February 2 | Luke 6:1-16

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DAILY READING

Luke 6:1-16

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REFLECTION

Rules v. Relationships

By Elaine Pierce

What is the difference between religion and following Jesus? Almost all religions have a set of principles to follow - do this and you will receive this reward. Follow the rules and you will be rewarded. Be a good person.

Jesus is different. Instead of pointing us to a series of rules, he points to himself: the Son of Man. He and the father are one. He is not a spiritual giant we should try to emulate - we will always fall short. Instead, he stands before the Father in our place, taking on our sin. We can't earn salvation by following the rules. We can only ask for mercy and forgiveness, and daily follow him.

In today's passage, the Pharisees, always on the lookout to find fault with this unusual rabbi, are convinced they have caught him in a flagrant sin: not only working on the sabbath (picking the grain in the fields) but he is also healing on a day when God commands his followers not to do any work! Note how Jesus answers their hostile questions. When they say, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" he answers with scripture, reminding them of King David providing for his men when they were hungry. And after that, he really lets them have it by saying "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." There is only ONE Lord, and the Pharisees are furious with the audacity of this common, unschooled itinerant preacher.

Jesus doesn't point us to God - he IS God made flesh. I will admit that it is hard to wrap my mind around this truth. In many ways it is much easier to follow a prescribed set of rules. I can look at a check list and know if I am 'good enough.' But Jesus wants so much more for us than that. He doesn't want rule followers, not that rules are in and of themselves bad. He wants our hearts, our souls, our minds - completely turned over to him. He is doing a good work in each of us, and what a day it will be when we see him face to face! For now, take each day at a time, and ask him to show you what he has for you. If you allow him to lead, you will be blessed beyond measure.

PRAYER

Lord, so often I just want to follow the rules - I don't really want a relationship with you. Forgive me when I stray, and help me to follow you each day. And when I fail - and I will - pick me up and welcome me home. Thank you for this precious gift of life and love. Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ELAINE PIERCE

It is a delight and joy to write Sunday's UALC Blog post. I have been a UALC member for 20+ years and I value our community of believers. I draw strength from God's Word, and it is my hope that you join me in seeking to grow closer to Him as we read, study, and pray together. I've been married to Gene for 47 years, and we have four grown children and nine grandchildren. It is an exciting time to be alive, and I count it all joy to serve him, even in the midst of challenges. To God be the glory, for the great things he is doing!

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February 1 | Luke 5:33-39

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DAILY READING

Luke 5:33-39

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REFLECTION

Oh, the Pharisees

by Dave Thompson 

Have you ever read a really good book, perhaps a mystery book? To make it good there is always an antagonist (a bad guy). Even though the Bible is not a mystery, nor a fiction book at all, sure enough there are some antagonists that make trouble for Jesus, His disciples, John the Baptist and many others that are too numerous to recount. Once again, in Luke 5:33-39 Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees. This set of verses, said to Jesus, would have been hard for me to defend in my finite mind. The Pharisees are recorded telling Jesus the following: "They said to Him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” At this point, my first reaction might have been to punch all of them in their smug faces, but that would have been exactly what they wanted: a reason to condemn Him as a violent, heretic. That would have been the end of me, but let's look into Jesus' reaction.

As we know, Jesus mainly spoke in parables and hard to understand statements. Here, these verses seem confusing at first, but the Pharisees understood them after pondering them for a while. Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

As the Pharisees thought about this statement, it became obvious to them that Jesus was speaking about Himself as the bridegroom. After a bit more time and perhaps all the way up to Jesus' crucifixion, the Pharisees might have looked back at this transaction and understood that they themselves were the cause of Jesus not being with the disciples and followers so then the followers would begin fasting.

Ultimately, Jesus finishes this passage with a parable. He tells of putting new wine in old wine skins. The old wine skins would be too rigid and would break. Jesus actually was saying that the Pharisees were like the too rigid, old wine skins and due to this; they could not receive or believe in Jesus. You see, as an example of this rigidity, the Pharisees had 39 categories of things you cannot do on the Sabbath. Their rigidity stopped them from accepting Jesus' fresh approach. We must pray that our churches and the leaders of our churches are not so rigid that they would not accept new things that Jesus brings. And we must keep our own hearts focused on Jesus' Word and revelation so we might change as well as Christ reveals things to us.

Thinking about folks that are so hardened in their hearts that they can't understand or accept Christ makes me feel sorry for them. The Pharisees could not change or Jesus would have changed them. There were some (see Nicodemus in the book of John) that did get converted, but so many did not. Just like today, many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). He further stated in Matthew 9:37-38, "The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Prayer

Lord, let us not be like the Pharisees and be so rigid that we can not accept things that you want us to accept. Help churches and their leaders be open vessels to hear your Words and revelations and to react accordingly. Help us to daily be those that take UALC's mission statement to heart: "To be and To Make Disciples of Jesus Christ." Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE THOMPSON

I am the administrator of the Daily Worship Blog. My wife, Carla, and I have been attending UALC for seven years at the 9 o'clock service at Mill Run. We have two children, Catherine and Aaron. I have been a Christian for 53 years and am thankful that my Savior has given me two spiritual gifts that have carried me both spiritually and vocationally all my life: they are teaching and administration. I look forward to spending many years here at UALC to serve my Lord and Savior.

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January 31 | Matthew 9:9-13

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DAILY READING

Matthew 9:9-13

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REFLECTION

Jesus Came for the Sick

by Dave Thompson 

"As Jesus went from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth."

From this verse and the one that follows that I will discuss later, I understand how "be saved" happens. It says in Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us before the foundation of the world..." This is a very important verse and one that has caused some concern because of the word "chose." I like it better for this devotional to lean toward the words "knowing us..." In support of that I offer Jeremiah 1:5 that states that "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..."

Jesus tells us that, "every hair on our heads is numbered" (Luke 12:7). Suffice it to say that Jesus knew us for a long time before we ultimately got saved." He loved us as a little child and as an adult, hurt for us when we made bad choices, guarded us when we stumbled and ultimately, in His perfect timing, saved us. He continued to do the same after we were saved. But, we aren't done yet. Like Matthew, He says "Come with Me." and we need to follow. To other disciples he said He would make them "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19 and Mark 1:17). We too are asked to be fishers of men as we walk our Walk, day by day. Remember how Jesus knew us from the beginning of the world, he also knew of our exact date of salvation and he knows us as we walk alongside our brothers and sisters.

Matthew finishes this passage with some words to live by, "Who needs a doctor, the healthy or the sick?," "I'm after mercy not religion." and "I am here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders" Jesus said these words out of frustration with the Pharisees as they continued to harass Him over eating and hanging out with "sinners."

I have spoken before about my Uncle Dave Mainse. He was an on fire, born-again Christian that lived his commitment to Christ every day. In one of his books, he tells a story about being asked to speak at a revival service at a rather small-sized church. When he got there and visited with the people, he got the urging from God that all of the petitioners in the church were longtime members and were saved. He felt that he should be somewhere else serving the unsaved. He got up to speak to the meager crowd at the church and decided to say, "You all are Christians and I need to be with those that need Christ." He then walked off the platform and went across the street to a tavern that had a number of patrons out front and he began speaking to them about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. I don't know the results of his interaction with those at the tavern, but it reiterates Christ's final words of today's passage, "Who needs a doctor, the healthy or the sick" and "I am here to invite outsiders..."

May we have the same boldness as we interact with "outsiders" today.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, help us not judge anyone. Remind us that You know everything and he knows if and when a person is being "fished by a man." If the time is right, there will be results, perhaps not that day, but someday. Please give us the strength and the words if we need it to show our fellow men and women the light that shines in each of us. Thank you for loving us and always being there to support us. Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE THOMPSON

I am the administrator of the Daily Worship Blog. My wife, Carla, and I have been attending UALC for seven years at the 9 o'clock service at Mill Run. We have two children, Catherine and Aaron. I have been a Christian for 53 years and am thankful that my Savior has given me two spiritual gifts that have carried me both spiritually and vocationally all my life: they are teaching and administration. I look forward to spending many years here at UALC to serve my Lord and Savior.

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