God in heaven – Jesus prayed to his heavenly father, so they are two and yet they are one.

Jesus then takes it a step further and begins to talk about the third person of the Trinity when says that once he leaves this world he will send the Holy Spirit to come and not just be with us, but dwell within us. According to John 14 the Holy Spirit is going to come and teach us all things and remind us of all that Jesus has said to us. Now the Spirit isn’t going to come and teach us in a classroom, there is not going to be person standing in front of us, the Holy Spirit is going to be God dwelling in us to teach us and lead us and give us the power to live life the way God intends it to be lived. Jesus makes clear that the Holy Spirit is going to be God dwelling within us, but as God dwells in us, the Father still reigns in heaven and Jesus stills sits at God’s right hand. So we see throughout the Bible that God is the Father – the one who creates the world and keeps it perfectly balanced, God is the son – Jesus, who redeems the world and shows us the way to live life, and God is the Holy Spirit, the One who dwells within us and gives us the strength and power and courage to be all that God wants us to be.

What we begin to see here is that each person of the Trinity has their own unique job to do. The Father creates and Jesus redeems and the Holy Spirit sustains us and dwells within us to give us power and strength. This is what we see outlined in Romans 5. While Paul didn’t write this section of his letter to talk about the trinity, the idea of the trinity is all through these verses and what Paul makes clear is that the different persons of the Trinity all had different jobs to do.

God the Father is the holy one who created the world and dwells in honor and glory. Because God is so holy and pure, Paul says that we are separated from God because of our sin. But God is also the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul states clearly that the work of Jesus is to redeem us and reconcile us to God. Paul says, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, in other words we are brought into relationship with God not through our own goodness or actions but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, see Romans 5:9-11.

Now one reason we know that Jesus is God in the flesh is because of Romans 5:8. Paul says God demonstrates his love for us in this, While we were still sinners Christ died for us. The death of Jesus only proves God loves us if Jesus is God. If Jesus were not God in the flesh, if he were just a man, then his death would not prove God’s love for us, it would prove Jesus’ love for us. But that is not what Paul says, Paul says, God proved his love for us in the death of Jesus and that only works if Jesus is God.

So the presence and the work of God in Jesus is made clear here, but we also have outlined here the work of the Holy Spirit, look at Romans 5:5 – God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. God pours his love, his life giving love and Spirit, into our hearts and lives so that we can live life to the fullest. What we see here in Romans 5 is the work of all three persons of the Trinity. We have God the father who dwells in all power and glory and we see that he is still sovereign over all the earth, and we have God the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection brings us back into a relationship with God, and we have God the Holy Spirit gives us life and love and power by dwelling within us.

Now again, we may not understand how this all works, we may not be able to wrap our minds around how God can be three and yet one, but we see in scripture the nature and work of this one God in three distinct persons. As I have been thinking about the trinity this week, one of things I did was stop asking myself how this all works and I started asking myself why? Why did God reveal himself as the Father and then the Son and then Holy Spirit? The answer for me was found in Romans 5. God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ (God) died for us. God comes to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit for one reason, because God loves us. You see, the Trinity isn’t really a theological concept; it is an expression of how much God loves us.

God created us in love for fellowship and relationship. When our sin broke that relationship, God continued to love us so much that he came to us in Jesus to show us how to live and experience all the fullness of life here in this world, and then through his death and resurrection, God paid the penalty for our sin and redeemed us, so that we could live with God with forever. But what is so amazing to me is that even this was not enough for God, God wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with us so he came as the Holy Spirit to actually dwell with us.

Maybe we need to look at the trinity as God’s journey of relationship. It is a journey of God going deeper with us because God loves us. God loves so much that he was not content to watch over us, he wanted to walk with us, but then he wanted more, so He came to actually live with in us. If you think about it, God chose the Trinity because God simply wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with us.

We may never understand how God does this, how God can be three in one, but that doesn’t change the fact that we experience God as three in one. We can experience God as the Almighty every time we consider the heavens and the earth, and we can experience God as the Lord Jesus Christ every time we read the words of Jesus and follow his example and accept for ourselves his love and grace, and we can experience God as the Holy Spirit every time we open up our hearts and lives and allow God to pour his love and life into us. While there is just one God, God comes to us in three persons so that we can know God and experience God more.

My hope is that if the Trinity is one of those theological ideas that baffles us and becomes a stumbling block for us to understanding who God is, that maybe today we can begin to look at it differently and maybe se it as a stepping stone to helping us experience the fullness of God’s presence and power and love.

Reaching Our Full Potential - Pentecost 2010

Today is Pentecost Sunday and in many ways it is the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on that day of Pentecost that helped to create the church. As we heard from Acts 2, it was on this day that over 3,000 people placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and they committed themselves to living for God. Not only did they come to faith, but they joined with the disciples and the other followers of Jesus to create one body – the church. In many ways we are here today because of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but this story of Pentecost isn’t just about the creation of the church, in fact, what I love most about this story is that we finally see the disciples reach their full God given potential. Jesus had chosen his disciples 3 years earlier and while they walked and talked with Jesus every day, they just never seemed to get it. They often don’t understand what Jesus is doing, they question his methods and motives, and Peter even quite boldly challenges Jesus’ actions. Even though they walked with Jesus everyday, the disciples never reached their full potential while Jesus was with them.

Even in the days after Jesus’ resurrection when we think that maybe the disciples might have begun to understand more fully who Jesus was and what he was all about, we don’t find them measuring up. Look at where this Pentecost story begins. It says they were all together and the Holy Spirit filled the house where they were sitting. All the disciples were inside and they were huddled together because they were afraid to go outside. In John’s gospel it says that in the days after the resurrection the disciples met behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish leaders. The story begins not with the disciples bolding proclaiming their faith and trust in Jesus, but hiding in fear, but to give them some credit, they had a right to be afraid.

We need to remember that these events in Acts 2 take place just a few weeks after Jesus had been arrested, tried and crucified. These were dangerous times for the disciples because if Jesus could be treated they way he was, so they could they. The disciples could also have been arrested, tried and condemned to carry a cross just like Jesus. And the resurrection didn’t make things any better. The religious and political leaders were on edge because the body of Jesus was not in the tomb and there were growing reports of people seeing Jesus alive. Because the leaders wanted to put an end to all of this, the disciples are in a dangerous situation. It’s understandable why they might be hiding in fear, but as long as they are hiding inside the house, they are not able to fulfill their purpose and potential. God had so much more for them than this. In fact, Jesus had said they were going to be his witnesses in all the world. The good news of Jesus was going to spread everywhere through these men and women, but at the moment, they aren’t even able to give a witness to Jesus life, death and resurrection in Jerusalem. As long as they are hiding inside, they aren’t fulfilling their purpose and they are not reaching their potential.

But notice what happens once the Holy Spirit comes upon them. The disciples, who had been hiding in the house are now suddenly on the street and in this moment they are beginning to be all that God wants them to be. In this moment they are giving witness to the power of God to people from all over the world. It is no accident that God chose the feast of Pentecost to send the Holy Spirit because it was during this Jewish festival that there were Jews and God fearing people from all over the world who were in Jerusalem, and they were there to worship and honor God, they were open to hearing about God’s deeds of power. Think about it, God had gathered people from all over the world and brought them to Jerusalem, God brought the world to the disciples, and their hearts and minds were ready to hear what the disciples had to say. So God sends the Holy Spirit to the disciples in this moment so they will be able to speak with boldness and power, and when they do – we finally see the potential in them that I think Jesus saw while they were still catching fish or collecting taxes.

One of the things this Pentecost story shows us is that God not only sees our full potential, but he gives us the power of his spirit so we can reach that potential. No matter who we are today or where we are today, when God looks at us, he doesn’t see limitations or weakness or failure – God sees potential and power.
When God looks at the children here today – he sees their full potential. God sees the totality of their lives and God sees the ways that their lives of faith and service and love can and will change our world. Each one of us has in this moment all we need to reach our potential – we simply need the power of God’s spirit to help us reach it. I think it’s similar to how we might look at popcorn. When we look at popcorn, we don’t just see the hard kernels; we see what it can become. In fact I think when we see this (kernels) we immediately begin to see and even smell the potential that lies in these kernels, we begin to think and see and smell and even taste this (popcorn).

Popcorn really is amazing. If you look at these kernels, everything we love about popcorn is already right here, each kernel is full of potential, there is just one thing missing and that’s fie. It is heat that helps popcorn reach its potential. Unfortunately, most of the time we pop popcorn these days we do it in a microwave so we can forget that what turns this (kernels) into this (popcorn) is heat or fire. I know I am going to date myself here, but I do remember the days before microwave ovens (in fact I clearly remember standing around our very first microwave watching a cup of water boil, you would think we were watching the space shuttle blast off – we thought it was just the coolest thing in the world), but pre-microwaves, the only way we got popcorn was to get out the pan, pour in a little bit of oil, pour in the kernels and put it on the stove. What popcorn needs to reach its potential is heat, it needs fire, and what we need to read our full potential is the fire of God’s Holy Spirit.

It was the fire of God, literally the tongues of fire that came on the day of Pentecost that brought about the full potential in the disciples. It wasn’t walking with Jesus that helped the disciples reach their potential. It wasn’t spending time with Jesus or listening to him preach, teach or pray, and it wasn’t watching Jesus perform miracles, it was only after the holy spirit came and filled them inside that they began to become who God wanted them to be. It wasn’t walking with Jesus that made a difference; it was Jesus dwelling in them with power that made the difference. It was the Holy Spirit dwelling within them that gave them the courage to leave the house and proclaim what God had done in Jesus on the streets. It was the fire of God’s Holy Spirit that gave Peter not only the power but the words to preach a sermon that convicted the hearts and lives of thousands of people. The potential that Jesus saw in his disciples to carry on his work and to change the world was coming about and while the disciples had all they needed within them while they were hiding inside the house, it took the fire of God, it took the power of God’s Holy Spirit to move them out and help them reach their potential.

It is still the fire of God which moves us out and helps us reach our full potential. We can only become who God created us to be and who God wants us to be with the help of God’s Holy Spirit. While God gives us all the talents, gifts and abilities we have, it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the faith and the strength and courage to use those gifts to accomplish God’s will. We don’t become the people God wants us to be on our own, we do it with the help of God. We do it with the strength God gives us through his Spirit. So to reach our full potential in life, and to reach our full potential in faith, and to reach our full potential together as the church, we need to yield our hearts and lives to the fire and the power of God. But let me say that this process of yielding our hearts and lives to God is not passive. We don’t just sit here saying, Ok God, send down your power, give us your spirit, we do have our part to play.

Think back to the disciples and the day of Pentecost. It says they were all together in Jerusalem and the reason they are all together in Jerusalem is because Jesus told them to wait in the city until they were clothed with power from on high. Look at Luke 24:49.
So they were in the city because Jesus told them to stay in the city. The disciples aren’t being passive here; they are being faithful and obedient to the word of Jesus. Yes, they might be afraid and in hiding, but they are also in the city where Jesus told them to be. If we are serious about having the Holy Spirit help us reach out full God given potential, then we need to be faithful and obedient to the word of Jesus we already have. We may not fully understand all that Jesus has told us, I’m not sure the disciples understood why they needed to wait in Jerusalem, and I’m not sure the disciples knew what it was going to mean for them to be clothed with power from on high, but they followed Jesus instruction, and so can we.

When Jesus tells us to love one another - we can love one another. We can forgive one another and be patient with one another. When Jesus tells us to serve our brothers and sisters – we can serve those around us. When Jesus tells us to welcome and care for and instruct our children, we can commit ourselves to ministry with our children and youth. We can give our time and love and prayer and support and money to help instruct and nurture our children and youth. And when Jesus tells us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those who are sick and in prison, we can reach out to those in need around us. If we want to reach our full potential we need to start right where we are today and be faithful in all the things God has already given us.

It was in the process of their faithful obedience to Jesus that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and it will be in the process of our faithful obedience to Jesus that the Holy Spirit will come upon us in power. Think about it, if the disciples had not been obedient, if they had not stayed in Jerusalem, they would not have received the Holy Spirit and they would not have spoken in tongues or preached to thousands and they would not have reached their full potential. They would have missed out – and we will miss out on all that God has for us if we will not be faithful to God in all the things he has already told us.

The disciples were faithful and obedient, and when Jesus told them to stay and to wait, they stayed and they waited. And they waited. They didn’t go off and try to do everything on their own, they waited for God, and there are those times when we need to wait for God to move. We don’t wait doing nothing – while we wait we love and serve as God has shown us, and while we wait we worship and pray asking God to speak to our hearts and cloth us with power, but there are those times when we do need to wait. Wait for God to speak and wait for God to move in us and move among us.

To reach our full potential we need God’s Holy Spirit to fill us and that day will come as we wait in faithful obedience, but once that day comes, once we begin to feel God’s power at work within us - we need to move. Notice that the disciples didn’t stand around trying to figure out what was going on in them or around them when the fire of God falls on them, they just moved. In fact I have always found it interesting that their actions aren’t even recorded here in Acts 2. It doesn’t say they got up and left the house, they are just suddenly on the street and then they are surrounded by crowds and then Peter is preaching to thousands. It doesn’t even say they moved – but they are. The Holy Spirit is moving in them and they are responding. If we want to reach our full God given potential we also need to move, in boldness, faith and courage – we need to step out and do what the spirit of God is leading us to do, but get ready, because if the spirit of God is truly working in us, we are going to do far more than we ever thought or imagined. Look at Ephesians 3:20 …. When the power of God is working in us, we will able to do more then we ever thought or imagined – so we need to step out and just do it.

Think about Peter, I’m sure he never thought he was going to stand up and preach to thousands of people, but he just stepped out and did it. What get’s me is that he didn’t even have a sermon prepared – he just spoke. I think if Peter had thought about it, it would have overwhelmed him and he wouldn’t have done it. Remember when Peter walked on water with Jesus. It was when he looked around and saw the wind and the waves that he began to sink. There are those times in life that if we truly sense the presence and power of God working in us, we need to jump first and fear later. I have a feeling that when I stand with Jesus on that great judgment day and we review my life; he is going to ask more about what I didn’t do than what I did do. And for me to look at the One who has all power and strength and to look at the One who so freely gives all power and strength and say, but Jesus I was afraid – it’s going to seem somewhat foolish. Hundreds of times in the bible God says “fear not” and while it is not specifically said in this Pentecost story – the disciples truly are not afraid, they are strong and courageous and they step out in faith in ways they never thought possible, and it is when they act with this boldness and courage that we finally see in them what Jesus saw in them.

To reach our full potential we need God’s Holy Spirit filling us up, and that day will come as we wait in faith and trust doing all the things God has already called us to do. And when that day comes, when the power of God begins to take hold of us, we need to move. We need to jump in and trust God. If we will do this – we will become all God wants us to be. If we will do this, we will reach our full God given potential. That’s what this day and that’s what God’s spirit working in our lives, is all about.

Just Like Jesus

Last week we saw that part of what it means for us to follow Jesus is that we should reflect his life. When people look at us, they should see Jesus. That reminded me of a statement that Max Lucado makes in his book, Just Like Jesus. Max says that God loves us just the way we are, but he refuses to leave us there. He wants us to be just like Jesus. Let’s just look at that first statement for a moment. God loves us just the way we are. That is the absolute truth. God loves us just the way we are and there is nothing we can do to change that. We can’t make God love us less and we can’t make God love us any more then he does right now. If we think God would love us more if we were more faithful, we would be wrong. If we think God would love us more if we were more giving, we would be wrong. If we think God would love us more if we were more diligent in learning about him and studying his word, we would be wrong. There is absolutely nothing we can do to make God love us any more than he does at this moment. God loves us completely, abundantly and eternally, that’s what it says in Romans 8:35-39.

There is simply nothing that can separate us from the love of God and there is nothing we can do that would cause God to love us more. God loves us just the way we are, but God also loves us enough to want more for us and God knows we will experience more in life if our lives look more like the life of Jesus. That’s the message we hear often throughout the New Testament.

In Philippians 2:5 it says we are to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. In other words, our attitudes, words and actions need to reflect those of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone – it has died and passed away – and the new has come. That new creation is the life of Jesus, so if we are in Christ our lives are reflecting Jesus to the world. In Galatians 3:27 it says if we have been baptized in Christ Jesus, if we have accepted and if we believe in Jesus then we have clothed ourselves with Christ, and then Colossians 3:12 expands on this idea and says this clothing we are to put on should be compassion, kindness, humility, gentles and patience – all qualities that point to the life of Jesus. And then we heard from 1 John 3:2, when Christ appears we shall be like him. Now while that transformation of becoming like Jesus may not be complete until we are in the presence of Jesus at the end of time, our journey of faith should help us to look more and more like Jesus every day until that day comes.

All of this affirms what we heard last week, which is that for us to call ourselves followers of Jesus our lives need to reflect the life of Christ. When people look at us – they should see Jesus. When they listen to us they should hear Jesus. When they encounter us they should experience the hope, joy and love that is Jesus. Is that what people experience in us? Do people see Jesus in us? Again, from his book, Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado asks, what would it be like if for one day, Jesus became us? What if, for 24 hours, Jesus wakes up in our bed, walks in our shoes, lives in our houses, and assumes our schedules? What if for one day Jesus lived our lives with his heart? Think for a moment about what that might be like for us and for all the people around us. What would our family and friends see different about us? Would anyone notice a change? That’s the big question. Would anyone see or hear something different? If they would, then we aren’t doing a very good job of reflecting Jesus and our lives need to change.

So what is the key to looking like Jesus? What is the key to reflecting the life of Jesus? The key is to have the heart of Jesus and the heart of Jesus is pure, it is peaceful and it is patient. Look back at 1 John 3:3, Jesus is pure and if our hope is to be like Christ then we need to have a pure heart and a pure heart is a heart that is free from sin. Let’s keep reading in 1 John 3:5-6, so Jesus was without sin, which means, we need to have hearts and lives free from sin. We need to stop sinning. Do you remember what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery? When all the people who wanted to accuse her had walked away, Jesus said, go and sin no more. I have to say that most of the time I read or talk about that passage, I tend to focus on the forgiveness and grace that Jesus offers the woman, or else I’ll talk about the challenge Jesus gives to the crowd to not judge others, but we can’t ignore this last command. Go and sin no more. I don’t think Jesus would have told her this if it were not possible. God really does want us to experience freedom from sin, and God makes this pure heart and life possible, but let’s be clear, we don’t find this kind of purity on our own. We don’t have the power to overcome sin by ourselves, but Jesus does, he lived that life and Jesus is willing to help us live that life if we will come to him and ask for help. The woman is told to go and sin no more only AFTER she has come to Jesus, so there is something important about coming to Jesus that makes this pure life possible.

The power to overcome sin comes from God and so the answer isn’t to try and overcome sin on our own, the answer is for us to stay connected to Jesus. If we will lean on Jesus, trust in is forgiveness, rely upon his grace and draw strength from his people and spirit, we can overcome the sin that clings to us so closely.
Is it easy? No. Will we stumble and fall? Yes. Will God forgive us and set us out on the path of purity once again? Yes. Can we experience little victories that will encourage us to keep going? Yes.

God wants us to experience the joy of a pure heart and life, but there is more to being just like Jesus, God also wants us to experience his peace. When the disciples were always worrying about everything – Jesus was at peace. The best example of this was when Jesus and the disciples are out in the boat during the storm. The disciples are literally afraid for their lives, but Jesus was sleeping in the back of his boat. It even says his head was on a little pillow, the picture of a man at perfect peace. This is the kind of peace Jesus wants for us in the middle of any and every storm we face. I really do believe that Jesus wants us to experience a peace that passes our understanding.

What was one of the first things Jesus said to his disciples after his resurrection? He said, peace be with you. Jesus even breathed on them and gave them the blessing, the gift of his spirit to bring that peace. God loves us when we are worried, afraid and confused in the midst of all the storms of life, but God doesn’t want to leave us in that state – God wants us to experience His peace.

We know God wants us to experience peace because Jesus said pretty clearly that we are not to worry, but I’m not sure we take that command seriously because one of the biggest problems we face today is worry. We worry about finances, our families, our marriages, jobs, health, children, the state of our country and world. We worry about everything, but Jesus said clearly, do not worry about your life. Jesus said, don’t worry about what you will eat or drink or where you live or your job and family and health. Do not worry. We hear this, but I’m not sure many of us believe that a life free from worry is possible, but why would Jesus tell us not to worry if this kind of peace were not possible? It must be possible for us to experience God’s peace if Jesus says this, but again that peace will not be found in our strength and ability, it will be found in the presence and power of God.

Peace is like purity – we can achieve it, but not on our own, it comes from trusting in God and drawing our strength and courage from one another. If our lives are going to look like Jesus we need to take seriously Jesus command to not worry about anything and learn to hand over our concerns to God in prayer and trust God love us enough to work them out according to his purpose and plan. If we can’t do this on our own, then we need to find someone who can help us hand our worries over to God so that we can experience for ourselves and share with others the peace of Christ.

The heart of Jesus was not just pure and peaceful it was also patient. The patience Jesus showed with people was remarkable. He was patient with his disciples who never seemed to quite understand what was going on. He was patient with the crowds and those who came to him for healing. He took the time to instruct them and heal them and feed them. Jesus was even patient with the religious leaders who often came to him with threats and accusations. We see that patience in the story of Nicodemus, found in John chapter 3. Nicodemus was a Pharisee who came to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask him questions. Jesus patiently listened to Nicodemus and he helped him understand what it meant to be born again. The patience Jesus showed to Nicodemus changed him. At some point in time Nicodemus accepted Jesus as the Messiah because after Jesus died it is Nicodemus who helps take Jesus body off the cross and it was Nicodemus who helped lay him in the tomb.

Jesus was patient with people and that patient heart made a difference. God is calling us to reflect that same kind of patience with people today. If we are going to reflect the life of Jesus we need to be patient with one another, and I already know what you are going to say, patience is hard. Trust me, I know! It’s as difficult as purity and not worrying, but it is what we see in Jesus and so it must be what God wants for us. Patience is something we can experience and share with others but only if we will stop trying to be patient and instead allow God’s patience to flow through us.

You begin to see the pattern here. Jesus heart is pure, and peaceful and patient and many times ours are not, but God wants them to be so God has opened the door for them to be just that. God loves us in our sin and our worries and our frustrations, but that is not the life God wants for us, God wants us to be just like Jesus so he helps us have the heart of Jesus by sending us the gift of his Holy Spirit so that through the power of God we can be, just like Jesus. As we prepare ourselves for Holy Communion, let us ask God to send us the gift of his holy spirit so that after coming to Jesus at the table, we may truly go forth to be just like him.