Save us lord from ungodly pride!
O LORD God
grace and majesty, teach us by Your Holy Spirit to follow the example of Your
Son in true humility that we may
withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and minds avoid
ungodly pride. Ascended LORD Jesus,
bless Thy Word that we might trust in Thee. [1]
What does it take to invite the lowly? It takes
humility and grace.
It takes humility. To invite those who bring us no
advantage. And no gain. No benefit. And certainly no profit. It takes grace. To invite people because they
are unworthy and cannot help us.
Showing compassion, especially to those who are
wanting helps us to be gracious and practice true hospitality. It is one thing
to entertain someone who is able to repay in kind. It is yet another to
demonstrate the compassion of Christ to those who are not able to return in
kind.
Make no mistake. This is more than mere manners.
Christ humbled Himself. To the point of death. He bore your sin and took your
misery to Himself. In exchange for your sin, you receive the righteousness of
God in Christ. If this is how the Savior deliberately choose to treat you how
much more should you demonstrate the same hospitality to your neighbor.
Jesus is not simply giving good advice. Rather, He’s
turning convention on its head. He’s challenging to status quo. He’s inciting
something of a social revolution. And for all these reasons, He’s inviting a
death sentence He eventually gets.
Jesus dares not only to stand outside the social order
of His day; He dares not only to call that social order – and all social orders
into question; but He also says these things are not of God. Jesus proclaims
here and throughout the gospel, that in the Kingdom of God there is no pecking
order.
While that sounds at first blush like it out to be
good news, it throws us into radical dependence on God’s grace and God’s grace
alone. We can’t stand, that is; on our accomplishments, or our wealth, or
positive attributes, or good looks, or strengths, or IQ, or on movement up or
down the reigning pecking order.
There is, suddenly, nothing we can do to establish
ourselves before God and the world except rely upon the LORD’s desire to be
connected to you and with all people. Which means that we have no claim on God;
rather, we have been claimed by Him and invited to love others as we’ve been
loved. Still deeper consider how the Savior chooses to deal with you.
Jesus becomes human. He breaks into time and space to be
your Savior. He give up the glories of heaven and takes on human flesh. He
takes on flesh to be a man to become your substitute.
He takes your sin. Jesus, the innocent victim, who had
committed no treachery – He dies for the human race. He became your substitute.
When Jesus died all sin was drowned and killed. When Jesus took your sins to
Himself He took each sin to Himself.
He did not wait to be asked to save the human race. He
decided before time dawned or before there was a thing as time, or a sun, moon,
or starts to mark time – Jesus came to bear your sin in His own body that you
may die to sin and live unto righteousness.
Jesus forgives your sin for His own name’s sake. Jesus
obeys His Father’s will, willingly took you sin and proceeded to forgive the
sins of men.
By faith, you look to Jesus for forgiveness and life.
Faith clings to Jesus Christ alone who did for all the world atone. He is your
own redeemer.
Thus with the hymn writer we can proclaim this day;
“We are rich for He was poor; is not this a wonder? Therefore, praise God evermore
here on earth and yonder."
·
Words-695
[2] Let us All with Gladsome Voice stanza three, Lutheran Service Book (c) 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St, Louis
No comments:
Post a Comment